Hey Everyone! Still here, hangin' out at the hospital! The first pics are of some of my awesome nurses. Tara is "Pimpin' my straps" in the first ones...we label them to make sure we are using the correct ones when I monitor and I needed new ones because mine are worn out and she decided to "embellish" the new ones with paint pens and glitter! They are beautiful and I will take a pic when they are dry.

Sheila and Lola are in the other pic-they are such fun girls-they keep my stay here fun. Lola is actually "Stephanie" but that's her nickname b/c there are 2 Stephs.

Meet the newest addition to the nursery. We got our hutch/changing table/dresser made and Matt delivered it to us on Monday. I love it!! He matched it to the cribs and it has lots of room for storage-which we will probably need with these two little ones.




This picture is basically looking in from the doorway. I have obviously not accessorized AT ALL so all the walls other than the paint are plain. The rocking chair is also probably going to be moved into the gameroom b/c if I am rocking one crying baby, I do not want to wake up the one that MIGHT be sleeping. It's all a tight squeeze according to the pictures but Brad says you can move around easily in the room-I'll take his word-I certainly haven't seen it!!! :)

Here is the latest belly shot - 31 weeks and 3 days! I am certainly getting bigger by the day and it is getting a little more difficult to roll over in bed-gotta love bed rails though-those can really help a prego girl out!! I included a close up of my shirt that I LOVE and also my special necklace that Brad got me...I think I only posted a photo of the Tiffany's box and not what was in it-oops! I love my necklace!

We had our 2 regular sono's this week on Tuesday and Friday. We didn't measure the babies this week so I am assuming that we will sometime this week and I am counting on them being at or close to 4 pounds by now. Most importantly, the babies looked great and I was very stable.

I have started having contractions on and off. Sometimes they go away and sometimes they don't. I have had 2 shots of Terbutiline to stop them and that works instantly. I will continue to have more and more contractions according to the doctor and they certainly trick me into thinking - "Ooh, is this it?? Am I about to get to meet my babies???" I don't want to wish them here by any means but I am getting more and more excited now for them to get here.

I have a bunch of other pictures and stuff to post but I have had to re-sign-in over 5 times while doing this post-so I will have to do that later. (So don't proof read this one either-urr) Funny, I don't have the patience to mess with Blogger at all but I can lay in a hospital bed for 3 months and I am fine! Go figure!! Hope everyone had a great weekend.

LOOKS LIKE WE'VE MADE IT!!!

This is the biggest milestone yet-as of Wednesday-we hit 30 weeks. Thank you so much for all of your prayers to get us this far. We are so thankful to be in the thirties! Although we are not giving up at this point, we are confident that if our babies did come from this point on - they will be okay. God has been so faithful keeping my body stable and helping these babies grow and grow.

(Here is my 30th Happy Birthday sign that I altered for our celebration on Wednesday. My doctor just laughed when he came thru my door)

I look back over the last 10 and 1/2 weeks and it is such a blur. It has gone so fast. God has blessed me with peace and happiness and most of all these amazing two blessings growing inside of me. I marvel at each kick and each time I get to see them on the sono screen or watch their strong heartbeats on the monitor. For someone who has wondered since she was in high school if pregnancy would ever be possible, I can't explain how truly wonderful this whole journey has been. From our whole IVF process to even right up until now, I have seen how God has taken such good care of us and been with us the entire time. People wonder why I can do this with such a good attitude and that is why-I have no other way to be but positive because I have been given so much.

One of my nurses, Delaine, that I actually refer to as "My Angel Sent Down From Heaven Above", has a photography business also. She asked me a couple of weeks ago if she could take some pregnancy photos of me? I thought it would be a fun little outing to say the least and a fun treat to get to put on some "Cute" maternity clothes other than just tees and workout shorts. My sister brought me a fun outfit and Delaine took pictures here at the hospital-her husband came to help and he would "escort" me in my chariot (aka wheelchair) and be quite the gentleman holding my hand as I would walk to my "position". They both were so sweet the whole time. I am so thankful that I did take the photos because I don't know that I will ever be pregnant again and I love the fact that we have some cool pics of it now-other than the pics in front of the dry-erase board!!!
I love the fact that she incorporated my hospital bracelet in some of the pictures and that the setting is actually all around the hospital since that truly tells of my surroundings during my pregnancy. She took a ton of great photos but here are just a few!
I love the collage that she did. The verse is just perfect! My sweet niece, Mallory, was a little distrot when she saw the pictures of my belly. She asked Amy if my tummy had gotten so big that my shirts didn't fit anymore. She was worried that they needed to go get me some new shirts! I love that! She is so cute and calls me all the time to check on me.

