Wow...36 weeks!

By the grace of God we have made it to the point where my OB said I could start dancing again! Yeah right now that my feet are huge along with my ever growing belly! On Thursday I measured at 42 weeks, was 2 cm dilated, 90% effaced, and baby boy is pressed firmly in my cervix at -2 station. I get pretty regular contractions every evening for a few hours, but then they stop. I'm hoping at our appointment tomorrow (Monday) I will be even more dilated and he'll just send us over! I'm totally amazed and so grateful that we made it this far. I truly never imagined it would be a possibility. According to my doctor we should be able to bring the babies home with us! We started this baby journey in January 2007...3 years later we are days away from meeting our precious little miracles! Thank you everyone for your love, support, and prayers.

We made it to 34 weeks!!!!

Yesterday we saw our perinatologist, Dr. Azarat, for the LAST time! We officially graduated! The office couldn't believe we made it to our 34 week ultrasound. Baby boy is weighing 5 pounds 2 ounces and baby girl is weighing 4 pounds 5 ounces. He's going to be big like his daddy and she's going to be petite like her mommy. Even though she's a bit smaller, Dr. Azarat said she is perfectly fine. He loves making fun of how small I am. He was so proud of how far we made it as are we! His goal is for me to make it to 35 weeks.

We also saw our OB, Dr. Clayton, today who is equally as happy with everything. Per my request I am continuing Procardia, which is the contraction medication I've been taking. It seems to be working really well. So, if I make it to next Monday, I will continue on the same dosage and then he will ween me off starting Monday. I measure at 39 weeks. I now don't have to call him until my contractions are 7 minutes apart. His goal is for me to make it to 36 weeks, but he definitely won't let me go past that. So we will for sure have babies in less than 2 weeks! I will be absolutely shocked though if we make it that far, but who knows at this point!

Both doctors would prefer for me to continue bedrest because they want me to bring the babies home with us, but I was given permission to move a little more and to just listen to my body. So, I am doing a little bit more here and there around the house and going on an outing a day or a little walk...never thought I'd be so excited to walk into a store as I was to go to Michael's the other day!

So, I imagine our next update will be to share that the babies have arrived, but you never know...we could actually make it to the 36 week mark!

Keep us in your thoughts and prayers this next week!

We are HOME! All of my tests came back great the other day...my cervix length improved, amniotic fluid test came back negative, preterm labor test last week came back negative. My OB and perinatologist both felt that it wasn't necessary for me to continue bedrest at the hospital, so they sent me home to continue bedrest at home until Monday when I'm 34 weeks. Starting Monday I am officially off of bedrest and can increase activity slightly! I'll stop preterm labor medication in about 5 days and we will let nature take its course. Now my OB is hoping to get me to 35-36 weeks! He's very pleased with everything, so we are too!

Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers...next time I'm admitted it will be to deliver these little peanuts!

The picture is of Roxi taking care of me in my hospital room. Hoag allows doggies to visit their mommies in the hospital, so I got to see my little caretaker twice! She was so excited and jumped right on the bed with me!

32 Weeks...we made it!

I was admitted on Tuesday to Hoag Labor and Delivery following my cervix appointment. My cervix had gone down from 1.4 (last week) to .88. That number translates to about 80% effaced, but no dialation. After being admitted and hooked up to the contraction machine they found that I was actually having a lot of contractions, but most were mini conractions due to an irritable uterus (very common with twins) and then some were labor strength. I was given a shot to stop the contractions along with an oral medication which I take every 6 hours. Additionally, I recieved 2 steroid shots, 24 hours a part, to mature the babies' lungs. At 3 in the morning Wednesday I guess I was getting more contractions, so I had to have another shot, but since then things have quieted and my doctor is pleased. I had another extensive ultrasound on Wednesday and my cervix is still measuring the same as Tuesday, which is great. My perinatologist said it's just a matter of mechanics...the babies are getting big and can only go down. They are both head to head with their heads down totally in position on my cervix ready to meet everyone! The ultrasound will be repeated on Monday and unless my cervix grows from .88-2, I'm here to stay until delivery or April 12th when I am 34 weeks. We hit the medical milestone of 32 weeks, but 34+ is ideal because the babies would possibly go home with us or just be in the NICU for a few days. I had another preterm labor test done Wednesday (super painful, but the last one!) and it came out negative! What does that mean at this point...it's meaningful if I continue to do nothing, but if I start moving around, babies could come at any moment considering my 80% effacement.

