UPDATE #2

I’m happy to report that Brooke had the cerclage surgery today, and there were no noticeable complications. They were able to “push” the membrane of the amniotic sack back to where it should be and then stitch off the cervix, which will hopefully prevent it from shortening any more.

The surgery finally happened around six o’clock this evening and Brooke was in the recovery room before seven. She’s has had some really bad cramping and the two percosets haven’t been too successful in dulling it much. Hopefully, she’ll be able to sleep a bit and wake up to a pain-free stomach.

The good news is that the surgery worked and we are in a much better position than we were in just 24 hours ago. The bad news is that the risk of infection from the surgery is pretty high so we’ve got to be extremely wary for the next two weeks. Dr. Houlihan said that it will take two weeks without problems to be sure that there were no adverse effects from the surgery. So while we feel a lot lot lot lot lot lot better, we’re not out of the proverbial woods yet.

I’m home now as I’m typing this (11:43 p.m.) and Brooke just called me to report that, after I left the hospital, the nurses did some tests and heard each of the babies’ heartbeats and they all sounded just as strong as ever. It was also interesting (though not a good thing) that Brooke actually had a contraction after the surgery. They had told us this was likely to happen due to the drugs, Brooke had never felt one before. Luckily, it was just the one so there was never a concern that she was going to go into labor, but now she knows what it feels like for when the time does finally come—which will hopefully not be for at least another ten to fourteen weeks!

Brooke will be in the hospital for at least another full day. We asked about maybe being allowed to come home tomorrow night and Dr. Houlihan didn’t seem overly optimistic, but he also didn’t dismiss it altogether. But another day at the hospital to be monitored and cared for isn’t the worst thing in the world right now (though Brooke is going through some sort of withdraw from begin apart from her Roy-friend for so long).

Again, thank you to everyone for the constant barrage of messages, texts, emails, etc. Knowing we’re not alone has made this much easier for us both, and we’ve told the babies how lucky they are that so many people are going to want to meet them.

I’ll post again tomorrow night just to let you know how everything progresses.