(Oh, note the major hair improvement! Thank you Nikki-can you imagine how terrible the pics would have been with those roots??? UGH!)

Lastly, here is our bedding! I LOVE IT! It turned out so good-as far as I can tell from pictures. No, Brad says it is absolutely perfect and he loves it. I will try to post the other pictures after Monday. Our dresser/hutch is also finished and Matt is supposed to deliver it on Monday morning! I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE IT!!! I feel a little more prepared now from the standpoint of things being ready at home. Thanks to Justin too for helping Brad put in the new dual dimmer and fan control-glad you had a volto-meter?! Whatever that is :)

Now we just have to wait for these little angels to get here so we know what they are and I can start accessorizing!

No Labor For Labor Day!

Just a quick update! We are doing great-steady and stable-we have been here 10 weeks or 70 days total. Nothing to really report when it comes to the babies-they are measuring over 3 pounds each and are as active as can be!! They are all over the place especially in my ribs. :)

I made it thru one of the weekends my doctor was going to be out of town-WHEW-he went hunting with his son for Labor Day. And like my title claims...No labor today!

I had what we called "Lazy Day" instead ... I had a massage therapist come in today and give me a 90 minute massage. Now, I have always LOVED massages, but it hit a whole new level today after laying in bed for so long. It was so great-it was more of a therapeutic massage than anything-not a fluffy relaxation type - truly just what I needed for my stiff neck, shoulders, back, hips...you name it! :) I have been having terrible headaches this last week and staying cooped up in my room with the door shut and lights out for a several days and after Tylenol wouldn't work they started giving me muscle relaxers and Darvocet/Percocet pain relievers. While these did help, I knew it was just b/c my neck was out of whack and so my wonderful chiropractor Robin, snuck in and adjusted me two nights in a row and it was my cure-no more pain meds!! (Although my parents would try to get me to get the meds and slip the pills to them-it was too funny-they were wanting my muscle relaxers and ambiens! It was so funny)

Another fun thing is that my sister and I are pregnant together. Laura is 6 weeks behind me and is doing fabulous too! She and I finally got to take a picture together of our bellies on Thursday night! So fun-if only we could have convinced our other sister to do this with us! (Amy always was the smartest sister)

My last fun thing that happened was that Nikki came on Saturday and highlighted my hair! As you can see with the other photo-my hair was TERRIBLE! Not only is it SO LONG, it had some serious root problems going on. So sweet Nikki came and fixed me up! I sat in my chair for about 20-30 minutes maybe and then got back in bed to "process" and then took a shower to wash it all out. After that she dried it for me...THAT IN ITSELF WAS A SPECIAL TREAT-I get so tired just drying my hair b/c it is too long and I have no stamina for much of anything.

I will post "good hair" pics later...I got some AWESOME pictures yesterday that I will share with you when I get them-maybe tonight. Another special treat from one of my nurses!!

I would like to ask that you pray for my little buddy Luke. He had to be admitted to the hospital for swallowing some adult medicine on accident. He is home now but just pray he continues to do ok. Also one of my "friends" up here had her twin girls this weekend-she was a week ahead of me but her babies were only 1 lb 11oz and 2lb 5oz just before she delivered. Her cords were narrowed or something so they didn't get adequate nutrition. Anyways, they don't even live here-they are from Tyler so she should be release tomorrow but I know her sweet girls are in the NICU for the upcoming weeks. I will post a link for them if they have some way to keep updated...I don't know the girls names yet but mom and dad are Destini and Robbie. Thanks everyone!

