WooHoo!!

Yesterday and today I have been celebrating (okay, maybe over-celebrating) that I passed the glucose screening. It was a close call, considering I didn't pass the one-hour test on Thursday.  I did, however, pass the 3-hour test yesterday! I celebrated by "letting" my brother and his family take me downstairs to McDonald's for lunch. And a piece of Oreo cheesecake. And some cupcakes and cake-pops today. (Hey, I told you that I may be over-celebrating!)

The glucose screening was the main event of the week.  Which is a good thing because that means that the babies are behaving, right? Yay! It's a lot to celebrate this week! Along with all of this, I can finally say that I'm officially in my third trimester and beginning week 28 today. :)

I think the babies are growing! :)

All in all, things have been going well. Babies are healthy and are performing during ultrasounds (for the most part).  The doctor seems to be happy with how things are progressing, which makes Mama happy :)  He did mention that he would like to give me another round of steroid shots to further develop the girls' lungs to help prepare them for life. 

The babies will get measured again on Monday, and I am very anxious to find out how much they are weighing in at. I am hoping that they will be at least 2 pounds, which means that I would like them to grow at least another 2 pounds in the next 4 weeks! I better continue to "celebrate" and eat more cheesecake and cake-pops! Uh, I mean baked chicken and protein shakes... :)

"Medicine-Woman" profile shot. We get lots of pictures that look like this...she likes to show off her "good side."

"Dr. Quinn" profile shot - with her hand over her face. She always seems to look like a damsel in distress.

 As always, please continue to pray for these girls. They are doing so well, and I know it is because so many people love them already. Thanks for all of the support! :)

Just some thoughts...

So... I don't really have much to write about today, but I feel that if I wait too long to blog, my next one will be WAY too long. So, this isn't so much an update but just a mumble jumble of thoughts :)

Have I mentioned how active my babies are? I LOVE IT! They tend to be little boogers and move around when they don't need to (or aren't supposed to like during monitoring!) But they have been doing performing well at their ultrasounds, doing their "practice breathing" like they are supposed to. Obviously, they don't really need to be breathing while inside me (because they would be inhaling gross mucus and I don't really want to think about what else) but they are supposed to just practice moving their diaphragm up and down, which is the same muscle that moves when we breath. 

They were also stinkers in the fact that they took FOREVER to let their Daddy finally feel them move around. Even when I was still at home and they would be moving around, I would tell him to come feel them, and the babies would immediately stop moving. Was it intimidation or mischievousness????

NAMES....

Jake and I have finally come up with our second name... through text message :) For some reason, when I say the name out loud it looks or sounds different than when I actually see it in text. But, I LOVE both of them.  While trying to find the perfect names, here are some that we had to take into consideration.

Dr. Quinn and Medicine-Woman (For the sake of the rest of the blog, I am going to change their names from Baby A and Baby B to this.)

MO & JO
Minnie & Winnie
Jew & Jam (after the Iowa towns Jewell and Jamaica)
Madge & Virginia (my personal favorite)

As much fun as it was to hear all of the suggestions from people, we have finally chosen! I feel that is a big weight lifted off of my shoulders :) I apologize for being so excited and not being able to tell all of you until they are born.

Personalities

I have found that Dr. Quinn and Medicine-Woman have already developed their own personalities.  Medicine-Woman (Baby B) is extremely active and is usually the one who cooperates better during ultra sound.  Dr. Quinn (Baby A) is more relaxed (or lazy as I call it) and she doesn't really squirm around as much.  I am very interested to find out if these traits will continue once they are born.

Wrapping Up...

I warned you that this post was going to just be a modge podge of thoughts! :)

I can't believe that I've been here for 3 weeks already (well I can, as time doesn't seem to be moving quite as fast as it was.) But, next week at this time I can tell myself that I'm already halfway done! That will feel like quite a feat, and 28 weeks is considered a milestone around here :)

KATE

I know that this picture doesn't really have anything to do with my post, but she is so pretty that I just can't resist. I can't even explain how much I miss this girl :( She is definitely in for a rude awakening when her baby sisters come home! 

Thanks for all the thoughts and prayers. These babies are (almost) living proof of the power of prayer :) Jake and I love all of the support!

Take it day by day..

