Well here we are.

Well here we are. Just hanging out in the "nesting" room of the Fetal Care Center of Cincinnati Children's Hospital. We had our echo this morning at 8:30a EST. Laying on my back was KILLER. At 21 weeks and some change I didn't think it would be this bad already but I felt like I was going to pass out! I was short of breath hurt. I had to shift probably 5 times and finally succumb to laying on my side. The cardiologist didn't come in to see us this time. The tech just said, "you are free to go and your results will be sent up to your team."

So here we are, waiting again. My stomach is a bundle of nerves, and dunkin donuts (kind of a bust). I've been to the bathroom twice since we've been here. My belly always gets super upset during stressful events. I have to try my hardest not to fart during the ultrasounds when they are pushing all over the babies while my intestines and belly are yelling out loud.

I talked to Tim for a minute. He still hasn't gone to sleep since he shift started last night and is so beyond tired he is wired to go. Ethan talked to me on the phone. He is full of "ga ga ga ga" and "ma ma ma ma" noises today AND has been standing on his own while I've been gone! He had done it a few times before I left, just randomly popping up to stand in the middle of the floor, but I guess he's done it quite a bit the past two days. I feel like I'm missing everything and we've been gone literally like 48 hours.

I am exhausted and going to sit back here in this big comfy chair, close my eyes, and think about the consequences my stomach and behind will face if I eat this extra dunkin donut I got for the road.

Oh the joys of being pregnant.

Well here we go again.

We showed up at Good Samaritain Hospital at 11:05a after driving in circles to try and find a place to park through all the crazy construction they have going on. We finally make it up though the maze of a hospital. I am completely out of breath by the time we make it up to the 8th floor. -JEESH-

....and then we waited 40 mins to be called back to my 11:00am appointment.

After the ultrasound which only lasted all of about 20 minutes because the babies were really cooperating with us! and the results are:

Cervix- long and closed! 4.02cm was the shortest measurement and the doctors said that was beyond excellent for having twins with twin to twin and all the exccess fluid! So bravo cervix! I wish you could give your friend, the placenta, some advice of how to function correctly for a change. Maybe have a sisterly conversation to jump start to into regularity. -in my dreams-

Anyways....

Gavin- Baby A, our recipient is measuring 21 weeks 3 days, I am 21 weeks 1 day so he is a little ahead of schedule! He is 16 ounces so we have made the 1 pound mark! :) He is looking great and plump. He was all stretched out. He is head down already on my right side. His little noggin was touching my cervix and his feet are stretched all the way out to my ribs. He has 12cm of amniotic fluid which is still in excess. He should only have around 4cm.

Enough about Gavin! Gabriel, Gabe- Baby B, our donor is measuring 20 weeks 1 day. So he is still a week behind which hasn't changed. He is only 12-13oz right now which is still good! He is breech on my left side. His little neck is kinked right now against my rib cage, hence all the darn pressure I feel against my lung! and his is in the fetal position with his knees half way tucked up and his little arms were free moving from his mouth, to suck his thumb, down to his umbilical cord. and the kicker is HE HAS FLUID IN HIS BLADDER, but no measurable about around his body, not that it isn't there. The pressure of Gavin's excess fluid is just applying pressure to his amniotic sac. He is just recycling there, my environmentally conscious fetus, is peeing, drinking it, and peeing and drinking it.

On both babies their heartrates and blood pressure in their bodies and umbilical cords are in normal range! Their weight discordance is still only about 15%

So we are still in stage 1.

The ultrasound technician in Springfield just didn't take the time to see if Gabe had emptied his bladder or if it just wasn't there. She just did a quick scan and called the doctor in and off we went. So this trip may not have been needed. We have an echocardiogram tomorrow morning at 8am and if their hearts are still stable and Gavin's leak hasn't progressed we are stable still. Dr. P, we saw today. He said that if we are stable we can just go back home or if it gets worse we will be candidates for the surgery. .

Either way no surgery or surgery I will be choosing to do another amnioreduction. To take some pressure off of Gavin's heart and to allow Gabe to not be so smooshed against my ribs and compressed in his sac. The last time we had a reduction his little amount of fluid nearly instantly doubled because of the lack of pressure!

So now we are back at the hotel, to sit and wait for another 18 hours for my next appointment.

So it all depends on how Gavin's little beating heart looks in the morning to the next step in our adventure.

Ohio, here we come!

I really need to take a moment to thank everyone who has made this trip to Cincinnati to help our lil men possible. Mary from the TTTS foundation for supplying me with an abundance of useful information on the disease and providing emotional support. Thank you for also putting us up in this wonderful hotel for the first two nights we are here before our surgery, it is beautiful and we would have never been able to afford to stay in a place so nice just a block away from the hospital. Thank you to the entire team at the Fetal Care Center of Childrens Hospital of Cincinnati for graciously donating a hotel room for one night and a gas card to assist in us making it home after the long drive here. And thank you so much to Erika and Emily from my baby board on Babycenter.com. Emily for her gracious donation and support. And Erika for allowing us to have access to a very good discount on a hotel room for the rest of our stay. We are on the list for the Ronald Mcdonald house but all the help has made is possible for us to make it here!

Last night was the worst night of this experience so far. Being away from my son and fiance, cold with the air blowing, sweating with it off, worrying about how the guys are doing at home, having to pee two or three times, sore belly, ahhhh!

We went to bed at 11:30p eastern and woke up at 7a. So I am way off my normal sleeping with our lil man. I am so tired and I'm not sure if I'm hungry or nervous but my belly is way upset. It could be all the hotel food we ate last night before bed. We each had a cup of vegetable chicken soup, shared a huge portion of shrimp spinach dip with tortilla chips, half a turkey club sandwich with these awesome seasoned fries. I myself at three pickle slices dipped in ranch, and we shared a piece of raspberry NY style cheesecake. Talk about a big ole meal! There was no one at the hotel last night at all, except the entire Cincinnati Bengels Team!, so the lady in the lounge here definitely hooked us on on dinner for a VERY good price! Just a perk of people asking "are you about ready to pop?!", "no I'm only just about 5 months, with twin boys," "oh my god! wow! congrats!" :) 

 We have an ultrasound in 3 hours so now we just have time to waste! Hopefully the boys at home wake up and call me before I see how these little men in my belly at cooking along. 

I felt a lot of movement yesterday in the car. Gabe, our donor, who is a stuck donor with no fluid now, kept sticking his little foot or knee straight out and you could see and feel it! like a 1 inch x 1.5 inch lump! My mother, who is my traveling partner on this whole experience thought it was completely disgusting. Gavin of course was doing back flips in his massive ocean of an amniotic sac. 

I haven't felt them yet this morning, so of course my worst fear is always that we lost one over night. It will be reassuring or devastating to see them on the screen moving or not moving. I am also hoping that Gavin's heart isn't enlarged and that his tricuspid regurg. hasn't gotten any worse either. Our hope with Gabriel is that we have a beating heart and kidney function. 

Well I am going to shower, get dressed, gorge myself on the leftovers that are in the hotel mini fridge, and try to stay calm until we see how these babies are doing.