Today is a very exciting day!

Today - February 1 - is a very exciting day in the Ross household. First and foremost, thirty years ago today, my wonderful husband Matt was born! I am so lucky that such a thoughtful, kind and caring man chose to share his life with me. And these babies are so incredibly lucky that he will be their father. Happy Birthday Matt!

Second, today I am 32 weeks pregnant. Why is this so exciting? Well, back in November, nearly 12 weeks ago, we first discovered that my cervix was shortening. Dr. Vyes (one of our MFMs) talked to us that day about milestones.

• The first was 24 weeks - the minimum borderline for viability. The fact that we were even discussing if we'd make it to viability was terrifying. She then rattled off a very scary list of all the long-term struggles faced by these babies if they survive. But we made it to 24 weeks in early December, and breathed a little sigh of relief.
  
  
• The next milestone was 28 weeks, when a lot of the serious long-term risks of prematurity (things like cerebal palsy, blindness, and mental retardation) decrease. That was 2 whole months away! In early January, just after we returned from a couple scary days in the hosptial, we passed the 28 week milestone, and breathed a slightly bigger sigh of relief.
  
  
• Then there was 30 weeks, when the risk of long-term vision problems decrease. Another sigh of relief, although we found ourselves in labor & delivery again that weekend.
  
  
• And finally, the very last milestone she gave us was 32 weeks, when the long-term risks of prematurity drop basically to zero. Babies born after 32 weeks, but not full term, often have to stay in the NICU to grow, and work on feeding and breathing skills that they would have learned in their last weeks as "inside babies", but they generally catch up to full-term babies and have no lasting problems. We looked at the calendar and realized that 32 weeks was Matt's birthday. While it seemed forever away at the time, we told the babies very sternly that they were to stay inside until after daddy's birthday. Quite possibly markingthe last time they would both listen to us at the same time, they did as they were told!!
  

So, here we are at 32 weeks. We're done with cervical checks, we start weekly non-stress tests today to make sure the babies are still doing well as they get more and more crowded, and we'll have our final growth scan next week. At the very longest, Frickle and Frack will be here in 6 weeks! The doctors last week, however, all seemed in agreement that they'd be here in February.

After 12 weeks of bedrest, it finally feels like we're in the home stretch and we cannot wait to meet our son and daughter! While bedrest has been indescribably frustrating and difficult - both physically and mentally - I am so incredibly happy that we've made it to daddy's birthday and the babies are still cooking!