The Burkett Bundle

One year ago:

I woke up after a night with no magnesium sulfate, because the terbutaline seemed to be working. My body felt much better and I was able to eat well again, but I was also much more aware of my surroundings and why I was in the hospital.

Because I was off the Mag, I was no longer a "fall risk", so I was allowed out of bed to shower and use the bathroom. This involved unhooking myself from the contraction monitor and blood pressure cuff and dragging the IV pole with me. During showers, my IV site had to be covered, and my terbutaline pump had to be placed in a special waterproof bag.

I was excited about my ultrasound and praying for good news. Jason got there just before the gentleman came to wheel me to the ultrasound, and we all headed downstairs together. This was the first time I had been out of my room since the previous Saturday when I checked in, and it felt nice to be "out" for a little while.

When we got to the ultrasound room, the tech told us that there wasn't room for Jason to go in, so he waited in the hallway. She did tell me how much the babies weighed, but could not tell me if my cervical length had increased or decreased or anything else.

The good news is that the babies were growing. Kyran was up to 2 lb, 4 oz and Karyssa was estimated at 1 lb, 15 oz. The ultrasound also showed that my cervical length had only decreased to 1 cm from 1.1 cm, so that seemed promising. However, just before the ultrasound, they administered another fFN test, which came back positive. That meant I had a good chance of delivering within two weeks.

Since I was now much more coherent, I had been reading about the risks associated with premature birth, and I knew the importance of every day that the babies stayed inside. This positive test so soon after the negative one earlier in the week was very scary. We were aiming for at least 28 weeks, and were just over 25 weeks at that point.

I had also had a minor setback with my gestational diabetes. Apparently the Celestone steroid shot (which I had received the second dose of the day before), sent my blood sugar through the roof. On my endocrinologist's orders, the nurses were now responsible for my insulin needs, and my blood sugar had to be checked every hour during the day and every two hours at night.

My little finger-pricker hurt a little, but the one they had to use was much worse, and I had red marks all over my fingers from having them pricked so much. I just remember thinking, whatever the cost, it's all worth it to keep my babies in one more day.

Today:

We took a walk this afternoon, trying to enjoy one of the last 70 degree November days. Kyran and Karyssa love being outside. Twice during our walk, they both erupted into fits of giggles! They are playing together and laughing at each other so much more now, and it's amazing to watch! I also looked down once during the walk and caught them holding hands. How sweet!

We've been working on standing some, and both can stand on their own while leaning on the couch or coffee table. They can also both support their own weight while holding on to my hands for balance. Kyran has also pushed up onto his hands and knees twice in the past couple of days. He may skip army crawling and go straight to crawling!

Karyssa has taught herself yet another trick. We have a magazine rack under the coffee table, which we've had to take all of the magazines off because she loves to pull them down, rip out the pages and try to eat them. When she first became mobile, she would get to the coffee table and scream because she couldn't crawl under the rack.

Well, last night, she realized that she could go over it. What a smart little girl!