Changes

Wow, not even one week since my last post and SO much has changed! On Saturday I started having more contractions, they got worse Sunday and Monday I was still having them when I went to my appointment with the perinatologist(a specialist for high risk women). He measured my cervix and found it had shrunk from 3.2 cm to 1.6. Yikes. Basically 3-4 cm is good, 2.5-3 is short but still considered okay, and anything under that is immedite bedrest. I originally got placed on bedrest because mine was at 2.5, but the bedrest and anti-contraction medication brought it up to 3.2, so they kept me on it since it was working so well. Well, it was a scary thing to see it shrunk down so far in one week. I couldn't stop shaking as the ultrasound tech checked the baby's size, weight, and organ function to make sure he was okay. He weighed in at an estimated 1 lb 13 oz, not exactly the size I want my newborn to be, but most of his measurements are a week ahead so that's good that he's a big boy. The doctor said he wanted to admit me to the hospital and try a new anti-contraction medicine on me, but I'd have to stay a few days to make sure it worked. Since my mom has been staying in town helping us, she dropped the boys off at my cousin Cori's house and took me to the hospital. As I got there, I started having lower back pain, cramping, and pressure, so obviously I was getting pretty freaked out. When the nurse in labor and delivery hooked me up to the monitor I was having contractions every 2-4 minutes, definitely not helping the situation. She quickly gave me the new medicine, but after an hour it wasn't helping so she gave me a shot of it to make it work faster. Finally they started getting less painful and farther apart. The new medicine seemed to work fairly well for the rest of the day and into the next, but by Tuesday evening I was starting to have more contractions and uterine irritability. By the next day they were almost constant and getting stronger. My ob came in today(wednesday) and checked me and luckily my cervix isn't dilated, but it is very soft and has moved to an anterior position, which precedes labor. A few hours later the perinatologist came to do an ultrasound. Before he did, he talked to us about how the medicines are obviously not stopping the contractions, which by this point were about every 7 minutes. He said they are no longer trying to stop them since there doesn't seem to be a way to, but they're just trying to reduce the number of them. Eventually my body will override all the medicine they throw at it and it will just go into full-blown labor, they're just trying to delay that as long as possible. At this point, his survival rate is high, but his risk of having long term brain damage like cerebral palsy is 30%. At 28 weeks, it drops to 3% so that's our goal right now. The good news is he did an ultrasound and found that my cervix had actually lengthened to 2.6 cm, which is absolutely incredible!(thanks to all those wondrous prayers from everyone!) He said the hospital bedrest and medicine is helping it, so they're keeping me in here until 28 weeks to give the babe a better shot. After that they'll evaluate how I'm doing and see if I can go home or if they'll keep me longer. So good news and bad news, but I feel really good about everything now, just hoping to squeeze in a couple more weeks! I feel really blessed already, since I've been able to hold off the contractions since 22 weeks. Also the doctor said that if he had sent me home Monday instead of sending me to the hospital, I could have very well had the baby that day since things were headed that direction fast. Every day counts now so we're so grateful to have even made it this far! Now hoping for a little bit longer!My family came down for Thanksgiving weekend, so they've been entertaining the boys and at the end of the week they'll take them home with them. Jonathan will have finals for 2 more weeks and will be done the day I hit 28 weeks, so we'll be able to bring the boys back down and hopefully I'll be doing well enough I can come home then, too! Ugh I am going to miss those boys soooooo much! I'm so depressed thinking about it! But it will be tons of fun for them and much less stressful on Jonathan trying to study for finals. And less stressful for me, which is always good when we're trying not to induce contractions. So that's where things stand right now, I'll try and update more as there are new developments. Our hopes are high and we're thinking as positively as possible and trying to set little goals along the way so we don't think about the fact that he's not even due till March 1st, over 3 months away! But if we make it to Dec 8, 28 weeks, I will be very very happy! I remember when all this started a month ago and at 23 wks when we got the positive ffn test, and the thought that he might be born too early to even have a shot at surviving was so hard to bear, so we're so happy to have made it this far where his survival chances are 80-90%! We're so grateful for everyone's kind words and deeds and help and prayers and just how thoughtful everyone has been! Thanks so much!