Baby "Bump" at 15-16 weeks

I'm not sure you can really call it a "bump" any more. As you can see from the pictures above, I'm certainly gaining in belly size on my sisters-in-law! For some reason, the pictures loaded in reverse order - so I'll start from the bottom:

The headless pic with 2 pregnant girls in pink and red was taken at the Sasse Christmas party at our house on Dec 20. Kate is about 12 weeks ahead of me, but Tommy, Joey, A & B are certainly doing their best to close the gap.

The next shot is Nikki and me on Christmas Eve at their place (I'm wearing green in this shot). Nik has about 14 weeks on me...so I'm not sure I'll be able to catch up to her before little Sophia arrives in late February.

The last shots were taken on Christmas Day at Pat & Don's. (believe it or not, we did not plan to wear red that day) From left to right: Kristin, Kate & Carrie. Carrie is about 16 weeks ahead of me, but her baby is growing ahead of pace, so she's measuring closer to 40 weeks. She's certainly got us all beat in the belly department!

We'll go back to see Dr. Donald on Friday for a quick check-up, so we'll have an update on the weekend. In the meantime, we wish everyone a safe and happy new year!

Love,

Kristin & Tim

15 Weeks

We saw Dr. Donald again last Thursday. Sorry for the delay in posting our update - we had 36 people here for a family Christmas shindig over the weekend (15 of which stayed the night), so finding time to update the blog was tough to come by. Thank you again, to Tim's parents Pat & Don for all your help with the party preparations and clean up. We certainly couldn't have pulled it off without you!

But back to the business at hand. Everything went very well at the appointment. Dr. Donald is very pleased with our progress so far. The big news with this ultrasound is that all 4 babies are still growing strong and have great heart rates. They're all weighing in at about 5 oz each - right on track. Also, my cervix is still measuring very well - not shortening or causing any concerns. All great news.

I'm still feeling good - though I definitely feel the impacts of my rapidly growing belly. (Though only at 15 weeks, I'm measuring more like 26 weeks. We definitely have to get an updated "baby bump" photo out here on the blog.) My skin is already feeling tight and my stomach gets full with much less food. I also find myself out of breath after climbing a flight of stairs - but I guess this all comes with the territory; I'm just experiencing it a lot earlier than if I were expecting fewer babies.

Though it is a little earlier than the norm, we were able to find out the sex of the identical twins. Baby A was way too shy and didn't give us a peek at anything. Baby B was a wiggler and didn't provide a clear shot. But Baby C & Baby D are definitely BOYS! Meet Thomas Michael (formerly Baby C) and Joseph Timothy (Baby D). The photos at the top show a profile and a "money shot" of each boy. Tommy is definitely not shy...

Our next appointment on January 2 will be a short one - which will be a nice change. Instead of taking measurements of all 4 babies, they'll use the ultrasound simply to check heart rates - and hopefully the sex of Babies A & B. When we go back 2 weeks later, they'll do the full "level 2" ultrasound - like they normally do at 18-20 weeks. This is the ultrasound where they measure all of the anatomy of each baby: organs, limbs, spine, etc. It'll take approx 30 minutes per baby (hopefully they'll give me a potty break between Baby B and the twins). If we haven't found out already, this should be when we can get a final count on the number of boys and girls.

We're looking forward to seeing friends and family over the holidays - and comparing belly size with Nikki (approx 30 weeks along) and Katie (approx 28 weeks). :) Thank you again for your continued support and prayers. Merry Christmas!

Love,

Kristin & Tim

13 Weeks 1 Day - Doctor Visit

Last Thursday, we had our regular 2-week visit with Dr. Donald - the high-risk specialist. This was Tim's first time seeing A, B, C & D in action on the ultrasound screen - so it was pretty exciting.

All 4 babies are measuring right on track: ranging from 13 weeks/1 day to 13 weeks/4 days. (right around 7cm in length). All 4 heartbeats are strong and Dr. Donald was very pleased with our progress. He said I'm measuring around 22 weeks. (The size of my belly will certainly catch up to Nikki and Katie before too long!)

The big news from this visit is that we were able to see (plain as day) a membrane between the identical twins (babies C & D). Whew! The main thing we'll need to watch out for is the Twin-to-Twin Transfusion Syndrome (TTTS) that I mentioned after our last doctor visit. This occurs in about 15% of all identical twins. The vascularity in the shared placenta can get mixed up - crossing veins and arteries. When that happens, a shift in pressure occurs: one twin sort of becomes a high pressure zone and the other a low pressure zone. This forces the majority of the blood flow and amniotic fluid from one twin to the other. This can result in a much slower development rate for the twin with lesser fluids. There's no way to keep TTTS from happening, so it's something we'll just need to watch for. Due to the increased risk for the identical twins vs. the other 2, Dr. Donald said the twins and their condition will pretty much drive this pregnancy - and may be a huge factor in determining the time of delivery.

