Positive FFN Test

After such a good check up yesterday, I was surprised when my doctor called me at 3 pm to tell me the fetal fibronectin test (FFN) was positive. She told me I needed to go to the hospital immediately and they were going to monitor me for contractions. My first reaction was to cry and panic but I remembered in my birthing class them talking about how important it is not to freak out for the baby (or babies in my case) so I tried to chill out. I actually felt oddly calm.

Anyway, I went up to Fairview Hospital and they hooked me up to some machine to monitor both babies and to see if I was having any contractions. No contractions for an hour so they sent me home. My doctor wants to set up home monitoring (pending insurance approval) over the next two weeks to check for contractions and I got placed on modified bed rest. For modified bed rest, I'm still allowed to get up and out of bed/off the couch, just not a lot. I can still go to my shower, and even my pedicure appointment, as long as I am sitting down for most of the time. No more long walks, yoga or water aerobics though. The doctor also strongly recommended working from home so I'll have to check with my work and see what the policy is there.

But babies are still healthy and doing well and for the moment there doesn't seem to be any indication I'll go into preterm labor. Fingers crossed.

More info about FFN below.

From the March of Dimes website:


Fetal fibronectin (called fFN) is a protein that acts like a kind of glue. It helps the amniotic sac attach to the lining of your uterus (womb). The amniotic sac is inside the uterus. Its holds your baby and is filled with amniotic fluid.

Your body makes fFN early in pregnancy (up to 22 weeks) and again at the end of pregnancy (about 1 to 3 weeks before labor starts).

The fFN test measures how much fFN is in the fluids of your vagina (birth canal) and cervix. The cervix is the opening to the uterus that sits at the top of the vagina.

What do the test results mean? 
If the fFN test shows you don’t have any fFN, you probably won’t have your baby for another 2 weeks. Even if the test shows you do have fFN in your fluid, it doesn't mean you’re going to have preterm labor or birth.

If you have fFN in your fluid, your provider also may use information from ultrasound or other tests to predict your chances of preterm labor. For example, if you’re between 24 and 34 weeks and have fFN in your fluid, you’re at increased risk for preterm labor. If you have symptoms of preterm labor, your provider may recommend taking it easy, taking medicines to help prevent preterm labor or getting corticosteroids for your baby. Corticosteroids are medicines that help speed up your baby’s lung development.

26 week check up

We saw both the regular OB and the specialist today.

Baby A is head down and on the right (all this time I thought Baby B was moving, it's been A). She weighs 2 lbs 2 oz (30.9 percentile) with a heart rate of 166.

Baby B is butt down (breached) on the left, weighing in at 2 lbs 3 oz (38th percentile) with a heart rate of 160.

Ultrasound #10, Baby B

There's still time for them to flip, but the doctor said its a good sign that Baby A is head down at this point. By the next specialist appointment (four weeks) we should have a better idea. If they stayed like this though, I could deliver vaginally as opposed to a c-section.

At our birthing class last night, we were talking about all the different medications and interventions they can give you during labor. I was talking to the nurse about our unique situation and what our options could be. The hospital really doesn't like it when a twin mom opts not to have a epidural in case they need to do an emergency c-section. The nurse suggested asking the doctor about the possibility of having the catheter placed in my back so I'm ready for the epidural, but waiting to turn the medicine on until I absolutely need it. This made me feel a lot better. I'm not against having an epidural - I've just always wanted to see how it goes and wait until I really needed it and try maybe to go without one. Anyway, my doctor said that was absolutely a possibility so we are going to try that (if I don't have a planned c-section).

My cervix is closed and long (3.5 cm) and they did another FFN test today which I am assuming will be negative. So everything is looking really good for now!

Cribs, twin meeting and crazy dreams

Came home from work last night and saw two giant boxes from Target leaning against the garage. The Syracuse girls purchased two cribs for us! Super nice. Can't wait to see them set up in the finished nursery.

Graco Lauren Classic Crib from Target x2. Photo from Target.

Went to another meeting for the Westshore Mother of Twins Club last night. I was talking with a women who I met at the January meeting and was 20 some weeks pregnant. She delivered her girls at 31 weeks and they've been in the NICU for five weeks, with no release date in the near future. She said she had received a negative FFN test that very morning but than her water broke. I felt so bad for her, she looked super drained and exhausted.

I had a dream about going into early labor last night (which I worry about constantly), probably because of talking to the other twin mom. But of course it was a pregnancy hormone weirdo dream so the babies were gingerbread cookie people and not babies. And instead of going to the hospital, I delivered at home and then decorated the cookies with frosting and displayed them on plates. I also took pictures and posted them to Facebook. Then I put them into pink mittens to keep them warm and finally called the doctor who was not pleased that I took the time to put frosting all over them before calling her. I also kept having dreams last night that my teeth were breaking into pieces and I kept saving the pieces in napkins in the fridge. Somewhat a relief when the alarm went off at 6:40 am.

