Eventful few days

I just wanted to jot down some of what has happened in the last few days. It has been a crazy turn of events, I could never imagine this would be the way my Monday morning would begin.

Lets start with the week of April 22nd. We were preparing for our last trip to NY so I was busy cleaning a bit, running errands and packing. We were due to leave on that Wednesday. On Tuesday I decided I would go to Target to do a little shopping for my hospital bag...ya know, just in case I went into labor while in NY. It was my biggest fear. I stocked up on essentials and later that night packed everything in my overnight bag along with a baby picture of Adrianna, so I could compare her to her sisters when they are born...like going down memory lane :) The week and weekend came and went without much excitement. On Sunday my nephew had his first birthday party and we were also due to go home the same day. During the party, where I spent most of the day sitting, I had a couple of really painful contractions. They were a little unnerving but I refused to let anyone know I was in pain. I did not want to go to the hospital in NY, besides I had an appointment with my MFM doctor the next day. I made through the car ride home without anymore contractions, well I had some but they were about 15-20 minutes apart and didn't hurt at all...more like Braxton Hicks. That night we arrived home late and after unpacking the car we promptly collapsed on our nice comfy bed. We did take my mom with us, considering I was told that I should start taking it easy and I needed help with Adrianna. At around 1AM I began to cough, choking on my own stomach acid (always wonderful) and then it happened...I threw up all over my bathroom! I aimed for the bath tub, don't ask. After cleaning I fell asleep and woke up around 6AM with stomach pain. It was more muscle pain than anything, understandable since I blew chunks the night before. I ate breakfast, did a little craft shopping and headed to my MFM appointment.

I had my scan, nothing out of the ordinary. It took about 2 hours which always happens when I have scans. It is hard to get two babies to cooperate in an ultrasound! After my scan I always have an internal cervical scan to check the length of my cervix. When I saw the numbers on the screen, I knew it was not good news. The doctor comes in and talks a little about how baby A is still measuring a little smaller than her sister and how she has lower fluid levels as well. The doctor mentioned that my cervix was measuring smaller than the previous week and asked if I had been having contractions. I said yes. She decided it would be best to send me to labor and delivery so I could be monitored for a few hours just in case. Well, thank goodness she decided to do that! When I arrived at L&D, I was put on monitors, given water and told to just hang tight. After a few minutes the doctor came in to check my cervix for any change since my cervical length was short. I was one fingertip dilated, barely 1 cm. About a half an hour went by and I was feeling contractions. They were about 10-15 minutes apart and were a little painful. The nurse would come in and would ask whether or not I was having a contraction, kind of like testing me, and I was right every time. They decided to check me again and I was 1-2 cm dilated! My OB was called and told that I was dilating. She said she would come in and check me in about an hour. In the mean time I was given an IV and was drinking more water as well. Still contracting, this time more like every 7-10 minutes. By the time my OB arrived and checked me I was 3 cm dilated! This was way more progress than they were comfortable with! I am only 31 weeks and their NICU doesn't care for babies younger than 32 weeks. It was then that the decision was made to take me by ambulance to Tufts Medical Center in Boston in case I delivered the babies that night.

The ambulance ride was quite interesting. It was like feeling helpless and defenseless. I appreciate all the work EMT and paramedics do, it is a scary job! There was a new guy on the ambulance training and he was being quizzed while we were on our way to Boston. He was asked what the first major concern would be if I had to deliver my twins in the ambulance. That poor 22 year old's face went pale white, it was kind of funny (only because I most certainly was not in danger of delivering on the ambulance). Apparently the correct answer would be that they would need to call for two more ambulances because they don't have the capacity to care for 3 humans out of one ambulance. Good to know. Well we arrived at Tufts and I was taken to a dark and scary L&D room where I was quickly settled and given 2 mL drip of magnesium sulfate (a strong muscle relaxer) to try and stop contractions. It was not working! I was contracting every 5 minutes and was at this point 5-6 cm dilates and 50% effaced with +1 presentation (head of baby A was right at my cervix)! Scary!!! My drip was upped to 2.5 (I could barely see straight) and prep was being done to deliver me. I was going to have these babies that night at the rate I was going. After an hour I actually began to contract less. It became less and less until finally I only felt slight tightening, sort of like the BH I was having that did not really call for concern. My labor was successfully stopped overnight, at 5-6 cm dilated. Amazing. This is where I am now...this far dilated, +3 station (Baby A's head is way back up into the uterus) and still about 50% effaced (thinned out). I was taken off of the magnesium drip last night at around 5pm. It really wont have much of an affect on stopping labor progression any more at this point and since it makes you feel horrible (heart palpitations, nasal drip, hot flashes, constipation  possible fluid in lungs, inability to eat or walk well, nausea) it makes no sense to continue being on the medicine. If I go into labor before 32 weeks again they will start it again only because apparently it has a positive effect on baby brain development when faced with pre term delivery. I was also given 2 steroid shots to help mature the lungs of the babies, which I am now past the 24 hour window of its fullest effect. This means that I have officially done all I can do to give my babies the best chance of a healthy start to life. I have met some wonderful nurses in my short stay here and have even heard two babies being born. Made me cry of course. I was moved to an ante-partum room where I am able to shower, move around freely and watch TV. I can't leave the L&D floor or walk around the halls because of how far dilated I am. I also will likely not be sent home if I don't have contractions because the chances of me lasting more than a week at the point I am in is very extremely rare. I am upset that my OB cannot deliver me. I am upset I can't deliver at Winchester Hospital. I am upset that the nurses and doctors I feel most comfortable with, the main reason we wanted to have another baby while stationed here at Hanscom, will in fact not be caring for me in these last few weeks of my pregnancy. This is just another plan from God. A test to see how resilient we are maybe? If we can handle pre-term twins in a setting that is unfamiliar and a little scary we can handle packing, moving to VA, potty training Adrianna, and settling into our new home with the twins in tow with no issues. Please, let this be the last test of our resilience, I don't know how much more we can handle and I don't want to find out. But maybe, hopefully a few weeks out but looks like sometime next week, I will be posting a welcome to the world entry for Victoria and Isabella! Scary, am I ready to be a mother again?