After The Tenth..... When The Fun Really Begins

Is it too soon to start worrying about being fair to my two daughters? As if finding the time to write isn't hard enough, now I worry about whether I've written too many posts about Macy and not enough about her not-yet named sister. (or vice versa)

While I've still got plenty of learning to do in this area, my current plan is to combine as many posts as possible, discussing both daughters at once.

On the Macy front, she's showing signs of verbal communication. If you need to put on her socks and shoes, for instance, you can just say "Macy, sit down" and she will. Yes, I know that Zoe basically does the same thing, but when Macy does it, it is better for a number of reasons. First, you don't have to give her a treat right after, as you do with Zoe and second, she then follows up the sitting down with another "trick." You can then tell her that you are going to put her sock on and she'll raise up one of her feet. In fact, she's shown a slightly strange obsession with socks and shoes. If she's starting already, how long before she's  pressuring me to get her first pair of Manolo Blahnik's?

As if those parlor tricks aren't cool enough, the next time you are around her, ask her where her pancreas is located and she'll show you. Truth be told, I'm not 100% certain where you find apancreas in the human body, so I don't really know if the spot on her body she's pointing to is correct or not, but it probably is.

As far as Macy's sister, this past weekend was a minor milestone for me. Not only did I get to feel her kicking and moving, but I got to SEE her moving as well. As we know now, she'll be arriving a bit early, but from the looks of how she was moving around in Annie's belly, she was looking for the escape hatch. Even though this is the second time I'm going through this, feeling your unborn child move and then getting to watch her move is really a moment that makes you stop and reflect.

I initially reflected on how lucky I am to have found my perfect match and that she's just as crazy as I am. She wants to have not one but two children with me. I mean who else but a fellow oddball would join me in skipping the belly and the nose and going right to "where's your pancreas?" After that moment, I the reflected on the thought that I'm going to have two girls in college at the same time. Is it too soon to start worrying about how to get scholarships?

As a teenager, I was fond of the GI Joe television series. At the end of each episode, there was a little public service announcement that usually ended with some recently enlightened child announcing "now I know", which would prompt the on screen hero to respond "and knowing is half the battle."

In our case, knowing isn't just half the battle, it is almost the entire battle. Annie's pregnancy with Macy went about as smooth as you could ask for, as if we were following a Hollywood script with directions on which way to turn next. Up until a week ago, we thought this second pregnancy was following the same set of stage directions. Due to Annie being considered "ancient" in the baby-making world, we have been seeing a perinatal doctor in addition to her OB. As soon as you are in this magical "high risk" category, you get extra care and attention. During our 4th and most recent sonogram appointment, they discovered something they weren't very happy about. This became quite clear when they asked Annie to step back into the office for her third sonogram of our visit.

After this third scan, the doctor sat down with us and explained what had them concerned. Remember that I attended Law School and not Medical School, so I'm not certain that I'm explaining things 100% accurately, but I'll do my best. Before I continue, please refer back to the title of this post, about how "knowing" is the key, because for us, the discovery drastically changes things for the better. There is no real medical answer for why this happens, but in rare circumstances the placenta bifurcates or splits into two. In the best case scenario, the second placenta isn't attached to either the baby or the primary placenta, which would mean that it just needs to be removed after the birth; but alas that isn't the case with Annie. The second placenta contains blood vessels that connect to the baby and essentially still play a role in the feeding of our littlest little one. To complicate matters, this vessel is currently placed in a location that is really undesirable, which is why knowing about it will make all the difference.

The good news is that we now know the situation and have not one but two doctors actively monitoring things. Not knowing about this condition prior to going into labor would bring about a situation that I can't even bring myself to type. However, once it has been diagnosed, the situation changes drastically. It seems that the stars have aligned for us and the extra attention allowed for this early diagnoses. While it is still early, both doctors agree that we should follow the standard course of action, which unfortunately means a scheduled C-section during week 35. Depending upon how quickly our little one progresses over the next few months will determine whether she needs to visit the NICU and for how long. If she does have to make an appearance, we are thankful that it will be at Broward General (BG), where they have a Level 3 NICU, the highest classification you can get. You might remember some of Macy's best friends, the twins, also visited with the NICU nurses at BG and are doing extremely wonderful.

Long story short, we are certainly anxious about things but are still very optimistic.

So "now you know....."

One of the most popular "features" of After The Tenth has returned...the Baby-Food Guide. In the weeks leading up to Macy's birth, Annie kept a running total of Macy's weight and which food item she most closely resembled. You'll find the Baby-Food Guide in the lower right hand corner of the site.

We are currently in Week 18 and as you can tell from the guide, she's roughly he length of a bell pepper.