Thanksgiving Blessings

God has given us many things to be thankful for this Thanksgiving! We are thankful that Hannah Kate is healthy and safe and looks awesome on ultrasounds! We are thankful that we have Rachel and Leah for now and hope that we get to spend a little bit of time with them when they are born. We are thankful for kind and smart doctors!

Here are the highlights from today at Vanderbilt:
*We had an ultrasound that lasted one hour. Fun times, but my bootie was asleep by the end from trying to be still for that long!
*They did anatomy scans for the babies. Hannah Kate looks perfect and is still Hannah Kate not Daniel! Rachel and Leah look the same-not really any new news to report. During the scan, the lady was pointing out the heart, there are the different chambers, etc. I was thinking, "Wow, that's neat that you can see that. Aw, look at the little hands, feet, etc. That's cool how she can just push one button and it puts the whole word on the screen for the body part instead of her typing it all out...." Then, my brilliant pharmacist husband says, "Can you see the Ductus Arteriosis?" I just laughed. They then proceeded to talk about whatever that is in the heart and where it is, etc. I'm glad he knows medical lingo!
*Ultrasounds are amazing. The babies are the size of mangoes this week and you can see ventricles in the brain on an ultrasound (and whatever that Ductus thing is Wesley asked about in the heart!)-and those are tiny!
*We saw the other high risk OB (Dr. Bennett) and we like her too. She and/or Dr. Carroll (the doctor we saw last time) will do the c-section.
*She said our goal for now is to make it to 28 weeks. After 28 weeks, then 32, then 35 (which is our ultimate goal). I am supposed to stop working at 20 weeks (which is in 2 weeks!), but I am going to try to spring for another week and a half to be able to finish out before Christmas. She said I need to take it as easy as I can-no heavy housework or lifting, stay off my feet as much as possible, etc. She wasn't overly concerned about anything at this point, but said it's just "common sense" that I need to be taking it easy.
*She said at this point the babies are the right size, etc. and to not be too concerned about me not gaining weight. She said for me to eat as often as I can stand to eat and to eat whatever I can. She said that means if it's just milkshakes, then eat milkshakes! (My kind of doctor!) She advised for me to be eating every 2 hours.....that's a lot of eating!
*We met the neonatologist at this clinic for the first time. He was very nice as well. He asked right away if we had chosen names and then called each baby by name for the remainder of the visit. I was impressed! When he left, I said, "I LIKE him! Do you know why?" and Wesley immediately said, "Because he called them by name. I was thinking, 'Denise is eating this up!'" He basically went over what would happen in the surgery room, what to expect, etc. Hannah Kate will have a team of four people working on her: a neonatologist, a neonatal nurse practitioner, respiratory therapist, and a NICU nurse. He said depending on how far along we are, she may not need all of them, but they will all be there and ready. Rachel and Leah will also have a team waiting for them. Their main priority is cleaning them up and getting them ready for us to hold and keeping them comfortable. He said there's no way to know how long they will live, but he is leaning more towards minutes/hours. He referred to minutes for the majority of the conversation. He said that God made a heart to last a lifetime, we just don't know how long the lifetime is. Makes sense to me! He then went into the details of what to expect based on how far along we are and what complications may arise for Hannah Kate. If we make it to 35 weeks, he said she could be in the NICU as little as 3 days.
*We go back on December 22 (the Wednesday before Christmas) to see Dr. Carroll again. We will keep going every 3-4 weeks until we have to start going more often.

I'll include a couple of ultrasound pictures for you to enjoy. :) Then, I have got to get busy knitting a Christmas stocking for Hannah Kate (I want a picture of all of our stockings together....I know she won't know if it's ready or not!)!!
Love you all,
Denise and Wesley

Here is a profile picture of Hannah Kate from yesterday's visit at home with Dr. Holmes.

This is of her feet from today.

A highlight from yesterday at the doctor at home-Dr. Holmes measured my belly for the first time and said it should normally be how many weeks I am +/-4 but that I will be bigger.....I was 18 weeks yesterday and my belly measured at 24 weeks! Ha! I'm advanced! And yet still I have gained only 2 pounds total.....oh well!