34 Weeks

So I didn't take pictures this week. Something about being irritable and sore and not wanting to do anything. At all. Ever. But I should give a little update on my 34 week status. We are still getting checked twice a week at Maternal Fetal Medicine at Utah Valley Regional Medical Center. We have been going there for months getting twice-monthly ultrasounds. And now we have transitioned to twice-weekly Non-Stress Tests (NST's). This includes a very quick ultrasound, mostly just to check fluid levels on each baby. But they also check things like making sure Baby B is staying head down and watching their little rib cages expand to check their lung development. The bulk of the NST is the part where I have to lay there forever while they monitor each twin's heart rate and monitor for contractions.

I tell people that one of the risk factors I have with this pregnancy is that it is my fourth and I have never felt a contraction before. I literally do not know what they feel like! So there is certainly not a way for me to track their regularity or intensity. This is awesome in that my labors and deliveries are typically very easy and painless. But it is absolutely terrifying to know that those easy deliveries typically go REALLY fast. Seriously, with Hailey, Brandon almost missed it, and the OB did miss it. I was checked and I was dilated to a 5 and not feeling a thing. I went to the bathroom and 20 minutes later I was at a 10 and having 3 nurses yell at me to not push until they could get a doctor in there. Poor Brandon had stepped into the hallway for just a minute to say hi to my brother and when he got back in the room there was yelling and chaos and a very friendly, pleasant wife screaming, "where is my freaking husband?!?" Seriously, he was probably in the hallway for 5 minutes when he heard a code white being paged followed by my room number. Obviously he came running back. (Code White is hospital emergency code for a pediatric emergency.)

So back to that 34 week update. I had an NST yesterday that went really well with no concerns or issues. I then had a check-up with Dr. Grover. Did I mention in an earlier post that she is amazing and I adore her? She congratulated me on making it to the 34 week mile-marker. She told me that from that point on they would not put me on bedrest or try and stop labor if it happens. She said that everything at this point should be good and that we are just hoping they stay in a bit longer just because every week from here on out makes them stronger and healthier. Then she checked me. Ha ha.

Sometimes the best part of my appointments with her is the look on her face when I know she is really stressed out. Apparently I am dilated to a 4, 80% effaced, and most definitely have Baby A's head as low as it can possibly be without falling out. After all my soreness lately, Brandon joked that Dr. Grover was going to feel a head this week. I told him that wasn't funny. Jokes on me! Anyhow, because of that whole can't-feel-contractions thing I have, plus the whole five-to-a-ten-in-twenty-minutes thing, Dr. Grover is super concerned about me having babies in the car. Or in WalMart. Now, I know that all of this is relative. I really could be pregnant for another month. Labor is kind of like that. But I also very aware of the idea that I could have babies tomorrow! So here I am. 34 weeks. A little nervous. Mostly excited. And ready to see how this all pans out!