Not the birthday we had planned!

Yesterday we came in for a complete sonogram and to see our high risk doctor. We had been in the routine of them saying all was well and sending us home! Plus it was my 27th birthday so we had plans to do a little shopping and spend the afternoon together. When our sono tech checked our little girl's s/d ratio she was extra quiet and she is usually pretty bubbly. We couldn't see exactly what was wrong but things just didn't seem normal. So we waited in the lobby for a while to see the doctor which wasn't all that unusual. Then we heard her say that we were being admitted to the hospital and realized we weren't going home. Our litte girl's s/d ratio had gone to absent. That doesn't mean she doesn't get any flow through her umbilical cord - it just means that she is getting nutrients when my heart contracts or pumps but when it rests before the next beat she is not receiving nutrients for that brief period. Plus she did not gain as much as she should have over the past 3 weeks.

So we walked across to the hospital and were admitted. They gave me a steriod shot to help both baby's lungs develop in case we deliver soon and I am getting the second shot this afternoon. They also hooked up the heart and contraction monitors to my tummy so they could monitor their heart rates. Every nurse and doctor that came by said their heart rates look amazing for this stage of pregnancy and that's what we've been told the entire pregnancy so that was great to hear. The only worries are really that her s/d ratio will go to reversed or that their amniotic fluid amounts go too low and at that point they would deliver both babies. There are of course a lot of other complications that could appear out of the blue but right now they're concentrating on the fluid and s/d ratios.

Yesterday was definitely an up and down day - we are almost 30 weeks which is a huge point and ups their survivial rates greatly but it is still scary to read all the possible complications for such little preemies. They think our girl is 1 pound 14 ounces and our little boy is 3 pounds 1 ounce. We were able to talk to the neo-natologist late last night about the NICU (neo-natal intensive care unit) which is where our babies will likely spend several months. He was great and very informative but really optimistic too. Once the babies are born at this point he thinks that our little boy will actually have more trouble than our little girl. Girls apparently are more resilient and especially since she has been stressed her organs will be more developed than his, especially her lungs. But of course they'll know a lot more once the babies are out and they can examine them better.

So it is a day by day game at this point. We get to go home this afternoon after my shot and a tour of the NICU. But we will be back every day to the hospital or the high risk doctor for daily sonograms to make sure that their fluid is ok and that her s/d ratio has not gone to reversed.

The report today is good so we are excited and thankful for that. We are also so thankful for all the wonderful doctors and nurses we have met - they are all so helpful and caring. Just being more informed of what we're up against makes today seem less scary than yesterday. Ryan has a cousin that is an OB/GYN at the hospital we're at and she made yesterday much easier for us - we are so thankful for her taking the time to check in on us and answer our questions. It just made us feel so much more comfortable and less scared! We also had lots of visitors last night which helped the time go by instead of worrying about the sono this morning. We're excited to be headed home to sleep in our beds tonight and get things more "ready" so we're prepared every day we come in in case we stay and deliver. We could deliver tomorrow or they possibly say a week or two later realistically, but I guess they think it might be possible for us to last several weeks. Every day and hour is worth so much to the babies so we're just praying that they can stay inside and continue to develop as long as possible!

Thanks for all of your prayers, visits, phone calls, and thoughts. We are reminded every day that God is in control and that He has our tiny babies in His hands which is so comforting when we realize there is nothing that we can physically do to make them better. We just continue to pray and trust that God knows the plans for our future - even when it seems so uncertain to us. We are so thankful for the babies he's given us and are trying to enjoy every minute we have with them, instead of worrying about the next hour or day.

Thanks again for your prayers!