Almost One Week Down!

Hello from the hospital! I was meaning to update the blog sooner, but I'm either really exhausted, or too much is going on here. I've had a lot of visitors so far including Dan's siblings/brother-in-law, Dan's parents and aunt, my parents, two of my brothers and my sister-in-law. My friend Marie came last night too! Obviously Dan has been here every day if not twice a day. Because it was Thanksgiving, there was a lot of family in town, so I'm sure my visitors will definitely start to wane. So far I haven't had much time to be "bored"!

The whole reason I am in the hospital is to monitor the monoamniotic twins, but this has proven difficult! One of my doctors ordered to have ultrasounds two times a day, one of them being a biophysical profile, and the other to just get a quick look at the heartbeats. I also get monitored for contractions twice a day. During the BPP, the doctor looks to see if the heart is beating normally, the amount of amniotic fluid, fetal movement, and whether the baby is practicing breathing movements. I may be missing one of the factors, but those are the basics. Every BPP I've received, the babies have all scored "perfect". Yay!

I've had some challenges here too, though. On Monday and Tuesday I got steroid shots to put my babies at an advantage if they did come sooner rather than later. The shots really affected my blood sugars, and I've had to take insulin ever since (only 2 units usually). The shots played with my emotions too so I was really teary. By Wed or Thur I was feeling better mentally. I've been getting a lot of contractions too, and the last couple days they've given me shots of terbutaline and pills of some other medicine helping to calm my uterus. Having contractions is to be expected since my uterus thinks I am overdue based on the size! The shot of terbutaline makes my heart race and gives me the shakes- no fun. I have to take the other pill every four hours (even during the night). I also found out that my thyroid is a little out of whack, so I started that pill this morning! (If I wasn't pregnant it wouldn't be completely necessary to be on meds though.) If it seems like there's a lot going on, you're right! I'm guessing it will only get more complicated. I would still say we are sailing smoothly. Just stay in there, babies!

The food is ..well, OK. I've been lucky that family has brought snacks and leftovers. (Including venison and lots of Thanksgiving food!) I am able to order two entrees per meal now and they are giving me a couple high calorie shakes a day. I've only had ONE dream about a Chipotle burrito (hehe)!

There is a possibility that I might have to move to another Allina hospital to better monitor the monos. I guess the nurses over there are able to do BPP ultrasounds. The doctors and nurses did say that the four will be easier to monitor by doppler when they get a little bigger, so I might not have to move. The other hospital doesn't have private NICU rooms like this one does, but they still have a really good reputation. We'll see what happens!

I wish I had fun pics to post, but maybe I'll put up another belly pic this week (scary!!) Until later...