Home for a Week!

Well, obviously I blog a lot less when I'm at home than when I'm in the hospital :)  My days seem a lot more full now, even though I still lay down all day, at least now I get to help take care of the boys a little (brushing teeth and hair, reading, etc. ya know, stuff I can do from the couch) and have people to talk to all day. Things are going pretty good. We had an awesome appointment with the perinatologist yesterday. We found out my cervix is still holding strong so that is awesome! It's still short, but it hasn't gotten shorter so that is great news! In fact the doctor came in and said, "I can't believe it. Linsi, you have a crazy cervix!" He doesn't know how it's still holding, but I know it has a lot to do with all the fasting and prayers everyone is giving this kid! The baby looks great too! He is 2 lbs 15 oz so by the time I hit 30 wks this Thursday he should be a little over 3 lbs! The weird thing is Cade was born at 30 wks 5 days and he was 3 lbs 11 oz so he was a big kid! They did an indepth ultrasound of him too and looked at everything and it looks great. In fact, we could even see his hair floating in the amniotic fluid! So maybe he'll be taking after Caden's luscious locks! His cheeks even looked a little chubby on the ultrasound, which I'm not surprised about because Cade already had chubby cheeks when he was barely 5 lbs. We also go in twice a week to monitor his heart rate and contractions and so far he's been doing great! The only part we're struggling with right now is the contractions. I generally have 3-5 an hour, but I don't have to go to the hospital unless I have more than 6 an hour. Last Saturday I was doing my home monitoring and had 8-10 an hour for 5 hours even while using both medicines so I had to go in, but by the time I got in they calmed to 4 an hour so I didn't have to stay. Today I had 7-9 an hour for a few hours so I was nervous they were going to have me go in again, but I finally got it calmed down with meds. The only problem is once I get the contractions under control I'm on so much medication that I feel jittery and shaky and my heart is racing and my blood pressure is low and I just feel weird, so that's not fun, but at least the contractions are down to 4 or so an hour.  The fact that it's happening more often makes me nervous about how long we can keep them under control, but hopefully for a few more weeks, or at least till after Sunday so I can be here for Christmas!
Also, I think I should explain something that will make this all make a lot more sense. I have a didelphic uterus, so basically, I am a freak. ;) Instead of one uterus, I have two, so they're both half the size of a normal one. So while normally it gets full about 40 weeks and starts to stretch and triggers labor to start, mine got full and started stretching a few months ago which is why I started having contractions at 22 weeks. So now, it's really stretched and has just been trying to get this baby out and we just keep pumping muscle relaxers into my body to calm it down. That's why I always contract and why there's nothing I can do to completely stop it. The fact that I have a short cervix adds another worry, but I also take hormones to relax that and they seem to be working well. I didn't know I had it till I was 17 weeks pregnant with this baby, but it sure explains why the others didn't stay in long enough. The only weird thing is that with this condition you're supposed to carry each baby longer because your uterus gets stretched out, but for some reason mine are coming earlier each time. The doctors have no idea why this is happening since it's supposed to be the opposite, but maybe after this baby comes out they'll find an answer in there! I always wonder if I could get pregnant in both sides at the same time, but they won't know till they take this baby out. My doctor suspects one side has an underdeveloped cervix, so if that's the case I wouldn't get pregnant in that side. I've read stories online though about women who have one in each side so it does happen! In fact my great-great-grandma had twins and one miscarried and the other stayed in, so we think she had it, too. This little boy has switched to breech and since there's not as much room in there they don't think he'll be flipping again, so a c-section is pretty likely. But during a c-section they'll be able to look everything over and see exactly what I've got, so that's a positive. Hopefully this all makes sense, I'm on a lot of medicine right now so it might sound really jumbled :) 
Besides contractions everything else is going good! Christmas is a few days away, we have AMAZING friends here who have dropped by to visit, brought dinner, and had the boys over to play so Jonathan could work on a paper that's due next week, so things have been going pretty smooth. We're so lucky and especially grateful for all the new faces we've been able to meet. So many people have brought by meals and treats that we've been able to meet new people and see a lot of our friends that we don't see much. And best of all I've almost made it to my goal of 30 wks! Next goal: 32 wks!!! Thank you again for all the prayers!!