Quick Update

We should all be leaving the hospital tomorrow. I've had some high blood pressure issues so it's been a rough couple of days for me, but every minute I get to spend with those adorable babies makes me glad I'm here. We're waiting on the results of their last bilirubin test and then we should have the green light to go. Here are a few pics of our sweet boys.

Lucas is on the left, Ethan is on the right

Lucas on the left, Ethan on the right

Welcome Brown Babies!!

Proud Daddy and Baby Ethan

Baby Lucas

I'll post the birth story soon. We had an emergency C-section, but we're all doing well. Ethan weighed 6.6lbs and was 20in long at 11:29 pm on Saturday June 20th. Lucas was 5.14 lbs and was 18 1/2. Lucas is needing a bit of assistance with breathing and due to that, he has a feeding tube as well. They are absolutely beautiful with tons of dark hair. They both have jaundice but things are getting better every day. The doctors are very happy with their progress. Mommy & Daddy are so full of joy and happiness. I will post more pics asap. I can't believe I'm a Mommy!!

My water broke!

Wiggle Time & 36 Weeks

I LOVE Wiggle Time. I have morning Wiggle Time and James has bedtime Wiggle Time. In the mornings, after I get up and pee, I lay back down on my left side with a pillow supporting the belly and I just watch. This is the time when the babies are waking up and you can just see them move all over the place. I think it's the coolest thing to watch the belly move and feel their movements from the inside. We do this every morning. This is what I think I'll miss most about being pregnant. At night, when we lay down, I have the belly facing James with the pillow supporting it and he puts his hand on my belly and just feels them move all around. It's their nightly bonding. It's special family time we have and I love every minute of it.

YAY!! We made it to 36 weeks! I didn't think we'd make it this far and yet we have. I think my entire family is ready to meet the little guys. Every time I call someone, I don't get a "hey, what's going on". I get "Are you headed to the hospital, are you in labor?" That was a good indication of their excitement and anxiousness. I can't blame them. We're excited and anxious too. Every time I walk into the nursery I get so excited and a bit emotional knowing that very soon there will be two precious little boys living in there.
Alright boys, when ever you're ready, we're all waiting for you!!

Girls Night

I'm very excited to get out with my girls for a fun dinner tonight. It's going to be great to hang out with my ladies and just relax and catch up. Everyone woman needs a little girl time! We're going for Mexican food so we're hoping the spicy food will do it's job, although I'm sure it won't.

Last night I finally got my rocker. I wanted some type of rocking chair for my front porch and we picked one up yesterday!! It's comfortable and I love it! I can't wait until I'm able to sit on the porch and rock the boys.

So excited!

Dr Update from Yesterday

Our appointment was scheduled at 8:30 but for whatever reason, they didn't schedule us an ultrasound (even though we were told we'd have one weekly from now on). Apparently I look more miserable than I think I do because my main doctor saw me walking in and couldn't believe the size of the belly and how "ready" I looked. When the doctor came in that we were seeing (we've seen each dr in the practice b/c we don't know who will deliver-but I love them all) she said I looked so uncomfortable and ready to get them out. She was all ready to assist in the process by stripping my membranes, but they had in my chart that we were 37 weeks instead of 35w4d like we were. Somewhere along the lines someone wrote 7/6 in our chart as our due date instead of 7/16. That was such a bummer. She was all ready to help get them out and being less than 36wks she stopped that thought. She said if I haven't had them by next week, she'll strip my membranes. The thing that sucks is she's on vacation next week so the only appointment we could get with another dr was next Thursday instead of next Monday. That puts us exactly at 37 weeks.