Yesterday during my daily ultrasound, Baby B wasn't cooperating very well. I already think she is going to be our problem child :)  The babies' bellies were so close together that they were making it difficult for the ultrasound tech to get a good doppler reading on their umbilical cords. (The doppler can tell us how the blood is flowing to and from the placenta to the baby and makes sure that the babies are getting enough blood/oxygen supply... VERY important!) Baby A's doppler was easy to find and sounded great, but we were hearing (and seeing) some absent blood flow from Baby B's cord.  This means that she is getting blood/oxygen, but it is just not as strong of a flow as they would like it to be. There are basically 3 stages of blood flow that they watch at the ultrasound: Normal blood flow, absent blood flow, and reverse blood flow.

I went on with my day as usual (pool therapy and 3 monitoring sessions) and all of the monitoring went well, for the most part.  Speaking of my normal day, you all are probably wondering what I do all day. Let me tell you, it's important stuff. I like to joke with my sister that I'm busy "saving the world, learning to fly, and memorizing the phone book." But seriously, what do I really do? I usually wake up between 7:30 and 8:00 and the nurse comes in shortly after to check my vitals (blood pressure and temperature). Three days a week I go to pool therapy which basically consists of stretching in the water. It's not too difficult, but it is nice to get out of my room and feel like I'm doing something.  I get hooked up to the monitor sometimes right when I wake up, or if the ultrasound lady is available, they will have me do that as soon as possible. The mornings usually go by pretty fast, because that is when everything happens. I'm usually waiting to get monitored, get my ultrasound, or to see the doctor. By the time all of that happens, my lunch arrives and my day is basically already half over! A lot of times in the afternoon, one of my parents will come to see me. Then around 3:30 or 4:00 I get hooked up to the monitors again for an hour. Soon enough my supper comes to my door and I eat while I watch Wheel of Fortune.  I waste a few hours at night usually by working on a crochet project or by watching Netflix. Thank God for Netflix!! I am currently in season 3 of Private Practice and I can't get enough of it :) At some point almost everyday I find some time to read. Last night I just started a book called Sisterland and it is actually a story about identical twin girls. They are adults now and apparently both have some psychic abilities (I don't know too much of the story yet as I have just started the book.) So far I have found it pretty entertaining!

These are a few of the crochet projects that I have worked on. Some of them are being sold at Heart 'N Home in Webster City if you would like to check them out!

As for today, I woke up as usual and I got monitored right away because the ultrasound room was busy. I then did my pool therapy and when I got back it was time for my ultrasound.  The babies behaved a bit better today, as we were able to get better dopplers on them.  However, at one point, Baby B was showing absent blood flow again, and it even looked like reverse blood flow for a moment. I was scared to death, because I knew that wasn't good. Luckily, she bounced back fairly quickly and we were able to get a good, healthy blood flow reading. Unfortunately, when the doctor heard this, he wanted to put me on continuous monitoring again.  :( So, that is what I am doing at the moment.

My job for the day!Sorry about the selfie :)

 Apparently yesterday during monitoring, either one baby or both babies' heart rates ran low, also, so he just wants to keep an eye on them and get a good idea of how often it is occurring. The nurse said that the doctor wants to know how its going in 6-8 hours (at first I thought she said 68 hours and I about crapped my pants) so maybe if they are looking great (like I know they can!) I could be taken off of the monitors. I need to learn to not plan things, because Jake is coming to visit tonight after work. On Thursdays for the next few weeks Mercy is offering a "Multiple Blessings" class/workshop kind of thing which I went to last week by myself. I think there were 4 or 5 other couples who attended who were all also expecting twins. I was looking forward to going to that tonight with Jake, but guess who is already running the show! I guess I'll never be able to plan things again, unless if it's okay with our daughters! :)

Sorry about jumping around so much today, I was just trying to explain everything. Again, thanks for all of the thoughts and prayers as I know they are helping us through this journey tremendously! Here's a snapshot of the girls from today... enjoy! :)

Baby A is on the left with her arm around Baby B. Baby B's head is on A's chest. How precious! :)

Chippin' away a day at a time...

It seems to me that things have "gone back to normal" (knock on wood) after our little episode we had early last week. The rest of the week has gone by smoothly, and surprisingly quickly.  Like Jake said, I'm already one-quarter of the way through my "staycation," and in just two more weeks I'll be half way! I am so relieved that time is going by fast.

