Update on Twins

4/6/11

We want to give you all an update on Henry and Harper.  First of all, we can’t even begin to thank you all for your sweet phone calls, emails, text messages, but most of all your prayers.  We have definitely felt them all week, especially today.  Mark and I are completely humbled by the outpour of love and support all of you have given us.   

Today, we met with the neonatologist and high risk OB specialist at LaBonheur.  Mark and I were very impressed with both doctors and feel completely at ease with the care that Henry and Harper will receive there.  After a two hour ultrasound, the doctors concluded that it would be best to go ahead and admit me to the The Med so that they can monitor the babies until they are born.  The mass in Henry’s chest remains the same.  Like we said before, this is not the best scenario, but it certainly isn’t the worst.  We are praising God for allowing it to just stay the same and not be getting any bigger.  In fact, the doctors today even feel like he may be able to wait a few months before having to have surgery.  Now, this is depending on him being able to be stabilized at birth and not be in any respiratory distress. 

The bigger issue now, it seems, is with Harper.  She is still not growing.  The doctors basically said that she could go into cardiac failure at any moment, and that this is the reason they would like for me to be admitted.  It’s not that there is anything wrong with her heart, her heartbeat is strong, just irregular, due to the restricted blood flow through the umbilical cord. They have prepared us for the possibility of the babies being born at any moment.  We are just praying that they can hang on without any complications until I am 28 weeks.  Right now I am 27 weeks.  We would love to make it even farther along than that, but we are preparing ourselves for sooner rather than later. 

We are just taking this one day at a time.  We feel like every week is a small victory.  We don’t have a whole lot of answers right now.  At this moment, we are just praying to make it to 28 weeks.  If we make it to 28 weeks, then we’ll be praying to make it to 29.  We are emotionally exhausted and just feel so defeated right now.  This is not the way either one of us envisioned having our babies, but we both know that God’s plans are far better than our own.  Even if right now we don’t understand.  This week, at times when I have felt myself get angry and upset, I have received his word through a friend via text message or email.  It is amazing what God has already done in our lives just this past week.  Mark and I both know He is totally in control and we are continuing to rest in His promises.  We want His will to be done.  Please continue to pray for our babies.  Also, please keep Mark and my mother in your prayers as they both will be traveling back and forth to Memphis to stay with me.  I am so scared of being by myself, and something happening.  Poor Mark is so torn up about not being able to be there everyday, but he has to continue to work. 

We will try and post all updates on this blog so that we can let everyone that is praying for us know what to pray for.  Once again, thank you so much for your prayers.   

Prayer Request

As you know, with most twin pregnancies, there is always risk of complications. 

About a month ago we went in to see my regular OBGYN, Dr. Hudson, for my routine monthly check up.  I was not scheduled at this date to have an ultrasound, but for some reason he felt like we needed to have one.  That day, we discovered that Harper, our little girl, was not growing at the same rate as Henry, our son.  This is often common in twins, however, our doctor felt like we needed to err on the side of caution and referred us to a perinatalogist, Dr. Hoeldtke, in Jackson, TN.  This doctor specializes in high risk pregnancies.  During our visit to this specialist, Dr. Hoeldtke confirmed that Harper indeed had fetal growth restriction or IUGR.  At that time, he wasn’t sure what the cause was, but he said all we could do was monitor and wait. 

During this same visit, Dr. Hoeldkte noticed that Henry’s heart was displaced, ie not where it should be located in his chest.  Nothing too major, but it caused him to take a deeper look at the ultrasound.  After about an hour of measurements and two fetal EKG’s, Dr. Hoeldke diagnosed Henry with a CPAM or CCAM.  This stands for Congenital Cystic Adenomatoid Malformation.  Basically, this is a tumor that has developed in his right chest cavity.  This is very rare, occurring in maybe 1 out of every 5000 pregnancies.  In 98 percent of the cases, the tumors are benign.  However, because of it’s location, there is concern for his lung development.  Dr. Hoeldtke gave us three scenarios or outcomes that will happen after receiving this type of diagnosis.  The first scenario, which is what we are praying for, is that the tumor begins to shrink and completely go away.  He said that this occurs in 20 percent of all cases.  The second scenario is that the size of the tumor stays the same.  If this occurs, Henry would need immediate surgery upon delivery to remove the mass.  The third outcome would be that the tumor continues to grow.  In this case, which is the worst, the tumor, because of its location and size, would put stress on the heart and more than likely result in fetal death. 

