Thankful for 30!

Just a quick update ... First, we are so very thankful to have made it to 30 weeks ... the answer to many many prayers.  We thank God!  Our families filled our hospital room for a lovely Christmas Eve dinner and we all got to celebrate together.  Yesterday we had a growth ultrasound and both babes looked wonderful.  Luke weighs approximately 3lbs, 10oz and Amelia is 3lbs, 4oz.  Practically huge, huh? :)  For now the plan is to have a c-section at 32 weeks but "plans" in the hospital (and in life!) are always subject to change.  The bigger the babes get, the more decelerations they seem to have, probably from compression of their cords.  So we have to ask the question of risk/benefit for both babies.  Is it better to keep them inside longer and risk the possible impact of these decelerations?  Or is it better to deliver and accept the risks of prematurity?  No one said parenting was easy .... Scott and I (and our wonderful team of doctors and nurses) wrestle with these questions every day now.  We're just praying for wisdom and getting very excited to finally meet these two sweet babies!

29 weeks! ... and counting ...

Yesterday we hit the 29 week mark!  When this all started at 21 weeks, 29 felt sometimes like an impossible goal.  But here we are!  And very thankful to be here.  It was a crazy week, I was pretty sure we'd meet Luke and Amelia ... but they've decided it's much more comfortable to stay where they're at for now.  Good choice!  I'm very hesitant during this pregnancy to use the word "stable" ... but for the moment things seems to be quiet.  I'm back on the magnesium and will probably try to stay on it until 32 weeks if the babies will be that patient.  It's overwhelming to think of three more weeks of this ... but every day that I'm here is one less day that the babes will have to spend in the NICU.  That is the best motivation there is! We are having ultrasounds done three times a week now to check the cords and amniotic fluid levels on both babies, but especially Luke.  His fluid level continues to drop but very slowly.  We will check their weight/growth again on 12.27.  Thank you for your continued support and love.  Scott and I appreciate you all!

The Journey Continues ...

At one point yesterday Scott and I exchanged that look that means, "Are you kidding me?!  This has got to be a joke!" This has been one marathon pregnancy.  Yesterday was a rough day ... I'll try not to be too wordy and the bottom line is that today is a better day and we are still pregnant.  The day started with a growth ultrasound for the babes.  Normally we love those days!  But this u/s showed that Luke probably has a problem with his placenta.  He hasn't grown in the last two weeks (good thing he grew early!) and his amniotic fluid level is dropping.  Amelia looks great, thankfully, and now matches her brother at 2 pounds and 6 ounces.  At this point they won't deliver the babes due to his lack of growth but if it continues, they'll have to deliver.
The late decelerations (drops in the babies heart rates following contractions) have continued over the last several days so as of yesterday we're back on magnesium.  In the 4 days we were off we tried two oral meds but neither of them really worked.  The contractions were getting really long and stronger off the mag and the babes just didn't tolerate them very well.  It made for some interesting days.  You know when your nurse (who is usually very calm) comes running into your room with oxygen while calling over her shoulder to get the doctor up here right away, it could be an interesting night.  We're now on continuous fetal monitoring which is harder than it sounds.  Both babes have to stay on the monitor 24/7 which means a nurse is in our room every 30 to 60 minutes to find the babies because they've moved around.  Both Scott and I are running off 2-3 hours of sleep a night ... good practice for when the babies are here I guess ... I now understand what sleep deprivation really means! (And how important it is to have a quiet night shift nurse!) Right now it feels like it's really a day to day (and sometimes hour to hour) thing.  Will we still be pregnant tonight?  Tomorrow?  This is certainly not the pregnancy I hoped for (I was thinking more along the lines of prenatal yoga classes) ... tomorrow will begin week 10 of bed rest total for this pregnancy.  But I know that being able to have children is not a guarantee and we are thankful to be where we're at.  When I see their faces and get to hold them it'll all be worth it.  "And we rejoice in our trials because we know that our trials produce perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.  And hope does not disappoint us ..." (Romans 5)

Update

Well, we've been off the magnesium since Thursday evening and are still pregnant!  It's wonderful to not be hooked up to an IV 24/7 and on Friday Scott even got to take me for a quick wheelchair ride!  After not leaving my room for 25 days it was quite an exciting ride :)  Who knew that looking at a nurses' station and a hallway could be so fun?  The nurses and other patients probably thought we were crazy doing lap after lap around the station but I just didn't want to go back to the room!  I'm now taking a combination of oral drugs to slow the contractions which seems to be working for now.  I still contract every 10-30 minutes but that's better than it has been at times.  Saturday the doctor even considered sending us home, but she spoke too soon.  I think the babies must have heard her because right away they starting having late decelerations (dips in their heart rates after contractions).  It's probably because one or both of the their cords are getting compressed during contractions.  Right now it's not too serious (although at one point the words "emergency c-section" were brought up) but we also can't go home.  Oh Luke and Amelia, you are going to give us gray hair before you're even born!

Sisters!

My sister came to visit last weekend and it was so good to see her!  She is 17 weeks pregnant with their first little one ... this was the first "meeting" for the three cousins :)

It's the little things ...

One of the nurses overheard Scott and I talking about Molly and kindly let us know that for long term patients the hospital allows visits with pets.  Our doctor wrote an order and Molly has been allowed to come up several times!  She is one of the main things I miss about being at home (along with a growing list of other comforts) and it does amazing things to lift my spirits.  I'm a new advocate for pet therapy :)  She's the perfect visitor for when I'm on these drugs because she doesn't care if I'm cranky and she doesn't mind if I fall asleep during our visit!
This is an exciting week because on Friday we'll turn off the magnesium (after 25 days) and see what happens.  Our doctor said that she's had patients go right into labor after turning the drip off and she's also seen patients stay pregnant for many more weeks.  I'll keep you posted!  But my body (and mind) are so ready to be done with this drug so I'm very thankful that Friday is almost here.  Friday also marks the beginning of week 28 for the babes ... a huge milestone in terms of their development ... grow babies grow!