Week 25

After all of the excitement from last week, I wanted to give a mini-update just so everyone would know that things are just about back to normal around here.

Thursday evening I started having contractions again. At my request they hooked up the IV again to be sure I was getting enough fluids. They also reattached me to not only the contraction monitor but also both baby ones for the night. For the record, this isn't a comfortable way to sleep. They also gave me a relaxer/sleep medication. I pretty much looked like roadkill (mouth open, tongue hanging out) until about 5am when it wore off. hehe

By Friday morning the contractions had nearly stopped so they let me go home. J and I got some lunch on the way and I took a few hour nap once I said hello to the kitties. The at-home monitor and the nurse to show us how to use it arrived later in the evening.

Basically twice a day for an hour I strap myself to this little box. It records whatever it is that's going on, then we transmit it to the monitoring company. Within about 15-20min of getting my data, they give us a call with the results. If I have 5 contractions or more they will ask me to retest. If the second test is also at or over 5 contractions, they will call my doctor. I also have to measure my bloodpressure and pulse once a day.

Friday night they called to report "a lot" of contractions, apparently to the point that they stopped counting. I was instructed to drink as much water as I could for 20 min then retest. I barely passed with a 4 the second time. Saturday went much the same way with one retest after a 7. It seemed like if I chugged enough water before the test I could score a 4 and squeak by.

Barely beating the monitor during 2 random hours during the day doesn't seem like a good system to ensure healthy babies long-term, though. So when they called with my results Sunday morning (another 4 after downing about 1.5 liters of water), I asked them how much I should be drinking ALL of the time. She recommended 10oz every hour from when I get up until I go to bed. If I take a nap during the day, I needed to make-up the amount I missed.

So I started drinking that much Sunday afternoon. Sunday night's reading was a 3. Monday was two 1's. This morning I had a 0. I was so excited I called J at work with the news. This doesn't mean that I won't end up with contractions again, but at least now we feel like there's something we can do about them.

I had a normal check-up with the MFS on Monday. Both babies have been kicking me a ton since I got home and you could see their feet aiming for the ultrasound probe. There was one cute moment when they had their heads together, probably planning their next assult on my ribs. Their bubbles looked really good and for the first time the membrane between them was moving with the babies, instead of pulled taunt around Baby A's area. Bladders and stomaches were all full and looking good.

My cervix hasn't changed since before the fluid reduction. It's not as long as it used to be, but it's hanging in there. Next week the boys will get their growth measured again. Those are my favorite appointments.

It's taken me a few days to either get over whatever meds I had at the hospital or adjust to the higher dosage of procardia they have me on. One of the side effects of the procarida is lower blood pressure. Unfortunately this means my pulse has to increase to make up for it, and that makes me feel kind of out of it. Today is the first day that I've began to feel normal and able to concentrate on more than the tv.

I felt kind of down over the weekend with the high contraction numbers but now I'm feeling pretty opimistic again. We still have a long way to go before these babies are done cooking and I'm hopeful we can make it.