As most of you know by now, I came home yesterday around noon. What most of you don't know (because I forgot to include it in my last pre-op post) is that my mom was able to take time off to be with me for my surgery! Ted and I were so glad that she could come; it was exactly what I needed in order to feel completely serene and prepared. She flew in on Thursday afternoon and we did a little last-minute shopping to make sure I had everything I needed for my little "vacation." Then she stayed up with me until midnight so that I could eat and drink until the very last minute (I knew the babies would be so mad at me in the morning when I wasn't allowed to eat breakfast or even have a sip of water, so I wanted to keep them happy for as long as possible).
After a great night's sleep, I was completely ready to go. I got a nice surprise in the triage room when quad mom Jen showed up. She offered some firsthand advice, encouragement, and a prayer, all of which were greatly appreciated. Shortly after she left, they wheeled me into the OR (a little earlier than expected, but I didn't mind). They gave me my epidural and then did a quick ultrasound to make sure all the babies still had heartbeats (they did). The first epidural didn't take, so they gave me another one. Because my uterus had grown so much in the four days since my last appointment, the doctor had them wheel the ultrasound machine back in so that he could see where the top of my uterus was now, to verify that he could still get away with a horizontal cut rather than a vertical one (he could, whew!). The resident who was assisting him commented that I am measuring at 20 weeks, 7 weeks ahead of singleton schedule. Because of these detours, the actual TAC didn't get underway until probably closer to 2pm.
The rest of the procedure, which lasted a little over an hour, seemed to go off without a hitch. I had no pain from the actual surgery, although I did have what they call "referred pain" in my upper arm (not pleasant, but not the worst thing in the world). When all was said and done, the doctor told me that my uterus was "very conducive" before heading to the waiting area to tell my family that I'd lost only 6 tablespoons of blood (fantastic, considering how much the babies need every ounce of blood in my body) and that I had "the perfect anatomy" for this type of procedure (I'll take that as a compliment).
I was in recovery for about an hour, during which we got to see another ultrasound of the babies, kicking around and being more active than ever. I used the morphine pump a few times to relieve the burning sensation in my incision, and then I was wheeled to Room 237, my home for the weekend. I clicked the morphine pump once more (kind of out of habit, I think); I didn't have to use pain meds again for the rest of my stay. Mom stayed with me that night, and it was so nice to have her there! She's had several surgeries (including two C-sections) herself, so it seemed that she knew exactly what I needed when I needed it. Neither of us got much sleep due to the nurses coming in to check my vitals so often, but I was nevertheless glad to be in such a great hospital.
On Saturday morning the nurse took out my catheter and IV, and told me to call her when I needed to use the bathroom so that she could help me get up. Well, I was so uncomfortable in the bed that I called her before I needed to use the bathroom, just so she could show me how to get up and walk around the room. It felt so great to stand up and sit in a chair! The nurse was amazed and thrilled that I had started walking around so soon of my own volition. After that, it was just a matter of making sure that my temperature and blood pressure stayed down (they did) and that all my "systems" were back in working order (they were). I got plenty of rest on Saturday (listening to The Beatles on the iPod, watching Tootsie on the in-room DVD player) and made sure that I did a lot of walking around (which was much more comfortable than laying there, anyway). I got another nice surprise when Kristen stopped by to visit (after a big detour to the main St. V's hospital, HA!). Ted stayed with me that night and took me home when I got discharged on Sunday.
I won't see the doctor again until the 15th, which means that I won't see the babies until then, either. They definitely aren't letting me forget about them, though, considering how much my belly seems to have grown in the past few days. Hopefully my incision will continue to heal in record time so that I have minimal discomfort in the growing days ahead. I am thankful that everything went so well, and also that I had the chance to see the hospital and meet the wonderful staff. Knowing that I will be so well taken care of will surely make my inevitable return to the hospital much less stressful. Let's just hope it's not for a long, long time!
Showing posts with label cerclage. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cerclage. Show all posts
Monday, August 4, 2008
Friday, August 1, 2008
The surgery went great!
I thought Ted would have to post in my stead to let everyone know how things went today, but it turns out that I am feeling pretty good, post-TAC. Later this week, I'll fill everybody in on the details of the day, but for now I just wanted everybody to know that I am doing very well and my doctor says that the surgery couldn't have gone better. I am glad to have it behind me, and I cannot express how thankful I am for all your prayers and encouraging words in the past few days. If everything keeps going well, I'll go home on Sunday.
Monday, July 28, 2008
It is scheduled
I will be undergoing the aforementioned transabdominal cerclage (TAC) procedure on Friday at 1:30pm. It actually wasn't that hard of a call to make after I decided that I just cannot ignore all the good outcomes that my doctor has had with dozens of triplet/quad pregnancies. Plus, I figure that if I didn't go through with it and the babies came too early to have a chance at a normal life (or even at life, period), I would always wonder whether things would have turned out differently if I'd had the TAC.
Something else that made my decision a little easier was the opportunity I had to talk with a wonderful triplet mom named Linda (thanks for the contact, Christine!). She had the procedure done a few years ago with the same doctor and was able to answer a lot of my questions (most of which seemed too trivial to ask the doctor himself). I am all about studying up and having all the information beforehand, so my chat with Linda really set my mind at ease. And hearing about her once-tiny babies and how well they're doing three years on was really encouraging. I hope that a couple of years from now I can share my successful quad pregnancy story with a newbie!
