The biggest upheaval in our lives happened after I went in for my 32 week OB appt. They did the ultrasound on the twins and everything looked great...but when the OB checked my cervix I was dilated to a 3 and was 50% effaced. Yikes! She was so surprised because at every other appt. I was not dilated or effaced at all. So she immediately put me on bed rest to try to stop me from dilating any more and going into labor.
Unfortuantely early that next morning I woke up to really strong contractions that were 2-3 minutes apart. I began panicking! It was way too early for these babies to arrive! Ethan and I rushed to the hospital and they immediately gave me medication to stop the contractions. Fortunately I hadn't dilated any more, but the regular contractions continued until about noon, and then thankfully eased up. They sent me home that evening and ever since then I've had to remain on bed rest and continue taking medicine to stop the contractions/labor. That was almost three weeks ago.
It has been such a difficult situation-it's frustrating for me since I am basically restricted to getting up to go the bathroom and to take a shower. And I have to be laying down, not even sitting. I am the mayor of Boredom City! There is only so much tv and books you can read for almost three weeks straight! Another challenge has been that we have to find people to watch the boys since I'm obviously not able to take care of them. We have been so blessed by amazing people willing to help out in so many ways-Ethan's family and a friend of mine have been graciously taking the boys during the day, and we've had several people bring us meals. I am one thankful mama! I can tell that it's taken it's toll on the boys and Ethan, and I think everyone is ready to have things back to "normal"-even though it will be a new normal after the twins arrive!
In any case I am sooooo thankful that so far the bed rest and medication seem to be doing the trick, because at the Dr. appts. I've had since then, I haven't dilated or effaced any more-praise the Lord! So, it sounds like at this point if they were to deliver, the only possible problem would be to be on oxygen-but of course we're just hoping they'll just wait another couple of weeks until considered full term at 37 weeks. Our (or, mostly my) other prayer is that they'll both flip to be head down so that I can have a normal delivery, or as normal as a twin birth could be! Otherwise I will have to have a C-section which absolutely terrifies me-mostly the recovery part. Obviously I will be so thankful just to have healthy babies and if a C-section is what it takes that is fine, but not preferable. My Dr. said they'll decide at 36 weeks whether or not I'll have to have a C-section or not-so those babies just have about a week and a half to flip around! Right now Baby A is breech (the one closest to my cervix) and Baby B is head down (vertex.) BUT they have been in different positions every time I've gone in, so I'm holding out a TEENY bit of hope that they might cooperate. :)
Here's a few profile pictures of the twins....
Baby A's face was smushed by the membrane of the amniotic sac. You can kind of see the thin white line on the top of his forehead and nose...