This weekend was kind of a big deal. My friend from down the hall, the other Mono-Mono Mom delivered her baby boys yesterday! As far as I know, everyone is doing great and the delivery went well, also.  As for me, I got to upgrade to an east-side apartment in the sky. Ok, just kidding. But I did get to move down the hall to her room which is about double the size of the room I was staying in. AND there are two windows, a couch and more chairs, so now there should be plenty of room for visitors. :)

Since I have been so well behaved, I got another free pass today. Well, I guess it was the babies who were behaving, but they don't understand so I'll take the credit :) We left around lunch time and went to the mall to eat what I've been craving, Taco John's. I LOVE their meat and potato burrito, and I probably shouldn't even mention the churros. To DIE for! After lunch we caught the matinee of Grown Ups 2, which was pretty cute. I could definitely tell it was an Adam Sandler movie, which is fine with me.  Again, it was just nice to get out and do "normal" things, and this week I didn't feel as if I was doing something wrong :)

Us and our movie tickets!

When we got back from the movie, we were finally able to go up and tour the NICU to see where our babies will be after they are born. I'm not going to lie to you, it was overwhelming and a bit scary to see. There are so many machines up there that the babies rely on, and it's scary to think that our girls are going to be so early that they won't have developed all of their necessary skills. I have complete trust and faith in the staff here at Mercy and expect to come home with perfectly healthy babies, on their own schedule, of course!

Today when the doctor came in to see me, he said that we have made it 26 weeks and just need to "chip away a day at a time!" So, that's what I'm trying to do :) 

Again, I ask you to continue to pray for our little family as it continues to develop. I truly believe things would not be going this smoothly for us without all of your support!

Just a Little Hiccup...

Well, these girls certainly leave their mother on her toes. We ran into a little complication on Monday evening during my last monitoring session right before I went to bed. 

The heart rates of both babies dropped below a "normal" fetal heart rate, but came back up on their own probably within a minute. When the nurse came in to what I thought was to disconnect my monitors, she had informed me of what had happened and had already let the Dr. know. The Dr. wanted to monitor me an extra hour that night just to make sure it wasn't going to happen again. Well, it did, a couple of times, so he then wanted to monitor me all night long. He also wanted to give me the steroid shots that help develop the babies' lungs in case I needed to deliver earlier than expected. That was not fun, but I just had to keep those girls in the back of my head. Needless to say, I did NOT sleep very well Monday night. I suppose it was God's way of preparing me for sleepless nights with my daughters already. I did notice the rates dropping a few times as I sat and listened to them and my heart started pounding. There was one point in the night that my nurse and a couple of other nurses rushed into my room (nothing like scaring the crap out of me!) while one of the babies' heart rates was low. I am guessing they came in to adjust the doppler on me to make sure it was one of the babies' hearts and it wasn't picking mine up. It was definitely a baby.  I find it very reassuring that the nurses caught that this was happening, and I now know that I am in the hospital for a reason, and that is to keep these precious babies of mine safe.

Because of everything that happened Monday night, I was the first on the list to get my ultrasound done yesterday, which didn't bother me at all. It was a chance to finally get out of bed! As far as the ultrasound went, everything looked good. The girls were active and the blood flow throughout the umbilical cords looked great. She did notice that "Baby B's" cord (she was the one having most of the complications Monday night) came straight down out of her belly and kind of wrapped around her butt, so she wasn't sure if maybe at certain times, like when her heart rate was dropping, if she was sitting on it and compressing it making it difficult for blood to get to her heart. We did get some good pictures yesterday, though. I have been told that these are fun to look at, so here they are!

This one is neat because you can see Baby A's rib cage on the left. And Baby B is kind of sucking on her wrist. It almost looks like Baby A is giving her sister a hug!

This is Baby A's face. The black circle thing on the right of photo is Baby B's head, so you can imagine how cramped they are already in there!

