OK...time to exhale!

32 weeks! In the world of preemies 32 weeks is a huge milestone...If born today, Caroline would not need a level 3 NICU..a level 2 would do...This means I get to deliver at Community South with my own doctors. I dont, however, feel comfortable with Caroline at CHS until I pass 34 weeks. So, if for some reason I need to deliver in the next 2 weeks I will insist of delivering at Community North. I know they have a great NICU. I know most of the staff and protocols. Plus, I'm sure Alex would love to see old friends.
In preparation for delivery, I did steroid shots at 32 weeks to make my amnio more likely to be mature. Delivery really feels close. I just realized that I have a bunch of things I need to get done before she comes home. Setting up her crib ( we cant find the bolts from LAuren's crib is anyone knows where they are!) I'm in no rush to really set up the crib because I plan to use a co-sleeper next to me for at least 6 months. I need to change out all the batteries from all the infant swings in the basement. Set up the pack and play. Figure out the car seat situation. Find the bottles (again, if anyone knows where these are tell me!) Luckily, I've already gone through all the baby clothes in early November when I found out gender. I have SO MANY girl clothes that Caroline doesn't have to wear the same thing twice. ..until she is 3...Caroline doesn't really need anything..Only her own baby book (which my mom is getting) and I already bought her her own lovey.
I've started struggling with weight gain... I had a goal of hitting 150# by the end of this pregnancy. I got to 141 at 26 weeks and everyone in my office cheered....now I weigh 139 boo! I'm telling you...very few pregnant people have the problem of TRYING HARD to gain weight! I've actually lost 2 pounds in the past 6 weeks. Urgh! Luckily, Caroline found those 2 pounds and measured in at 3#11oz...this is more than both Alex and Lauren weighed TOGETHER at birth.
In the world of Alex, he is FINALLY really to take off with his speech. First he mastered gross motor skills, then fine motor and now he's on to speech! I finally took another video of him where it took him almost 30 seconds to realize I was taping him and attack the camera..He also got a new haircut from a friend of mine who said he couldn't handle looking at Alex's mullet anymore!

Best big brother!

Alex is going to be the best big brother! We've had a 2 month old baby visit us a few times and Alex is so interested and gentle!
I've had a really hard time getting good pictures of Alex in the past few months. As soon as I see an opportunity, Alex sees me and the camera then stops whatever he is doing to grab the camera. Then, I mostly get a picture of his thumb, or half his face.
We made a change to increase his calories and we've really struggled. The increased calories have caused some delayed gastric emptying. After an hour long session with a dietitian, I think we've come up with a good plan...one that hopefully involves very little vomiting.
Also on a good note...I'm on the books for an amnio done by MFM (the high risk docs) on April 16. My doc felt uncomfortable doing it based on where my placenta is...Then those results get run stat and I SHOULD be good to deliver the next day (the 17th!) which I'm scheduled. If lungs come back immature we will repeat that whole thing the following week. I've gotten a bunch of questions about what the deal is with the delivery at 36 weeks.
It is all risk vs. reward.
Risk of 39 week delivery? If I kick into labor before that point my uterus has a vertical incision on it which is much more likely to rupture (read :death)
Risk of 36 week delivery? Breathing problems for Caroline if her lungs are not mature.
So if lungs are mature at 36 weeks the safest option for both of us is delivery.
If not mature we wait a week.

a week beginning with 3!

It's official, I will deliver Caroline in a week that begins with the number 3! I'm over a month past where I delivered the twins. Caroline did so well with her monitoring last week I get to drop down to once a week monitoring. I cant wait to get to 32 weeks. At that point babies have a pretty uneventful course in the nicu. At 35 weeks she would have a shot at coming home with me. That's the goal, a take home baby. A fully breastfed, eating, breathing baby that any teenager could raise. One that doesn't need monitoring , oxygen, wires or extensive training. I dream of the take home baby and cant wait for that day..actually, I can wait 6 weeks!

did someone say PRESCHOOL????

