Friday, September 22, 2006
Sunday, September 17, 2006
Thursday, September 14, 2006
Rusty in the tree
Here is a lovely photo of Rusty in a tree that Matt took on Rusty's birthday, July 7th.
Wednesday, September 13, 2006
Random pictures
Rusty and his namesake 'Rusty' the stuffed dog. This is how Rusty got his name. :) And yes he gets attention now the girls are here.
Kate and Lucy in Sarah H's onesies, I like this one 'cuz it shows how small and LONG they were!!Should have put this pic up sooner
This is our first 'family' picture, haha. Taken on September 2nd, the day after we got home from the hospital...Also the girls first outing in the stroller (which we agree was worth the money we paid!)
Dr's appointments
So, Mom left Tuesday morning just before our first Dr's appointments...but we are all doing fine on our own so far.
The visit to Dr. Jane Hailey (our pediatrician) went well. She was pleased with the girls weight gain and in general...that's was good. We got our questions answered and found it to be a helpful visit over all.
Today we went to see the cardiologist for Lucy. They did another echo cardiogram, and an ECG. The Cardiogram showed that her 'pressure' has gone up from 30 to 60, which is within the range at which they do the first angioplasty. She is still too small to do it though, Dr. Walter Duncan felt that if they were to do the procedure now they would be putting the artery in her thigh at risk because of the tools they would have to use, so they want to see her again in a month to see if she has gained enough weight to do the procedure. (Apparently they could damage the artery causing reduced blood flow the rest of her life.) She is doing well though, at the moment, her heart is coping well so he figures it could wait, we will just have to monitor her.
Despite the news that she will likely have to undergo the angioplasty before too long she is doing well over all and that is good.
The visit to Dr. Jane Hailey (our pediatrician) went well. She was pleased with the girls weight gain and in general...that's was good. We got our questions answered and found it to be a helpful visit over all.
Today we went to see the cardiologist for Lucy. They did another echo cardiogram, and an ECG. The Cardiogram showed that her 'pressure' has gone up from 30 to 60, which is within the range at which they do the first angioplasty. She is still too small to do it though, Dr. Walter Duncan felt that if they were to do the procedure now they would be putting the artery in her thigh at risk because of the tools they would have to use, so they want to see her again in a month to see if she has gained enough weight to do the procedure. (Apparently they could damage the artery causing reduced blood flow the rest of her life.) She is doing well though, at the moment, her heart is coping well so he figures it could wait, we will just have to monitor her.
Despite the news that she will likely have to undergo the angioplasty before too long she is doing well over all and that is good.
Thursday, September 07, 2006
Saturday, September 02, 2006
A couple of pictures...we actually haven't taken many!
Kate (L) and Lucy (R) today at 1 week old...a bit sleepy after lunch. They got those onesies from Sarah Hughes...one of the only things that fit them well given that they are very long and skinny like thier Dad!
And...Kate and Lucy at one day old...funny faces! Too bad they had so many wires attached to them!
The first few days
Sunday morning arrived and I was able to get up and have a shower. I was moving painfully slow and had to sit to shower but it was great. After eating Chris wheeled me down to the nursery to see the girls and I finally got to hold Kate.
Over the course of the day we had a few visitors, mostly family but also Shannon, Meridith and Geno. As the day passed we spent time with the girls and got as many updates from the nurses and Dr's as we could regarding thier health. By the end of the day we found out that they had heart murmers that would be looked at more the next day. Apparently it's common for many people and I discovered that I also had one at birth!
On Monday they did a echo cardiogram on Lucy to check out her heart, apparently they were more concerned about her. We heard nothing that day except that they could not come upstairs yet.
Over the course of these days I attempted to learn breastfeed and learned to pump milk. Time passed.
Tuesday we got word that the Dr's were going to speak to us about Lucy and were double checking Kate. We found out that Lucy has an 'aortic stenosis'. In the early afternoon we got to sit down with the cardiologist and find out just what aortic stenosis meant besides narrowing of an artery.
