I also have a TON of pictures from this past weekend when the babies were all dressed up to go to their grandma's house for the first time. I'll post those soon :)
Lilypie First Birthday tickers
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Photos Galore
I finally decided to dump all the pictures I'd been taking on my phone to my computer. I didn't realize how many I'd taken...so here are some highlights:
Serena dolled up for a lunch outing. You can tell this is an older picture because her hemangioma is still ulcerated. But I just love this dress and bow :)
My little man looking so grown up in his baseball cap!
Playing "airplane" in their bouncy seats.
Wearing their Thing 1 and Thing 2 outfits before they outgrow them!
I also have a TON of pictures from this past weekend when the babies were all dressed up to go to their grandma's house for the first time. I'll post those soon :)
I also have a TON of pictures from this past weekend when the babies were all dressed up to go to their grandma's house for the first time. I'll post those soon :)
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Hemangiomas
Some of you may have seen pictures of my daughter and wondered what was on her face. It is called a hemangioma and I am happy to say hers is harmless.
When the twins were first born, they seemed absolutely perfect which was such a relief. Over the next few days, we noticed a light pink mark on Serena's cheek. We thought maybe she was just bruised during delivery. The pediatrician didn't even notice it at her first appointment. Over the next couple of weeks, it started to grow larger and darker. When we took her in for her 2 week appt, the doctor said it looked like a port wine stain, which is basically just a flat red birthmark that usually fades away. It was still small, so we weren't terribly concerned, but she did refer us to a pediatric dermatologist. By 4 weeks, it had become very dark red, puffy, and large. We then first heard the term "hemangioma."
A hemangioma is a buildup of blood vessels underneath the skin. It's considered a benign tumor and can be superficial or underneath the skin. They grow in size and get darker for about the first year then they'll slowly start to shrink and sometimes go away completely within a few years. Treatments include laser therapy to help reduce the red pigment, corticosteroids and beta blockers to make them stop growing, and finally surgical removal of the hemangioma. Of course, these all come with their own side effects and warnings since such a young child is involved. I've read that around 10% of caucasian babies get them with females being 3x more likely to get them than males, and multiples also more likely to have them. Of course, most hemangiomas are smaller than Serena's and usually not in such a prominent area. Hers is a pretty severe case, but we are thankful it is not in an area where it could be dangerous like near her eye, nose, or even internally. (**Thanks Alycia for letting me borrow some of your language here!!)
Serena's dermatologist decided to start her on propanolol, a beta blocker that has had great success in shrinking hemangiomas. Since it is primarily a heart medication, she had to have an echocardiogram before she was able to start. She began taking propanolol when she was 5 weeks old. We were really hopeful and looked every day for signs of progress, but unfortunately we didn't see any changes. Since her H is still in growth phase, it is likely that the medication is stopping it from growing, but not helping it go away. At this point I started doing my own research, and discovered a website dedicated to these types of birthmarks (www.birthmark.org). From that site I reached out to a vascular birthmark specialist, Dr. Gregory Levitin, who is based in NYC. He's actually from Greensboro, NC originally, which is about 45 minutes from where I grew up, so I liked him right away :) He also has twins, one of whom had a hemangioma. This is what spurred him to go into this field. After sending him a photo and talking to him on the phone, we decided to take Serena up to see him in person. You can read about that trip in my blog post below. Bottom line is that he thinks that she is a great candidate for surgery, and the scarring would be minimal. It's hard to accept that your child is going to have any facial scars, but it's definitely better than what she is dealing with now, so we are hopeful. We are going to do a couple of laser treatments first with our dermatologist here in DC, and then when she is a few months older, we will take her back to NYC for surgery. Til then, we continue the propanolol and hope that it doesn't grow any more!
I have to say, I am somewhat self conscious when we take the babies out in public. I actually don't even notice the birthmark anymore when I look at her, but when I see others notice it I can see the look in their eyes thinking what is wrong with that baby? I actually prefer when people ask about it, so that I can clarify that it's harmless and she isn't in pain from it. It's tough seeing the pity in people's eyes, I want to make a sign saying that she is just fine, don't worry!
Her brother Milo has his own little issue (I'll write about that another time), and may soon have to wear a helmet to correct it. As if we don't get enough attention already being twins and with Serena's birthmark, we'll really get stares then :P
I just want to emphasize how absolutely lucky we know we are that our children are overall healthy and that their issues are not life-threatening. They may cause us to have a few more doctor appointments, but I know it could be much worse and I am so happy to have these two little monsters, even when they are screaming their heads off at 3am!
Now, of course I couldn't have a blog post without photos...
