Bed rest

Since I last blogged my world has looked like this...

2 baby and mommy monitoring sessions.

A trip to Target both times while I was free from bed rest!  But shhh...I had orders to eat and go home!

Starbucks drive thru on both of those trips...Peppermint lattes!

And hanging out at home.  I have to admit I am grateful that today is the last day of October.  Bring on November!  Seriously.  The days have went by fairly quickly but as the month nears an end it seems it drags on.  

I'm on day 22 of bed rest.  And I feel my body getting weaker.  Boo to that.  I'm tired.  But I've fit in some good reading, HGTV, visiting with grandma and grandpa who are here helping out, packing suitcases for the hospital, writing thank you cards, reading People magazine, studying name books, thinking, lots of thinking, bible reading, a word search book...

Well, it's not like you need to hear all of it...I wouldn't want to bore you!

Every time I get up and Joel is home he says, "where are you going?'  My answer is always "the bathroom."  That is about the only place I go when I'm on bed rest.  Doctor's orders.  Occasionally I sneak into the kitchen just to walk through.

In other news, both monitoring sessions have went well...babies movement and heart rates continue to look good...tomorrow we have an ultra sound to see how baby A is growing. 

Baby girl A

At our appointment Monday we learned that Baby A isn't growing enough.  It seems her growing, which was at a fairly steady pace, has slowed down.  Too much...

Dr. Key is quite concerned about it.  He is also concerned about us living 80 miles from the hospital. 

The appt went like this:

We had the ultra sound on both Baby A and Baby B.  She checked their heartbeats, Baby A's was 136...good...Baby B's was 147...again, good.  She listened to their cords, measured them, checked everything out. 

It seemed like things were fine.  But then she went to ask Dr. Key and Gretchen if she should do the cervix ultra sound...she was gone for several minutes.  When she came back in she said she needed to do more ultra sound on A.  She wanted to get some dopplers....she asked me which baby I felt move more...I'm never quite sure...um, both I said.  Then she said, "oh good, there is a good kick from A." I thought to myself, something is up. 

Baby A is very low.  Too low.  She had to get some scans of her head while doing the cervix ultra sound because she is so low. 

The good news?  My cervix is looking great! 

After the ultra sound we had to leave and them come back because Dr. Key was at the hospital delivering twins! 

When we got back they hooked me and the babies up to monitors and handed me a hand held device to click anytime I felt baby movement.

After about 30 minutes in came Dr. Key, Gretchen and Ronnie.  Joel got nervous at this point...why were all 3 of them in there? Well, it was to come up with a plan.  Dr. Key wasn't ready to put me back in the hospital yet and between Big Sandy and Great Falls there is no where, closer, for us to be monitored.  He wasn't happy about the snow falling outside at the time and he was worried about us having to drive back and forth too much...but the solution really is monitoring twice a week...keeping close tabs on Baby A. 

So, back we go tomorrow.  We're willing to do whatever it takes and as long as the babies and I are safe, we would rather be at home.  We're taking this journey one day at a time...we'll see what tomorrow brings.

Oh the woes...

It seems that my body and bed rest do not get along the best...

Heart burn set in at 2am last night.  I've had it off and on throughout the pregnancy.  I've used tums to control it.  But last night it was bad enough to land me in the recliner, in misery.

It's torture.  And it's back.  Bed rest is challenging enough but constant heart burn to go with it...

I think I can, I think I can.

It's going to take a lot of self coaching to get myself through this. 

I did remember that Dr. Key told me to take pepcid and I have some so maybe just maybe it will go away for a while.  I know my baby girls are worth it...but oh my goodness this is rough.

We were thinking about moving a bed into living room, Dr.'s suggestion, for me to have the best bed rest...but now I think I'm stuck with the recliner.  The good news is that I slept for 4 hours last night, in the recliner, and that's a huge accomplishment!

Dr. Seuss

On Saturday afternoon Dr. Key visited and decision time was upon us...

Head home or stay in the hospital til the babies come.  I really wanted to go home.  But the hospital offered a safety net I wasn't sure I could pass up. 