TWENTY NINE WEEKS!

Hey everyone! Sorry for the delay in blogging lately-I have been on "self-prescribed" stricter bedrest over the last week or so. My cervix was a little shorter last week and my doctor just told me to take it easy. He didn't take anything away or tell me I had to lay flat but I have been trying to stay flat as much as possible. It mentally makes me feel like I am doing everything in my power to keep these babies inside! My nurses love it because the feel like they are doing things for me-even if it is just getting my water refilled or heating up some food.

We are 29 weeks today. Such a huge milestone-although next week will be even bigger-something about getting into the "30's" will be so great. Babies were measuring 2 pounds 10 oz and 2 pounds 14 oz last week so I am sure we are in the 3 pound range now. I would love it if they were 5 pounders!!

I have started having a few contractions here and there but nothing major and nothing that doesn't go away after lots of water. My doctor said it is completely normal and will start happening more and more as I get bigger and bigger and the babies get more and more shmooshed! (my word not his)

Speaking of the 30's! I am officially in them now. I had an awesome birthday last week. Brad brought homemade pancakes for breakfast, Houston's for lunch, and Campisi's for dinner with our families. Of course, no birthday is complete for me without a Baskin Robbins Ice Cream Cake...heavenly! It was a great day and I even got a little turquoise box from Tiffany's! It is the cutest necklace with two hearts for our two babies! I love it! I got lots of fun gifts. This green tee says, "I can grow people" which just makes me laugh.

We also had lots of fun on Friday night with Sean and Rachel. Rachel and I were SO excited to be pregnant together and then I had to go and mess things up by being stuck in here. We plan to have lots of playdates though. She is due in about 4 weeks now so our babies are going to be really close. She looks so great and is all belly! We can't wait to meet little Ava.

Last thing: I got a cool visit from the President of the hospital today! His administrative assistant is a patient of mine and he came by to see me and make sure I didn't need anything. Pretty cool. My nurse was in here taking me off the monitor and she was freaking out because I had no idea why he was coming to see me. She just kept telling me to tell him how wonderful my nurses are etc...it was funny.

Have a great Labor Day weekend! (We plan on not LABORING that day!!)

Happy Birthday, Mimi!

Yesterday was Mimi's birthday! We had lots of fun playing with Will and Emily and eating cake and ice cream! Em ran the show helping deliver cake and ice cream to all the nurses. Will was so sweet and it was fun to love on both of them. Mimi brought me a new blue shirt which is for my birthday tomorrow but I had to wear it immediately b/c it was so cute and SUPER soft! Thank You Janis! I will DEFINITELY wear it tomorrow too!!



I also had a great visit with Niki, Clint and sweet Peyton! I can't believe how big she has gotten since I have been in here. She grabbed hold of my shirt and wouldn't let go. She is a punkin!! Niki-can't wait to see you Wednesday!!

Fi'ty Days

This is Baby A. Hopefully you can make out the nose and mouth. It was so nice to see A's face b/c that is the baby that is always hiding and doesn't want to take photos. A measured 2 pounds 3 ounces! The pomegranant looking thing on the right of the face is somehow Baby B sitting on A's face. A kept kicking and hitting B to get it off! It was quite funny! The photo on the top is of A's foot - it is flexed up if you can tell-it is a little darker and harder to see.

Baby B here is the one hiding! Look in the background to see the head and chin...Then the long thing going across that is B's arm covering the eyes. It didn't want to play at all today with the 4D machine...The photo on top of the 4D is of B's profile - not too clear b/c again - B didn't want to play. B measured 2 pounds 5 ounces and has now found a way to shimmy it's fists up under my ribs. Not very nice but at least I can tell who it is-It's hard to tell when they both kick in the middle of my belly.

Today marks 50 days of being here!! WoW! I just can't believe it-it is flying by. I am so blessed and know God is taking care of us each day. I know He is in control and keeping these babies safe and sound and will continue to in the days ahead. I think-No, I know, this is why I am not laying here in a constant state of worry. He carries all our concerns and I am so thankful!

