Day 20

I am sorry for worrying those of you who got worried today when you noticed I had not put an update on here since Friday. (I had a few emails and phone calls/text messages wondering what was going on!) I was going to post yesterday after the football game but I fell asleep and then today went by pretty quickly so I am just now getting around to posting.

Yesterday was uneventful as far as contractions go....nothing big to report. I just knew that these girls were going to decide to make their grand entrance during the game last night since Jason and my parents were all at the game. Luckily they remained calm and I tried my best not to get too excited while watching the game. The nurses kept joking with me that if I got too excited during the game they were going to make me turn it off! The big event for the day yesterday was that they brought in a scale and weighed me for the first time since I have been here. I have lost 3 pounds since I have been here and I am now officially 9 pounds over my pre-pregnancy weight. I think my parents were a little worried about the weight thing because they brought me dinner tonight from Olive Garden. It was YUMMY!!

Tonight has been more eventful than I like. At 5 pm I had to get a shot for the contractions. Then at 6:30 I had to get another one. My nurse told me it is 3 strikes and then you are out...meaning if I have to get another shot in the next few hours it will be followed by the magnesium. The good thing is that we still have the mag to fall back on and it is such strong stuff that it should stop the contractions. If it doesn't they will put me in an ambulance and send me to Baptist to deliver these girls. Please say a prayer that these girls wait at least 2 more weeks to meet us!

I better try to get some sleep. Thanks for all of your thoughts and prayers!

A Better Day!

Last night went a lot better than Wednesday night. I didn't have to have a shot. In fact I haven't had to have a shot since the last one I got Wednesday night/Thursday morning. In fact things calmed down so much that I actually got to take a shower again today. YEAH!! I just keep hoping that things don't get too crazy again. Tonight I have already had several more contractions than I have had in the past 24 hours. The contractions got pretty frequent when they had the babies on the monitors tonight (we hook them up 2 times a day). The on-call doctor told my nurse to see if the contractions calmed down after we take the babies off the monitors. That is what we are doing now.....waiting to see if my uterus is going to calm down. Hopefully it will but it is not looking very promising! Hopefully I will have good news to report tomorrow (no shots and no magnesium!!!).

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Even though I am in the hospital I still have so much to be thankful for this holiday! I am so thankful for all of my family and friends who have been so great during this trying time. If it weren't for all of you I really would need a straight jacket in here!!! I am also so thankful that our little twin girls are still in there growing big and strong. We are excited to meet them but it is still just too soon. Last night I was beginning to wonder if they were going to make their appearance on Turkey Day. I had a ton of contractions last night in the night. At first the shots weren't even helping. After one of the shots I had 9 contractions one right after the other so I got another shot. I was one shot away from having to go back on the magnesium iv (YUCKY!!!) when the contractions finally calmed. Today I was not allowed to sit up in bed except to eat. Other than eating and trips to the bathroom I had to lay completely flat. It seemed to help the contractions. I still had a lot of them but not enough close together to require me to get a shot during the day. Oh yeah, I lost my showering privileges until we get these contractions calmed a little too. Maybe I can get a quick shower tomorrow!

Jason & Mallory and Jason's mom and dad came to spend the evening in my room tonight. They had a busy day at our house. They worked on the nursery furniture. Yeah the cribs are both put together! They also got Mallory's new dresser moved into her room. She really has a big girl room now! Before they came up to the hospital they put the Christmas tree up. When they left tonight they were going to go home to put the decorations on it. I always enjoy putting the tree up so I am glad that Mallory gets to do it this year even if I couldn't be there to help.

I also wanted to give a special thanks to both Sheli and Vonda who took time away from their families to come and see me today. It really meant a lot! (Sheli, it really meant a lot that you brought a piece of pie that YOU MADE!!!)

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!! We all have so much to be thankful for!

Day 16!

I can't believe I have been in the hospital for 16 days now! Now I just have to hope we make it at least another 16 days! Today was pretty uneventful as far as contractions go. In fact it was one of the days with the least amount of contractions since I have been here. When I saw my doctor this morning she said she is glad that I haven't had to have too many shots in the past couple of days. She said that is a good sign. A couple of different nurses told me today that they think my belly got a lot bigger all of the sudden. Yeah!!! That has to mean the girls are really growing bigger and stronger! I love it....only when you are pregnant do you like to hear your doctor say that your belly is getting bigger and that it is soft!! Well I am going to try to get a little sleep before they come in and wake me in 45 minutes for my next pill dose. I hope everyone has a happy Thanksgiving tomorrow! (Yes they are serving turkey here at the hospital for lunch!)

Good Day!

Today was a good day. The contractions have been very calm today. Although tonight I have been having a few little ones so hopefully the night will remain uneventful!

My mom and Maxine took Mallory to get her Christmas pictures taken today. Before they came to see me they went and got a frame to put one of the pictures in for my hospital room. It is so cute!! Several of the nurses have already come in tonight to look at it. Mallory, my mom, and Maxine spent the entire afternoon with me! It sure was nice having company here all afternoon. (I am sure Mom and Maxine were bored out of their minds...but I sure appreciated it!!!) Mallory finally fell asleep for her nap in bed with me and it was wonderful! I miss her and I curling up on the couch or in the recliner for an afternoon nap! After Jason got home from basketball practice they went to our house and Mallory got to see her Big Girl room. Both my mom and Jason said she was excited about her Big Girl bed!! I know Jason worked hard to get it set up for her before she got home. Did I mention he is a great Daddy?!?!?!

