Guess What?

As I type this, I am lying on the couch in our family room. I'm home!

At the scan today, Apple's fluid level was "much better" than on Friday. Her deepest pocket of fluid measured about 2.5cm (it was 1 something on Friday). It is still low. But she has three discernible pockets of fluid now instead of one and the perinatologist (the conservative one) was comfortable enough to send me home. Banana's deepest pocket of fluid was somewhere above 6cm, but he appears to have plenty of fluid. And his fluid was also higher than it was on Friday.

I had to do a little reading today because I was confusing these numbers with the AFI (amniotic fluid index), where they divide the mother's abdomen into four quadrants, measure a fluid pocket in each quadrant and add them together. They obviously can't do this with twins, so they generally use the single deepest vertical pocket ("SDVP") method. This simply measures the amount of fluid in one pocket of fluid. I suppose when Apple had only one pocket of fluid, the SDVP measure equaled the AFI number. I can't find any guidelines to what is acceptable under the SDVP method, other than it appears a depth of at least 2cm is desired.

Regardless of the technicalities, we aren't in the clear, but things are looking up. The biophysical profiles (BPP) for both babies looked great this morning and their tracing this morning looked great as well. They did measure my cervix again today per my request. The first measurement she did was about 2cm, which is half of what it was last Wednesday. However, she looked around a bit more and got a better angle to measure and it was quite a bit longer than that. I didn't get an exact number (3 something), but they seemed satisfied with it.

The OB and peri seemed to think that the cel.ebrex was the culprit in reducing the fluid, although you don't usually see such a drastic reduction with such a small dose for only 48 hours. They think that pushing fluids and the warm baths are helping. Neither one had heard of the gelatin idea, but they agreed it wouldn't hurt, so might as well try it.

I've been given strict orders to try to mimic exactly what I've been doing in the hospital at home. This entails lying down as much as possible, getting up only when necessary, two baths per day, still taking my medicine every 4 hours, still doing my bed rest exercises, drinking 64-96 ounces of water every 24 hours, etc. I'm also supposed to call with any concerns whatsoever, keep an eye on my contractions for any changes and take notice of fetal movement to see if it seems decreased to me. I have an appointment with the perinatologist on Wednesday for a growth scan for both babies (and they'll check fluid again) and a follow up appointment with my OB on Thursday. What we do from there depends on what we see at the growth scan.

I am going to try really hard not to be paranoid and constantly worried about these babies while I'm home. And I just need to make it to Wednesday until we see how they are doing again. The other challenge is going to be planning well enough for meals, etc. so I don't need to get up constantly. We'll see how it goes. For now, I'm just happy to be home in familiar surroundings with B and the dogs again. And I can't wait to sleep in my own bed and take a bath in my own tub again. It feels G.O.O.D.

I was in the hospital for about a week and a half and it felt like forever. I have to say though, the days when I had visitors went by much more quickly. Thanks to everyone for visiting, calling, emailing, posting comments and generally for your positive thoughts and prayers. I am truly lucky to have so many great friends and family members.