A Turn for the Worse.

So many of you have been so faithful to pray and knew that today was a big day for us, and I'm so sorry I'm just now getting an update posted. Today we reached 26 weeks, which is amazing, and we are so thankful for the gift of being this far along in our pregnancy. However, at our growth scan today, we got some news we were not expecting and are coming to the point where some hard decisions might have to be made in the near future. Sweet Oliver took a turn for the worse and is now in the same boat as Lena - they both have blood flow issues and are considered "IUGR" (intra-uterine growth restricted).  Lena is still not quite to 500g (the 1 lb cut off we need her at), meaning she is likely too small to be intubated if she were to come now. The good news with her though is that she IS growing and is getting so close - she's gained 120g in the last two weeks and is at 440g. Her blood flow has remained stable, so while it's not "good," it's still not deteriorating. Oliver, on the other hand, took such a drastic turn, and so quickly, that we don't have any idea what to predict from him. He is at 1 lb 7 oz, so he's big enough to intubate should we have to deliver in the next few days, but also didn't gain enough weight in the last two weeks that he has fallen to the second percentile on the growth chart (anything under 10% is concerning). Mavis and Amos are baby tanks and have both grown significantly in the last two weeks - both are coming in at 1 lb 12 oz, which is incredible.

Dr. Jackson came in and talked with Nick and I for about an hour  this evening, and we are so grateful to be in his care. We still can't believe that we have been blessed with two incredible physicians taking care of us and these babies throughout the duration of this pregnancy. What a gift. No matter what happens with these kiddos, Dr. Grant and Dr. Jackson will always be our heroes for the love and care they have both poured into us these last 26 weeks. Anyway, the long and the short of our time with him today is that we just don't have any guarantees, and we need to be prepared for anything when we have another Doppler on Friday (when they will just look at blood flow for Oliver and Lena). We could see that they are both still hanging in there and wait until Tuesday to look again (we are going back to a Tuesday/Friday schedule given the new circumstances) with no hard decisions needing to be made at this time. The other situation we could see is that Oliver is continuing to go south and we would need to make some really awful, AWFUL decisions based on what is best for the most number of babies. The worst part about this is that medically we are in gray area. They can't say for sure what the best option would be. If we were further along in gestation, it would be a no-brainer - deliver the babies and know that they all have a great chance at survival. Had we gotten to this point a couple of weeks ago, we would be in the position - as hard as it would be - where it wouldn't really be our decision because none of them could survive outside the womb and we would just need to leave them all and know that we were likely going to lose Lena in the process. So, Nick and I are just feeling icky. We are SO thankful for the progress Lena has made and the continued successful growth that Mavis and Amos are showing. Oliver, on the other hand, is heartbreaking and we just didn't see it coming. He has given us no hint at being in trouble, but like I said the other day, we know that anything can happen, and it can happen in an instant.

Nick is still at the hospital with me and we are waiting on the neonatologist to come meet with us. Dr. Jackson wanted us to get to talk with one of them again and hear their thoughts on delivering at this point based on what they know of their weights now. We just heard that Dr. Pardalos from the NICU is on his way down, so I will post this now and do another update later. Thank you for praying!!