I was scared.  But home was calling. 

Dr. Key said he felt good about us going home.  The night before he had been thinking about us and praying...

I would go home with 3 days of stop contraction meds to make the transition...We would call him even in the wee hours of the morning if we needed to...I would be on strict bed rest...He talked me through at length what contractions feel like...

The churches will help you he said, let them.  They can bring you meals he said, ask them, let them. 

I've been growing these babies since March, but my new priority was to just grow babies...no more work, no more cooking, cleaning, exercising, getting the mail (a highlight of my day)...just rest and grow babies.  And read a lot, the Dr. said!

Before he left to put together discharge instructions he told us that he was dear friends with Dr. Seuss.  Yes, the real one!  He knows his kids also...he told us that Dr. Seuss was even shorter than him, and he's short!  Then he told us about a book that Dr. Seuss wrote for one of his sons going down a rocky path...

Horton Hatches The Egg.  Dr. Key told him, no, you wrote that book for pregnant ladies!  Dr. Seuss assured him that was not the case...

But Dr. Key told us to get the book, read it together and the message would impact us!  I ordered it from amazon today!

Bed rest continues.  Babies are growing!

Joel's day!

We spent most of Joel's birthday in the hospital room...well, of course I did, but he stayed with me.

The Dr. came in that morning and said ultra sound would be in and he would be by after that to do an examination.  Then we would talk...we didn't want Joel to miss the talk.  I knew it would be intense because we would have to make some decisions about home.  I wasn't going to make those alone!

We watched TV, ate meals from the cafeteria...I ordered mine from a hospital menu and I could also order a guest tray for $5 for breakfast and lunch, $10 for dinner...we talked, ate birthday cake from the day before, had a present opening...and waited. 

Around 2 the Dr. came back, around 3 ultra sound came, then around 4:30 the doctor came by to visit. 

Things were looking up!  My cervix had reformed some!  Yahoo!  The Dr. said he was cautious but he was thinking this was our window to head home...he wanted us to talk about it and he'd be back in the morning...

During his visit he talked about the angels surrounding us and protecting our family...

He talked about how we had done nothing wrong...he talked about what a miracle journey we've had so far...and how that journey will continue...he told us what good parents we already are...

He left us with a hug and reassurance that we would all be ok!

Our Doctor is one more gift along this journey to babies...I'm continually overwhelmed by the medical care that has surrounded us...we are so thankful.

Joel escaped for Starbucks and shopping at Scheel's after that! He had to buy his own birthday presents since my plan to buy them Wednesday was thwarted!  I gave him a list and he conquered!

More to the story...

Dr. Key came in to visit with us Wednesday evening after I had been admitted...

We still didn't fully grasp was what going on.

Then he gave it to us straight...his goal was to get us home, but he couldn't make any promises.

Oh boy!

It was a good conversation, but it was a scary one.  It was a miracle we came in that day, he said.  Oh and he reminded me...no more work, even if I go home. 

Of course stress set in...but Joel took care of things, I called a preschool mom and cancelled class for the next day, my birthday, ordered my dinner and well, laid back and chilled...

The eve of my 34th birthday...my first night ever in a hospital...HGTV on the TV, Joel on the sofa/twin bed in the room...and me getting a stop contraction shot every four hours.

I didn't sleep even a little bit that night.  So many interruptions...so many thoughts in my head...some fear thrown in there...some thinking about my babies...some wondering what was going on...

The next morning we were greeted by our nurse for the day...she was awesome!  Her second time in Joel told her it was my birthday!

For my birthday breakfast I ordered buttermilk pancakes, sausage, apple juice and to be honest I cannot remember what else! 

An hour or so later Karra told Dr. Key, who was back for a visit, it was was my birthday.  I told them both it was Joel's the next day.  We talked about how the goal was not to have our little girls have a birthday either of those days, or even close!

Dr. Key told Karra she should tell the nutrition staff about our birthdays.  She thought maybe instead Joel should go get an icecream cake...it will taste better she said!