We went today for our two-week follow up with Dr. Hoeldtke.  Harper is growing, but not in the way that he would like to see.  She’s about half the size of Henry.  During today’s ultrasound, he noticed that the blood flow through her umbilical cord seemed to be restricted.  Harper and Henry have two separate placentas, and the doctor seems to think that maybe Harper’s is not/did not attach to the uterine wall the way it should have, thus causing her limited growth.  He said this caused concern because she could go into fetal distress or stop growing.  He said if this happens, they would have to take her immediately, thus taking Henry as well. 

Looking at Henry today, we saw that the mass has basically stayed the same.  This is not good, but it certainly is not as bad as it could be.  However, the doctor did see that Henry is beginning to have more amniotic fluid in his sac.  He said this was an early sign of preterm labor. 

Because of today’s finding, Dr. Hoeldtke decided to go ahead and refer me to the Fetal Center that is affiliated with The Med and Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital in Memphis.  He said that in his opinion, Henry and Harper will need to be born there so that Henry will be able to receive surgery upon his arrival.  He said that we are just in a “waiting game from hell!”  We really won’t know what the plan of action is going to be because both babies have their very own set of unique problems that have nothing to do with each other.  Essentially, we are going to have to take it a week at a time.  Out of concern for the risk of me going in to preterm labor, even in the next few weeks, he went ahead and started me on a series of corticosteroid injections which will hopefully aid in their lung maturity. I am currently waiting to hear from the doctor’s office in Memphis regarding our appointment either this week or next week.

We apologize for not saying anything sooner.  It is really hard for us to talk about it!  Plus, we needed time to process everything and do a little research of our own.  We also wanted to wait and give it time and see if anything changed. 

Right now, there is NOTHING we can do but pray.  We know that God is in control of this situation.  He blessed us with these two little miracle babies when I was told my chances of getting pregnant were very slim.  God doesn’t work with statistics and he certainly is bigger than any diagnosis.  We know that God is going to walk with us every step of this journey, but we really need prayer.  We are praying that he will completely heal our babies, but we also know that he has a plan that is far greater than our own.  We know that whatever the outcome, God is good.  Mark and I are also praying for peace during this “waiting game.”  We are trying to keep ourselves busy by finishing the nursery and completing projects around the house in anticipation of bringing them BOTH home.  We are upset and scared, but we have also been filled with so much hope.  

WE HAVE NAMES

I cannot begin to tell you how hard it has been for us to agree on names.  Before we seriously started trying to start our family, Mark and I both had names that we were dead set on using.  We have gone around the world with names!  However, we ended up using Mark's name for our son,  and we came up with a different name for our little girl.  So... we cannot wait to welcome our son and daughter:

Henry Mitchell Mazurkiewicz

and

Harper Frances Mazurkiewicz

"Henry" is the name of both of Mark's grandfathers.  One was named Henry Mitchell and the other is Henry Mazurkiewicz.  So, we decided to blend both of their names together.  We kept going back and forth on what we would call him, Henry, or Mitchell, but we have settled on Henry, and I think it's just perfect.  

"Harper" is just a name that I really love.  Of coarse I'm reminded of Harper Lee, but I also have followed a blog for the past two years about a little girl named Harper and I fell even more in love with that name.  I think I knew for certain that we were going to use Harper when I read in People magazine that Kelly Kapowski, and Doogie Howser both had little girls last year and they used the name Harper.  I was extremely jealous that they had used "my" name! haha  Frances we chose because Mark's sweet grandmother, Mimi, was named Frances.  We will be able to tell our daughter that she was named after a very remarkable woman!

I will say that "Lily" was my name that I have always said I would use because that was my great grandmother's name.  I grew up hearing stories from my mom of her sweet grandmother.  That name has always been special, so if we are ever blessed enough to have another daughter, we will definitely be using that name.  I'm just putting that out there.  ;)

We have decided to go ahead and share our names so that our sweet friends and family can start praying for our children by name.  We have been blessed with wonderful prayer warriors for these babies.  We just ask that everyone continue to pray for them.  We still have a really long road ahead of us, so we covet your prayers.  We believe in the power of prayer, and we are just resting in knowing that God has a great big plan for both of these babies.  

  We can't wait to welcome our Henry and Harper!!!

23 Weeks

22 Weeks 

23 Weeks

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 23 weeks (and a few days!)

