My two, sweet babies!

Jacob and I went to see the perinatal specialist today that was our doctor when we were in the hospital. He specializes in high risk pregnancies, so it's always good to go for a check up with him! I was very nervous for this appointment after how our last one went, but it could not have gone any better. My blood pressure is great, so that's one worry we don't have to consider right now and I'm very grateful for that because I know that can really complicate things! He said that I have no progressed anymore, which is a great thing obviously...he said that what I'm doing (bed rest) is working great, so to continue that for now. I am also still taking my medicine four times a day (including setting my alarm for 3 a.m.) and he said we will stick to that. He said that if I can make it to 36 weeks, he will take me off of it and let nature "run it's course."

Our sweet babies looked wonderful! He said that they are developing right on track and are both in the 50%, which is exactly where he wants them. Griffin has grown a lot in the past two weeks and now weighs 2 lb. 7 oz., which we are very excited about...makes me feel much better to be out of the 1 lb. range. Bailey is a "smidge" bigger weighing 2 lb. 8 oz. They both had great heartbeats, so that was another plus! After he finished his measurements, he asked me I minded him trying to see their faces using the 4D ultrasound. Do I mind???? NOOO, of course I don't care! At first, Griffin did not want his picture to be taken...which takes after his Daddy! He was face down and did not want to cooperate. However, we did get him to cooperate a little later. He has completely flipped and is now feet down! Bailey, OF COURSE, cooperated perfectly, haha....I am already seeing their little personalities! Thought I would share their beautiful pictures with you...they're a little blurry, but you can see their sweet profiles!

Griffin

Bailey

Bailey hiding her face with her arm

Just wanted to include a picture of my "bed rest partner"...Cooper has been great company!

So thankful that today's appointment went so well...let the bed rest continue!! :)

27 weeks and counting!

I'm so excited that we have reached another milestone...27 weeks! We consider each day a gift...much less each week! Being at home is so much more comfortable, but I am willing to do whatever I need to do to "buy" us some more weeks! :)

This week...
Griffin and Bailey should be around 14 1/2 inches long. They sleep at regular intervals, open and close their eyes, and may even be sucking their thumbs. I believe this is true because they really  have active times of the day and times where they are very still. Their brain tissue is developing, which allows their brains to be more active now. Their lungs are capable of functioning, but would need a lot of medical help to work properly. I'm hoping that if they did make their appearance early that the steroid shots I got while in the hospital would help them out with this! They are also now having hiccups...which I have felt and heard on the monitors a couple of times! Here is my 27 weeks picture...sorry, no cute outfit, I got off of the couch long enough to take this, so it's not the best picture ever. I really feel like I have grown in the past two weeks!

Also, no worries about me being hungry or having a lack of reading material....

Just a few of the snack foods that we have gotten over the past two weeks! Jacob is VERY fond of this side of this situation! :)

This is just one stack of the magazines that I have been given! I was very impressed that not one of them was the same magazine!

We are still just hanging out on the couch/bed. Jacob did get us a subscription to Netflix and that has been awesome to have! Looking forward to my doctors appointments on Monday and Tuesday...praying that everything will continue to be stable and not have any changes (other than Bailey and Griffin growing)! 

My bed has never felt so good...

Oh my goodness, I have never loved my bed as much as I loved it last night! Jacob laughed at me as I rolled into bed last night and just said "Ahhhhhhhh." After sleeping on a plastic hospital mattress for 7 nights, my own bed was wonderful! I had to set my alarm for 3 a.m. to take my "anti-contraction" medicine, but had NO difficulty going right back to sleep! The first day at home has been nice...sometimes it's overwhelming to think about how long of a period I will be doing this, but once again, it is COMPLETELY worth it if Griffin and Bailey will stay put a couple of more months! I had a little entertainment from Jacob coming home for lunch and making me lunch, my friend Jill coming by after school to discuss nursery plans, and another friend Alyssa came by just to chat! Jill is working on my nursery for me and she is so incredibly talented and I can't wait to see what she has planned!

One of my favorite things now is when Jacob and I pray together each night. We have always said our prayers at night, separate or together, but now it has so much emotion involved. It makes me fall even more in love with him as he prays for me as I lay on the couch for hopefully months, for us as a couple as we prepare to be parents, for Bailey and Griffin as they continue to grow, and just how thankful we are that God allowed us to slow down the labor process and keep them safe inside for awhile longer! I have always loved praying together, but this experience has made it even better! I am so grateful to have a husband that is such a Christian leader in our house and I know that he is going to be an amazing daddy to Griffin and Bailey!

