Hospital Bedrest Days 2 & 3

Hospital bedrest has been a huge adjustment! I am so thankful for my sweet nurses. I am actually on a Women's floor instead of Labor and Delivery as we wait this out. The hospital room is so nice and room service is amazing- yes you read that right they have really good hospital food. Yesterday we had our two NST's and Jackson was not into it at all. Every time they would find his heart rate he would literally kick the monitor or the nurse's hand. You could hear him just a moving trying to squirm away- boy I think we are in for it when they get here! Eventually we got both tracings and they were great. My blood pressure stayed around the 170-160/85-95 for most of the day. I did get one better reading of 141/76 in the middle of the night. I find myself trying to find things to do all day so it doesn't drag. Luckily I have plenty of resouces with my bible, our laptop, a few books, my Nook color. I really did not realize how much I enjoyed our dog  furbaby Izzy's presence all day. Thankfully Bob was off work yesterday so I was not alone as much during the day. He just had class in the morning and went home to do some laundry for us and grab a few things from the house- did I mention how grateful I am for him. He is already settled in the the hospital room too. He even has a "workstation" as he is trying to finish up his big papers and such for this semester before the boys get here along with other homework. 

He is such a trooper sleeping on the pull out  chair bed. I know that he can not be comfortable plus he gets up with me every two hours to help me to the restrooms since they put the compression boots on my feet to prevent blood clots while I am on bed rest. Last night Josh and Jessica came to visit and give us an update on Izzy since she is staying with them. I really enjoyed the time we spent with them, as always, I am so thankful for them.
 Today has been a good day, one more day the boys get to stay in my tummy and grow. My blood pressure has been a lot better today around the 140's-150's/80's. We did an NST this morning and both boys, after a little coercing, did wonderfully!  I am hoping they will cooperate again tonight.

This is the monitor James heart rate is on the left and Jackson is on the far right.

I like to call my NST's gel parties because they have to use SO much gel, it feels really itchy after a while. Thankfully I am able to time taking my shower after it.  They drew blood at some crazy time this morning and Dr. M  came by to check on us. The blood work was still staying ok nothing severe to warrant immediate delivery. That was such a relief to hear, I get a little anxious while waiting to see one of my doctors in the morning just because we are on a day by day watch right now. She did order another 24 hr urine, you know how I love that test. Basically this could determine our next step if it rises to severe criteria we may have babies  by this weekend, which I feel a little bit better about and they do too since tomorrow we hit the 34 week mark-yay. I will say God is teaching us a lot about relying on Him right now. I get so anxious about the boys being born early and all the possible complications but I am just letting His word wash over me! I believe Him and His word and no there is no need to fear because He is in complete control. He forming these little one's in my womb, He knows the number of hairs on their head, and the days of their life. I trust Him completely, because I know He is faithful and has a perfect plan.

 So what can you pray for? Pray that my pressure stays down and the boys remain healthy and they continue to grow. Pray for our doctor(s) as they make these day to day decisions about when to deliver and our care. Pray that if there is an emergency we have peace about the decisions we may have to make. Lastly please pray for Bob and I as we try to remain calm and relaxed during this stressful waiting/unknown period. Thank you so much for you prayers already. I love reading your sweet comments. Feel free to follow our progress on the blog through our new email button on the right or by clicking on followers to get updates. 

Another Urine Test...

So we went back to the OB for our biweekly appointment. This was actually the first time in 4 weeks that I did not gain any weight between appointments. The swelling stayed the same, which is fine with me as long as it didn't worsen. I have been gaining 4-5 lbs every 3-4 days due to swelling. Anyways so then by now you know the drill (even if you didn't want to know you know what every pregnant woman must endure each doctor's visit) I had to provide a urine sample. I was hoping it was going to be ok. Well it came back with 3+ protein- not good at all! Then we took the dreaded blood pressure. It was 175/96- again NOT GOOD. So Dr. C was not happy at all. Even when I laid on my side it only came down to 150/ 89. So Dr. C sent back to the hospital to get our usual NST but she also added blood work and another lovely 24 hour urine. Thankfully the blood work came back ok. The boys also both cooperated for the NST, and I was not having contractions. So we got to go home- yay!! Unfortunately the brown jug went home with us again! I really do hate that dumb jug! Since Bob had to work our sweet friend Gene took the jug to the outpatient lab at the hospital Saturday- yeah it was really inconvenient to do the test over the weekend but that is ok whatever needs to be done for the babies. We have another appointment Tuesday so will see how that goes.

Preeclampsia and Testing...

The dreaded official diagnosis finally came today. I have pregnancy induced hypertension (PIH) also known as preeclampsia. Today, needless to say, did not go as planned we had a dr appointment at 2:20 and ended up at the hospital for a few hours finally getting home at about 7pm. When they checked my blood pressure today it was still in the high 150's over high 80's. Ok so it was like this last week only this week lying down didn't really lower it like last time. My urine also had more protein in it, so this was not a good combo! Not to mention on top of this I have been having a few more Braxton hicks than normal. The difference being that they were painful, aka real contractions, but not regular. So Dr. M did an exam the good news I was not dilated. Dr.M then had us draw labs to check my kidneys and liver function. I also have to collect a 24hour urine sample, which means I will have a jug of pee in my fridge (kinda gross I know, just don't drink out of the brown jug in the fridge). After the lab work she sent us to the birthing center for a non stress test (because they can not do that in the office with twins) and to get our first dose of steroid shots to develop the boys lungs in case we have to deliver early. The non stress test was basically me laying in a hospital bed hooked up to 3 monitors. One for each of the boy's heartbeats and then one for contractions. I was having a few contractions but they were not too concerned with them. Sadly at this point I had a major headache so they kept checking my blood pressure ever 15 minutes. The boys did beautifully on the non stress test except Jackson who decided to be all over the place and they had to keep adjusting the monitor because his heartbeat would disappear off the monitor. Happily they let me go home but I was one tired mama.

The steroid shot was not so pleasant, you would think after giving myself shots twice a day this would not bother me but it still does. We have to go back to the hospital in 24 hours for a second steroid shot. We also have an ultrasound at the high risk ob tomorrow. Then Friday we have another non stress test and doctor's appointment. It seems like we may be getting these tests twice a week now till delivery, I guess we will know more by Friday.
I know that was a lot, it was a lot for us to take in too. We are asking for your prayers. Specifically that my blood pressure would stabalize and the lab work would come back ok. Also pray that the boy's lungs develop with these shots in case we have an early delivery in the next few weeks. We also ask that you would pray for Bob's work to be flexible with these increase in doctors appointments and testing. Pray we stay calm and not stress over this possible preterm delivery of the twins and blood pressure issue. You try to prepare yourself but it is hard when it is actually happening. Thank y'all in advance for your prayers and we will try to keep you updated as much as possible through the blog so keep checking back.