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| This is the little 'twin' cabin we stayed in! |
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| The Hermitage - Nevis |
Aside from that, I apologize because this is going to be the world longest blog post ever... But, it is a thorough summary of our experiences with pregnancy, twins, and St. Kitts over the past 15 weeks!
Since we’ve been together, we’ve both known that we wanted
children, and sooner than later. With
life and then marriage and then vet school, things were put on hold. We planned to leave St. Kitts pregnant so on our
trip to Florida in April, we made some doctors appointments with doctors in the
states and the process unofficially began.
We met with an obgyn, were healthy and ready to go, discussed with other
doctors about medications and things and it started to feel real. Back to the island in May and the waiting
game began.
At the end of June, with the sure thought that getting pregnant would take some time, we began our adventure. As the beginning of August approached and no period, Brayton was convinced “YOU DID NOT GET
PREGNANT YOUR FIRST MONTH OFF OF BIRTH CONTROL.
IT’S SO INCREDIBLY UNLIKELY.” I
believed him, my body was just off because I had stopped my birth control after
taking it for 10 years!
Being a female, I couldn’t live with myself and NOT take a
pregnancy test. So on Saturday, August 3,
2013, I stopped at the drug store and bought three pregnancy tests,
thinking I’d take one now, it’d be negative and save the other two for the
upcoming month.
I got home, didn’t tell Brayton I bought them, and snuck one
in…. Checked back in on it a few minutes later and was quite certain I saw two
pinks lines…. The conversation went something like this….
Leann – “Babe, I know you think it is nearly impossible to
get pregnant the first month off of birth control, but I just took a test and
I’m pretty sure it has two pink lines..”
Brayton..sort of smiling.. –“You took a pregnancy test and
didn’t tell me?”
Leann .. sort of nervous.. – “Yah.. My period was supposed
to start Wednesday and its Saturday and I have nothing yet..”
Brayton.. “Let me see!”
After viewing the test, we started scouring the internet for
what a “truly positive two pink line” pregnancy test might look like. We searched for possible due dates based on
ovulation calendars and last periods.
Then, we sort of freaked.. This wasn’t supposed to happen so fast and so
easy.. We’re due around April 9, 2014..That’s FINALS WEEK of SEVENTH
SEMESTER!! What are we going to do? Solution: take another test.. it might be
wrong..
About an hour later, we took another test… Two pink lines
again.. At this point, most people hug
and cry and celebrate… (don’t get me wrong, we’re ecstatic just shocked!) .. we
laughed and said, “this is really going to mess things up… we need to change
our tickets home, I cannot fly on April 3rd! How are we going to explain to your mom that
we need to change our tickets? How are
you going to be able to be home when I’m due the same day of your final exams?”
The stress of it all, initially, made us sort of take a step
back, and not be too excited.. 3 days
later, I took another test to “double check” and it was positive too. It had to be real.. We were still in a bit of
disbelief.
Far before we decided to get pregnant, we decided we were
not going to publicize it right away, because there are many things that can go
wrong.
Once it became a reality, we decided to keep it good and quiet, for as
long as we could. I confided in one
young female professor at Ross who I knew was currently pregnant and on island
for advice on Doctors and that is the only person we told. Our “goal” was to not tell our family until we
go home in December, but every day that seems harder and harder.. We were going
to try!
About a week later, I still didn’t quite believe it, so we
went and got a blood test. (first St.
Kitts “pregnancy medical” experience.).
I called earlier in the day, and the girl I spoke with said we could
come anytime up until 4 and they could do the test. She very poorly explained the directions to
me, telling me it was behind the Chinese Restaurant in town… OK! Got it! We get into town, and the Chinese Restaurant
I know of, doesn’t have a “behind”. So
we start asking.. Person 1 sends us down and around (not the right way), person
2 sends up to the Sands Complex (completely opposite direction), person 3
manages to give directions and get us there.
Much to our surprise, it is located on a TINY one way road I didn’t even
know existed, behind a Chinese restaurant I ALSO didn’t know existed. Due to our driving around it was about 3:45
when we got inside. I asked to have a
blood test to confirm pregnancy and she said “Sorry, we stop doing that at
3:30.” I replied with, “Well, I called a
few hours ago and was told you did it till 4.” At this point the women gets up
and yells some girls name and says “did
you tell this women we do blood work till 4?
We stop at 3:30, don’t ever tell people that again,” I felt bad for the poor girl! Regardless, the women stomped around, did the
blood work and EVEN processed it for us!
What a champ! Ha!
She handed me an envelope about 15 minutes later and said “thanks”. I was slightly confused and said, “is this a receipt?” Upon opening it, I realized it was the result
and it said “positive”. I said “Does
this mean I’m pregnant?” and she said “Yup.”
That my friends, was the end of that!
