34.....35.....35 1/2 weeks!

Since I updated last, we reached 34 weeks on November 25th and I was able to be released from the hospital to spend Thanksgiving at home like we had hoped! It was such a great few days at home and Ryan and I were so thankful to spend the holiday together with family and a little more comfort! My bed had never felt so good :)

So, the plan was to stick to my medication schedule to maintain my labor and make it to our appointments with my doctor on Monday afternoon. We almost made it! On Monday morning we went back to labor and delivery at St. Vincent hospital because my contractions were getting stronger and closer together and the babies had completely dropped and their movement had slowed way down - all things we were supposed to go back in if I experienced. We spent a few hours in triage before they couldn't get my labor to stop once again and we were re-admitted. At least we got a different room this time! They hooked me back up to IV meds and we waited for our doctor, being told at this time that we were most likely having our c-section in a few hours because the nurse that we were with at the time thought I had dialated further. While we waited, Northwest Perinatal came and did a growth ultrasound on the babies and we were so happy to find out that they were HUGE! This was Monday, November 30th and baby girl weighed 5lbs 10oz. and our baby boy was 6lb 4oz. We were so surprised and so were all of the nurses and our doctor! Even though the babies were so big and it looked like things were progressing, our doctor decided she still wanted us to wait and hopefully make it to 35 weeks and maybe even 36 weeks after that. As tired as I was at that time and as much pain as I was in, even one more day seemed so long. So, they got me comfortable and we settled in to our room for an undetermined amount of time once again. Talk about a roller coaster ride of emotions.

The next morning, my doctor came back and had decided to change the plan. They took me off the medication to stop my labor because it clearly wasn't doing anything other than adding more side effects. She had changed her mind from not wanting me to progress further to wanting me to dialate when my body is ready. So they set a plan for pain medication and hopefully a way to keep me comfortable and possibly sleep. We would just need to wait it out. We spent a few more days getting used to the medication change and then my doctor decided once again that I could do my bedrest from home and hopefully make it to 36 weeks. So, Thursday we packed back up and headed home with a plan to hopefully make it through the weekend and see my doctor this Monday morning. She did mention when she released us that if we could make it to our appointment on Monday with hopes of a few more days, she will most likely consider scheduling us at 36 weeks (Wednesday or after)! At 36 weeks we will be able to deliver at the hospital we had originally planned to be at (one of the reasons she wanted to get me home before next week)and it would not be necessary for the babies to require time in the NICU if all goes well. This all sounds so fantastic - especially after what will be 4 weeks of pre-term labor!

I can't wait to make it through the rest of the weekend and see what our doctor decides on Monday! Even though we have been going through this for so long now, the idea of having the babies in our arms next week seems so soon even now. I can't believe it. 36 weeks seemed so far away and almost impossible at one point so I am so happy and proud that we have made it this far and hopefully have a few more days to go! I can't wait to meet our 6lb babies! They sure have been testing my patience already :)

"There are two things in life for which we are never truly prepared: twins." ~Josh Billings

A few more days...

Today we are 33 weeks and 5/7 days, which means only a few more days until our 1st goal of 34 weeks! It seems like I have been here at the hospital forever...12 days and counting. In some ways it has taken forever to get here and then on the other hand I can't believe we are almost to our 1st goal. It seemed so far away when we first came in at 32 weeks.

As of right now my contractions are still the same, ranging anywhere from 8 minutes apart at the most to only 3 minutes apart at times. We have learned that the contraction medication doing all that it can do and is not going to be able to make them go away so it's mainly about keeping me comfortable from here on out. I sleep a lot when I can because of the pain medication so that is why I haven't been able to update in a few days. The good news is that the babies are still doing great and are continuing to grow and become stronger everyday. We had an ultrasound on Friday checking their development (practicing breathing, movements, etc) and the babies looked great. My cervix has stayed pretty much the same despite all of the contractions so far, so we are kind of just in a waiting game now to see what happens. I still see a doctor here everyday and the nurses have been very nice (minus a few!)

Once we make it to 34 weeks, the next goal to aim for would be 35 weeks - December 2nd. I want my December babies!! Taking things one hour/day/week at a time. My doctor has mentioned that if they can keep me on this schedule of medication for the next few days without anything changing, then I might get to go home to finish my pregnancy with a little more comfort! I would still be confined to a bed and would be taking all of the medication, but it would be MY BED and I wouldn't have to spend Thanksgiving in the hospital. She made the comment yesterday that even if it was only for a few hours it would be better than nothing, and I couldn't agree with her more! So, we won't know the answer to that decision until Wednesday but we are remaining hopeful.

"In life, as in football, you won't go far unless you know where the goalposts are." Arnold H. Glasgow

Update from St. V's

Thank you again to everyone for your thoughts and prayers! Having so much support and hearing from all of you is a blessing.

We ended up getting a visit from the doctor yesterday after I updated because the medication schedule they had me on to maintain everything wasn't working as well as it should have been. At this point they are thinking that I will need to stay in the hospital so that they can supervise everything for the remainder of my pregnancy. We will take things one day at a time and each day that we make it through is one more day for the babies to grow and hopefully less time that they will spend in the NICU afterwards. The goal that the doctors have set is still to make it to 34 weeks, a week and a half from today - November 25th - and then if we make that goal we will set another one.