So even though it stinks to be in the hospital now instead of at home, I am actually feeling much better since I am being watched so closely. My contractions are monitored 24 hours a day and the babies have a non-stress test for one hour stretches in the morning and evening. So far so good. We did have to repeat the 1 hour evening test on Tuesday for 3 hours, which stunk, but all is great! They are not in stress at all at this point, which gosh, they shouldn't be considering their mommy does nothing but rest all day!

The nurses at Hoag are amazing...they all speak English which is quite helpful and they are so kind! I am very lucky to be at such a good hospital.

So, I guess it's Easter at Hoag--so funny how quickly life changes because this time last year we were leaving for Puerto Vallarta and had just had our second in vitro. Stay tuned...I think we could have babies in the next 10 days or so!

I had the best surprise too on Friday...Roxi got to come visit me in my room! Hoag totally allows dogs to visit their mommies and hang out as long as you want. She jumped right on my bed with me!

31 Week Update!

Wow...we are less than a week from the medical goal for delivery and less than 3 weeks from the ultimate goal. Doctors won't stop labor if it happens at 34 weeks.If they are born at this time, they shouldn't be in the hospital longer than a week! I can't believe how close we are getting to meeting our little peanuts. We've waited so long for them. I had another negative preterm labor test, which has me covered for the next 2 weeks. My cervix is getting shorter, but the doctors aren't concerned because it's bound to happen since we are getting close and because of the negative preterm labor test. Please continue to keep us in your prayers!

30 Week Update Continued...

We had our appointment yesterday with our perionatologist, Dr. Azarat. It was the first appointment where finally we left feeling excited and not anxious! My cervix measured at 2.5, which we totally didn't expect. We thought it would for sure be less than 2. Baby boy is measuring at 3 pounds 10 ounces (a little porker!) and baby girl is measuring at 3 pounds 1 ounce. They are both right on track for growth and their hearts and brains look fantastic! I will only have 1 maybe 2 more cervical length measurments and then they don't care any more! We are getting so close to being off bed rest and in the total clear. Dr. Azarat told me yesterday that I am "a great incubator!" It's so nice to even see the doctors more relaxed. If I had to bet, I'd say we are going to have mid April babies. I was right about baby a being a boy and baby b being a girl, so we'll see!

30 Week Update

Wow! I can't believe we have made it to 30 weeks with minimal complications. Here's a little run down of what's going on. As delivery time gets closer, our doctor's appointments get much more technical. My cervix length has remained strong in the 2.2-2.5 range for the past several weeks now. If it got as short as 1.5 I was going to be hospitalized. I had a test done last week, called "fetal fibronectin," which tests for preterm labor. If the test comes out negative, you have a 0% chance of going into labor within the next 2 weeks. If it comes out positive, you have a 16%chance of going into labor within the next 2 weeks and have to get a steroid shot for the babies' lungs and brains. I was super nervous because if it came back positive, my bed rest would have gotten even stricter. I couldn't imagine having to be more down than I already have been for the last 6 weeks! Thank God it came back negative, so my modified bed rest is still in effect, but nothing stricter was put into place and I now have peace of mind for a little while. I am also negative for Step B, 0 centimeters dialated, and at -3, which are all really good things!

I will have one more fetal fibronectin test next week. I don't think we'll need the steroid shot since they only give it up to 32 weeks. The test I had last week pretty much has me covered through 32 weeks. In regards to my cervix, we are now worried about anything less than 1, rather than 2, which is great. I will be completely off of bed rest at 34 weeks as they don't stop labor with twins at that point. He said I can start dancing again at 36 weeks (yeah right!). We also discussed vaginal birth versus c-section. I have been preparing myself for a c-section, but my doctor said that if both babies' heads are down (which they have been for the last few weeks) we are going to do a vaginal birth. It will be a game time decision, though. I just told him that I definitely don't want 2 recoveries.

My doctor told me today that he is really pleased with everything. I am amazed that my little 5'2 body is doing as well as it is. We have an anatomy ultrasound on Wednesday, which is fun because we get to see how big the babies are! Thanks for all of your prayers...keep them coming!