I’m so excited we’ve made it to 32 weeks! Babies are still going strong. We don’t have new weights for this week (they only do a growth scan every two weeks) but my perinatologist took a good look at them on Monday and they’re all still growing and getting good cord flow and all that. I’m not going quite as strong as they are, but I’m still hanging in there. Some nights even with my two ambien + anti-histamine (to treat the pupps) I still wake up multiple times throughout the night and am usually in discomfort/pain and very itchy.
Sunday night I had a terrible time sleeping and ended up just crying as I tossed and turned trying to find a way to sleep, but no matter how I tried to maneuver my body it just hurt. I was really hoping that at my appointment Monday morning there would be some reason that they wanted to deliver the babies. Thankfully, the babies looked great, but when we got back to my room I kept crying because I really didn’t know how I could keep going being so itchy and so uncomfortable for two more weeks. I know two weeks is a short amount of time, but it felt like an eternity when I was feeling so bad. I got another round of steroids (got the first round at my first stay at the hospital) to help the babies’ lungs develop faster so that whenever they are born they’ll be stronger. My dr’s told me that there is no long term difference between 32-weekers and 34, they’ll just have to spend more time in the hospital when they’re first born if they come earlier because it will take them a little longer to hit their milestones in order to go home. So, if there’s a point before 34 weeks when my scheduled c-section is that I just can’t do it anymore, they said I shouldn’t feel bad about “saying uncle”. I’m taking it day by day.
Monday afternoon got a lot better with a visit from my mom, my friend Sarah, and then I got to enjoy my guilty pleasure that is The Bachelor with my friends Emily and Erin. I slept a million times better that night and went to sleep feeling a lot more positive. Each day this week since then has been pretty good and I’ve had more friends stop by and my nurses have been so sweet. They all tell me what a good job I’m doing and how impressed they are with how far we’ve gotten. And they’re all very sympathetic to how crazy huge my belly is and say that they think the babies are coming this week. I love them!
The first thing anyone (friends, nurses, doctors, everyone) says now when they see me is “Oh you poor baby” because this case of pupps is BAD. My belly is actually the least itchy part now. It started to spread around my sides to my back, down my belly to my pelvic area to my thighs to my calves to my ankles. A few days ago it broke out on my forearms as well and now goes from my wrists up to my armpits and down to my chest too. Its just about everywhere. They started me on an oral steroid Monday which has helped to keep the itch from being as intense all the time, but nothing will cure it until these babies are out.
Thanks to everyone who has been praying for me and the babies. I completely believe that we’re where we are in large part because of your prayers. I’m so humbled by all the people who have reached out to us to let us know that they’re thinking of us and including us in their prayers. My prayer life just hasn’t been what it should be since I’ve been here, which is ridiculous because I have nothing else to do! Being in this position where so many people have offered up help and love to us has made me realize that I haven’t been as servant-hearted as God has called me to be. I hope I can change that.
I’ll leave you with my view from the top. That pointy part that’s slightly off-center is where my now completely flattened out belly button is. Its inches away from center. And it turned dark brown. So weird.
