ER and Such

As you've probably guessed, we've been too busy/exhausted to blog lately.

So, what's new? Well, the babies are over 7 lbs now, and have been for a week or so. After the whole hospital thing the doc thought they might have sensitivities to breastmilk, or some formulas. After going through several formulas, each more expensive than the last, the babies were doing worse, not better, in the digestive/fussiness arena. So we switched back to breastmilk and they're doing better.

As you might have heard, Sarah went into the ER twice this last weekend. Both times it was for hypertension, something the OB said to watch for. As it turns out, there is nothing wrong with her heart, and she doesn't have a blood clot. Of course, we didn't find this out until they did the full cardiac workup, including CT scan, which they didn't do until the last night. So now we have to pay for two visits when it really should have all been done the first time. Nothing like getting a jump on your medical deductible... Anyway, the timing couldn't have been worse. I returned back to work today, Sarah's mom returned to Chicago. I got roughly three hours sleep and Sarah got one. She's got some help this morning so hopefully she can catch up on some sleep.

We're still not sure how we'll survive this week without an extra person to take a shift so someone can sleep. But we're not the first people ever to have two babies at once, so I'm sure we'll survive somehow.

Once More, With Feeling

Monday night we made our third trip thus far to Labor and Delivery Triage (but only our first in 3 weeks!). Sarah wasn't having more contractions than usual, but they were more painful. She hasn't been sleeping well, thanks to all this, which compounded the issue. So, we went in and they monitored the babies' heartbeats. They also tested for fetal fibronectin and checked for dilation. The fetal fibronectin test was negative, which was encouraging, because 97% of the time that means there will be no delivery for the next 7-10 days. Obviously this isn't infallible, but it is encouraging. We're at 1.5 cm dilated, which is more than we'd like, but isn't catastrophic by any means.

They prescribed terbutaline to reduce the amount of contractions, since it worked so well in triage. It has to be taken every 4-6 hours, but should allow Sarah to achieve more restful sleep and relaxation, which are also very good. So it looks pretty solid that we'll make 30 weeks, if not 31. I'm still shooting for 33, but we'll take our victories as they come. Please continue to remember us in your prayers, we really appreciate them.

One other good thing came out of the trip last night. We have made great headway on packing our "gotta go" bags. Sarah worked up a list, and I had started getting things together the past few days, but last night we scrambled around for 30 minutes getting some essentials together in preparation for delivery, just in case last night was the night. Now we're going to keep those bags pretty much as they are and maybe add a few things to them.

Lastly, a special thanks to the friends and family who have cooked us meals and helped around the house. Since Sarah is at fairly complete bedrest, these kindnesses have been greatly appreciated.

The Most Exciting Pregnancy EVER

We had to go into the labor and delivery triage tonight. As we know, since we have twins, everything happens sooner. The doctor was reassuring tonight, and said the best thing to do was nothing, as in, nothing but bedrest.

We have been planning for the babies to be early, just not this early. That is not to say that they're coming soon, but it'll probably be before Thanksgiving, which was our target. That said, the doctor was very reassuring about their prognosis from here on out. We've gotten past the really scary stage and things get better every day from here on in.

So basically, all the stuff I've been planning to do this month in the nursery and elsewhere now have to be done now. Welcome to the busy.

ER...Again.

We went in again to the ER last night. I had a good fever and couldn't get in touch with my doctor or any of the nurses there. We weren't too sure what to do, so I left a message with them and went into the ER. Having a fever so soon after the other stuff that's gone on could be a sign of some really bad stuff. They did bloodwork and other tests to see if I was fighting an infection, but didn't find anything (thank goodness!). My white blood cell count was low enough to indicate my body was beating whatever was wrong. The doctor said my symptoms were probably just an unlucky combination of everything going on at once. Fortunately, babies are fine and the most dangerous complications seem to be improving.

Another trip to the emergency room.

Last night we had another night in the ER. (I could really live without any more of these.) I had thought we'd lost one of the babies, but both were still there bouncing around excitedly. We'll go see our OB very soon and I hope we'll find out what happened was just the hemorrhage clearing up. Keep praying for us as I'm still in pain and very concerned about what's going on.