Another Quick Update

One more appointment down, and one more good update to share! Both babies looked great on the ultrasound. (Side note: Twin B, our boy, appears to have a lot of hair! This is funny because neither Brian nor I is very hairy but we have been joking this whole time that our boy baby is going to end up having tons of hair like his Uncle Todd, and now it seems like this might actually happen!) My blood pressure has stayed about the same, and I actually lost 4 pounds this weekend despite the fact that all I did was lie around and have people bring me food. I guess all the weight I gained recently really was just fluid retention and not due to mass quantities of dessert. Anyways, my doctor is very pleased and is actually becoming cautiously optimistic (although he always reminds me that things can change overnight) that we can make it to 36 weeks...I really hope so too. For now, I'm back home and back in bed!

Friday Update :)

We had a really good appointment today...although it started out a bit rocky. My doctor works out of three offices: Mansfield, Arlington and Grand Prairie. We usually go to the Mansfield office, but since they have had to squeeze me in for all of these appointments, we have just been going wherever they can fit us in. So Brian was supposed to meet me at the Arlington office at 11:30 this morning for the first appointment...can you see where this is going? Yes, he first went to the Mansfield office and wound up being about 30 minutes late, by which time they had already started my sonogram.

Now, this would not have been a big deal, except that the tech was moving the wand all around and not saying much. Finally she asked if I had eaten anything that day. I said, "Yes, why?" and she replied that neither of the babies was breathing. I think my heart stopped and I couldn't talk or even think for a second. Finally I said "Neither baby is BREATHING??" and she proceeded to explain that babies should be taking "practice breaths" but that it was okay if they didn't do it constantly. So she poked around for a bit and they woke up and began their practice breathing. Way to freak out your mom, babies. And way to freak out your patient, ultrasound lady. Perhaps the twins are just lazy from all the bed rest, but they eventually were moving all around and practice-breathing away. But it was quite the scare, and by the time Brian got there all that was left to do was try to get some cute little 3D pics, so I was all alone for the scary stuff and it sucked.

But, the rest of the appointment went even better than we'd hoped! I haven't gained any weight, there was no protein in my urine, and my blood pressure actually went down. So, we had been hoping for everything to stay the same, and instead, we actually saw some improvements! My doctor was pleasantly surprised that the bed rest is working so well and said that we might very well be able to delay the babies being born for longer than we had originally thought. We feel extremely thrilled and blessed by this news and are just going to continue taking it one day at a time...and I am still confined to my bed, but if it's working, I can't complain. I am so thankful to have gotten so many emails, phone calls, and texts over the past few days and I can't say how much we appreciate everyone's thoughts and prayers. My next appointment is Monday so I will hopefully have another good progress report then!

Pre-eclampsia Watch: Day Two!

After spending most of yesterday and pretty much all of last night worried sick, I had another doctor's appointment this morning. We got some good news mixed with just a little bit of bad. The good news is that I got the second steroid shot for the babies' lungs (although I bled EVERYWHERE and it was really gross). Also, I didn't gain any weight overnight and my doctor said my face actually looks a little less swollen, so I have that going for me. My blood pressure did go up but just a tiny bit, so he wasn't too concerned about that. The only bad news is that I now have protein in my urine, which is another sign of pre-eclampsia that was not there yesterday. But it was just a trace amount, so while he was not happy about that, he was not overly concerned about it either. So no dramatic changes, which is good! I did much better at today's appointment because I was calmer and able to actually listen and ask questions, so I am feeling more positive than I was yesterday. Next up is another appointment and ultrasound on Friday, so I will just be hanging out in bed until then! Also, we really do appreciate all of your kind words, thoughts and prayers. It means a lot to have such a great support system.

"That Won't Happen to ME..."

Famous last words, right?

We had a doctor's appointment today that included an ultrasound and routine visit with my doctor. The ultrasound went great--both babies are measuring close to 5 pounds and are moving around, breathing, etc. wonderfully. They both have their heads firmly planted up in my ribs, so a c-section is looking extremely likely, which, honestly, is fine with me. Brian likes to come with me to the ultrasounds to see the babies and make sure all is well, which I always appreciate. After getting the good news that everything looked great with the babies, I told Brian that he should go on back to work, because my weekly appointments with my doctor are always routine and uneventful. Again, famous last words.

As it turns out, my doctor took one look at me and became concerned that I am on my way to developing pre-eclampsia (apparently my face is THAT swollen...he said that even my nose is swollen). After noticing that my previously consistently normal blood pressure has been steadily increasing for the past two weeks AND that I have gained 10 pounds in two weeks (which I assure you is NOT from eating mass quantities of food; my stomach can't hold too much these days) he is confident that pre-eclampsia is in my near future.

He explained that this means a few things: first, I am now on bed rest and not able to drive myself anywhere...okay, I can handle that. I was honestly expecting it at some point during this pregnancy. If my condition worsens even while on bed rest, I will be moved to hospital bed rest. This would not be ideal, but I can handle it if need be. Second, I will need biophysical profile ultrasounds twice a week from now on to make sure the babies are still doing well...again, no problem. Third, and the scary part, is that there is pretty much no chance of me being able to carry the babies to 37 or 38 weeks like I had expected. Our short-term goal is 34 weeks (which is TEN DAYS from now...holy crap) and then we will go from there. I had to get a steroid shot today and will get another tomorrow to help the babies' lungs develop since they will probably arrive before their lungs would normally be mature.

