31 Weeks

John and I had a great visit with his dad and Cheryl from Louisiana this past weekend. It was pretty laid back but still productive. While I laid around as usual, the two Johns and Cheryl scurried around town picking up stuff for the nursery, grocery shopping, and grabbing take out from places I haven’t had since going on bed rest. It was a real treat! We watched some movies… “Blue Streak” (1976) with Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor, and something else I can’t remember. We started to watch “Next” with Adam Sandler about a man who loses his wife and children in one of the 9/11 plane crashes, but our TiVo started to record two other shows and we had to quit. I’ve since TiVo’ed it again and look forward to watching the whole thing.

Cheryl & John

31 Weeks

John finished painting the nursery before they came, so his next endeavor will be to paint our bedroom, which is the last room of the house that hasn’t been painted yet. After that, he’ll arrange nursery furniture and we’ll await the birth of James Paul and Lauren Elizabeth. Yep, you read that correctly… those are the names we’ve picked out! “James” is after John’s uncle who passed away years ago due to pancreatic cancer; “Paul” is after my grandfather and father. “Lauren” and “Elizabeth” are just two names we love. Apparently John has had a couple of girlfriends named Lauren but since they weren’t psychos and he’s not still in love with them, I figured why not.

On Sunday, my friend Kami dropped in for a visit and also to loan me a couple of books from the Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight series. She’s heard many great things about these young adult novels from people of all ages and is now hooked on them herself. I plan to start reading “Twilight” this afternoon. Our pooch, Cody, wore himself out loving on Kami the whole time she was here. In the shot below, his tongue is hanging out the left side of his mouth while he lets Kami pet him.

Kami & Cody

30 Weeks

I had another appointment this morning with my ObG. Good news is I'm still only 1 cm dilated, which means there has been no change since last week. She took another FFN test to check for risk of preterm labor, but because I'm not showing any signs of preterm labor and because there doesn't seem to be a lot of pressure on my cervix right now (thank you babies), she's in no rush to get the results back.

As for other pregnancy experiences I'm having, I've been more fatigued than normal this week and extremely ravenous. I've been so sleepy that I've been napping during the days. Thank goodness I'm on bed rest since work sort of frowns upon afternoon siestas. I also cannot stop eating/snacking. I always try to eat things with some nutritional value and not just empty calories, but I guess it still hasn't been enough because my doctor said she'd like to see me put on a little more weight. Although the babies continue to grow, I've been stuck at the same weight for the past 3 or 4 weeks. Those little leaches! To help with this, John ran by the store after the doctor's visit and picked me up some Ensure, buttermilk pie, chocolate cream pie, and pudding. I'm drinking an Ensure right now and it's actually pretty darn good (frozen).

I'm still fighting the whole pregnancy acne thing. The redness from my rash of pimples is as close to a pregnancy "glow" as I've gotten. I'm also having a severe burning, aching pain stretching from my left groin up through my lower abdomen every time I switch sides, get out of bed, or walk. I asked the doctor about it and she said it's likely being caused by the babies' positioning.

Thanks to all of you who have/are visiting me this week (Jennifer, Paula, Colton, Ronnie, Chris, Anne, Dave, Regina, & Sarah). You know that totally makes my day! John always says I'm happiest on the days I've had company.

Starting the Nursery

I'm excited to report that this weekend John started on the nursery! Woo-hoo!!!!! The past couple of weekends were spent clearning out stuff from what was formerly our guest bedroom. Now John is finally able to paint. It's taking several days since he's doing it single-handedly, but it's looking great! The paint is called "Frosted Lemon" by Behr. We're hoping it will go well with the bedding sets we registered for ("Little One" by Lambs & Ivy and "Sweet Safari").

And speaking of bedding, the search for the perfect sets has been a bit of a challenge. One, I can't physically go look at anything, and second, there is no store (to my knowledge) that even carries the Lambs & Ivy set. It's not like I can just have someone go look for me and report back. So we're giving it our best guess based on the online pictures (below) and hoping it will all look good together.

Lambs & Ivy "Little One" (girl)

"Sweet Safari" (boy)

Also, my parents were in town this past weekend and they got us our stroller and car seats! Double Woo-hoo!!!! Clyde and Cody weren't sure what to think about the stroller.

Clyde & Cody Take a Test Drive

29 Weeks - It's All Good!

Not too much new to report today. I did have a visit with my ObG. Two weeks ago when I saw her last my cervix was what she called "fingertip" and "soft." Soft meaning the fibers are thinning out in preparation for labor. Today I am now 1 cm dilated, but she was not overly concerned. I am still at home on bed rest and not the hospital (Thank You, God!). Other than heartburn and nausea (from the heartburn), I'm feeling great. My ObG gave me some Protonix for the heartburn and more CitraNatal DHA prenatal vitamins and sent us on our way. I'm not sure whether all pregnant women start to see their ObG weekly at this point or if it's just because my body thinks it's further along than it actually is. Either way, I will now be seeing her weekly.