Best pregnancy apps

For those of you obsessed with your iphones and ipads (guilty), I am sure you'll want to download a million pregnancy apps.

Here are my favorites.

Pregnancy trackers:

• What to expect when you're expecting (weekly update, daily updates)
• Baby Center (weekly update, daily updates, community message boards)
• Baby Bump (weekly update, daily updates)
• Web MD Pregnancy (This is the only one that works for twins! You can add that you have two babies on the way and it will automatically tailor it towards multiples.)

Baby names:

• Baby names by sevenlogics - search through top names by gender for different years, save your favorites
• Baby names by Schatizsoft - not as good as other app, but also includes twin names and last name search

Pregnancy food no-nos:

• I can never remember the rules about eating fish so this has been really helpful b/c I can pull it up on my phone at a restaurant or grocery store. It does have a few weird things on there to avoid like mayonnaise which I've never heard before (maybe homemade would be bad?)

Fertility tracking:

• If you are trying to get pregnant, download fertility friend. It will help you track ovulation, temps, CM, etc and suggest your most fertile days based on your data/history.

26 week twin belly

Babies are as long as an English hothouse cucumber, which means about 14 inches long and 1 3/4 to 1 2/3 pounds each (in case you aren't terribly familiar with English hothouse cucumbers).

I am always surprised by how much more they move each week. Every five to ten minutes now I feel one of them move, and its getting a lot stronger. It's pretty easy now for Darren or other people to feel them move. I can't tell for sure, but it seems like Baby B moves around a lot more than Baby A. She's always been on the right side at every ultrasound, and I feel the most movement in the upper right part of my belly.

We had another birthing class Thursday night. We watched an actual labor video in this class. Pretty gross. The last half hour we did breathing exercises and birthing positions while our support person rubbed our shoulders and backs. The teacher also had the men pinch us again to simulate contractions. I am not a big fan of that.

I *think* I may have felt my first Braxton Hicks contraction Friday night. I panicked for a moment wondering if I was going into super early labor. But it went away after I chugged a glass of water.

I'm getting pretty uncomfortable now. Bending over to pick things up off the floor is starting to be a challenge  and today was the first day my yoga class was pretty hard. Some of the moves are difficult with a giant belly in the way. I just keep telling myself, 9 more weeks (based on average twin pregnancy length of 35 weeks). I polled the girls in my twin group on facebook and most delivered around 35 to 37 (with a few super early deliveries around 26 or 28 weeks, and a few that went to 39 or even 40) and it seems about half of the babies spent time in the NICU. Hoping we get lucky and bipass that!

Remember 21 weeks ago when I looked like this?

Craigslist Steals

I am now a professional Craigslist shopper. I had never bought anything before this pregnancy (much to the horror/amusement of my cousin Anne who helped walk me through my first purchase! She is a huge bargain shopper/fashionista, check out her fashion blog.) but now I've bought a few things. Basically any baby thing you need can be found on craigslist. My sister in law Shannon is also a pro-Craigslist shopper so she's been helping me find some good deals.

So far, we got a second swing for $40 (looks brand new, retails at $179.99 at Babies R Us) and two Graco car seat bases for Darren's truck ($20 each, retails new around $50 each).

This week, I bought all the toys below for $50:

From the same seller, I also bought a huge bag of girls clothes 3 to 6 months and girls clothes 6 to 9 months. Here's a picture of the girls clothes 6 to 9 months. Each bag was $60.

Cravings

People have been asking me about what my cravings have been. For the most part, I wouldn't really say I've had anything super weird or really intense. The first trimester was all about carbs. Pasta, pizza, bread, etc. It was all delicious. Here are a few of the other things I've been craving off and on:

• Pineapple -- Sometimes when Darren is at band practice, I open a can and eat the entire thing in one sitting. Sometimes I eat half of it after opening the can while standing in the kitchen. 
• Mango -- I think I ate mango everyday for about three weeks, so good! Thankfully they've kept them in stock all winter long at the grocery store so I've been having it at least a few times a week.
• Papaya -- When the grocery store had only two mangos the other day, I bought a giant papaya and have been so excited about it. I'm not sure

  

  Photo from Target. Graham crackers not sold online.
   

