Weekly Appointment

On February 20th, we had our weekly appointment with Dr. Langer. I am currently 32 weeks and 3 days.  The first thing that was completed was an ultra sound to check their weight, position, and the fluids around our babies. According to the ultra sound tech the fluids around each baby is great.Gage is weighing in at 4 lbs 2 oz this week and Kenslee weight is 4 lbs 6 oz. They were not sure how accurate Kenslee's weight really was because she was curled up in a ball with her feet on her forehead. The ultra sound tech explained to us that they determine their weight by a measurement done around the baby's stomach. Gage is now so far head down that we weren't able to see his full head on the ultra sound! However, we were able to tell he is growing big, healthy and definitely got the chubby cheeks from his mom. Kenslee was very cooperative with us today during the ultra sound. We were able to see her cute little face this time and all of her hair. We are very blessed to have such strong and healthy babies. I have thrown up my whole pregnancy and have only gained 4 lbs (I lost 7 lbs since last week). I feel like I haven't been providing the nutrients needed for our babies to be so healthy, but we must be doing something right!

After our ultra sounds we did another non stress test. The babies did very good this time in letting us monitor their hearts, in fact it was a little too good! We didn't have enough movement from them this time and when the medical assistant came back in she brought me a Capri Sun to drink and said that we needed to give the babies a little sugar rush to make them more active. After 45 minutes the babies gave them the reading they needed.

Finally, we met with Dr. Langer. She was very pleased with the babies measurements, growth, and the fact that we had been able to keep them inside the womb for the two weeks she was hoping for. Dr. Langer checked me again, I am now dilated to a "5.5 plus", completely thinned with a "bulgy bag." I still haven't had any concerning pain and no leaks of water. Dr. Langer went over some signs to watch for during labor with us again, checked if our bags were packed, and explained to us that once we get to the hospital to deliver these babies I will receive another shot of steroids for the babies lungs. She also comforted us by letting us know we are a "top priority" of hers and she is confident she will be there to deliver Gage and Kenslee. Until then I am still on bed rest until the babies are born or 34 weeks (Ha Ha!). We are getting more and more excited each day to meet our babies!

32 weeks and 3 days

Emotional Roller Coaster...

On the morning of February 2nd I was in our office that we had just moved to our newly finished basement. I got up to go to the restroom (I know, shocking!) only to find water on the bathroom floor. I couldn't see where the water was coming from, I was bare foot and the water was freezing. After looking closer I noticed water by the door of the spare bedroom. I opened the door and found about 2 inches of water covering our brand new carpet that we had installed on January 21st. Once again I could not see where the water was coming from. I ran up stairs to tell Ryan about our flooded basement. We checked our pipes out side and still couldn't see where the main source of the problem was. We called my dad and father in law to come over and help us because we were at a loss on what to do. We noticed we had a stream of water running from the corner of our back yard to the house. We looked over the neighbors fence on the south side of us and their back yard was a pond. It also slopes towards our house so we thought maybe one of their pipes had broke. We knocked on the door but nobody answered. When Ryan hopped the fence to investigate he came up empty handed, however he followed the trail of water and found what looked to be a water hose running in our back door neighbor's backyard. My dad and I went over to our neighbor's house to inform him  that he had running water and it had started to flood our basement. Come to find out, he didn't turn off his sprinklers this year and had broke one of his pipes. We had no idea how long the pipe had been broken for. My dad turned off his water at the street to stop the flowing water. Sadly at this point we had so much water coming into our home through the foundation that the water had spread across the entire basement. We were at a loss on what to do because there was so much water and still a steady stream running to our house. We called our insurance agent and he recommended calling Class 1 Clean up. They were a couple of hours out before they could make it  to our house. In the mean time the water was slowing down because the supply had been shut off. So, Ryan, his dad, my dad and our friend Mike moved all our furniture upstairs to our family room and started using shop vacs to get the water out of the basement. They counted over 150 gallons of water they removed from the basement. Class 1 Clean Up finally arrived and they took over. They had to remove carpet, padding, and baseboards because they were ruined. They explained to us that they had measured 6" of water pressed against our foundation walls. They then drilled holes in the sheet rock and brought in big fans to drain out and dry up the moisture inside the walls. The 9 large industrial fans had to continue blowing for 3 days non stop. Since then we have not had any more water in our house, thank goodness! They laid down a chemical for anti mold and we are hoping to have our house put back together by the 15th of February. 

On February 6th we met with Dr. Draper for an ultrasound and to check the measurements of our babies. Baby A (Gage) and Baby B (Kenslee) are both growing big and healthy. Gage is measuring 3 lbs and 11 oz and Kenslee is measuring at 3 lbs and 15 oz. Gage is head down and is preparing for his delivery. Kenslee is laying sideways with her head on my right side and her little legs on the left. The position of the second baby doesn't really matter because they will be able to turn her when it's time to deliver. It is getting harder and harder to tell what we are looking at during out ultrasounds because our babies are so squashed together. However, we were able to get a few good profile pictures of Gage and a close up of his sweet little face. Kenslee on the other hand was being a stinker! We were only able to get a picture of her bum, foot and arm. We were not able to see her little face because she had her back to us and would not turn around for us.

