Yesterday was my first day at my temporary home at the Women's Special Care Unit at the University of Utah Hospital. It was bitter sweet. Bitter, because I have to say goodbye to my comforts of home, my dogs, and sleeping under the same roof as my husband, Billy. And sweet, because the two months I will be staying in the hospital will give my two little baby boys the best possible outcome. If all goes well, they will be born at 32 weeks and in perfect health.
Let me explain the condition of my babies. It's an extremely rare condition called mono amniotic- mono chorionic twinning. We like to call them momos. It means is that they share the same placenta and the same amniotic sac. The chances of this are 1/60,000. The main risk of them sharing the same sac is that they have way too much room to move and since they are sharing the same space, there is a likelihood that their umbilical cords will tangle. If their cords tangle enough, it will cut off the life support to one or both of the twins. It's a scary situation to be in, but now that I'm in the hospital their chance of survival is really quite high. This is exactly the place I need to be.
Here at the hospital they will be monitoring the babies throughout the day to look for signs of distress. If the babies are showing enough signs of distress then I go right across the hall to labor and delivery and the doctors will get these babies out as fast as possible via C-section. Needless to say, the longer the babies stay in my tummy, the healthier and better off they will be. So far everything looks great!
Now, I'm sure you are all dying to hear about my first day at the hospital! I arrived here at 3:00 p.m. and after meeting with my Dr. they took me to check me in to my new living quarters. It's not the most glamorous place I've ever been but I do get room service. They even have a recreation person that will come around and bring you crafts to do. Jealous yet? You should be.
Well, after a long day of being poked, prodded, and examined it was finally time to go to bed. At 12:00 I was winding down, reading a book, when the nurse came in to do a non-stress test on the babies. Not a big deal. Afterwards she said "okay, see you at 4:00". I looked at her and said, "As in, 4 a.m.?" She replied saying "Yes, we do the test every four hours". I thought to myself, 'holy crap! This is even more hands on than I thought it would be.' This is when I realized that these next two months will most likely be the longest of my life.
