Dearest Babies,

Whoo buddy, this is a tough letter to write. 23 weeks was scary. In fact 23 weeks to 29 weeks was scary. BUT WE ARE 35 WEEKS AND 3 DAYS TODAY SO WE BEAT THE ODDS!!

At 23 weeks and 5 days, Mommy’s body decided it might be eviction day. Mommy’s body ejected her mucus plug; it sounds gross, and frankly it was, ha. Mommy took pictures of it because what else do you do but take pictures when this happens at 10 PM? You send it to your friend who is a Labor and Delivery nurse. Mommy’s friend said, “Well probably no big deal, just call in the morning.”

Mommy woke up the next morning to a text from her friend to call and get an appointment to come in that day. When I called, they slammed me onto the schedule and said the OB coordinator said to her, “Ok honey, hurry your little buns in here.” Thank God Daddy was home. He whipped into gear and got us all in the car and to the clinic.

We were immediately roomed and met with the clinic’s midwife. My OB was in surgery. The midwife called the surgery center and the OB said do an ultrasound and I’ll be up between surgeries. So we got into an ultrasound. The tech was Jess again (seriously, you’ll never know how amazing this woman has been throughout my pregnancy) and Jess did the special ultrasound. Mommy had no idea what was going on, but Jess was super calm and reassuring. But Mommy could tell Jess saw something that wasn’t right.

They put me back into a room and we waited about 15 minutes before our OB doctor came up. She said, “Ok, well, I was afraid of this. And I am so glad you came in. I really am sorry to have to do this, but your cervix is giving out. We really can’t see much of it on the ultrasound, it’s pretty much non-existent.” Those were the words I dreaded hearing. I didn’t even really know what it meant, except that something was wrong. Everything that happened after came so quickly.

Suddenly there were 10 people in the room. Someone was taking my blood pressure, someone was grabbing Mommy’s nurse friend who came and held my hand and wiped my tears, someone asked Daddy some questions and gave him some instructions, someone put in an IV, and then there was an ambulance crew. We were going for a ride to the cities – 2.5 hours away to Abbott NW which is connected to Children’s Hospital. They were preparing for you guys to come any minute.

We got to Abbott and were whirled into a room. Daddy had been sent home by me to grab things and meet us down there, so it was just me and a lot of nurses, doctors, and PAs. They asked a million questions and Mommy answered the best she could. I learned a lot about how labor works and the scary things that we could be expecting in the coming time. They gave Mommy some steroids to help develop your lungs in case you arrived soon, and then put me on a Magnesium drip for 12 hours (TORTURE!).

You did NOT arrive, by the grace of God. We were there for a total of 10 days. I’m not going to go into the details really, but it was 10 days of being poked and pricked and careful close watching. After 10 days of no changes, the doctors offered two choice: You can stay here in the cities in the expectant mom dorms (they were like the size of closets!), or we could go halfway back home and stay with family in St. Cloud until 28 weeks. The doctors were adamant that they were really HOPING we would make it to that point but that it wasn’t likely. The doctors said it would be a miracle to make it to 32 weeks and we definitely wouldn’t make it to 34. Little did they know you goofs had other plans 🙂

We chose to go to St. Cloud to stay with Mommy’s aunt and uncle who lived 5 minutes from the hospital there. The St. Cloud hospital has the same level of care and NICU as Abbott NW after 25 weeks so everyone was very comfortable with Mommy being in St. Cloud. Everyone, except Mommy. I went in for the 26 week appointment and scan with Daddy in St. Cloud and after we heard that again there were no changes, Mommy asked if there was ANY WAY we could go home? That I would be so much more comfortable there and that we were still within an hour. I could tell the doctor wasn’t exactly comfortable with this plan, but she advised Mommy of the risks and what to watch for. The doctor in St. Cloud said she would work with our OB at home and they let us go home.

Getting back to our house after 3 weeks of being gone brought me so much relief! I was put on modified bedrest: no driving unless to appointments, no over doing it, don’t lift things, don’t bend over, no stairs if possible, try to spend as much time as possible relaxing – meaning I wasn’t confined to bed, but I was relegated to the quiet life.

Well, it worked. Here we are at 35 weeks, and the St. Cloud people discharged us from their care at 33 weeks. In fact, at 29 weeks, the St. Cloud people said, “Well… we didn’t think we would see this day, but at this point, I think you’re going to make it to term, or at least very close to it!” That was some exciting (and relieving) news!

Now this wasn’t the last of the troubles in the pregnancy (we’ve got one more big event!), but we are still safe at home right now and still, to everyone’s shock and awe, pregnant.

Stay safe in there my babies! We love you so much!

Mommy and Daddy