After my ultrasound yesterday, I was able to talk to the Dr. I asked him why he thought this was happening and he told me it was most likely because of he cord entanglement. With all of the babies' movements, the knot probably tightens up and loosens, causing one or both of the babies' heart rates to drop momentarily. As a precaution, and to monitor the babies more closely, he ordered me to be stuck on the monitors ALL day yesterday. I went about 36 hours on those dang things.  BUT, by doing so, we were able to see that the babies were doing just fine, so I was finally able to get off of them this morning. Thank goodness. I'm sure the nurses were happy, too, since I could finally shower! :)

Along with being monitored all day yesterday, I was prescribed a 12 hour drip of magnesium sulfate through an IV. Magnesium is sometimes used to help reduce the stress on a baby who has a low heart.  It is also used to help develop the brain vessels in case of early delivery. Mind you, I have never really been in a hospital, except for the ER maybe a couple of times, so this IV thing was also new to me.  The nurse was trying to get all of this done and in me as quick as she could so I didn't have to get up at 2 in the morning while the night nurse was disconnecting it all, which was nice on her part.  She was mentioning all of the side effects that the magnesium could cause, which was a little scary. I have learned in my pharmacy experience, sometimes the less the patient knows about the side effects, the better. Because if they know what could happen, sometimes it gets caught up in their head and then they experience ALL of the side effects.  Luckily, I think I only experienced one. The magnesium made me extremely thirsty, as it is basically a salt. All went well with the drip and I was able to get off of it last night around midnight. I also had to get my second dose of steroids last night, so I should be all set with that.

Just remember, it's all for the babies! I'm sure all of this is nothing compared to what motherhood is about to bring me! :)

Today's Update
Last night went much smoother and the babies behaved. I'm sure it had nothing to do with my scolding them...but they are probably scared to come out now! :) The Dr. was satisfied with how the babies looked and let me go back to monitoring just the three times a day as I had been doing.  I am also completely off of the IV drip, so I don't even have to have that thing stuck in my hand! I am very pleased at how well my babies and myself have been taken care of this last week and a half. And I am also VERY pleased to have my walking privileges back! I can't imagine being on constant bedrest, so these girls better not do anything like this again!! Or else! :)

Pool Therapy
On a side note, I had mentioned the other day that I was able to participate in some pool therapy. This was really nice to get out of the room and to socialize a little bit with the other Mono-Mono mom. Unfortunately (for me, not for her) she is set to deliver her babies on Saturday, so this will be the only week I will get to do this with her. I had imagined it as more of an aquacise class, but it was very less evasive than that. First of all, when I walked into the pool, I was amazed with how light my belly felt. I don't really feel that it is heavy when I'm not in the water, but it was pretty neat to feel it kind of float up. It was also really nice to be able to stretch in the pool in ways I know I would not be able to do outside of the water.

Please continue to pray for these little ones, as I am convinced that is what turned everything around so quickly. Thanks again for all of your support!

Just a little peek from the ultrasound today. It about makes me cry seeing how perfect she already looks! :)

Almost a week! :)

Ladies and Gentlemen...

We have almost made it a week in the hospital! So, only 7ish left to go! :) We are at least making some kind of progress!

Babies are still looking great everyday. This morning at the ultrasound, "Baby B" had shifted just enough to where she should be considered "Baby A" due to her being closest to my cervix.  However, I think at this point, they are just going to distinguish the babies by their heart rate. "Baby A" is still on my right side and "Baby B" is on the left.  They are very active basically all day long, which is very reassuring to me.  I like to know that they are still in there, even if they are being little stinkers while we are trying to monitor their heart rates.

One of our beautiful daughters from today. Looks like a sleeping beauty to me! :)

I was happy to have some visitors today, as it is a nice way to break up my day. Actually, I have had somebody come everyday since I have been here. It's great to wake up and have something to look forward to everyday, besides getting to see and hear my girls :)  If you're ever in the area, feel free to stop by! I'll try to be a good hostess, even though I can't offer you a beer 
:( 

When I spoke to the doctor this morning (he checks up on me every morning) he had mentioned that the other Mono-Mono mom has been given a "free pass" just about every week.  This means that she has been able to leave the hospital premises for a few hours and do whatever.  So, he offered it to me! I wasn't about to turn that down! I was excited to hear that, and I knew that Jake was coming later today so we would be able to leave and go do something other than sit in my room and watch T.V.  When he got here, we left and went to Target to pick up some things. I remember thinking that I was doing something wrong, as if I were sneaking out of the house. I felt rebellious, probably because of the hospital bracelet I was still wearing. I thought that I should do something fun, so we were trying to find an ice cream place or something, but we stumbled upon Tropical Sno.  (Neither one of us knows Des Moines very well, so we didn't want to explore to far.) If you have any suggestions, let me know! I had thought that if maybe I could get a pass on a Saturday morning, the Farmer's Market would be fun. Or Jake had mentioned maybe going to lunch and to a matinee movie. I don't know, just some ideas :)

We escaped!!

