This week continued on like all the others have - 3x daily monitoring with the girls looking great and no concerns. I just chugged along with my daily routine; working during the day and hanging out with all the awesome visitors I had this week. It really helped pass the time!
My growth ultrasound and doppler scans were scheduled for today (Friday 6/25). Last night I was talking to Brian and I told him that I was considering asking my doctor to bump up our C-Section date to July 1st, depending on how the girls were growing and who would be the doctor delivering on that date. Besides the fact that I've just been generally anxious about waiting so long, I was also worried about an emergency happening over 4th of July Weekend while Brian was home. He told me that we should probably just stick with the plan, and that I shouldn't worry about emergencies - as they're out of our control. However he did say if the babies were both at least 4 lbs then he supported me proposing the idea to my doctor.
Last night I had a nurse I never had before that was supposed to put me on the monitors. After being here for over 5 weeks, I really thrive on consistency, so I was not super excited about a new person trying to locate the girls. They can be extremely difficult to locate sometimes, and require some very weird angles to get them to trace nicely.
When she went to put me on at 10pm, it was clear right from the beginning that she was having trouble. She tried for a good half hour before asking another nurse to come in and help. They both tried for almost another half hour before calling the resident to bring in the ultrasound machine to check the babies position. After another half hour, the girls were on - but clearly still reluctant; jumping on and off frequently. In order to get the girls to trace well for an hour, I ended up being on the monitors until
1am - YUCK.
I went to bed, exhausted and annoyed. The nurse then woke me up at 5:15am, which is 45 minutes earlier than I'm normally put on the monitor. She said since she had such a hard time the night before she wanted to have some extra "play" time to get the girls on the monitors. Once again the girls were hopping on and off the monitors, so instead of sleeping through my morning session like I typically try to do, I was interrupted frequently. I finally fell asleep around 6:15am, and was abruptly awoken at 6:45am by the sonographer who said she had to do my growth scan early because she had to go to the office right after...
Wow, what a morning already!!
The growth scan went well, the girls were cooperating and the sonographer blew through the dopplers and measurements with ease. This made me very happy because it's very nauseating to lay on my back these days. She told me the girls both had hair and were taking very good practice breaths. I asked how much they weighed. "Wow, this is amazing... Baby A is measuring 4 lbs and Baby B is measuring 4 lbs 6 oz!!" she exclaimed - knowing that I was hoping the girls would be close to 4 lbs.
I was so happy they were over 4 lbs and knew my next move was talking to my doctor later today about the possibility of bumping up delivery. About an hour after my scan, the doctor knocked on my door and asked if it was a good time to talk.
.....it was ON
I should note, the doctor doing rounds this week is the one who told me I was carrying mono/mono twins at my very first MFM appointment and she's also the one planning to deliver me on the 5th. I love her and trust her more than any OB I've ever had. I am very comfortable with her and was prepared to give my pitch.
The doctor entered the room a little more timid than usual.
"First off, the babies are looking great. They are growing magnificently and I'm very happy with the weights I'm seeing," she began. "I am seeing some changes with your doppler readings, however. There is an increase in cord flow resistance, which is very common with these types of twins, because their cords are very tangled. I typically am a more conservative doctor, and would prefer to deliver babies closer to 32 weeks. The babies are a good weight and will likely do well in the NICU. Delivering earlier may mean they have a longer stay at the NICU, but that's a lot better than something happening because we tried to stretch it. Do you understand what I'm saying?"
I was feeling REALLY good about where this was going....
I replied, "I've been trying to convince my previous doctors to deliver at 32 weeks - every week since I arrived. All of the doctors have said they prefer to wait until 34 weeks. It makes me very anxious waiting until 34 weeks. I was able to compromise and get my date of July 5th, when I'll be 33 weeks 2 days, but I actually wanted to talk to you about the possibility of bumping up my date a couple days if possible. I'd really like to deliver before the holiday weekend..."
"Okay good, I'm glad we're on the same page about this. I'm so sorry you've been so anxious over this. Seeing these doppler readings just reinforces my reservation about waiting too much longer," she replied. "So this is what we're going to do, we're going to give you your first steroid shot today, and the second dose tomorrow. Then we're going to deliver these babies on Sunday."
"Wait, this Sunday?!" I asked, shockingly.
"This Sunday!" she replied. "Now I'll let you call your hubby and tell him the good news. Great job Mama, this is almost over!"
I was ecstatic!! I called Brian right away, who was equally as excited but also sounded a little panicked. He had been planning to work on the nursery today and though the had almost a week (at least) to get everything taken care of at home before we'd be delivering. But, as we like to say: you make plans, and God laughs.
So that's my update! I'm currently packing up my room so that my family can bring some of my things home before delivery on Sunday. We made a schedule for who would be watching Silas and hanging with Kaya. We are ready to go!
I can't believe it'll be less than 2 days before we meet our girls. I'm feeling incredibly excited, blessed, and a little nervous. Praying for a safe delivery for our girls and that they have a smooth NICU stay. I will keep you all updated on how we're doing once things settle down, likely early next week.