Week 26

One more week down and thankfully no baby debut. As great as it would be to see them, we are willing to wait! Last Wednesday I came to the hospital due to contractions and a 0.7cm cervix. The first five days were spent on magnesium sulfate. The beauty of this med is that it works. The contractions got under control and things were looking up. Doctor's report today focused on two aspects: First,a fetal fibronectin test and second, the condition of Baby C. A fetal fibronectin test is a test that helps to establish if someone is going to deliver in the next 7-10 days. If it is positive, it points to possible preterm delivery. However, a negative test says a lot more. A negative result means we can be 95% sure we won't have immediate delivery. The test was done and unfortunately came back positive. This meant a renewed effort to keep contractions at bay, so continued magnesium sulfate around the clock. I am thankful the med works, but it is a little harsh on mamma--any mamma. Before the doctor left he leaned over my bed and kindly said, "Sorry for what we put you through, but as long as you are safe, we do whatever it takes for the sake of the babies."

This week a doppler blood flow study on baby C indicated slight decreased nutrient flow to her. This has not been evident in previous check-ups. Again, there is nothing we can do to for her and again, the doctor said the best thing to do is to continue to monitor her. He is hopeful she can stay in utero a few more weeks. She will be checked weekly. On week 28 we will do a growth scan to see how everyone is doing. In the meantime I lay on either my left or right side day in and day out. There are good days and days that are more of a challenge, kinda of like regular life.

Top picture: Week 26 Belly
Second picture: Ben's parents are here to help me out for a couple weeks. His Uncle Jeff was able to stop by for a visit.
Third picture: I just met these lovely people, John and Silvia Comitz. They are from Az and Ben knows them from going on a couple of mission trips with them. They stopped by and shared pizza with me and the nurses.