We're also stuck at 3cm dilation. She said last week 3-4 but this week we were just at a 3. Boo. Despite all the walking and I do mean walking, we have not progressed at all. James is convinced they will not be coming out without medical assistance. He thinks I'll have to be induced. I really hope he's not right. It's so funny because before I left the hospital, my doctor was telling me that it would be best if we could make it at least 36 weeks and I told her I knew we could make it to 34 but I just didn't know if I could see us making 36 wks. Imagine that! Here we are at 35w5d and the babies don't seem to be going ANYWHERE. James and I did have a talk, though. As miserable as I feel sometimes (which isn't all the time), I know this isn't about me. It's about my boys being healthy and the longer they still inside, the best it is for them. I'll take the swelling feet, the sciatic pain, the lack of mobility, the heartburn, etc for as long as it takes knowing that they're still growing and each day longer inside raises the chances of them avoiding the NICU all together. We just want healthy boys that get to come home with us from the hospital.

We did get to have an ultrasound after seeing the dr. It was great to see them moving and she took their measurements again. A is measuring in at a big 6.3lbs and B is measuring at 6.1. We know this is just an estimation and they could be smaller, but wow. That's over 12lbs of baby. We're excited that they're growing though. We just can't wait to meet them :)

After the doctor's appointment, my dad came by and took me to run some arrends. We picked up some decor for the house and then came back and hung everything up. It felt great to get some things done and have everything look good. Granted there is so much more I'd like to do but I know I shouldn't spend the money and I can't drive myself to any store to pick it up. Guess it works out that way. I am excited to be going to Garden Ridge tonight to get some chairs for our front porch. I have been wanting to do that since the first hint of warm weather. We've looked a few times but what we found was either too expensive or not comfortable enough. Garden Ridge has their patio furniture on sale so we're hoping to find something adequate enough to put out there. I just love getting out of the house for a while. I'm kind of in the mood to cook. I'm sure the mood will pass by the time James gets home for dinner :) but I think I might try to find a fun recipe.

Today

Today has been interesting. I walked a ton yesterday and had a lot of irregular contractions, but they were contractions that I could feel and that's great. Most of the contractions I've had, I have not been able to feel them so this is one step in the right direction. Our plan to "walk out the babies" didn't work, but I feel a step closer. From all the walking yesterday, today I just felt sore and exhausted. I have been somewhat lazy today. However, when I started doing my daily blog check, I decided to hop on Kelly's Korner and look at the room of the week, which was bathrooms. Of course while doing that I got a bug to clean my bathroom and it made me want to decorate. Sadly, after we moved into our house in October, I have been extremely slow to really decorate the house. We moved in mid October, first week of November found out we were pregnant and I've been so focused on that, the only room in our house that got any attention was the nursery, of course. So it figures that I'm waiting to go into labor any second and I get the urge to decorate. I'm guessing it has a lot to do with nesting, but I also feel ashamed that I haven't put more effort into making our house feel homey. I know James doesn't care, but I know people will be stopping by a lot initially after the boys are home and I want my house to be nice and complete when they're here.

Tomorrow we have our next DR appointment. James said his main question is when will they induce. He's so cute and excited. I love it! I'm also ready as well so I'm definitely interested in the answer. When they admitted me into the hopsital they said 36 weeks was our goal, which is this Thursday. I'm curious if they will think of inducing any time after or if they'll be more interested in seeing us get close to 38 weeks. I know as a woman I'm built for this, however, I honestly don't know how much longer my body can tolerate everything. Guess I just need to muster up some strength. It's not about me, it's all about them. It's just easy to get wrapped up in all the discomfort and get distracted from the fact that the longer they're in, the better it is for them.

Today's Plan

James and I are going to the track today (Churchill Downs). My cousin invited us to go, her bff was able to get a box for us which means cushioned seats for the pregnant lady!! I'm super excited since I missed out on Derby, plus I get to wear a dress and look cute. Well, attempt at looking cute amongst the puffiness. James and I are both hoping walking around the track will help bring these babies out.

