Third Trimester! Wahoo!!

So I am officially into my third and final trimester which makes me very happy! The boys are still looking great and are as active as ever.

My perinatologist came by yesterday evening to check up on me and discussed with me a bit more about what their (my OB & peri) plan is. The main concerns that they have is that a) I'm bleeding and b) I'm already dilated to 3 cm. As far as the bleeding, apparently it can be very unpredictable in pregnancy and can go from nothing to very heavy (as was the case when I came in) and that's a big issue. The other issue - my being 3 cm - is a big concern because my last labor was less than an hour and they don't want to send me home to give birth on the way to the hospital. I figured as much with both and my OB had said as much but at least now I know where my peri stands since my OB said it is ultimately up to my peri as to if they release me prior to delivery.

I will have the steroid shots repeated (did I mention this in my last post??) around 29 weeks. They want me to have ultrasounds weekly to check fluid levels and the boys' positions and growth ultrasounds every three weeks. My peri also said they've officially changed their policies on mono-chorionic twins in that the farthest they'll let me go is 36 weeks so I have 7/8 weeks left at most if these boys hang in there. My OB is having me do my glucose test this week (GAG) also which I'm definitely NOT looking forward to. Hopefully I'll still have an option of something other than orange even though I won't be going to the lab to do it. I do get wheel chair rides 1 hr a day now which makes me SO excited as I haven't been outside since the Tuesday that I came in for the bleeding. Paul was able to come up for a little while and take me outside and I cannot tell you how good it felt to breathe in the outside air (even if someone was totally ignoring the "NO SMOKING" sign. *sigh*

Every day I have an NST (non-stress test) to check on the boys' heart rates and my contractions. They need a solid 20 minute strip on their heartbeats before I can come off the monitor. Almost every single day someone from L&D has to come to the floor and help track down the boys so they can get a solid strip. Thursday was quite interesting during my NST. The floor nurse came in and tried to get me on the monitors. She was able to get Grant on pretty quickly but was having a heck of a time tracking down Bryce. After fighting with it for about 15 minutes or so, she called up L&D and asked someone to come help (they monitor me from L&D Triage). A triage nurse came in, found a heartbeat and went back to watch the monitors. I realized after she left that they were tracking the same baby. So, about 10 minutes later, here comes a nurse from L&D. She tries and tries to find Bryce and then calls for the ultrasound machine to locate the heartbeats. This whole time both boys were moving so we knew both were ok. They just had to have that 20 minute strip. A nurse comes in with the ultrasound machine and they find the heartbeats. However, when they looked at the strip, they were still tracking the same baby so after about 15-20 minutes of trying to figure out where two separate heartbeats were, in came the OB hospitalist. He used the ultrasound machine and found that Grant and Bryce were back to back which explained the difficulty finding two distinct heartbeats. By the time I was able to get off the monitor, I'd been on the monitor for over two hours. I honestly feel so bad for the nursing staff every time the words "they want you on the monitor" are mentioned because its almost always a chase/challenge to get both boys on the monitor and get them to STAY on the monitor for long enough to get a good strip. I'm very blessed to have fantastic nurses who keep a smile even when the boys are being difficult.

So, overall we're doing very well and only 7-8 more weeks at most! :)

Note to self...

Don't read a Christian romance novel when you're in the hospital long term. I was 3/4 of the way through the book and had to put it down because it was making me miss my loving husband. *sigh*

I woke up this morning feeling good. My contractions have been few and far between since yesterday morning when they'd picked up for a couple of hours. The boys have been active as always and keep the nursing staff in and out trying to keep them on the monitors to get a good 20 minute strip (NST). Friday night it took them 3 hours and 4 different nurses to get a solid 20 minute read on either of them. Yesterday they tried in the morning since they seem to be overly active in the evening and ended up having to give up and try again last night. (They do NSTs once daily.) I've got to ornery little boys! LOL They haven't put me on the monitors today so we'll see how it goes.

When Dr. Williams came in yesterday he let me know that I'll be doing my glucose test next week. Blech. At least I don't have to hang out in the lab for an hour for that, right? :) My perinatologist, Dr. Fraser, also came by today. He ordered an ultrasound for either today or Friday to check on the boys' and measure fluid levels to make sure all is well. He also wants me to repeat the steroid shots in another week or two as an additional boost for the boys. This is a pretty new thing that they've studied (this hospital being one of the places they tested at). I have faith that these boys will make it far enough that they won't need the aid of those steroid shots. :)

I have had a lot of guests in the past few days and have so greatly enjoyed the visits. I was even brought some festive decorations to make it feel more "Thankgiving-y" which I love. I got to see Brooklyn for the first time in a week yesterday evening and seeing her brought me to tears. I miss my baby girls so much and was so thankful to get to see her cute little grin and hear her babbling away.

