He assured us that he's concerned enough to watch me very closely but that we shouldn't be driving ourselves crazy with worry. Easier said than done, I think he would agree, but somewhat of a comfort. In response to all our questions, yes this is common and especially with multiples, yes it's common to see this issue early (22 weeks for me on Saturday) and for now I'm doing everything I'm supposed to be doing......staying off my feet. He said I was still good to work from home - that sitting up or laying down isn't a big difference. That made me feel a little better, too. I think he could tell that I was quite emotional (read I had been crying) and he looked at me and said "Andrea - if I were really concerned, I'd be sending you to the hospital right now. We're still in a safe zone." So I go back on Tuesday and he said if there's been more thinning we would talk about doing the cerclage. (More on the cerclage in a second). He also put me on a monitor for about half an hour to see if I was having contractions that I couldn't feel. Thankfully I wasn't having any at that time. He's checking with the insurance company to see about sending a monitor to my house. A couple of times each day I'll put the monitor on for a set amount of time and then will transmit the data over the phone lines to the company who monitors. They then may call me or my doctor, depending on what's going on. Just one more precaution.
A cerclage is where they basically stitch the cervix closed. I refuse to do any research on the internet, but from what he told us, it's a standard procedure and he does a lot of them. As with any medical procedure, there's a risk for triggering contractions and a risk of puncturing an amniotic sac (think about it.......he's basically working with a needle and thread), but it's a fairly common procedure. It's outpatient, done at the hospital, where I would have an epidural for the procedure and then they would keep me for several hours for observation. If I'm not showing any signs of contractions, they let me go home with very strict rest for a couple of days and then I can get back to my "normal" rest if all goes well.
On a positive note, they measured various parts of the babies again today. The sonographer said they'll do this every 3-4 weeks just to make sure they're developing fairly equally. (They do an ultrasound to look at them every week, but certain times they'll take measurements and look at their hearts, etc. We could even hear the blood moving in and out of the umbilical cords - amazing.) Our girls looked great. It's amazing that we're already learning about their personalities....I'll be interested to see if they stay the same once they're born. A is always in the same position.....head very low in my abdomen and she's our calm one. They have to work to get all the measurements of her. B is our little acrobat - she's usually sprawled out for everyone to see her or she's folded in half with her feet over her head, although today she was hiding behind her arms a little. Funny, too, the nurse was trying to get a profile picture of B and she kept turning her head away. Hey - we all have our days when we just want to be left alone!! A is measuring about 13oz and B is measuring about 1lb. Our new goal is 34 weeks which puts us at the end of June. Funny how getting in an earlier month makes it seem that much closer!!
That's about all for now. I'm taking a couple of days of vacation today and tomorrow just to relax...these doctor's visits are draining!...and to get my thoughts straight. We're determined to keep those girls in there for as long as we need to, but please keep us in your thoughts and prayers!
I'm attaching some of the ultrasound pics from today -- they're labeled with A's or B's and are mostly profile shots with a couple of 3-Ds tossed in.
Hope everyone is doing well!
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