It really feels like they will never come out. I know they will eventually, but at this moment it feels like they're stuck. I've been looking up things to naturally induce labor, but every thing I've found says if your body isn't close to labor then anything you do won't help. So I guess my body just isn't close to labor because we've tried a few things and here I sit, still pregnant. Don't get me wrong, I have loved being pregnant and having these babies growing in me. However, I am SO LARGE that moving is very hard and sometimes painful for me and I'm ready to move on to the next stage....being a mom to my wonderful baby boys. And, James is so excited to have them here and be a daddy that I am ready for them to be here for his sake too. So, here's hoping our trip to the track and bring these babies here!

They are NEVER coming out!

That's it.

35 Weeks

I realize that for our pregnancy the 35 wk/35 days left to go milestone doesn't mean the same for us, but it's still a milestone I'm happy to see! There for a while we didn't know if we'd make it to this point so I'm thrilled that we are at 35 weeks. The doctors want to see us hit one more week but overall, if they come now, they'll be happy the boys held on so long. 35 wks is the average for twins so if they come now, we fit right along with that. For some reason I just don't think average is good enough for them because it feels like they're not coming out for a while longer.
We are off restrictions now so I'm not confined to the couch. We've been trying to do more hoping it will coax them out. Granted I can't do too much because I get tired easily and my feet swell up and become uncomfortable. I feel like Rachel in FRIENDS season 8 where she's over due and just looks down at her belly and yells, "Get out Get out Get out!" :) I love feeling them in there but I'm ready to hold them now. I had a dream last night that we delivered and I was holding them and it felt so incredibly real. I'm ready for that!

An Eventful Yesterday

Yesterday was exciting and disappointing all in one. Tuesday night before I went to bed I noticed my underwear were wet. After changing them, I didn't think anything of it. This is around the time stuff just starts to happen so I just went to bed. In the middle of the night I noticed it again. After I was up and packing our hospital bag, I bent over, stood up, and noticed it again. After it happened again I called my cousin to see if she thought this was something to be concerned about/call the dr or just something that happens. She said she thought it was either my water was leaking or maybe it was just urine. Well to me, it just didn't seem like urine. So I called the dr and 2 hours later they called back and suggested I go to the hospital to get tested to see if it was my water. So we packed up, thought it was time to have some babies, and headed to the hospital. An hour later we were on our way home. It wasn't my water, just watery mucus. How lovely. I was ready to see my baby boys and we got sent home. Granted I realize the longer they're in there the better it is for them, but it was still incredibly disappointing. I know I didn't know what it was at the time, but I really felt silly. Kind of like the girl who cried labor/boy who cried wolf. The nurse told us if we don't know then coming to the hospital is the best option, but still. I felt stupid. Who doesn't know the difference in mucus and their bag of water breaking? Apparently me. So we went home to wait.

Since everyone had taken off work the rest of the day, my dad and step mom brought out the bookshelf that my dad made for the nursery. They helped hang the last of the things on the walls and now the nursery is complete. I'm super excited. I have some pictures of the nursery, some of my belly at 34 weeks, today at 34w6d and I took a picture of a 3d/4d ultrasound pic we got. I haven't scanned it in so the quality may not be great, it's just a picture of a picture.

34 weeks

34 wks, HUGE belly

Blurry, but it shows the size of the belly

Precious Baby Boy B

Well on Our Way!!!

After the ultrasound, which was to measure their fluids and get position updates, we waited for what felt like a very long time to see the dr. (we got a couple of profile pics of B that I will have to post later) They swabbed for the GBS test and she measured me. Said I'm measuring at 52, which is the biggest she's seen for twins. I knew I was huge! Then she checked me. I'm 3-4 cm dilated and 90% effaced. She said when checking me she was touching the top of A's head. He is ready to go. I am completely off the Procardia so now we just wait. B decided he wanted to flip again and his butt is down where his head should be. We discussed delivery options but we're still starting with vaginal and they'll attempt to turn B if necessary. Praying that he decides to flip back to head down.

The hospital bag is almost finished so we just need to get the carseats in the car and I think we'll be about ready. Oh my gosh, this is really happening soon!

