The unexpected change...

I had a 36 week appointment Monday with our Maternal-Fetal Specialist. They were planning to complete a full ultrasound to check growth, blood flow, and fluid levels. I went into the appointment with the mindset of "I can do this for a few more weeks." We have known from the beginning the risks of carrying mono-di twins, but I was still surprised at the news the specialist delivered. He first told us the positive: good fluid levels. However, you know when a doctor takes a deep breath and pauses for a moment that difficult news is about to come. The first words then to us were, "I'm thinking about if you were my wife what I would do." He then went on to tell us his concern about the blood flow to the brain being a little heightened, and that their growth appeared to be more off than the last appointment. Suddenly "weeks" of carrying the twins became maybe hours or at the most a few days. He wanted us to go asap to my regular OB to get a non-stress test. If everything came back "perfect" then we could wait until Friday to deliver, but if there was ANYTHING to question then it was time to get them out. As scary and hard as the news was to hear, Matt and I could not be more grateful for Dr. Wendel's wisdom, discernment, and caring nature to help provide the best care for the girls. We rushed out of his office, grabbed lunch as we waited to hear back from the OB, then headed to our OB.

I was immediately hooked up to the monitor at the OB. He was in surgery so we knew we were going to be waiting a while. Matt and I both sat and listened to their heartbeats, praying fervently that everything was okay, anxiously awaiting a report. After several hours my OB returned to analyze the heart rates. A few awkward pauses later he looked at us and said, "I just don't want to risk it. We need to have these babies." My heart pounded and I responded, "like today?" He said he needed to make some calls then would be right back. Matt and I just stared at each other. He quickly returned telling us to go to the hospital now to be monitored, but that I would be induced the next morning (Tuesday). A wave of emotions hit as we left the office...Excitement: we were about to meet our girls! Fear: they are 4 weeks early and tiny! 

Our last night as the two of us

God truly provided a sense of calmness for Matt and I. My prayer throughout this whole pregnancy has been..."if there is ANYTHING wrong, Lord please let us know in time." God answered those prayers! As worrisome as an early delivery can be, we were SO grateful for all our doctors' wisdom and technology that aided in keeping our girls safe until they were welcomed into the world!