Tomorrow I am able to do some pool therapy with the other Mono-Mono mom, so I'm looking forward to that. I'm not sure what all of that entails, but I'll be sure to write about it on my next post!

I'm not sure if all of you know what I'm talking about when I am being monitored. I have been told that it is like getting a non-stress test while you're pregnant, but I have never had to deal with that. There are 3 doppler like things that they use to try to find both babies' heartbeats, and the other is used to measure any contractions I would be having (I'm not, but they use it anyways.)
Sometimes, the girls don't cooperate very well and they move all over the place (well, I guess they move to where they can..my uterus is kind of restricting) which makes it hard to get a good read of their heart rates. I am hooked up to the monitors 3 times a day (usually shortly after I wake up, mid-afternoon, and right before I go to bed) for about an hour each time. I always must remember to get myself in a comfortable position before the monitors get thrown on me, otherwise that is one long hour.  There have been a couple times where the monitors have picked up on one of the babies' hiccups. I think it's so darn cute! As much of a pain as being monitored is, I know that it is one way the doctor can keep tabs on these little blessings and keep them as healthy as possible before they come into this world. 

This is basically my full time job now! I know what you're thinking, and yes, it is a very hard work :)

Please continue to pray for these little bundles, as we want them to be safe for as long as they can be. Jake and I certainly appreciate all of your support we have been given through this journey so far, and we can't wait to introduce our daughters to you in a few months!

The first few days in the hospital...

I have now been here at Mercy for a few days. I have not gone stir crazy, yet, thanks to Netflix and some crochet projects :) 

While I am here, they monitor the babies' heartbeats 3 times a day, and also keep a close eye on them with an ultrasound everyday. During the ultrasound they again look at the heartbeats as well as the blood flow through the umbilical cords. The tech also looks to make sure that the babies are moving well.  We have gotten some pretty neat pictures in the last few days! 

This is a face shot of "Baby A" with her hand over her face. I about cried when I saw this for the first time and seeing how beautiful she already is!

Side Note: I suppose I should probably mention that we did find out that we are having two identical twin girls. I, myself, am pretty excited, and I think the idea is finally starting to grow on Jake. He is strong and I'm sure he will do just fine with a house full of girls (including our dog!) He will just need to learn to braid some hair :)

Since I have been here, the babies have already switched positions. Baby A is always considered to be the baby closest to the cervix, or the one who would come out first if I were to be delivering. And that leaves the other baby to be Baby B.  We can't really tell which baby is which, due to them being identical, but their heart rates have always been different, being about 10 bpms apart. I'm thinking that it is Baby A who usually has a quicker heartbeat, but for the last few monitoring sessions, it has been Baby B. I suppose we never will know! :)

I will also try to continue taking belly pictures, as I would have if I were still at home. Here is the one I took today. I am 24 weeks and 5 days.

Everything about this pregnancy has been going smoothly so far (knock on wood!) and we are very thankful for that. We pray a lot, and we know that God and all of our loved ones in heaven are looking down on us and helping all of us get through this journey!

I suppose I should start from the beginning...

Jake and I had always agreed to start having children the year that I turn 24. I'm not really sure why that was the magic year, but it just seemed right to us. I guess we just figured that if we tried to time it out just right (wait until we get a new car or have every bill paid off) we wouldn't ever get started. So, 2013 was the year to start. And it didn't take us very long.

