Hi ho, hi ho, it's to the hospital I go....

We had our follow-up consult with the perinatologist on Friday and she confirmed that our girls are momo and the recommended course of action is hospitalization between 24-27 weeks for constant monitoring. (We are currently 20 weeks 5 days). It's our choice when to be admitted - I was kind of hoping the doctor would just tell us what to do - based on our preferences.

She said that pretty much all they could do if the babies went into distress is to either deliver them or let it run it's course. If the choice is to let it run it's course, then there is no point to being hospitalized. If the choice is to deliver, we have to consider whether their prematurity at that point is within our comfort range. Tough choices. At 24 weeks (5.5 months) the survival rate if delivered is 50%, at 25 weeks the rate is 75%, and it gets progressively better from there. And the earlier they are delivered, the greater the chances of long-term health issues, including being what she called "special needs" children. It's hard to know the right choice, or how that choice will impact the girls.

I think we're leaning toward being admitted at late 25 weeks or so, which is the week of April 14th, depending on how their growth looks. It's so soon. And they typically won't let the pregnancy go beyond 32 weeks, which is the first week of June.

Sarah and Kristina asked about a baby shower, but because the timeline is getting so tight (and they have their own obligations at the moment, including K delivering little Evey!) I thought it might be best to delay until after the girls are delivered and then schedule a shower for about 3 weeks after that date. They'll still be in the NICU in all likelihood at that point, so we won't need to have everything set up just yet.

I feel a pending urgency to get things situated here at the house before I leave, but between work and daily life, I'm not sure how much I'll realistically get done. I need some more time to think things out and map out a game plan.

Once I'm in the hospital, I won't have any limitations - no staying in bed, no laying in a certain position, etc. - I'll just have to be in the room so that I can wear the heart rate belts for the babies and have ultrasounds a few times a week. It's going to be dull dull dull and I just found out my employer won't let me work via laptop while I'm there because they consider hospitalization to be "disability" regardless of medical condition. I'm so incredibly frustrated by that, not only because I'll be bored and need productive ways to spend my time, but also because any paid time I use up before the girls are born means less paid time after they arrive. In all likelihood, by the time they get to come home, I'll have to go back to work and won't get my own precious time with them. It breaks my heart to think about that even now.

The perinatologist also provided us with a DVD of the ultrasound (we're working on uploading the more interesting parts) , said that they look healthy and still about week behind, which is fine considering the margin of error on an ultrasound. The clinic usually only sees about 1 of these cases a year and we happen to be the second this year! Our next visit is in another 2 weeks and we'll find out more about whether our OB/GYN or the perinatologist will take over our case.