27 Weeks, 1 3/4 Days!! Big Update!!

Well, this last week has been CRAZY!! I apologize greatly for leaving everyone hanging for so long! It's just I have to be having a good day to Blog or you would all be sad and worried and that's definitely not what I want!

I'll start out with Sunday, the 27th...
Matt and Hannah Noelle were planning on leaving that afternoon after dinner from the hospital and the contractions started pretty heavy and I was pretty uncomfortable so they ended up spending the night again just in case. They gave me some different medicine which calmed everything down and I was good to go by morning time.

Monday, the 28th
The family stayed until lunch or so and then went home so I could rest. Had a good nap and then my brother (Stephen a/k/a Uncle Coach), sister-in-law (Kristy a/k/a K-Pae) and nephew (Jayce) came and brought me dinner. Took my meds and off to sleep I went. Actually, I slept really good, I guess I was gearing up for the next day.

Tuesday, the 29th
This morning started out really good, but I didn't feel well enough to take a shower, which should have told me something. Had weight assessments done on the babies and my cervical length measured and it was hanging in there around 3 (I say hanging around there because as this day progressed unless I had it written down, I don't remember it!) The weights were as follows: Man in Charge, Cannon - 2 pounds, 3 oz - The Hog, Gunner - 2 pounds, 8 oz - Little Bity Lauren - 1 pound, 15 oz - Sweet, Sweet Avery - 2 pounds, 2 oz. Grow Muffins Grow!!!!!! By 11:00 the contractions started pretty heavily. Mountain after mountain is what I believe the nurse said. They immediately started an IV and had the doctor come in and check me, but everything still looked good, so the plan was to take my 1:00 contraction medicine and go from there. By 2:00 I knew I was in for it! I called the nurse and told her the contractions were back, worse and longer. They hooked me up to the monitor and the contractions were one to two minutes long and one to two minutes apart. I was in MAJOR pain at this point. I called Matt who, of course, completely freaked out! He called his Mom (Phyllis a/k/a Nana) and asked if she could pick up Hannah Noelle from school so he could head over this way immediately. Before I knew anything had happened I was on a stretcher on my way down to L&D and I had no clue what was going on. I knew if there was a way to get everything stopped they would, but if not I knew where I was headed. They gave me a very heavy sedative upon admission to L&D and when Matt got here I'm not even really sure I knew my name! They changed my contraction medicine to the next strongest which still leaves us two more before we're at the highest! I was in and out pretty much all afternoon and in pain even with the sedation. My doctor's partner made a special trip over to check out the situation and scared us pretty good when I asked if I could eat and she said, well, give me a little while to think about it. You know where our heads went, she's trying to bide time so I'm in that 8 hour window of no food so I can have a c-section. At that point I think Matt was completely over the top stressed out more than he has ever been. I probably would have been too, but the drugs were stronger than my brain at that time. She did let me eat!!! Whew!! Then came another dose of the pain medicine through the IV and when I tell you it burns, it burns... how do people do that stuff for fun, I don't get it! I was out of it more than in and very, very uncomfortable, the contractions were just SO strong! It was like the point when you see the ladies on Baby Story yelling, where is the anesthesiologist, I want an epidural! I hurt from my back to my belly down to my legs and all the way back again. My uterus was as hard as a rock and pushing up against my ribs too, which was even more painful!! By 10:00 I was done for, the meds had me talking crazy, some stories Matt will have to tell, but basically I was done for!!!! Thanks to Matt's brother (Jeremy a/k/a Uncle Jeremy) for taking HN home with him and his three daughters and managed to get them all fed, bathed and to school the next morning all alone! GO JEREMY GO!!

