Hospital bed rest day 25: 24 weeks and viability!

I've finally reached the first target milestone of a triplet pregnancy - week 24 and viability!

Now my triplets have officially graduated from "fetuses" to "babies".

At this point, if my babies decide to come out early, there is a possibility that they will survive.
Yet, I read somewhere most do not survive past the first week of delivery.  Those that do survive would often require prolonged NICU care and be at risk of severe complications.

No belly pictures yet because there is no one to take one for me.  Maybe tomorrow.


I mentioned to the Obs today that I was experiencing pelvic pressure and painless contractions at 6 per hour.  I read in Dr. Luke's "When you're expecting Twins, Triplets and Quads" book that both could be signs of preterm labor so I was a bit worried.  The Obs got the nurses to time my contractions during a 10-minute interval.  I had no contractions during the first timing, and I only had one short contraction during the 2nd timing.  I guess this is good news, but I am SURE I was having quite a lot of contractions this morning!

The Obs that is taking care of me has instructed that the nurses do a fetal heart monitor every once in four hours.  I also got my tetanus jab today.  The Obs has also given the green light for me to be moved to the ante-natal ward, even though the ward typically admits pregnant mothers at 28 weeks and above.

I haven't mentioned yet that my MIL used to be a sister in this hospital, and she still gets a lot of recognition among the staff here.  She managed to take me for a tour to the ante-natal ward (on a wheelchair, of course).  The ward is a lot quieter than the female general ward that I am currently in.  It doesn't have a lounge because visitors are not encouraged to be hanging around.  There is a "husband's room" just around the corner, which is where I guess the husbands wait when their wives are in the labour room.

The bad thing is that there is a guard sitting right outside the entrance that did not want to let us through until one of the nursing staff recognized my MIL and called her "sister".  That means visitors would only be allowed during visitation hours and only two visitors would be allowed in at a time.  What a drag!  They are a lot more relaxed over here in my current ward, and the strict visitation rules only apply to those in the third class ward.  This was the deciding factor for me not to move to the ante-natal ward right now but to wait until 28 weeks.  The other reason is that they only have a single room available, and I'm trying to avoid being in a single room at the moment because we'd have to pay more than double per night compared to what we are paying in this 4-bedded room that I'm sharing!  I would love to have a quieter environment and my own private bathroom, but I think I can hang on for a little while longer where I am!

My next target - 28 weeks.  That's the real, safe target.  That's one more month to go.  That's 28 more days of waiting.