Yesterday afternoon around 4:30 I started having more contractions - strong/painful ones. The typical guideline for pre-term labor is more than 4 an hour but for twins it's more than 6. I counted over 10 for each of the next two hours so we called the on-call doctor and he sent us right to North Memorial. They hooked me up to the monitors and did many tests....the monitors were showing regular contractions every 2 minutes. The fetal fibronectin (FFN) test came back negative so that was good news, but the cervix was now 90% effaced and dilated to 1.5 cm. While not a huge change in the last week it was a change and the doctor really wanted to calm the contractions down since it was evident they were causing changes. They gave me a series of two shots of Terbutaline an hour apart and that helped significantly. I felt a lot better even with the yucky side effects of the medicine (heart-race, jittery). They then gave me the first of two shots of steroids to help the baby's lungs develop. I guess boys (since they're not as tough as girls!) typically have a harder time with breathing when they're born premature. It is very normal to give these shots as precaution with twins. They then gave me a pill version of the Terbutaline and sent me home (thank goodness!). When I got there they put an ID band on me and I didn't think that was a good sign! I have to go back tonight around 8:00 for the second steroid shot and then I see my doctor again on Monday. We really hope this Terbutaline continues to work - the next step is Magnesium which would require me to be in the hospital.
Gussie was excited when we got home - he's not used to me leaving!
Oh - so the tie-in to the subject of this posting....this new oral medication must be taken every 3 hours exactly. That means setting an alarm every 3 hours around the clock. Luckily Ben's new iphone that he got for his birthday has a "timer" on it so we set that for every 3 hours. It makes me feel jittery (not as bad as the shots) but enough to keep me awake. The "practice" Ben is getting is just the waking up part - but not the getting up part yet!
It was nice - the hospital is close to our house and they were not busy at all so we were seen right away in the labor/delivery section of the hospital. Ben explained to me on the way home that every good farmer knows why the hospital wasn't busy last night....we are in the middle of a high pressure weather system and calves are typically born in low pressure systems because (in Ben's words "they just fall out "). TYPICAL male comment!! Regardless of the barometric pressure last night these babies are still safe and sound and continuing to GROW!
And - since postings are more fun with pictures - here's an old picture from Halloween of the boys' pumpkins (baby A and baby B)! I am pretty sure they knew it was Halloween, too, because I definitely ate enough candy for the three of us!
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