22 Weeks: There's No Place Like Home

This Weeks's Developments:
* The girls are looking more like miniature newborns with more distinct lips, eyelids, eyebrows, and tiny tooth buds developing beneath the gums
* Eyes are formed but irises still lack pigment
* The girls are probably around 11 in long now and weighing in around 1 lb each
* Their skin is full of wrinkles that will gradually fill more with fat
* The pancreases are steadily developing


As I hoped, we were able to come home from the hospital Monday after meeting with the specialist. Being that her office was in a building next door to the hospital, I got bundled up with a long sleeve shirt and sweatshirt and warm muk luks, but much to my surprise, we arrived without ever exiting the hospital. There was a hidden tunnel that I did not know about! As the kind hospital worker wheeled me there, we passed by the NICU where my daughters will likely spend several weeks before being released to come home. The shades were drawn so I could not see in, but all of the staff had told me wonderful things about it. I asked the man pushing my wheelchair how many babies they usually have in there and he said usually 20-30 at any given time but it has a capacity for around 40. The NICU is a level III, which is great, and my nurse had assured me earlier that the only reason they would have to fly a baby to St. Louis would be for a serious heart defect, and that they were incredibly well equipped to deal with all other issues impacting premies.

At the specialist's office, they briefly looked at the girls to get their heart rates, which were all excellent. The tech did exclaim, "C must be your little girl, she is the smaller one!" She said it casually, but it worries me if it is that obvious on a regular scan and I continue to ask for prayers that the girls grow well and at similar rates- especially A and C with their marginal cord insertions that I mentioned in their 20 week post. When they measured my cervix with the transvaginal scan, the specialist came into the room to watch and said it was nice and thick at 3.54 cm long with no evidence of funneling and that it looked closed on the scan. Praise God! She instructed me to continue with the 200 mg progesterone suppositories that they had me start in the hospital and gave me more strict guidelines for my bedrest. She wants me lying down pretty much all the time in bed or on the couch. I am allowed to get up to use the bathroom and shower every other day as well as for meals. The specialist will also see me weekly from here on out to check my cervix which will be reassuring to me to know ASAP if it is shortening too much. I will continue to see my OB concurrently since he will be the one delivering these little munchkins.

After I got dressed and stepped out of the ultrasound room I proceeded to walk back out to the waiting room but my wheelchair pusher and NP caught me and said I still had to take the wheelchair despite my good news. Oh well!  I told the nurses on staff thank you and goodbye, and that I would be happy to see them again but hopefully not for several more weeks at least! At least I know that if/when I get put on permanent hospital residency that there will be a great staff caring for us, and the rooms at least are large and private with a huge window to a courtyard area and free wireless internet (I would have been lost without that!!).

I am doing very well following my guidelines at home, but it is hard to sit by and watch the house get messy and laundry pile up without being able to do anything about it myself! Not to mention my desire to clean out the nursery closet and put baby stuff in there instead of strewn throughout the living room and guestroom that will soon be occupied by my in-laws (so excited for their visit!!).  I just remind myself that I am doing more for these little girls by staying in bed than by organizing their stuff :)

At the specialist's office. The tech took a quick picture of each of the girls, so as usual they are pretty poor quality. A is facing the camera and, as the tech said, is making a scary face, since you are seeing her skull more than her face. B was cooperative with a profile shot, and as usual C was curled up with her back facing us. I got to see A put her little hand up and we could see all the creases in her palm, so precious. I wish we had a shot of that :).

A

B

C

 Belly Pics 22 Weeks

Total Weight Gain: 30 lbs