28 Weeks

Welcome to the 3rd trimester!


The last two weeks have been pretty eventful...let me elaborate...

As you know, I had my 26 week scan and things looked great. I think it gave me a bit of a false sense of confidence, and basically I overdid it. Knowing that I'd reached 26 weeks with no issues made me really believe we would bring these boys home, and I went into nesting mode! I decided I HAD to clear out our spare room that week, the room that is to become the nursery. This room has been our spare room for 7 years now and it showed. If something didn't have a spot in the rest of the house, it was put in the spare room. Needless to say it was chaotic! So, on the Friday, I spent several hours sorting through the chaos. I didn't lift anything, I was well behaved in that aspect, but I was on my feet more than I had been in about 10 weeks!

That night I was exhausted. I'd made wonderful progress on the room, but my body was paying for it. By 7pm I was getting all sorts of aches and pains in my back and belly and they increased throughout the night. I probably got an hours sleep that night...I thought I was having contractions. Not wanting to freak Andrew out, I kept it fairly quiet and monitored the intensity and frequency of the pains and secretly consulted 'Dr Google' trying to figure out what they could be.

The next morning (25 September), I discussed my concerns with Andrew and he wanted me to call our Obstetrician right away. By this stage, the pains had subsided, but as they had been ongoing for about 12 hours, with my history we weren't going to risk it. I paged Dr Y, leaving the brief message "Please call Kelly Shelton re: possible overnight contractions" and of course he called me back immediately. By the time I spoke to Dr Y, the pains had gone, but he decided he wanted me to come in for monitoring to be on the safe side, and to pack a bag as I'd be staying overnight for observation.

Luckily, the pains never came back. We still don't know whether they were Braxton Hicks contractions (false labour) or whether it was the start of labour and the medication (Nifedipine) they gave me in hospital settled things down.

Needless to say, I've learned my lesson and have been resting ever since. The nursery is now all cleared out and Andrew has been removing wallpaper and painting the room in his spare time. I will post before and after photos soon!

In the midst of all of this, we've also been renovating our main bathroom. We began this last year when the bath and shower were demolished, but life got in the way, and we never got around to finishing it. With the boys due to arrive in less than 9 weeks, we really needed to get it done, as that's the only bath in the house! Plus with all the dust and noise it created, we really didn't want to do it with newborns in the house.

We saw Dr Y again at 27 weeks and he was very happy with the fact that things had quietened down since the weekend! When I was in hospital, we had discussed the possibility of giving me a course of 2 steroid injections (24 hours apart) to help mature the boys' lungs and reduce the risk of Respiratory Distress Syndrome in case of an early delivery, but we decided to hold off at that stage. Basically (and every Obstetrician's opinion seems to vary on this) the steroid injections are really only effective for 3 weeks, and current research (mine and his!) shows that the injections are only effective if given once throughout the pregnancy.

At our appointment, Dr Y decided he wanted me to have them at 28.5 weeks, which was yesterday. Not that he thinks I will deliver in the next 3 weeks, but it's just precautionary. I had my first shot yesterday afternoon and I will have my second shot this afternoon. I had heard that the needles were quite painful (of course I Googled it...I just cannot help myself!), but it really wasn't bad at all (even though it was huge!) Being a seasoned IVF veteran though, I've had my fair share of needles, so they don't really phase me much anymore. It hurt for a few hours afterwards, but today I can't feel a thing. Bring on this afternoon's shot!

As we have been brave and have increased our scans from every 2 weeks, to every 3 weeks, you'll have to wait until next week for some new photos of the boys!

In the meantime, here is a peek in utero this week (although they are both head up again at this stage...such little movers!):