Sonogram Update 2/28

Claire yawning.

We didn't get the best 3-d updates today as both girls were turned away, but that's ok it leaves an element of curiosity and surprise. We did get their weights... Claire "Baby A" is weighing in at 2 lbs and 15 ounces and Caroline "Baby B" is weighing in at 3 lbs and 4 ounces. So we have made some healthy growth and we couldn't be more excited!!!! Claire is in he 50th percentile and Caroline is in the 65th percentile. : )

Now that I am in the third trimester the girls should gain 1/2 pound per week!! This looks to give us good and healthy birth weights if all goes as planned. We're beyond excited and grateful for today's sonogram. I think it's safe to say that my sleeping, eating and minimal activity has paid off. : )

How to pass the time in a hospital....

Well we have some great friends that have made numerous efforts to come up here and keep us company! Last night we had a girls night "in" and had a DaySpa ToGo come up here and give us manis and pedis while we watched the Bachelor. The boys went to the Adcocks and cooked steaks so this night was probably just as healthy for Dustin as it was for me. : )
Members of the Junior League have come up with a schedule to send someone in the day time a couple of times a week to keep me company. It's been great to break up the days and weeks.
The most time consuming project we have taken on is ancestry.com. If you have never done it then I would STRONGLY encourage you to do so....it is so interesting (sometimes scandalous) and informative. This all triggered when I was working in the girls' baby books to fill out their heritage and significance of their names and I wanted to be specific and exact so Dustin got us started on this website.
We have done each of our direct lineages from our birth mothers and fathers. Both sides of my family have been traced back to the 1500's to England. Did you know the inventor of the flushing toilet is in my family? Oh yes! He's google-able: Sir John Harington. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Harington_(writer) He was also a godchild to Queen Elizabeth I. So the saying goes when you're going to the "John" that's due to his invention of the toilet. I just think this is so neat to find especially since Harrington (an "r" got added on the boat over from England) was my mom's maiden name.
Dustin is still working on his side and have found some very cool and interesting names. He has been able to trace his mom's side back to the 15 and 1600's. He's trying to do his dad's biological parents, not his adoptive parents for some true history and it has been very difficult to locate their "real," not slang, names and true birth or death dates. But if there is anyone that will stick to it...it is Dustin.
Our friends Trey and Meg got started on theirs and so far they have found that Meg's great-great-great-great (or something like that) grandfather was the mayor of Austin and sold some of his land to the state. This land now hosts the state capitol. So if you do it...who knows what you will find!
Dustin will not be taking the New Mexico Bar this week due to our situation. Though it likely would have been fine the worry of "what if" is enough to send you over the edge so he plans to take it in July. Hopefully 2 crying babies in the house won't be too much of a distraction when he is trying to study.
Today, we have a growth scan and our girls should weigh in around 3 lbs! So we're making some headway. I have gained lots of weight this week and my belly has really taken off. All which makes me happy. : ) Tomorrow marks 29 weeks and March 22nd is still our big day! We continue to request your prayers over the approaching weeks as we work to make it to our goal. So far things are going well. The babies are scanning well on the monitor that we do 3 times per day and I am having an increase in contractions but am not feeling them so at this point it is not a concern, but we have learned this process is day by day.

P.S. I'm taking is super easy tomorrow and simply may just not get out of bed. I don't want to risk having Leap Year Babies.

28 Weeks!

We made it! Today marks the start of 28 weeks and only 4 more to go. We have a countdown of days on our board in our room and we have 28 days left.
Yesterday we had a scan with Dr. Higby and will have one weekly from here on out. So far the babies look good. Great heart rates, enough fluid, lots of movement and they are getting big. We'll do their next growth scan either Monday or Tuesday of next week.
This past week was one of ups and downs for us. I had heavy contractions (for me) on Thursday of last week and on Monday. But after an injection and IV they calmed down both times, indicating it wasn't real labor. So I'm taking it even more easy than I was. All I have to focus on right now is keeping those girls in the womb and healthy! We now monitor the babies 3 times per day for an hour. Which means I get 3 naps in --- the sounds of two heart beats bumping on the monitor next to me rocks me to sleep. It is so calming and peaceful to hear.
We set our C-Section date for Thursday, March 22, 2012. (I love even numbers and Dustin and I were both born on a Thursday so if possible I want this for these girls too!) It's on all of my Dr.'s calendars and having this as a goal gives me something to look forward to. Though I wanted to push to 33 weeks I don't want to be greedy or take my chances especially with this vesa previa. We'll be very pleased and blessed to get 32 weeks and 1 day. : )

Maternity Pictures

It was a beautiful day in San Antonio yesterday and I got to go outside.....to do maternity pictures! I wasn't too fond of this idea...ever, but after some persuasion from nurses and family I know I won't regret having done this. It was so refreshing to just get dressed like a normal person!

2/14/2012

This, by far, was the most special Valentine's Day I've ever had. Being in the hospital naturally limits your Valentine's Day options....so Dustin brought our love for gourmet food to the hospital.
He brought a card table, purchased a table cloth and set up shop. I got a dozen red roses yesterday with 2 pink ones in the bouquet for Caroline and Claire. : ' )
A 5 course dinner was catered by a company here in San Antonio. We had a wedge salad, mushroom bisque, Filet Mignon with a mushroom glaze, steamed veggies and potato au gratin stack. All followed by a cherry crisp! It was soooooooooo much food but absolutely delicious. The thought that went in to this and the fact that it was a total surprise to me is breathtaking. We traded in the wine and the fancy-smancy restaurant in for peach tea and in my antepartum room and IT WAS PERFECT! I will never forget this day.

