37 weeks-FULL TERM

Really folks, who goes full term with twins? Um, me. My body is made to carry babies. I don't gain a ton of weight, I don't retain water and swell up even when the temperatures reach the high 90s, I don't waddle, I have a cervix of steel, I am able to go full term without an issue.....trust me all of these things and many more have been tested with this twin pregnancy.

Everything I read kept saying, "most twins are born between 32 and 37 weeks." We began preparing for their big arrival about a month ago and nothing! Not that I'm complaining because this means that our baby girls will not have to go to the NICU and will be able to come home with us from the hospital. That is the real blessing. And I'm so happy that I am able to share my body with these two wee lasses.  But now that we've reached this point, I'm ready for them to be out. I'm uncomfortable and I want to be able to reach my toes again. And, I'm carrying over 12lbs of baby....that's a lot. My back hurts, my hips hurt, my belly hurts. And I feel like I've been kicked in the crotch....sorry for the TMI.

Monday I went for my 37 week OB appointment, ultrasound and NST. Everything looked great for all three appointments. Both babies are still head down. Heartbeats were all good. Both babies had good movement and did their breathing exercises. Everything seems to be going well. The NST did show that I was having some mild contractions. It was nothing painful, but I just had a tightening feeling across my belly. I had either 3 or 4 during the 45 minutes that I was having the NST done. So, it seems like things are moving in the right direction. God willing and the creek don't rise (I just love random little sayings like that so I thought I would throw that in for a little flare!)

I met with the NP. She actually voiced some concern about how I haven't seen Dr Voelkel in a really long time and that I won't get to see her until after I hit the 38 week mark....it will have been since 32 weeks that I've seen my OB and talked with her. So the NP explained a little bit more about what happens if I am still pregnant at my 38 week appointment. She said that as long as both babies and myself are doing just fine that I can stay pregnant until 40 weeks (they don't recommend going past that point because of the size of the babies). And if I want to do that, the staff there will fully support that decision. But, if this pregnancy is taking a toll on my body and I'm ready to have these babies, as long as the babies are healthy enough to be born (which they already are) labor can be induced after 38 weeks. She asked if I had any idea of how I was feeling at this point, if I was wanting to wait it out or if I wanted some medical intervention. Right now I'm leaning on the side of taking some meds and getting this thing started. I would love to go into labor naturally and I hope that I do, but if I reach next Tuesday and still am not making much progress towards labor and delivery, I will opt for the meds at that point....I think. For me the discomfort plays a role, but also, I think that I will just feel better when the babies are born. After going through Violet's death, I often wonder about the health of my babies and I think that seeing them and knowing for sure that they are happy and healthy will ease my mind a bit. I just want to see them and hold them and stop all the anxious feelings that I have every time I realize its been an hour or two since I've felt them move.

The NP explained a little bit more about what would happen if I were to be induced. Next week Dr Voelkel will examine me to see if I have dilated any more and if I've effaced. If you don't know what effacement is, check it out. As of last week, I am 1cm dilated and 40% effaced. So, the process has started, which is great. And since she didn't check me this week, things could be different by now. All of the cramping feelings that I have been having are all working towards dilating and effacing my cervix. So, if for some reason I have not effaced more, I will have to have that terrible medication inserted behind my cervix again....the one that I had to use so Violet could be delivered. If I have to use that again, that might make me want to wait a little while longer....it might feel too much like Violet's delivery.

Anyway, once I've effaced to 100% they will administer Pitocin. I had Pitocin with Georgia and it was terrible. It makes your contractions come stronger and more frequently. And you have to be on fetal monitors, which means that there is no getting up and walking around, you are stuck in bed until after you deliver. The reason I was given Pitocin with Georgia was because I had been in labor for around 24 hours and while I was having strong contractions and they were close together, I was not dilating. The Pitocin worked. But the time that I had between when the pitocin was administered and when I got an epidural almost brought me to my breaking point. The contractions were coming so fast that I could not get any relief. Once the epidural took effect, I was fine. I didn't have so much pain meds that I couldn't feel the contractions, but it was just enough to make it bearable. Now, if I am already fully effaced and dilated 3 or 4cm next Tuesday, the NP said that they can always try to just break my water and see how that goes first before administering any Pitocin.

So, in my ideal world, I would just go into labor on my own and my water would break naturally. Then I could go to the hospital get my epidural and deliver my baby girls. My second best case scenario would be to be fully effaced and dilated to 4cm next Tuesday, then go into the hospital and have them break my water. Hopefully then my labor would progress enough that I wouldn't need any Pitocin. I know that what I want to happen and what will actually happen might be two different things. So, I really need to think about what I want to do if I'm still pregnant next week and if I would need pitocin to start labor. Would I wait it out? Would I go for it? I'm leaning towards going for it, but I still go back and forth.

A few things that I do know about my labor and delivery is that I'm going to have an epidural. There is no way that I'm going to chance the doctors needing to manually turn Baby B (even though she is head down now, she does have room to move) and me not having any pain meds in my body. That might be more painful than delivery. I have heard that they will try to move baby by pushing on your abdomen or they will just reach inside and get the baby....either way, it does NOT sound like something that should be done with out some pain medication. So, no one talk to me about natural child birth. It will fall on deaf ears. And all of you know that I am going to have a vaginal delivery unless something goes terribly wrong....which it won't so lets not even have that as an option.

So, there is a bit of insight into what we are up to now that we have reached 37 weeks. We'll see what the next few days hold. Right now, I'm trying to walk and do as much housework as possible. I do feel contractions when I'm up and moving around, so I'm just hoping that one of these times they will just keep going. Keep us in your thoughts and prayers as our time as a family of three draws closer to an end.