The days ahead passed, we dealt with the things we could deal with and
made an appointment to see the recommended “baby doctor” on St. Kitts for
Monday September 2, 2013 at 2:30 pm.
In the weeks that had passed, I have been feeling pretty
good. At around week 7, the nausea
kicked in. While I had not yet puked,
or even had to do that sitting in front of the toilet bowl game, I had been
nauseas for about 2 weeks straight now. (Sept 2, 2013 and I’m at 8
¾ weeks – according to my
calculations). It sticks around, 24/7, gets
a bit better when I eat and drink (I’ve been living off of ginger ale and a lot
of toast) but doesn’t stay gone for long.
I think my sleepiness has been about the same as normal and my boobs are
starting to grow and now after about 7 weeks they have stopped hurting on a
daily basis!
Our First Doctors
Appointment
On September 2, 2013, we prepared for our first doctors
appointment. Being in St. Kitts, we knew
it would likely be less than ideal, especially compared to what we are used to
in the States. We showed up for our 2:30
PM appointment at about 2:15, thinking we should be early to do paper work and
get our name on the waiting list. Upon
walking in the doctors, we noticed that the waiting room (about 5 ft across and
10 ft long) and its 12-15 chairs were completely full. We waited patiently in line to talk to the
receptionist who was telling the women in front of us that she would need to
come back around 4:30. We just assumed that she was a walk-in… Assuming we were wrong. She also had an appointment around the 2:30
time frame… Once we got to the desk, the conversation went something like this…
Me: “Hi. Leann Hill,
we have an appointment at 2:30.”
Receptionist: “Hi Leann.
I ‘ve been trying to call you all day but our Digicel lines have been
down and our other phone wasn’t calling out, so I couldn’t call you.”
Me: “OK??”
Receptionist: “The doctor did not make it in on time this
morning, so we are currently just finishing up our morning appointments, will
have an hour off for lunch, then will begin our afternoon appointments. Can you please come back at 4:30?”
Me: “Um, yah… Sure… Is there any paperwork that I am going
to need to fill out that I could take and do now so it’s completed when I come
back?”
Receptionist (looking
very confused): “Paper work? Oh no,
you’ll do that when you get back…”
Me: “Ok, we’ll see you in a couple hours.”
Awesome first experience… Did I expect more? No…
Attempt # 2 at the doctors… We showed up at 4:30, maybe even
a little after this time, and walked in.
The waiting room was still full, with many of the same people who were
there two hours ago. We found a chair,
yes A chair, to sit in.. and waited! At
this point, I still did not fill out ANY paperwork.. I was called back to see
the nurse and she asked me some basic questions and took my height, weight and
blood pressure, wrote them on a piece of cardstock tri-folded chart paper. She never even asked me WHY I was there!
After some more waiting, we went in to talk to the
doctor. He asked me some more questions,
based a due date on a chart of when my last period was, and then sent us in my
a room, barely big enough for the bed and ultrasound machine, and Brayton and I. So the process
began. He moved the wand around, it was clear
there was something in there.. And he
kept moving the wand around, turning his head side to side, and not saying
anything. After about 3 minutes of this
(note: Brayton was behind him so he couldn’t see his face) the conversation
went something like this:
Me: “CAN YOU PLEASE SAY SOMETHING.. Is it good? Bad?
Anything???”
The doctor: “Well, its not good and its not bad…”
Me: “OK?...What does that mean?”
The doctor (moving the
wand a bit more from side to side): “Do you see what I see?”
Me: “There is two isn’t there?”
The doctor: “Yes!”
Me: (lauging/giggling): “OMG, I knew it!”
At
this point, I am really not sure what Brayton was doing or saying, I think he
was just standing behind the doctor staring at the screen.
From this point on, the doctor went on to explain that they
were identical twins, the kind we call Monochorionic – Diamniotic (Mo-Di) which means that they are in one
placenta (rather than 2 as most twins are) but they are each in their own
sac. Mo-di twins make this pregnancy a high-risk pregnancy, but the survival rate of twins in this type of pregnancy
is high, especially with early discovery and continual monitoring of the
pregnancy. The doctor was really great,
and I was very happy with him. Brayton
had just taking DI, so he was able to identify many things on the ultrasound,
and the doctor spent a lot of time talking to Brayton about things, and being
sure to show us everything! I was very
happy with the attention he gave us, especially since he was so busy! (Note: we later found out, he wasn’t late
that day because he overslept – he delivers babies at the hospital, and can’t
leave if he’s in the middle of things, so often he is late arriving, putting
his appointments behind schedule.. a bit more reassuring!)