An aortic stenosis is an narrowing of the artery leading FROM the heart to the rest of the body. So blood moves in just fine but encounters trouble getting into the rest of the body. It's hard to explain without diagrams but it essentially means that unlike many heart defects this one will get worse as she gets older. The first step in caring for this condition is doing a balloon angioplasty in which a tube is passed through a vein in the thigh and through that defective artery where the balloon expands allowing easier blood flow. This is done once or twice, but not more often as it can create leakage. The next step in managing this condition is an open heart surgery called a Ross Procedure. When this is done they replace the defective artery with the 'other' artery that pumps blood into the heart as this artery grows well with the heart and then replacing the 'other' artery with a donor artery or a artery made out of a cows jugular. This will ensure that it will grow with Lucy. As she gets older this artery will need to be replaced but hopefully not until the final surgery which is done once she is an adult and not growing anymore. They then replace it with one made of plastic or I think metal. This situation is slightly more complicated because she is a girl as if she wants to have children she cannot have this final surgery until after she has children as she would have to be on blood thinners. The donor or jugular artery cannot be permenant because the body eventually rejects them, depositing calcium on them until they can no longer function.
There is a resource family in Vancouver who will talk to people whose children who will be going through this who also have twins. Thier daughter (the one twin) had it a bit worse than Lucy and has already had 3 surgeries by the time she was 6...so that gave us a bit of a time line.
We will have a whole team of Doctors, some of whom are the leading Doctors in Canada in this area and will be followed closely by the girls pediatrician who is also one of the best around.
We dealt well with the news I think, mainly feeling sorry and sad that Lucy will have to go through this, but are glad she will have such good care. Kate is fine, with the same kind of heart murmer I had, I can't remember the name...transitory or something. Lucy should still have good quality of life, and be quite normal except tiring and such nearing the times she will need surgery. The procedures have a very high success rate and those who have the congenital heart defect such as Lucy's will usually lead perfectly normal lives.
Anyway, the good news was that Kate got to come up to our room on Tuesday as well. It was hard to seperate them but it was nice to have Kate. On Wednesday they decided that Kate needed phototherapy for Jaundice (which seemed apparent to me) and so was put in an incubator again under lights but still stayed in our room. Lucy was also allowed to come up to our room on Wednesday. Then by late night (around 11:30pm!) they decided Lucy also needed phototherapy and so they brought in another incubator and lights. SO, we spent some time moving the room around to fit everything in and thus a weird blue glow was cast over our room all night. :) Thursday Kate was taken off of phototherapy and Lucy spent one more night under her lights. Since the kids were born I'd not got much sleep but I still think it was a wake up for me and even more for Chris (who'd been sleeping at night because he didn't have nurses checking him all the time) to have the girls in the room. We put them on an every three hour feeding schedule which means we get 1 1/2 to 2 hours sleep in between feedings. Friday evening we were given the go ahead to leave. YAY! So, one week after being induced the girls came home.
Our first night at home was great. I actually fell asleep right away when I went to bed, unlike the 1/2 an hour to an hour it would take me EVERY time in the hospital. I got a good bit of sleep as did Chris, thanks to mom's help for a couple of feedings. We haven't done much today, just relaxed and visited with Chris' family who came over. We all went for a walk to Trout Lake today. I'm walking pretty slowly (didn't realize how little I was walking when in the hospital!!) but it was nice to get out.
Over the course of the day we had a few visitors, mostly family but also Shannon, Meridith and Geno. As the day passed we spent time with the girls and got as many updates from the nurses and Dr's as we could regarding thier health. By the end of the day we found out that they had heart murmers that would be looked at more the next day. Apparently it's common for many people and I discovered that I also had one at birth!
On Monday they did a echo cardiogram on Lucy to check out her heart, apparently they were more concerned about her. We heard nothing that day except that they could not come upstairs yet.
Over the course of these days I attempted to learn breastfeed and learned to pump milk. Time passed.
Tuesday we got word that the Dr's were going to speak to us about Lucy and were double checking Kate. We found out that Lucy has an 'aortic stenosis'. In the early afternoon we got to sit down with the cardiologist and find out just what aortic stenosis meant besides narrowing of an artery.
