Yesterday I had an appointment for a growth ultrasound and immediately after was scheduled to see a specialist in Maternal and Fetal Health. Apparently he is the head honcho for difficult/complicated pregnancies up at Missouri Baptist Hospital and his practice is in the same office where I get my level II ultrasounds. I'm in good hands no doubt with the team of doctors I've got behind me since both are associated with the hospital itself. They are on the same page as far as treating things and being aggressive when they feel the need is there. That alone is enough to make me as comfortable as I physically can be this pregnancy.
The ultrasound went off without a hitch. Both boys look fantastic and are growing like they should be - and believe it or not they are only an ounce apart in size (pretty rare in identical twins)! One was 2 lbs, 4.9 oz. and the other was 2 lbs, 3.9 oz. Fluid levels were looking pretty good as well, but there is more on that subject later.
Like I said, our appointment (according to Dr. K's office) was supposed to be immediately after our ultrasound. I had the tech show me where to go and we sat in the small waiting room. We ran into the triplet mama from our multiples class in the waiting room and chatted it up for a while. She lives just a few minutes from us, so I'm thinking tonight at class I might ask for her email or phone number or something.
We ended up waiting in the waiting room for three hours before seeing the Dr! We were pretty irritated at the office staff since no one let us know what was going on or why it was taking so long. But when we finally met with Dr. P, we didn't mind waiting that long. He is an AWESOME doctor and extremely thorough. I came out of the appointment much more educated on things.
According to him, this twins pregnancy (mono/di) is one the most challenging multiple pregnancies because of the many complications associated with it. At this point he has pretty much ruled out many of them, but let us know that there is still time for these things to happen. Intrauterine growth restriction (where the fetus falls behind in growth/weight), twin to twin transfer syndrome (when one baby gets more blood flow from the shared placenta, making that baby much bigger than the other, has many risks along with it), birth defects, the list goes on.
We aren't out of the woods so to speak on any of these, but given my latest ultrasound report, things appear to be good for now. One baby had a slightly high level of fluids, so I am going back in two weeks to monitor that and also get another measure on cervical length. I will also be meeting with Dr. P again "immediately" after.
I found out on Monday that I passed my glucose tolerance test with flying colors, but I failed the hematocrit test. I am slightly anemic at this point, so I am now taking a slow release iron supplement.
According to Dr. P, with anemia it is common to have decreased levels of Folic Acid, so he gave me a script for a folic acid/b6/b12 combination. I just received a phone call from his office that Walgreens won't fill the prescription because my insurance won't cover it. Insurance won't cover it because it has the b6 and b12 in it and those are over the counter supplements. However, the Folic Acid would still require a prescription. See what's going on here? What a joke!
I'm thinking of just paying out of pocket for it, if it isn't too expensive. By the time I purchase a bottle of the two b vitamins and have to pay for the prescription of just Folic Acid, we might end up being at or above the cost of the meds anyway - and I really don't want to add 3 more pills to my arsenal.
Overall the day went okay yesterday. I am super excited to have Dr. P behind me and my babies. I know he will take great care of us!
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