Quiet day

Not a lot going on today at the hospital. Pauline and the twins are doing fine. Mom-to-be got a new kind of IV that will last for the entire stay. That was the only big event!

- J

Still no babies

We're officially at 30 Weeks + 3 days today. The contractions were speeding up this morning (about 10 an hour) but settled down to about 4 an hour after the doctor gave Pauline more drugs. Her OB will be checking in on her tomorrow, so we'll be able to get a better idea of where we go from here.

Today has been pretty normal other then that. I've started working again, Pauline is still relaxing in bed!

- J

Back to normal

Looks like we're back to normal this afternoon. Pauline was having about 5-6 contractions an hour this morning during the monitoring.

Thanks for all the support out there!

- J

Almost...

Pauline's contractions took a big jump last night. During her nightly monitoring (they do that twice a day for about an hour - once in the morning, once before she goes to sleep) Pauline was having 11-12 contractions an hour. The last few days she was pretty consistant with 5-6 an hour.

The doc was called... a few hours and a few different drugs later, everything was fine again. Her contractions were back down to about 3-5 an hour by 2 am when I finally went to sleep. Pauline was out of it for the most part because of the drugs!

She's doing her morning monitoring right now... I'll let you know how that goes later today. ;-)

- J

Status Quo...

We're still waiting. Pauline is getting about 5-6 contractions an hour. The doctors and nurses aren't concerned about that. If she gets more than that... they may re-evaluate the treatment.

Bottom line... we're here until those babies decide it's time to come out and play!

Things have been pretty uneventful the last day or two. We got a tour of NICU (Neo-natal intensive care unit) yesterday. That's where the twins will stay until they're strong enough to go home. We saw a pair of twin boys who were born at 28 weeks and had been in NICU for about 16 days (so they were about as old as our twins are now). Pauline seemed comforted by it... but I found the whole thing pretty disturbing. I understand that's the best place for them to be (other then in the womb) but the thought of seeing my little boy and girl connected to all those tubes and wires... I don't know how to describe it. It's a little frightening, sad, and frustrating all at once.

It will be hard to seem them like that the first time.

On a happier note... Pauline and the twins are doing great! Pauline's been able to sleep most of the night in the new room (fewer interruptions from the staff). She's been journaling and catching up on her reading. I've been relaxing and messing around on our laptop.

The biggest down side for me - no wireless internet access! That means I'll have to leave the hospital to do work on Tuesday.

- J

BIG NEWS!!!

No twins yet... but they are close!

This is going to be a long post, so stay with me.

Pauline came to the hospital Wednesday for a normal weekly non-stress test. The babies have their heart rate monitored and Pauline is checked for contractions. Well... it turns out she's 2 cm dialated now and she was having contractions pretty close together. She was admitted to labor and delivery by that afternoon.

They monitored her and the babies for 24 hours and put her on drugs to stop the contractions. She was only at 29 1/2 weeks, so the twins need more time to grow. I stayed the night with her.

By Thursday, she was moved up to the next floor for "near-mothers". She is monitored 2 times a day now and keeps taking the anti-contraction drugs through an IV.

That's where we continue to be. She's having about 6 contractions an hour. An ultrasound shows the babies are both breech now. I'd have one of those wonderful diagrams I'm famous for, except I'm using a hopsital computer and I can't get to the paint program to draw it. Basically, the twins are now both head-up (the wrong way!) and they're side by side now. Hannah is on Pauline's right, Scott is on her left.

Pauline will probably stay here for the rest of the pregnancy. The doctors and nurses can't say how long she'll hold out. We could have twins today... or a month and a half from now.

Everyone at the hospital has been great! Pauline is pampered by all the nurses and loves the "room service" meals.

There is a direct line to the hospital room, but I don't want to post in on the net. You can call either of our parents to get the number if you'd like to call and say "Hi". I know she'd appreciate hear from you!

- J

Super Mueller Wonder Twins Update!

Whew! It's been a crazy couple of weeks around the Mueller household. Between the doctor visits, the hospital visits, and daily life (read: "work") there hasn't been a lot of time to just stop and relax. I probably won't get much time today, but since I have a few minutes at lunch time, I wanted to upload a few pictures for you guys to enjoy.

The first is Pauline's belly. It's fun to watch the babies move around in there. The kitties don't like it nearly as much as I do. They try to snuggle with their mommy at night and the babies kick them! ;-)


(click on image to enlarge)

And we also have the results of a week worth of bed rest - one cross stitched sheep. (Actually, it's the result of 3 months of work and one week of bed rest. She started the sheep back in March.)