I had lots of fun visitors today...thanks Haley and Clare for coming this morning. (And for my snacks) The Brantley's came and visited a while too before lunch and Kirk & Sonal picked Brad up and they

all came for lunch! I loved getting to see everyone today! Oh and a special shout to Chad and Allie for bringing me (and my nurse) McDonalds last night at 9 pm! It was DELISH - I would have never made it thru the night without those chicken nuggets and McFlurry!!

We will be 27 weeks tomorrow...more pics to follow...

Numero Quatro!!

Great news...Laura had her 20 week sono on Friday and her baby looked perfect! They will still do a fetal echo next week to check the heart like we did, but they feel like from what they can already see it is fine! I am so happy that my sister and I are only 6 weeks apart and we will have "triplets" in the fam at Christmas! CrAzY!! If only we could have convinced Amy to get prego with us... Laura also didn't find out what she is having although tried to trick me into thinking that she did. I think the bigger mystery is going to be if Baby 4 will have RED hair like Reid, Ryan and Reece! (The name will certainly start with an R-poor thing would feel so left out of the family if it doesn't have red hair and then didn't have an R name!!)

As for hospital life...ya know...just chillin! I had SOO much fun yesterday with Alyssa, Sarah, Kristen, and Wendy!! Thanks for coming to see me girls...I miss each of y'all and our small group back in the day! Can't wait to read my book and the food you brought was Yum-again-had to share with my nurse!

My wonderful in-laws came too. Papa just learned that I had a blog-we got a good laugh out of that and Papa I hope you are now reading and keeping up-but we will always have our texting :)

Laura and Todd came last night and we watched M. Phelps win the gold-AWESOME!!

Our friend Chris came with his twins that will be 6 in September. They were born here at 31 weeks and are perfectly healthy kiddos! SOOO INSPIRING! We really have kept their story close to our hearts from the beginning because they did IVF with our Doc and everything.

Mom and Dad came by also today and visited before they had to go back to church for VBS.

The rest of the day was spent watching the Olympics...My FAVORITE nurse, Tara, hid in my room this morning and while I dried my hair she watched the US vs China Basketball game. It was great. (She is my favorite b/c she is the one that literally didn't leave my side while I was having my kidney stone! She was AMAZING! We are new BFFs!!! haha)

OH! I have a little hand-held "Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader" Game and I would just like to shout out... YES, JEFF FOXWORTHY, I AM SMARTER THAN A 5th GRADER!!!!!! It was a triumphant moment-I never win at anything-except Wheel of Fortune-and I beat the game!! YES!!! I also have been given TETRIS...this will be a bit trickier!!! I will also be learning Spanish this week - stay tuned for some interesting blogs!

"Flamingo" is my new nickname from Brad! He laughs at my skinny legs and swears that they are thinner now than before I was pregnant...I think it is because I no longer have any muscle?

(and yes, I do have knock-knees! I have always been self-conscious of this but there are a lot of things I don't care about nowadays!!)

Nothing new to report these days! And actually, that is a good thing...I don't want to start reporting any "activity" with these babies.

I am most excited about today because the OLYMPICS start! WooHoo!!! Something new on TV that is pretty much worth watching. I am looking forward to watching the opening ceremonies tonight.

A special Happy Birthday to Nathan today too!! And Happy Anniversary to Josh and Amber-I can't believe

it has been 10 years! WOW...

OH, and I just had the BEST SURPRISE VISIT EVER!! You will have to wait and see who it is when I get the pics...my camera died and so we took it with her camera so when she sends them ... I will reveal my "Secret Visitor"!! It was soooo great!!!

I AM AMBULANT!!

I can't believe another week has flown by since my last post. We will be 26 weeks tomorrow!! Two more weeks until 28-the next big goal...

Let's see - I have been really busy actually. I now can go for walks around the hall-I make a couple of laps around the three nurses stations. Occasionally, we walk THRU the double doors and see if there are any babies in the nursery-yesterday we saw a brand new one. (It's good inspiration) Usually, we just go walking at night after dinner and I visit the ice machine a couple of times during the day.

