More good news

The doctors gave us a little more good news this afternoon. Since her liver, kidneys, and blood all seem to be stable they have taken her completely off the medication that has been making her feel so bad and limited her blood work to every 12 hours instead of every 4 hours. They are also planning to allow her to get up and move around a little which will be nice. If she tolerates all of that action without being medicated over the next several hours they will likely move her from the high risk unit that she has been in to the normal labor and delivery department.

All of that said we are all too aware of how quickly things can change and are trying to stay prepared for the worst and hoping for the best. Thanks to everyone for their prayers and support and I'll keep the updates coming.

Josh

Still pregnant...

A short update this time...we've been in Phoenix now for over 24 hours and MH is still pregnant and all seems to be stable. The babies are both doing well and mama is starting to feel better with some minor adjustments to her medication levels. We are hopeful that she will remain stable and be allowed food soon. Otherwise we will continue our 4 hour routine of awaiting test results and keeping our fingers and toes crossed.
Keep the prayers coming...they appear to be working!
Josh

We're in Phoenix

So...over the course of last night the doctors drew some blood from MH that showed a decrease in platelet count from her initial bloodwork when she was first admitted. Then this morning she had a bad headache and an increase in blood pressure that concerned the doctors enough to put her on magnesium sulfate to control her pressures and get rid of her headache, prevent seizures, strokes, etc... They also drew her blood and checked her liver enzymes and platelet count again which showed a little bit further decrease in platelet count and an increase in liver enzymes. The increase in liver enzymes concerned the doctors enough to fly her to Phoenix (on what I hear was a rough helicopter ride) to be more closely monitored and potentially have a C-section at St. Joseph's hospital.
Since she has arrived in Phoenix her bloodwork has stabilized somewhat but it is kind of an hour by hour sort of thing. So we're just hanging out in a hospital room in Phoenix waiting to see what happens. I'll try to keep you all as up to date as possible -
Thanks for all your love and support.
Josh, MH, Ben, Will, and Kate.

Update

So...slight change of tone this week as MH and the babies have gotten past 24 weeks. Things have been kind of crazy around here so I'll try to keep my summary as concise as possible.

Sunday: Nice relaxing day
Monday: MH went in for a check-up and was found to have slightly elevating blood pressure. Doctor slightly worried about possible beginnings of pre-eclampsia. Ultrasound shows happy, healthy babies.
Tuesday: Checked blood pressure Tuesday night, still a little high. Asked to come in Wednesday for 24 hour kidney (urine) observation.
Wednesday: Admitted to hospital for 24 hour kidney observation. Did another ultrasound of the babies, showing everything growing normally with no problems.
Thursday: Kidneys found to be spilling protein into her urine (sign that her kidneys are having trouble). Diagnosed with mild pre-eclampsia. Admitted for hospitalized bed rest - probably for the duration of her pregnancy. MH's mom, Kay, arrives in Flagstaff - THANKS!
Friday: No major changes in status. Still on bed rest. Lots of love from friends and family.
Saturday: Results came in this morning of a blood test taken last night showing that MH's platelet count is dropping. Told that if it gets down to about 100 (units?) that they would need to transfer her down to Phoenix. This is because it is a sign that her liver might be the next thing to begin "feeling the effect", which might happen quickly. If this were to occur they would more than likely need to do a C-section to deliver the babies. Planning another blood test this afternoon to measure platelet count again to monitor progress.

I guess the gist of all of this is the same as it was at the beginning of the week. There is really no treatment or prevention of pre-eclampsia. It is just a watch and wait kind of thing. The reason she is in the hospital is to continue to monitor her closely to see if her progression to more severe pre-eclampsia is happening and, if that happens before 28 weeks it means delivery in Phoenix. Overall, the babies remain healthy through all of this, they are just small. However, the hospital and doctors in Phoenix is very capable so if things do happen quickly we are confident that we are all in good hands.

Throughout all of this of course Ben is doing great and having Kay here is a blessing for him and for us. Please keep all five of us in all of your thoughts and prayers through these difficult days and we thank everyone for their support. I'll do my best to keep this blog updated. Feel free to call if you would like - we can always turn off the ringer!

Love,
MH, Josh, and Ben.

21 weeks and counting...

So, MH and the kids are doing great and all are growing steadily (Ben included). We had another visit to the doctor's office last week and everything continues to look good with both babies and mama. We were happy to get a full-blown ultrasound workup this time so we were able to thoroughly check out both Will and Kate and get some good footage to share with you all. Enjoy!!

The Chosen Names

We have decided the names of the two new arrivals. Josh and I decided before Ben was born that the boys would be named after my side of the family, because they will always carry the Lovekamp name. Therefore the girls would be named after his side of the family. Ben's middle name is Autry, which is my mother's maiden name. Our new son will be named John William Lovekamp, aka."Will". My dad's first name is John (who he is truly named after), so is his father, so is my great grandfather on my mom's side, and my dad's mother's maiden name was Johnson. John is pretty prevalent in my family. For our daughter, we have chosen Katherine Klein Lovekamp, aka. "Kate." We chose Klein b/c Josh's mom's maiden name is Kleinschmidt, so we shortened it to Klein, because, well, Kleinschmidt Lovekamp is just a little too much. Also, Josh's grandmother, June Kleinschmidt passed away earlier this year and it is a way to honor her.

So, Will and Kate - we can't wait to put faces with the names.

It's a ...

