24 Weeks!!!

Oh my goodness. I'm so sorry this post is so long in coming, but lest you think I'm bored in the hospital, I'm totally not. Things are WILD here! :) I've got nurses, doctors, neonatologists, NICU nurses, social workers, dietitians, anesthesiologists, blood drawers, IV changers, and food service workers in and out of my room all the time.  Literally. All the time. The blood draw girls come in at 4:00am (so the results can be in by the time the doctors make their morning rounds), which is pretty great, especially if you're into being stabbed in the middle of the night, which I totally am. At least they're all really nice and make it as quick and painless as possible. In fact, everyone we've met here has been so, SO kind, which has made being here much more bearable. To be honest, I'm just so in awe that not only did we have the most amazing care at Dr. Grant's office, but we are getting incredible care here as well. And of course, my sweet girls at Dr. Grant's have been so faithful to check in with me and see how we're doing. I don't take it for granted that we've had nothing but the best care during this pregnancy!

Let's get to the good stuff - the babies are still cooking and we made it to our first huge milestone!! Yesterday was viability day!! 24 WEEKS!! I can't even believe we are finally here!! I know we still have so far to go before we're "out of danger" (in fact, that's not really even a thing), but every day is a victory at this point, and we are so, so grateful to be at this point. The doctors have been coming in first thing in the morning to take a quick look at the babies to make sure they all have good heartbeats, but yesterday we got to go to the clinic (that's right...I took a wheelchair ride to the other side of the hospital. In my jammies. Like a boss.) and look more closely at all of them. It took almost 2 hours, but we got to see and measure all of their little body parts, look at their fluid levels, and get an estimated weight on each of them. We also looked at Lena's blood flow, and she continues to be "intermittent absent" - meaning every once in a while the blood just stops flowing through her placenta, which sounds really scary, but they assure me isn't the worst it could be and we're okay for now. It's not great, and it's part of the reason she's so tiny, but until it becomes persistently absent or reverse, we're okay. I know so many of you are already praying so faithfully for her, but if you would continue to do so, specifically for her blood flow and growth, we would be so grateful. I mentioned it in one of my Facebook posts this weekend, but the babies have to be over a pound to have a chance at survival outside of the womb. Mavis and Amos have both gained 2 oz since we got here on Friday and are sitting at 1.5. Oliver didn't gain any, but is still at 1.3, so we'll take it. Lena, on the other hand, is only at 12 oz, so we've got some growing to do. The doctors told me on Friday that they would have liked to have seen me gain 15 more pounds at this point in my pregnancy, so they are trying to beef these babies up by putting me on a high protein diet. I'm not gonna lie...it's not my favorite thing. My belly just feels so full all the time as it is, so eating every 2 hours isn't super fun, but I will absolutely do it if it helps these tiny cats grow!

As far as my health goes, I'm doing okay. I've had some really good, easy days since I've been here, and I've had some not great, hard days too. Today is one of those hard days. I woke up at 5:00am shivering uncontrollably and achy and vomiting and we couldn't get it under control for several hours. At which point the IV girls came in to switch my IV location (I'm not attached to anything, but they have to keep a line in all the time in case of an emergency), and I immediately started throwing up again and those sweet ladies had to hold my hair back and wipe my face for me. Which all happened before they could even get the needle out of their cart. Oh, I'm a dream patient today. Luckily everyone has been so kind and no one has been outwardly mad at me for being so needy. Bless them. The doctors aren't super concerned that anything is wrong (honestly it feels more like the flu than anything pregnancy-related), but are keeping an eye on it just in case. Preeclampsia is their biggest concern with my health, and those symptoms aren't typical for that, but they are being very cautious anyway and not making me feel like a big ol baby for being so whiny today.

Other than that, I'm doing mostly okay. I'm pretty uncomfortable all the time at this point, which is to be expected. They told me that the 30 pounds I've gained is all baby and baby accouterments, so it's all hanging out right in my belly. Hooray for not being super fat everywhere, but good grief that's a lot of weight for one area of my body! If I lay still too long, all the things start to hurt and I have to heave my giant body to a different position. It's pretty glamorous. I'm also really tired all the time, but am not sleeping great at night, which, again, is totally normal and expected. It just means I cry more because, you know, crazy pregnancy hormones plus exhaustion is a recipe for disaster.

Nick and I have learned SO much about what to expect, both for the duration of the pregnancy and the babies' NICU stay, but I'm falling asleep typing this, so perhaps I'll save that for another day. Did I mention I'm so sleepy all the time?

Haha! Just kidding!! As I was typing that I was falling asleep, my nurse came in to tell me that I'm getting a new, bigger room, and a sweet girl from my church's hospital care team came to visit. See? WILD! Poor Carolyn (the nurse who I've not had yet before today and has now had to take care of my vomiting, whiny, achy self AND has had to move all my junk to a new room...pretty sure she's going to request to NEVER have me again!) is just about done with the move, so I'd better call it a day and get this posted before my big jaunt down the hall.

Thank you all so, SO much for your continued love and support. We are just overwhelmed and beyond grateful.