28 weeks, 3 days

We reached a major milestone this week, 28 weeks. The babies' lungs are now capable of breathing, their brains can regulate their own temperatures and they are getting fatter.

The bad news is, my uterus is getting very angry at their size and I had another two days in the hospital to get the contractions under control and make sure that I had not begun preterm labor. It was very stressful and overwhelming but we had a great experience with Crouse hospital and with all the nurses who took care of me. The difference between Crouse and St. Luke's in NYC could not be more stark, and I am so grateful that the babies will be born here and any future stays will be here rather than there. I completely trust and adore my doctor and her staff, who oversaw my care at the hospital, and they discharged me Thursday night with instructions to continue to be vigilant about watching for any unusual signs: contractions more frequent, of a different quality, of longer duration, and of a higher intensity. It's going to be normal for me to have contractions from here on out, even some every 5 or 6 minutes at times, but what we have learned from being in the hospital is that even those contractions do not lead to labor for me. So I can contract away if it's all part of my norm. I feel more confident in my ability to tell when things are normal and when they are not, a big part of which is knowing that I was in the hospital for two days, contracting away, and labor did not begin or even threaten to begin.

We also got some great new information about the babies at the hospital, which is that they are growing very well! They are 2 pounds, 12 ounces (Baby A) and a whole 3 pounds, 2 ounces (Baby B). Which is the 56th and 86th percentiles, respectively, for SINGLETON babies at this time. I know those sonogram-determined weights are not necessarily that accurate but we are very relieved that they continue to grow well and even ahead of schedule. Especially because they may be born early, it is really important that they are physically maturing at a good pace. They also have the advantage that I was treated with betamethasone in NYC, which helps their lungs to develop surfectant, which makes it easier for them to breathe if they are born early.

We're taking every day as it comes now. Our goal now is to make it to April 1. When we get to April 1, our new goal might be 32 weeks, which is another major milestone for the babies' development. If they were born at 32 weeks they would still spend some time in the NICU but their chances of developing normally would be very high. But we will see, and we are not getting ahead of ourselves. Every day is different and all we can do is get through each day as it comes. This is not the pregnancy experience I had hoped for and the babies' birth and first few weeks will likely not be the experience we had hoped for, but we are really excited to meet them and are very optimistic at this point that all will be well.

The best news of the week is that the working half of Team Lovebo got a new job. He will be working at the Center for Community Alternatives, working on projects related to the reform of the Rockefeller-era drug laws, including training other lawyers (both defense attorneys and prosecutors) on the new laws. I'm not sure which of us is more thrilled but no matter how bad things got this week I was hugely grateful throughout that he will be leaving a job which has been frustrating and unfulfilling in a number of ways, and starting a job working with people who are passionate about what they do. He will undoubtedly learn a lot, and it will be difficult to acclimate to so different a position, but we are excited about opening a new chapter in Jeff's career. We can also never sufficiently thank our good friend John for tuning Jeff into the position and for putting in a good word to get the process started.

There might not be any pictures for a while, as it is now going to be a rare day that I actually shower and get dressed. Trust that my belly is ginormous, that there are very few times during the day when I am comfortable, and that the babies sometimes seem to be in training for the Olympics the way my belly moves around. If you need a visual, imagine normal Bryn with half of a flesh-colored watermelon attached to my torso. That's what I look like.