I talked to my doctor this morning and I have an appointment Monday with the specialist and Tuesday with my regular doctor....these appointments have a whole new meaning now considering everything that has happened! Our prayer now is that I won't have dilated anymore and both babies will continue to grow strong!

Home Sweet Home!

I am excited to say that I am officially at home (on the couch)!! My doctor came by this morning to examine me and said that I am still dilated to where I was, but have not progressed anymore in the past week! He told me to take it VERY easy and to continue taking my medicine every three hours to keep the contractions from occurring. I am extremely grateful that things have calmed down, but at 26 weeks, we are still very cautious about the future. I talked to my regular doctor and he said to stay on bed rest because this is such a crucial time of development for them and the more I can lay down, the safer they will be! :) I will be going to at least weekly doctors visits, so that will be reassuring to check on them that often! Thank you so much for your prayers! I know that I will sleep much better tonight in my own bed!

A Good Weekend

This weekend was pretty uneventful here in the hospital. Although sitting in a bed in the hospital all day is not really my first idea of fun, I have been very blessed to have family and friends come to visit! My mom and sister spent most of the weekend with me so that Jacob could go home for a little while to get caught up on work and other things around the house that he wanted to get done as we didn't really expect all of this! I enjoyed having family here and friends who come to visit! Anyone who knows me also knows that I LOVE snow cones and one of our good friends, Alyssa, went to our favorite snow cone place at home and had them fill a Tervis Tumbler up with a snow cone and it made it the 30ish minute drive to the hospital! To say that I was excited when that walked in was an understatement! :) We have always known that we have been blessed with friends and family who we love and that love us, but it really have been a little overwhelming the care and concern we have received and that means so much during this time! A lot of people have said that they wish we would give them something to do for us, but we really are doing okay right now!

Medically, things haven't really changed throughout the weekend. I have had a couple of contractions each day, but they said that can be normal, especially for a twin pregnancy. They said it might be something that I wouldn't even notice if I was going on about my normal life instead of laying in a bed all day. I get checked twice daily for contractions and around 3-4 times a day for their heartbeats. Bailey and Griffin have been perfect each time they have checked them, which I am extremely grateful for! Although, I must add that Bailey is already the more cooperative child and Griffin must think it's funny to run from the heart monitor or kick it off...can't imagine where he gets his energy from! :) I am taking LOTS of medicene each day but know that it is all worth it to keep those babies in for hopefully awhile longer!

Yesterday after Mom and Hannah left (and I cried of course), the nurse asked Jacob and I if we would like to take a tour of the NICU. She said that it is sometimes easier to see if before your own babies aren't there yet. This was the first time that I got out of my room, so I was a little excited about that. The nurse, Nancy, wheeled me down there and I had the opportunity to look at the facilities and meet the nurses. The director of the NICU walked around with us and explained everything to me. I was doing okay until I had the opportunity to meet the parents of twins who were born last week at 25 weeks. The parents were SO sweet and as I looked at their sweet babies, I started crying and it was such an overwhelming feeling. They were TINY! I felt so bad for crying, but the parents were so sweet and told me that they knew exactly what I was feeling and they appreciated us coming to visit them! Seeing their sweet babies gave me even more motivation to keep Bailey and Griffin in as long as possible! Nancy was so sweet as she and Jacob just rubbed my back through the experience!

I know I've said it already, but I feel so blessed to have such a supportive husband, family, friends, and nurses throughout this experience! We are now waiting on the doctor to come in this morning, who has been in San Francisco since Tuesday! I will feel much more at ease with him back in town and looking forward to his check up and hopefully he will give us a game plan! I will try to update later this afternoon!

Another Day Down!

Today is 26 weeks and these weekly milestones now have a whole new meaning! My doctor is still out of town for meetings, but another doctor has come in today. I have had some frequent contractions, but they said they're nothing too serious. Right now I'm on the heart monitors and contraction monitors and am not currently having contractions, which is very reassuring. As much as I would love to be in my own bed right now, I am willing to stay here as long as I need to in order to keep my sweet babies in as long as possible! This has been such an emotional journey already, but I know it will all be worth it!

Once again, I am so overwhelmed and thankful by the prayers, calls, messages, support, etc. It is so calming to know that we literally have people all over the United States praying for me and our babies! I will try to update daily, but am not expecting any really big news until Monday when my doctor comes back in town. Thank you again for the support!

Bumps in the Road

To say that this has been a week of emotional roller coasters would be an understatement. I want to tell the whole story so that we have it documented for ourselves...

