Grandma is Here! (and Dr appt. update)

My mom has arrived!  Yay!  It's nice to have her here to help out.  We don't want any one person to get burned out so we have to keep rotating :)  However, Grandmas can't possibly get burned out by assisting their children and spending time with their grandchildren, right?  It's not possible!  I have to tell myself that because we may need her for the long haul!

Chloë was very excited to see Grandma.  It has been 2 months since she was last here and now Chloë is speaking much more and can actually say "Gramma" instead of her previous "Manna".

As for the doctor appointment- it went OK.  The babies heart beats both look great and they still have plenty of fluid.  Unfortunately, the cervix measurement came out shorter than the last measurement.  It was 1.7cm at rest and went down to 1.3 if I lift/strain/walk.  Myke and I were of course hoping it was going to stay above 2cm and remain stabilized.  Dr. Schrimmer said this doesn't necessarily mean that it will continuously go down each week, but we need to keep a very close eye on it.  His cut-off for being put on hospital bed rest is 1cm.  Between 1-2cm is my choice...if I feel like I'd be better off in the hospital and behave myself more I could be admitted....but of course I'd rather try to stay home while I can.  I guess I'm lucky because many doctors put patients in the hospital if you go under 2cm.   I asked and he said he will base that on the "resting" measurement, so that's at least a little helpful.  So I still have .7cm to work with. 

So, for now I need to continue to stay on strict bed rest but be even more strict with my movements, trips downstairs, etc.   No more sitting up.  My next "goal" is to get to 28 weeks (that's 2 weeks and 2 days away!) and then the survival rate for the babies is much higher.  Dr. Schrimmer said if they were born this week their chances of having lifelong neurological problems is about 40%.  I would rather not be changing their diapers for the next 60 years.  2-3 years is plenty.  

I also asked him how long I can expect to be on bed rest and he said at least until 32 weeks if I can keep them in that long.  Apparently, 32 weeks is a magic number for preemies.  If they can get to that gestational age, they will still most likely spend 1-2 months in the NICU and will have some challenges, but they will most likely catch up with their peers later on and be able to live "normal" lives down the road.  

I'll be 32 weeks on April 3rd.  I can't really think about being on bed rest for that long at this point so I'm choosing to focus on 28 weeks right now.  I can do two more weeks of this.  Keeping positive!