20 to 22 week twin pregnancy update

Wow! The last three weeks have been a blur for me.  After my last update, we got some not great news and this news not only scared me to death, but also made me make some immediate changes in my work schedule and my activity level.

While at my 21 week cervical check appointment, after the ultrasound tech checked my cervix length, they told me to get dressed and then go with her across the hall to be hooked up to the “contraction” machine.  I didn’t know what a contraction machine was.  This happened to be the first appointment that I went to alone. I’ve been blessed that Steve has been able to go to most appointments with me up until this particular appointment.  I tried to stay calm and collected, but inside I was FREAKING out!  I didn’t know what exactly was going on but I knew if they were using the word “contraction”, it couldn’t be good.  I laid down on the bed and they hooked me up to the machine to measure and see if I was having contractions and then they covered me up with a blanket and told me to just relax.  They’d be back in to check on me in about 20 minutes.  20 minutes feels like forever when you don’t know exactly what’s going on or how to read the print out that is coming out of the machine you are hooked up to.  I did my best to relax.  I did some breathing exercises, closed my eyes and tried to really relax.  I don’t think I did as well as I told myself I was doing!  I tried though!

So after about 20 minutes, the doctor came in to let me know what’s going on and what this means for me going forward.  It turns out that unbeknownst to me, my cervix has been shrinking about 1 cm per week and it had shrunk to a size that made them concerned that I could be going into Pre-term Labor.  Pre-term Labor and a shrinking cervix turns out to be common in twin pregnancy’s but, 21 weeks was way to early to go into labor and they wanted to make sure I wasn’t actually in labor so that we can take precautions to prevent our very wanted twins being born prematurely.

That means, on doctors orders, my work schedule got immediately reduced to no more than 4 hours a day and only 4 days a week.  Doctor mandated more rest than I’ve been getting (it turns out that I need this extra rest and have been very thankful to have the time to rest), when will I ever have time or permission to rest every day again in my life?!  Reduced physical activities. No more skin care services for me to perform and no more walks or exercise. I can be submerged in water (warm baths and in a swimming pool) but nothing that is strenuous or will get my heart rate up.  The other change is now I’m being monitored once a week instead of once every two weeks.  I originally thought that being monitored every 2 weeks was a bit excessive, but now I’m super thankful that I’m being monitored this closely.

As of today, we are 23 weeks, going on 24 weeks pregnant with twin boys.  We are going back in on Friday for a 24 week cervical check and it will be decided then if I need to have a surgical Cervical Cerclage to prevent pre-term labor.  Steve and I have decided that if our high risk OBGYN thinks it’s the best precautionary thing we can do, we are all for it.  It’s an outpatient procedure and I will just need to take a few days off to recover.  That’s a small price to pay to make sure the twins get to a more suitable gestational age before they are born.  We want to make sure that they are more developed and have greater odds of survival.

This has been a little bit stressful and scary to stay the least, but I know I have the best doctors keeping an eye on me and making sure we are doing everything possible to deliver healthy twin baby boys much closer to their due date in March.  If you are a mom of twins and had complications like this, I’d love to hear from you or know how you managed the stress and unknowns while you were going through this.  Please comment below. I love seeing my reader’s comments and keeping in touch through the blog.  If you are currently pregnant with a singleton or twins, I hope your pregnancy is going as smoothly as it possibly can.  I will keep you in my thoughts and prayers.  Being pregnant is no joke, it’s much harder than I ever imagined it would be.