26 Weeks - Sweet #5!

Today makes 26 weeks with our sweet baby number 5! I can’t help but compare this pregnancy week by week with my pregnancy with the quads… although at times there seems to be no comparison. This time especially, the memories come flooding back as I was approaching the tail end of my pregnancy with Brody, Baxlyn, Kylee & Korbin and just weeks away from starting our long NICU journey.

I remember this day with the quads like it was yesterday. After a pretty uneventful pregnancy and at home modified bedrest, the contractions had started, I had my weekly routine check up only to find out I was starting to dilate, I failed my FFN test and was admitted for the remainder of the pregnancy. I can still recall the nurses prepping my room for a long stay, the neonatologists introducing themselves and giving me the run down on what would happen if we were to deliver in the next couple of days, the social worker and chaplain checking in on me…etc. I received my first round of steriod shots that night in hopes to strengthen the babies lungs in case delivery was necessary and started my every 3 and 4 hour rounds of procardia and turbulatine around the clock to try to keep contractions at bay. I was hooked up to 5 monitors which left me with a night of nearly no sleep….ahhh fun times, but oh so worth it. Although Bret and I knew the day was coming that things would get rough and I’d be admitted, it was hard to accept such a quick change in events after things had been going to smoothly.

It feels good this time around to be sitting here at 26 weeks with no fears, no complications and no anticipation of our baby coming anytime soon. I’m trucking right along, have a fair share of energy and over all feel pretty good! At this time with the quads I had been in a lot of pain from the ligaments stretching and this time…nothing. Major lack of abdominal muscles to help carry anything, sit up or roll over in bed, but no pain or major discomfort.

We still haven’t decided on a name for this little guy and honestly, I’m not too stressed about it just yet. We’re still throwing around a couple here and here but nothing is near set in stone. I’m super anxious to finally meet him and look forward to getting to bond with him and get to know his personality in a way that I wasn’t able to with the quads. Brody, Baxlyn, Kylee & Korbin are all so different in so many ways, I’m curious to see how little man fits into the puzzle. I do already know he is SUPER DUPER ACTIVE, day and night go go go! I remember the quads moving a lot in utero…between all of them it seemed like someone was always moving and when one would shift the others would follow. This little guy moves just as much, if not more than they ever did. At my 24 week appointment, Dr. Leveno was using the doppler to check his heartbeat and the baby kicked him just a few times. They were small kicks, nothing major compared to what he had done before and Dr. Leveno said “Umm, Heather, those are some pretty big kicks for 24 weeks!”. Hearing that after seeing he was measuring big at the 20 week sono has me a little worried I may be giving birth to a toddler….we’ll see!

I don’t have another sonogram scheduled until 36 weeks…yeah 36. I had my last at 20w and will not have another until 36w. That was a hard pill to swallow! Luckily, my doc is the sweetest and has told me multiple times that if I was worried in any way we could schedule a sonogram at any time to check in on him. As long as these crazy kicks keep up, I’m not worried :)

Here is the latest belly pic. 26 weeks with a singleton…

…and below, 27 weeks with the foursome! Yes, that is me in Bret’s boxers with a room full of company in my hospital room. All modesty kind of goes out the window in that kind of situation. Little did I know I’d wake up 2 days later to find this exact picture printed on the front page of the local paper… Ay Yi Yi!

We’ll keep you posted as we continue to grow. Say a lil' prayer that my next glucose test (at 28 weeks) goes as well as my last, that I can keep the nasty stuff down and more importantly, pass with flying colors!