Alex will age out of his first steps therapy at age 3. At that point he will qualify for the local carmel developmental preschool for his language delay. Preschool is 2.5 hours in the morning. He can be transported by school bus both to and from school. I don't know how I feel about my small 3 year old ride the bus by himself. I will probably bring him outside to watch the big kids get on and off their bus at the beginning of next school year to see if he gets excited about the bus. If hes not excited I will just drive him. He will do OT for feeding through my insurance. His physcal therapy has been decreased to 2xmonth because he's pretty much caught up gross motor wise. In 3 months he will graduate totally from PT.
I meet with alex's dietition twice a month. This last visit alex's weight has been the same for the past few months. The dietition thinks he needs more calories based on how much more active he is now than 6 months ago. During this 10 minute long conversation Alex jumped up and down about 20 times, spun in circles, made over 15 laps around the lower level, threw the ball to the dog then to himself. Yeah, he's a bit active!
Caroline is doing great. Current weight 3#1oz! She was also sucking her thumb on ultrasound. Passing her 2xweek BPP with flying colors!

what's this?? The THIRD trimester?!?!?!?

It feels really good to be in the third trimester! 2 months to go (if I'm lucky!) I don't mind being off my feet as muchas I can this time. With the twins it was depressing to be in the hospital and more then a month away from bare-bones viability. I'm making good progress. I still have some contractions but nothing you would write home about. I feel releaved that even if Caroline was delivered today she would not only make it but have a good shot of being just fine. I got to do my 28 week labs...which oddly enough I was looking forward to...and of course I passed with flying colors! I have not received steroids injections yet...they want to time them within the week of delivery for maximum effectiveness. This is a good sign that no one thinks I'm with in a week of delivery. By popular demand I'm going to try and post a pic of Alex "touching" Caroline.

Every. Day. Counts.

28 weeks! Now I can breathe. Mortality rates at 28 weeks are almost nothing.
I woke up Sunday morning contracting every 5 minutes for over 2 hours. I went into the hospital where Caroline's heart rate was showing some mild variables...this bought me an IV, NPO status, and an overnight stay. Contractions became very under control with some Procardia which I now take every 8 hours. Procardia is actually a BP medicine used off label for preterm laborious. The other reason I stayed the night was to make sure my BP didn't drop too much. In fact, they cut the dose in half during the night because of low BP.
Since Ive been released,Ive seen the high risk OB who delivered the twins. She did a through ultrasound looking at the chord to make sure there was no entangling. Dopplers were done that proved good blood flow. Caroline passed a BPP with 10/10. I also talked ultrasound tech into turning the ultrasound machine to 3D and 4D. It was very cool. Caroline has my mouth and I could see the dimple in her chin. I would post the pic but its too much effort to scan it into the computer.
The plan from here on out is to continue to stay off my feet as much possible. Procardia every 8 hours. Weekly ultrasounds and twice weekly NST.
I'm off work now until July. Don't worry, I still get to go into the office twice a week to see my friends. I plan on coasting through the next month.

26 weeks!

I've been trying for the past 3 days to get a picture of my "former 26 weeker" with his hand on my current 26 weeker...but there was little cooperation and even less photographic skill. As of today I'm officially 3 days past where I had the twins. At 26 weeks, Caroline weighs in at 2 pounds even. At 26 weeks Alex was 1 pound 10 oz and Lauren was 1 pound 12oz. So you can see how much bigger Caroline is!
In the medical field 23 weeks is considered "viability" where they try to save the baby. This whole pregnancy I've thought of 26 weeks as that. That being said, I've cut my activity level way back...I have people coming in to play with Alex so I can be off my feet as much as possible...ultimate goal is 10 more weeks...but I NEED 2 more to breathe easily.

In further news, in the past 2 weeks Alex has been doing MUCH better with eating...I figured I needed to post another picture soon...disregard his "special needs hair" that needs to be wet down after nap and sleep to look normal!