The Newfound Joys of Parenting

 When you aren't a parent, you find yourself snickering to yourself when you see new parents posting about their children's bowel movements.  You truly do not understand what would bring a person to want to post about that stuff, and why would you ever think that other people would want to hear about it. LOL!! Well I have become one of those people so if you don't want to read about it, skip down about two paragraphs haha

We decided we were not going to "potty train" Amden.. especially with the upcoming births of his brother and sister. He has already become extra clingy and even more so a mamma's boy (if that is even possible) as he sees my stomach grow and the nursery being worked on. He has done pretty good with all the changes. He knows that mamma goes to the doctor to see the babies and that they are in my tummy. He knows that we are turning the study into the babies room and that the little clothes and new blankets are for them. He has even found a few of his toys that we have tagged as "baby's toys" and he will come and set them on my belly. LOL! I am very proud of him so far.

Well we bought a potty chair for Amden several months ago. I think it was actually almost a year ago. We let him sit on it and would read him stories etc. He would use it occasionally when he was younger and then went through a HUGE phase where he didn't even want to be naked. I know- CRAZY! What lil boy doesn't like to run around the house naked? It was even a struggle to get him to take a bath. It was very odd to say the least. The last few weeks he has really taken off though. The other day he used the potty 4 times and the following morning he even went #2! He ALWAYS uses it before bed at night and the last few days it has become much easier. Before it would take him up to 15 minutes to go and the last few nights he goes right away. And he gets so excited and yells  "I DID IT!!!" and claps his hands and dances around lol. We still aren't technically potty training him but we are definitely not going to discourage this new found joy of his haha. I think I am going to make him a potty board where he can put stickers every time he uses it. I am hoping this will help encourage him to use the potty at school and at grandma's since he does love his stickers. haha

Had an ultrasound yesterday to check on the growth of the babies. It had been almost 2.5 weeks since my last one. Audrina weighed in at 2 pounds 13 ounces and Adrian weighed in at 1 pound 14 ounces. He has fallen to a full pound behind his sister but he put on 10 ounces in just over 2 weeks. That was great news! Unfortunately they did think they may have found something else wrong with his heart but I will wait until the echo before going into detail on that, so I am sure to fully understand what it means. They also saw a little extra fluid around one of his kidneys. Of course all these things are typical of a T-18 baby, but the more problems they find, the less of a chance he will have once he is born. I was really hoping we were just looking at a small VSD but unfortunately that doesn't appear to be the case. Either way they are both growing very well and Adrian even turned head down for the first time this pregnancy! Since he has sooo much fluid, that could change at any moment. He does flip around a lot, but it was the first time we have seen him in that position so far. The non stress tests continue to go really well and I keep getting comments on how well they are doing for how young they are. This is always very comforting.

Now that I am in my 3rd trimester things are starting to move fast! I have to get prepared to do my amnio in a few weeks (and hope and pray it goes well and doesn't put me into labor!) and we still need to finish the dang nursery. LOL! I finally bought a sewing machine so that I could start working on all these projects I keep signing myself up for, and I have bought a TON of memorabilia stuff for Adrian's birth. I have a bunch of 3D mold kits, hand/foot print kits, different color inks etc so that everyone in the family that wants something will have one they can take home.  KC's mom is helping us with the funeral and burial planning which is a HUGE help. We have decided to purchase a few family plots so that we don't have to worry about who he will be buried with. We decided on the Redwood Memorial location which is beautiful and close to home. Of  course we hope we don't have to use it for quite some time, but I am glad to know we won't have to worry about it right after he is born if we do.

At this time I am still hoping to make it to at least 34 weeks which is December 30th.  I would love it if they would stick around in there till even 36 weeks but with all of Adrian's extra fluid, I know that that is mostly wishful thinking. I am hoping that we will be able to pull out enough fluid during the amnio to give them a better chance at baking longer, but the amnio also runs the risk of starting labor or even causing my water to break. I guess everything has it's risks, sometimes you have to decide which risk is the lesser of the evils.

Celebrate the Small Victories!!!

It's crazy to think that about a month ago we were worried that these babies would already be here by now! Today we reach a HUGE milestone!! The 28 week marks 90% viability with little to no brain damage should the babies decide to make their entrance! It also marks the start of the 3rd and final trimester. Hooray!

Today I am celebrating the small victories! The non stress test I took this morning looked great and I was able to get MFM to move my growth check ultrasound up from December 6th to next monday!! That is a difference of 3 weeks! I was stressing a bit when the doctor requested me back in 3 weeks but the front desk lady couldn't get me in for almost 6! When you are pregnant with twins and one of them a possible T-18 baby, you don't want to take many chances! My appointment with my OB was all good news too.  There have been no additional cervical changes since my last check 2 weeks ago!! For now it appears they are going to stay put and continue to bake which is such a great feeling.

And the best news of all--

My OB was able to get me scheduled for a fetal echo for Adrian! I have been asking the perinatologists to schedule this for me and they just kept telling me it's not necessary since it won't change Adrian's diagnosis. I explained this to my OB and she understood why they would say that, but told me ultimately it should be my decision. She also reminded me that regardless of his diagnosis, it is also completely my decision when it comes to the care of Adrian once he is born. If we want to do comfort care with a few interventions like oxygen, food etc and see how it goes- that is our choice. If we want to have them do everything possible to keep him alive- that is also our choice. The diagnosis shouldn't matter. It's always nice to have a few people on your side when you are given such a hard prognosis. I had no idea she set up the appointment for the fetal echo until I talked with her nurse a few hours later, about trying to set up an appointment with Dr. John Carey. It was an amazing and exciting surprise. I am one that likes to be fully educated so that when I am making decisions, decisions that involve my child, I can feel somewhat confident that I did what was best. Knowing how his heart is working or issues he may have, is a HUGE deciding factor on how he will do once he is born- medical intervention or not.

My OB did try to get me an appointment with Dr. Carey but unfortunately it wasn't as easy. Dr. Carey is a geneticist at the U of U and one of the founders of SOFT (Support Organization For Trisomy). I was hoping to pick his brain about T-18 and possible outcomes for Adrian. Unfortunately he is a busy man and the first appointment I could get was in April. Obviously won't work LOL but at least we tried!

I am thankful to all the Trisomy 18 mommies I have met so far along the way. They have been a tremendous help and support through this crazy time. Thank you for all you guys do!

What an amazing gift...

Last night we were given an amazing gift of being able to spend some time with Adrian and Audrina via 3d/4d ultrasound by SustainingGrace.Org. They are an amazing couple who recently lost their daughter to the same syndrome that they believe Adrian has. They started an organization and have since been paying for families across the world to have these types of ultrasounds done so that the families can spend some time with their lil ones during their short time together.

The main focus was on Adrian and he was being extremely cooperative, so we were able to get a TON of pictures of him. We got to see him smile, yawn and play with his hands (which he did a lot lol). Our technician was wonderful and took over 140 pictures for us. We also got a video which is nice because you can watch them move around. I am very grateful for SustainingGrace.Org providing us with this opportunity and we will definitely cherish these memories forever..