Missed Dr.'s Apointment

   I'm going to start this blog post by stating that, yes I am skipping some things in the timeline scheme of things, but some of the things in this post I feel are important. I will be posting on the trip to find out the sexes, the first time we heard their heart beats, what we got for Christmas (Yes, I am that far behind) and so on, but for now, this is what you get. So there.

   Onward!


 I missed an OB/GYN appointment; which makes me a sad Dad. :o( I wanted to be there and be a part of every experience that is related to our babies. *sigh* But,  I did text some questions to Kristy that I had for our Dr. YAY!… and she laughed at me… and gave Kristy instructions for me to get the heck off the internets. I’m making myself more paranoid than I should be. Damn American health care system is messing my perspective on the damn Canadian health care system, which I can understand. Most of the info you get (or at least I find I get) online is going to be American, which can skew your view on Canadian health care. There are some things that are similar, but that’s just what it is; similar. >:oP

     Apparently our Dr. is wrong about guessing the sexes about 80% of the time. When Kristy went into the office and mentioned that we were having two boys, the receptionist had a good chuckle and had to inform our Dr. that she was wrong yet again. Kristy’s Dad, Ron, was kind enough to bring Kristy to the appointment this time and was introduced as “Kristy’s Dad Ron aka Grumpa” to the amusement of the entire office staff that promptly adopted the name and referred to him as Grumpa for the rest of the appointment. Awesome.

   I was given an update about the Boys. Baby A’s HR is at 150 and Baby B’s HR is at 140 and the one we thought was all nice and calm, Baby B, was up and at ‘em, moving around like crazy to our Dr.’s amusement. “I don’t envy you if they are this active now.” she says. “You better get all the rest you can, ‘cause you’re gunna have your hands full with these two.” Ha ha, thanks doc. :o~ They will also be growing at a rate of 4oz each a week until delivery. They’re at 25 weeks as of the appointment, so that means another 8-10 lbs in baby alone! (And that’s all together baby weight people, come on now.) Kristy would not be impressed if I mentioned how much weight she's gained and for fear of grievous bodily harm or death it's not going to be mentioned by this smart fellow, but it should be a pretty dramatic change from week to week when I post the belly growth pictures.

   One of my questions was about the medication that would be used if Kristy had to be induced. Which turned out to be Pitocin, the synthetic form of Oxytocin, and Cervidil, the synthetic form of Prostagandin E2, which are both produced, in their natural form, by the brain to start the labor process. Thank God Citotec isn’t approved in Canada. That is one nasty mama-jama. (Thanks American internets.) But, because both Pitocin and Cervidil are synthetic, they come with a lot of potential risks. Pitocin is the medication that gets used most of the time unless the patient has an allergy to it. The Oxytocin your body produces is chemically identical to the Oxytocin contained in Pitocin; the way your body recognizes them and responds to them is very different and that’s because Oxytocin is produced by the brain and affects the brain in its natural form.  Pitocin is introduced into the blood stream and does NOT affect the brain because it cannot get to it. Our bodies have a natural barrier for the brain to substances not produced by it. Pitocin and Oxytocin both affect your body, but since Pitocin is synthetic and doesn’t affect your brain, your body reacts differently to it... sometimes negatively. Some of the side effects from using Pitocin range from a mild headache to maternal death, not to mention what it could do to your child. (Or children in our case.)

   I’m not going to bore you with anything more. Just note that I’m not into the whole induction thing unless it is ABSOLUTELY necessary! Go here to read up on Pitocin if you so choose: http://www.rxlist.com/pitocin-drug.htm (Page 3 for the side effects) It should also be noted that part of our Dr.’s answer included that she has rarely had to induce in a twin pregnancy. She just wanted us to be aware of the possibility.

   My other questions worth mentioning are that Kristy has been complaining about a tight stomach later in the day, being woken up in the middle of the night by a sore leg and shortness of breath. The sore leg and some shortness of breath are attributed to low iron and low vitamins, (Easily fixable.) but the tightness of her stomach and some shortness of breath are an indicator of early contractions. YIKES! Our Dr. says, and this is for all you at Kristy’s work, that if her stomach is tight, she MUST sit down until it passes. Her working days are now numbered. (I love you baby)