An aortic stenosis is an narrowing of the artery leading FROM the heart to the rest of the body. So blood moves in just fine but encounters trouble getting into the rest of the body. It's hard to explain without diagrams but it essentially means that unlike many heart defects this one will get worse as she gets older. The first step in caring for this condition is doing a balloon angioplasty in which a tube is passed through a vein in the thigh and through that defective artery where the balloon expands allowing easier blood flow. This is done once or twice, but not more often as it can create leakage. The next step in managing this condition is an open heart surgery called a Ross Procedure. When this is done they replace the defective artery with the 'other' artery that pumps blood into the heart as this artery grows well with the heart and then replacing the 'other' artery with a donor artery or a artery made out of a cows jugular. This will ensure that it will grow with Lucy. As she gets older this artery will need to be replaced but hopefully not until the final surgery which is done once she is an adult and not growing anymore. They then replace it with one made of plastic or I think metal. This situation is slightly more complicated because she is a girl as if she wants to have children she cannot have this final surgery until after she has children as she would have to be on blood thinners. The donor or jugular artery cannot be permenant because the body eventually rejects them, depositing calcium on them until they can no longer function.
There is a resource family in Vancouver who will talk to people whose children who will be going through this who also have twins. Thier daughter (the one twin) had it a bit worse than Lucy and has already had 3 surgeries by the time she was 6...so that gave us a bit of a time line.
We will have a whole team of Doctors, some of whom are the leading Doctors in Canada in this area and will be followed closely by the girls pediatrician who is also one of the best around.
We dealt well with the news I think, mainly feeling sorry and sad that Lucy will have to go through this, but are glad she will have such good care. Kate is fine, with the same kind of heart murmer I had, I can't remember the name...transitory or something. Lucy should still have good quality of life, and be quite normal except tiring and such nearing the times she will need surgery. The procedures have a very high success rate and those who have the congenital heart defect such as Lucy's will usually lead perfectly normal lives.
Anyway, the good news was that Kate got to come up to our room on Tuesday as well. It was hard to seperate them but it was nice to have Kate. On Wednesday they decided that Kate needed phototherapy for Jaundice (which seemed apparent to me) and so was put in an incubator again under lights but still stayed in our room. Lucy was also allowed to come up to our room on Wednesday. Then by late night (around 11:30pm!) they decided Lucy also needed phototherapy and so they brought in another incubator and lights. SO, we spent some time moving the room around to fit everything in and thus a weird blue glow was cast over our room all night. :) Thursday Kate was taken off of phototherapy and Lucy spent one more night under her lights. Since the kids were born I'd not got much sleep but I still think it was a wake up for me and even more for Chris (who'd been sleeping at night because he didn't have nurses checking him all the time) to have the girls in the room. We put them on an every three hour feeding schedule which means we get 1 1/2 to 2 hours sleep in between feedings. Friday evening we were given the go ahead to leave. YAY! So, one week after being induced the girls came home.
Our first night at home was great. I actually fell asleep right away when I went to bed, unlike the 1/2 an hour to an hour it would take me EVERY time in the hospital. I got a good bit of sleep as did Chris, thanks to mom's help for a couple of feedings. We haven't done much today, just relaxed and visited with Chris' family who came over. We all went for a walk to Trout Lake today. I'm walking pretty slowly (didn't realize how little I was walking when in the hospital!!) but it was nice to get out.
The labour
The girls are finally here. Kate Emily Dodd was born at 8:08pm on August 26th and only 3 minutes later at 8:11pm Lucy Olivia Dodd was born. Lucy was breech and was fished out with the help of Dr. Woo, who was on call at the time.
