35 Weeks Pregnancy with Twins

I made it, you guys!  I don't actually deliver until next week, but one of the big goals was to get to 35 weeks.  According to a friend who has been a NICU nurse for about 40 years, twin boys (particularly identical), do much better if they have hit that milestone.  36 weeks is even better (and 37 is best, but scheduling wise didn't end up being an option for me), so I am hopeful I will make it to this weekend when I am scheduled for a c-section.

If you watched my insta-stories last Saturday, you would have seen that I went to the hospital for observation.  Here is a little more on that, in case you missed it and for my own documentation purposes.

Adam and I had been sitting on the couch working, and I kept having contractions.  They didn't hurt, but they were tight and pretty obvious.  After half an hour or so, I started timing them, and they were close enough together that I was nervous enough to call my doctor's office.  It was 8:00PM or so, so it was just the doctor on call, whom I had never met.  She told me it might be a good idea to go in, because I am having twins, but if I wanted to, I could just go to bed, and see if they subsided.

Well, by the time I had brushed my teeth, they were 3-5 minutes apart (not painful, but definitely present), and I decided to go in.  So I put shoes on, kissed Adam goodbye and drove to the hospital.

They admitted me, got me on a fluid IV, and told me they would monitor me for an hour.  If the contractions subsided, they would send me home around midnight.  They monitored me, and about 15 minutes before my time limit was up, I started having big, regular contractions.

So then they had the resident doctor come in, and do an ultrasound for position of babies and stuff, and because they were both breech (and still are), he told me that they would have me sign the waiver for a c-section.

There I was, alone, sleeping family at home, hoping just to get monitored, being told I might have twins the next morning.  I was kind of freaking out.  Also, I hate IV's and really wanted them to take it out and send me home so I could go sleep (it was about midnight at this point, and I had been up since six or so that morning, so I was totally exhausted).

They gave me more fluids, some medication to stop the contractions and monitored me for the next two or so hours.  Finally, after what seemed like hours, the nurse came back in and told me that if I hadn't dilated further, and the contractions weren't hurting, that I could go home. I hadn't dilated from the contractions, so I was discharged.  Hooray!

When I arrived home, I immediately climbed into bed, and then about 3 minutes later, heard Fox crying.  Adam went into check on him, and he had thrown up all over his bed.  So at 3AM, we changed sheets, PJs and wiped him off.  Then about 30 minutes later, he threw up again, so we got to do it again.  Needless to say, we didn't get much sleep.  It was insane, and felt a little like an initiation into parenthood with three children...

I told my mom about my hospital visit, and she decided to come up here two weeks early to keep me off my feet, and help take care of Fox.  It has been so wonderful.

This past week was pretty uneventful, with a few good doctor's appointments, and a lot of couch sitting.   It has been so fun to have my mom around to talk with, and to take Fox on outings.  I had a few contractions over the weekend, but I am taking great measures to try not to go into labor.  Hopefully I can make it to the end of next week when I am schedule to deliver.

Also, if you are wondering why they are delivering me so early, the risk of still-birth goes up significantly once you hit 37 weeks with identical twins (because many identical twins share a placenta, and the placenta can only support two large babies for so long), so to minimize the risk, they gave me the 36-37 week window, and the way the schedule worked out for getting a c-section, they are doing it at the beginning of my 36th week of pregnancy.

Hopefully we can still avoid NICU time with this delivery date, and maybe Baby A will flip in the next week so I can avoid the c-section... Guess we will see!  Thanks for all your good wishes, thoughts and prayers this pregnancy!  They have been much appreciated!