Just when things were starting to look good and I was starting to left my guard down and be able to breathe easier during this pregnancy, I end up in the hospital on a regimen of drugs to prevent pre-term labor! I'll try to make the update as brief as possible. This past Thursday I had some very slight cramping and the feeling of pressure so I took the day pretty easy and Chloë and I stayed at home relaxing in the family room so I could keep my feet up. I wasn't too concerned about it, figuring it was just a "growing pain" of a twin pregnancy. Finally, Myke convinced me to to just call my OB/GYN office and let the nurse on call know the situation so she could reassure us that it was normal. To my surprise, she said that this is something never to be ignored and that I would need to head over to my hospital to the Labor & Delivery ward to be checked out. That was the last thing I expected to hear! Chloë was napping at the time and luckily our good friend Heather was just about 30 minutes away on her drive down to visit us from L.A. When she arrived Myke and I headed to the hospital, expecting this to be pretty much a waste of time where we sit in a tiny room for a few hours why they run a variety tests. Well, the tiny room and a variety of tests part was definitely true--but it was a good thing we went in! They did an ultrasound to measure the cervical length (for those who don't know, during pregnancy the baby/babies live in a sac of amniotic fluid that is attached to the wall of the uterus. The cervix is what keeps the baby in the uterus--it is more or less the door to their room/womb. The hope is that this "door" remains long and shut for 37-40 weeks). To my surprise, my cervix (door) had shortened significantly since my ultrasound just a week ago. It had gone down to only a bit over 2.0 cm from 3.7cm a week ago (4cm is a perfect door...and they like it to be over 3cm at least). This low number concerned the staff enough to tell me that I was going to be admitted to the hospital for a couple days for observation and monitoring. I was also given a series of steroid shots for the purpose of helping the babies' lungs to develop really quickly in case they delivered in the next few days or week. That's when reality set in--I was having signs of possible preterm labor: A shortened cervix AND a couple contractions on the monitor. Yikes! I was hooked up to an IV of fluids, had 3 monitors strapped to my belly - one to monitor the heart rate of each baby and one to monitor contractions and was given another pill called Endocin to "relax" the uterus and stop any irritation it may be having.
Over the next couple hours they had a slew of nurses and doctors come in to talk to us about the situation, one being a NICU pediatrician who came in to discuss what life may be like for babies born at such a young gestational age. That was definitely scary to hear. I'm nearly 24 weeks and the babies are weighing 1lb 5oz and 1lb 3oz as of last week. So they are both over the 500g weight that is the bottom cut off for the size of baby that doctors would attempt to resuscitate after birth. We had to tell them how much resuscitation that we would prefer should they be born in the next week. Our hospital has a Level 3 NICU which is the highest around so they are prepared to deal with even the teeniest of babies. In fact, the dr mentioned that they had a baby girl in their right now who was born at 500g (smaller than the smaller of my 2 babies!). I can't imagine!
So, the Endocin seemed to relax things. I have to take a pill every 6 hours for a block of 72 hours and then they will re-check my cervical length (this will be Sunday evening). Apparently, a cervix is like an accordion and CAN get longer again. When they check it they are hoping it as at least stabilized, if not longer. In that case, I should be able to go home. If it has gotten any shorter however, I will have to stay here in the hospital for at least awhile. Either way, it is sounding like I will be on some form of bed rest (probably strict) for the remainder of this pregnancy...but maybe only for another few weeks--everyone here tells me something different.
My DR was JUST telling me at my last appointment (in late January) that I could slowly start adding some activity back into my life. I was cleared for prenatal yoga (which I have done one class so far and it was fabulous!), I have been walking a bit more, and just overall just resuming some level normalcy in my life. Maybe that was what caused the issue, we will never know. Due to the subchorionic hemorrhage and bleeding in the first trimester AND the fact that this is a twin pregnancy, I am automatically at higher-risk for PTL (pre-term labor). I guess you can never be too careful.
My job right now is to keep these babies in as long as possible. If they are born in the next week they have a 50/50 chance of survival. If the can stay in 2 more weeks their chances go up to 75%! If they can stay in until 28 weeks they have a 95% chance! So each week is sooo crucial. I'm doing everything in my power- which includes drinking A LOT of water and just laying here. Luckily, I have an awesome hubby who brought me bags of stuff from home to make life more comfortable and to keep me entertained. So far I haven't had a lot of time to relax, as nurses and doctors keep coming in and out every hour (checking vitals, strapping belly monitors on, cleaning my room, bringing food, etc). I even got a visit from a social worker to make sure I wasn't depressed and to give me resources in case I do have to stay here on bed rest. I can sign up for a visit from a therapy dog or even get a pedicure right here in my bed!
Overall, I'm feeling very positive and hopeful. I've been here over 24 hours and everything is looking great. The best news is that I got a negative result for the most crucial test they take to determine if labor is going to happen in the next couple weeks- I can't exactly remember the name of it but the negative result means that there is a 90-95% chance that I WILL NOT go into labor within the next 2 weeks. VERY reassuring!! Also, I have no further signs of labor/contrations, the babies look great, and I'm well-hydrated. The nurse and doctor who visited me early this morning were both very positive. They reminded me that UCSD is a conservative hospital so they do a lot of precautionary measures. Better safe than sorry. They both felt that I should be able to go home tomorrow. I just have to wait a bit longer to get my cervix checked again and if that looks good, I'm outta here! Woo!
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