Starting to count down

I haven't blogged yet this week but the update Monday morning was 95-99% we are delivering next week.  Just don't know what day yet.  There are 2 specialists that do my sonograms and one is much more informative than the other, I had the quiet one Friday so I didn't get the full story.  Monday I had the doc I prefer and who talks and it turns out that even though Emma gained weight she didn't gain any abdominal circumference.  That is where they measure growth at this stage.  He said her brain is protected first so the 4oz went to her brain and a bit in her femur length but nothing to her abdomen.  The doctors are both agreed that based on the absence of her growth they will still let us go all this week to 32 (which starts next Monday the 27th) as long as none of the more serious problems rear their ugly heads this week.  They will also measure Emma again this Friday to do a 3 week growth comparison but they don't think she will have grown this week if she didn't the last 2 weeks.  :(  I'm waiting on my OB to visit today, Tuesday, to get a better idea of what is going on next week.

We might get to choose a day next week for them to be born.  Yuan is totally pulling for leap day.  Such a meanie, he wants to mess with the kids.  ;)  

I posted a 31 week photo of my belly.  They dropped down low since the 30 week pic which I definitely feel.  They are heavier now and Ethan feels like he is falling out!  I'm contracting more too.  BUT, I still have a rock solid 2.5cm long cervix.  Still not looking like labor will make this happen.  


I got Jacuzzi privileges this week which has been awesome!  I soak in oatmeal to help with the itching and float to help relieve the aches and pains.  The area of Labor and Delivery where the tub is is under construction so they nurses sneak me in at night.  It's entertaining.


My itching is a bit more manageable again but it takes constant doses of medicine which comes with fun side effects.  It will be nice to be off of everything soon!

Almost 31 Weeks!

I'm writing this post at 4am.  I've been up for most of the night itching like crazy.  The medicine is not working well anymore.  This is night 2 or 3 that I can't sleep.  I have lovely bruises all over my body from scratching, better than drawing blood I'm told.  The Benadryl I take to try to knock myself out and help with a little itching isn't working either.  I was hoping it wouldn't get this bad yet.  We still have at least a week (8 more nights) until I am willing to deliver.  :)  I'm pretty sure my days and nights are going to reverse soon, napping during the day is the only good sleep I get.

Per my last comment above, that is my excuse for not blogging much this week.  I sleep so much of the day now.  This week we were anxious for Friday's measurement of the babies growth.  Friday morning was torture waiting for the doctor who turns out wasn't coming until later in the day...  He showed up around lunch time.  It was one of my longest sonograms yet during which he was silent a lot and then checking my chart a lot.  This is the specialist that tends to give us all of our bad news so I was laying on the table dying!!!  He gave me their new sizes:

Ethan is 3lb and 12oz, gain 10oz

Alex is 2lb and 13 oz, gain of 6 oz

Emma is 2lb and 7oz, gain of 4 oz

Emma's gain just met the minimum growth requirement so we were cleared to keep waiting.  But after the measurements he completely freaked me out buzzing the babies trying to make them move a TON of times then having me roll to one side and while he shook and buzzed my belly.  I was so worried they had stopped moving.  My kiddos are super active so I was a bit perplexed and of course scared something drastic had changed.  But it turned out all he wanted to see was practice breathing...  I hadn't had lunch yet which apparently makes them do this more so he was trying to tick them off and get them to do it.  Finally we are finished and the doctor, notoriously moody, was silent, so I said sonogram Monday and I assume everything else is ok?  He said yep and I left figuring I'd speak with my OB about the next milestone.

Of course I haven't seen my OB yet so I don't know what our next milestone will be.  Yuan and I think that we will get to keep trucking through this 31st week but don't know what will happen at 32 weeks.  We don't know if at exactly 32 weeks we will deliver or if they will let us continue to 32 and 5 days when we are due for another growth check.  If Emma had grown this time a little more I think they might let us go later in the 32nd week but now I'm not so sure.  The on call OB today said he would love to see us get all the babies over 3lbs, us too!  We think Alex has a chance if we can go to late 32 weeks but Emma probably won't make it.

Other than those 2 big items nothing else much new.  I had another week of amazing visitors to keep me company, thank you so much ladies for your visits and lunches and treats!!!  I'm really wearing out on hospital food.  I have most of next week free for visits :)  Tuesday is taken but if anyone has any time the rest of the week I would be happy to see you!!!

30 Week Monday

I just posted a 30 week pic of my tummy.  I think I got bigger closer to my chest.  Emma has really taken up residence right under my rib cage.  I haven't changed size around the largest part of my tummy though, still 46". They should get measured on Friday so hopefully they will still show good growth.

