First Impressions

Now that I have officially been an inpatient of The Hospital, a few notes and happenings:

My room is NICE! Nicer than many motels and hotels I stayed in as a young traveler, in fact. I have lots of light from two big windows, a fridge, a (teeny, tiny) television and DVD player, a table and chairs for guests and a day bed for someone to sleep on. The last item, however, my husband describes as less comfortable than a hard wood floor. When I offered to switch places with him, he quieted down. Honestly, he was awesome yesterday. He spent the whole time, from check-in to bed time with me, which was infinitely comforting. I see why some of my fellow hospital-bed-resters cry when family leave. It was so sad to know he was going home to our house, bed and family and I'd been here. They also brought in an art table and chairs, paints, paper and crayons for A. She left me several masterpieces on my bulletin board.

The awesome Dr. L, one of the neonatologists here, come to speak with us. Let me just say: I ADORED him. My mom, husband and A were all here getting ready for dinner, so our talk was cut a bit short, but he was amazing. He said, "I love to see when they bring people in at risk of preterm labor but NOT in labor as we can buy those babies more time." I reminded him about a thousand times of my negative fFN so we just focused on what the babies would face if born two weeks from now and beyond. He was so unbelievably positive and gave us SO much hope.

Because I asked about some of the scarier statistics, he said triplets born at 24 weeks usually have about a 46% chance of survival. Not at all what we want for the babies, of course. Between 24-28 weeks with triplets in particular, we go from about a 46% - 95% chance of survival! These next weeks are critical: each day buys them so much! While we continue to shoot for 34 weeks, it is awesome to have an idea of what to expect should things take a turn. He reiterated that he would come speak with us anytime, and answer any question we had. I kind of wanted to hug him, but I would've tripped over the toco monitor and probably given myself a concussion.

He said what we expect from babies born 27-28 weeks is that they will need some immediate respiratory assistance (intubabion, CPAP, etc) and temperature control. Those are first addressed in the delivery room and they are QUICKLY taken to the NICU. Then, they are checking blood gas levels and administering meds through and umbilical line.

We talked briefly about some of the more major problems: PDA's (problem with the heart valve), intestinal issues and feeding issues. He said all babies, up until 33-35 weeks are fed through a tube and they can start colostrum right away if they can tolerate feeds. I told him I am a huge breast feeding advocate and nursed A forEVER... he said it is the most important thing we can do for them, provide Mommy's milk. I will be the best pumper ever. :) He asked me twice if I was a nurse or physician since I was familiar with the terms and what to expect, and I said, "I am just on bed rest and read compulsively."

Today the doctor on call, Dr. W, came and chatted with me. He felt very confident we'd get past 27-28 weeks when viability is good since I have "so much cervix left" and a negative fFN. This kind of news really makes my day and the more docs who say it, the better. :) We do not want our babies born anytime soon, but very reassuring stuff to hear about 28 weekers. Again: October or BUST!