(click on image to enlarge)

Pauline is very proud of her sheep. She hopes to have the entire blanket done by the time Hannah or Scott has a child...


(click on image to enlarge)

That's all for now folks. Thanks for checking in on us!

So it ain't that bad...

Bed rest is, well, challenging. I have to fight myself to lay back and relax! That's very tough for me. I hate not being productive.

Don't worry, I know better! It's best for me and the babies. Plus, Jason is keeping an eagle-eye on me :-)

As you may have read, I'm on super-duper restricted bed rest. Can't even sit up or stand (except for bathroom breaks). We bought a ton of pillows. The cats enjoy the new bed situation, taking advantage of all the extra pillows and blankets.

So it is books, variety puzzles, tv, and the internet for me. Ah, it's a tough life :-)

Hopefully the babies will stay in for another couple of months!

-P

Close call...

And getting closer! The doctor had Pauline come in for a check-up just to see how things were progressing since she was in Monday. I had some work to take care of, so Pauline's sister took her to the appointment.

Unfortunately, things are loosening up again.

They did a special test (Fetal fibronectin) to see if her body was in pre-term labor. If it's negative, there is a 99% chance the mother isn't in pre-term labor.

Pauline's test was positive.

You can read the Web MD Article I linked to about the test to see exactly what that means - the Reader's Digest version is simple... it doesn't mean anything for sure. Contractions could cause a false-positive, and she's obviously had some of those recently.

Pauline was sent to the hospital again to have the twins monitored. I met up with her there. We did have some good news on that front - there were no more contractions. After about 2 hours of monitoring, we made our way home.

For the time being, bed rest is a lot more restrictive. Pauline is not allowed to get out of bed for anything except bathroom breaks and a quick shower in the morning. She can't even sit up!

It's going to be a trying few weeks, but it will all be worth it to have two perfect little babies.

- J

Oh the dreaded BED REST at last!

Monday morning Jason and I went to what we thought would be a routine doctor's appt. I took my glucose test (to check for gestational diabetes) and got blood drawn.

But, oops, Pauline, you are dilated 1 cm. at 29.5 weeks! (Not good -- 1 week ago everything was buttoned up tight). Dr. Paulson could even tell Scott is now head-down!

So it's a steroid shot in the butt and total restricted bed rest!

After the appointment, I went along to a sales call with Jason. Afterwards it was a surprise lunch visit to my Mom's work, then off to my work to break the news to my boss (Sue).

Sue was very reassuring. She told me not to worry about anything. So nice. She has 4 kids of her own! I will have to be working out more stuff with human resources and short-term disability, but otherwise its all taken care of already. My bed rest, fortunately, will get covered by AFLAC (about 1/2 months' pay per month). Maternity leave after the babies come will be unpaid, but we'll deal with that when it comes.

Jason's boss, Mike, and assistant, Lori, have been super-great. Very understanding -- especially with hospital visits, doctors appt.s and unexpected turn of events (like yesterday.) They're even trying to work out a way to help Jason stay at home more!

I HATE HATE HATE bed rest. There are so many things to do before the babies come. Jason isn't letting me lift a finger! :-) Amanda, my parents, Amy, and Jason's parents have rushed to help with chores, groceries and meals. What would we do without them?!

This turns ALL of our plans upside-down, of course. As well as our finances. Whew! We have no idea what to expect, but are hoping for 2 happy healthy babies. (Stay in there as long as you can, you two!)

F.Y.I. Tommorow (Wednesday) I am having a follow-up appointment with Dr. Paulson. She's going to check things out again. After this, it will be weekly appointments at the hospital (baby monitoring) and with Dr. Paulson. We'll ALL be vigilant!

-P

Nursery at last!

Sorry we haven't written more this week. Life has been a little crazy. Between the hospital visits, work, and life - there hasn't been a lot of time to sit down and blog about the babies.

I'll have photos for you soon, but I'll try to describe the changes to the nursery. The Conrads (Pauline's parents) stopped by on Sunday and dropped off the changing table/dresser. They also bought the bedding for the cribs (Pauline loves that Noah's Ark pattern). Things are really starting to come together. I suppose there's nothing like a deadline to make it happen, eh?

Pappy Mueller (AKA Scott Classic or Grandpa Scott) and I will be building the shelving and window seat within the next week or two depending on our schedule.

