25 and 5 on 5/25
On this 25th day of the 5th month, I’m 25 weeks and 5 days into this pregnancy and I’m gonna take my first stab at this blog thing. We’re getting so close to 26 weeks (Wednesday)! Tomorrow we’re scheduled for another cervical ultrasound and our first biophysical profile. We’ve been told that the biophysical profile is to rate how the babies are doing developmentally. They look for movement, muscle tone, and evidence of exercise breathing. From this point forward they’ll be performing these profiles twice a week, every week on Tuesdays and Fridays. Depending on the babies’ ratings. they’ll determine what course of action to take. It sounds like as long as everything is okay they’ll allow the babies to stay in utero until there’s a change. That, of course, makes us happy, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t ready to deliver and move to the next stage of this journey. Basically having been on bed rest for the duration of this pregnancy (the last five months!), I’m ready to get out of this bed!!!!! I miss not being able to take care of Heath and Meredith. I miss being able to give her a bath, read her a bedtime story or even pick her up. I miss being able to be outside in my garden. I miss privacy and freedom!
Many people have said….”enjoy this time now because this is the easy part!” I find this comment particularly ironic seeing that these individuals have never: A) gone through this experience and been on bed rest for this length of time and B) never delivered and raised quintuplets of their own. I’m not trying to imply that post-delivery is going to be easy, but trust me when I say that this is no cake walk either! I have been very lucky that I only recently started having to deal with physical pain, but I have had to endure 5 months of nausea and vomiting and am absolutely psychologically stir-crazy! I pray to God several times a day that I’ll make it through the day. So far he’s been there every step of the way, especially on those days when I don’t think I can take it anymore.
Meredith is again with my family for the week. It’s so hard to see her go and not feel like we’re abandoning her, but our options are extremely limited right now and we’re trying to do the best we can. Heath did get a chance to bring her in to see me at the hospital before going to grandma and grandpa’s house. We got to have lunch together and it was fun to watch her try to drink her first juice box from a drinking straw. She was so impressed with herself and her new found skill, but even more excited when she found out that if you squeeze the juice box juice will come shooting out of the straw. It’s little moments like this that I miss so very much. Please pray that God will continue to give us the strength, patience and perseverance to continue on until his designated time.
I want to extend very special “thank you” to Dale and Vicki Slack. Dale and Vicki are family friends of the Tille’s from Rock Rapids. This weekend they celebrated their 35th wedding anniversary by making a trip to the cities. During thier trip, they took the time to stop in and visit with me for 30 minutes. Thank you so much for taking time out of such a special time in your lives with me. I really appreciate it.
Until next time…
Angela
Hi Angela and Heath. Angela, we have never met, but I met Heath recently through his sales job. I took an interest in your story because, well, what a story! I have lots of family in Rock Rapids, so I can’t help but feel a connection to you both, and I think of you often. I am the mother of twins (all grown up now), and it just makes me think back to that time and then multiply it out, and wow, I can’t begin to imagine what you are going through. So please know that you cross my mind almost every day, and when that happens I offer up a little prayer that you are able to get through each day, and that each day helps the babies grow just a little more. Hang in there as best you can, and just take a day at a time if possible. Diana