Thanks again to everyone for your thoughts and prayers. They really seem to be helping!

The Babies are Still Growing!!

The ultrasound this morning showed that Baby A (Aubrey) is now up to 2 lb 13 oz and Baby B (Whitney) is up to 3 lb 7 oz. The size difference isn't surprising considering that Aubrey is the one with the Single Umbilical Artery (SUA). As long as she continues to grow some every week we are happy since one of the biggest concerns with SUA is slow/no growth at later stages during pregnancy. Unfortunately my cervical measurements weren't as good. It had shortened in the past week. My doctor thinks it is probably because the contractions are intensifying. She said they will just keep a very close eye on me. They are already watching me like a hawk....I don't know how they can watch me any closer! The good news is that my doctor thinks we can still hold out on delivering these girls for a while.

The contractions today have been a little more frequent and I had to take my meds a little closer together to try to help slow them. They are starting to slow down a little bit now so hopefully I won't need to be put back on the magnesium anytime soon. I am just glad we have the magnesium as something to fall back on if we need it. My nurse just came in and gave me another shot for the contractions. She said she called my doctor about the contractions during the last hour and sh said we aren't taking any chances so go ahead and give me another shot. Hopefully it will help! I will report tomorrow on how successful the shot is!

Increase in Intensity

Last night wasn't as boring as I would have liked. I was up pretty much most of the night due to having several pretty intense contractions. I finally had to get a shot for them around 5 am. The shot helped get the contractions under control again. I have been having the usual number of contractions off and on today throughout the day. Several of the contractions have been increasing in intensity. I have told my nurses that I am really starting to feel some of the contractions. They are keeping an extra close eye on things just to make sure everything stays under control. My nurse thinks part of why I am contracting so much and starting to notice them more and more is because I am still relatively small since I haven't gained much weight this pregnancy. The babies are getting so big that they are literally running out of room in there! Grow babies grow...we need you to be big and strong!!! I have an ultrasound tomorrow. Hopefully it is good news!! I will post tomorrow about what we find out from the ultrasound. I sure hope I get more sleep tonight!! Thanks again for all of your thoughts and prayers!

Day 12!

Today I had a pleasant surprise when I got out of the shower. During my shower my nurse had rearranged my room by turning my bed a little and moving the couch to a different angle. It was kind of nice to break up the monotony of being in the hospital! I was also glad to see Jason sitting in the recliner when I walked back in from my shower!

Speaking of Jason, he stayed up VERY late last night getting Mallory's room painted. Our friends Brian and Melissa (and their 2 precious girls) helped him get Mallory's big girl furniture picked up last night. I think her room may be ready for her when she gets back from her big weekend with her Grandma and Papa Esau. I wish I could see the look on her face when she gets to see the look of her Big Girl room!!! Hopefully Jason will take pictures for me!

Several of you have sent me emails asking how to post a comment on this blog. I think I fixed the problem. Apparently the default was set to not allowing comments unless people have a google account. Now you can just click on the comment link at the bottom and on the next page select the "name/URL" option. That way you can leave your name with your comment if you want. Sorry it took me several days to figure that out!! Remember...I am still new to this blogging thing!

The contractions have been at a steady minimal today. So luckily nothing new to report as far as that goes!! The doctor on-call came in this morning and jokingly told me not to watch the big OU/Tech game tonight if it would make me too excited and throw me into labor. I assured her I bleed ORANGE so it should be no problem! Just to make sure nobody else makes that mistake I am wearing an orange OSU shirt today!

It is so hard to believe that I have been here 12 days now. It has really helped having so many great friends and family members! Thanks to everyone for the thoughts, prayers, visits, phone calls, cards, emails, snacks and everything else people have brought to the hospital. We really appreciate it!!

Day 11

Last night didn't go as well as I had hoped. Around 2:00 am the frequent contractions decided to make an appearance again. They finally got out of control around 4:30 am and I had to get another shot then. Luckily the shots of Brethine are still helping to calm them when they start up. I hope we can continue to keep them under control!


We scheduled my weekly ultrasound for Monday morning. I am anxious to see how much these little girls have grown! Hopefully everything else will look good on the ultrasound!

It is crazy around here at the hospital. Apparently when the front moved in it threw a ton of people into labor. The hospital is completely full. They have been diverting people to Baptist and Deaconess for 2 days now. I jokingly keep offering up my room. They just laugh at me and tell me "nice try!".

Day 10!

Well today is Day 10 for me in the hospital. Thankfully the contractions stayed to a minimum today! When my doctor came in today I asked her how long we will continue to stop the contractions. She said if I make it to week 34 we will probably let nature take its course. She said I could probably go home then and stay on bedrest and take my meds at home. I told her that 34 weeks put me the week of Christmas. She said I could probably be home for Christmas! That was the best news I have heard since I have been here! Wouldn't that be a great Christmas present!

