Here to Stay

My first day in the hospital was a stressful one though I may have hid that a bit in my last entry. I was first admitted to labor and delivery for monitoring and I was contracting more than the doctors would like to see. After a few hours of trying to get them to slow down using meds, Keith made a short trip home to pack up some things for me. During his time away, I had a visit from a neo-natologist (NICU doctor) about the risks and complications of having babies born at 23 weeks. I also had a visit from an anesthesiologist to sign paperwork. I just wanted to tell everyone, "We're not doing this now!" It was very scary and troubling to hear about having to resuscitate our babies, etc. though I know they just had to send everyone to speak with me as a part of their checklist. The nurse also monitored the babies' heart rates for a few hours and thankfully they looked great and showed no signs of stress.

My contractions eventually spread out enough to show I wasn't in pre-term labor and before midnight I was transferred to the ante-partum unit - basically the wing of the hospital where expecting mom's grow their babies until they are ready to arrive or as long as possible.

Today marks the first of what I hope will be many weeks at the hospital. What does my day look like? Well, I am monitored for contractions for at least 30 minutes twice each day along with the babies' heart rates. After a week of monitoring and an exam yesterday, my doctors have decided that it is best for me to stay in the hospital on bed rest until the babies arrive. At this point I am allowed to get up by myself to take bathroom breaks and can take wheelchair rides and participate in occasional ante-partum social activities (which happen weekly or biweekly). Even though I have between two and six contractions an hour, sometimes more, my exam and sonogram yesterday showed that they are not causing me to progress at this point which is very good. My doctor thinks I have 4-6 weeks before the babies arrive, if not more. We can't be sure and only time will tell. Sunday was a big day for us because we reached 24 weeks which is the point where babies reach viability and their chances of surviving go up significantly, though not without a fight and possible long-term complications. Each week and even each day is vital to their chances of survival and good health and the closer we can get to week 36, no matter how uncomfortable for me, the better.

I keep having to remind myself that their birthday is preordained and I use this scripture as a reminder to bring our babies and my worries for them to the Lord each day:

Then little children were brought to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray for them.
Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me… for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these."
And he took the children in his arms, put his hands on them and blessed them.
- Matthew 19:13-14; Mark 10:13-16

These precious preemie sleepers were given to us as a gift and I have them hanging in my room as inspiration to rest and eat so they can fill them out when they are born! Here's a picture of me reaching our first triplet milestone - 24 weeks!