First Week Down

I'm still in the hospital and I am still pregnant.

I am officially past the 1 week mark and today post rupture and I learned some statistics that I am glad I didn't know before. My nurse was telling me that of the women who have ruptured membranes, 50% will go into labour within 24-48 hours of the rupture. Another 30% will go into labour within the first week. Only 20% make it past the 1 week mark and have a good chance of staying pregnant for a longer period. My prospects are looking good at this point and I will stay here as long as I possibly can so my girls can grow as much as possible.

I haven't seen my own OB yet but the doctors here that do daily care of the antenatal patients spoke with him about me and he very clearly conveyed that he would like me to stay pregnant for at least another 2 weeks. I am 32 weeks today and from what I was told, it sounds like 34 weeks is the minimum amount of time rather than the maximum. Of course, I need to speak with him directly, but it appears that if 34 weeks is the minimum, hopefully if everything stays status quo he will let me carry to 35 and maybe even 36 weeks. We shall see but everyone, cross your fingers for me.

Part of being in the hospital is the close monitoring they are doing. My vital signs are checked every four hours and includes a temperature check, blood pressure check and heart rate. My temperatures have always been normal but my blood pressure and heart rates are on the high side. My blood pressure was pretty high at 140/80 when I checked in but I put that down to stress. With a conscious effort to breathe deeply and do some meditation/hypnosis, I can sometimes bring my heart rate down to 120/80 if not lower. My heart rate though has remained stubbornly high at 120 bpm. Normal heart rates for women are between 60-90 bpm. Of course, I consulted with Dr. Google and there were several sites that said that for pregnant women, especially those carrying twins, 120 bpm was not uncommon so I am reassured. They ran an EKG yesterday and a CBC just to make sure there was no underlying infection and to my knowledge, everything has come back normal.

My two girls are also doing well and like to squirm around when they're trying to check their heart rates (also every 4 hours). Now that I have all sorts of time on my hands, I've noticed that little Lefty usually gets the hiccups every day but little Righty hasn't had the hiccups yet. Their movements are also changing - before, they had lots of room to move about in and I would feel a lot of quick pokes. Now, I feel movement more akin to entire limbs being dragged across my abdomen. I have yet to see the actual limb (some women say that they see hands and feet) but the movements are slower and my entire abdomen will shift so that I'm lopsided. It's kind of neat to watch!

Today a few of my friends trekked down to my house to give DH some help organizing and putting together the nursery. This was what was supposed to happen last week before the rupture and I am so grateful to have such wonderful friends who are willing to chip in and help out like this. The upstairs was in a state of disaster as 3 rooms are in a state of flux with the painting of the nursery. My DH moved a dresser into the nursery last night and was putting away the girls' laundry so the conversion from study to nursery has officially begun. I ordered some decor items from Lambs & Ivy which came in this week and I am excited to put the decals up and really make the nursery look girly girly.

We booked a doula this week and I even found someone to do maternity photos in the hospital so it has been productive - well, as much as it can be via telephone & internet. Other than that, I am trying to take advantage of this time and rest and really take it easy to give me the best shot of making it as close to term as possible. A very heartfelt thank you to everyone who has posted comments and offered support to me during this stressful time. It is truly appreciated and has kept me sane.