Dr Appointment Today

We have an ultrasound scheduled at 11:30 and then to see the dr at 12:30 today. They told us we'd be getting weekly ultrasounds until they're born but I'm not sure if it's just for position or growth. With the margin of error, I don't know how "accurate" an u/s would be the very next week. Oh well, we get to see our little brownies today so I'm not complaining one bit!!

Over the weekend I went from taking the Procardia every 4 hours to every 12. I took one at 8am this morning and we'll double check with the Dr again today that we are to stop them completely. Maybe it's my imagination but when taking it every 4 hours, I really didn't feel the side effects of it. Now that it's very spaced out, I totally feel the hot flashes/flushing. It's not overwhelming, but it definitely takes my breath away for a moment.

We got outfits for their hopsital pictures/to come home in. They're very cute. They're being washed so I can't post a pic until they come out. We wanted them in the same kind of outfit, but different colors and that's definitely what we found. I'm getting more and more excited.

Swelling & Sciatic Pain

I had to take my rings off in the hospital b/c my fingers were a bit puffy and I didn't want to risk them getting stuck. I really didn't have any foot/ankle swelling in the hospital. Over the last two weeks, you'd think I'd never had ankles. I've always loved the smallness of my feet. I wear mostly 6 1/2 and my feet were slender. They are one of my favorite features about my body. Well, now they don't even look like my feet. It's silly, but it's sad. It's not like I'm wearing heels or anything, but I miss my feet. Of course keeping my legs up keeps the swelling down so I'm trying to do that as much as possible. I can't complain though, I'm not swelling anywhere else.

Over the last week-week and a half, I've felt a pain on the upper inside of my right thigh. Well the other night I finally did some googling and it appears to be sciatic nerve pain. It definitely makes getting up and moving around much more difficult (as if the belly didn't do that enough). It seems to feel better if I'm up and moving around but it is much worse at night when I'm trying to get out of bed. Thankfully it seems to be located just in that one spot and not all the way down my leg.

I NEED TO PACK MY HOSPITAL BAG. The caps is just me yelling at myself for not finishing this already. I just for whatever reason can't get motivated to do it. Maybe it's because I had already done this once and I stayed in the hospital for close to a month. I don't know but I have to get it finished!!

34 Weeks!!!

How far along? 34w1d
Total weight gain/loss: ???
Maternity clothes? Yes
Stretch marks? :(
Sleep: 1-2 hours before I have to get out of bed to turn over. While I'm out of bed I go to the bathroom to avoid getting up again soon, plus I'm still taking the Procardia every 4 hours so I'm up at 3 and 7 to take the pill.
Best moment this week: Making it to our goal of 34 weeks!
Movement: All the time and still loving it
Food cravings: Brownie Batter Blizzard from Dairy Queen
Labor Signs: Just felt a contraction actually. As of Monday 3cm. Having plenty of mucus when I go to the bathroom (which the dr forewarned me about) Some mild cramping that goes away after I take the Procardia
Belly Button in or out? Out
What I miss: Being able to roll over without pain in my belly forcing me to get completely out of bed so I could get back in bed in a different position
What I am looking forward to: Having the boys home!
Milestone: Making it to our big goal of 34 weeks!!

I was so excited to make it to 34 weeks. I knew I could make it to 34, just not sure how far past it we'll go. The other night at the funeral home a lady said she thought I was going to go into labor on Sunday, the night of the full moon. I know people believe that stuff, but the more I think about it, I get kind of excited. Full moon or not, what if I do go into labor Sunday? Then we get to meet our boys and I can't wait. I was sitting here on the couch last night thinking about it and I got so excited at the idea. These boys could come any time, especially once they take me off the Procardia, and that makes me so happy. I wan to see them and hold them. I want to see what they look like and see James with his sons.

