Friday evening

Bianca's sister Lizette and her family were able to come in this afternoon from Bentonville AK to help out. I saw my wife smile and laugh today as if nothing was going on and I truly could not be happier. Her mind was at ease and she was just glowing with seeing her big sister. 

Thank you David and Lizette for all your sacrifice in coming to see us. 

We meet again briefly with our OB late this afternoon and were again told we are on the best course possible! We are still nervous about every bumb, sound, movement or hiccup but we are comforted in the knowledge that our twins are fighting for each other. 

Sadly our OB will not be in this weekend and we have never met the on call doctor but we are hopeful we won't have to either. 

Other than that we have no real news to report which is a good thing. Big thank you to Michael and Becky for helping us with food for our guests as well as my sister who has tirelessly run errands and helped us all day. We also appreciate all the phone calls and messages of hope and concern. Derek sorry I haven't called you back brother but thank you for your love and prayers and please thank all of your fellow KOC and church friends who have prayed for us. 

On one side note, we are trying dry shampoo for Bianca tonight, so we will report on how well that works in the morning. Heaven forbid anyone is in a prolonged hospital stay like us but if this works it may be a great solution for bed bound folks. 

Friday mid-day

So after a full lunch Bianca was able to sleep for a few hours before meeting with our OB. Turns out my assessment were pretty much on and he has cleared Bianca as stable!!! Which really means there has been no change in baby A's position in coming down and being delivered. Some of the really good things are that the discharge we were pretty much always seeing has slowed down significantly. So very little blood or any thing else going on. We are very happy with that although long term not sure where things are going. 

Baby A has no fluid left or at least none that is readily noticeable via ultra sound, so the lack of discharge makes sense. We never really knew exactly where the blood was coming from but no blood in my mind is a good thing. 

Baby B is still sitting way on top with good vitals and all so our wait and hope continues. For those keeping tab the twins are 21 weeks and 1 day. Every minute/hour/day is a blessing with our little ones so we are happy moment we have. 

Although this has been terribly scary for Bianca and I, we have been able to smile and laugh once and awhile and that has made a huge difference. I never realized how much laughter is good for the soul and for our spirits. 

Thank you again for all the prayers and positive thoughts. I cannot thank everyone enough. We should update again later on this evening when the nurse and I play with the Doppler to hear heart beats again. 

Friday Morning - Ultra Sound

I arrived back here at the hospital around 2:30AM this morning to relieve my mother in law and check with the nurses on things. Bianca had not been in pain and her contractions were very far apart (like a couple hours apart).

Around 8:15AM this morning we had the latest ultra sound and I am happy to report, there has not been a lot of change (in this case, that is a good thing). Keep in mind I am not a trained medical professional, but I do watch a ton of Grey's Anatomy (don't judge to you watch an episode) but here is what the tech and I saw (still waiting to hear the official report from the doc).

Baby A is still very very low in the vaginal canal, but does have a heart beat of about 137, which is lower than yesterday, but still good. Baby B is still way up in the uterus, but has shifted to the middle of her belly as opposed to the right side, where they have always been. So this was a cause for some alarm, but looking at things, since Baby A is so low there is a lot more space in the uterus so Baby B naturally just slid over.

So here comes the interesting part...
Baby A placenta is right at the top of the birth canal and, to me, almost seems like an anchor holding them in place. Baby B is well above Baby A's placenta and has their placenta (Baby B's) on the opposite side up and away from the other. What our hope with that is, Baby A and their placenta will not disturb Baby B if and when delivered.

Lot's of people have asked me if there is anything we can do with Baby A as far as extremem measures and staying time in the NICU. We have asked that question more times than you all can think trust me, and I actually continue to ask that question as Baby A still has such a strong heart beat. The internet has become my best friend and worst enemy, as I read more about miracle stories I also read some extremely heart breaking tales of worse cases than ours. The biggest difference I have seen in all my research (and the doctors have sort of confirmed this) is that our baby has descended soooo far down that with no amniotic fluid and no room to grow there is virtually nothing that can be done to help develop lungs. The baby is pinned to an extent in the vaginal canal with no fluid that the lungs cannot develop. There was a baby in Germany born at 21 weeks who did make it and I find myself returning to this article time and time again:
http://healthland.time.com/2011/05/27/baby-born-at-21-weeks-survives-how-young-is-too-young-to-save/

I have brought this up and I am hopeful with each day that passes that our doctors come up with a plan to save our precious little fighter. We have not just forgotten about Baby A so please dont think we are blind to this, its just been so hard to deal with so many scenarios and so little options other than sit and wait. I am continuing to do research and reach out to other places to see if someone has a plan for our little family. 

May 30th - Thursday Night Update

We had the chance to speak with our OB again this evening and did receive some additional good news. Baby A's position has not changed although Bianca did have more contractions and some more blood. We are scheduled for another ultra sound in the morning which hopefully will show the same strong heart beat from today and not too much change in position.

Bianca's blood work also came back showing that her white blood cells have decreased, meaning she is not fighting any infections right now. With an open cervix and the baby so low she is at a high chance of infection which can cause even further complications.

She is getting some rest and I am crashing out for a few hours as well. I do get up all too often thinking that something has changed or I can do something more. Luckily my mother in law is helping so I can get some shut eye.

Thank you to Jarrod and Michelle who left lots of goodies on our kitchen table when I came in tonight with the everything looking spotless. I could not hold back the tears in gratitude to our amazing friends.