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| 8 week ultrasound |
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| 8 week ultrasound |
Once we went home, I was just in shock, excitement, planning mode…the normal emotions. We decided that we could NOT wait till Christmas to tell everyone because I am awful with secrets, thought our parents would be upset if we didn’t tell them until 6 months in and if there were any complications that required me to get on a plane and fly home, I wanted them to be aware! We decided though, not to tell anyone until after our next appointment on October 2nd due to the risk of miscarriage and any complications in the first trimester. Since then, Brayton has been doing a ton of research, medical research. We have discovered that our only major risk is TTTS (twin to twin transfusion syndrome). This happens when the twins share blood via their individual sacs, and can be very harmful to the babies if one gets too much blood, and one is not getting enough. I have been eating a great deal of protein as that is said to help prevent it, and after this next appointment, we will be going to the doctors every 2 weeks to be sure we are checking out for any/all signs of TTTS. If we see signs of it, there are specialists in the states who can do laser surgery to separate the sacs and is generally effective in saving the twins. We are hoping that we never get to this point, but are prepared for all possible outcomes.
Aside from the medical worries of pregnancy, things have not
been too bad for me. The morning
sickness, or should I call it 24/7 nausea, has been taking a toll on me. It began around week 7, and at the end
of week 12 is still going strong. I still
have not thrown up, but have had my share of gagging sprees, and am forcing
myself to eat on a 2 – 3 hour basis, as that has been the only thing that helps
ease the nausea. Sept 29th was been the FIRST day that I have woke up, eaten, and made it
through ½ the day without any major nausea feelings or gagging spells.. Maybe
there is a light at the end of the tunnel?
Lately though, I have been having some decent days, more like ½ days,
and if I feel good in the morning, the night is bad, if I have a good day, the
next day is awful… I just hope that maybe this is starting to lighten up‼ My sleeping hasn’t been any more than it was
before, except for the fact that I am not working full time, so I don’t HAVE to
be up, so I haven’t been getting up and feeling awful in the morning, makes it
far easier to drop Brayton and school and go back to bed!
This upcoming week we will be sharing our news with family
and then via FB for the rest of the world to know, assuming all is well at our
appointment on Wednesday. We are not
sure yet how to tell everyone. We wanted
to somehow get everyone together, but that is not looking possible, so it seems
like lots of skype calls coming up Wednesday night =) Looking forward to what lies ahead,
ESPECIALLY once the morning sickness goes away, and I don’t have to hide my
ever growing belly bump!
The time between appointment one and appointment two (when
we were sharing the news) was the LONGEST 4 weeks of my life.. Aside from
feeling like crap all the time, it was SO hard to keep a secret… Finally
appointment number 2 was here!
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| Beginning of September (10 weeks) |
Appointment #2 – October 2, 2013
Our second appointment actually went smooth! We showed up on time, waiting about an hour (average for here), saw the doctor, everything looked great, babies were measuring at 12 weeks (and I was 12 week pregnant), no concerns at the time.. We just couldn’t wait to get out of there and go home and call our families!
Making the calls..
I wish I had the time and memory to recollect each word of every conversation from this night, as we shared our exciting news… But I don’t..
It didn’t go quite as planned with skyping as many people as we could at one time and sharing with them all via skype, everyone was out and about and had to be caught on their own time!
Mom and Aunt Lo were about to head into a conference, and a quick facetime conversation made them late.. but it was worth it! Mom was shocked, I think more upset that I had kept it a secret from her for so long (let me tell you, it was NOT easy). The call to Lyndi and Travis was first, they weren’t sure they wanted to believe us! Joedy screamed and shouted, we have it on video. Dad laughed and kept saying, “no way, twins?!” We have his on video too! Bit got mad because she wants twins.. it’s not too late for that sista! Gerald and Megan were totally shocked, and though their internet wasn’t great and we were delayed, it was so great to see their reactions! Gram was ecastic, Mommom and Poppop were so excited and even more excited that they get to be there for Christmas with us… Overall, everyone was excited and shocked and we were just SO glad to not have a secret anymore! Our ultrasound picture on facebook traveled quickly and it wasn’t long before everyone and their brother knew our big news! After about 4 hours of skype calls, we crashed, feeling completely and utterly relieved, loved and so excited!
The next three weeks…
Since that night, today marks three weeks. I have been feeling better and better everyday. Eating on an hourly basis has helped, I have a bit more energy and drive to get out of bed and the nausea is slowing down. What a relief, I was starting to think I’d never feel human again! This week I even managed to go to the gym and walk on the treadmill and am going to try to get back into Yoga tomorrow night. Monday, Oct 28th, we have our next appointment and can hopefully find out the gender of our babes! I cannot wait!
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| Oct 17 (14 weeks) |
From this point on, I will do my best to be more up to date on the blog with pregnancy and baby things!
I'm expecting weekly posts with pictures of how big you are getting. :) SO EXCITED!
ReplyDeleteCant wait to follow this!!!
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