I need to complete packing my hospital bag and pick out an outfit for their first pictures/coming home. I feel like as far as the nursery is concerned, we're about as prepared as we can get. As for the rest of it, like being a mom and knowing what to do, I'm totally nervous but know it will all come together. I'm most nervous about breastfeeding two, but I'm just going to ask as many questions as I need to in the hospital and if I need help once we're home, there's a local company that have lactation nurses that come to your home. I will take advantage of them if necessary. It just seems so crazy. We decided to start our family, a year after trying we end up pregnant, we find out that we're having two, and now here we are waiting for their arrival. It's just amazing.

The Baby Bump

My dad's best friend passed away on Saturday and last night my sister took me to the funeral home. The doctor said it was ok to start doing more as long as I sit when I need to and there was just no way I was going to not pay my respects. I knew it meant a lot to my dad. I tell you what though, there is something about strangers and a belly bump. I had so many people touching on my belly last night and/or asking when I was due. Of course I expected it, but my family members that I was sitting with would chime in and that started to bug me some. When are you due? If I got a dollar for every time I was asked that last night, I'd be able to buy at least 2 packs of diapers :) How do you answer that? My original due date is 7/16 but that was for a single baby. The doctors are aiming for 36wks but the truth is I could go any day. So I figured the easy answer was to use 36 wks and was telling people due in 2 weeks. A few family members thought it necessary to correct me and tell people I was really due in July so then I had to explain everything. Oh well. My dad was just super excited to tell everyone that I was his daughter carrying his twin grandbaby boys. I was happy I could help take his mind off of his loss for an hour.

Baby bump=weight gain. I knew that I was going to gain weight. Duh! I knew with twins I was expected to gain at least 50 lbs. I was willing to except that as long as I didn't know how much I was gaining and didn't know what the number on the scale was. I have been doing so well and so had the staff who would take my weight. Well, the doctor said we were doing well on weight gain and actually said outloud in front of me and James what my weight is and I just wanted to cry. Yes I know it's all for the boys but it's definitely hard to accept. I NEVER EVER want to hear that number ever again in reference to my weight. I wasn't at my ideal weight before we got pregnant anyway. There were parts of my body I was unsatisfied with, as I'm sure most woman experience. However, now I know I need to work even harder to get the hot body I want back! I guess I'm insecure about being sexy or attractive after birth so that my husband still finds me hot. He loves the baby belly but once the babies are gone, for both of us, I want to get rid of the bump. I'm also worried about the stretch marks. People tell me they will fade but two babies in a small frame makes for a TON of those evil little marks. I don't want to feel ugly to myself or my husband. As I sit here and type, B has the hiccups and I know despite all the feelings and insecurities I have, I wouldn't trade this experience for anything. I can't wait to meet my boys!

It's getting closer.......

I had a busy and eventful day yesterday. The ultrasound was first and whoa mama is there a lot of baby in there. A is still head down and B is in a C shape up over A sort of head down. A is estimated to weigh 5.3lbs and B is 4.13lbs. Can you believe that?? 10lbs of baby. They were so cute. They have nice round chubby bellies which is good b/c we want them nice and fat :) Then we saw the dr. I am 3cm dilated now. They want to start weening me off the Procardia, starting this weekend. Instead of every 4 hours she wants me to try every 6 to 8 hours Saturday and every 8 to 12 hours Sunday. They want to have me off of them by next week but don't want to stop them cold turkey. She said I can slowly start adding things back into my routine but not to go crazy doing too much. She said if we make it to 36 weeks, which she thinks things look good to make it, I might be able to have the bedrest restriction lifted completely but still no work. We talked about the baby placement and at this point we are planning a vaginal delivery. I'm super excited about that. She also said that they won't take me to the operating room until I'm completely dilated. So as of right now I'll continue to take the pill, I'll start to ween off of them this weekend, next week I'll be off completely and then we wait to go into labor. How exciting!!!

We got a few things up in the nursery but won't completely finish it until my dad drops off the bookshelf he made for us. Here's a few pictures of what's up on the walls as of now.