To be honest, Ryan and I are both surprised by the news that most likely I won't be going home between now and the birth of our babies unless something changes. I think we both really thought that if they could get me on the right medication I could do the same bedrest at home and we would have some time before coming back to the hospital. My mom is in town to help and we have a lot of help from family so we thought we could make it work. But, my body and the doctors have other plans that are out of our control and so we are adjusting and getting ready for the way that it will be from here on out and after they are born. My doctor will be coming tomorrow to go over more details so you never know...the plans may change again and with the way things have been going, most likely they will :)

A lot of people have been asking how I am feeling and I want you all to know that I am doing alright. It is an emotional roller coaster everyday and I am trying to adjust to the fact that I can't do things the way that I want them :) It's difficult to be confined to a hospital bed when so many things are running through my head! The medications and side effects aren't the most pleasant but they are doing what they need to do and that is what counts. I just want our babies as healthy, happy, and as BIG as possible when the time comes for them to meet us...whenever that may be. I am following orders, I promise!

My mom brought me a book from home that I used to write quotes in that meant something to me for one reason or another. Here is one that made me smile today:
"Expecting life to go the way you want because you are a good person is like expecting an angry bull not to charge you because you are a vegetarian." Shari Barr :)

Where we are now...

So I wrote last week with the intention of updating on all sorts of things - which I hope to come back to soon. But, for now my focus is going to be on my family and how things with our pregnancy and babies are going. I have been trying to keep everyone in the loop as best as I can and Ry brought in our lap top last night so I thought this might help also and give me a connection with the outside world! It has been a scary, emotional, roller coaster of a week so far and I really appreciate everyone's support. Sorry if this is a lot of information all at once.

My original due date is January 6th, so going off of that we are 32 weeks and 4 days along today. My doctor had moved my due date up to December 28th a while back because of the babies growth but it was decided to go back to the original date for the remainder of my pregnancy and for scheduling since we will be having a c-section. So, I hit 32 weeks this last week and went in to Good Samaritan Hospital on Wednesday for my 1st scheduled Non-Stress Test, checking for the babies movements and to see if I was contracting. As most people know, I have been on bed rest or modified bed rest for a while now so I have been laying low and trying to do everything I can to help keep these babies growing. Well, something wasn't working I guess! I knew I hadn't been feeling quite right but I've never had a baby before so I didn't know what to expect!

We checked in for my appointment at 1pm and they immediately picked up contractions on my scan. They started a few different medications to try and stop them and none of them seemed to be working. So, things progressed pretty quickly and I was admitted. My doctor came by and I had dialated to 1.5cm (sorry if that's TMI for anyone) so it was decided to put me on an IV of the heaviest meds they could give me to stop labor and gave me steroid injections to help the babies development if they were to need to be born. Talk about a change of plans from thinking we had anywhere from 4-6 weeks to go. Good Sam Hospital doesn't have a qualifued NICU to deliver babies before 36 weeks, so I was transferred to St. Vincent Hospital for them to take over from there. The IV meds had to run through my system for 48 hours so they constantly monitored me and the babies throughout and finished the 2nd round of meds for the babies development. They were able to get my contractions to slow down from what they were and got them to hold at about 6-8 per hour and as far as I know my dialation has stayed the same also. I did the full amount of the meds I could do so now they have me on a combination of pills/shots every 6 hours to keep me to that amount. They are still monitoring everything and these active babies still look great...they just need to keep my body doing what it's doing now - but no more than that for as long as it can! Once they give you the full IV dose once they aren't able to do it again so if things progress they can no longer stop it from here on out.

On a super positive note, we had an ultrasound on Friday afternoon to check the babies' growth and we found out they are both over 4.5 pounds at least! Once nurse came in and said she thought she saw that he measured 4.11 oz and she was 4.7 oz. Either way we were very excited to hear these results and so were the doctors. They seemed happy that even if they do have to come very soon, at least they would be on the larger size for 32/33 week twins. Very good news!

So, now we are waiting until sometime tomorrow to see my doctor again and get a plan of action. We are just trying to do what we can do prepare ourselves for any possible situation. I just want to be able to take our babies home as soon as possible after they are born. Obviously the sooner the babies are born the more problems they could potentially have so as it is exciting to think about meeting our babies soon, I want to keep them growing and put off their birthday as long as possible...I'm still hoping for December babies and am keeping that my ultimate goal!

All of the doctor's that have been working together with us have been great and are hopeful that we will make it anywhere from at least another week or as long as 2.5 more weeks if at all possible to get to 34 weeks. The plan has changed so many times now to be honest I am really looking forward to tomorrow to see my actual doctor again and get the real deal. Each time a new nurse comes in they talk about a new plan of action and it ranges from the babies coming by this Wednesday to keeping me here on medication until hopefully December 1st. So, now we wait....

I will update more as I know more or possibly have someone update for me if need be. Thank you for all of your concern, messages and phone calls. We love you all and really appreciate hearing from all of you. Hopefully tomorrow will bring good news.

" Never let go of hope. One day you will see that it has finally come together. What you have always wished for has finally come to be. You will look back and laugh at what has passed and you will ask yourself..."How did I get through all of that?"-Anonymous

This and That

Hubby just informed me that I am "really bad at keeping up with my blog and I need to do better" :) I can't disagree with him on this one so I had to tell him he was right...I don't like to make a habit of that very often so I will do better and prove him wrong!

Things are going well in the Brown household - changing everyday with many more to come before the new year. I have more than a few things to update on and hope to do so over the next week. In the past month, give or take a few days...I had my last day of work, we had amazing baby showers in Portland and in Washington, took a trip to Colville and spent time with family, had maternity pictures taken, added a new niece to our big family on November 2nd and entered the 8th month of pregnancy! Of course there were a few other things in there but that should sum it up for now!

I am also planning to share pictures of our nursery soon so stay tuned for all sorts of updates, picture sharing and randomness..in no particular order :)

"May you have enough happiness to make you sweet, enough trials to make you strong, enough sorrow to keep you human, enough hope to keep you happy."-Irish Blessing