Now that I am "ambulant", I get to go to the social activities! Today we had a Junior League Lunch! There were 5 of us that had the priviledge to go. The J.L. brought in Jason's Deli and we sat, ate and shared our stories of why we were here. Two others had twins: 2 girls and 2 boys. The other two girls just had one baby-both little girls. I held the record for length of time here-6 weeks and 1 day-they were all going on like a week-please-they were all going nuts.
Tomorrow I get to go to the "Relaxation Room"...I don't know exactly what that involves but hey, what else do I have to do???

As for the little munchkins...They are doing GREAT!! We had a sono yesterday. Baby A is 1 lb 14 oz and Baby B is a whopping 2 lbs 2 oz!! I was so glad to hear that they are growing big. I also gained a hefty 4 pounds this last week so I have officially gained 20 pounds! Never in my life would I have thought that I would celebrate that but I have been REALLY trying. Even the dietician came in today and wanted to tell me how proud she was!!

One last thing...Brad and I both have had dreams that these babies are both BOYS!?!?!? I don't know if this means anything either but I now dream about animals. One night it was 2 black labs and last night it was 2 white cats. Humm, interesting, does that mean anything?? I LOVE not knowing what these babies are-heehee. You will all just have to wait....

Best Day EVER!

Twenty-Five Weeks today! We were very excited to celebrate today. Babies continue to do great - they are getting easier and easier to get and stay on the monitors. Today, little A had the hiccups while we were listening and I could feel them but didn't really know that's what that was. I learn so much when they are on the monitors.
The lab woke me up this morning at 6 AM for bloodwork. Then they came in 40 minutes later and gave me the Glucose Drink-Y-U-C-K! Well, not the taste so much, just the downing pure sugar at 6:40 in the morning! An hour later the lab came back and took my blood AGAIN. All that to say, WHEW, no Gestational Diabetes! The worst part was the sugar let down afterwards...I felt terrible-like I had eaten too much cotton candy at the fair or something! (And I couldn't WAIT to brush my teeth after-I could just feel the cavities)



Now, the rest of the day was SPECTACULAR!! My sister, Amy, and her girls, Abby and MalMal came to visit. The girls brought a movie got comfy with popcorn and everything. Meanwhile, Amy took pity on my terrible and neglected toes and gave me a pedicure!! Here are my toes before-oh goodness-they were so long and awful.

Amy soaked my feet, exfoliated them with some good-smelling scrub, trimmed my toenails and cuticles and wrapped them up with hot towels! It was oh so heavenly!

My color of choice today was Strawberry Margarita and MalMal and Abby even shared their flower stickers with me for my big toes!

We had so much fun. Amy picked up lunch after that - Pizza and fried zucchini from Joe's - another awesome treat!

While we were finishing up lunch, some worker-men came in and put up some drapes in my room. (All the rooms got them obviously) They are very nice although I think I am about to get WAY OFF SCHEDULE. I was really tired this afternoon from waking up early and then all my activities, that I had to take a little nap. Well, that nap turned into a 2 and 1/2 hour nap due to the now darkened room I have! I can only imagine what time I am going to wake up tomorrow morning-we will just have to keep them open!






My wonderful day was finished with a good rain storm that left the most beautiful rainbow outside!

SHOUT OUTS!!!

Now, some might say that the best things come in the little turquoise box from Tiffany's...and while this is true, there is also the little royal blue bag that holds just as wonderful a treasure! My first shout out goes to Amy! She sent me Swiss chocolates via her sister who was just in Switzerland visiting. I was soooooo excited. It even had Springlii chocolates that those stingy Swiss won't export. While you can get Lindt chocs here, they are SOOO fresh when actually eating them in Switz. Amy, this was such an AWESOME gift and so made my day. I did share with my nurse last night-but only a little! Brad and I are loving it and sweetly remembering our time with y'all. We miss you so much and can't wait to see you!!

