The Roller Coaster Ride Continues...

We were so shocked about finding out about the twins, but as the week went on we were really getting used to the idea of it all. Last week Monday I had my 20 week dr's appointment and we got some news from our ultrasound that we didn't know how to take. Our daughter appeared to be healthy, but our son's u/s showed something wrong with his kidney's, heart, and brain. We weren't sure what to think of this and we weren't given very much information about it either. All we were pretty much told is that were needed to be referred to a specialist for another ultrasound. Needless to say, the last week was pretty rough. The next day the specialist's office called to schedule my appointment for the following Tuesday, which seemed like way too far away.

Yesterday was our appointment at the Maternal-Fetal Specialists. We got there, filled out a bunch of paperwork. I gave my pee sample, got weighed and had my BP checked. Then I went into the u/s room. We went over the concerns that the other ultrasound found and started looking at our son. We soon found out that our son has spina bifida. It doesn't appear to be a horrible case. The opening on his spine is at the sacral region near his tail bone. There is not a pocked of fluid/nerves (a mengiocele) present, so I feel that is a good thing. This is the cause for not being able to see the cerebellum on the previous u/s. Apparently the pressure with the spina bifida causes that part of the brain to look a little bit different. The kidneys checked out to be just fine. We also found that there was a ventricular septal defect with our son (hole in the heart). There were a couple of other issues with the heart that the doctor thought could be Tetrology of Fallot.

We discussed the findings with the doctor and she is concerned that there is the possibility of a chromosomal abnormality since there are 2 separate systems involved. There is possibility of such abnormalities like trisomy 13, 18 or 21. The only way to learn if there is a chromosomal issue is to do an amniocentesis. So, Tony and I decided that it would be the right decision to go ahead and do the amnio. I was worried because there are some risks involved such as infection, preterm labor, etc. But, in order to make the decisions that we need to it was necessary to do this test. Afterwards, they hooked me up to the monitor to watch for contractions. I only had 1 afterwards and have been taking it easy since then to make sure not to trigger anything. We will get the preliminary results back hopefully by Friday (those are 98% conclusive), then the final results will take 7-10 days.

I will definitely be relieved if there is not a chromosomal problem. Looking up online, there are distinct things with this syndromes that baby Anthony does not have, which gives me some hope. He doesn't have a cleft lip, no clubbed feet, and he opened his hand for us (clenched hands are a sign of Trisomy 18). Also doing some research about spina bifida, there is a connection with congenital heart defects. These next days will be very scary, not knowing what to expect, but we will get though it.

Once we find out the chromosomal test results (if he doesn't have one that's good because most of them are not compatible with life), we will have a lot of preparation. The doctor discussed that Anthony will need to have surgery done by a pediatric cardiac surgeon at the U of M. I am sure this will involve meeting with the surgeons before he is even born. My guess would be that I would need to deliver the babies at the U of M as well, but I just don't know enough about things yet.

We are crossing our fingers that there will not be a chromosomal abnormality. If that is the case, then these 2 issues Anthony has can be repaired with surgery. Please keep our family in your thoughts and prayers as week go through these next days. This is going to be a very hard journey no matter what, but we're just hopeful that we don't have to deal with the chromosomal issue on top of it.

Interesting week...

Tony & I were surprised, yet excited to find out that we were expecting our first baby. It was a bit sooner than expected, but we were very thrilled.  Things have been progressing exactly as expected. My doctor's appointments have been just fine, nothing abnormal or worrisome.  At my 16 week Dr.'s appointment, I was able to schedule the ultrasound for August 24, just 2 days after my birthday. I thought it would be a great birthday present! We were also excited to find out if the baby was going to be a boy or a girl!

At 9am on Tuesday morning, I peed one last time and started drinking 32 oz of water that was required for the ultrasound. I was a little bit worried that I wouldn't be able to hold my bladder for very long, but I did the best I could! Tony and I went  to the doctor's office at 9:50 (our appointment was for 10am) and met up with his mom and sister (they are extremely excited about the pregnancy and baby and wanted to join us at the u/s) as well as my dad. I got called in by the u/s tech and asked how many people could be in the room with us. She said that the room was pretty small so it might be a good idea if just Tony and I go back and then towards the end bring everybody else in the room to find out the fun stuff. We agreed and went back to the room.

I layed down on the cart and got all gooed up for the u/s...I was excited and nervous at the same time, but nothing would have prepared me for what I was about find out! As soon as the tech put the u/s thing on my belly, I looked at the screen and kinda did a double take.  The tech proceeded to say something like "Did you know that you're having twins?"  Umm, holy crap are you playing a joke on me? TWINS?? Did I hear that right? OMG...so many thoughts went though my mind in those few seconds. The awesome u/s tech then asked us if we wanted our family to come back and I immediately said yes and told Tony to go get them. They came right into the room wondering what in the world was going on. I started saying "there's two in there" over and over. It seriously felt like some kind of dream. I told my dad to call my sister right away (she really wanted to come to but she has 2 little kids and couldn't get a babysitter lined up). He handed me the phone and I told her that there were 2 babies...she started going crazy!

We really had no idea that there could even possibly be two babies. The thought never really crossed our minds that we would really have two babies! At my first doctor's appointment, Dr. Gorsuch asked me if I was sure about my last period date. I said yes...a little nervous, wondering what he was implying. Apparently my uterus was measuring a little big, but after his exam he said that my uterus was just higher up in my abdomen. At my next appointment, Dr. Bennett told me that my uterus was measuring just where it should be. So we were totally shocked about twins!

Back to the u/s! So the babies were assigned names of "Baby A" (closed to my cervix) and "Baby B". We were in shock but still wanting to find out the genders of the babies and make sure everything is okay. We quickly learned that Baby A was a boy! We'll name him Anthony Russell LaFata III. She moved over to Baby B to see if we could find out, but the baby wasn't very cooperative. So, the tech just decided to go back to Baby A and do all of his measurements. This took a while and I was still in shock about the two babies. I started to panic a bit when I realized that if the 2nd baby was a boy, we only had one name picked out...what were we going to do? And 2 of everything, ahhhhhhhh!!!!!

With all the measurements done on Baby A, she moved back over to Baby B. We soon found out that Baby B is a girl. We will be naming her Sophia (Sophie) Joy LaFata. WOW...twins and a boy and a girl, so crazy. When we found out the 2nd baby was a girl everybody screamed and got all excited! The tech did all of the scans on her and we were then told that Baby A weighs in at 7 oz and Baby B is 8 oz. We got lots of pictures of them and from what I can tell they are very cute! We weren't told that there was anything abnormal in the u/s, but I will have to wait until my appointment on Monday to find out for sure (a radiologist will read the test and get the results to my OB). According to the u/s the due date for the babies should be January 28. We have had January 17 as the due date, so I am not sure what date the doctor will end up going with.

I am so glad that we had some family with us at the appointment...it was great to be able to share those moments with them! These babies will have so much love they won't know what to do with it all!

We are just a bit stressed though (more so Tony than myself) about the financial situation. Two babies is a lot more expensive than one! Double the diapers, double the clothes, double everything! I have a growing list of things I need to discuss with the doctor. I'm a little concerned with my job because it's so physically demanding...I have concerns of preterm labor and having to be on bedrest. Who knows how this will all turn out, we'll just have to take it one day at  a time! I can't wait to meet Anthony and Sophia in the next 4 months!