Tuesday, June 30, 2009

It's an adventure a day with twins!

Last night was one of those bizarre sleeping nights. I have PUPPP - a pregnancy rash that is super itchy and uncomfortable. I thought that was what was keeping me awake, and then your mind starts to wander...have I felt baby A move recently? How long has it been? And I realized that it's been a while, but I could feel baby B moving like crazy. So I got maybe 1 hour total sleep during the night and the kids were awake by 6:15...they day began.

I decided to call my dr at 8am. When they called back they said I should get to OB to have a non-stress test immediately. Immediately was over an hour because I had to wait until our wonderful Grandma Jean arrived, but I went straight to OB. Found baby B's heartbeat with no problems but baby A (the one I was concerned about) - couldn't find it. A couple of different nurses tried and at this point you start to panic a bit. Finally they brought in an ultrasound machine. It felt like it took forever for them to get there with it. Started the ultrasound and of course the sonographer can't tell you anything. At one point I even asked, "Did you find her heartbeat?" and the answer was very non-committal. Finally the radiologist who was also in the room calls our dr and tells him, "We have one heartbeat at 133 and one at 153" - THANK YOU JESUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Good fetal movement. Baby B is just squishing the heck out of baby A and not giving her much room, pushing her way back into my back where it's hard to feel movement or find that elusive heartbeat.

That was scary. I thank my mom for being there with me when James couldn't. I thank our dr for caring so much and being so adamant we get the care we needed. I thank the nurses who were so professional and didn't let on how worried they were. But mostly I thank God for giving peace and calm and helping us through, and for keeping them both growing strong and healthy!

Tomorrow I see my dr again, and Thursday I am probably going to have another non-stress test (incidentally, it was a very HIGH stress test, but I get the whole true meaning of it). I will be 36 weeks tomorrow and at 36 weeks we've said I can deliver here in Pella so this is a very big milestone! I am currently set up for an induction/probable c-section (because of their positions inside) on Wed the 8th at 7:30am. I got my wish without even having to be pushy - the date of 07/08/09!

Please pray that the itching subsides some for me. I am pretty miserable with it. Also pray that babies might decide to both be head down (vertex) so we can go for a natural delivery versus the c-section.

Saturday, June 27, 2009

Today is our 11 year wedding anniversary!

Those of you who were there, remember hot stinkin hot it was? It's like that again today. Blistering. But we are enjoying getting a few projects done around here and hanging with Declan. Then tonight we are going to go out while Declan stays with James' parents overnight (bless them, no kids for us at all tonight!) - we'll pick up some last minute baby stuff and go out to eat at Spaghetti Works, my favorite!!

Today my friend Joy is marrying her best friend Rob - so happy for them!!!! God's blessings to you guys, wish I felt like I could be outside for that long.

Please pray for safe travels for many people. My BFF Heather and family are traveling to Michigan as I type. My parents and kids will be traveling HOME from Michigan this afternoon and tomorrow morning. Several of my RTS mommy blogging friends are together in Florida relaxing, but will be traveling back to their homes soon (some year, I will be coming along, mark my words!). Prayers for all of you.

Thursday, June 25, 2009

A bit more about this week for you all

I haven't blogged about it. Maybe I've been too overwhelmed and emotional about it. This week has been VERY different from most weeks in our home. On Saturday morning at 6am, my parents came over and picked up Caden and Avery. They left for Michigan, yes, MI, 8 hours away from us here. I cried when they left, though in total honesty it wasn't because I was going to miss them so much, it was mostly just because I am that emotional and it's just different. Caden signed "mommy cry" a few times and Avery gave me a look that said, "Don't start this, this is NOT my first day of Kindergarten or something." But off they went.

And they are still gone and it is Thursday. And they won't be back until Sunday sometime!

I do miss them, but again, not all that much, LOL! That probably sounds horrible, but it is so unbelieveable to just have Declan to care for. He is simple. He doesn't require a certain drink and a certain number of scoops of Ovaltine into his milk and he doesn't argue about which seat he gets to sit in at dinner and he doesn't yell "moooooooooooommy!" from the bathroom and wherever you put him he can only crawl away from there, not get up and run away. I have spent mucho time with good friends and reconnected there. I have followed up on a Craigslist ad and found a gal with tons of totes of twin girl clothes near us and bought some more clothing for M&M. I was able to spend time with another twin mommy and they are letting us use their twins' carseats and double stroller and all of that, so I now have those ducks in a row. (pause here for scratching my face, glory BE it itches!) And as much as I wanted to get done around the house here, I have spent a LOT of time on my butt and in bed, napping while Declan naps (more scratching, sorry) and simply enjoying not being at everyones' beck and call.

But mostly, the point of this post is to say thank you mom and dad. Thank you for the break. Thank you for understanding that while we love them dearly, we love them even more when we don't have to care for them 24/7. Thank you for sacrificing things you could be doing so that you could have our kids along with you. Much love.

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

35 week appointments - God is good!!

It's been a busy few days. Yesterday I had my regular appt with my dr. Things are looking good as far as he's concerned. I did cry about how much pressure I'm feeling and how uncomfortable I am - he was sympathetic but said there truly isn't much we can do for right now, which I understand. I measured 46 weeks and we found both heartbeats easily.

