The magic number: 34

Well, folks: it looks like we will be having these babies, God-willing, next week! We went to the specialist today for another check-up. Both girls' doppler flow (blood flow from the placenta to the cord, brain, abdomen, etc) looked great. They were both doing their practice breathing and strengthening their little lungs, and they have both been happily active and heart rates looked great.

However, Aubrey still hadn't grown much. The tough thing for the docs is to properly assess at what point the risk to both babies of being born is less than the risk to the small baby of staying in the womb. Since there are no other signs of stress for Aubrey other than growth, the specialist felt comfortable going to 34 weeks - giving both girls just a few more days of growth in the womb and time to get strong before they are born. She said that if I was only pregnant with one baby that we'd be delivered today, but that wouldn't be the best situation for Claire as well as Aubrey.

34 weeks is just three weeks shy of "full term" for twins, and so we are hoping and praying that they will need minimal intervention and care in the NICU. We have no way, really, of knowing what their needs will be until they are born - but thankfully those needs are usually just feeding and growing, body temp regulation, and learning to suck/swallow/breathe at 34 weeks. It would be a completely different story if we were a few weeks back from where we are now.

I can't believe we're a mere 6 days away from having these babies! I can't really wrap my mind around it yet, nor the idea of laboring (in whatever sense I labor, be it regular or c-section). I am so glad, though, that they didn't need to keep me in the hospital until the birth so Surfer and I have a few more precious days together at home to process all this and get ready to meet our babies!

Lord, thank you for such wonderful care that we have been given by our doctors, and please guide our every step until the birth of the girls. Please make them strong and healthy for the birth, and allow them to thrive once they're born. Thank you so much for your grace and strength through all of this!