Loving the Latham twins: 31 weeks NST and L&D visits

Im a little behind on my weekly update. A lot has been going on this week as far as being seen by the doctor and in L&D. I started my weekly Non stress tests to monitor the babies Heart rates and measure contractions 2x per week. These appts are Tues/Fri for me with a DR. appt in between usually on Thurs. These NST (non- stress tests) are to help determine how often I have contractions and what the babies HR does during this period. The babies have to be monitored contiuously for 20 minutes together and must have a couple of HR accelerations during movement (Each babies HR should increase during movement). This can be quite difficult to keep two babies on the monitor simultaneously. They like to move and come off the monitor. I feel like I cannot move a muscle in an attempt to get them to stay on together.

So, I started my first NST Tuesday morning at 8:45. I think I left L&D at 3:00pm. Not what I was expecting. Quite a day of continuous issues. Nothing too serious but my girls don't like to make things too easy for me. I passed the NST pretty early on in the morning but my BP (blood pressure) was borderline high and this concerned my Dr. She sent me from the ATU (antepartum testing unit) where the NST's are done to L&D down the hall to be monitored a little more and have blood work done to rule out signs of pre-eclampsia. I have been experiencing headaches but no swelling and or vision disturbances. During this monitoring session I started contracting about every 2 minutes. I did not feel all of them but I had been feeling the stronger ones. I had one really strong one that made my smaller twins HR have a deceleration. The Dr. was not too happy with this. This pretty much guaranteed me a c section when delivery comes because it shows that Baby B won't tolerate labor well at all. She told me that it would be a good idea to do the steroid injections to mature the lungs of the girls at this point. I am at a good gestation for the shots and she thinks I will probably deliver earlier than expected. The shots are betamethazone and they are given 2x in a 24 hr period. I got the first one Tuesday about noon. I was to come back the next day for the other shot. I was also given Nifedipene to slow and hopefully stop my contractions. This medication I will continually take every 6 hrs for the duration of my pregnancy. Lucky for Scott , the only pharmacy that carried the type I need was in Auburn. They called 14 pharmacies in town and none carried the 10 or 20 mg rapid release dose. The all only carried the 30mg slow dose. Nice huh??? I like to make it difficult! LOL.

The blood work all came back perfect. No protein in my urine, good platelets, not anemic, no uric acid, and liver and kidney enzymes were good as well. It is quite ironic that what I initially was being seen for (high BP) turned out normal but the contractions ended up being the issue. It was a good thing I went in. Also, since I was contracting so regularly the Dr. did a FFM (fibro fetal something or other). This tells the Dr. whether I will go into labor in the next 2 weeks. If the test comes out negative it is 98% accurate. If the test comes back positive it only has a 60% accuracy. So, mainly they are looking to see if the test is negative, which for me it did come back negative. This is great! So I probably won't go into labor in the next two weeks but the other issues need to be looked at as well.

Today I returned to L&D for my second steroid shot which bought me a ticket to another NST as well. They were never able to get both the girls on the monitor at the same time but were able to get good strips individually. This appeased the Dr. enough to discharge me. However, I did have a few high BP's again and now I get to do a 24 hr urine catch. Awesome right? I get to pee in a jar all day tomorrow and then refrigerate it. EWE!!! I had Scott run to Walmart to buy 2 gallon freezer bags so I don't contaminate the fridge. We will clean it, don't worry. Haha.

I go tomorrow to see the perinatal associates in Sacramento to check the growth, fluid, dopplers etc of the girls. This will tell us if they are growing still and getting the proper nutrients and oxygen from the placenta to continue life in the womb or if things might be easier on the outside.

Hopefully we can push this out another 4 weeks. Thats the goal. I'm not sure how realistic this is but I can be hopeful. I know the girls will do well at this gestation but I want some bonus days to reduce NICU time and all the risks of prematurity.

I may also end up on hospital bed rest in the near future as well. I think my Dr. hints about it regularly and with the difficulties of being on bed rest at home with a toddler it might be in my best interest to optimize rest and reduce stress on Mom and Dad.

I shall update after our appointment tomorrow and let you know how life in utero is going. I hope they have grown and the fluid looks good. There is such a nervousness prior to these appointments for me. I hope I can relax and get some good news.