Well, we went to the doctor today and everybody looks great!! I gained another 1 1/2 lbs., but the doctor says again to eat, eat, eat. I feel I am eating a lot, but I guess not enough to satisfy these 2 parasites. And they are getting so big, just taking everything they need from me. I am currently 17 weeks, but my belly is measuring the same as a 23 week pregnancy with a single baby. So, I look 6 weeks further along than I am. And the doctor says that spread is only going to get bigger as the babies now start putting on weight. I can't wait!!

So, we went in for an ultrasound to find out the gender and they were in the perfect position to see everything. And, as Josh put it to a friend of his, "There was one penis and one vagina." Yep, that is right - a boy and a girl. See pictures below. We've also included a video of the ultrasound for your viewing pleasure.

The girl is lower and the boy is higher. She will be the one to determine if I can deliver naturally or have to have a C-section. Right now she is breach which means automatic C-section. But, she still has some time to flip around before she runs out of space to move. As the doctor says, "her brother needs to head-butt her and tell her to flip around." And the battles begin.

And, we got to hear their heartbeats with the Doppler for the first time. The girl's sounded like a train and rang in at around 152. And the boy's sounded like a horse and was about 138. The doctor says that those are the 2 ways that you hear the heartbeat and it just depends on what valve you are listening to, so it was really neat to hear both ways.

And, the next question asked is always about names. We do have some names in mind, but haven't nailed down anything yet. We will let you know when we decide. Last night, we asked Ben what we should name the babies and he said, "Carolina." Thought that was cute that he came up with that all on his own. Also, when I told him today that we were having a boy and a girl, he screamed, "Oh My Goodness!!!"

Josh and I could not be more thrilled and believe that we are getting the best of both worlds. We wanted another boy for sure and of course, everyone needs a little girl in their life. Especially now, since we had to put Basil (our dog) to sleep last week, the amount of testosterone is taking over my house.

We are going to have our 20 week ultrasound on Friday, Aug. 29th, so we will have more updates then. That is when they look over both babies with a fine tooth comb and measure everything, so that should be fun to see. Thanks to everyone for all of the thoughts and prayers. Continue to think of us on this journey. We are truly blessed!

Oh how they grow up...

So....its been a while since our last update, which is not to say that things haven't changed! We spent a great week over July 4th with Josh's family at the beach in St. Simon's Island, GA and then MH and Ben stayed in Chapin, SC with her family for a little over a week at the lake (while Josh slaved away in Flagstaff...).

As I think I mentioned, the twins have been doing a lot of growing over the last month or so since our last update, as you can probably tell from the ultrasound photos below. The one immediately below is from just before our vacation on June 25th with one image of each of the twins. The one below them is the most recent picture, which captures both in one picture, sort of. It has the head of one (on the left) and the feet of the other (on the right). Hopefully this last picture isn't indicative of the fact that they will have the same amount of photogenically as their father...

Similarly, MH has also been doing some growing to keep up with the twins and is now in her 15th week of pregnancy (almost half way there!). Before vacation, she had only gained 2 pounds and the Dr. mentioned gaining some more weight. We figured a vacation in the Southeast should do the trick. She got back and had put on 8 pounds. That comes from all the meals where she ate and then went back for more, because it was "now time to feed the twins." Doc said to keep it up. The most recent picture of the baby-mamma is below.

We have another appointment on the 4th of August where we hope to find out the sex of the babies. If not, it will not be until the end of August. Keep your fingers crossed that everyone is in the right position.

Could it be.....movement?

So, last night about 30 minutes after I sat down to relax, I felt this flutter in my belly. I told Josh that I knew it was crazy, but I thought I felt the babies move. I looked in a book and it said that you can feel movement between 18 to 20 weeks and a little bit earlier for 2nd pregnancy, so I dismissed it. However, tonight, after sitting again for 30 minutes, EXACT SAME FEELING IN THE SAME PLACE!!!! I looked online and read other people's notes about their pregnancies and sure enough other people, especially the ones having twins or multiples said they had felt fetal movement as early as 9 weeks. How cool is that!! Looking forward to when the movement is enough for Josh and Ben to feel it as well.

Pictures of our babies

We got the proofs of Ben's first school pictures today and I think they actually turned out pretty cute. Josh and I were talking about how terrible our school pictures used to be, standing in front of fake library books or something just as cheesy, so I was glad to see these. I am sure in 27 years or so, Ben, too, will think his are horrible, but for now, they are the best school pictures in the world. When we get these back, we will also get a class picture, so I will send that then.

We also had some more pictures of Baby A and Baby B, renamed to Baby Left Lower and Baby Right Higher, taken today unexpectedly. I had been having some cramping, so for peace of mind, we had a little look-see and my how they have grown. They look great and their hearts are just beating away. The doctor saw no problems, so the cramping is probably just from 2 babies growing at a very fast rate. I am 8 weeks and 1 day and they are both measuring at 8 weeks and a few days. Baby LL is measuring in at 19.8 mm and Baby RH is 18.5 mm. So, they are about the size of a pinto bean.

I have a lost a pound (last time I will probably be able to say this), since the last visit. Good to know, that I can eat potatoes everyday and still watch my weight gain. Actually, last week, I had some major food aversions and nausea, but this week, I am back to normal, so expect weight gain in the upcoming months. My belly is getting bigger and I am officially out of my jeans. Maternity clothes here I come at 8 weeks. I have also been exhausted, but I was able to start back at the gym this week and that has helped my energy level. Plus, my wonderful husband has been taking care of a lot of things around the house, which has been giving me time to put my feet up at night. What a doll!

So, the next appointment will not be until June 26th near the end of the first trimester. Gosh, we will be glad to get to that point. That means we are out of the woods and no more shots for me, since I am continuing to have to take shots from in vitro until that time.