Still Trucking

Yesterday, we were actually on the verge of discharge.  Not as a vague hypothetical, but scheduled in a few hours after the completion of the normal testing for the day.  Part of that normal testing was an NST (nonstress test) which Lefty has been looking good on for about three weeks and Righty overall for a week.  You guessed it, BOTH had late decels (3 or 4) and then they BOTH had a thirty-plus minute episode of tachycardia.  One of the decels was interesting because they did it at the same time, but from different baselines, so perhaps they are already working on their synchronized swimming?

This was bad enough to get our discharge yesterday cancelled, but not bad enough to deliver right then (yeah!).

This morning the on-call OB came and actually made a plan clear.  Part 1 of the plan is we will stay inpatient.  Had we actually been discharged, they were going to have me come into the office Monday through Friday and up to L&D on Saturdays and Sundays, but the theory is it's easier to stay here than to have to get sent back, so might as well stay in.  It also facilitates them delivering unscheduled.

That leads us to Part 2.  There is a scheduled c-section at 37&1 (July 19) and they would prefer that date, but apparently the tolerance for decels will drop with each passing day and they will play it by ear, but very well may decide to section them ahead of that date based on a strip.  She apparently was very close to delivering them yesterday and let them know that she would have if they had been 34 weeks (they were 33&5), so the girls are definitely on notice.

My OB is back on Monday, July 2.  I think that's all the dates.

They had a growth scan today which also confirmed that my sensations are correct and instead of breech/breech, they are transverse/transverse.  So Lefty is now more bottomy and Righty is now more toppy, but I'm sticking with Lefty and Righty.  Lefty continues to be more petite than her sister, weighing in at 2077 grams (4lb, 9oz) while Righty is a hefty 2420 grams (5lb, 5oz).  These are obviously ultrasound weights and have a large range of error, but it is safe to draw from these that they are good-sized! 4497 grams total!

While 34 is obviously great and awesome, more is better and I'm starting to get greedy and want more and more gestational time.  I was playing with a prematurity risk calculator on perinatology.com and getting from 34 to 37 decreases the risk of respiratory distress syndrome from almost 20% to 3.5%!  And the risk of NEC drops from 1.57% to 0% and the sepsis risk from 4.69% to 0%.  The risk of grade III and IV IVHs already drops to 0% at 34 weeks, so I really feel comfortable and happy with any gestational age from here forward, but would LOVE them to make the July 19 date.

However, these girls will likely be leaving the hospital in diapers and the long-sleeve hospital white shirts if they do make it that long because the clothes are all organized and sorted in the garage rather than in the house or packed to bring to them or anything ;-).

Last thought is that it is really quite odd that I'm here on some level.  I feel great and am really symptomless.  If they'd let me, I'm still completely capable of walking, maneuvering and generally am still very mobile, flexible and all of that.  I sleep fine, I'm not in pain, I'm not grumpy, I'm not swollen.  I've got friends who are more like 20 weeks with singletons who seem much more uncomfortable and are having to waddle and dealing with pain and sleep issues and all that.  So, excepting the whole being stuck in the hospital, I'm in great shape!  We will see how well I handle going from two to three months of total bedrest to keeping up with four kids with an abdominal incision healing though...