So it has been a very eventful week. Zara spent the first few days in the NICU until she could prove that she could eat and breathe at the same time, that she could maintain her own body temperature, and that she was eating enough and gaining weight.

Gabe and I were put in a recovery unit on the delivery floor and I was given a nasty Magnesium IV to make sure I didn’t have seizures or a stroke (a side effect of the pre-eclampsia). (So, please accept my apologies if we had a less than clear converstaion the first few days – I didn’t realize how drugged up I was!!)

Unfortunately, with the Magnesium IV, I was not mobile so I wasn’t able to spend much time with Zara. Zvonimir was amazing and visited her often cuddling, feeding, and learning how to care for our tiny little girl in the incubator.

Gabriel did very well staying with mom and dad and the nurses at Swedish were amazing! They really do teach you a lot within the first few days!

Gabe and I were discharged Tuesday night and the three of us headed home to try this on our own. It was a little overwhelming at first being in a different place with a different set-up and no nurses to help you, no room service to deliver food, but we figured it out. We have an amazing group of friends and neighbor who sent us food and flowers which allowed us to focus our attention on Gabriel and getting our nursey set up. Thank you all for your generous support – it was vey much appreciated!!

Everything was going well until Thursday morning when I woke up just feeling off…. I tried several things but nothing seemed to make me feel better. The room was spinning and I had a horrible headache. Finally, Z suggested I check my blood pressure. It was high, dangerously high….

My doctor’s office saw me right away and talked of admitting me. This was scary because Zara was scheduled to be released on Friday. They gave me blood pressure medicine and sent me home but asked that I call if I at all felt bad. I felt fine most of the day but my blood pressure crept up and near midnight it was again dangerously high. When Z returned from visiting Zara in the hospital, we decided it was best to pack Gabe up and take me to the emergency room.

I spent the next few hours in the ER getting blood tests and an IV. I was admitted into the hospital in the middle of the night but luckily they allowed Z and Gabe to bunk in the room with me. When Zara was released the following day, Z was able to bring her to my room where we were all together for the first time since the birth.

After a few short days in the hospital I feel like I’m feeling much better and my blood pressure is back to normal. Both children are home with us, and while the first night was an adjustment, I feel like we’re getting into a routine.

View pictures of Gabriel and Zara’s first week at home.

Posted in Gabriel and Zara 90 Comments »

Little did I know when I wrote the last post that we were so close to having the babies! I had a regular checkup with the doctors Thursday the 4th. At first Z was not going to make it to my appointment because we had several other appointments for him to attend in the coming weeks, but at the last minute he decided to go with me.

The babies looked great in the ultrasound appointment, their heart rates were great in the non-stress test and they were moving a lot, then the nurse took my blood pressure…. Wait, that can’t be right, that’s REALLY high for me, I though. She took it a second time – still high, this was unusual. My blood pressure is normally low!

The nurse stayed with us for quite a while talking to us about breast feeding and when the Dr. entered she asked why the nurse was bothering discussing breast feeding because I would be getting a real consultation tomorrow. Tomorrow? I asked, still not understanding…. I didn’t have any appointments scheduled for the following day. The Dr. was like – yes, you’ll probably have babies tomorrow and will get a full consultation tomorrow after you deliver! What??? I said confused!

Still not understanding I said, oh, so I’ll go home and get my bag and come back tomorrow and you’ll induce me tomorrow. She laughed and said, “No, I’m admitting you right now. You’re no longer working and are on hospital bed rest from now on.”

So, I got a wheelchair ride to the other side of the hospital into my own room where we sat and waited, and waited, and waited for hours for my test results. The plan was to put me on bedrest to see if we could hold off one more week to allow the babies to reach 36 weeks.
The results of my blood test showed signs of pre-eclampsia – pregnancy induced hypertension – which is very common with twin pregnancies (and some singleton pregnancies). I was fortunate to make it to 35 wks without bed rest and no pre-eclampsia so this diagnosis shouldn’t have been a shock, I just wasn’t mentally prepared to go into the hospital!

The only cure for pre-eclampsia is delivery so the doctor took tests and determined that waiting another whole week could potentially be dangerous to me and the best option was to induce me ASAP.

They started me on one medicine to try and speed things up but after 2 doses, little had happened. They decided to hold off on more doses until the following morning when they would evaluate if my body could handle another dose of that med or if they should use petosin (another common drug)…. When the Dr. came in the AM, I had started the labor process on my own so I did not need the petosin.

I received the epidural (that was really the worst part of the entire delivery!!!!!) and had what I’m told is a very quick labor. All twin deliveries at our hospital happen in the operating room just in case you run into problems and need a C-section.

Gabe entered the world first and we quickly learned his lungs were working well! The doctors wisked him away to weigh/measure him while they retrieved Zara (pronounced like it rhymes with Car)…. Zara was breech but her brother’s delivery paved the way and she was much smaller so a breech delivery was possible.

Zara was just a few ounces too small to avoid the NICU (neonatal intensive care unit) and had difficulty swallowing and breathing at the same time (very common for preemmature babies) so after a few minutes together, she was taken to the NICU while Gabe was able to join us in our recovery room.

View pictures of Gabriel and Zara’s birthday.

Posted in Friends & Family, Gabriel and Zara 81 Comments »

Well, we’re in the home stretch now! 8.5 months down and only a few more weeks to go. The room is ready, baby clothes washed, hospital bag packed, and Zvonimir and I are looking forward to meeting the little ones!

I’m still feeling pretty good though each day it gets more difficult to move, bend, sleep, etc.! My maternity clothes are even starting to get too short for my belly….and I thought my belly was huge a few weeks ago!! The doctors are very pleased with the progress and said I have an ideal twin pregnancy so far – I’m lucky to have avoided bed rest and continue working full time.

The babies look great and are continuing to grow. At last estimate, they were over 4 pounds each. We won’t have another measurement appointment until wk 36. Everything looks good and if they can stay put until week 36 they’re lungs will likely be fully developed which hopefully means less time spent in the NICU.

We’ve added a few 33 week pictures and hope to take a few more shots before the babies arrive. The 3D pictures of the babies are at the end.  These are  likely our only 3D pictures because there isn’t a lot of room in there to get good 3D images and they tend to be sitting on each other during the appointments!!

View my 33 wk pictures.

Posted in Friends & Family, Gabriel and Zara 4 Comments »

It was tough to find a nursery theme/colors that worked for both a girl and boy but we found the jungle theme to be very popular this year. After several test paint colors we finally found one we liked and Z got to work painting the room. It took a little longer than expected to paint but the color turned out very nice. Z and I assembled both of the cribs and the furniture looks beautiful in the room.

Last weekend when our friends were visiting we put the final decorating touches on the room. We’re very pleased with the results and it makes me smile to sit in my comfy chair and think that we’ll have two babies in a few weeks! I look forward to bringing them home to their new room!

View photos of the nursery .

Posted in Gabriel and Zara 2 Comments »

My friends Jessica, who I met at Wharton, and Dorothy, who I met through work, hosted my baby shower this past weekend. Several of our friends from Wharton flew out for the shower. It was awesome to catch up with our friends and the baby shower was really fun. I received so many awesome gifts. I’m really lucky to have such great friends. I just wish the all lived closer so we could see each other more often!

View my Baby Shower photos .

Posted in Friends & Family, Gabriel and Zara 80 Comments »