Thank you so much to all of you for your continued prayers and support.

Quick Update

Not a lot has changed since I last posted. The boys are still safe inside my belly and are as active as ever. They really give these poor nurses a run for their money. When they monitor me in the evening, they spend 20 minutes at a time trying to get both boys to hold still long enough to get a good strip. Friday night, I was on the monitor for over 2 hours while they chased them around my belly. LOL

I have been having regular contractions on occasion but they are thankfully not productive. Dr Williams came in to see me today and we talked about the idea of letting me go home before they're born. He has the same concerns as Paul as far as my going into labor at home and not making it here. So as it stands right now, they're still wanting to keep me until the big day.

I'm so thankful for the visitors that I've had and the incredible nursing staff here. I've had a couple of rough nights but I'm so blessed that the boys are still baking and God has given me so much peace about it all. :)

So begins the wait. :)

These twins have kept us on our toes the majority of this pregnancy and this week has been no exception. Tuesday morning I woke up with an incredible amount of pressure and cramping. Started some heavy bleeding around 10:30am. I called Paul to let him know I was going in and Krista picked me up to take me in to L&D (I had locked my keys in the van).

Got checked into L&D Triage around 11:30am. There was a woman in the latter end of labor a couple rooms down so it took a little while to see the nurse but they went ahead and put me on the monitors in the meantime. I was contracting about every 1-2 minutes at that point. The pressure was still quite intense. The nurse came in a short time later and checked my cervix and I was dilated to between 3 & 4 cm. They immediately transferred me over to L&D, started an IV and gave me the first dose of steroids (OUCH)as well as terb to stop the contractions. The put me back on the monitors and I was still contracting pretty regularly. After about an hour, they started me on nifedipine since the terb wasn't helping. Spent the rest of the afternoon & evening being monitored and the contractions had slowed down considerably by that evening. Took an Ambien and was able to sleep well until about 3:30am and then my body decided it was time to wake up. My contractions had picked up a little during the night but they were very spaced out and irregular by morning. The extreme pressure from Bryce was also so much less.

The contractions continued to die down, only picking up as the nifedipine came close to being due. Dr. Williams came by shortly before 10am and told me that I'm going to be here until they arrive which will hopefully be later than sooner. That was a little discouraging to hear but if it means the boys stay in longer, so be it. I had a quiet morning and napped early in the afternoon. I had my second round of steroids at 2:30pm and Dr. Redfern (the hospitalist that checked me Tuesday - he is a fantastic OB. I had him frequently with Brooklyn, too) came in to check me again. He said the pressure from my cervix was gone and there was no more change. WAHOO!! That meant I could have my first real meal since Tuesday morning and then they'd move me to the floor so I could actually see out a window and not have to stare at the infant warmer. Wanted to throw something at that thing. LOL

Around 7pm, I was transferred to my room (one of the same that I was in with Brooklyn, complete with "Rear Window" view) and settled in. Got those lovely leg cuffs to help with clot prevention but I now had bathroom privileges and hopefully shower privileges will come shortly. I was given a heplock after Dr. Redfern checked me so I no longer was hooked up to any cables, tubes, etc. which I was grateful for. I will have daily NSTs but will not be hooked up 24/7 at this point. :) My really good friend, Kim Harrod came by to see me and Paul with all 4 girls in-tow soon followed. I thoroughly enjoyed visiting with Kim & Paul and seeing my sweet girls! They left around 8:45pm and I *tried* to settle in for the night. It actually took me until almost 1am to fall asleep but sleep eventually came. My acid reflux is bad and Bryce is still low so I was up and down throughout the night going to the potty and trying to squelch the reflux but that's ok. :)

I have so far had the same nurses as when I was on the floor with Brooklyn last year which makes me excited. They are such great nurses. :) When my nurse came in this morning to give me my next round of nifedipine, she said that she had put in for me to get a private room (I am in a shared room right now, though I don't currently have any roommates). She said it may be tomorrow or Saturday before I am transferred over but this makes me very excited because a private room hopefully means no more "Rear Window" though I'm still very thankful to have a view and I don't have to worry about having not-so-polite roommates like I had for the first part of my visit with Brooklyn last year. :)

I will do my best to keep this up, like I did with Brooklyn, so I can keep everyone updated on how things are going. :)