On a completely unrelated note, I felt the need to share this adorable picture I took last night of two of my favorite boys, both of whom are making this bed rest thing a lot more tolerable.

John & Cody getting some ZZZ's

Thank God for Friends & Family!

I didn’t blog anything other than my doctor’s appointment last week so I want to give a quick shout out now to all those who kept me sane by coming to visit and help out. Big hugs and thanks to John's mom Lee. She was an absolute saint running around town to various stores trying to help us with groceries and decorating needs; and she cooked up a variety of dishes that kept us well fed through the week. More hugs to Regina and her daughter Ashley; my boss Susan; and Lisa and her daughter Danielle. I thoroughly enjoyed spending time with all of you!

Me & Lee

Regina & Ashley

Lisa & Danielle

Our First Baby Shower!

Yesterday was our first baby shower, hosted by my friends Alicia, Jessica, Terri and Candy. Everything was perfect! These ladies, and our friends who helped them, have to be baby shower experts! Alicia and Theresa came over early and went to town arranging furniture, decorating, and setting out the food spreads. When John got home, Alicia had no problem telling him exactly what she needed. Jessica, Lisa and Terri arrived next with cake, food and flowers. After everything was in place for the 2pm start, we had mimosas (o.k., so I had pineapple/OJ & sparkling water… still a treat!) and awaited the first guests.

It was a casual come and go as you please shower so it seemed to me we had a steady flow of guests. John and I were pleased to find our house sufficiently accommodated everyone (and that was with me taking up a good deal of the real estate). I stayed on the couch while the party circulated around me, and I opened presents here and there so each guest could see their gift opened. Things got real wild when I decided to change sides of the couch! Okay, maybe not that wild. It was a baby shower after all.

Several of my friends chipped in to buy us a crib which John and I are very excited about! Also exciting were all the cool baby clothes, toys and necessities we received. Since I went on bed rest before registering, all of my research had to be done through asking friends and reading reviews on the internet. This made yesterday the first time I was able to see those items in person and I was pleasantly surprised by their looks, feel and quality.

Thank you all who came! It was wonderful getting to see each of you. And thank you for showering us with some much needed baby essentials. I am more eager now than ever for our babies to safely arrive! Below are some snapshots of the shower but fore more, go check out our "Pregnancy Pictures" Picasa album (link on left).

Candice, Michele, Carmen, Theresa, Jessie, & Kris

Michele, Tommy, Brea, Monica, Paula & Tricia

Alicia & Me

Shower Loot

Visit to High Risk Specialist (28 Weeks)

Thank God and all of you who’ve been praying for us! We finally received some really great news for once!

Before I share what happened yesterday, let me back up just a little to the results of my appointment with my regular ObG last week. She didn’t measure my cervix as I assumed she would. Instead, she checked my cervix to see if I had started dilating. She said I’m what’s called “fingertip.” Basically, my cervix has completely shortened, but it has not started opening up for labor. I also tested negative for gestational diabetes and anemia, but I wasn’t worried about those anyway.

Now back to the high risk specialist. This time, the doctor didn’t measure my cervix or even check to see if I was dilating. He explained this was because my last FFN test was negative and because I wasn’t exhibiting any major signs of preterm labor. Although I’ve had a few Braxton Hicks contractions (sporadic uterine contractions that give me slight cramps, make my abdomen feel real tight, but go away when I move around), the doctor didn’t think they sounded like true labor contractions which get longer, more frequent, and stronger in intensity.

So the only thing I had done was an ultrasound where the doctor measured the babies’ growth, based on the size of the baby’s head, abdomen, femur (thigh bone), and humerus (upper arm bone). The boy is roughly 2 lb 10 oz and the girl is 2 lb 9 oz. Although the scale hasn’t moved up for me in the past two weeks, the babies continued to grow and are perfect size for this gestation. On screen during the ultrasound John and I witnessed the babies blinking, opening and closing their mouths, and kicking one another. This wasn’t a 4D ultrasound so I was amazed at the amount of detail I could see of their facial features. They already have chubby cheeks and no longer look like skinny little aliens. I couldn’t stop smiling!

What surprised John and I the most was upon the doctor leaving and he said “I’ll see you in a month.” John said, “What, are you going on vacation?” The doctor said, “Nope, I just don’t want to see you again for another four weeks.” Up until now we’ve been seeing him every two weeks and at each visit he hasn’t exactly come across as being very optimistic. We asked why he wasn’t as concerned anymore and he said that before this visit, the babies had a very low chance of survival outside the womb, whereas now they have about a 90-95% chance. Plus I’m not showing any signs of preterm labor, so he believes that if I keep up with the strict bed rest I should be able to make it for several more weeks. If I do start having preterm labor contractions, he said to check myself right into triage in the maternal ward of the hospital where they would give me medication to delay labor for a few more days while they administer steroids to speed up the development of the babies’ lungs, increasing their chances of survival even more. I’m thankful to be continuing bed rest at home verses the hospital, which we were quite concerned was going to happen.

Thank you all again for your prayers… They’re obviously working!