On February 12, I came home for lunch (I only get a half an hour lunch break) and decided to take a pregnancy test. I wouldn't recommend that.  Once I saw the positive results, I was jittery all afternoon at work and could not concentrate for the life of me.  Immediately after work, I went to a local shop and had a t-shirt made that read "World's Best Dad." (I totally stole that idea from Grey's Anatomy :) I knew I would make it home before Jake would, so I had planned on putting the shirt on our bed with the positive pregnancy test so he would see it when he went up to our room to change his clothes after work.  At about the time Jake got home, I got a call from my sister-in-law, Sarah.  During the whole conversation with her, I so wasn't focused. I wanted to be upstairs for when Jake saw his "surprise," but I didn't know how to stay on the phone and try to keep him downstairs at the same time without saying anything. Eventually I just had to let Sarah go (abruptly, sorry!) and I stood on the stairs as I saw him looking at it. He turned to look at me and asked me if I was serious, which I was, and hugged me. He was quiet, like usual, but I knew he was excited and scared. Which is exactly how I felt.

Not too clear of a picture, but I think you get the idea! :)

I scheduled an appointment with the doctor to verify that I was pregnant on the next day. I did all the usual stuff and they confirmed that I was, indeed, pregnant. We then scheduled my first ultrasound and they let me go. That was that.

Our first ultrasound was on March 25, and I was at ten weeks. We had told both of our families prior to this appointment, but we hadn't gone public with it yet. We were planning on doing that the evening of the 25th, after our first appointment just to make sure everything was okay. I was so excited to see our little booger (even though I knew it was basically going to look like a gummy bear).  It felt like forever before we even went into the ultrasound room, but that was most likely because I had to pee so bad. When we got in there, the tech began the ultrasound. I was a mess of emotions already, and I figured Jake was, too, because he was pretty quiet. The ultrasound was underway, and I jokingly asked that there was only baby in there. She replied that there was only one baby, and continued to do the rest of her tasks. She even checked around the uterus to make sure, and she didn't see anything. Then, she began to measure the crown to rump length. This is where she was having a bit of trouble.  She then realized that she "fibbed" to us, and there was a second baby hiding behind the first one. I'm pretty sure I laughed, because I didn't know what else to do. There was no way that this was happening to us. And again, Jake was quiet. I think he was utilizing that rule that we all learned in kindergarten where "if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all." We were both just shocked. She then went to find two heartbeats, and sure enough, there were two.

This picture shows proof of the two heartbeats.

The tech finished up the ultrasound and had us sit out in the lobby as she made a CD of the ultrasound pictures for us to take home.  As we sat there, we just kind of let the news sink in. All I remember thinking about was that we now needed two of everything.  I had known that one baby was going to be expensive, but two? That just blew my mind. 

Here is our pregnancy announcement. I had one made before our ultrasound, but after we found out we were having twins, I had to go home and make another one. The things I do for those babies! :)

Ok... moving on. The next day, Dr. Nikki Ehn wanted to see me, so I stopped at the office so she could talk to me. Apparently after looking over our ultrasound, she had some concerns that our twins might be conjoined. She didn't think so because she saw movement, but they were so close together and she also didn't see a dividing membrane.  She wanted us to go to Des Moines to the Perinatal Center of Iowa so they could take a look at our case of the twins. So, our appointment in Des Moines got scheduled for that Friday.

When we got there, we sat in the waiting room for a LONG time. I suppose it was because it was because they tried to squeeze us in, and I'm sure it also seemed longer because we didn't know what was coming. Once we got into this ultrasound room, they began and almost immediately confirmed that they were not conjoined. That was a relief. However, we did find out that our twins were called monoamniotic-monochorionic, or momo for short. This happens when the egg splits about 6-8 days after conception. If it had split any later, then they would have been conjoined twins.

At this appointment, our doctor explained to us that I would have to go into the hospital at 24 weeks until the babies are born. He also told us that the babies would not go past 32 weeks gestational age. He honestly didn't explain a whole lot to us, other than what the twins were called so we could go home and research it.

We were scheduled to come back in four weeks, and when we were there, they had already found cord entanglement in the ultrasound. That is one of the big concerns for MoMo twins, and why they are such a high risk pregnancy. Because there isn't a membrane separating the babies, they can both float around freely, which causes their umbilical cords to tangle and basically tie itself in a knot.  Another concern is that as babies grow inside me, the more likely they could compress their own or the other babies' cord. This would then cut off oxygen and blood supply to that baby. Scary stuff!

We continued to see doctors in Des Moines and they kept a pretty good eye on the babies.  At the last appointment, we scheduled a day to go into the hospital. And July 1 was the lucky day!