My sonogram today went better.  It was with the other specialist who didn't see any change since I saw him last Wednesday and was surprised his partner and the on call OB freaked out so much this weekend.  He says we are still hanging in there and he wouldn't have suggested the steroids just yet.  Oh well.  He also wanted my cervical length checked, though he agreed he wouldn't prevent labor either he said it would be a good indication of imminent delivery.  And so I get to brag that yay, no change, 2.5cm still!!!  These babies are only coming early due to the stinking placenta, the babies and I are in tip top shape!

The itching is starting to come back, I'm going to have to cave soon and take the medicine again.  My tummy is still upset from the first time.  I'm not looking forward to it...  TUMS have become my best friend.

Today the construction workers really did decide to dig out under my room.  For about 2 hours it looked as though a giant back hoe would be coming through my window!  The shaking was crazy and even the diesel fuel smell was filling the room.  Yuck.

My friend Katie came to visit today with lunch, what a treat!  I'm getting bit tired of hospital food so it was such a nice change of pace.  She is great company and helped pass much of the day!  Thank you again Katie!!

Week 30!!

I have been holding off on posting because so much has been up in the air the last few days.  It's been a bit stressful to say the least.  A week ago I posted that Alex was having decreased diastolic flow as well and they monitored her closely over the last week and it steadily progressed to no flow.  Friday morning my normally very calm perinatologist seemed concerned and started to talk delivery over the weekend.  Of course my OB went out of town this weekend Fri thru Mon and he is my calm doctor who always de-stresses the situation.  So the on call doctor, one of my OB's partners, and the perinatologist decided it was best to do my second round of steroid shots starting Friday.  I was wary after all my talks with my OB about when to do the second round of steroids.  I told them I didn't want to start them Friday.  The on call OB came back to visit me and explained why he and the specialist wanted me to take the shots now.  They both felt the progression of Alex from diastolic flow to no flow was fairly fast and the pattern looked to be heading to reverse flow sooner than later.  Even though we still can't predict the delivery date the steroids will assist in their bowel development and help protect them from brain hemorrhage.  While the steroids are most effective for their respiratory systems when delivered 72 hours prior to birth they are more effective for the other two issues no matter when given.  Even if we don't deliver until 32 weeks the babies should get the benefit in their bowels and brains from the steroids.  After this discussion I agreed to the shots.

Saturday morning the perinatologist came in again to do another sonogram.  Still no reverse flow, yay!  And he felt ok not doing a sonogram again until Monday.   We monitor heart rates 3 times a day for 30 minutes each time and that should be enough to detect any issues in the babies in between sonograms.  The goal is still to make it to 32 weeks.  Neither the specialist nor the on call OB feels this will happen they both predict this week.  My guess is my OB will still be hopeful for 32 weeks.  Of course that is our hope too.  I at least don't want it to be until Tuesday when my OB returns to work.  I picked him largely for his C-section skills!!  Plus I would just feel calmer with him making the decision.  The major factor for delivery is still the presence of reverse diastolic flow.  As long as neither girl develops this we can keep hanging on.  Everything else still looks great.  No decrease in anyone's amniotic fluid.  So far during monitoring the girls have very few variables or decelerations.  We even started monitoring them with the contraction monitor on to see if their blood supply is affected by contractions and it doesn't seem to do much.  All really good.  So we just need their darn placenta to hang on 2 more weeks!  The doctors also say they won't stop me if I go into labor at this point, however the way things are going that doesn't seem to be an issue either.

We started treating the choleostasis on Friday.  I took 2 doses of the medicine for it.  Stopped the itching but OMG the miserable side effects.  It did a number on my GI system.  I was so nauseated with horrible acid reflux and indigestion.  I could barely eat, had to not allow myself to vomit (didn't want to start labor) and sleep sitting up.  I was maxing out on Tums!!  Miserable, it was like having morning sickness again.  I talked to the doc and he said lets go to one dose a day.  Well, yesterday I didn't itch so I didn't take a dose and today I'm still at a place where I can tolerate what itching has returned.  So maybe I can hang on with 1 dose every 2 to 3 days.  It shouldn't be more than 2 weeks.  :)

I'm getting sad though as we approach delivery.  Even with the side effects of pregnancy, which aren't a blast, I love being pregnant!!  I love feeling the babies move and trying to predict their personalities based on how they are acting in the womb.  I love the way my body looks pregnant.  I love the feeling of carrying around life inside me.  I will miss this when it's over and I'm sad it's only going to be once.  Although I think 3 will be quite enough.  :)  I spend a lot of time each day just watching my tummy move and playing with the kids as they push a hand or foot out.  I feel bad there is nothing we can do to allow them to stay inside longer, I wish they could make it to 35/36 weeks.  It is so frustrating that their placenta gave out too early.  Otherwise they are all so healthy as am I.  Grrr.  Ethan is really getting the shaft too, he is not having any issues and just has to go along with the girls.  Guess he better get used to that.  Yuan and I are still grateful we made it to 30 weeks!  Each passing day decreases their complication risks.

