I was informed recently that it's been about 61 days since I last updated. I am fine.

It started when I went out all day with Chuck's sister, Bobbi, and she took me shopping for some bras and just getting out of the house. She also gave me some money for groceries which was nice. Chuck and I are kinda broke. OK, more than kinda. Chuck is working less because he had been going to my appointments and since his boss went corporate with the company, his boss can't afford to pay them overtime so Chuck is working less.

That day with Bobbi was on Thursday. That weekend, I went home to my parents house. My asthma started acting up that very night, the first night I was there. Then, on Wednesday, it had escalated quite a bit and I had to go to the hospital early in the morning, like around 1:30. They gave me a nebulizer treatment and wrote me a prescription for Singular which is a steroid to help the asthma. They sent me home, and I tried to go to sleep. That was one of the indications that my asthma was bad, because I couldn't sleep. On Thursday, I decided to come back to Sioux City early because it was most likely that the cats my parents have were making my asthma bad. I went to the hospital again on Thursday, and I went to Urgent Care also, on either Thursday or Friday. They all said I had good air flow and good oxygen levels, I just really couldn't breathe. The medicine, albueterol, makes me jittery, so I knew that if I tried to write here, I would have like a thousand typos and I wasn't really feeling up to it anyway. At the hospital here in Sioux City, they gave me a nebulizer to take home and prescription for medicine to go in it. Now, I was not on Title 19 at this time and I had to pay for the medicine out-of-pocket, which was not very nice. The medicine was like fifty dollars. Plus, I had two hospital bills and an urgent care bill at this time. I was waiting until my hearing to find out what was going on with medicare/medicaid and my food assistance. So, my asthma slowly got better. I had an appointment with Dr. Hagen the following week, and we decided we really didn't like him. I had called his office, never talked to him but I had called, a couple of times about my asthma. Both hospitals and the urgent care facility called his office on my behalf. He didn't know anything about my asthma, however. He didn't care even. Didn't listen to my lungs, didn't take my pulse, nothing. He seemed really unconcerned. I asked him a couple of other questions, and he just blew them off with easy answers which weren't correct. He was very cold and it seemed like he had somewhere to be, he just wanted to pop in, say hi, pop out. That's not what I want in a doctor. So, the next time I went to the Crittenton center, we talked about switching doctors. I met a new doctor that time as well, one who would handle my asthma. He was very nice and said that whoever I wanted to be my OB/GYN he would make sure it happened.

I took another glucose tests, and they said I failed with flying colors. They made it sound like it was off the charts. So, I have gestational diabetes. I have to test my blood sugar four times a day, and they initially put me on some medicine, but it wasn't working so they switched it to insulin shots after a lot of confusions and some doctors saying yes, take it, and some saying no, don't take it. I have to take my insulin 8 times a day. So, those of you who are counting, that's 12 pokes a day. Sometimes it really does hurt, but sometimes not really. It's been getting harder to test my blood though because I think my skin is being resistant to the needle. The insulin isn't that bad. I have pens so I just have to put the needle on the pen and click the dial to the correct dose and inject it. I don't have to draw the insulin out of a vial like some. I don't think I could do it that way. I think I would just screw it up. So, there's that.

I had my telephone hearing and the judge said that they would send their decision in about two weeks from it, and she said to go apply that day. So, when I got their decision, they said that they were correct in the first place denying me the services. And, yes, they were. However, the decision said that I was encouraged to apply again. If at that time I was denied, that would be the very last word. I have been approved for Title 19, medicare/caid whatever it is. All I know is that it pays for all my medical bills, and it will pay for all my medical bills back to March, when I had my first Crittenton center appointment. That's great, because I have bills that need to be paid. If I'm going to be approved for food assistance, my social worker said that she needs Chuck's income back to March, because he would be on it as well since we live together. So, I'm waiting for that.

I had an appointment with a special doctor, an expert in high-risk pregnancies. He said that the babies' sizes were pretty different. Baby A was 1 lb, 11 oz. and Baby B was 2 lb, 15 oz. More than a pound differnce. He said that if A hadn't been doing so well with the heart beat and blood flow, he would recommend delivery ASAP. I was at 26 weeks when he did this ultrasound. That scared us. He said to come back and see him in two weeks (that was yesterday, more in a minute), and he would see whether or not A was growing or if we would have to deliver that week. So, that had us throughly freaked out. He said if not in two weeks, then in 6-8 weeks. We were really scared.

Then I had my appointment with the doctor I met at the Crittenton center, Dr. Brenner, who would me managing my asthma. Well, he also works at the Crittenton center, so he said he would be keeping an eye on my chart there. He's a really nice guy, my favorite doctor by far. He always listens to what I have to say and he doesn't talk down to me like they do at the Crittenton center.

I had my meeting with my social worker also, and like I said before, I just need to give her Chuck's income back to March and I'll get food assistance, which will be so great.

Yesterday, we had our second appointment with the specialist, Dr. Barsoom. The babies' new weights are: A - 2 lb, 4 oz, B - 3 lb 13 oz. So A is growing faster than B now, which is good. He said that A is in the normal range for babies at this stage. He wanted to see us again in two weeks and he said at 36 weeks he'll do amniocentesis to see if the babies lungs are full developed and ready to come out. One doctor I saw at a hospital said that the steriods I take for my asthma are the same they would give the babies to make their lungs grow and he said that the lungs could be fully developed at 36 weeks.

My family is planning on coming down to see the babies when it's time. My mom said that my dad is going to stay maybe a day or two, and my mom wanted to stay longer. My dad isn't working right now and Becca my sister isn't in school, so it's just my mom who has to worry about work. I know my mom's boss understands because I've talked to her (she used to be my boss as well) and my mom is giving all the ladies at the day car updates constantly on how the three of us are doing. But, with my dad not working, I don't know how long my mom can afford to stay in a hotel. I told her and Chuck is fine with it, that she could sleep here. We have cots and she could always just throw a bunch of blankets on the floor and sleep on that. We're supposed to be getting a house, but Chuck's boss and his wife haven't found anything they like yet. It seems like this house hunt is more about them than us. I could have been giving birth this week, and they seemed rather unconcerned. Yes, the babies would spend a lot of time in the hospital if they were born now, but when we would have to come home, where would we put them? This place is tiny, barely big enough for us two and adding a crib and all the babies' stuff would be crazy. It wouldn't fit, period. They still haven't found a house. Plus, any house we'd move into would need work because Tony would assume that Chuck would be working on it all the time he was home. I don't want to have construction going on around the babies.

I wanted to add one last thing. Here's a list of every problem, complication, and worry we've had (health-wise) in no particular order:

Asthma
I have some pre-cancerous cells on my cervix that have to come out after the babies are born
Gestational diabetes
The babies' sizes are differnt
I've had two yeast infections
Pains in my sides
Twins period

9:51 A.M. - Wednesday, Jun. 18, 2008