I am going to be honest here...I am really sad and worried. I have known throughout my pregnancy that the average twins are delivered at 35 weeks or so...which means that many twins are born prior to 35 weeks. Maybe it was positive or wishful thinking, or maybe it was just denial, but I always thought that wouldn't be me, that wouldn't be MY twins. I could carry MY twins to 37 or 38 weeks and bring them home with me from the hospital--no NICU time required. I have been eating what I'm supposed to eat, getting excellent prenatal care, taking all my vitamins, and taking it easy, so I should have no problems, right? Apparently that's not how it works. I am having a really hard time letting go of my ideas of chubby, healthy, full-term babies and coming to terms with the fact that they are most likely going to be very small and require at least a short stay in the NICU. Hopefully I will be able to carry them long enough that they won't have too long of a stay at the hospital, and we are encouraged by the fact that they are currently nice and big for their gestational age. I am also thankful to have made it as far as we have without any complications. I guess for now all I can do is follow my doctor's orders and stay in bed and pray that I can defy the odds and keep the babies cookin' for as long as possible. We would definitely appreciate any thoughts and prayers you want to send our way!

How We Spent Our Weekend...

Actually, how Brian spent his weekend. I mostly sat on the couch and "supervised." As you can see, we Brian got a lot accomplished!

Take all the baby stuff out of the boxes...check!

Put all the baby stuff together (including scarily large stroller--this pic doesn't do justice to how long this thing is. I need to get a better pic!)...check!

Install car seats and make sure Bailey still fits in the backseat (very important!)...check!

Speaking of Bailey, I was afraid she would be a little too interested in or afraid of the baby stuff. Most of it makes noise, so we wanted to get it put together and give her some time to get used to everything. As it turns out, she found it all quite boring and preferred to nap with her friend wiener dog rather than investigate the baby gear.

Back to School

I decided fairly early on in my pregnancy not to take a childbirth class. I figure that, with twins, I have a pretty good chance of ending up with a c-section anyways. If not, well, I figure that I will just push when the nurses say "push." How hard can it be, right?? (I know, I know. Just let me live with my head in the sand for a little while longer!) But we did decide to take a few classes offered by the hospital, the first being "Infant Care Basics." We decided to take this one because, if I'm being honest, Brian and I both needed to learn the basics. The very basics. The class turned out to be helpful and fairly uneventful, aside from the part where the perky nurse had us go around and introduce ourselves and say whether we were having a boy or a girl. Of course we answered the "boy or girl?" question with "Both", which lead to a fair amount of staring and ever-so-helpful comments such as "Twins? Good luck!" from our fellow parents-to-be. And when the class was instructed to come pick out a doll to practice swaddling, diapering, etc., we were instructed to get two dolls. But it honestly didn't seem so bad--Brian and I each handled our own baby and it started to seem like maybe we can actually do this twin thing after all!

Next up on our class schedule was Breastfeeding. On our way to the class, we were making bets on how many times during the course of the evening we would hear the word "nipple," which lead to a discussion on whether we may be a bit too immature to be raising children. Conclusion? Probably so, but it's a little too late now. We were able to handle ourselves in a fairly mature fashion throughout the class, even when the Australian lady in the 1980s video we had to watch kept saying that the baby should have a "mouthful of breast." She seriously used the phrase "mouthful of breast" about 50 times. Hee-hee. Immature humor aside, breastfeeding class was scary. When we were instructed to go get dolls to practice with, Brian knew the drill and went ahead and got two dolls. (But this time, he got one white doll and one black doll. I am not sure what he is trying to prepare himself for, but whatever.) The instructor started demonstrating the different holds, and it was around this time that reality (okay, panic) began to set in...this wasn't like diapering or swaddling, where we could each take a baby: this was all me. I sneaked a glance around the room at all the other moms-to-be holding their one baby...it looked so easy. Meanwhile, I felt like a circus side show trying to maneuver my two dolls into the "football hold." But I guess it's like anything else...practice makes perfect and all that junk. I'm sure we'll get it down eventually and the babies will be able to get a [insert Australian accent] "mouthful of breast." Hahaha!

Last Shower!

Last weekend we had our co-ed shower for the twins, thrown by my awesome friends from college (who would be even more awesome if they would all move from Houston to the Dallas-Fort Worth area, but that's another story!). Of course, when inviting boys to a baby shower you have to expect some resistance...and we did get a little whining (you know who you are!). But I think that once the boys figured out that they basically got to hang out, drink beer and sangria, and eat Freebirds burritos, they forgave me for making them participate in what's traditionally a "girl thing." But seriously, Brian and I were really touched by everyone who came to help us celebrate...we are very blessed to have the support of such wonderful friends and family members. I was going to hold off on posting this because I am still waiting on certain people (again, you know who you are!) to send me their pics, but here are just a few.

The hostesses and me: Jill, Whit, Christina, me, Kim, Kile. Nothing boosts your self-esteem when you're the size of a Buick like posing with your gorgeous friends!

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Me and my babies' daddy!

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A good shot of the loot and the cute little outfits. And Kile diligently recording who brought what.

 I like this picture because it looks like we are having a very serious discussion over these bottles. I also like it because the bottles are from Jonathan, and I like to picture him wandering around Babies R Us picking them out!

Our Double Snap-n-Go stroller! Thanks, Uncle Todd!

 

 Everyone was very serious while playing the "match the celebrity with their twins" game.

It was a great night, and we now have pretty much everything we need for the babies. I am 31.5 weeks and counting, and we spent a lot of time this weekend working on the nursery. I love how it's turning out and will post pics soon!

 

My Little Supermodel

Here are a few pics from Bailey's photo shoot. I think they turned out really good, although she did not smile the entire time...but I guess I can't blame her since she went from meeting Dana for the first time to having Dana's camera about an inch from her eyeball in the span of about five minutes. It's tough work being a supermodel! Here are a few of my faves...I think they will look great framed in the nursery!