My second shout out is to Brad! We officially have cribs! He stayed up late the other night and put one together and took pictures all along the way because he knew I would want to see! He got the other one done on Sunday so our babies have beds to sleep in when they arrive (even though they will hopefully sleep together for a little while in one crib)

I love the cribs-they are very plain-I didn't want to get into something to girlie just in case we are having boys and didn't want to get two of the same convertible cribs in case they were a boy and a girl. I didn't want two of the same big beds in two different rooms one day. If they end up being the same sex-they are going to share a room as long as possible anyways and our bedrooms don't fit two full beds once converted...all that to say...we got two plain dropside cribs!!

My last two shout outs go to Brad's mom. For some reason the pictures aren't coming thru I think b/c Brad took them on his phone. BUT, the bedding is SOOOO cute! I love it and it looks perfect with the paint. I will have him take pictures with our camera later so you can see it.

And finally, a special shout out to our wonderful friends-The Clems, The Johnstons, The Schlegels, Scott, and Jeff! The pulled a FAST one on me on Saturday and planned a little surprise Baby Shower for us. It was complete with Sprinkles cupcakes-YUM-and Miranda even made me Shower PUNCH-which I again LOVE-and I had a tiara and balloon...everything. They absolutely SHOCKED me-I turned RED and was sweating when they all came it b/c I was so surprised. Jeff gave us all new names from the baby name book and Justin and Chad actually fixed my shower head. They are so handy and I had the BEST shower (the get clean kind) after they fixed the drizzle that was! It was so much fun and y'all made me feel so special and loved. I love all you guys and can't wait to raise our babies together-Jenny, Jamie, and Miranda are all pregnant-16, 15, and 14 weeks along. Jenny took the pictures so I will post those when I get them...I am SO annoyed that we didn't take a belly shot with all of us mommies! Please come back so we can do that :) We truly have the BEST friends!

Of course, I could do many more shout outs but that is all I can write for now. Everyone has been so wonderful to bringing us dinner, to movies, sonics, cookies, magazines, books, presents, I mean EVERYTHING. The nurses just laugh at me and ask me, "What did you get today?" I always share too! Believe me - nothing like keeping your nurses happy!

As for the medical update...we will be 25 weeks tomorrow!!! YES! We had a sono yesterday and everything is stable. I have my Glucose Test tomorrow-which of all things pregnancy related, I have always dreaded this test for some reason. I am praying for NO gestational diabetes! :)

Have a great Wednesday!

TWENTY-FOUR!!

We did it! Since the first day I got here, my doctor has said, "We've just got to make it to 24 weeks first!" And now we've done it Woo Hoo!!

The next goal is 28 weeks so here we go!

I am so interested in the "Gender Poll"! I wish there was a way to track why you vote like you do because I think it is so funny. I must admit I was slightly - and I emphasize SLIGHTLY - tempted yesterday during my sono b/c Brad wasn't there. Not that he is the one that doesn't want to know-really I am the one who insisted that we not find out, but I thought, "Ooooh, I could so find out right now and not tell anyone!" And trust me, I could completely keep it a secret, from EVERYONE, including Brad. But that thought quickly passed and I wouldn't want to be that sneaky and dishonest!! Besides I LOVE not knowing and waiting for my precious surprises!!

As for the babies, they are both measuring 1lb 8oz and we were able to see Baby B swallowing! That is a good sign of development at this point. Sweet and private Baby A just continued to hide all curled up-I feel like I have his/her little spine memorized by now!

I have finally started gaining weight again. I gained 4 lbs so that was good-making up for the loss earlier. I'm sure it can be contributed to the dinners I request from Brad, the VHC drinks, and all the goodies that everyone brings (Like tonight, Uncle Bart is bringing us BUBBA'S chicken-oh yummmm). I have cut off the "snacks" that the dietician ordered for me...seriously...I cannot eat another turkey sandwich at 7:15 at night ANYMORE. I just asked her to put it on hold for a little while...