My morning meds were taken, breakfast was over, and Joel had headed to Big Sandy to gather some necessities...we had no idea at this point if we would be there until they were born or going home soon...and I was just hanging out watching TV when there was a knock on my door...

I heard a voice say "nutrition, can I come in?"  Uh-oh I thought, I haven't ordered lunch yet, they must have the wrong room....

But in came a really nice lady with a birthday cake and card for me!  The cake was yellow cake with white frosting and covered in sprinkles.  I love sprinkles.  A lot!  I had my first piece alone after lunch.  It was delicious!

The day unfolded with more shots and pills, more cake, Starbucks, some present opening, and hanging out in Room 7130. 

All in all, if it was keeping the babies safe, it was worth missing out on dinner and a movie!  We just had those hospital style instead.

A birthday story...

Well, nothing about our journey to babies has went as planned...

Expect IVF working!  It was the IVF part that orginally was not part of the plan.

Being put on bed rest was not part of the plan...but it is now part of the journey.  I keep reminding myself there is nothing we can do about how this part is happening, except tell the story...

We had birthday plans last week...dinner out both days, a movie for Joel's birthday, free Starbucks birthday coffees...nothing too exciting, but a plan nonetheless. 

My birthday was Thursday, Joel's friday.

But this all started on Wednesday.  We went for a regular check up and ultra sound on me and the girls...

Once the ultra sound tech took all the pics she needed of the girls, she took pics of my cervix.  I sensed something might be up because the 2 times before that she had mentioned how nice my cervix looked (sorry if this is TMI)...this time she didn't say anything...

She went down the hall to let Ronnie know we were ready for Dr. Key then she came back and told us he had been called to the hospital.  "Can you come back at 2:30?" she asked, "I really want him to look at your cervix."

Something was up.  We had our pre-admit appointment at the hospital at 2pm that day so they told us to just come after that. 

We ate lunch.  We shopped.

Then, as we were stepping onto the elevator following the pre-admit appointment, which went really well, Dr. Key was stepping off of it...well, we missed that opportunity I thought.  So much for him checking me out at the clinic...but we went over there anyways.  They took us right back...Gretchen did the examination and one of the first things she said was that she had to call the Dr. and the words "no work" came out of her mouth...

Then she was off to talk to him....she thought we would go home with very limited activity.  But nope, on the phone Dr. Key told her to send us right over to the hospital and that he would meet us there.

What?  Excuse me?  Uh.....talk about shock.  At that point I stood up to go, Joel stayed seating.  Ronnie, Gretchen and Karen, the ultra sound tech, chuckled and said I had to take him...their specialty is pregnant ladies, not the guys!  

Away we went in a sea of shock, nervousness, disbelief...

The unknown was ahead of us...and birthdays were yet to unfold...

Nursery

The nursery is painted, we did that in September, 2 cribs are put together and in position, curtains are created, thanks Mom!, and hung, recliner is in place ready for some late night baby feeding and rocking, dresser and bookshelf are in place...

The only piece of furniture missing is a changing table.  We'll hopefully have that soon.  And crib mattresses...again, we'll have those soon.

We have under 10 weeks to go!

Say what?

I've been thinking about this journey to parenthood and all of it's emotions...

And what is standing out the most to us is just how surreal it still feels.  I'm assuming it will feel that way until they are 5!

I sat in the nursery for a while this morning, talking to Joel who was across the hall in the office, and asking if it feels real yet...

No, he said.  I agreed.

We feel them move, we see them move, we watched as our family came this weekend and moved furniture, put in new windows, painted a kitchen wall red (that looks super cool, thanks Michelle), created cool things and did so much to help us get ready for these little girls...

And it still feels surreal.  "We're bringing 2 new little people to live here with us," I say to Joel.  "Can you believe it?"!

"No".  Me neither.  Maybe it's the fear that I still have at times, maybe it's the lingering we never thought this would happen to us...

But I'm growing, they are growing...and ready or not they are coming!  Sooner rather than later!  Yahoo!  We'll go take a look at them on Wednesday to make sure everything is still on track and babies and myself are still doing well!  One step at a time.