Mallory left today to stay with her Grandma and Papa Esau for the weekend. They are going to Branson to look at all of the neat Christmas stuff they have there during the holidays. She will have so much fun! I know she will have fun playing with her cousins also since they are going too. The only problem is that I will miss her so much! The highlight of my day every day is when she walks through the door. I won't get to see her until Monday night. I know she will call to talk to me every day but I can't wait to get a hug from her again!

Jason is busy painting Mallory's room while she is gone. The plan is to try to get her room set up as her "Big Girl Room" by the time she gets home. I feel so bad that I can't help him get everything ready! He is doing such a great job taking care of things. He is such a great Daddy! I just hope he knows how much I appreciate everything he is doing!

Hopefully tonight will remain uneventful too!

So much for uneventful!

I should have known things were going much too smoothly yesterday. The contractions fired up again. So today at about 3:00 pm I had to get another shot to stop them. The good thing is that it did stop them at the time. However we are starting to notice a pattern. Almost every afternoon at about 2 pm the contractions start and then again at about 2 am. It is the strangest thing. Hopefully tonight will be nice and boring!! One really bad thing about the contractions today is that it made it so that I wasn't able to take my trip outside in the wheelchair for 15 minutes. Since tomorrow is going to be colder I probably won't make it outside then either! The fresh air really does make a difference in your mental state when you are in the hospital. Oh well....at least I still have my windows!

No News is Good News

Today was really pretty uneventful. I am still having contractions but I have only had up to 5 an hour today. They have set my cut off at 6 an hour before they have to give me additional shots to stop them. So basically there is nothing new to report today! So....no news is good news!

Good news on the ultrasound!

They came into my room at 7:30 this morning and did another ultrasound. The good news is that things didn't look any worse than they did last week. Yeah!!! The babies have grown quite a bit too. Another YEAH!!!! Baby A was up to 2 lb 10 oz and Baby B was up to 3 lb 1 oz. They each grew about 6 oz in a week (according to the ultrasound). I know the ultrasound isn't 100% accurate but it at least gives us a good estimate on how big they are.

When my doctor came in this morning she said she was really glad to see that one of them had broke the 3 pound mark! She also told me that for every day we make it without delivering the babies equals 2 less days they have to spend in the NICU. She said to think of it as for every week we make it that is 2 less weeks they have to be in the NICU. We have to keep these babies cooking!

I don't really have any other updates other than that. Luckily the new dosing of the meds has made my stay much less eventful than it was the first few days!

Hello Fresh Air!

Today I got to go sit in a wheelchair outside for 15 minutes. The weather was great and the fresh air felt wonderful!! The only thing missing was the get-away car when they left me unattended outside! Now I get to shower everyday and every now and then I can go outside for a few minutes if the weather is nice. I feel like I have gotten a promotion!


The new dosing of the medication seems to really be helping with the contractions. Now I only have about 3 an hour which I still don't feel. The downside to the new dosing is that they have to give me medication every 2 hours (even in the night). So I am not getting much sleep. I guess I can just think of this as baby boot camp for when the babies come! The other exciting thing that happened today is they removed the IV from my arm. Yeah!!! My arm was really starting to get sore.


One thing that made me sad today is that I missed Rhonda & Derek's baby shower. I really wish I could have been there! I am sure I will get to see all sorts of pictures from the big party!


Tomorrow they are going to wheel an ultrasound machine into my room. We will get to see how much these little girls grew in a week! I hope they are growing like weeds in there because we need them to get big and strong. Hopefully everything will look better than it did last Monday since we have been able to get these mystery contractions under control. I will post the details from the ultrasound tomorrow.

Yeah for windows!

Well last night was a good night. I was never woke up to be told I was getting a shot for contractions! However I was woke up every 1-2 hours for meds. I guess they are just preparing me for when the twins get here!



My nurse told me she wanted to move me to a different room that had more windows. I am now in Room 1 with a ton of windows. I feel like I at least know what is going on outside now. The sun shining in really makes a difference for me. It was time for a change! Yeah for windows!



My Mom and Mallory spent the morning up here with me while Jason was at his basketball scrimmage. They just left so they can go home and help Jason paint. They are going to paint both the nursery and Mallory's bedroom. Hopefully they can take pictures of it when they are done and send them to me on email so I can post them for everyone to see!



The on-call doctor came in this morning and she said she really thinks we can keep a close eye on things and make it to at least 32 weeks. I sure hope so. We need these girls to get big and strong! I am 28 weeks today so that would mean just another month!



It may be cold outside today but to me the sun looks great!! Yeah for windows!

November 14, 2008

Well it is Friday and I have been in the hospital since Monday. I am still having contractions but luckily they have been able to get them under control. These girls need to quit being so anxious to meet everyone! They need to wait at least another month.



Jason has been doing so great taking care of everything while I have been here! Mallory has been a little trooper through this too! I miss both of them so much!! However I know this is the best thing for our little twin girls. It will all be worth it in the end!



Stay tuned! I will keep you posted as to how things are going!