the power of prayer

Sorry for the lack of updates but I have been speechless these last couple of days. I honestly don't know how to put what has happened into words. Bear with me.

Wednesday, we had our appointments scheduled back to back...the first with our OB and the second with the specialist. Our OB is great! but at times has been quite the pessimist...or it could be interpreted as having realistic expectations or maybe even preparing us for the worst. Whatever the case, she did it to us again. Last time we saw her, I asked if a vaginal birth was possible and whether or not we should sign up for a birthing class. She definitively answered "no" and continued preaching that a C-section is a sure bet..."there's not enough time anyway because you'll probably have these kids in the next couple of weeks".

This week she started out the appointment by giving us a pre-admission form to fill out and hand in because we were certain to be admitted soon. She stated again how excited she is that we've made it to 29 weeks and she'll be REALLY happy if we make it to 31 weeks. Her expectations from the beginning (since 20 weeks) have been very low. She doesn't take into account the power of prayer evidently.

We ended up waiting about 45 minutes between appointments which was waaaay too much time to think about all the things that were just said. I turned in the form and had a funny conversation with the lady at the admission desk. She wanted THE date we were coming in to have the babies. I said that I didn't know and I just figured I was letting them put us in the computer so when we did check in, that it would be a smoother transition. I said it could be tomorrow or it could be in May but...nope, she wanted THE date. I finally wrote down April 11 (Lisa's birthday and end of week 32) to make her happy. I have no idea how that's going to pan out.

Anyway, back to the waiting. We tried to keep calm but in the back of both of our heads we were thinking "This could be it. This could be the day that they tell us that we need to be admitted", or even worse, "we're going to take the babies out now". We didn't know what storm we were about to walk into.

Like the day we found out we are going to have twins, I had no idea this would or ever could happen. In the first few minutes of the ultrasound, it looked different to us. While the tech was doing the initial checks to see how the babies were situated and a quick scan of their vitals, I could tell the membrane that separates the two was not up against Katy like it has been for the past 2+ months. It seemed to be in the middle and even bowing a bit toward Alyssa!??!? The first measurement the tech does is the MVP (maximum vertical pocket) of fluid surrounding each baby. We've become accustomed to 3 to 4 centimeters around Katy and anywhere from 7 to 10 cm around Alyssa. This time he measured 4.7 around Katy and 4.2 around Alyssa?!?! After Lisa and I traded a couple of confused glares, I said "am I seeing this right?" The tech said "I'm not making this up. It looks like the flow has reversed". He followed that up with "I didn't even know that was possible. I've been doing this for 15 years and have never seen this before". !!!!!!!!!

So he continued on with the measurements. It had been 21 days since our last full scan so he decided to measure the width of their skulls, the stomach, bones, etc so we could get an updated weight estimate. He wasn't very far into the process when the doctor walked in to check on us. The tech immediately pulled up the still shot of the amnion bowing toward Alyssa and asked if that was possible and if he had ever seen that before. He came to the same conclusion that the flow had actually reversed and Katy has more fluid than Alyssa. He said that it is rare but he has seen it a couple of times in his career.

At this point, I'd like to remind you that 2 weeks ago...2 WEEKS AGO!!...the doctor said their fluid ratio (Alyssa/Katy) was about 75/25. He didn't estimate the discordance Wednesday but to my untrained eyes, it appeared about 40/60!!!

The doctor hinted that we may not need to come see him anymore...that he would talk it over with our OB and let us know if we should stop seeing him and just treat this pregnancy like a normal twin pregnancy.

After the doctor left, we continued with the measurements all the while Lisa and I trading looks of astonishment, confusion, disbelief.... His measurements kind of confirmed what we were seeing. Katy is actually estimated to weigh more than her sister now! The estimated weights are Katy...2 lbs 15 ounces and Alyssa...2 lbs 12 ounces. They are both showing within days of their gestational age of 29 weeks so they are both right on track.

As a reminder, 3 weeks ago they estimated Katy at 1 pound 12 ounces and Alyssa was 2 pounds 0 ounces. We were reminded, so I feel like I should also make this disclaimer, that these are estimated weights and could easily be off. It's hard to tell how accurate they are. Even so, it's pretty freaking amazing!!!!

Where does that leave us? Well...we don't know. We honestly don't know how to react. We are ecstatic and immediately thanked God for His hand in this. We happened to run into our OB on our way out and shared the news with her...she, too, was SHOCKED. We assumed the OB and specialist would get together Thursday and talk about how they want to handle our appointments....if we should continue with the weekly or step back to the once every other week. We didn't receive a phone call yesterday so we are probably going to call today to get an answer. At this point, we feel like we would like to see the specialist again to confirm what Wednesday's measurements were showing but we'll leave that up to the doctors.

I'm sorry that was a little long-winded but I wanted to share all the great news. Please continue to pray for us and our little girls as they grow big and strong. Pray for strength for Lisa. She has gained....a lot of weight and is feeling the affects on her body. The aches and pains are constant as she is very uncomfortable nearly 24/7 as you can imagine.

Thank you for your thoughts and prayers...obviously it is paying off. We will keep you updated.