31 weeks

This past week has been a bit more eventful than the past weeks. On Saturday (also Nick's Birthday), our wonderful friends organized a benefit for us which turned out to be a ridiculous success. The "benefit team" received an overwhelming amount of donations/baskets and I was bowled over by all the people that came to show their support! Nick and I were both speechless- people are unbelievably generous, even in these tough economic times, we just couldn't believe it!! Everyone raved about how great the event was and how well planned it was - I'm thinking our friends should be professional benefit planners!!

On Monday morning I had my NST as usual, however I was startled when the resident crashed into the room with the portable ultrasound about 2 hours after. He said he notice some repeated drops in one heart rate and wanted to just check things out. He said everything looked ok, but just wanted to be on the safe side and sent me to Labor and Delivery immediately. There they could monitor me for 4-6 hours straight and look for more decels. Nick rushed from work and , from what I've heard, started everyone talking...my mom even heard (at her school in ATTICA) that I was in labor! Ahh the telephone game is always interesting. My Dr came to L&D right when I got there and told me he thought the resident was being extra cautious, and if he (my dr) looked at the tracing, he would NOT have sent me to L&D. This annoyed me. I didn't mind the continuous monitoring, but I did mind that I had to have an IV put in because I couldn't eat (in case I had to have surgery)- all seemed a little excessive, since I wouldn't have even been there if my dr would have seen the strip first!! So after 5 hours of continuous monitoring, no food or drink and a lovely IV in my hand (which had to stay there fro 24 hours), they sent me back to my room b/c they found nothing concerning. So initially it was a bit scary, then a bit annoying, but I guess this is why I have lived in the hospital for the past 45 days.

Today the sonogram was initially concerning, however ended up ok. Baby A measured 4lbs 6oz, and Baby B measured 3lbs 10oz (both measured 3lbs 4oz two weeks ago). The peri was very concerned with baby b and her lack of growth, compared to the amount of growth that baby a experienced. So, the peri remeasured at found baby b to be closer to 4lbs 0oz. Phew. She says they are both acting fine and do not appear to be in distress - both practice breathing, moving etc...so she doesn't "think" we need to be worried. That's the crazy thing about this pregnancy...nobody knows anything for sure...not by any fault of the drs, just the nature of the problem. ugh.

Nick and I were having several discussions and concerns about when to deliver. Our OB wanted to do it right at 32 weeks while everything looked good. He says, why push it? Which made sense, however one of the perinatologists suggested, if everything looks good, why not wait til 34 weeks and gain the benefit of being bigger for delivery. So, we continued to think long and hard about it...however after the scare on Monday, and noticing more frequent decels during the strips, we both believe our question was answered for us. Get 'em out so we can stop worrying about what's happening from hour to hour. So we were initially scheduled for 4/27 at 3:30, however I didn't really want to wait ALL day...so I asked if there was another day with an earlier time. Was scheduled for 4/28@ 10:30, however today, our OB came in and said there was an opening on tues 4/27 at 8:00am...So, that's the day! Less than one week! GULP....

30 Weeks

Today we're 30 weeks +1day! Made it through another week! A few scares this weekend, all of which turned out to be ok. First was leg pain, which they automatically think -BLOOD CLOT, and sent me for a venus doppler. Results came back negative, just random pain I guess. Also we had one scary heart rate acceleration where one baby's heart rate was over 180 for longer than 20 minutes. I freaked out, and didn't like that the nurse was ridiculously calm- she said just to wait a few more minutes (which seemed like 100 hours watching that monitor). And, huh, it was like this may have happened to someone else before, because, as she predicted the heartrate dropped back to a normal range. Phew... Other news we received this week was that the dr wants to deliver the babies exactly at 32 weeks which will be April 27th. Says its better to get them out healthy once they hit this milestone than wait and possibly contend with an incident in utero, which would not be caught until the next monitoring...Seems logical to me, so Lailey's and Kennedy's birthdays will be a week from Tuesday (April 27, 2010), if everything goes as planned!! So, I'm trying to keep occupied so I don't have to think about the actual delivery...I think the surgery is what is freaking me out the most, weird. Growing a little tired of daytime tv...and WHAT HAPPENED TO RACHEL RAY?? It's not on anymore...soooo disappointing! If anyone knows where she went, please fill me in! Biggest event of the week: trip to the cafeteria to get a real drink...not water or Shasta! Maybe I'll eat there next time-at a REAL table in a REAL chair, where my food hasn't sat in a cart for an hour! Whoa, that's craziness.

