26 Weeks - Dr. Visit and Tour of NICU

One more week down!  We had a pretty good doctor visit today.  The only glitch is that my blood pressure kind of skyrocketed in the dr. office (160/100 - yikes!).   All of my home blood pressure readings have been good, though, so I think the key is to rest as much as possible.  When I get out and about is when the blood pressure starts creeping back up...not to mention my uncanny talent for making my blood pressure shoot up anytime I get within 100 ft. of a doctor's office.  So, for the first time in well over a month, the doctor increased my labetalol to 500 mg. three times daily.  If that doesn't do the trick, then we have to add another medication to try to keep it under control.

Other than that, the babies all looked fine.  I can't remember the heart rates, but they were all normal.  Also, my cervix measurement was back up to 4.5 cm.  That was a relief after last week when it dipped down below 4 for the first time.  Next week we will finally do another growth scan on the kiddos....I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they are all at least 2 pounds.  I had to have some routine lab work done today as well.  I'm not sure what all it was for, but let's hope I don't get any calls from the dr. office in the next day or two saying something doesn't look right.  The past two times I've had labwork I've gotten phone calls like that so hopefully the third time's a charm.

My mom went up to Columbia with me today so we decided to head over to labor and delivery and the NICU to take a tour since I had never been there and I wanted to feel like I was more prepared.  The labor and delivery area was pretty much what I expected.  The antepartum and postpartum rooms are very nice, very big and private (thank God).  So, if I end up on hospital bedrest for a while before this whole thing is over, it doesn't look like it will be quite as bad as I had imagined it would be.  In the same area is the well baby nursery and the Level II nursery, which is where the babies will eventually end up most likely when they reach the point of being "feeders/growers"...which means that they are healthy, but they just need to gain weight before they go home.

We then went downstairs to the NICU, which is in all likelihood where the babies will spend at least some time after they are born.  I am extremely glad that I took the opportunity to check it out for several reasons.  The biggest reason is to mentally prepare myself for what the babies will probably look like when they are born.  I realize that I will be lucky if these babies are all 4 pounds or more when they are born, but until I went to the NICU and saw all of the preemies, I don't think I really had any concept of just how tiny a 4 pound baby really is.  If I hadn't gone to the NICU, I think it would have really been a shock to me.

The other reason I'm glad we went on the tour is that any time that I think I am just completely miserable being pregnant and that maybe it wouldn't be so bad to have the babies a little earlier, all I need to do is remember how tiny those babies were and all of the tubes and ventilators they were on.  That will quickly cure me of any concerns over my own discomfort and remind me that the ultimate goal is to keep these babies cooking as long as it is healthy for all of us to do so.  I'm still sticking by my goal of 34-36 weeks, which will be anytime between January 31st - February 14th.  We'll see...ultimately I guess it's not really under my control!

There's really nothing else exciting going on.  We got the Christmas decorations put up, so that was the highlight of the week.  Honestly, if it wasn't for the kids, I don't think I would've even bothered with them this year, but I'm glad we did now that they are up.  Physically, I'm still feeling pretty good.  My carpel tunnel has been pretty frustrating this week and often wakes me up at night.  I've also found that I've gone from wanting to sleep all the time and taking lots of naps, to being up and down all night long and not really napping at all.  I guess that's to be expected as it becomes more difficult to get comfortable and as Baby A grows bigger and takes up residence right on my bladder.

I was hoping to have the nursery done last weekend, but unfortunately I am still waiting for the border to arrive before we can go any further.  The tracking number shows that it was picked up by the post office two weeks ago but has still not been delivered!  I'm starting to get frustrated because I would really like to see that room get done! 

Well, no new pictures to post...once again the girls were completely uninterested in posing for the camera.  Maybe next week when we do the long ultrasound.