29 Weeks and Growing

Tomorrow marks 29 weeks!  We now have a 90-95% survival rate and our goal is to now keep them in longer to decrease the time they will have to spend in the NICU.    The doctor on call over the weekend told us if we make it to 34 weeks there is a 50/50 chance that they will be able to go home with us!  Our doctor is now telling us that he may let them stay in until 35 or 36 weeks now depending on how they are doing...I'm really ok with 34 weeks...REALLY!

I think it may have hit Jason and I over the past week that we will be bringing additional family members home from this experience and apparently we haven't put much thought into how we will manage them...a potential problem!  Jason read a schedule for taking care of twins which leaves 35 minutes of "You Time" every 4 hours...he then told me that "maybe we should have rethought this..."  I think we are committed at this point!  Our poor children have no idea the ride they are in for with us!  Heck, I don't think we have any idea of what kind of ride WE are in for.

The babies are doing well and definitely growing.  Most days I feel like a turtle stranded on it's back; and just the act of turning over in bed is enough to make me need a nap.  We had a sonogram yesterday that was all of about 30 seconds and again the doctor told us everything is "status quo".  I started having sporadic contractions last Saturday that are usually mild, but the severe ones have confirmed why I will not finish this pregnancy unmedicated!  I don't know how the human race managed to survive with out pain meds!  No one seems concerned about the contractions unless they are super painful and close together.  Apparently it's normal to have contractions at this point with multiples and it's not a predictor that labor will happen sooner rather than later...could have fooled me!

I got to meet my neighbor a few days ago, Lindsey.  The charge nurse came up to me in the hall and asked if I would mind visiting with her.  Her husband had met Jason a few days prior and she knew that I "walked around"...a coveted privilege on this floor.  She also told me that she could hear the babies heart beat when they are monitored and wanted to meet me.  It has been really nice to have someone to visit with a few times a week during the day.  She is basically in the same situation as I am, but has identical twin girls.  It has been very helpful to have someone to talk with who truly understands the situation I'm in.  I think the staff may regret introducing us since I have informed her of all of the things she can have here at the hospital that you just have to ask (sometime repeatedly) for.  She told me that she hated her bed, the same bed I had when I came in here and after 4 days of asking they still hadn't gotten her a new bed.  We found her a better bed down the hall and I asked the charge nurse if she would move it for her...4 hours later she had a new bed!  Then I informed her of the new and improved lunch menu they have given me...she now gets human food from the cafeteria for lunch too!  I figure I have fought most of my battles for comfort here so I might as well pass along what I've learned...it shouldn't be a difficult process, but trust me...it is!

All in all everything is going well and I seem to have maintained the majority of my sanity! 5 weeks down...5 weeks to go!