Baby Update

I took a long time to write this post mostly because I know there will be questions from here on out, but I also know family and friends would want to know what’s been going on.

February 13^th was our 32 week ultrasound. We were able to see Baby A’s face for the first time this whole pregnancy and it made me smile. As far as who she looks like…I have no idea. She looks like a baby and I can’t tell haha. I am really hoping one of them gets Eric’s beautiful blue eyes though and mostly curious to see how similar or how different these girls are going to be from one another. They both looked great, still head down but were measuring in the 30^th percentile. Last checkup they were in the 50^th so they both dropped a little bit. The doctor was not concerned about it saying twins do end up running smaller the longer they cook and we would just keep an eye on them. He even told me I make “good babies” so I’m not going to worry about it unless there comes a time to worry.

February 20^th at 2:45pm was our 33 week OB checkup. I remember telling Eric that right after the appointment we needed to go to the dollar store and get little baskets for the girls’ nursey and then grab something to eat because I was starving. When we got to the appointment they hooked me up to the non-stress test monitors like they always do now every week. I’m usually on these monitors for 20 – 30 minutes each time. They make sure the babies are not in distress and their heartrates remain between 120 and 160. Baby A hates these tests. She constantly moves and we always have to re-find her and put her back on the monitors. That day though I was on the monitors for an especially long time, over an hour. I thought they had forgotten about me. The OB finally came in and said she was going to check my cervix even though the last time she did that she said she wasn’t going to check it again until week 35 or 36. But she felt the need to do that and run a strep b test. Once finished she told me I was 2 cm dilated. I just thought ok…I mean I know you have to be over a 4 and having serious contractions to be in active labor so I didn’t think anything of the 2 cm. She asked if I was having contractions and I said not that I know of. She told me she wanted me to go straight to labor and delivery and get checked out. Um… Okay – this was not how I planned the rest of my day.

We got to the hospital at about 4:30pm. They put me in a holding room and strapped me to yet more monitors. This time I had one for each baby and one for me to monitor if I was having any contractions. The nurse was asking me questions about what medications I was on and where my pharmacy was when she said “do you feel that?” Feel what? She said “you’re having a contraction.” I said oh I don’t feel anything. She told me that was good that this might not amount to anything then. We continued to talk about the medications, what they were monitoring and how long she thought I was going to be there when she asked yet again “do you feel that?” I told her no again and she said well I’m going to keep you on this monitor for about an hour and give your doctor a call because you’re contracting every 4 minutes. I told her okay and for the next hour I watched three lines go up and down. One for each baby and one for every contraction I had, getting stronger. A little while later the nurse came back asking me to get undressed and put on a hospital gown. I was being admitted for the night to see if we couldn’t stop this labor from happening. While I was getting dressed, Eric went with another nurse to find out which L&D room would best fit my need with the wheelchair and all. Luckily he picked a room in the corner away from everyone else and it was huge! Good job hubby! Once in my personal room I got into bed and that’s when the chaos all started. It was shift change and I had about seven nurses in my room. Two were trying to find some good veins in my arms to stick an IV in, one was doing an ultrasound to see how the girls were laying just in case I did go into labor tonight, one nurse was putting my information in the computer, another one was hooking my feet up to these compression cuffs that go around your calves to keep the blood pumping to the legs and there were two others running in and out doing who knows what, I couldn’t focus because now I was starting to feel these contractions. The two nurses trying get the IV running never did find a good vein. They blamed me for being dehydrated. Well, yeah I haven’t eaten or drank anything since 12 noon and it is 7pm at night of course I’m dehydrated. We had to have anesthesia come down and put the IV in. Even he had a hard time and I now have two lovely bruises to prove it. He finally had to settle for a vein in my left hand which was extremely uncomfortable the entire time and of course I kept banging it on everything.

My contractions now were stronger, I could definitely feel them, coming three minutes apart. Shoot. They were getting closer together... I started to think this is it. These girls are coming tonight. This freaked me out because I was in no way ready. I hadn’t prepared my head for what labor was going to be like. I didn’t pep-talk myself yet. My mom wasn’t here. We only have one infant car seat. I didn’t pack a hospital bag. We don’t have a mattress for the crib. All these things, they weren’t done and they needed to get done and now there’s no time!!

My mom showed up about 8:00pm to sit with me. If I was going into labor she and Eric were the ones I wanted with me by my side. Now there was nothing to do but wait. While waiting I kept thinking that I was going to be one of those moms who was going to show up at the hospital and be turned away because I wasn’t in real labor. Come to find out I was exactly the opposite. I had to be told to go to the hospital, that I was having contractions and they were strong and close together.

I was given Nifedipine to help slow these contractions although if this was true labor there wouldn’t be any way to stop it. My cervix was rechecked and still only at a 2 – good news. Mom was there until a little after midnight and it looked like I was going to make it through the night, still pregnant.

Eric spent the night on the oh-so-comfy not quite 6ft sofa bed. My night nurse woke me up every two hours to go to the bathroom. She noticed that once I emptied my bladder that the contractions slowed way down. Getting up to use the restroom was a huge process. I had to get unhooked from my compression cuffs, get off the three monitors and stick the cords in my gown pocket, move my IV with me and oh did I mention I still can’t walk. I have to find a way to move all this stuff with me onto my wheelchair, get into the bathroom, scoot from the chair to the toilet and then do it all again in reverse. EVERY TWO HOURS. I was miserable.

By morning my contractions had slowed way down and no longer hurt. I could still feel them but nothing like the night before. That day was spent waiting to hear what my doctor wanted me to do. I slept when I could. The day dragged on. Finally, my OB and High Risk MFM doctors came to see me and let me know that I was being discharged. After a list of what to watch out for, my last dose of medications, and one last trip to the bathroom we were on our way home. Thank goodness. I was tired. Physically but tired of being at the hospital, tired of being hooked up to a million machines, and tired of waiting. I just wanted to be home.

So now I’m home. I still have contractions every once in a while, usually when it’s time to take another pill, but everything seems to have settled down. I’m doing ok and I’ve made it past 34 weeks. I am told that if I do go into labor at this point they will do nothing to stop contractions and let the girls come. We had a checkup today and everything is looking good. My OB said there’s no reason why we shouldn’t think we can’t make it to week 38. I was glad to hear that. I am on bedrest though. Not allowed to do anything except sit in bed, shower and go to the bathroom. Fun... But, I’d rather be sitting here pregnant longer if that means my girls won’t have to spend time in the NICU.