April 7, 2010

29 Weeks and 1 day today. So far I've been inpatient for 4 weeks, 3 days, 9 hours and 34 minutes. Not that I'm counting. So many little exciting things happened last week! We got to move to a new room next door to my old one, which feels remarkably larger than my other room, even if its only by a couple of feet. The weather was so nice and Nick was able to take me outside a few times. Jenkins even brought the dog so I could see her while I was out there! Got to see my nephew on Easter while I was outside, however the nurse that we told wasn't thrilled with the idea. I'm not really sure why because there are kids in the lobby every time I go down there...not really sure what the difference is. Got to eat a whole TON of Easter food from sisters-in-laws- sausage, pierogies, mac & cheese, broccoli salad, LAMB CAKE, ham, 1000lbs of chocolate...mmmmmm delicious. I am attributing all this good food to the good news we got at the sonogram today- girls are weighing 3lbs, 4oz. Dr Mcdonnell said this was an average weight for one baby and it was on the bigger side for twins! She called them "superstars" because they looked like they were doing so well! Both babies were still practice breathing and Nick was able to come to the sonogram since he has the week off! So happy!! This place was starting to wear on my patience, but after today's news, I feel renewed and feel like there IS a point in me being here...not to say that I'm not ready to get outta here, just feeling a little less down about the whole situation.

March 30, 2010

HOORAY HOORAY! Today is our 28 week milestone! Dr's say this is an important milestone because the risk of long term health issues significantly decreases after 28 weeks. Next milestone is 32 weeks, when it drops again. I asked about whether or not we will go past 32 weeks, and it seems like we won't. So, as long as everything stays as it is, we will have babies sometime during the last week of April (the 27th is 32 weeks exactly). So, we're hoping and praying that we make it that far!

No hospital news is good news, although it makes for a boring blog. I'm pretty sure there is a Dr. Marijuana, a Dr. Taco and a Dr. Potato that work here, as I keep hearing them paged over the PA. I hope Dr. Potato doesn't do my c-section... I would be afraid his long white arms would fall out during the surgery... Hope he's not wearing his "angry eyes" :)

March 25, 2010

My plan was to update this a little more often, so I apologize to those who are checking and looking for new information. However, I am glad that nothing really significant has happened over the past week...at this point, uneventful is good! The days seem to go by surprisingly fast, I can't believe that on Sunday, I will have been here 3 weeks already! I have had a ton of visitors which have helped the time go by as well (thanks everyone)! Friday night friends came for pizza and wings and we ended up playing games - I felt "normal" for about 6 hours :) Tuesday, the babies reached 27 weeks, which is one week closer to our first big milestone~28weeks!

A quick update with the sleeping situation (from my last post). The overnight nurse did the scan at 6:15am however, the day nurse took me off the monitor. I typically go back on around 10am, so when it got to be 1:00, I asked what time they were going to put me on. The nurse replied that they weren't going to do the day scan, because the one at 6:15 counted as the day time one. (WHAT!?!?!?!) I was shocked and, in retrospect, should have just told them I wanted them to do it anyway, but I didn't and just waited for my dr to come later that afternoon. When I told him what happened he was LIVID! I'm glad, though...why else am I stuck here if they aren't going to monitor me? So this event spawned a "strict" monitoring schedule ordered by my doctor. Every shift still comes to ask me when I would like it, except day shift (who, i believe, got their a#@*& handed to them) - they come to do it right at 10am, no matter what! So that situation is MUCH better- I sleep from 10ish-4:30ish without interruption, phew...

Monday morning I had my glucose test (at 5am - ick), and failed it :( So tuesday morning I had the three hour one. So, I felt pretty crappy those two days...The three hour one was bad enough, however the secretary sent my last vile of blood down to the lab with the wrong name on it...So, they had to take another vile (the 6th vile of the morning!!). However, I had already eaten breakfast by the time they caught it. I thought I was doomed for a restricted diet and finger pricks for the remainder of my stay, however the results came back ok! I knew my "normal" sugars would have been fine, but since I've been here, everyone has been bringing me yummy treats that I HAVE to eat (all at once, not that i'm complaining) and the beverages you can order with your hospital meal are pop or juice, so I have been drinking pop like its my job...I typically don't even drink pop, especially the full sugar version! So now I'm just trying to not eat sugar ALL day, just part of the day ;)

I had a sonogram on Wednesday and the doctors said the babies looked good. Weights were 2lbs 9oz and 2lbs 6oz...I looked up mean weights for gestational age of 27 weeks and most of the information I found said they should be around 2.2 lbs! So it seems like we're right on track. Dr's seemed shocked that they were that big! We also had our NICU tour on Wednesday, and everyone there seems very nice and supportive. I found it comforting that they have a suite that they let you stay in for a couple of nights before they send the babies home. They use this to let you have a trial run managing the babies and any equipment that they are being sent home with by yourself - and if you have problems, the nurses are just across the hall.

