Hi all! Sorry I haven't updated yet - I was trying my best to keep the largest number of people updated that I could, and facebook seemed to be the easiest avenue to accomplish that (for the time being anyway).
That said - I'm still pregnant and the babies are still tucked safely inside me. . .for now. . .
Tuesday, well, I guess technically Sunday, I started having back pain. I have had back pain previously (prior to getting pregnant), but I haven't had ANY since I have actually been pregnant. Weird, right? Anyway, so I starting having some back pain on Sunday. I didn't think much of it. I figured I had overdone it doing laundry or something, or I had slept wrong. Monday the back pain was still there, and was a bit more consistent. Tuesday the back pain was still there, and was getting pretty intense! I wasn't having a ton of abdominal contractions or anything so I didn't really have any idea what was going on. I decided around 2 PM on Tuesday to call my OB and get his opinion. Well, I didn't even get that much. I got "go straight to L&D at Bergan to be checked out". Sigh.
Okay, I understand being cautious and all, but seriously, I didn't think I was in labor or anything. Si and I had googled and thought that maybe, just maybe, I was having some back labor, but I had no way to tell how far apart any contractions may be or anything like that. Overall, I just didn't want to go sit in L&D and be monitored for 6 hours again just to be given terbutaline and sent home (like I was every other time I went in). AND, I wasn't any too thrilled about the prospect of them stopping my contractions if I was indeed in labor. I mean, I understand that every day that the babies are in mommy make a better outcome for the babies, but seriously. . .they are over 5 lbs a piece, we were 35w1d at the time. . .the babies would be FINE if they were born. Anyhow, I digress.
So Si came home from work and hour early, and we went in to L&D at about 4 PM. The nurses couldn't really figure out why exactly I was there since I wasn't having too many abdominal contractions that I could feel, but they humored my doc and hooked me up to the monitors anyway. Well, for once I was glad that I went in! The on call doc from my OB's office ordered them to monitor me and to check me (dilation, effacement, etc.). I was dilated to 3.5! Holy buckets! 50% effaced, -2 position. Sure, these aren't incredibly impressive results, but when I wasn't dilated at ALL before, being a 3.5 was craziness to me! The doc ordered IV fluids, and wanted to monitor me for a couple of hours to see if that made any difference in my contractions. Well, the IV fluids made me contract like no one's business! Who would have thought? They pumped one bag of fluids into me, then started another, at a much slower pace. At this point they checked me again to see if I had progressed. Nope, still at 3.5. The OB decided to give me some procardia to see if it would slow down the contractions. It did slow them down a bit, but it didn't stop them. He decided that he wanted to continue to monitor me for the next few hours to see how my contractions reacted. By this time it was 10 PM. I was STARVING, and all I really wanted to do was go home! The nurse cleared it with the doc for me to have some food (yay!) and told me that if my contractions slowed down to less than 4 per hour that the OB would potentially let me go home at 2 AM. Fine by me! So, I watched a whole pile of bad late night TV, and watched my contractions. I was down to about 3-4 per hour so I was pretty sure he was going to let me go home.
The nurse came back in at 1:45 and told me that she was sorry, but the doc wouldn't let me leave and wanted to monitor me overnight. Seriously??? UGH. So, with the pregnancy hormones, here come the water works. . . and for no apparent reason mind you. . .I mean, what's the big deal? Sure, I hadn't brought my hospital stuff with me (we live 5 minutes from the hospital and figured we could go back and get it if this was the real thing), and we didn't have anyone set up to watch the pugs for the night, but otherwise, we were bound to have babies sometime and I was bound to be confined to the hospital bed for monitoring eventually. I guess I was upset because Si was going to have to go home, and I was going to have to hang out by myself. I am SUCH a wuss! Si finally went home around 3:30 AM to get some sleep. Anyway, long story short, the OB came in first thing in the AM (at 7 AM - Wednesday) and checked me and told me I could go home. YAY!
I had a follow up appointment scheduled with my OB for yesterday (Wednesday) at 4 PM, so I actually got to talk to my OB about what our plan would be from this point forward. I guess the deal is that they really want these babies to stay in until 36 weeks if at all possible (for us that is Monday). They understand that this may not happen, but they want to try and do everything in their power to try and make it happen. They sent me home from the hospital with procardia (which has been causing me massive nasty headaches), so then they also added butalbital (to help with the headaches).
The OB did an ultrasound check and measurements on the girls, and they as usual look awesome! There is ZERO room left in there, but they are still growing and developing perfectly. He even showed us how they are "breathing" - SO cool! They really would be fine to come out whenever! Here are the approximate weights:
Baby A - AKA - Baby Olivia - 5 lbs 13 oz (head down, ready to go!)
Baby B - AKA - Baby Brianna - 6 lbs 1 oz (this little lady WAS head down last time, but has since flipped breech again! Little stinker!)
At this point the OB is most concerned about momma. My blood pressure has been elevated, there was protein in my 24 hour urine check last week (this was news to me!), and since I am dilating early and have had several bouts with pre-term labor, they think that my body is about done being pregnant. My OB thinks I may be able to last another week, but he said he wouldn't be surprised either if I didn't last but a couple of days. SO. . .that's the scoop! These little ladies are going to come when they are darn good and ready, and it isn't going to make one little bit of difference to them when that may be!
I will try to keep you all updated as new things happen. When I am actually in labor (for sure) and they aren't going to stop it I will at least do a quick post and let you guys know=). Hope you all are having an uneventful week - there's enough drama going on here for everyone! LOL! =)
I was in and out of the hospital since I was 21 weeks pregnant with my girls. They put me on contraction medication at home and I was on bedrest though I should have done a better job on that. They told me that I could go off the medication at 36 weeks but I was having a horrible time sleeping and headaches. So I figured 35 weeks is great for twins-let's do this and went off the medication. I went into labor at 35 weeks 5 days. Though my kids were perfect and healthy and went home with me, I wished that I would have taken that medication as long as possible. They never latched on for breastfeeding. My daughter had to go back to the hospital for a week because she lost too much weight. It was a nightmare. Even though 36 weeks is considered full-term for twins, its better to keep them in. I know-easier said than done.
ReplyDeleteGreat job for going as far as you have! You are going to have healthy, happy baby girls! Good luck!
BTW...Sunday 10/10/10 at 12:36pm & 12:38pm. :)
ReplyDeleteOh my gosh, you are doing so good! I agree with Jessica- keep those babies in as long as you possibly can. I wish my girls had made it to at least 36 weeks (although at the time, I was SO ready to be done!) I can't wait to see Olivia and Brianna though!!
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