When the twins were first born, they seemed absolutely perfect which was such a relief. Over the next few days, we noticed a light pink mark on Serena's cheek. We thought maybe she was just bruised during delivery. The pediatrician didn't even notice it at her first appointment. Over the next couple of weeks, it started to grow larger and darker. When we took her in for her 2 week appt, the doctor said it looked like a port wine stain, which is basically just a flat red birthmark that usually fades away. It was still small, so we weren't terribly concerned, but she did refer us to a pediatric dermatologist. By 4 weeks, it had become very dark red, puffy, and large. We then first heard the term "hemangioma."
A hemangioma is a buildup of blood vessels underneath the skin. It's considered a benign tumor and can be superficial or underneath the skin. They grow in size and get darker for about the first year then they'll slowly start to shrink and sometimes go away completely within a few years. Treatments include laser therapy to help reduce the red pigment, corticosteroids and beta blockers to make them stop growing, and finally surgical removal of the hemangioma. Of course, these all come with their own side effects and warnings since such a young child is involved. I've read that around 10% of caucasian babies get them with females being 3x more likely to get them than males, and multiples also more likely to have them. Of course, most hemangiomas are smaller than Serena's and usually not in such a prominent area. Hers is a pretty severe case, but we are thankful it is not in an area where it could be dangerous like near her eye, nose, or even internally. (**Thanks Alycia for letting me borrow some of your language here!!)
Serena's dermatologist decided to start her on propanolol, a beta blocker that has had great success in shrinking hemangiomas. Since it is primarily a heart medication, she had to have an echocardiogram before she was able to start. She began taking propanolol when she was 5 weeks old. We were really hopeful and looked every day for signs of progress, but unfortunately we didn't see any changes. Since her H is still in growth phase, it is likely that the medication is stopping it from growing, but not helping it go away. At this point I started doing my own research, and discovered a website dedicated to these types of birthmarks (www.birthmark.org). From that site I reached out to a vascular birthmark specialist, Dr. Gregory Levitin, who is based in NYC. He's actually from Greensboro, NC originally, which is about 45 minutes from where I grew up, so I liked him right away :) He also has twins, one of whom had a hemangioma. This is what spurred him to go into this field. After sending him a photo and talking to him on the phone, we decided to take Serena up to see him in person. You can read about that trip in my blog post below. Bottom line is that he thinks that she is a great candidate for surgery, and the scarring would be minimal. It's hard to accept that your child is going to have any facial scars, but it's definitely better than what she is dealing with now, so we are hopeful. We are going to do a couple of laser treatments first with our dermatologist here in DC, and then when she is a few months older, we will take her back to NYC for surgery. Til then, we continue the propanolol and hope that it doesn't grow any more!
I have to say, I am somewhat self conscious when we take the babies out in public. I actually don't even notice the birthmark anymore when I look at her, but when I see others notice it I can see the look in their eyes thinking what is wrong with that baby? I actually prefer when people ask about it, so that I can clarify that it's harmless and she isn't in pain from it. It's tough seeing the pity in people's eyes, I want to make a sign saying that she is just fine, don't worry!
Her brother Milo has his own little issue (I'll write about that another time), and may soon have to wear a helmet to correct it. As if we don't get enough attention already being twins and with Serena's birthmark, we'll really get stares then :P
I just want to emphasize how absolutely lucky we know we are that our children are overall healthy and that their issues are not life-threatening. They may cause us to have a few more doctor appointments, but I know it could be much worse and I am so happy to have these two little monsters, even when they are screaming their heads off at 3am!
Now, of course I couldn't have a blog post without photos...
Serena's hemangioma progression:
 |
5 days old
|
 |
| 5 weeks old - started propanolol |
 | ||
| 2 months old - ulcerated area at its worst
|
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Three Months
The kiddos turned 3 months old yesterday. Which somehow equals 13 weeks, so really I think they were 3 months last week, but going by the date it was yesterday. Anyway...I tried really hard to get a good photo of them, but they kept squirming all over and all the pics were blurry. I'm going to try again this weekend. In the meantime, here are a few cute shots that a friend took of them a month ago. Of course, they are much bigger than this now...
They also spend alot more time smiling. It really seems to be one extreme or the other - cooing and smiling or screaming bloody murder. And can turn from one to the other on a dime.
For you moms out there, if anyone knows of a good way to clean babies' necks, let me know. Serena drools and spits up alot, and her neck smells like moldy cottage cheese. When I try to scrub it, she of course screams like I am torturing her, and even in the bath she keeps her chin locked down so that I can't get in there. She obviously wants to be known as the stinky baby.
I am on a mission this weekend to get a good photo of the two of them together!
They also spend alot more time smiling. It really seems to be one extreme or the other - cooing and smiling or screaming bloody murder. And can turn from one to the other on a dime.