Wednesday, the 30th
I woke up that morning and felt even more horrible than the day before. I didn't remember much from the night before except for the pain and was still rather groggy from the medicine. And anyone that knows me knows I speak my mind pretty good without meds, so when my nurse that day made a snide comment and I was still a little loopy, I probably responded a little too fast! Nothing ugly or of a foul way, just snipped back at her snippiness...Matt ducked his head and I knew that meant it was no good!! I knew then to just sit here and be still. By the time my doctor came that morning I was an emotional, mental, psychological wreck!! I was at the point I never wanted to be at, but I was ready to give up! He is such an awesome doctor he said EVERYTHING I needed to hear to pull me right back off the ledge. He said, you've been your own cheerleader long enough, quit being a hero and let everyone else be your cheerleaders!! He said I'll even make up a cheer, but I'm not putting on a skirt!! I stayed miserable until a little after lunch and the life just started coming back to me! I took a shower, still wasn't up to washing my hair, but took a shower. Everyone knows how that will make you feel better! By that afternoon I was almost back to normal and sent Matt on his way to pick up Hannah Noelle because I knew she had to be afraid because the day before was off her normal schedule and she really likes to know who's picking her up, where's she's going.... I felt pretty good that night except for the contractions which were still one to two minutes long and four to five minutes apart, but aren't affecting my cervix so it's just my uterus saying, hello, I've got over 8 pounds of baby in here, let me rest and my cervix is saying, no, no, it's four babies at 2 pounds something each and they need to stay in there! So, needless to say, Go Cervix Go, you win that battle! I can handle the pain of contractions until night fall and then I request pain medicine to help me sleep so I'm ready for the next day. Dr. Hole said he'd rather me stay hopped up on the pain meds 24/7 so I stay in a happy place and don't get discouraged, but I think being knocked out is what makes me discouraged so I battle through the days with a Tylenol or two! Oh yeah, did I mention I failed my 3 Hour Glucose test on Monday so I can't even have a Coke, I was drinking Caffeine Free Coke before, but I can't even have that! I have to have diet drinks, unsweet tea or Coke Zero... trust me it's not the same!!! This day was the first day I failed my finger prick two hours after eating and had to have Insulin. They blamed it mostly on the fact that the had given me a shot of steroids for the babies that morning and it could have affected the results.

Thursday, the 31st
I woke up in a very good mood, felt great, was ready to face the world! Matt was here by 8:00 and was here for the BPP's on the babies which all checked out great! Fluid is great, movement great and heart rates, great!! Yeah Babies!! My doctor came in shortly thereafter and was pleased to see I was in much better spirits! He informed me that at this point, it's day by day, not week by week anymore. We will be paying close attention to Lauren to make sure her weight continues to go up and that there are no problems there since she is the smallest. He said that could be one of the many reasons to deliver soon is that she needs to be out and have medical attention. At this point being 27 weeks, we as a family and team have decided that if she starts failing, get them all out, don't let her suffer inside. The second of many reasons would be that the contractions just get out of control and we have no other option because the cervix becomes affected. Next, we concentrate on Pre-Eclampsia which as of right now, I'm having no problems with. Today was the best day all in all that I've had since I've been in L&D, which is where I will stay until delivery so that we can do 24 hour contraction monitoring. I even took a shower and washed my hair!! Woo-Hoo!! My spirits are up and I'm pushing for next Wednesday, 28 weeks! Then I'll focus on 29, then 30. After that I'm not going to make any promises!! At this point, I need to focus on two weeks at a time. I'm in a rush now because it's almost med time and once that medicine hits my IV, I'm completely out of it in about 2 minutes!!

In summary, I can do this, I know I can!!! I need cheerleaders, leave your comments, they make me smile!!! Every day wake up and say, she did it, one more day the muffins are in the oven!!! Please don't ever take offense to not getting calls when things go bad, when things are bad the only thing we're concentrating on is my health and babies, not making sure that every else knows what's going on. Sometimes it's better that not everyone knows because then they don't worry, they're staying positive which is what we need during bad times. Pray very hard that the move down to L&D will be okay for Hannah Noelle, she's not allowed to spend the night here. She came and visited today and this room is much bigger and has way more things to get her in trouble. My sister will be in town this weekend which will make things easier for HN and myself! I love having my sissy around!! Every day is an accomplishment, I think I've said that a couple hundred times in my post, but it is! Stay positive for me, stay positive for my family and the babies!! When I hear the scared sound in your voice, it makes me scared. When I hear your happy and positive voice, I'm automatically happy and positive!!! You will never know how much each of you have grown to mean to me in the last few weeks. I couldn't have done it without you!!!! I'll try to never make my posts this long again, sorry!!! Love To You All ~ Sandra