  I've ever had this fruit before but when I eat it the girls seem to go crazy kicking around so they must like it too. 
• Graham Crackers -- Yesterday on Easter I made Darren go to Walgreen at 9 pm to get me Graham Crackers. This might be the first weird thing that I've actually felt compelled to send the husband out in the middle of the night to purchase.
• Yogurt shakes -- Milk, fruit, yogurt, peanut butter, flax seed, honey, etc.
• Eggs -- Two a day for breakfast usually.
• Sandwiches -- Roast beef with melted cheese and tons of veggies.
• Tortillas -- We've been having a lot of these for dinners with meat/cheese/lettuce/veggies/beans/etc wrapped inside. 
• Milk -- I just want a giant glass of milk all the time.
• Hot fudge sundae/milkshake -- I haven't been too obsessed with ice cream but anytime its offered, I certainly don't pass it up. There have been some definite ice cream moments though. If anyone has been craving ice cream, its been Darren. And if he's getting a milk shake, well I'm getting one too! Sympathy cravings! 
• Cereal -- Multi-grain cheerios mostly. 
• Peanut butter with celery -- I could eat this snack every day.  
• Cheese -- I've been buying bars of cheddar and monterrey jack.  
• Mac cheese -- I almost never let myself eat Kraft macaroni and cheese b/c its so bad for you, but I've had it a few times (okay several times) during my pregnancy with a can of tuna mixed into it. Tuna is healthy though, so I guess that sort of balances it, right?
• Chocolate -- Well duh, of course I want chocolate. But I love chocolate whether I'm pregnant or not so this isn't a huge shocker. 

Looking over this giant list, I guess I am just craving everything! And for the record, I think pickles are disgusting and would never dip them in ice cream. 

25 week twin belly

The babies are the size of rutabagas. They weigh about 1.5 lbs according to the baby apps.

My gestational diabetes test was negative on Thursday, as well as my FFN test so no labor for two weeks. The doctor will keep doing the FFN test every two weeks until I get to 30 weeks. We'll be logging a lot of time at the doctor's office coming up.

I had Good Friday off and had an amazing day of pampering. Got a prenatal massage at Lakewood Masotherapy and then my friend Kendall did a free hair smoothing treatment (doc gave the approval on it) at her salon out in Beachwood. Apparently I won't have to straighten my hair for months so I am pretty pumped about it.

We also completed week one of our five week birthing class through Fairview Hospital on Thursday night. Most of it was focused on what happens to your body during pregnancy and delivery. The last half hour we took our pillows and blankets and did deep breathing techniques while our labor couch rubbed our back and shoulders. It was my favorite half hour of the week. We also used exercise balls to practice moving through the pain of contractions. To simulate the pain, the instructor asked the partners to pinch their pregnant wives (or girlfriends, or sisters, etc). She even told them to pinch harder 20 seconds into the contraction. She recommended practicing this at home. So if you see me with welts on my arms, its not spousal abuse, its contraction practice. (Note: I will not be practicing at home.)

Home Doppler

For my birthday, my husband bought me a home doppler so I could hear the babies' heartbeats whenever I wanted. For the neurotic and constant worriers, this little device can be very refreshing.

Photo from Amazon.

I *thought* I was picking up heartbeats around week 13. But I realize now that I was hearing my own heartbeat. The difference is how fast the heartbeat is. The actual baby (or babies) heartbeat will be much faster - you will probably have a hard time counting it. Baby heartbeats are usually around 120 to 180. (The girls have been around 150 for most of the pregnancy.) Our own heartbeats are much slower, under 100.

When you do find a baby heartbeat, it will sound more like horse hoof beats. I was  picking them up by week 15 or 16. Any time I get a little nervous or feel a weird cramp, its been refreshing to be able to hear them both. It keeps me sane and from freaking out because I am always worried. It helps too if you have an idea of where the babies are. I pay attention every ultrasound or when the doctor uses her doppler to see where she is hearing them. Obviously babies moves around but it can give you a starting point. It may take several minutes to find a heartbeat so be patient! I also use my doppler sparingly, like once a week or once every two weeks. I'm not really sure if its safe to use everyday. Be cautious about over use.

Here is the one I have. It's from angelsounds.

24 week check up

Had another doctor's appointment today. This was the ninth ultrasound I've got this pregnancy. I hadn't realized that most people only get a couple ultrasounds throughout the entire 40 weeks until someone said something about this at my yoga class. A small perk for being high risk!

Anyway, both babies are now in the breached position. This makes sense because I've been feeling baby movement really low the last week or so. That would be the girls both kicking me about four inches below my belly button. There is still time for them to turn though.

I go back on Thursday for a fetal fibronectin test and the gestational diabetes test. The fetal fibronectin is a protein test that can indicate early labor is approaching. Hoping its at zero on Thursday! I guess a zero means you have almost no chance of going into labor for two weeks.

Also, my uterus is only measuring three weeks ahead at 27 weeks. Which is funny because I feel like I look about ready to pop. My blood pressure is still super low at 100/66. Point for me!