For you moms out there, if anyone knows of a good way to clean babies' necks, let me know. Serena drools and spits up alot, and her neck smells like moldy cottage cheese. When I try to scrub it, she of course screams like I am torturing her, and even in the bath she keeps her chin locked down so that I can't get in there. She obviously wants to be known as the stinky baby.
I am on a mission this weekend to get a good photo of the two of them together!
Friday, March 16, 2012
Serena's Big Trip
This past Tuesday, we took Serena to NYC to see a specialist there about her hemangioma. She got all dolled up for the occasion:
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We decided to take the train since the office was in the heart of Manhattan. She was really good on the trip up, and even allowed us to enjoy a very pricy lunch in relative peace! It was only until the last hour or so of the train ride home when she started howling. It was the witching hour, after all (with my twins I'd call it more the witching 3 hours, but anyway...).
The good news is that we really liked the doctor, and we feel confident that she is in good hands. We'll be making a few more trips up so that she can have some laser treatments, and eventually surgery. Maybe next time we'll bring her brother too. Although I must admit it is nice to be able to focus on just one baby at a time. Milo got his day when he was hospitalized a couple of weeks ago. Hopefully we can figure out a way to give them individualized attention that does not involve doctors!
.jpg)
We decided to take the train since the office was in the heart of Manhattan. She was really good on the trip up, and even allowed us to enjoy a very pricy lunch in relative peace! It was only until the last hour or so of the train ride home when she started howling. It was the witching hour, after all (with my twins I'd call it more the witching 3 hours, but anyway...).
The good news is that we really liked the doctor, and we feel confident that she is in good hands. We'll be making a few more trips up so that she can have some laser treatments, and eventually surgery. Maybe next time we'll bring her brother too. Although I must admit it is nice to be able to focus on just one baby at a time. Milo got his day when he was hospitalized a couple of weeks ago. Hopefully we can figure out a way to give them individualized attention that does not involve doctors!
Friday, March 9, 2012
March already?!?
Oh, my sad neglected blog. I had high hopes of chronicling my birth story, first baths, first outings, and other milestones. Instead, the first month I didn't even have a moment to think about turning on a computer. The 2nd month I'd log on quickly to check email with one hand. Now, at the start of the third month (and my return to work), I am determined to do better! Starting...next week. For now, photo bomb will have to do:
Brother and sister sleeping peacefully together. This is a rarity. Actually, I think this is the ony time they've ever slept side by side this close.
Baby girl showing off her smirk.
Ready for an outing in the nice spring weather.
This week Milo had his first (and hopefully last for a looong time) ride in an ambulance. He is fine now, but it was a crazy week. Not to be outdone, Serena is getting her first trip to Manhattan next week. We're taking her to a specialist about the hemangioma on her face. It's completely harmless, but obviously we want to know allt he treatment options to help it heal as quickly as possible (as opposed to the 5-10 years they are telling us it often takes...).
More to come!
This week Milo had his first (and hopefully last for a looong time) ride in an ambulance. He is fine now, but it was a crazy week. Not to be outdone, Serena is getting her first trip to Manhattan next week. We're taking her to a specialist about the hemangioma on her face. It's completely harmless, but obviously we want to know allt he treatment options to help it heal as quickly as possible (as opposed to the 5-10 years they are telling us it often takes...).
More to come!
Friday, February 3, 2012
Stationery card
Knot Twins Birth Announcement
Shutterfly cards for Valentine's Day, Easter & Father's Day.
View the entire collection of cards.
Sunday, January 1, 2012
They're here!
Sorry fort he delay in posting, but things have been a bit hectic the past couple of weeks. So I plan to blog my entire birthing experience later when I have more time, but the short version is that after being in labor and pumped full of pitocin for about 40 hours, I ended up having to get a c-section after all. The result was two beautiful healthy babies: Milo Joseph (6 lbs 10 oz) & Serena Lillian (6 lbs 7 oz).
They were born December 20 and came home with us on December 23. Since then it has been a whirlwind of feedings, pumping, diaper changes, repeat. We did find time to dress them up for Christmas:
We have good days and bad days, but overall it's amazing. We realize how unbelievably lucky we are, not only to have these two gorgeous babies, but for them being so healthy and not needing any NICU time.
More to come when I have some time!
They were born December 20 and came home with us on December 23. Since then it has been a whirlwind of feedings, pumping, diaper changes, repeat. We did find time to dress them up for Christmas:
We have good days and bad days, but overall it's amazing. We realize how unbelievably lucky we are, not only to have these two gorgeous babies, but for them being so healthy and not needing any NICU time.
More to come when I have some time!
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