Monday started off like a normal day...I packed up and turned in all test materials from our first week of testing, finished preparing materials for this week of Benchmark testing, then headed to my scheduled doctors appointment. I had figured out my plans for the rest of the day...I was going to go to my appointment, then head to Rhea Lana's for the "Mom's to be" sale, then go grocery shopping. Jacob hasn't been able to go to many doctors appointments lately because I go so often and with work, it's harder to get off sometimes. However, he went with me to this one and I am SO grateful because I don't know how I would have handled it without him. By now, I'm used to going to the doctor and it has all been so smooth, so it's no big deal! We waited for my doctor to come in, he asked his normal questions, checked the heartbeats (which were great), then did his "other check." I could tell immediately that he was concerned, so he checked again. He finished his exam, then sat down with us and informed us that I had begun dilating and was at a 1. He then told me that I would be admitted into the hospital immediately and put on strict bed rest for the rest of the pregnancy. I, of course, started crying and he was so sweet as he patted me on the knee and gave me kleenex. He walked out to let the hospital know that I was coming and I LOST it. It was one of the most scary feelings of my life knowing that it is not anywhere near time for our sweet babies to make their appearance. Jacob hugged me for what seemed like forever as we both cried our of fear, anxiety, nervousness, etc. I then called my mom to let her know what was going on and I'm just lucky she could understand me through my tears. She packed her bags and drove straight to the hospital.

When I was admitted, they hooked me up and saw that I was contracting every 1-2 minutes, which was another scary moment. I think the scariest part was the fact that I have never felt them, so wouldn't know what it should feel like. God was watching over us because one of my best friends, Pam, had randomly switched shifts with someone and was working that night, which was SO comforting to me! Throughout the night I had many visitors, texts, facebook messages, etc, which was extremely comforting. I think every new person that I talked to made me cry again. I didn't sleep too well the first night, but Pam kept me company and she reassured me and comforted me throughout the night. The next morning we felt like we would be going home (on bed rest) and be checked frequently. However, when my doctor came to check me, I had dilated to a 3....let the panic and crying begin AGAIN! He then informed me that I would be taken by ambulance to a different hospital and admitted. They rushed in, loaded me on the stretcher, and off I went....crying and leaving my mom, dad, and Jacob crying. At this point, we were pretty convinced that we would be delivering our babies that day. To say that I was scared can not even begin to describe the feelings I was feeling. When I got to the hospital, they took me to labor and delivery where I was turned over to a different doctor who specializes in high risk pregnancies. He did an ultrasound and told me that Griffin weights around 1 pound 14 oz. and Bailey weighs around 2 pounds 1 oz. As ready as I am to meet my sweet babies, it is not their time to come yet!

I am now more stable and they have been able to stop the contractions for now. They said that the dilation will not go back, so it will be VERY important that I stay on strict bedrest...trips to the bathroom and shower, and that's it! As hard as that will be, I would stand on my  head for the next 3 months to keep them in their little home! I am so grateful for the support, love, and prayers that we have received. It has been so overwhelming and emotional to know that we have such an amazing support system. This was a very busy week for me with Benchmark testing and grad school, but all of it has been taken care of and I have not had to worry about any of it! The doctor will be checking again tomorrow for progress, so I will be sure to update then. I'm sorry for not updating earlier, it's just very emotional replaying all of the events of the week! Please continue to pray for Bailey and Griffin as they continue to develop...tomorrow is 26 weeks and I'm praying that we reach many more weekly milestones! Thank you again for your support!

25 weeks!

I am SOOO sorry that I didn't update last week...life has been a little busy and stressful lately! I think I mentioned earlier that this is my really busy time at school with testing season being here, but I must say that I am  VERY lucky and blessed to have such an amazing support system at home with Jacob and at school with my principal, assistant principal, and teachers! Being 6 and a half months pregnant, being a month away from graduating with my masters with lots of assignments, and testing season could be very daunting...however, I must say that I am going to survive and it and it has been wonderful to have so much help and support!

It's hard to believe that I am 25 weeks! Apparently I have really grown, because I receive many comments when I walk into a room these days! The babies are both moving a lot and I love it...it is very reassuring to feel Bailey and Griffin moving and it sure feels like they're growing! I must say that these babies are already loved by so many people and I'm so excited for them to be influenced by all of these wonderful family members and friends!

My 25 week email said that the babies are about the weight of an average rutabaga (a pound and a half). It also said that they are now getting their baby fat and their skin is smoothing out. One of the neatest things was that their hair is now growing and the color of it is evident! I find myself really thinking lately and wondering who they are going to look like. The dreams about what they look like have begun and I am just so excited to meet Bailey and Griffin! Here is my weekly picture...I look a little tired because this was EARLY this morning and it's been quite a long week! :) Have I mentioned that I'm SO glad that flip flop season has arrived? Yellow Box flip flops are going to be my best friends for the next few months!