This morning I had my ultrasound to check the twins' growth and then I was able to talk with the perinatologist about delivery plans and all of that since this will be the last time I see him before they arrive (Lord willing). Today, baby A was head down - she always has been, good girl! However, baby B was breech, which is weird because at every single ultrasound she is in a different position!! She is going to be a challenge. With this kind of positioning and delivering at a small, local hospital, our more likely outcome is a c-section. However, if I come in in labor they will scan me again and if baby B is head down, we'll go for vaginal delivery.

The biggest surprise was their weights. A month ago they were both within an ounce of each other at 3lbs7oz and 3lbs6oz. I didn't expect them to be over 5lbs. HA! Baby A is (estimated at) 5lbs13oz and baby B at 6lbs0oz!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! No wonder I'm so uncomfortable!! My dr and the peri were super happy with this and I am still just so shocked! They are growing in perfect unison honestly, and we feel very blessed.

I have a horrid, itchy rash all over my face and neck. Peri said it was likely PUPPS and wouldn't get better until after I delivered. That, combined with how big they already are, has him saying I can be induced or sectioned at 37 weeks, which is just 2 weeks from today (and incidentally, is 07/08/09, the date I've been wanting for months now!). I can't believe they will be here within 2 weeks!!!!

Tuesday, June 09, 2009

33 weeks today, another appointment

By calendar weeks I'm 33 weeks pregnant. According to how big my belly is I'm 44 weeks pregnant. Is that even possible?? It feels like it isn't, trust me. Everything sounded good in there (strong heartbeats at 160 - baby B and at 152 - baby A) and everything as far as I'm concerned looked good as well. He told me to eat more. I guess I can handle that, but nothing sounds good and I get full pretty fast. I am now off the procardia for contractions and we'll see how it goes. He basically put me on it so James and I could take our trip and not worry about contractions. I did take one this morning but now I'm fully out so we'll just wait and see! If I make it to 36 weeks (July 1) I can deliver here which would be awesome. If I go before that and they can't stop labor I have to go to Des Moines which I'd like to avoid, what with 3 other kids to look after around here! My dr mentioned something about "talking after 38 weeks" and I think the death glare I gave him was good enough to make him understand I hoped NOT to be pregnant anymore by then......

This week is Vacation Bible School at our church and I've been busy with that. It's harder than I imagined to be upright for that long. I have employed our sweet 10yo neighbor girl for 2 afternoons a week watching Caden and Avery while mommy and Declan nap. That is very nice! I'm trying to take it easy as much as possible.

James and I did go on our 4 day camping "adventure" together and it was truly a blast. We did nothing honestly. We shopped (a very little, but he was kind enough to go to a couple of consignment stores with me and actually feigned interest!) and we ate out a couple of times, but mostly we roasted marshmallows and talked and ate and laughed and read some of The Love Dare book (from the movie FireProof) and we were responsible for NO ONE other than ourselves. We found it VERY easy to get used to doing nothing, surprisingly easy in fact. James was an absolute sweetheart to me (as usual) and I rarely had to get myself anything. He even did all the cooking and roasting marshmallows! I assembled the smores with the twins' help - my tummy is so out there I just stacked them on top of each other right on my belly! We are very excited about our baby girls to come. It seems so surreal but yet we know they're coming and overall everyone is doing well. We were able to talk openly about how much work it's going to be and how much we're going to need each other and our friends and family, but I know he's in it for the long haul and that feels great.

Wednesday, June 03, 2009

These twins are excited to meet their family!

I must sound like a lot of fun on the outside, because last night we had to stop some pre-term labor!

I was in Wal-Mart around 4pm yesterday and started feeling crampy. I can get that sometimes while walking so I didn't think much of it. By the time I got done I was in pain, but of course I didn't ask anyone for help, I lugged all the milk gallons and juice and all of my bags to the van, returned the cart to the cart corrall (huge pet peeve, lol), came back to my van, sat down and started having to breathe hard through the pain. I decided I better call my drs office (it was a few minutes until 5pm) when the contractions went away, and then came back every couple of minutes pretty regularly.

Long story short, I got in there and they were 1 minute apart. Not hugely painful, but definitely contractions. I got a shot of terbutaline and they started an IV with fluids...things settled down and when the first bag of fluids was almost gone the contractions started up again. So then over the course of the next 3 hours I had 5 pills of procardia and more fluid. I was super uncomfy but I think that had more to do with the way I was laying on the exam table and all of that. I am NOT dilated and my dr took some fibronectin test which came back negative (meaning I'm NOT likely to go into labor soon, very good news). I was glad to get home, for sure. I have to take one pill of the procardia every 8 hours (probably until I deliver) but our dr gave us the go-ahead for our 4 day weekend without kids so I am thrilled about that for tomorrow! Since getting up this morning I have had one mild contraction but nothing huge. I guess being pregnant with twins really IS that different! I've never had issues like this before at all.

My dr thinks it had more to do with the fact I'd had diarrhea all day yesterday (sorry if TMI, but I like full disclosure) - it started everything cramping and then I over-did it and all of that. I think this was my wake-up call, however, that I cannot be doing as much as I used to. I'd like to think I can still do it all and keep the house clean and all of that, but I think that's a no.