Speaking of Yuan, he brought me beautiful Valentine's Day flowers this morning and home cooked Chinese food!  I have officially gotten sick of the hospital food.  I miss his cooking so much.  So all weekend I've had awesome food!  Some is about to arrive for dinner too.  We also finally got a chance to snuggle up in my tiny hospital bed and take a nap this afternoon.  It was so wonderful to sleep next to my husband again.  I"m sure we will have to play some Canasta after dinner since I soundly whooped him yesterday, he wants revenge.  He has been amazing through all this, you can certainly tell what your marriage is made of when you go through infertility and a multiple pregnancy!

As long as I'm not having babies Thursday is open for a visitor this week!  ;)  Looking forward to seeing everyone else who already told me they are coming other days.  I'll post my 30 week picture later.

Fire! No. Building being demolished! No. OK, I survived today.

It's been entertaining here today.  For the majority of the day my room has been shaking as the patio below me is demolished.  I've considered that I may have to quickly exit my room if they miss the ground and hit a pillar instead.  It has felt like the building was being hit by a wrecking ball all day.  Luckily I had guests all day to keep my mind off the noise.  Of course, in Baylor Grapevine tradition the fire alarm has now started going off at random.  This also happened when I was here for my 13 week over nighter.  We lost power that night too so hopefully that doesn't happen too.

The big news of the day is my itching.  It's gotten worse.  :(  Labs showing liver is getting more unhappy so it's time to start some meds.  Darn.  Still not to a point where we would have to deliver because of it.  In the mean time it is miserable.  I'm not sleeping much because of it which is frustrating.  Hope this new medicine makes it tolerable again.

The babies have been stable this week, Emma still no diastolic flow and Alex decreased diastolic flow.  So we will keep on trucking.  29 weeks and 4 days today.  We need to get to 32 weeks, that is our current goal.  If we make it to 33 we will celebrate!!  Tomorrow marks 3 weeks in the hospital.  I won't say it's fun or I like being here but it isn't as bad as I expected it to be.  I have amazing friends who visit me often, I sleep a lot, play canasta all weekend with Yuan, and I am learning how to knit a really misshapen washcloth.  I am not getting to even 25% of the stuff I thought I would while in here.  I was going to read a ton - nope, I just fall asleep.  I was going to write thank you cards - nope can't move my wrists to write (thankfully I can type!!),  I was going to cut stencils for a project for the babies - nope, need my heat knife the x-acto knife isn't working.  Basically, most things I try to do make me fall asleep.  I'm so exciting right now...  Wish I could bank all this sleep for when the babies get here.

I'm not sure I mentioned this in an earlier post but we had a NICU tour this past weekend.  We were glad we did it, we learned a lot and now have an idea of what to expect.  Still can't believe my tiny belly has 3 29 week old babies in it!!

Sonogram tomorrow morning; fingers crossed there are no changes.

I have a visitor on Monday and probably Tuesday so I'm taking offers for the other three days :)  Thanks again to everyone who is keeping me company!!

Ugh, really Emma

The babies made some big moves this weekend to some new positions.  Emma has unfortunately reversed her position and now has her head in my stomach, gallbladder and liver.  The result of this is mom is nauseated and has increased heart burn.  Here is a very crude drawing of their locations, it's killing me to post stick figures considering my profession but my tools are pretty limited on my laptop (Paint and a lap top finger pad...)

I think Miss Alex is making a play for the first baby out position.  Ethan better hold his ground.

The updated on everyone's health is still pretty good.  After Alex showed decreased diastolic flow last week on Friday we got put on daily sonograms and there was a lot of conversation about whether I should get my next round of steroids this week for delivery this week.  However, after 3 sonograms she seems to be holding fairly steady.

