I'm finally back to update my blog, starting with a picture at 26 weeks. It's been an interesting month since I last posted. It's included three trips to Labour & Delivery for pre-term contractions and cramping, one overnight. The first two were 48 hours apart at 22-23 weeks and the last one was last week at 27 weeks. I was at my scheduled peri appointment last week and told them that I'd been very uncomfortable with cramping and tightness. They put me on the monitor to check for contractions and found that I was contracting every six to eight minutes! My cervix had also shortened from 4cm to 3.2cm - but still closed, which was good news. Once in L&D, I was given IV fluids and two shots of terbutaline to stop the contractions. The terb did its job and I was released to full bedrest at home after about 5 hours. This morning I went back for a cervical check and the bedrest worked to the point where my cervix is back to 4cm. However, the monitor still showed alot of contractions very close together. My new instructions are to be on "limited activity" - no leaving the house, no more than two trips up and down the stairs, as much rest and lying down as possible and to take a terb tablet whenever I feel alot of contractions. I'm three days off the 28 week milestone and at least I feel more confident than I did when this happened at 23 weeks, before viability. It's still very scary, though. I know that this is it until I give birth; the only trips out of the house now will be those to my OB or peri appointments.
The really great news is that the babies are doing wonderfully. They weighed in at 2lbs9oz and 2lbs8oz last week, ahead of the 2lb average expected at 27 weeks. We're delighted with that news - both the fact that they already weigh so much and that they weigh the same as eachother. They're moving really nicely as well. Sometimes they wake up at the same time and my tummy looks like a bag of popcorn popping with visible kicks all over the place. Other times they wake up one at a time. I need to work on getting them on the same sleep schedule......
We've also had our baby shower since I last posted. We were overwhelmed by the generosity of our friends and family. My Australian half-sister, whom I'd learned about last year and had never met before, came over from London for it. It was wonderful to meet her and to get on so well with her - no awkwardness at all. It was unfortunate that we had to leave her home alone for hours on end almost as soon as she got here, since it was the day of my overnight hospital stay. My mother also came over from the UK and stayed for ten days. We weren't able to do much at all since I was on instructions to rest, but it was great to see her. She will be back to help us out for a few weeks once the babies are here. J the Elder's parents and one of his sisters made the drive up from Florida for the shower, too. My SIL and BIL put on a fabulous party - many Martinis were consumed by all, other than myself. I'll make up for it in a few months' time!
I've more or less sorted out my work situation as well. Unfortunately, after working for big corporations for more than 15 years, I'm currently classed as an independant consultant (long story) and am therefore royally out of luck on any maternity benefits. Just poor timing. I was hoping to become a full-time employee of the company that has taken over my former company earlier this year, but circumstances haven't gone my way on that one. I've discussed with them taking six months leave of absence (unpaid) when the babies are born. The company has agreed to it and has given me a written notice of its intent to hire me full-time once that time is up. This really is a win-win, since I wanted this time off and they will have a better idea of where the company is going by then. My job will continue to involve a fair amount of travel, which isn't ideal but we think we'll manage it. For the US trips, I can often go and come back in one day - long days, but at least I'll come home overnight. There'll be some international trips as well - luckily J the Elder works 2 miles from our house and barely ever travels in his job, so we think we'll be able to juggle it. We've started looking into daycare vs a nanny to come to our house daily and are leaning towards the latter. I'd prefer not to have to go back to work when they're six months old, but then again we'd like to be able to take our children over to Europe to see family and friends as often as possible and that second salary will really help with that. I do also enjoy my job. For now, I'm working from home and will start my leave of absence on Nov 15th.
My next doctors' appointments are next week and in the meantime I will rest as much as possible, working from my bed and making sure I don't get stressed about anything. It feels good that the hospital is only 4 miles away.....
