Day 48: T-4

I am so ready for a nap...

Both babies had the BPP's done by Dr P, our favorite Resident who came over from Delivery! :) Bobby scored his 8 points in five minutes and Maya hers in about six minutes! Woo Hoo! (To score the points, the BPP must take place within half an hour. A lot of times, the breathing will take a while to find. Last week, it took like 20 minutes for Bobby's to be found and viewed, although with the breathing, the motion must be viewed over a 30 second period. So, the babies have up to half an hour and they dont get extra points for taking five minutes or the full thirty. But it saves us some gray hairs!!!)

Bobby's charting wasnt as good this morning as yesterday, but it is such a roller coaster ride. We just take it one day at a time and try not to judge things like this as setbacks. It was pretty much the same that it has been, there just werent as long of periods of the regular beats. He had some rises; they just didnt last as long. But that is to be expected... Mostly, he was 70s still.

At my u/s with Dr C from MFM today, I asked him if he felt (like Dr B does) that the 70s are the ventricular heartbeats or if (like the Residents/nurses) that the monitor is half counting. He agrees with Dr B. He said that, in his opinion, the PACs (premature atrial contractions, where it beats 2x or even 3x before the ventricle can beat once) are causing the ventricle to go into a resting mode because it cant keep up. When the monitor rises and the sounds are normal, it's because the PAC goes away momentarily and the ventricular can keep up, hence a normal heartbeat. He also agreed with Dr B that Bobby is tolerating this well and that it is his heart's way of protecting itself from harm, which is working. The meds I am on are not to "fix" the arrhythmia but to keep the atrial beats from being super high (like they were when this was first discovered), so he feels it is doing its job well and would like me to stay on it. (Peter had asked Dr B yesterday if he felt that it was worthwhile to stay on the meds since Bobby was no longer SVTing and he had suggested asking an MFM doctor after saying he felt it was better we stay on it for similar reasons). It was a good scan and I really like Dr C. He has such a great personality and is always willing to answer questions. You never feel like you are inconveniencing him by asking. He also mapped Bobby's heart on screen and you could see the atrial beats in the 150s-170s.

It's crazy to think that in 4 days I will be 28w. At that point, we enter into a new NICU realm. I'm debating on asking the doctor back to give me the 28w-32w scenarios or to just let Peter listen and give it to me (he's thinking of going up for a NICU visit and a scenario talk). I may ask the CRNP to ask a doctor to come down next week. I'd like to know the difference in prognosis since our last talk. Although I'm starting to actually feel confident that we will go all the way. I remember having this feeling with Alexander and soon after being pushed out of my dream world, but I cant help it. The more days that go by... The more I see the number of days I've been here grow and the number yet to go shrink... That I see the babies growing on ultrasound and, for all intents and purposes, being healthy... The more I think 36w might be a reality. I know there is still so much that could go wrong (even if we get there) but I finally feel like "we can make it". It's an interesting feeling. I really hope that we will. If only hoping could make it so...

My bedrest buddy came to visit me today. She's had 3 bedrest pregnancies (from 12w on). She comes each week and brings me a little gift and spends some time in conversation. She's so sweet. Today, she brought two little stuffed animals for the babies. It was a nice break to the day and she's a treat to chat with. We talk about pregnancy stuff but also about normal people stuff, like books and hobbies. She inspires me to want to do this once I am off bedrest; at first, I thought it was kind of lame to have someone come visit me just because I was on bedrest, but it really is so nice to have her come each week for a few minutes and I really look forward to it.

Okay... Nap time. I can barely stay awake...