Again, my lack of updates, I'm sorry! Things have just been changing so fast its hard to keep up! Starting with last Friday... Baby B some elevations in her dopplers. We did them again on Saturday and they were completely normal though! When they don't have absents we do every other day ultrasounds. So Monday they were normal again and actually better than Baby A's! At least we are pretty sure that's who we had. They totally switched positions on Monday and we are pretty sure who was A and who was B but there is really no way of knowing for sure. Either way they were both normal which was great! That's most the update on the babies to this point.
As for me, that is a whole other story. My blood pressure has been getting higher and higher since Friday or Saturday. Or at least hanging out in the higher zone. They did labs on Monday that all came back pretty much the same as last week, either way still normal. Over the weekend at one point one of my nurses was threatening me that I would have to deliver that night if it didn't go down, luckily I got my meds and it did! Well yesterday they changed my meds from 500mg. twice a day to 400mg 3 times a day. Then today we changed them again to 500mg. 3 times a day.
I was a little annoyed on Saturday when I had the doctor that sent me home last time and I felt like faked some of my dopplers and was just not my favorite doctor. Well Saturday when she came in the first words out of her mouth were "well we knew you would be back at some point." I was instantly mad! If you knew I would be back why did you send me home in the first place?!!? But I also asked her what would determine delivery for her. She said if my blood pressure gets worse and we are chasing it with meds daily, or if there are any reversals, or consistent absents and high blood pressure etc. Her magic number was actually we wouldn't go past 32 weeks unlike last week I had 32-34 weeks. The good side of that was she said there isn't a lot of difference between delivering at 32 and even 36. They are pretty much developed, just need to gain weight, and their survival rate doesn't change much. That's why at one point the other mom with similar problems was told 32 weeks and why the doctor now told me 32 weeks, because at that point its better to be out than in.
So that was Saturday... I am on every other day weights and since Saturday I have gained 8 pounds and rapid weight gain is a symptom the preeclampsia is worsening. Plus my blood pressure and consistently messing with my meds without much change. Plus I am super swollen in my hands, feet and eyes, which the eyes I was blaming on allergies, but the doctor thinks its the preeclampsia. So today the doctor is thinking we might not make it to the end of the week. I have another ultrasound tomorrow and she even said with the blood pressure, if we have any absents tomorrow we will probably be talking delivery. I kind of had a feeling when I woke up this morning, and so it didn't come as a huge shock when the doctor just came in. Crazy I was just planning being a mom in 5 weeks max, then 3 weeks and now less than a week! On the bright side, we weren't supposed to make it this far, we were supposed to deliver 6 weeks ago so I am extremely grateful for everyday we've been given so far.
Ironically the NICU nurse practitioner came and talked to me right before the doctor came in. We were talking about it in group last week and the social worker highly recommended I request them to come talk to us again since we have actually hit 2 milestones since we last talked to them. (24 weeks- viability, and 28 weeks- another month closer) They were supposed to come in last night when Jim was here but they ended up pretty busy, so I wish she would have waited til tonight when Jim got here but I guess you have to take it when you can. The social worker was right in how much has changed. Basically survival isn't a concern anymore, unless something drastic and unlikely happens they should both survive. I thought this hospital tries to get them out by 36 weeks but the nurse said they would likely go home between 38 and 40 weeks. There are concerns about a valve connecting their heart to I can't remember what that stays open in the uterus to allow blood from the placenta to the heart to whatever, then back to the heart and back to the placenta. It should close after delivery but is more likely to stay open in preemies. They will likely be on some sort of breathing device, depending how much help they need determines which device they need. Hopefully since I had the steroid shots twice it won't be as drastic of measures. There is a chance they will need surfactant shots to help keep their lung inflated because that is something they are still producing inside me right now and they may not have enough of. There is a chance of problems with their guts and not taking milk very well for a little while. I can't remember all the problems that could happen with their guts but I thought it was mostly milk related. There is a chance of brain hemorrhages from these 4 ventricles in their brains but their skull caps aren't connected yet so swelling in their heads is ok to a point. Just something they monitor for and if it gets severe enough may have to do surgery. They will likely have jaundice and have blue lamps to help their skin color return to normal. As for long term effects, the most common will be learning disabilities, ADHD, ADD, just slower at learning, speech delays, etc. The bright side is they should be far enough along that blindness won't be an issue. Overall lots of potential problems, but they could have none of them, some of them, all of them, no way of knowing. Its good to be prepared though.
I'm just going to leave this medical for the day, hope everyone is having a good week! God bless!
Love- Heather, Jim, Anabell and Isabell
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