C, C & H's 14 roses

Yummy cookies from one of our favorite bakeries.

Dustin setting up.

I even wore normal people clothes for dinner! And from this I can tell my tummy is growing. : ) We end most nights with a wheel chair ride around the hospital and outside for a bit for some fresh air and last night we went by the nursery to see all of the Valentine's Day babies.

So being here so long and knowing we still have several weeks to go we know we must take care of our nurses. Dustin got them Valentine's Day cookies as well. I know what he was thinking when he bought them....oh heart's....I will take them! Little did he know that it was like a puzzle where you put them together and you have lingerie! : o He was completely embarrassed but the nurses LOVED them. As one nurse said well if there is a department that it is completely appropriate for these cookies it would be the antepartum / Labor & Delivery unit. : )

(You can see it with the purple ones!)



Today marks 27 weeks! The stats for this week are amazing and really puts us over a "hump." Mortality at this gestational age is less than 5%. Things are still going really well and our nurses and Dr.'s are very pleased with the tracings of the girls' heartbeats. I am now monitored 2 times per day for 1 hour each time and have minimal contractions or irritability which is entirely normal given where we are and the fact I have 2 babies trying to find room in there. They like to both show off, swim around and race their heart rates. So far they are acting like 32 week babies via their heart tracings so we're all very pleased with this. Dr. Gordon rounded on us last night and if things keep going as well as they are he doesn't see why we wouldn't push delivery to 33 weeks. He and his partner don't always agree on this, but we knew this going in. Dustin wants to take them as soon as we arrive to the safest place in their gestational age (so 32 weeks) and I would like to push it if heart rates for us all prove to be ok, their tracings are appropriate and if there has been no bleeding from the previas. We'll make this decision once we get a little further but I always like to have a goal in mind. So the prayers are working! 35 or so more days to go. : )

P.S. Dustin and I received a gift and it didn't have a name on it. It was shipped to our house approximately a week and a half to two weeks ago but no tag was attached. It was a swaddle so if this is from you please let me know so we can thank you appropriately!!

Growth

Yesterday was our first growth scan since we checked in. Though the previas have not disappeared (we weren't expecting them to) everything else looks great. The babies have grown and are approximately 2 pounds each! Each day is a miracle and tomorrow will mark 26 weeks. (42 more days to go!)
It is safe to say these girls have already inherited Dustin's physical features. His nose and lips for sure and we're pretty sure they have my chin. (Though it looks like hair in the pics., sonograms can't pick up hair, not that we are doubting they will each have a full head!)
We feel like we have seen an insight to their personalities, already. Baby "A" can always be found in the same spot for heartbeat monitoring and stays pretty much in her "area" at all times. Baby "B" swims around everywhere, kicks at the monitor, letting off a tremendous noise and then runs away. We both felt compelled to name them in the womb. Baby "A" is Claire and Baby "B" aka Wild Child is Caroline.

I think it is safe to say our lip gloss bill will be hefty.

My blood pressure is great and for twins I hear I should be proud of this. My irritability contractions have practically disappeared. We get to monitor the babies two times per day and hear their heartbeats. So far very strong and independent. Caroline likes to swim around, raise her heart rate to show off and then cools off --- watching this baby is so fascinating not only on the monitor but off as she causes quite the ruckus in my tummy.

This past weekend I had my San Antonio shower. We had to improvise and hold it in my hospital room, but fortunately my room is pretty large so I think it turned out well. I don't have pics yet, but will post them soon. It was fun to open all the goodies and see all the PINK! Meg, Kim, Leslie, Stephanie, Jenn & Laura went above and beyond to make it such a nice day! The food was AMAZING and the details that went in to the day were unbelievable! We made such fun memories that will last a lifetime and I can post in their baby books -- thank you all! Laura, my friend from college that now lives in New York, flew in for the weekend so she kept me company and helped me pass the days! Gigi (Tonna) and Momsey (Sandy) came in as well and worked in our nursery. They put up books, stuffed animals, bows, diapers, etc. That in itself has relieved some stress -- they took home all of the clothes to wash and will bring them back on their next trip....this is such a time saver for me! THANK YOU -- our moms have been wonderful through all of this and have just picked up where we left off.

Dustin is still staying every night here with me and though our room is pretty roomy and even has a couch with a bed, he still insists on sleeping on what looks to be this very uncomfortable chair that folds out in to a cot. He is just too afraid he is going to miss something to go home. What a good daddy! Most nights we go to the food court by wheel chair (it's sad that that is my highlight) and end the night with best 2 out of 3 games of Yahtzee. Obviously we've really slowed down and have finally caught our breaths.

We feel so blessed to have the support we group we have both from here and afar. We cannot ever thank you all enough. Please keep praying for things to go as well as they are now. I was given a daily devotional from my mom at Christmas -- I read the paper version and my mom reads hers on the Nook (what's wrong with this picture?!?) and today's really spoke to us both:

"Come to me for rest and refreshment. The journey has been too much for you, and you are bone-weary. Do not be ached of your exhaustion. Instead, see it as an opportunity for Me to take charge of your life. Remember that I can fit everything into a pattern for good, including the things you wish were different. Start with where you are at this point in time and space, accepting that this is where I intend you to be. You will get through today one step, one moment at a time. Your main responsibility is to remain attentive to Me, letting Me guide you through the many choices along your pathway. This sounds like an easy assignment but it is not. Your desire to live in My Presence goes against the grain of "the world, the flesh, and the devil." Much of your weariness results from your constant battle against these opponents. However, you are on the path of My choosing, so do not give up! Hope in Me, for you will again praise Me for the help for the help of My Presence."