21 Weeks: Thanksgiving in the Hospital

I apologize in advance for any typos/grammatical errors/run on sentences as I am stuck blogging on my ipad and the program I have makes it hard to do so and not fun to type this much on!
This week's Developments:

* Babies weigh around 3/4 of a lb by this point and measure around 10.5 in from head to toe-about the length of a carrot.

* Eyebrows and eyelids are now present

As most of you know, I came I to the hospital Wednesday night and have been here since! Since about 16 weeks, I have been having a lot of Braxton Hicks contractions, and I felt that they were increasing Tuesday night into Wednesday. It is so hard to tell, though, because they are not painful and I really only notice by palpating my uterus. I called my OB who instructed me to go into labor and delivery if they did not resolve-which they didn't. I fully anticipated going in that they would find everything was fine and send me right home since my cervix checked out ok despite my contractions a week before, but the machine registered that I was having pretty strong contractions every 2-3 minutes. They checked the girls' heartrates in an abdominal ultrasound and they looked just fine. The on call OB ordered the nurse to catheterize me AGAIN like they did at 12 weeks in order to get a "clean" urine sample (even though I gave them a large clean sample that they hadn't even tested yet) and to pump my bladder full of fluid for "better viewing." If you read my post back around 12 weeks you would remember that this procedure was completely horrible and completely unnecessary as both then and now I was very well hydrated with a full bladder and have ultrasounds on a biweekly basis at least that they have no problem with viewing on and my bladder is empty during those! The nurse agreed she thought the orders were not necessary and informed me of my right to refuse. I greatly appreciated this reminder from her and politely refused. My urine did not indicate dehydration or infection. Turns out, when the the OB called the specialist she did not even want the ultrasound cervical check, she wanted the nurse to do an internal exam to check my cervix for the first time during the pregnancy. I was a little worried about this as internal exams should be avoided as much as possible due to possible issues that could arise because of the exam, but I trust the specialist's judgement. The nurse determined that my cervix was dilated at 1 cm, but still thick (aka long- which is the most important factor). I was injected with terbutaline to calm the contractions. It made me very jittery with cold and not flashes, but they said it did decrease the contractions through the night. It was very difficult to fall asleep and I have definitely missed my bed at home. Yesterday, my OB came by and made it sound like they don't do much to intervene when the babies are not of viability age yet and that 'what happens happens' at this point. I strongly disagreed with that stance and know of many many triplet moms who were in the hospital and receiving interventions weeks ahead of where I am now. He said he would consult with the specialist before deciding to send me home. When he came back in the room his demeanor was completely changed and he was all for keeping me here as long as possible to be safe and administering any interventions necessary to keep these girls in there. The specialist had ordered him to have me put on toradol injected into my IV every 6 hours for 24 hours for the contractions and my OB said he would feel safer keeping me here until the specialist could scan my cervix on Monday.

Brent cooked and brought me Thanksgiving dinner last night :) I don't look cute at all in the hospital!!

Throughout my stay I have had an amazing nursing staff. God gave me a little love/humor...My night nurse has been Julie (like my mom) my day nurse yesterday was Joanna (like my sister Joane), and my day nurse today is Sarah (like my sister Sara) and I see qualities in each of them that remind me of my Julie, Joane, and Sara! God must know I wish they were here :)

Today Sarah informed me that I was more than welcome to wear my own clothes and made it a lot easier to do so by getting the ok from my OB to unhook my IV as long as she left the port. I was able to shower and get in comfy clothes which has made me feel like a normal person again today! They have not hooked my contraction monitor back up today. I still feel some tightening, but for the past 24 hours they were charting more irritabilty than full blown contractions, so I am really basically just still here to stay off my feet and wait to see the specialist on Monday. I am pretty confident my cervix will check out pretty well on Monday and that she will send me home, but we just have to wait and see.

I couldn't leave you without some big belly pics. I haven't been able to weigh myself, but I am sure I have gained several pounds laying around and ordering hospital room service a few times a day!

21 weeks 1 Day