29 Weeks - Is it time????

It's almost 6am. I have been tossing and turning since about 1am. I have been contracting. Big deal, doesn't really hurt. But the cramps have kept me awake. The back pain has kept me awake. Please hold. I need to lie back down for a minute and take a break from typing.

I spent Saturday (really, started Friday night) in tears from the pain. My doctor walked in on me crying. We chatted. He got nervous and ordered more blood work, a urine test, and at 10pm a NICU nurse came to visit my room to let me know what to expect after delivery. She seemed optimistic about the girls being born this early. I honestly didn't detect any worry. My doctor doesn't seem too worried, either. I mean, they would all love it if I could get to 31/32 weeks...but they seem so thrilled that I have made it this far. I'm not as thrilled. But I am in pain. Enough pain that I'm literally taking everything day by day, sometimes hour by hour, because I'm not sure how much more my mind and my body can take. Oh, and then there's the whole breathing thing. That isn't the easiest thing to do sometimes.

My doctor doesn't seem suprised that I'm in this much pain, though, for the following reasons:

1. Turns out my 4th fetal fibronectin test from last week came back positive (30% chance of delivery in 2 weeks)

2. I gained 9lbs in one week!!! Mind you, as of week 28, I was only up 15lbs from my pre-preg weight. It took me from week 24 to 28 to gain 10lbs. Then suddenly I shoot up 9lbs in one week! Something isn't right.

3. This could be the reason for the weight gain: Baby C has about double the amount of amniotic fluid that she should. She's floating in a damn pool and the other two are getting squished out...hence the reason baby B is stuck in my side/back causing me the worst back/rib pain of my life. The extra amniotic fluid may be no big deal. It could be a sign of a lung, neurological, or brain development disorder, but most of the time there seems to be no real explanation. We're too far in the pregnancy to do an amnio to test this b/c results would take 2 weeks anyway...and draining isn't the best option since the sac can just refill and I will likely deliver very soon anyway. So my doc says "lets leave everything as is and see how long you can endure the pain". And it's definitely painful.

What else is awful? Oh yeah, showers. I will now be requesting sponge baths. I thought my last shower was on Friday since it wiped me out, but Paul convinced me to give it another go last night. Uh, yeah, officially done with that crap. Felt like I ran a marathon after a 15 minute shower. I seriously thought I might pass out from breathing so hard. Probably not a good thing. So sponge baths. Really looking forward to those, lemme tell ya.

Aside from my discomfort, the babies really do seem to continue to thrive. There honestly doesn't appear to be much space for them, but their heart tones are good and they are growing.

Here are some 29 week belly shots and a couple of pics of two of the girls (Baby A is too low and face-down, so we can no longer get shots of her):

Baby B Profile & Baby C Yawning:


Baby C Face - Not sure if that's her Halloween face, but she looks pretty pissy...