Short Term Plans

I did finally talk to the OB this evening. She apparently thought the peri had talked to me and that I knew what the plan was going forward. And the peri evidently told her I wanted to stay in the hospital. I asked the peri her thoughts on hospital versus home bedrest and she asked what type of patient I would be at home (i.e. would I cheat and be getting up to do laundry, etc.). I told her I wasn't worried about forcing myself to lie down, but I would worry about the babies more if i was home and would probably have a difficult time deciding when to come back in should things seem different to me. it is more reassuring being in the hospital knowing that they are watching you and the babies, takes a bit of the pressure off. So apparently, I made the decision to stay, but wasn't aware I had made the decision or that it was even up to me. Go figure. For what it's worth, the OB did say she would prefer I was in the hospital anyway.

Here's the plan. They started me on cel.ebrex tonight and I'll be on that until Wednesday. On Wednesday, they will do another scan to check on the babies again, mainly on Apple's fluid level. i assume they'll check my cervix again too. Then we will reassess the situation. So, at least I know the plan for the next two nights and two days. After that it is all subject to change again.

I can't remember what details I put in the last post and I'm just too lazy to go back and look, so I apologize if I'm repeating anything. Apple weighed in around 2 pounds 7 ounces, while Banana is at 3 pounds 1 ounce. Banana is above the growth curve for a singleton, while Apple is below. Apple is still vertex and her head is so far down in my pelvis they had trouble getting a measurement of her head. Apparently she thinks it is time to go somewhere, but my cervix is holding her in for now. Banana is back to being breech. And he is spreading out taking up a ton of room and squeezing his sister into a smaller space. When they were measuring him today, they said he has a long arm bone. Now I'm picturing some kind of ape growing in there because neither B nor I have long arms (or legs).

Anatomy still looks good for both from what they can tell, but it gets more difficult over time as they grow. Both babies still have good blood flow from the placentas through their cords. Out of the four things they measure on the babies to determine size and weight (arm bone, leg bone, head, abdomen), all of Banana's were right around average or slightly above for a singleton. Apple's measurements were all good too except for her abdomen which is measuring at less than 2% percentile. This is the one measurement that is putting her below the curve and causing concern. Plus the fact that her fluid is a little low. It is actually difficult for them to tell and they said that if she were a singleton, they may not even be concerned. However, since Banana has more fluid and is bigger, they worry that he's getting more of the nourishment and she is suffering because of it.

No one seems concerned enough to talk about inducing soon, but they are concerned enough to watch closer. The other thing that concerned me today is that they sent a nurse from the NICU up to my room to talk to us about what to expect with preemies who are born at different weeks. I wasn't sure whether to listen intently to absorb as much info as possible, or to tune her out and ignore everything hoping that we wouldn't need to know any of it.

But even with this new turn of events, I'm trying to take things in stride. Every morning I wake up, I can mark another day off the calendar that I'm still pregnant and the babies are still benefiting from being in the uterine environment instead of the NICU. Each week will now feel like much more of a significant milestone to me than before. And the more of those milestones we can hit, the better off the babies will be when they come out.