I just spoke at length with our OB about what conditions require delivery and what we can keep them in utero with.  If both girls keep their current situation, one with no diastolic flow and one with decreased, as long as they have weight gain every 2 weeks we can keep them gestating  If Alex develops no flow also we can still keep them in utero as long as there is weight gain.  The perinatologist said at 32 weeks with no diastolic flow in both babies he would recommend delivery.  I asked our OB about that because our baby measuring takes place at the end of our weeks so at the beginning of 32 we wouldn't have checked their growth yet.  I wanted to know if we could wait until the end of 32 weeks to measure them and then decide.  If they are still showing decent growth the OB agreed we could keep going.  If at any time we have reverse flow on any baby, or amniotic fluid starts to get too low on any baby or if anyone's HR starts showing a deceleration pattern then we deliver much sooner.  We would hope to decide to deliver and be able to push delivery off for 72 hours so we can get steroids on board first.  A much more immediate delivery is a possibility though with those problems.  Basically we take everything day by day but we know the criteria for delivery.

My contractions are still super manageable and make everyone happy.  They aren't dictating delivery at all right now.  Bed rest and eating are the only things I can do to help the babies keep growing.  The placenta degradation is dictating everything at this point.  I could be hooked up to an IV with an extra 1000 calories going in every day and it wouldn't help anything, the placenta is only letting through a certain amount and they feel I am eating all the calories I need.

Emma finally rolled over and we got the first picture of her face in 3 months!  So below are two sono pics from the morning showing Emma and Alex.  I think they look pretty similar, but how can one really tell with resolution this poor.

 Emma

Alex

PS-Ethan actually put on 5 oz in his last measurement.  I incorrectly calculated his weight gain.  The girls both put on 6oz and Ethan 5oz.  Yay!

2 Weeks Down

Another week gone by.  We had a few issues come up this week.  On Thursday Alex decided she wanted more attention so she had a heart rate deceleration during monitoring.  The perinatologists said they aren't concerned that both Emma and Alex have had just one deceleration each.  There is no pattern so they are probably isolated incidents.  But of course this means no decrease in monitoring, we have to stay with 3 times a day.

On Friday we found out that Alex has decreased diastolic flow now.  Emma's is absent, and hasn't changed from that since they first found it.  We were warned that this might happen to Alex too, her's is not absent but has decreased.  They won't deliver unless someone's flow reverses, so hopefully we won't reach that point.  We did discuss with our OB the timing of our second round of steroid shots to help mature the babies lungs.  The timing of these shots is really difficult because they are most effective when given 72 hours before delivery.  Figuring out when 72 hours before delivery is going to be is quite the challenge.  As of right now we are on a sonogram to sonogram decision making process, the babies could stay this way a long time.  Or things could change rapidly.  We are going to see how things go next week.

The babies got weighed on Friday.  Ethan is 3lbs 2 oz, Alex is 2lbs 7oz, and Emma is 2lbs 4oz.  Both girls gained 6oz over the last 2 weeks and Ethan gained 3oz.  Amazingly enough I lost weight from last week to this week even though I gained a 1lb of baby + fluid and placenta.  Ugh, bed rest is making all my muscle disappear.

We hit the 29 week mark tomorrow.  Yay, another week of baby gestation down, hopefully 6+ to go!
No baby pictures this week, only one of our specialists does them and he didn't this week.  I suspect there wouldn't be much change :)

Nothing else new, I had a great group of visitors this week, a huge thank you to Brenley, Carolynn, Meijken and Kaija, Michelle (who cut my hair!!) and of course Yuan.  Lindsay is coming today and bringing me a chai latte which I've been craving!  I probably don't need the sugar but they are so yummy.  A volunteer started my knitting lessons this week.  I can knit two rows of a washcloth like a pro, then I'm totally stuck.  Looking forward to Monday's lesson so maybe I can do a few more rows.  I'm certainly not a natural.  It is great to kill time and keeps my hands busy so I don't scratch as much.  I was diagnosed with choleostasis this week so at least I have a reason for the itching!!  No treatment as of now, we will discuss that option if it gets worse and unmanageable.  I can tough it out for now!  Yuan and I will watch the super bowl tomorrow night, go Giants! and eat way too many wings.  I think perhaps the hospital knows a lot of people are ordering dinner out tomorrow, they have terrible food choices for Sunday night ;)

For next week I have visitor openings on Wednesday and possibly Friday morning, though I'm emailing someone about Friday morning now.  I'm hoping to get a massage Friday afternoon!  Thanks a million to everyone who is visiting, it helps more than you will ever know!!!

PS-I was unable to find a way to post a calendar, sorry, just email me about visiting days.