Ok, that's all for now. I survived the first month with a breeze and look forward to the next 2! Heehee! I can't say that it has been bad at all. I have no swelling. I don't have to endure the heat outside. I sleep GREAT (how sad is that). I get to see more of my friends and loved ones more often than normal. I have made new friends with all my nurses. I get to see my doctor daily-you know-just in case you have that one question but don't want to call kind of thing. I don't have to fill up my car with expensive gasoline. I get to watch Wheel of Fortune every night!! Most of all, I know my babies are ok morning and night when we hear their heartbeats and weekly when we have sonos!! Really, I could go on and on but then y'all would think that I had gone nuts here. I just believe in the beauty of the silver lining-attitude is 99% of the battle right?

Official Hospital Photos

Here is my Room! You can see I have lots of beautiful flowers, plants, balloons, etc.

You can see here my BEAUTIFUL T.E.D. (anti-embolism) hosery! I am a lucky girl and get to have 2 pairs so that I can wash one and wear one! I guess they figure one pair per baby :) In all honesty, they are really comfortable and I rarely have leg aches anymore. They only bother me in the late afternoon when the sun comes thru my window and I get smoldering hot.

Now here are some fashionable boots! They are compression boots that prevent blood pooling as well. They give this puff of air and get tight every 30 seconds-the only reason they are a pain is b/c I have to take them off to walk to the bathroom and that is just a whipping. (and my legs by the way are the same size-I don't have one giant left leg!)

Here we are on our first wheelchair ride. This was actually July 4th but I am just now getting it posted. We took another ride tonight to see a friend Amy that had a baby boy last night. We didn't get to talk to her b/c she was trying to feed him but maybe I can swing by again tomorrow!

And here I am at 23 weeks. The belly is a-growin'! For some odd reason I thought that if I was in the bed - that belly wouldn't get as big but I was obviously DUMB! It IS growing!!

Last but not least, I wanted to take an anniversary picture of me and Brad. Not our wedding anni but the anniversary of the night we first met. I usually never remember things like that but it was on Jeff's birthday and I always know that is on July 18th! So, we officially met 8 years ago tonight at Pappasitos Restaurant and we have been friends ever since. He is such a trooper and so unselfish. He comes to see me morning and evening and I know is worn out...in fact he is asleep in the rocker beside me right now...but then again...he is watching baseball and that's enough to put anyone to sleep :)

What a Shower!!

I cannot even begin to tell you how wonderful our shower was on Saturday - and I WASN'T EVEN THERE!!! Although I truly felt like I was and everyone went out of their way to make me feel included and special. My sweet sister-in-law, Allie, brought me a plate of the most delicious food. MaryKay of course couldn't have me eating it on a paper plate to go-OH NO-she is so wonderful and prepared my plate on her china! (After my cheerios mishap I was SO hoping I wouldn't spill and break her china!) Everything was soooo yummy-they even brought me punch - which I LOVE any SHOWER PUNCH so I was very thrilled about that.
As for Brad and his experience...He had a great time. He was rather nervous that everyone would be staring at him while he opened gifts but I should have told him everyone is always just visiting and eating and not really paying attention so closely. The hostesses took great care of him and he had 3 little helpers that were right at his feet opening each gift. Abby, Mal, and Reid were so excited with each gift and he would just count 1-2-3 and then let them open. They would just squeal at each thing and made several comments about "This one is for the girl and this one is for the boy!" (Humm, maybe they know something I don't??) They think they are getting boy and girl cousins.
I loved getting to watch the video too. I feel like I was there. It was very fun for me too. Brad and I both were OVERWHELMED at the extreme generosity of everyone. These babies are so loved by so many and truly are our little miracles.

We are 23 weeks today and had a doctor visit yesterday! It was mainly to check my cervix and it was again stable at a 22!! My doctor was more than happy with that and actually gave me "sitting up" priviledges today. WooHoo-I will do better with eating and the laptop now! I do have to pack on the pounds...I lost a few again - most likely due to the kidney stone nonsense but now I drink 2 of the Ensure type drinks VHC with stands for VERY HIGH CALORIES. They are 560 cals each...they taste oh so yummy-not really but over ice they are managable and better than hearing Brad freak out about me losing weight :) He has been more than wonderful but that is a whole other post!

I'll keep updating as long as y'all keep reading :) Thanks for EVERYTHING, everybody!!