Got to eat Panera today and Nick is bringing me DQ later (more sugar, oops)! Funny how little things are so exciting now :)

March 19, 2010

So not too much has happened this week...I asked my dr to nix the 12am vitals and he said that would be ok. So the next night I was awoken at 12am anyway-he had forgotten to write the order (at least he admitted that he simply forgot and didn't blame it on something else!). So, he went right down and changed it (yesterday). So last night I again was woken up at 12am...and I have to say I was kind of mean to the poor nurse. In my defense I had a migraine and had JUST fallen asleep...still, I didn't mean to be mean. Sorry nurse :(. Then they didn't come in at 4am to do the scan...I finally called down to the nurses around 6:15 and they explained that the dr changed the orders to have the scan at 6am (which doesn't really make sense since the nurses shift is over at 7). So we'll have to talk about that AGAIN....ugh. Maybe this will be sorted out by the time I check outta here.

Overall, girls continue to look good. Good heart rates and some good accels. Sonogram I had on wed showed that "baby A" was "breathing" and the tech said that you don't normally see that this early! Good news...

Also wanted to share a funny story about my nephew. The hospital won't let anyone in under the age of 14 because it's flu season. This makes him very upset (he's 3). I was talking to him on the phone (he was on his way to the hospital after church with my sister-in-law to drop off flowers) and he tells me my drs are mean because they won't let him in the hospital. I said, well, they just don't want anyone to get sick, so they say you have to be 14...how old are you? He says "3. No, I'm 14". hehe. So, he and my sister-in-law meet Nick in the lobby of the hospital to drop off the flowers. While they are talking, my nephew decides to go up to the lady sitting at the information desk and he tells her "I'm 14" and tries to convince her to let him in the hospital! Haha...oh dear, is this a precursor to the fake ID? Watch out Kyle & Jen :)

March 16, 2010

Today is 26 weeks for me and I've been inpatient for 1 week and 2 days. I almost can't believe that its been over a week, however time seems to be slowing down considerably. Thus, I'm thinking that becoming a blogger may occupy some time :) Things are starting to straighten out, finally, the beginning of the stay was a bit crazy. When I came in to be admitted, it seemed like they didn't know I was coming. No one was at the admissions desk, so we were sent to L&D, where we were told that we had to spend 24 hours there. This was not the plan, since we purposefully scheduled the admit date on the weekend so that Nick wouldn't have to take a day off to move in all my stuff! By 1:30, however, we were told that we could "check in" to our room. Another surprise when we got up there- nurses told me I was on bedrest and could only go to the bathrom! Not at all what the dr's had told me! So needless to say, Sunday was FRUSTRATING. Saw the Dr the next day and he said that I could take a shower- he wrote "bathroom privelages" in the orders, and he said "the shower IS in the bathroom, right?" So we got that cleared up. I was still confused though why I wasn't allowed to walk around- I mean I had been ok to work with no restrictions! I asked this question to the perinatologist (which I see 1x/week @ the sonograms) what the reason was for bedrest and she explained it was if you were in preterm labor, or your cervix was shrinking. OK, I said, why am I only allowed to go to the bathroom if none of this is happening currently to me? She didn't see any reason why I wasn't allowed to walk...geez...So she wrote a "note" in my chart, which I have since learned, doesn't necessarily mean a dr actually wrote the note! So, after 3 days of getting this verbally ok'd by the dr, the nurses FINALLY saw it written in the orders and didn't act all nervous if they found me up and around in my room! So, this week things have started to get straightened out. Now all we have to do is work on getting more sleep- nurse comes in at 10pm to give me my pills, midnight to do vitals, 4am to do vitals and 45 min monitoring (which can actually take almost an hour and a half or more), then the resident comes in between 6-7, then a.m. nurses around 8. Soooo thats fun, but I guess its "getting me ready for babies" as people say...however, I'm pretty sure no one else had to get themselves ready for babies and be woken up 100 times a night BEFORE the baby came!