I went in at 11:00am on Friday the 25th to be induced (37 weeks along). They finally inserted proglastin gel at around 3pm, which softens the cervix and is a bit more natural than the alternate oxytocin. It stimulates the cervix to begin to 'ripen' and so brings on contractions. I was monitored for about 2 hours and then sent home. I began contractions immediately after given the gel and by the time I was sent home they had become somewhat regular and further apart (the first hour was one on top of the other but not super strong). I was having them fairly regular at about 30 then 20 minutes apart and decided to go have a shower to help me relax. That was great. Upon emerging from the shower I had a strong contraction which didn't seem to let up. I crawled just outside the bathroom and laid on the floor for a good 20 minutes having contractions one on top of the other again but quite painful. I had Chris call the hospital (I was supposed to wait for them to come 5 min's apart but never really had that interval) and they said to come right in. I discovered when finally leaving the house that I could barely walk and the ride to the hospital again was not fun. Once at the hospital we were settled into a new room with a twin room attached and they began to monitor the baby's and my contractions again. It was pretty clear to them they would not be sending me back home and began all the procedures to get me onto some drugs so I would get some relief. Let me tell you I wanted it! They tried to give me 'laughing gas' (nitrous oxide) but it just made me gag so I opted to deal with the pain for the moment...although periodically I did attempt to make use of it. Once they inserted an I.V. they injected me with nitrous (I didn't hear them call it anything else) which did take the edge off. Next came the epidural, which did offer quite a bit of relief. I got these medications about an hour and a half after I got there and was so relieved to get them. I could not believe how anyone could go through the whole labour like that but apparently most people do not have contractions on top of one another, there IS a bit of a rest in between to regroup (so I'm told). Anyway, we were told to try to sleep and about 2 pm Chris got to sleep but what with the monitoring and checks mom and I didn't sleep more than an hour. They had to keep quite a close eye on the activities of the twins as those type of contractions can be quite hard on babies but they tolerated it well. I attempted to doze off and on throughout the day on Saturday. Chris' family was in and out visiting and I kept occupied talking to the nurses and mom. At some point they put in a catheter which I hated because I could feel it even though they said I shouldn't feel much and would get used to it. Around 4:30 I awoke from a doze to find I needed to have a bowel movement (so I thought). The nurse told me I didn't and she would get the Dr. that was on call at the time. At about this time I began to feel my contractions again to make me uncomfortable and I started using the self administering button for the epidural. After about an hour and a half of waiting for the Dr. (who was in the O.R.) he finally arrived and they found that I was fully dialated and ready to push. This was great news for me but I was wondering why the epidural didn't seem to be working so well. No answer was forthcoming. So began the pushing. It was painful but managable for awhile. Chris and mom were a big help in supporting me and helping me to push. As time passed the pain got increasingly worse and they got the anesthesiologist to try and figure out what was going wrong with the epidural. That was never figured out and by the end of my labour they had me on the same amount as they give some one for a c-section and were also topping it up periodically. I was still in A LOT of pain. Anyway, after an hour and a half or so of pushing (I have no idea of the actual time frame, this is what I was told, it seemed like forever), they decided that as Baby A (Kate) was not moving into position and may have been loosing oxygen they would use the vaccuum to get her out. I think the insertion of this was one of the most painful things ever. They asked me to tell them if I wanted them to stop but when I did they kept on. It was good they did in the end but no fun at the time. So after that when I pushed they pulled and Kate was out in a matter of minutes. I actually got to see her being born as I was mostly upright as was comfortable for me, but was so exhausted I just laid there dull eyed for what must have only been a few seconds before they said they were going in for Baby B (Lucy). I thought the vaccuum, then Kate's head was bad in terms of pain but having the Dr, who did not have small hands, reach up to figure out how she was sitting was BAD. The found her to be breech still and so pulled her out feet first. This part was horrible because of the finding of Lucy but also because they made me lay flat which was NOT comfortable...but on the up side once they got her feet she was out in a matter of mintues and I barely even noticed her head exit. I didn't get to see her being born due to my position but I think I wouldn't have noticed much by then anyway.
They whisked the babies to the twin room while I was stiched up. Thankfully I didn't have an episiotomy which I really didn't want, but I did tear a bit. Unfortunately the local they gave me for the stiching didn't work so hot either but in comparison to labour I could tolerate that pain. (although I did grumble and harrass the Dr. doing the stiching, but good naturedly.) Some time later I got to meet Lucy (and hold her for a few minutes), before they took her and Kate to the nursery. Kate had a lack of oxygen and they both were breathing a little fast and so had to be monitored. Chris went with the girls while I waited until they were finished with me in the delivery room. Another 1/2 hour to an hour later I got to go to the nursery in my new friend the wheelchair to see the girls and was then wheeled to my room.
