Sister - January 31st

Well ....... this pic isn't as big as I'd like it to be now is it ....... HMPH!

maybe I'll try again ...................

anyhow - there she is! In all her pointy glory!

pic taken today. Technically due in 3 weeks. She is in horrible skin pain folks. Poor baby Sister. I even feel really, really bad for her now and would like to cut them out myself. Damn Daryl's

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Sister's Baby Update as of Today!!

Boys are FABULOUS!! Small size difference but completely normal for fraternal twins. Baby A is in vertex position not sideways and weighs about 5lb 13oz. Baby B is sideways but that's ok as he will move once A is born. He is weighing about 5lbs 5oz. Both definitely have BOY parts!! Basically everyone is doing fine

I had really thoguht she had at least one girl in there. Baby A was going to be my girl. Two boys it is! good sized twins. She is due next month - Feb. 24th. Doc's won't let her go past Feb. 10th, but I think she will have them in her arms by Sunday!

Thursday i am kinda thinkin' labor will begin.....i hope so. She really is starting to split .........

Ugh - Seems i am having labor pains today

soooooo tired. So much pain and I gotta go sit with Sister for however long it takes and be cool.

NST

Sister has requested I take her to her Stress-test tomorrow

I am happy to go and also happy that this is more normal than the re-do of the Ultra-sound she is going to Thursday. Its a re-do of the ultra-sound she had yesterday, cuz the doc said the babies are measuring funny or soemthing.........

So a stress test every few days for my enormous pregnant Sister I can handle. They gotta make sure the Darrels are okay in taht cramped space for 2!

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34.5 Weeks!

here is my very pregnant Sister - not much further to go. Her Doc is Dr Kenyon - a lady that is new to this town. Anyone heard of her? I might have the spelling wrong.......

choices

so my sister in law has jumped on the ultra sound band wagon.

her doctor, who is a "specialist" like thats supposed to mean something was texting with me the other day and told me how she is excited to go for her first ultra-sound. She knows its early. I text her back asking what they hope to achieve with an ultra-sound to vibrate it out of her? she tells me given her history of losing the last 2 they want to make sure there is actually a baby in there and that it is healthy. I asked her if they had a doppler. She had no idea what that was. So i texted back to her that it is a less invasive ultra-sound than the big one and lets you hear the baby's heartbeat. cuz seriously, this early, thats all they need to know. Thats when she tells me again she doens't know what that is and that her doctor is a specialist and doesn't mind the ultra-sound. I text back - HOW EXCITING!!!!

fast forward to today when I mail her to find out how her fetus is and how the ultra-sound went. She lets me know her scheduled ulta-sound is for next week, but funny I should ask ............. she had some spotting today lets hope she didn't use a tampon this time so she went in for an emergency ultra-sound!

What The Fuck! Seriously! if the fetus is coming out its coming out! there is nothing they can do. Ultra-sound or not. And if its just having a bad day - an ultra-sound aint gonna make the fetus any happier! I just don't understand. I went in with Charlotte with the scary spotting and the doctors and nurses sat me down and explained that they didn't want to do anything because an internal is bad when you are pregnant and an ultra-sound isn't gonna stop anything. If anything is happening. They told me it was more than likely implant bleeding and to go lay on the couch for 2 days jsut in case. I left the hospital scared, but it just made sense what the doctor had told me. So lay I did. took a couple days off work and laid there

Then of course - the next week i got my hands on some AWESOME text books my doulla/midwife girlfriend had and read them cover to cover! Then it made Even More SEnse what the Doctor had told me.

i try to pass this knowledge of what I learned on. I don't push or at least I think I don't push, but I try to enlighten pregnant women. You can't do everything, and not Everything is for everybody. Frig, I didn't do everything and I certainly don't know everything. There is too much! but i did retain some important stuff. There's a few things that are just ......... like I don't know.

for example my sister saying how bloated she is and she's retaining so much water her joints feel like they are floating. She is on her way right this moment to pick up smoky bacon chips, hot lips & candy coke bottles!!! WTF!

Finally I have a pregnant woman close by that isn't a complete Moron! I know I won't have an anxiety attack everytime she tells me something. Thank you Steph for not making me Crazy! i am excited for Flanger!!

In the end its their choices what they do with their babies and their body. I will just be excited that I will be a super aunt

YaY!

Ultrasounds

During the course of one month in late 1993, two landmark scientific papers were published. The first paper, a largely randomized trial of the effectiveness of routine prenatal ultrasound screening, studied the outcome of more than 15,000 pregnant women who either received two routine scans at 15 to 22 weeks and 31 to 35 weeks, or were scanned only for medical indications.

Results showed that the mean number of sonograms in the ultrasound group was 2.2 and in the control group (for indication only) was 0.6. The rate of adverse outcome (fetal death, neonatal death, neonatal morbidity), as well as the rate of preterm delivery and distribution of birth weights, was the same for both groups. In addition, in the author's words: "The ultrasonic detection of congenital abnormalities has no effect on perinatal outcome." At last we have a randomized clinical trial of sufficient size to conclude that there is no value to routine scanning during pregnancy.

The second landmark paper, also a randomized controlled trial, looked at the safety of repeated prenatal ultrasound imaging. While the original purpose of the trial was hopefully to demonstrate the safety of repeated scanning, the results were the opposite. From 2,834 pregnant women, 1,415 received ultrasound imaging at 18, 24, 28, 34 and 38 weeks gestation (intensive group) while the other 1,419 received single ultrasound imaging at 18 weeks (regular group). The only difference between the two groups was significantly higher (one-third more) intrauterine growth retardation in the intensive group. This important and serious finding prompted the authors to state: "It would seem prudent to limit ultrasound examinations of the fetus to those cases in which the information is likely to be of clinical importance." Ironically, it is now likely that ultrasound may lead to the very condition, IUGR, that it has for so long claimed to be effective in detecting.

Although we now have sufficient scientific data to be able to say that routine prenatal ultrasound scanning has no effectiveness and may very well carry risks, it would be naive to think that routine use will not continue.

Unfortunately, medical doctors are inadequately educated in the basics of scientific method. It will be a struggle to close the gap between this new scientific data and clinical practice.

Ovulation

i have Crazy ovulation going on!

i mean its nuts in there right now.

Holy Carp!

hormones flyin' all over the place. This is crazy. Good thing he ISN'T here - YIKES!

Sister

Well she made it to 2010 without giving birth.

a scare on Christmas Eve has left her bed ridden for the rest of her pregnancy.

she was in labor. she needs to just sit now. She's got 5 weeks to go! Feb 10th.

1 baby is head down the other sideways.

she is extremely uncomfortable. Huge. Measuring well over 42 weeks now. I feel for her. she is not sleeping and is just hurty. I can't wait to see my nephews! Her husbands birthday is next weekend. I hope she makes it past then ....... each day is a chanllenge now for her. I hope I'll be able to be of some help - my back ....... seems I keep having set-backs. I hope I can hold the babies without killing myself to do it