Week 31

We had our MFS appointment today and it was one of the better ones. We may have solved the mystery of why the babies seem to get the hiccups so much. They are practicing breathing now. It was really cute watching their little bellies go in and out. I bet their sensitive diaphragms are getting triggered from that.

Baby A was all about the breathing and squirming, but initially Baby B seemed to be asleep. The ultrasound tech spent about 15 minutes trying to wake him up. It was funny because everything she did just made Baby A squirm around more. The breakthrough was when I turned on my side so Baby A was on top of Baby B. Apparently that was the last straw and he finally woke up. A few seconds later he showed us his breathing skills.

Our normal MFS doctor had the day off but his fill-in seemed really good. I asked him a number of questions. The long and short of it is that from here on out they're going to monitor the babies twice a week. They're looking for the babies to be moving, kicking, and practice breathing. These are indicators that the placenta is working properly and they're still getting the nutrients they need. If a check-up shows lethargic babies that don't get spunky after some prodding, it'll be time to get them born.

The immediate milestone is getting to 32 weeks. At that point they shouldn't need a level III NICU if they're born. We can have them at St. Francis. After that our goal is 34 weeks, when the doctors will most likely stop trying to stop the contractions if I start having a lot of them. Week 36 is when they'll be done cooking. If we make it to 37 weeks, I'll probably be scheduled to have them. So the light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter.