Monday - Evening

I got lots of messages wondering how things went today, and I have just not had a chance to slow down today. Monday's are just a mess with work and the start of the week, even the hospital seems a lot busier on Monday. - Sorry David :-(

So we have lots of news to report tonight so I will try to be concise and to the point.  Our OB is back in town and we were so happy to see him after almost a week. He let us know that the fluid is much higher than we original thought with the nurse and that Baby B is doing much much better than even he had hoped. B's amniotic fluid levels are getting close to normal which means that either the sack is resealing/resealed or that Bianca is producing more, and faster than the tear. Either way that is some of the best news we have had! Baby A's heart beat is still strong and we are still hoping for the best for our little fighter.

We have also begun talking to our OB about something we had only dreamed of before; we are now talking about hitting 24 weeks and what our options will be once we get there. Tomorrow marks 2 whole weeks that we have been here! Those first few hours were so horrible and hard to deal with, I can not thank everyone enough for all the support we have had. So 2 weeks is incredible really for what we were told when we first rolled over to labor and delivery. Thursday will mark 23 weeks for the babies which is also a huge milestone for us. This means that next Thursday we will hit 24 weeks, which is our big goal now. Honestly I do not like thinking so far in the future (for us making it one more day is a miracle in and of itself) but we are so hoping for that milestone.

What does 24 weeks mean - well it really is a question of what does 23 weeks mean for our plans. We meet with the NICU specialist and started to go through some of the treatment options. As I have mentioned before, steroids are for sure an option when we are closer to an induction time, however we discussed that its sort of a one time shot sort of thing. We were informed that the practice of prolonged steroid use can cause brain damage or other side affects once born, so we would get one shot to have the medication help with lung development.

The other things we were given were the statistics regarding survival rates this early on. (please note - these are the numbers we were told today and I am sure you can find other literature all over the net with other stats) At 23 weeks we are looking at less than 10% chance of survival. At 24 weeks we are looking at a big jump to 70% chance with the use of steroids. At 25 weeks we jump up to 85%+ and every week after things get better and better. Obviously we are looking to make it as long as possible, but here is where things get a little more complicated.

As Baby A is still in such a tough spot, we are still worried about their development and growth. We have confirmed again that Baby A can't stay too long in the position they are in, but for now they are ok. So we are going to have to think about making some tough decisions regarding when to induce to give both babies the best shot possible. We are researching as much as we can, but we will have another ultra sound tomorrow morning and we are going to ask about how big each baby is getting. We have been so concerned with fluid levels and heart beats, that we haven't really been asking about that, as Baby A's size is going to be a major factor.

On to the next topic of discussion. Our hospital has a NICU policy of at least 23 weeks (pushing 24) before they will perform extreme measure to help babies make it. Our OB has let us know, that past this Thursday we will at the very least be looking at moving from the Woodlands (north north Houston) to the medical district downtown hospital which has a much larger NICU and a more experienced staff.

If you didn't know Houston is one of the best places in the world to be sick or with any sort of medical condition. We have one of the largest medical districts in the US. So the NICU specialist wants us to really look at our options at 23 weeks for moving hospitals, not so much because we are not in a good place, or the same hospital group doesn't have an outstanding children's hospital, but there are several other hospitals here that have intense experience with premature babies and their care. In the time between now and Thursday I am going to be calling a lot of hospitals trying to find which is the best for our little one's. For any of our Houston friends, I would appreciate any and all opinions on hospitals or doctors that you know of in the medical district.

Assuming (knock on wood, fingers crossed, lots of prayers and anything else you can think of) we can make it to Thursday and we move hospitals, we will need to make some adjustments as far as the commute to the house and how often I can go back and forth. Right now the hospital is 15 minutes away and once we move it will be close to an hour or more depending on traffic. Those are the least of worries, but my friends that live within the loop, I may be calling on you all a lot more ;-)

Thanks everyone for all the love and support and prayers ... keep them coming as they sure do help !!