Month: July 2010

And in spawn news…

It looks like we won’t be able to fit three baby seats in our current car (which we love and don’t want to replace). And even if we can physically fit them in, the tether straps all go across the boot, so getting a pram into the car is going to be impossible.

So it looks like we’re in the market for a second hand people mover. Hopefully it will seat at least five, preferably more (in case we ever need to give someone a lift), have at least three anchor points for car seats, have a manual transmission, power steering, air conditioning, less than 100,000 on the clock, and not be brown. Oh, and it needs to be reliable, cheap to run, and cost almost nothing (which is what we currently have budgeted for a new car).

Yes, we’re depressed.

Nothing to stress about

We saw the obstetrician on Friday. He doesn’t think there is anything to be overly concerned about. And frankly, if there was, our ability to do anything about it is limited.

Three years ago, when we had the 12 week scan for Inigo, they did far less tests, because the ultrasounds were far less powerful, and they couldn’t see nearly as much detail. So in the opinion of our OB, three years ago, we wouldn’t even have known there was a potential issue at 12 weeks, so we would not have have had anything to worry about.

At this point, I’d like to talk about abortion. If you find that upsetting, don’t read any further. No, I am not planning to terminate this pregnancy, but there are some technical issues which are pertinent to how I am thinking at the moment, and it’s fair to give warning.

With a singleton pregnancy, if there is something drastically wrong with the baby* (it is growing without a brain, or has another condition that is incompatible with life), a mother can choose to terminate the pregnancy, up to about 20 weeks I believe. But with twins, after about 12 weeks, you can’t kill one baby and leave the other – and even at that point it is risky for the other baby. So if there is a problem with one of them, I would have to kill both of them, or neither.

You can’t do a CVS with twins. CVS can be done at 12 weeks, but Amnio can’t be done until 15 weeks, and then it is a 2 week wait for the results. So I wouldn’t know anything until 17 weeks, at which point I would have no options anyway.

I am not saying that I would consider an abortion, but it just seems that testing is pretty irrelevant at this point, because I certainly wouldn’t risk a healthy baby.

I’m probably just rambling, but the last couple of days have been a pretty horrendous roller coaster of emotions. Mostly fear and worry. And that’s no way to grow healthy babies.

*Or if a mother chooses not to continue with a pregnancy.

12 week scan

For a start, let me complain about how freaking much this cost. $390 in Wahroonga, for a scan that is bulk billed (ie. free) in Penrith. That is the basic difference between the leafy North Shore, and Bogan central. Well, call me a bogan, but I resent being sniffed at by a receptionist in pearls and paying a million dollars for the privilege.

Right, so now I have that mundane detail out of the way, now I can moan about the actual scan. There is an issue with how twin 2 is lying, and the sonographer just couldn’t get a decent look at all the details they are supposed to check at the 12 week scan.

There are a couple of slight irregularities – twin 1 has only one artery in the umbillical cord (it should have two), and twin two has less amniotic fluid than twin one. That, and the fact that they can’t check the blood flow in the liver, etc, and they think I should do another scan in 3-4 weeks to rule out any problems.

It all sounds very reasonable and not scary when you put it like that, but being on the other end of the phone when hearing the news wasn’t a happy feeling, and I am still feeling pretty scared now. I’ll see the OB tomorrow to talk about it, but basically, I have three weeks to wait to find out if there is a reason to worry, or if everything is normal.

I keep hoping that the boring and mundane stage of this pregnancy will kick in soon, but I suppose that is too much to ask for?

Stuff

1. Why didn’t Courtney get a welcome home party after her elimination? Everyone else is shown going home, and then there is a little recap about what they have been doing since they left the competition. Thanks Dad for pointing that out.

2. Yesterday I went with a friend for her 12 week scan, and apart from 10 minutes of violent purging as soon as I woke up, I was pretty much ok all day, just on one Zofran,and one Restavit. So I thought things were looking up.

3. Until this morning. And that is all I’ll say about that.

4. Today, dad gave Inigo a branch with four pine cones on it. Inigo is into counting things at the moment and he counted each pinecone, and came up with four as the total. It’s happened before, but he seems to be getting more consistent with his counting. Clever chicken.

5. Tomorrow is my 12 week scan. Not enormously stressed about it, but a little bit worried. I’m still bleeding, and have had some cramping. It’s a good thing I feel so sick, it keeps me feeling pregnant!

6. As some canny readers have noticed, I was on the tele on Tuesday night. Channel 10 have this clever idea about interviewing the residents of Abbot St, Sydney (a Labor seat) and Gillard St in Melbourne (a Liberal seat). So they knocked on my door last week, and I dragged myself away from the vomitarium for long enough to give them a few pithy comments about my socialist ideals. It’s an ongoing series they are doing, so you might catch me again. And I promise to make an effort to look less scraggy next time.