In the Hospital Until They Come Out...

Yes, you read correctly. I am in the hospital now until the God decides that it is time for the boys to be born. I'll explain why in the recap of yesterday below...

It was a very, VERY long day yesterday. (It still really hasn't ended for me, cause I can't sleep in this bed.) I came to the hospital for my nurse/office visit at 3:00 pm. Everything looked great there. My blood pressure was 116/74, not protein or glucose in my urine, my weight gain was ok (only 2 lbs) and everything else looked just fine. We chatted with the nurse just like we would be going home at the end of the day.

At 4:00 pm we stepped inside the ultrasound room. They did growth checks on all the babies and here is what they found. In the 1-day-short-of 2 weeks, Baby A went from 1lb 5oz to 1lb 10oz. Baby B went from 1lb 7oz to 1lb 14oz. Baby C went from 14oz to 1lb (or 16oz).

Baby C finally showed us his heart and it looked really good. He also waved at us a couple of times as we first started looking at him. However, when they went to measure the (I think) diastolic pressure in his umbilical cord, it was absent. (I think I am getting these terms right. It was a lot of medical jargon that I am not used to.) Basically, in layman's terms, he is having trouble pumping blood out and to the placenta. It is resisting him for some reason. This is the reason he is small.

"What can be done about this?" you may ask. Well, not really anything to cure it. They admitted me to the hospital to regulate how much I am on my feet and so they can monitor the babies 3 times a day.

Basically, Baby C is going to have this issue from now on. Dr. P wants us to try and eek out another 4 weeks that he can grow. Then when C decides that he needs to come out, all 3 of them will have to come out. Dr. P said it's not if Baby C gets sick, its WHEN Baby C gets sick (or stops growing) that they will bring them out. (We just hope it is at least 4 weeks from now and not any sooner.)

The other issue that we have is since the placenta is acting up, it is also putting bad stuff into my body. Putting me at a much greater risk for Pre-eclampsia (click on the word for information). Since I also have a history of this in my family, that puts me at a greater risk also. So, they want to closely monitor me for this.

Dr. P ordered that I go swimming 2 times a day, at 10am and 3pm (the hospital has a pool!). I told him that was great!! (That's way more than I would be able to go on my own.) He said that the swimming will help push some of the nasty stuff that we are all getting out and keep the swelling down a lot. Hopefully this works (as it seems to be working well with me just at home, so 2 times a day here should work wonders.)

So, I was allowed to go home and gather my stuff and go out to eat one last time with James before I had to check in. We went to Olive Garden and stuffed ourselves. It was hard to leave Jet at home, because I know he is going to miss me like crazy since I have basically been home with him every day.

I checked in at 8:00 pm and we did a mountain of paperwork. We monitored the boys for the first time (an hour each time we do it) and they all looked good. Though they did say that you could see that C was having a more difficult time than his brothers. I then got swabbed for Strep B, got a steroid shot (which will help the babies develop faster), and had my blood drawn for a couple of lab tests.

The nurse finally left me to go to sleep at 11:30pm. I was sooooo exhausted, or so I thought. I tried to get comfortable on this bed, but it has this weird airbed feature that inflates and deflates every-single-time I move. It got very annoying and the nurse didn't show me how to turn it off. So, I have been up quite a bit and now it is 6:00 am Thursday and I have probably only gotten 2-3 hours of sleep. I guess I will have to nap quite a bit today.

So, long post, I know, but I thought some splainin' was needed. I am at Presbyterian/St. Luke's hospital and I am allowed visitors. However, no one under 18 is allowed due to the threat of H1N1 still. If you want to come visit, just give either James or I a call on our cell phones and let one of us know. (James will be working still, but he will call me if anyone calls him.)

We appreciate all the thoughts and prayers. God can do great things and we just pray that C continues to grow for a while longer.