- J

Hospital - Take 2

I had another visit to the hospital today. I had a lot of back pain, which is a sign of contractions, but this time it was just back pain. The teeny tiny contractions I did have was just from an over-worked uterus, dehydration and pushing myself too hard. The babies are very very healthy and had a great heart rate. They're the ones who are the least stressed!

I only stayed about 2 hrs this time and went right to work afterward.

I'll have another dr. appt. on the 15th, so Dr. Paulson and I will talk about restrictions and/or bed rest.

-P

Better news

We met with the doctor this morning. The twins and mom are still doing fine. It looks like the medication she was prescribed this weekend is working to stop the contractions. The doctor tells us that's a really good thing - any contractions the medicine stops are contractions that aren't leading to labor (aka "real contractions").

It was a big relief to know we are going to have a little more time to prepare for the babies! Tomorrow I'll let you know about the nursery fun that happened this weekend.

- J

A scary situation

We had our first really scary situation in the pregnancy this weekend. Yesterday we finished working on the nursery (more on that over the next few days) and Pauline was having some abdominal pain. She was tired, so she took a nap. A few hours later, we went to dinner - but the pain was still there and getting worse.

We decided to call a nurse hotline and they recommended she come in just to be on the safe side. So, around 9:30 Saturday night, we jump in the car and drove half an hour to the hospital. They hooked Pauline up to a machine to monitor the heartbeats of each twin and her abdominal muscles.

Four and a half hours later, they decided we could go home. Pauline was having contractions - but small ones. She was given a medication to stop them and things really settled down. We left just before 3:00 am Sunday morning to find a 24 hour pharmacy to fill the prescription. We finally made it home this morning around 5:00 am.

The good news - we're all a little tired, but Pauline and the twins are fine! She's been resting all day today and we'll go back to the doctors first thing Monday morning for more monitoring and to decide what we'll do next.

- J

Ultrasound III - Revenge of the babies

Today was ultrasound #3. This one was a lot quicker then the others. The woman working the machine was taking the measurements on both babies and confirmed - yes, Hannah is a girl. She couldn't get a good look at Scott because he was curled up and being a little camera shy.

So here are the vitals...

Scott: 26 weeks, 5 days; 2 pounds, 3 oz.; Due date - Aug 4, 2006

Hannah: 27 weeks, 2 days; 2 pounds, 5 oz.; Due date - July 31, 2006

Bottom line - everyone is healthy and right on schedule.

Of course, it will suck for Pauline to be in labor for 4 days, but that's the price you pay for becoming a mother, right?!? Ok, so maybe those dates are a little off. The doctor says they'll probably do a c-section around week 36 or 38 if things keep going the way they are. That would mean the Super Mueller Wonder Twins will make their first out-of-the-womb appearance the around the second week of July.

-J

Jason forgot to mention that the babies' heads are close together, like they're plotting something.... Hannah is still horizontal (she's held on to that prime real estate! Her butt is just under my right-hand side ribcage). Scott is head-up with his feet down (vertical, on my left side). They might move more before July (there's STILL a little room apparently even though I feel STUFFED!) but it won't matter much if they're breech since I'm going to have a planned C-section (it's actually less stressful for me and the babies that way, I believe). Even if (oops) the babies can't wait that long, the hospital will still perform a C-section. It's ALL okay.

-P

What's up, Doc?

Today was another normal trip to the doctor. At 26.5 weeks I look like I'm at 32. I finally weigh my pre-pregnancy weight.

One little pet peeve is that I had to wait a half-hour before I got a room and another half-hour before the doctor came in. When you're tired, pregnant and hungry, the wait is even worse. But, the babies are healthy, and I should be grateful.

Between 26 and 28 weeks it's normal to have a gestational diabetes test. They give you a sugary carbonated beverage and have you wait an hour before they take bloodwork. The Nurse's Aide expected me to be ready for that with no warning! Since I hadn't eaten that morning, I said no. I'll get it next time, Monday the 15th. Looking forward to it... kind of... After 30 weeks I'll have appointments 1 week apart at the hospital; they'll hook me up to a monitor to check the babies before my normal check-up.

This Wednesday (May 3rd) is our next ultrasound. Yay! I'm guessing the babies are now both horizontal. (Hannah is on top bunk and Scott's on the bottom!) Boy, has Scott been kicking and kicking! After I get home it's usually 1 to 3 hours of kicking and punching when I'm in bed. I play solitaire... lots of solitaire. Hannah has still been doing her push-ups but I am beginning to get used to them.

-P