Milestone 4: Week 32 early preterm: odds of survival are very good with little NICU time
Sorry for the late post.. lately it's been getting difficult to do much of anything besides change positions on the recliner. I feel like all I'm doing these days is packing on pounds as my belly gets bigger and bigger..... and bigger. I keep reminding myself how BLESSED I am, as I struggle to dry my legs after getting out of the shower and hesitate to eat or drink anything because I know the heartburn will be 7th level of Hell torture. Oh pregnancy.. I love you!
Let's see.. so since I last blogged, we've had a couple more doctor's appointments. We had one on 8/3 with the only high risk doctor I hadn't met yet. He was really nice, but he threw us off because he said he wanted to do the c-section at 36 weeks! We have been planning for 37 the entire time, which is 9/20. His plan was to take them at 36, which is 9/13. We slightly panicked because this was earlier than anticipated, but he said the average delivery for twins is 35 weeks, and he felt like if I got the steroid shots to develop their lungs quicker, they would be fine. So, just as we started getting used to the new delivery date, we had another appointment. This one was with the head of the department, who we had met with several times. He said that since babies are doing well and I haven't had any issues with contractions or anything, that we would still plan to deliver at 37 weeks. He said that the babies at 37 weeks would be 99% ready for the outside world and most likely would not have any NICU time. His goal is for us to bring babies home with us when I am discharged, instead of having to leave one or both in the NICU. So, back to the 9/20 date. We were slightly disappointed because we are so ready to meet these babies (and I am soooooooo ready to be finished with this pregnancy), but I also want them to be as healthy as possible when they get here, so I'm ok with 37 weeks. But, we have weekly monitoring appointments from here on out to ensure they are growing and thriving with no complications. So, it's a waiting game at this point!
We've had some fun and not so fun things happening since I last blogged. First, we did the 4D ultrasound to get a better look at the babes and let me tell you, it was so much fun!! As expected, they were both head down and fighting for space. Londyn was super photogenic. When we first saw her, she was sound asleep with her mouth open, just like mama sleeps, ha!! She showed us some grins and stuck her tongue out a few times. Xander was being a lot more stubborn about his picture being taken (typical man). He would not move his hands from in front of his face! He constantly had his palm on his forehead like he had a headache. He had his fists by his face and at one point he even flipped us off (daddy's child). We are definitely going to have to put mittens on his hands when he gets here, or he will scratch his face to pieces!! We also found out that they both have heads full of lots of hair!! We got some stuffed animals with their heartbeats and lots of cute pictures of them. Seeing their sweet faces made us so much more excited to finally meet them and have them here!!
Another thing Will and I attempted to do this past week was some fun date stuff that we always do! Since we won't have any time to do anything once the twins are here, we figured we would do as much as we can now. We bought tickets to one of our favorite artists, Aaron Lewis, back in February. It was surreal, because I clearly remember Will buying them and him telling me the date of the concert, and me saying "holy cow Will!! I'll be 32 weeks pregnant!!" and immediately wondering if I would even still be pregnant, or if something would go wrong again. I was about 5 weeks pregnant and the time and can honestly say I couldn't picture myself being 32 weeks pregnant. It seemed impossible we would make it that far without disaster striking again. But alas, there we were!! 32 weeks pregnant, trying to be cute but looking like a tent, enjoying the concert. The babies were moving like crazy the entire time and I was just so happy and kept thinking "I can't believe this is finally here". So then the next day was the first Titans game!! It's hard to believe, but I was even more excited about this than the concert. Going to Titans games is our absolute favorite thing to do. So here I go getting ready for the game in my normal gameday attire: distressed jeans, Brian Orakpo jersey, converse shoes. Same thing, new season. Right?? WRONG. First I tried to put on the pre-pregnancy jeans... hahahahahahahahaha. hahahaha!! Then I tried my maternity shorts. NOPE.. also too small now. Yoga pants? Wrong. The waistband was digging into my waist, or what's left of my waist. So I settled on my maternity jeans that are a size that was insulting to me when I bought them 2 months ago. Ok, on to the orakpo jersey. Keep in mind that this jersey was big enough for me to fit a hoodie under last year and still have plenty of room. I tried to put it on and literally could not get it past my belly button. Ok that's being generous... I couldn't hardly get it past my neck. Ya'll... I cried. I had to settle on a blue maternity shirt. And tennis shoes?! With these swollen feet?! Didn't even attempt it. So I threw on my flip flops and headed out the door. It only gets worse from there. We get to our seats and it is BLAZING hot. It's only 90 but it feels like 120 to me. The game starts and we are doing our usual cheering and screaming and jumping up and down. Well, with about 5 minutes left in the 1st quarter, I start feeling hot. Like, super hot. My clothes are sticking to me, I can feel sweat pouring down my body. So I tell Will I need to get some water and we both go to the bathroom. I go in there and my pants are literally stuck to me. My face is beet red. I put some cold water on my face to try to cool down. Then I have the idea that if I just change into some shorts, I'll be cooler and be okay. So I tell Will and we head down to the Titans Locker Room store. Which is on the COMPLETE OPPOSITE SIDE OF THE STADIUM.. at least a 20 minute walk in the blazing heat. I did okay for about 10 minutes.. then my feet started feeling heavy, I felt like I couldn't take a deep breath, I felt like I was 105 degrees. We finally make it to the store and I can't even shop. I had to go to the corner and sit on the floor. At this point Will is starting to panic a little. I told him I couldn't make it back to our seats but I also didn't feel like I could make it to the car either. I was literally just STUCK in the corner with absolutely no air conditioning in the 100 degree heat, totally unable to cool myself down. I knew if I tried to walk for a long distance, I would pass out. So, Will and I walk to the EMT truck (we had already seen them cart 10 people out due to the heat) and asked if he could give us a ride to our truck. He said he couldn't because they were getting so many calls to get people out of the stadium. But he said Will could drive the truck to the gate and I was allowed to go to a the press box because it was the only place with AC. I couldn't even go to the first aid room because they were so busy with overheated people. So 20 minutes later Will pulls up and we go home and watch the rest of the game on TV.. talk about an EPIC FAIL!!! Needless to say, I am going to be even more posted up in the recliner in the AC than I was before. Hot Mess!!! Hey, at least the Titans won!
Alright, so now we are really just waiting for our little chickens to be ready to hatch! Their diaper bag is packed, our hospital bag is ready to go, carseats and stroller in the car. Every major thing is done.. luckily.. because apparently I can't do anything else without coming dangerously close to death. Pregnancy is hard ya'll. But I really am honored to be able to carry these babies for such a long time. I'll take being miserable over having them struggle in the NICU due to being born too early ANY. DAY. But at the same time... I really hope this month FLIES by!! We really only have one milestone left. Can you believe that it is a very real possibility that the next time I blog, it will be about the birth of Xander and Londyn. How freaking crazy is that?!?!!?!?!? Here are their pictures from the 4d ultrasound. Maybe the next blog will be their newborn pictures to compare?!!
Next Milestone: Milestone 5: Week 36 late preterm: twins are often born this week!!
Keep us in your prayers as we finish out this exciting chapter!