We're One Pounders!!!

We had an appointment with the perinatologist this morning and here is the official update...
Cervix length: 22 (AWESOME) and very stable he said!
Baby A: Measuring 22 weeks 2 days-EXACT-and weighs 1 POUND 1 OUNCE!!! He/She is head down on the left side and NEVER wants to take pictures but LOVES the shower...as soon as the water hits my belly, he/she starts kicking! It is so funny! The doctor said "Baby A growing beautifully!"
Baby B: Measuring 22 weeks 3 days-a little bigger-weighing 1 POUND 4 OUNCES!!! He/She always wants to be photographed and is breeched on the right side. B is pretty mellow but still gives me good kicks all the time. The doctor said again, "Baby B is slightly bigger but also growing beautifully!"
Needless to say, I started my morning off very good. He said there wasn't anything that he could see that he was concerned about on the babies and although he cannot predict the future, he would guess that we will at least get to 28 weeks but probably even beyond that! I will take that...I want to get into the 30 week markers at least so that was wonderful!!!

As for me: I am doing great. Sorry it has taken me so long to update the blog, but my first computer crashed. (Thanks Connie for the replacement!) Then I had a most eventful weekend beginning on Saturday. I started having some unusual pain on my left side and cramping and starting worrying that I was having contractions. After being on the monitor for about 25 minutes, the pain got unbearable and I then knew I was having a kidney stone. I threw up for 6 hours and they were doing everything they could for me - demerol, percacet, phenagren, zofran, IV fluids, EVERYTHING...nothing helped really-we were just chasing the pain. However, all finally got under control by that evening and although I stayed pretty doped up thru Sunday and Monday, I did pass the stone on Monday at 5 pm. It was soooooo small-the size of a sesame seed...ridiculous!!! But I did it and pray I don't have another one!! I was so thankful that I was already here at the hospital...see there are advantages to being here :)
I feel great now and have had lots of visitors. I have enough to read and eat and am so thankful for all of the goodies and treats. Couldn't think of a single thing I might need at this point. Brad is wonderful-and exhausted-but hanging in there. He is representing at my shower tomorrow and can't wait to hear how that goes! I will certainly post pictures!
Thanks again for all the letters, flowers, snacks, magazines, and books. For all the phone calls too-sorry if I haven't gotten back to all of you. My phone never rings unless someone walks in my room like a nurse, doctor, or visitor. I will return them as I can...if not just call me again :)

TEN DAYS ALREADY!!!

One step closer!! Today we are 21 weeks and doing great! We went to the doctor for a sono on Monday afternoon and got a very good report. My cervix was a 25-26 which is a MAJOR improvement from the 8-12 it was just a week ago! My doctor said that it just proves that we are doing the right thing with all of this. He told me yesterday that we are out of the danger zone regarding any complications from the actual cerclage procedure and he anticipates it working fine. He feels that we will have no problem getting to 24 weeks (viability) and then his gut tells him that we can get to 30-34 weeks...that is what I have been wanting to hear!

As for my stay here...honestly it isn't bad at all. The nurses are so wonderful and don't let me do a thing-in a good way. I sleep great at night-they don't come in at all to do anything and unless I call them in the day they don't bother me. So I basically chill! It is nice. Just what these babies need.

My excitement today consisted of waking up and fixing a bowl of cheerios. I crawled back in bed ONLY TO SPILL THEM EVERYWHERE! All over the bed, floor, EVERYWHERE! It looked like the cheerio factory exploded in here! Oh to have had the camera-I will have to get that up here. Nothing like paging the nurse to sayI needed new sheets at 8 in the morning! Hopefully, that will be all the excitement for the day :)

Ok, I will keep you all posted on the progress better now...I HAVE A LAPTOP!! An underwriter that Brad does a lot of business with just volunteered her laptop for me...I don't even know her name! How sweet is that?? This will certainly keep me occupied now-and most of all connected to the world outside 367!

Thanks again for all the phone calls, prayers, visits, cards, flowers...We feel so blessed and thankful for all of it! Ten days down, 100? to go!!