During our appointments, while the ultrasound tech takes all the measurements (which takes quite a while with 4 babies), I can't see the monitor. So this time I watched Tim's face for his reactions to what was going on on the screen. When his eyes lit up and he smiled, I knew it was because a baby was moving, or he recognized specific body parts in the black & white blobs on the screen. But the best part for him seemed to be when the sound wave of the heartbeats was up on the screen. He'd smile big for that part. :)

As you can see in the photos above, the babies are definitely growing and looking less like aliens and more like babies. They're labeled a little differently, but Baby A (Sac A, Baby 1/A) is looking right at the camera. Baby B (Sac B, Baby 2/B) is bumping heads with Baby C and was quite a wiggler according to the tech (B is the one on the left). Baby C (Sac C, Baby 3 C) is waving at us this time. And Baby D must have been taking a nap and provided us a wonderful profile shot with a clear view of an arm and a leg too.

As for Tim and me, we're certainly keeping busy. Thanksgiving weekend, my sister-in-law Nikki joined me at Babies R Us to help me register. (Thank you Nikki!) Talk about overwhelming. I'm still not done with the registry - after almost 3 hours in the store. I'll finish the rest from home and do it online. Last week I taped around the moldings on the walls we need to paint in the nurseries and Tim put on the primer yesterday. The plan is to paint the walls yellow this week so I've got time to work on the stenciled border in the nursery we're still using as a guest room before the Sasse Christmas on the 20th. I think we'll come in just under the wire... We're also starting our Christmas decorating and finishing our Christmas shopping. Lots to do this time of year - and we're doing our best to get in all that we can without over-doing it. So far so good.

Thank you again for all your wonderful comments - and for all your thoughts and prayers. I'd also like to send a big thank you to Aunt Bonnie for her wonderful prayer before Thanksgiving dinner (even though you made the 2 pregnant girls cry!). It was beautiful and we certainly appreciate your love and concern for our babies' health. Thank you!

Love

Kristin & Tim

Just a short update

As many of you know, our next doctor appointment was scheduled for today. I received a call from the office this morning to reschedule. So we'll go back to see Dr. Donald on Thursday afternoon. We'll have more to post after that. In the meantime, we'd like to thank all our friends and family for their - ahem - 'helpful' suggestions on names for the babies. Here are a few examples of the generous help we've received so far: Ronnie, Bobby, Ricky & Mike (from the 80's group New Edition) John, Paul, George & Ringo Joanie, Chachi, Potsy & Ralph (Happy Days characters) Amy, Bryan, Cindy & Dwayne (names of my former coworkers at Morley to match A, B, C & D) And a couple random names for girls: Dixie Tuesday William (courtesy of our 4-year-old nephew Aaron) Keep the suggestions coming. Given the laws of statistics, if we get enough suggestions, we're likely to find SOMETHING that we might use... :) More to come later this week. Thanks again for all your thoughts and prayers - definitely keep those coming too! Love, Kristin & Tim

Baby Bump - 11 weeks

It may not look like much, but it's already enough to keep me from wearing any of my regular pants. The maternity pants are, of course, too big still - but so much more comfortable. I'm 11 weeks along - but measuring more like 20 weeks for a singleton pregnancy.

I forgot to mention in our last post that I had attended a parents of multiples group meeting earlier this week. The group is made up of about 14 families. Most of them have twins and one has triplets. The ages of the multiples range from toddler to twenties, but all the moms have one thing in common: they can relate to what a multiple pregnancy is like. I think they'll be a great resource - and wonderful extension of our support network in the area. The next meeting isn't until January and several of the moms offered to pick me up, expecting that I may already have several limitations on my activities by then. It was a really nice feeling to be welcomed by a group that understands what I'll be going through.

Well, Tim had his "escape" last weekend hunting. I've got my escape this weekend: scrapbook weekend at a wonderful B&B up north in Clare, MI with the girls. Take care, everyone. We'll post new info and photos soon.

Love

Kristin & Tim

10 weeks, 5 days and counting

Yesterday was our first visit with Dr. Donald - the high-risk specialist. He's an all-about-business kind of guy, but I think I'm going to like him. He's direct and doesn't sugar-coat anything. I like that approach. But - I did get him to laugh, so that helps me feel more comfortable with him.

Tim was up north hunting and had to miss the appointment, so our friend Dana (an OB nurse) came with me. I wanted a second set of ears and eyes to help me remember all the information the doctor threw at me. And Dana's insight and experience as a nurse in this field certainly came in handy.