I went in at 11:00am on Friday the 25th to be induced (37 weeks along). They finally inserted proglastin gel at around 3pm, which softens the cervix and is a bit more natural than the alternate oxytocin. It stimulates the cervix to begin to 'ripen' and so brings on contractions. I was monitored for about 2 hours and then sent home. I began contractions immediately after given the gel and by the time I was sent home they had become somewhat regular and further apart (the first hour was one on top of the other but not super strong). I was having them fairly regular at about 30 then 20 minutes apart and decided to go have a shower to help me relax. That was great. Upon emerging from the shower I had a strong contraction which didn't seem to let up. I crawled just outside the bathroom and laid on the floor for a good 20 minutes having contractions one on top of the other again but quite painful. I had Chris call the hospital (I was supposed to wait for them to come 5 min's apart but never really had that interval) and they said to come right in. I discovered when finally leaving the house that I could barely walk and the ride to the hospital again was not fun. Once at the hospital we were settled into a new room with a twin room attached and they began to monitor the baby's and my contractions again. It was pretty clear to them they would not be sending me back home and began all the procedures to get me onto some drugs so I would get some relief. Let me tell you I wanted it! They tried to give me 'laughing gas' (nitrous oxide) but it just made me gag so I opted to deal with the pain for the moment...although periodically I did attempt to make use of it. Once they inserted an I.V. they injected me with nitrous (I didn't hear them call it anything else) which did take the edge off. Next came the epidural, which did offer quite a bit of relief. I got these medications about an hour and a half after I got there and was so relieved to get them. I could not believe how anyone could go through the whole labour like that but apparently most people do not have contractions on top of one another, there IS a bit of a rest in between to regroup (so I'm told). Anyway, we were told to try to sleep and about 2 pm Chris got to sleep but what with the monitoring and checks mom and I didn't sleep more than an hour. They had to keep quite a close eye on the activities of the twins as those type of contractions can be quite hard on babies but they tolerated it well. I attempted to doze off and on throughout the day on Saturday. Chris' family was in and out visiting and I kept occupied talking to the nurses and mom. At some point they put in a catheter which I hated because I could feel it even though they said I shouldn't feel much and would get used to it. Around 4:30 I awoke from a doze to find I needed to have a bowel movement (so I thought). The nurse told me I didn't and she would get the Dr. that was on call at the time. At about this time I began to feel my contractions again to make me uncomfortable and I started using the self administering button for the epidural. After about an hour and a half of waiting for the Dr. (who was in the O.R.) he finally arrived and they found that I was fully dialated and ready to push. This was great news for me but I was wondering why the epidural didn't seem to be working so well. No answer was forthcoming. So began the pushing. It was painful but managable for awhile. Chris and mom were a big help in supporting me and helping me to push. As time passed the pain got increasingly worse and they got the anesthesiologist to try and figure out what was going wrong with the epidural. That was never figured out and by the end of my labour they had me on the same amount as they give some one for a c-section and were also topping it up periodically. I was still in A LOT of pain. Anyway, after an hour and a half or so of pushing (I have no idea of the actual time frame, this is what I was told, it seemed like forever), they decided that as Baby A (Kate) was not moving into position and may have been loosing oxygen they would use the vaccuum to get her out. I think the insertion of this was one of the most painful things ever. They asked me to tell them if I wanted them to stop but when I did they kept on. It was good they did in the end but no fun at the time. So after that when I pushed they pulled and Kate was out in a matter of minutes. I actually got to see her being born as I was mostly upright as was comfortable for me, but was so exhausted I just laid there dull eyed for what must have only been a few seconds before they said they were going in for Baby B (Lucy). I thought the vaccuum, then Kate's head was bad in terms of pain but having the Dr, who did not have small hands, reach up to figure out how she was sitting was BAD. The found her to be breech still and so pulled her out feet first. This part was horrible because of the finding of Lucy but also because they made me lay flat which was NOT comfortable...but on the up side once they got her feet she was out in a matter of mintues and I barely even noticed her head exit. I didn't get to see her being born due to my position but I think I wouldn't have noticed much by then anyway.
They whisked the babies to the twin room while I was stiched up. Thankfully I didn't have an episiotomy which I really didn't want, but I did tear a bit. Unfortunately the local they gave me for the stiching didn't work so hot either but in comparison to labour I could tolerate that pain. (although I did grumble and harrass the Dr. doing the stiching, but good naturedly.) Some time later I got to meet Lucy (and hold her for a few minutes), before they took her and Kate to the nursery. Kate had a lack of oxygen and they both were breathing a little fast and so had to be monitored. Chris went with the girls while I waited until they were finished with me in the delivery room. Another 1/2 hour to an hour later I got to go to the nursery in my new friend the wheelchair to see the girls and was then wheeled to my room.
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