Bring on the last trimester!

Mina is officially 28 weeks! Here are her 7 month belly pictures; it's crazy to think she still has a little over 2 months to go!

Otherwise, everything is going very well. She's still contracting at times, but keeping her feet up as much as possible. Next appointment is next Wednesday with her OB, we will update then!

Busy, busy week!

The week started out with Mina's growth scan and follow up appointment at her regular OB in Maryland. Both babies are growing beautifully, Noah weighing in at 2 pounds 1 ounce, and Charlie weighing in at 2 pounds 2 ounces.

Mina getting scanned at the OB

Baby Noah

Baby Charlie waving

Mina's contractions didn't really stop with the dosage of Procardia she was on, however, so the doctor upped the dosage and the frequency, and now her contractions have gotten a lot better. She's still taking it easy, taking the opportunity to study for the nursing boards.

Today, she got to have a follow up fetal echo at Children's, as well as meet her new OB. The fetal echo was very good, according to Dr. Donofrio (the head of the fetal heart program). Charlie's heart function, aside from his HLHS, is very good. She was very pleased with the study. Josh and Mina got to have a lot of questions answered, as this was the first time they sat down with the team since the news of Charlie's diagnosis. As you can imagine, that meeting was a big blur. They also got to tour the Cardiac ICU where Charlie will be staying, as well as the Heart and Kidney floor, which is where he will be moved to once he no longer requires intensive care and will be getting ready for the transition home. It was a very, very good appointment, and Josh and Mina both left there feeling very positive and confident.

Josh had to go back to work after this appointment, so Mina's sister accompanied her to meet the new OB, Dr. Downing. He was an absolute sweetheart, and answered all of both of their questions (it's good to have a labor and delivery nurse as a sister!).

All in all, a very good and productive day. Mina's next appointment is in 2 weeks, where her cervix will be measured again and she will do her glucose testing. Hopefully in the next two weeks there will be nothing new to update on! :)

26 week checkup

So the snow continued to shuffle all of our appointments around, and Mina got to see her regular OB on Friday instead of Thursday, and her new OB will now be next Wednesday after the fetal echo.

So Mina's 26 week checkup: Mom is doing well, aside from the usual aches and pains. Not too much weight gain, good BP, babies' hearts sounded good, belly measuring nice and huge (as it should for twins!) The preterm labor scare was brought up, and the nurse practitioner did another Fetal Fibronectin test (which was negative again), as well as cultures again just to make sure there was no infection. She checked Mina's cervix again, which was long and closed. She then put Mina on a contraction monitor, since Mina admitted to having continued contractions since discharge from Georgetown. Mina was oblivious, and even told her sister "See? I don't feel like I'm contracting at all, I'm sure it's fine!" Patricia raised her eyebrows and pointed to the monitor, and sure enough, Mina was contracting every couple of minutes again - just not feeling them.

So now, Mina is officially on leave from work, on modified bedrest, and taking Procardia to help stop the contractions. She goes in for a follow up on Monday, where she will have her growth scan and check in with the doctor. Hopefully the contractions will stop, and these babies will cook for another good 10-12 weeks!

Oh, winter...

Due to the (next) impending snow storm, all of Mina's appointments have been rescheduled. She is now having her 25 week appointment on Thursday afternoon at 215; she is meeting her new OB Dr. Downing on Friday at 9am; and her fetal echo will be next Wednesday at 8am. Hopefully there will be no more delays!

She is still contracting irregularly and still trying to take it easy until she can see a doctor. We will keep everyone posted after each appointment!

Little Misbehavers...

We are sure some of you have heard, but Mina had another little scare this week. Tuesday after work, Mina started feeling some uncomfortable contractions shortly before the snow began. She drank lots of water and took it easy for the evening, and they seemed to peter out. She was able to sleep pretty comfortably without feeling much of anything. She went ahead and went to work Wednesday morning, still feeling uncomfortable at times, but nothing that she could really time or keep track of.

Halfway through her shift, she felt a couple of pretty uncomfortable contractions and asked her doctor how often was too often to contract. Her doctor, knowing full well that Mina downplays everything, told her to get registered and mosey her way to labor and delivery, where the doctor on call and charge nurse were expecting her. Thank goodness for pushy (yet loving!) doctors, because once Mina was put on the monitor, it was shown that she was contracting every 2-3 minutes. Labs were drawn, an IV was hung and an ultrasound were done. The hope was that Mina was just dehydrated and some of the fluid would help peter out the contractions. Though she started feeling them less, after more than an hour, Mina was still contracting. Since Sibley is not a high risk hospital, and Mina was only 24 weeks and 5 days with twins, she was transferred to Georgetown Hospital.

There, more tests were run, another IV was hung and she was started on a medication called Indocin. She was kept overnight for observation, and luckily, the contractions slowed down to maybe one an hour or so. She was discharged around lunchtime today, with modified bedrest for the weekend, and if no more contractions, she is allowed to be back on her feet on Monday. Mina's cervix remained long and closed through her stay at Georgetown, and there was a test done called a Fetal Fibronectin which was negative, indicating that the risk of delivery within the next two weeks is extremely low - all great news! The ultrasound showed that both boys are doing great and very active, growing exactly on target and measuring at roughly 1 pound 10 ounces each (give or take 4 ounces).

Josh is in Annapolis starting his new job at Arinc this week, and since everything was pointing to nothing but some false labor, he stayed in Annapolis upon Mina's insistance, and Mina's sister Patricia stuck by her side while she was under observation at Georgetown, braving the extremely uncomfortable sleep chairs (what a trooper!)

Hopefully this is the last we'll have of this preterm labor scare, but contractions are definitely more common with twins. Even though Mina can be very stubborn, she will make sure to continue listening to her doctors and make sure these boys cook for as long as possible before they come out to meet the world. Thanks everyone for the prayers and well wishes!

24 weeks!

And Mina as already popped considerably. She's wondering how on earth she is supposed grow for another 12-15 weeks! Babies are kicking a lot and moving a lot, especially whenever mom is trying to sleep. Typical :)

Looking forward to our day of appointments on February 10th, where we will have another echo, meet with our case manager, consult with our new OB, have a growth scan and have a regular check up with the old OB. Next visit will be the glucose testing, let's pray for no more complications and some good results! We will update everyone then on how things are going and how Noah and Charlie are doing! Lots and lots of love to everyone.

Hello, all!

We have decided to start this blog in order to update our friends and family on our growing family. Mina is currently 23 weeks pregnant with twin boys, Noah Raymond and Charles Matthew (or Charlie, as we've already taken to calling him).

Both boys are growing well, however, at 21 weeks, Charlie was diagnosed with HLHS (Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome). The left side of his heart is underdeveloped, and he will need 3 surgeries beginning at 2-3 days of age in order to do a little re-wiring.

With all of the things that seem to be occurring with this pregnancy, we decided the best way to keep everyone updated is with this website. We will be having growth scans and fetal echos done every month to ensure everything is going well. We're trying to make it as far as possible into this pregnancy, which can be a little tough with multiples - but we're pretty sure Mina can make it :)

Mina will now be delivering at Washington Hospital Center with Dr. Downing instead of with her original practice at Sibley. She has a consult with Dr. Downing on February 10th. He is allowing her to stay with her practice until delivery time as long as she consults with him regularly - which is perfect, because as you all know she adores the current practice she is with and is quite attached to her doctors!

Things seem to be falling into place, which is very reassuring. The next few months are going to be scary and tough, but so far the support has been amazing, and everything is moving ahead smoothly. We can't wait to meet our little guys in May, and do what we can to help Charlie. We will make sure to keep everyone updated often :)