In other news, I had my 12-week appointment with the doctor this morning. I got a full first-trimester screening, which means I got to look at my babies for a whole half-hour! For those keeping track, they now range from 5.5 to 6 centimeters in length (crown to rump). The ultrasound tech was excited when she stumbled upon the view below, which shows all four of them in one shot. She says not to expect it to ever happen again:
Part of the screening involved measuring the skin folds on the back of the babies' necks. To do this, the tech had to get a profile shot of each baby. To my delight, while she was measuring the distance between the neck muscles and skin, I got to get a good look at the faces of each of my babies. I think that Baby A looks just like Ted:
And Baby B looks like my brother did when he was little:
Babies C and D were harder to pin down, looks-wise, but it will be interesting to see if my first impressions of the other two babies turn out to be accurate. It's so exciting to see them looking more and more like little individuals!
My next ultrasound will be right before they wheel me into surgery, and then I'll have another one a few minutes after the procedure to reassure me that they all made it through okay. I will probably be too out of it to post, but Ted assures me that he will take advantage of his contributor status in order to let everyone know how things went. If all goes as planned, I'll be back in posting form by early next week!
Something else that made my decision a little easier was the opportunity I had to talk with a wonderful triplet mom named Linda (thanks for the contact, Christine!). She had the procedure done a few years ago with the same doctor and was able to answer a lot of my questions (most of which seemed too trivial to ask the doctor himself). I am all about studying up and having all the information beforehand, so my chat with Linda really set my mind at ease. And hearing about her once-tiny babies and how well they're doing three years on was really encouraging. I hope that a couple of years from now I can share my successful quad pregnancy story with a newbie!
In other news, I had my 12-week appointment with the doctor this morning. I got a full first-trimester screening, which means I got to look at my babies for a whole half-hour! For those keeping track, they now range from 5.5 to 6 centimeters in length (crown to rump). The ultrasound tech was excited when she stumbled upon the view below, which shows all four of them in one shot. She says not to expect it to ever happen again:
Part of the screening involved measuring the skin folds on the back of the babies' necks. To do this, the tech had to get a profile shot of each baby. To my delight, while she was measuring the distance between the neck muscles and skin, I got to get a good look at the faces of each of my babies. I think that Baby A looks just like Ted:
And Baby B looks like my brother did when he was little:
Babies C and D were harder to pin down, looks-wise, but it will be interesting to see if my first impressions of the other two babies turn out to be accurate. It's so exciting to see them looking more and more like little individuals!
My next ultrasound will be right before they wheel me into surgery, and then I'll have another one a few minutes after the procedure to reassure me that they all made it through okay. I will probably be too out of it to post, but Ted assures me that he will take advantage of his contributor status in order to let everyone know how things went. If all goes as planned, I'll be back in posting form by early next week!
Saturday, July 19, 2008
This is where it starts to get hard
I had my second visit with the maternal-fetal specialist a couple of days ago. As the first order of business, we got to see the babies again. No measurements this time; the tech was just looking for heart tones. She focused on each baby individually and showed us the flicker of the heartbeat. It was very clear that the kiddos have done some growing in the last couple of weeks; we could see them moving around and even waving at us! It's amazing to think that there's all that movement in my body, and yet I can't feel any of it. I am sure that I will long for this kind of oblivion once I have eight tiny feet (and eight tiny fists) vying for room in my torso!
Here are a couple of snapshots from the latest ultrasound (the babies are shown at 10 weeks gestation):
The second part of the visit was less fun, as it involved hearing a little more about transabdominal cerclage (TAC). The TAC is an optional procedure in which the uterus is temporarily removed (with babies in it!) via a C-section-type incision so that a band can be placed around the top of the cervix. The surgery has serious risks (including, rarely, the loss of one or more babies); however, it appears that outcomes for triplet pregnancies are encouraging (there is not much data on quad pregnancies, for obvious reasons). According to my doctor, women who have the surgery are less likely to experience the degree of preterm labor that results in a much-too-early delivery. The babies will come early regardless, of course, but this could lengthen their time in the womb (which, in turn, would mean less time in the NICU—always a good thing).
If I decide to have the procedure (and I'm pretty sure I will), my surgery will be August 1. My doctor says that I can expect to be in the hospital for two nights, and then at home for a week. Please pray for me as I face this scary prospect, that I may have peace about the decision I make. My main goal is to do whatever is best for the babies.
To end on an up note, Ted and I will celebrate our eighth anniversary on Tuesday. That's two years of marriage per baby—and you guys thought we were waiting too long to have kids!
Here are a couple of snapshots from the latest ultrasound (the babies are shown at 10 weeks gestation):
The second part of the visit was less fun, as it involved hearing a little more about transabdominal cerclage (TAC). The TAC is an optional procedure in which the uterus is temporarily removed (with babies in it!) via a C-section-type incision so that a band can be placed around the top of the cervix. The surgery has serious risks (including, rarely, the loss of one or more babies); however, it appears that outcomes for triplet pregnancies are encouraging (there is not much data on quad pregnancies, for obvious reasons). According to my doctor, women who have the surgery are less likely to experience the degree of preterm labor that results in a much-too-early delivery. The babies will come early regardless, of course, but this could lengthen their time in the womb (which, in turn, would mean less time in the NICU—always a good thing).
If I decide to have the procedure (and I'm pretty sure I will), my surgery will be August 1. My doctor says that I can expect to be in the hospital for two nights, and then at home for a week. Please pray for me as I face this scary prospect, that I may have peace about the decision I make. My main goal is to do whatever is best for the babies.
To end on an up note, Ted and I will celebrate our eighth anniversary on Tuesday. That's two years of marriage per baby—and you guys thought we were waiting too long to have kids!
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