Day by Day

Well, I have been at home for a full week now and things are going well overall. They adjusted my medicine yesterday to a slow release form. I am still taking the same dosage, just twice a day instead of 6 times a day. It is great not to have to get up in the middle of the night to take the meds.

Overall, things have gone will with the home monitoring. I have had 3 or 4 times where my contractions have been too high and I have had to monitor again. I had one time with 11 and one time with 8 in the hour. Other times I have had only one. I am able to feel the bigger ones-but still can't tell how the hour has gone until the nurse calls with the report.

My mother made it in from Massachusetts and will be here until Monday. She has made and frozen meals and reorganized my kitchen for me-life is good!

The babies are moving more and more and I really think we have a future martial artist or soccer player in there!

I will continue to go to be checked each week to make sure the meds they have me on are not decreasing the fluid around the babies.

Writing from the Couch

Well, I am writing this post from my living room! I was discharged this afternoon and set up on home monitoring. I take procardia every four hours. I hook myself up to the monitor for an hour once a day. If at any time I think something may be wrong, I call them and hook myself up. My readings are monitored by a team of nurses who will call my doctors if they see a problem. I just completed my first reading, and everything looked really good. I only had one official contraction in the hour that I was hooked up and my uterine irritability was considered mild. Tomorrow I will be 24 weeks!

Definite Progress

Although I had to have another shot early in the morning, the doctor came in today and decided to see how I do off the monitor. She really feels that many of the contractions are due to having three little people in there and are not a huge risk. So, we decided to put me on the monitor twice a day which is what will happen when I go home.

They put me on the monitor this evening and I was having 4-5 contractions an hour with some irritability. The nurse checked with the Dr. and they said they were okay with that number. So, we will see what the Dr. says in the morning. I may be on my way home soon!

Adding More Meds

Everyday is unpredictable. Last night things had slowed down to 1 contraction per hour. I was hopeful we had knocked them out. Then, this morning at around 6:30 they had to give me an injection of terbutaline and then give me another one 20 minutes later. The doctors are trying to decide how aggressive to be since the contractions don't seem to be changing my cervix. And, chances are I will need a more aggressive treatment later on in pregnancy. They have decided to add Motrin every six hours to the procardia I am taking every four hours. As I type this I am back up to about every 3 minutes and am not feeling them. So, it is a waiting game to see what happens. I have set a goal to be able to go home by next Thursday. My mother is coming to visit for a long weekend and I really want to be at home. This morning the Dr. said that was a realistic goal. So, I am just hanging out another day!

Good News at the Ultrasound

I went for my ultrasound and everything looked good. My cervix has actually closed up some and is a little longer than it was before my cerclage. So, that means the contractions haven't had a negative impact. That was great news! They also checked the growth of the babies. I am presently 23weeks and 3 days. Matthew (baby A) is measuring 23 weeks 2 days and weighs 1lb 5oz. Andrew (baby B) is measuring 23 weeks 3 days and also weighs 1lb 15 oz. And Anna Kate (baby C) is the peanut coming in a 23 weeks even and 1lb 4oz. None of the kids were photogenic today, so I don't have any new photos to post. If all goes well, they don't need to see me back for another three weeks. They will check the growth again at that time. Maybe we'll gt some new photos then!

The contractions are better, but I still can't feel them. They aren't sure what they will do yet. One of the Drs. I saw today after my ultrasound said that she was going to be working in the hospital on Thursday and would see me then. So, I may be in here a little while longer! But, we are taking it one day at a time.

For all of you who have asked about Brent, he is also doing well. He has been staying at the hospital with me each night and promises that he is able sleep fine on the fold out chair/bed. He seems to be sleeping well, but I doubt he would admit otherwise.

Thanks to all who have called and stopped by! It is an encouragement to know we have so many friends and family praying for us and the kids! We are confident that the Lord has a perfect plan in all of this and are trusting His timing providence!

Still here

Well, today begins day four of my hospital stay. The internet connection at the hospital is sporadic, which is why I haven't posted before now. I am waiting for the Dr. to come around this morning.

When I got here they put me on Magnesium which stopped the contractions. After 24 hours they took me off an put me on oral meds. They weren't really happy with how I did during the night on Sunday, so the Dr. decided to keep me here on Monday and see what happened when the oral meds got into my system. Around noon, they gave me an injection of Terbutaline because the contractions had gotten back up to every 4 or 5 minutes. That shot almost stopped them. The nurse said they would give me another one if I got more than 6 contractions in an hour. At 4:00 am they gave me another shot. The meds in the shot are the same as what is in the pump they may have to put me on.

Although being in the hospital is never fun, I am thankful that I am not feeling the contractions and that I am able to get up to use the bathroom and move around a litttle. They have taken out my IV, so I am only hooked up to a contraction monitor. Really, it is not that bad!

The Dr. just came by and decided to try and increase my oral medication before putting me on the pump. So, they are increasing it to every 4 hours instead of every 6. Hopefully that will keep me stable. If not, they will either up the dosage or put me on the pump. I am hoping to avoid the pump as long as I can, since my body will eventually get used to it an the only option after that is back in the hospital with an IV for Magnesium.


So, it looks like I will be here at least another day. I have an ultrasound scheduled this afternoon at 3:30. So, if the internet is working-I may be able to post again this evening.

Contraction Action

Well, I have ended up back in the hospital with contractions. I had been feeling something on and off for a few days-but wasn't sure if what I was feeling was contractions. My Dr.s instructions said to call if I had more than 5 or 6 an hour and I really couldn't tell. I asked about it during my regular OB appointment on Wed. and they told me to call if something didn't feel right. Although I knew what they meant in theory, never having been pregnant before-especially with three-nothing really "feels right"! So, I called the High Risk Dr. on Friday just to be sure everything was okay. They put me on a contraction monitor and checked my cervix. They said the cerclage looked good and was holding-but that I was having contractions and they wanted to admit me. When they got me on the contraction monitor in the hospital, I was having contractions every 4-5 minutes. They put me on an IV drip for 24 hours and the contractions have just about stopped. So, they are stopping my IV and are going to see if they can be kept away with oral medication. They are going to see how I do over the night and decide what to do from there. Hopefully, I will be sent home on Sunday or Monday. We are just taking it one day at a time!

Glad to be home!

We arrived at the hospital a little after 6:00am. The procedure started at 8:00 and it was finished by 8:30. They said everything went well. I appreciate everyone's prayers regarding the spinal block-it was much better than I thought it would be. It wasn't bad at all. The procedure was strange because I could feel them touching me and could wiggle my toes etc. but it didn't hurt. I was taken to recovery and monitored for contractions. Although I didn't feel them, my body was contracting. The first medication they gave me didn't work, and they decided to keep me over night and gave me two additional medications. They monitored me and sent me home this afternoon with two antibiotics and more medication for contractions that I will take till tomorrow/ I am so glad to be home! Brent was great and stayed by my side the whole time!

I go back to my regular OB this coming week and back to the specialist the following week. We appreciate everyone's prayers and warm wishes. Although the doctor has not officially put me on bed rest. I plan to be staying off my feet as much as possible!