Two weeks of the highest highs and lowest lows

We went in for our 20 week scan nervous about the "little" things.  I was born club footed and was worried that I would pass this on to our girls.  My husband was more worried about the scan than I was.  The way I looked at it, all those things can be fixed and we would still have our girls.  I should tell you now about the distinct personalities of our girls.  Even as I type this it makes me smile thinking about them.  Sophia is our showout.  She has never had a problem showing off or having her picture taken.  Claire on the other hand, is our shy girl.  She has always given the ultrasound tech a run for their money.  She liked to snuggle down in my pelvis and often lays upside down with her feet in the air.  When we found out we were having girls, we had to call in a more experienced tech to tell us what she was.  On the day of the 20 week scan, nothing was any different.  Sophia soaked up her time in the spotlight.  She showed her arms, legs, bottom and brain.  The tech was able to get all of her measurements with no problem.  Claire was determined to live up to her reputation.  She laid on her arm, crossed her legs and buried her head so far down in my pelvis that the tech had to lay me practically on my head.  When she finally got the shot she needed of her head, we heard the dreaded words.  She found a spot on her brain.  They thought it was Dandy Walker.  The nurse helped us get an appointment with a specialist and explained that it would be three weeks.  They needed her to be bigger so that they could measure it accurately.  We spent the next three weeks crying, praying and researching.  In the end, I decided that no matter how severe her disability we were blessed with this child and God would provide.  The scan with the specialist took an hour and a half, but it felt like an eternity.  An hour and a half scan, but the doctor could tell after looking at the pictures for 5 minutes that our girl was healthy.  Long story short, she and actually Sophia, had a little longer drains on the back of their brain.  He said it is as common as having blue eyes and brown eyes.  He apologized and joked that he was sorry that he didn't have worse news.  He said he was sorry, but we were going to have two healtly, squirmmy, big girls.  Go home and be relieved.  We went for the appointment with my regular doctor and were on cloud nine.  We were so excited about the news that we didn't realize then that I never had my cervix or blood checked.  Little did I know how important that would have been.  We celebrated with lunch and had a great time completing our baby registry.  My husband was a little hesitant at first, but after a few minutes he went around scanning all things pink announcing that "boy toys were lame".  I have never seen him so happy.  This was Monday.  Little did we know what Tuesday would bring.  I had been having backaches for a few days.  The doctors and I, attributed it to the pressure from carrying twins.  Tuesday night, this ache became almost unbearable and I decided to call the doctor on call.  I decided to shower, just in case.  The doctor called back and assured me that it didn't sound like preterm labor at all and I should try a heating pad.  I did and remarkably it worked.  I read online that if you apply heat and it works, then it is not real contractions.  Heat makes real contractions worse.  The doctor called back in an hour and I told her that I was sure it was back spasms and the heat had worked.  She was very sweet and said she was glad.  Within 10 minutes of hanging up, the pains were back and stronger.  I went to the restroom and had strains of blood when I wiped.  I was nervous but calmed myself and told myself that we just saw the girls yesterday and they were perfect.  I told my husband that we needed to go to the hospital and be checked but that we didn't have to rush.  He took a shower and I picked out some clothes to wear.  By the time we reached the interstate, the pains increased and I gave him permission to speed.  All the way to the hospital I thought about how mad he was going to be when we drove an hour to the hospital for nothing.  As soon as I got there, they got me in a gown and decided to do an exam just in case.  It still didn't sound like preterm labor, but they wanted to be sure.  I can still see the poor nurse's face as she checked me.  Her face sank as she said that I was pretty dialated.  My husband, sure that everything was fine, was playing on his Ipad and thought she said I wasn't dialated.  The nurse called in another nurse to check behind her and again another heartbroken face.  I thought she was going to cry as she told us that they actually couldn't tell how dialated I was because Claire's water bag was so far down my cervix it was blocking the opening.  They said they didn't want to mess with it anymore for fear of rupturing it.  They immediately tilted my bed back and told me that I would have to lay back with my head back and feet up and hope that the sac would retreat.  We held hope that the sac would retreat.  The nurses told us we should get some sleep.  Yeah right.