Saturday, October 31, 2009

Day 10 - Inpatient Stay - Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween to everyone! Well, we are on day 10 today and I am looking forward to spending the evening out on the town with the kiddos (and Mike of course!). We are all well and the ultrasound this morning looked better than it has all week! That is really good news for us!
Yesterday, we got weights on the girls and they continue to grow like crazy! Baby A weighed in at 2 pounds even and measured at 26 weeks gestation. Baby B weighed in at 1 pound 14 ounces and measured at 25 weeks 3 days gestation. They of course were moving like crazy and uncoorperative so we had to return to the ultrasound room for a second look in the afternoon to get the rest of the measurements. I hope that everyone has a wonderful day and thanks for the thoughts and prayers!
The Boersmas

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Day 8 - Inpatient Stay

Hello Everyone! Well, I have been in the hospital now for one week. Today I am at 25 weeks gestation and still feeling pretty good. That leaves me with 7 weeks or 49 days to go.
The girls are going to give my blood pressure a work out! Today baby B, the one who constantly seems to be causing trouble, had a spell with her heart rate soaring and not coming down for quite some time. I was immediately taken to get an ultrasound to see if we could see any problems with the cords and everything looked good. I am not sure what the heart rate increase was all about, but it could just be that she had pinched her cord and then when she released it had a higher heart rate to compensate for the restricted flow. Which is probably a result of the entanglement of the cords. During the ultrasounds the entangled cords lite up like a red and blue braid when they are getting doppler readings from the area.
Mike and the kids came to see me today, which was really nice! This morning Mike's dad came and watched the kids so that Mike and I could go and tour the NICU. The tour gave us alot of information and it was great to see what is coming next. I know that the stay in the NICU will be even more of a roller coaster ride than this pregnancy so the more prepared we are for what is coming the better.
Tomorrow we will get updated weights on the babies. We are hoping for them to be getting close to 2 pounds each. The bigger they are the better! Thanks again for all of the thoughts and prayers! I will update again tomorrow after my ultrasound. Have a good evening.

Monday, October 26, 2009

Day 5 - Inpatient Stay

Well, we are on day five already! Everything is going good so far. I am adjusting to not chasing kids all day and spending some time off of my feet. The babies are moving like crazy and still giving the nurses and ultrasound techs a hard time during monitoring. But, I am reassured that this is typical with 24 week babies due to the amount of room they have to move around. Their heart rates are been really good and this morning during the ultrasound were exactly the same at 144. We are still currently monitoring 3 times a day with one ultrasound per day. We will be taking the weights of the babies again on Friday to see how much they have grown.
Last Saturday we met with the neonatalogist to give us an idea of what we could expect if the babies were born this week. In the end though, he can only tell us what common problems and concerns are and not exactly what we would face if the girls were born today. We did ask about how long a NICU stay would be once they are born and he told us to just plan on them being in the hospital until 40 weeks no matter when they are born. So, that gives us a little bit of a time line to look at. Thank you to everyone for their prayers, concern, visits, emails, food and phone calls. We really appreciate the kindness and generosity of everyone. Thanks again and have a good week!

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Day 1 - Inpatient Stay

Well, we made it to 24 weeks! All is well here. I got admitted to the hospital at 10am and everything looks good so far. I was monitored once earlier today and will be again this evening. It is kind of hard to get a good read out because the babies move around so much. But, we got a read out good enough to get the information needed. Monitoring will take place 3 times a day and I will also have one ultrasound a day. I got the first shot from the first round of steriods for the babies lungs this afternoon and will get the second tomorrow. I will update every couple of days as new things develop. One day down and 55 more to go! Thanks again for all of the thoughts and prayers!

Friday, October 16, 2009

Perinatalogist Appointment #4 - 23 weeks

Today has been a day of mixed emotions. I had a doctors appointment this morning which included an ultrasound and consult with the perinatalogist. The ultrasound went well. The babies were very active again and grew quite a bit both measuring at 23 weeks and 5 days. Baby A weighed in at 1 pound 6 ounces and had a heart rate of 148. Baby B weighed in at 1 pound 5 ounces and had a heart rate of 142. On the previous ultrasound we were told that one of the babies had only one kidney. But, today they may have seen the other kidney. So, at this point we are not sure if the baby has one or two kidneys. Hopefully as the baby gets a little bigger we will be able to see more and confirm if the child will have one or two kidneys.

The big question to be answered today was at what point I would be going inpatient. After one look at the babies cords we knew the answer. The cords are very tangled, even we could see that and we're not doctors or ultrasound techs. The good thing is that the tangles are not pulled tight at this point and the blood flow remains good. The doctor did not sugar coat anything. He reminded us of the 50% survival rate of monoamniotic twins and the harsh reality that we are facing. We also asked about a delivery date. The doctor's answer was "IF you make it to 32 weeks we will deliver them on that date."
Due to the cord entanglement, I will be admitted to the hospital at 24 weeks which is Thursday, October 22. I know that this is what is best for the babies and that they will get the best care possible there giving them the best chance at life. At this point I believe that the reality of this situation is hitting home. Thank you for all of the thoughts and prayers.