A little cervical drama

The reality of a high risk multiple pregnancy has definitely become very real in the last couple of days...

28 weeks

Yesterday I went in to see my OB for what the nurse thought was a UTI or some sort of viral illness. For two days I'd been barely functioning- extremely tired, nauseous, achy. Nothing that really screamed "GO TO THE DR NOW!" but after talking to the nurse, she wanted me to come in. I thought I'd leave my obligatory urine sample in the metal pass through box and be on my way. But the medical assistant talked me into waiting for some results, getting my weight and vitals done. After talking to the doctor, they decided to do a check of the babies' heartbeats and a cervical check.
It seemed a little unnecessary to me, but I went along with it. My BP looked great, no fever, good hydration status and the babies' were being all crazy with great heartbeats. But my cervix on the other hand, was not so well behaved. There were significant changes from the exam a week ago, and this kind of sent the staff into a bit of a frenzy! Unfortunately my regular OB is on vacation this week (how dare she while I'm this close to the end of my pregnancy?!) so I was left in the hands of a doctor that barely knows me, although I had no doubt that I was still in good hands.
Because there are two little people living inside me, I had to go to the hospital to be monitored because the clinic doesn't have a multiples monitor. Just being told that I had to go the hospital freaked me out and I cried the whole way over there. Plus they made me ride in a wheelchair so everyone was looking at the gigantic lady crying in the wheelchair the whole walk over there...
Once I arrived in the L&D triage area, they got me hooked up to the monitors and my mom arrived shortly after that. We started with the millions of questions and Dave arrived about half way through those. During the questions, the nurse had to keep her hand on my stomach to see if she could feel any contractions that the monitor may pick up. It was a little awkward having a stranger's hand on my stomach for 20 min., but the nurse was awesome and agreed to let me go to Mexico this weekend (I'm not really going- just dreaming) as long as she could come along with some other nurses to monitor me and the babies. I agreed.
Anyways, the babies looked great on the monitor and I only had one contraction the whole time and didn't even feel it. In the end, it was decided that because of the significant cervical changes that I would be given the first dose of betamethasone. It's a steroid that is used to help mature the babies' lungs in case of an early delivery. They also put me on bed rest until my appointment on Monday. Not exactly what I had hoped to hear, but it could be worse. I received my second and last dose of steroids today and spent some more time on the monitor.
They did a swab to test for the presence of FFN. If this is present then it is an indicator of early labor. It doesn't mean that you will for sure go into early labor but it does help the physicians make good treatment choices. Unfortunately something happened in the lab and they weren't able to use my sample. After speaking with the on-call doctor we decided that since I was going to be on bed rest anyways until my next appt., there was no need to repeat it until Monday.

So......

Here I sit.

I'm not really made for this sort of thing- I'm already restless! But if it gets us big fat healthy babies then I'll do it. Today, I am 29 weeks. The minimum goal we are hoping for is 32 weeks. That's only three more weeks. I'm demanding that the babies stay in until AT LEAST that. Dave has offered to buy me some duct tape if I think that would work- I'm considering it- after all, it works on everything!
WHEN we reach 32 weeks, we'll tack on another week to our end goal and continue to do this until at least 36 weeks.
I still have many things on my to-do list but I'm not really able to do most of them. It's kind of out of my hands now. And I think that accepting this part of a multiple pregnancy is the hardest part. I've done all that I can- eating well, resting when I need to, listening to my body, downing my handful of supplements every day. But in the end, my body is already thinking that it's almost full term. And that, I can't do anything about.
I have a lot of mommy guilt when it comes to Max. I don't want him to think I am a crappy Mommy who doesn't want to do everything with him that I used to. Because that's not true at all. I love getting him ready in the morning, carting his heavy body up the long staircase just because he wants "mommy carry" and walking him up to the park. I know it won't last forever but Max has finally started to get to the point the last couple weeks where he asks for us to do certain things with him or for him. And that is a HUGE deal for Max. I worry that if I'm not able to respond to his requests and reinforce that behavior, that he won't come to me for things.
Thankfully, we have awesome parents, grandparents and friends that are more than willing to help us through my "useless" stage. I also know that Slinky and Bo-Peep (the babies) have a big sister watching over them everyday. All along the way, Ellie has given us little signs that she's here and that she's protecting her little brother and sister. Yesterday, on my way home from the doctor, my mind was racing with all sorts of concerns. In order to keep from losing my mind, I turned up the radio. And there is was- "The Rhythm of Love." I haven't heard it in weeks, but she most have known I needed it. I did. And it did make me feel so much better.

For such a little tiny thing, a cervix can cause a whole lot of drama!

So please send up your prayers, send us good vibes, good thoughts, do your voodoo thing, or whatever you do. We need to keep these babies in for at least three more weeks and hopefully 7-9 more weeks!