Who’s the Boss?

Shortly after composing my post yesterday, I heard a knock at my door and a resident indeed appeared, dragging the requisite ultrasound machine behind him! One of the girls passed her NST, but the other did not, so the resident did a quick scan to make sure all was well. The doctors are looking for a specific “practice breathing” exercise when they do the ultrasound, which the baby must perform for a continuous 30 seconds in a 30 minute period. The breathing really has nothing to do with lung performance, as the babies don’t have any oxygen with which to breathe. It’s somehow a test of overall well-being. I still have not completely grasped its significance, but I’m happy to say that every ultrasound thus far has revealed happy, “breathing” babies!

My nurse this morning entered my room with a great deal of trepidation, as she has historically been unable to get our girls to behave for their heartbeat monitoring session (which is done twice daily for 30 minutes, and once at midnight for 5 minutes). Today was no different – it’s as if the girls can smell her fear! The monitoring has little to do with a nurse’s competence and everything to do with the babies’ cooperation. This otherwise highly competent nurse struggles mightily to get my girls to stay on the monitor. At issue is the fact that when either of the girls move, the stationary doppler monitor is unable to track her heartbeat. As a result, the nurse has to reposition the monitor until she finds the wayward baby again. For some reason, the girls throw little uterine dance parties when this particular nurse monitors them, and as a result, she is forced to blindly attempt to follow their erratic movements for the entire monitoring session. Ideally, a nurse is able to position the dopplers once, leave the room, and return again in 30 minutes without incident. My daughters seem determined to make this nurse stay in the room for the whole time period. Fortunately for me, she’s a delightful lady and I don’t mind spending the time with her; but I am a bit unnerved by the girls’ early displays of their power to control their environment. It will be no time at all before they have their daddy wrapped around their little fingers!