The appointment started with an ultrasound. The tech took a number of measurements and was a bit overwhelmed at the prospect of measuring and tracking FOUR babies. I learned that they provide "measurements" in terms of time with respect to how far along I am. Meaning, all 4 babies are measuring between 10 weeks/3 days and 11 weeks. Since I was at 10 weeks/5 days at the appointment yesterday, they're all on target. It was amazing to see more than just blobs on the ultrasound screen. The were moving around and turning over. It was crazy to imagine all that activity going on inside my belly - and I can't feel a bit of it!

As you can see from the photos they've certainly progressed from the "blob" stage. I think they look more like miniature E.T.'s - just with shorter arms. :) You can't see Baby A very well in this shot - mostly because it's back is turned to the camera. Baby B is posed in a perfect profile. Baby C is looking right at the camera and Baby D (taking after it's dad) looks like a bit of a goofball - standing on it's head.

The ultrasound served many purposes. In addition to measuring the length of my cervix (which at 6cm is very good), and measuring the growth of the babies, we were also trying to determine the "chorincity" of the identical twins. In plain English, we were looking for a membrane or some separation of space in the sack the twins share.

Let me back up a bit: Depending on when the split into twins took place, the babies may share a placenta and one or both of 2 sacks (or membranes). Though it is early to tell, our twins may be sharing the same placenta and the same space - no membrane or separation between the 2 of them. Though this has big risks associated with it, there are also some positives. If there is no separation, the babies can become tangled with each other's cords. Or they may encounter Twin to Twin Transfer Syndrome (TTTS). I need to learn more about this, but it involves one twin absorbing the majority of the nutrients and utilizing most of the fluid in the sack.

If there is a separation, they would each be more likely to have their own placenta. If that's the case, this brings more risks to the pregnancy because a 4-placenta pregnancy is much more complicated than a 3-placenta pregnancy.

It's still pretty early to be able to tell exactly what we're dealing with. So I'll go back in 2 weeks and they'll take another look. Unfortunately, ultrasound technology just isn't good enough to provide a clear image of the membranes around each baby - especially this early. We'll just have to wait and see. And regardless of if there's a membrane or not, there's really nothing we can do about it. We're just along for the ride. So until we know what we've got, we'll just focus on the things we can control (nutrition, rest, etc.) and stay optimistic.

After the ultrasound, the doctor gave me plenty of time to ask a long list of questions. And he even drew a couple diagrams on a whiteboard to clearly explain his answers. He can't provide any firm asnwers regarding things like bed rest and travel restrictions because there are so many variables at play. But he did give us some things to keep in mind: at 24 weeks, I'll be the size of a full-term single baby pregnancy - that's the end of February. My biggest enemies are pre-term labor and an "incompentent" cervix (if it gives out under the pressure of 4 babies). Rest - and, if needed, medication - will be the best ways to stop both of those enemies. I'll be fortunate to make it to 30 weeks (though my personal goal is 32). In the last weeks, I'll certainly be on bed rest in the hospital - that could be just a couple weeks or it could be a couple months - there's no way to tell now.

So even though we know the babies are on track and everything looks great right now, lots can happen. Please keep sending good vibes our way. We truly appreciate all your love and support so far in this process. We'll certainly be depending on it in the coming months!

Oh - and for those of you that have asked, yes - we will post a profile shot of my "baby bump" soon. Once Tim gets home from up north, we'll take a photo and post it out here on the blog for you to see. :)

xoxo

Tim & Kristin

And then there were 4

Welcome to our new blog. We hope you find this website useful and informative. We want all of our friends and family to keep up on what's going on with our - er - interesting pregnancy.

Thank you to everyone for your well wishes, wonderful reactions to our news and for all of your support so far. We're certainly going to need a lot of support in the coming months (years!) and feel fortunate to know we can count on all of you.

Just a few basics to get everyone caught up:

As of today, we're at 8 weeks and 4 days. We're expecting 4 babies - including one set of identical twins. Our official 40-week due date is June 11, 2009 but the babies will arrive much before that. I'm hoping for 32 weeks, which is April 16.

We've had a few ultrasounds so far. The photos of the first 2 are attached above. In the first set (on the left), there were 3 gestational sacks. In the set on the right, we found out there were actually 4 babies inside those sacks. Their unofficial names are A, B, C & D. :)

We saw my regular OB on Friday, October 31. Though I'm only at 8 weeks, I'm measuring more like 12 weeks - which only makes sense since there's a lot more baby in there. They did another ultrasound, but didn't print photos or take formal measurements. All 4 still have strong, healthy heartbeats and are the the right size for 8 weeks.

Our next appointment will be with the maternal-fetal medicine doctor. This is the high-risk specialist. Hopefully that appointment will be scheduled soon - we should know more later this week and will post more information when we have it.

Thanks again everyone! We'll be in touch again soon!

Love, Kristin & Tim