"My" Hospital

I love "my" hospital. Once or twice I week, I make the thirty minute drive to Fakultní nemocnice Ostrava (Teaching Hospital Ostrava). My dear friend, Lauren, often goes with me; she went a lot at the beginning to help with registration and translation. However, our doctor speaks great English, so sometimes, like today, just Brian and I go.

Some of the nurses recognize me, now, and so checking in is pretty simple. I go to the door, I smile, I point, the nurse that knows me, says, "I know . . . I know." She smiles.

Today, I had to bring my zkumavka na moc (vile for urine) with "moc" already in it. Yes, that's right, you bring your own vile, and you take care of things before you even get to the doctor. "My nurse" (the one who "knows" me) was so sweet to me today. She told me to come into the office; then, she said, "Mas zkumavka s moc (do you have your vile with urine)?" I said, "Mam (I have)." She then said (in Czech), "I don't know the English word for urine." I laughed; she laughed.

As Brian and I were headed up to the ultrasound room, he says, "they love you here." I said, "they are so gracious to me." And, they are! Both Brian and I are still taking Czech, but I'm only doing four hours a week now. With all the doctors visits and other life, that's all I can manage at the moment. However, I know that in a few years, if we just keep plugging away, it will make a difference. In the mean time, I know how to say, "I have my vile for urine" and even, "I need to buy a vile for urine". But, I also know how to apologize and smile, and that's working well too!

Our doctor is really great. He speaks great English, and he tells us what he's doing the whole time during the ultrasounds. Today's ultrasound went well. All the readings were good. The doctor also seemed more hopeful as I'm 26 weeks today. He said that 28 weeks is a big hurdle. Only two more weeks! Of course, the longer the better, but we are celebrating each week that these little guys are doing okay and still able to stay inside me!

Here is a picture of Lauren and I outside "my" hospital. This is also where the twins will be born.



The nice part about going there so often, is that it doesn't feel strange and foreign! What an incredible "up side"! Receiving care in a foreign country in another language could be so scary. I'm so thankful that it's not.

Ultrasound Update

Dear Friends and Family,

I have had two ultrasounds this week (that brings the current total to 16 ultrasounds and counting). At Tuesday's ultrasound, the Doppler readings for both babies were the same as they were last week, which was a good sign. What both Dr. Block (from MN) and colleagues of Dr. Deprest (Belgium) said is that they would be concerned if the bigger baby's reading continued to increase and the smaller baby's dropped.

We went back again today, and all the Dopplers were in the "normal" limits! Everything else looked good as well, except the doctor was a tiny bit concerned about the level of amniotic fluid in the sac of the smaller baby. However, he said it is not something to be concerned about at this point because both babies are growing well. The doctor also said, "as you know because of all that you've been through, this pregnancy is complicated, and we are watching everything, so there will be concerns that we will continue to monitor." I think that says it well; we're probably not going to get a "your babies are doing great" until they are born! How many more weeks do we have to wait again?! :)

In the meantime, we are moving forward with hope. While Brian was in the states, his mom came to stay with Cece and I. She worked almost the whole time:)! This is what she worked on (Cece added the finishing touch of a stuffed animal for each "brodder"):

She also got some quality time with Cece! We are so thankful for her!

Thank you again for standing with us and for your prayers!
Aleisha (for all of us)

Video: Cece's Growing Up (she can read!)

Cece's Growing Up (she can read!) from Aleisha Stephens on Vimeo.