What a week!!!

Well, a lot has happened since Tuesday. Wednesday morning, I was feeling some tightness in the belly but figured I'd just mention it when I went in for my appointment at Dr. Igel's office. My mom picked me up and brought me to my doctor's appointment for 3pm. I was just meeting Dr. Igel's head midwife, Robyn Reese. Robyn was very optimistic during the beginning of the visit, saying how I could have her deliver the baby with Dr. Igel overseeing the birth and saying she didn't see any reason why I couldn't make it to term with the twins. Things changed, though, when she did the exam of my cervix. She basically said to forget everything she had just told me and to go directly from the doctor's office to the hospital. I was 1 centimeter dilated. She explained that there was low chance of survival for the twins if I delivered at 21 weeks and we needed to make sure I made it until at the very least 24 weeks.

My head was spinning as my mom drove me to the hospital. Chris got off work a little early to pick up Hannah and my dad and meet me and my mom at the hospital. While I checked in at Mease Countryside hospital, my mom and dad took Hannah back home with them.

The hospital set me up on IV with Magnesium Sulfate to stop the contractions. One of the nurses commented that I was laboring better than the laboring mothers. I was having strong, consistent contractions. After a while of the Magnesium Sulfate, they gave me a shot of muscle relaxer to assist the Magnesium Sulfate and an Ambien sleeping pill. They also did a bedside ultrasound, which showed that I had an abnormally high amount of amniotic fluid. The nurse said that the average count for amniotic fluid is between 5 and 20 but mine was at 60+! Before going to sleep, I heard the news report about a woman in Tampa who had been given an overdose of Magnesium Sulfate. It was not reassuring.

Chris' mom, Marcy, came to sit with me through the night so Chris could go home for a little bit and relieve my mom and dad. It was comforting to have Marcy with me since I was very uncomfortable and unsure of what was going to happen next.

Thursday morning I woke up still hazy from the Ambien to see Chris standing with Dr. Igel who explained that I was being transferred to Bayfront Hospital to Dr. Raimer's care. The doctor explained that the twins have Twin-to-Twin Transfusion Syndrome and what that means. I didn't really follow the explanation too well but I'm putting in a link to more information about this syndrome for you all to read. It all boiled down to: I needed to have an amnio-reduction done immediately.

While I was still half asleep, paramedics came in and transferred me from the hospital bed to a stretcher and transported me to Bayfront in a Critical Care Unit ambulance.

Shortly after arriving at Bayfront, my room was filled with doctors and interns and one doctor (who I later found out was Dr. Raimer) performed the amnio-reduction using an ultrasound to guide as they removed 5 liters of amniotic fluid from my abdomen! They kept offering painkillers but the procedure was virtually painless, though scary and bizarre.

Following the procedure, they kept me on IV and Magnesium Sulfate for a while and gave me a dose of Morphine to relax the uterus. They also gave me my Rhogam shot for my Rh negative blood type. Before long, the contractions had stopped entirely and I was feeling 100% better!

The doctors told me that it may be necessary to do another amnio-reduction or even transfer me to Tampa for a relatively new laser procedure but my ultrasound Friday morning showed great improvement and they took me off all the meds and even the IV. They had to keep me one more night for observation to be sure my amniotic fluids didn't build back up too quickly but Saturday morning the doctors said I was ready to go home... on bed rest. I have to take a medication called Procardia to keep my uterus relaxed and I have to schedule an appointment with Dr. Raimer's office for later this week.

I'm on bed rest pretty much until I deliver and apparently I will have to deliver at Bayfront (25 miles away from home) when the time comes. I am a little disappointed because I had heard rave reviews about Dr. Igel and the Mease Countryside facility and staff was very warm and comforting but Bayfront is better equipped for the possible complications that may arise and All Children's Hospital is right next door.

We appreciate all the thoughts and prayers that have gone out to us in this difficult time. We also greatly appreciate the offers for meals and help around the house. The journey's far from over. There's no telling how much longer until the twins deliver (the closer to 36 weeks, the better) and since I'm ordered on bed rest, we will have only one income for a while.

Please continue to pray for us as we still have numerous hurdles to jump. I will be calling around today to see if we can get on temporary WIC, CCC, etc. Hopefully we can get some assistance. We are going to need a new vehicle (preferably a minivan) before the twins come since our little Civic two-door won't fit two infant and one toddler car seats. We plan on trading in Chris' Mitsubishi truck but credit and down payment are still issues.