Gender:  We're having a BOY and a GIRL

Total Weight Gain/Loss:  Went to the doctor on Wednesday and I had gained 6 POUNDS!!!!  I had a feeling it was going to be close to that, if not more.  That puts my total to 12 lbs!!  My doctor was very pleased.  I can go ahead and count on gaining around a pound to a pound and a half each week until they babies come.  (That's if I'm being healthy about it!)  I have a feeling it's gonna be a LOT more.  I've never been this hungry in my life!

Maternity Clothes: LOVE them!!  I discovered a new maternity store in Tupelo called Ladybugs!  Mark may kill me if I keep going there after each doctor visit, but it has the cutest stuff!   

Movement: They are just moving like crazy!  

Sleep: Sleep is okay.  I've been a little uncomfortable at night, and I'm waking up at least 2-3 times a night to use the bathroom.  I think it's God's way of preparing me for what's to come!   

What I Miss: CAFFEINE!!  I went 154 days without it, and then I cheated at Charity Ball.  I felt so guilty afterwards, but I was so tired, so I drank a glass of sweet tea.  OOOH, rebel I know! But I haven't had any more since!  

Cravings:  This week I've really craved lemonade!  Random, I know!

Symptoms: Other that feeling HUGE, I really can't complain.  I went to Nate, my chiropractor and "future" (hopefully) brother in law, and my back pain has all but gone away.  Amazing!

Best Moment of the Week: Seeing my babies again on the ultrasound.  

Once again, I'm late posting.  I've been meaning to upload photos from Hawaii, but it takes FOREVER to upload just one.  I'm going to try and talk Mark into doing it.  I'm sure he'll know a way to download them faster.  I did mention in my last post that my cousin was having her baby soon.  Well, she had a beautiful baby.....

BOY!!!  

I was shocked!!  Colby Mitchell Hopkins!  He is just beautiful, too!  He weighed 9lbs 4 ounces.  He is just precious, and his big sisters were so excited.  

I also wanted to share a picture of our furry baby.  I know some people have been worried, MOM, that our sweet Grover has been neglected since we found out we're having twins.  Well, rest assured, he's still our baby and spoiled rotten.  

We normally don't allow him to sleep with us, but every now and then he makes his way to our bed.  

We have also decided on names for our babies.  I will say that both are family names that we just love.  I'll post their names tomorrow, if I don't change my mind between now and then! :)  

Update

20 Weeks

21 Weeks on the North Shore, Oahu

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 21 Weeks (about to be 22, like, tomorrow)

Size of Babies: They are EACH the size of a spaghetti squash.  They are about 8 inches in length and weigh about 1 pound a piece.

Gender:  We're having a BOY and a GIRL

Total Weight Gain/Loss:  No clue!  Funny story... when we checked into our condo, it was very, very late and I vaguely remember walking in the bathroom and noticing scales.  I remember thinking how odd it was to have scales in the bathroom of a resort, but I was too tired to say anything.  Anyway, the next day I wake up and they're gone, so I just thought maybe I dreamed it.  On our flight home, Mark confessed to hiding the scales that night.  He didn't want me weighing myself on vacation.  Very sweet hubby!  I go back to the doctor on March 8th, so I'll know how much weight I gained on our vacation.  I am already nervous! Ha!

Maternity Clothes: LOVE them!!  

Movement: They are just moving like crazy!  One morning I was about to take a bite pineapple (which I crave!), and one of the babies kicked me so hard I started choking.  I caused quite a scene that morning at breakfast!

Sleep: Slept like a baby listening to the ocean waves.  It was great!  

What I Miss: CAFFEINE and being able to just pop right up out of a chair 

Cravings:  Fruit and strawberry cake, or really any cake flavor  (random, I know) 

Symptoms: Some pretty bad lower back pain, but nothing too bad!

Best Moment of the Week: Being able to sit by the beach, in a swimsuit, and thoroughly enjoy a cheeseburger and fries.  It was the most liberating experience!  It was the first time in my life where I've worn a swimsuit and not cared how I looked.  I mean, I'm pregnant, I'm supposed to be fat, right?  Ha!  It was great!  

I will try and post pictures from our trip tomorrow.  We had a wonderful time!  Very grateful for being able to get away with Mark and just enjoy being "kid free" for the last time in our lives.   Unfortunately, I came down with the flu shortly after coming home.  I'm much better, but this is why I'm late updating.  We have Charity Ball this weekend, so I have a very busy week ahead of me.  Also, my sweet cousin, Jennifer, is having her baby this Friday!  I'm so excited!  She and her husband decided not to find out the sex of their baby, so we are all DYING to find out!  They already have two precious little girls, so I'm kinda rooting for a baby boy!  Can't wait to post some pics from this weekend.