Next on our agenda was a non stress test. They told us the test usually takes about 20 minutes and it measures my contractions, the babies' heart rates and their movements. Well, our test did not take 20 minutes. We were there for over 45 minutes! Gage was great during the majority of the test and we were able to measure his heart rate fairly easily. Kenslee on the other hand continued to be a stinker and refused to hold still. We spent most of the test fighting with her trying to get her heart beat on the monitor. Finally after a long period of time, they were able to get enough information with the little amount Kenslee had offered. I think we have a feisty little girl on our hands!!

After our non stress test we met with Dr. Langer. My weight gain is still minimal (I have only gained 11 lbs during my pregnancy) and my blood pressure was normal. Dr. Langer measured my stomach and I am measuring at 35 weeks, and I am currently at 30 weeks and 3 days. During my measurement I had a contraction that Dr. Langer felt and she asked me if I could feel it. I told her yes and that I could also feel it lower near my right hip. She was shocked that I could feel a contraction low and said "we better check your cervix". After having my cervix checked we received some unexpected news.... Dr. Langer informed us that I am "paper thin and dilated to a 4." Dr. Langer immediately told me I was on bed rest until the babies are born and that I was going to receive two shots of steroids to boost the development of our babies' lungs. I starting crying when Dr. Langer told us this news. It was a lot for me to take in and my first thoughts were that our house was not ready for the babies arrival. I was convinced that we were not ready for them, they were too small, and that I was not ready to be done with work. Ryan on the other hand was very excited because we were told several weeks ago that if the babies were born, they would be okay. I was in panic mode on Wednesday and I cried for most of the day. I decided to send my mom to get the babies a preemie outfit, some nursing bras for me, and a few other things I needed to get prepared for our hospital stay. Thank goodness for moms!! On Thursday, after having a day to absorb all the information we had just received, I became very excited to meet our precious little babies.  

February 8th was a really rough day. I was having strong, painful contractions that put me into tears. Around 3:00pm we decided to go to he hospital. I was hooked up to a machine to monitor the babies' heart rates as they started to do some tests. Come to find out I had a UTI and was dehydrated. This caused me to have false labor. They gave me a shot of antibiotics in my hip, a RX for an oral antibiotics. They told me to drink lots of water and juices and they sent us home. 

On February 13th we had a follow up appointment with Dr. Langer. We started out with a non stress test which went much better, and the babies heart rates were good. She checked my cervix again and said I am "completely thinned out and still dilated to a 4". Dr. Langer was pleased to see that there was not much change. She told us to watch for a "big gush of water" or "breath taking contractions." She also went over what we can expect during the delivery process. She explained to us how she will be there to deliver to the babies, and one of her partners will be there to ultra sound the babies during their delivery. She told us that each baby will have their own team of nurses and we will be delivering in the operating room because it is right next door to the NICU in the event that our babies may need any special attention. I am still on bed rest and will be until the babies are delivered or 34 weeks, which ever comes first! Ryan and I are so excited to become parents and meet our little babies!!

On a side note, Ryan's mom and sister threw us a baby shower on February 2nd. My mom, future sister in law Tiffany, and friend Janae threw us a baby shower on Febuary 9th. which I was lucky enough to attend, even though I was still on bed rest. I hung out on the couch with my feet up and Ryan was a trooper to come to the shower to open all the gifts! Ryan, the babies and I have so much support and are loved by so many people. It's simply amazing to see the turn outs we have had for our showers thus far! Our babies are already so spoiled! Ryan's step mom and sister came over to our house and spent 2+ hours going through all the baby gifts we had received because I was stressed over the fact that we couldn't even see the floor. We still have one more shower that Ryan's step mom and sister are throwing for us on the 26th of February, so something had to be done! Thank you so much to those of you who have taken the time, money and effort to throw us these amazing showers. We can not express our appreciation to you enough!

I also want to thank all of you who have been thinking of us over the last week. We have received several meals, text messages, phone calls and help here at home from so many of you. We greatly appreciate all of the unconditional love and support we have received during our journey to become parents!

Little Update...

     Well, It has been really quite around here since our last blog post. We had an appointment on November 21st with the specialist, Dr. Draper, and Dr. Langer. Dr. Draper specialize with couples who are expecting multiples and does measurements on the babies through out the pregnancy to make sure they are growing properly. Dr. Draper and Dr. Langer said everything looked fantastic with both babies. They are growing big and healthy. Dr. Langer said they could ask for a better situation for the babies and I. I am healthier then some women carrying one baby she said. My weight gain has been slow, but nothing of concern, by blood pressure has stayed right where it needs to be and as of now we have no concerns of me having preclampsia or preterm labor. We are very thankful everything is going so perfect for the babies. Dr. Draper and Dr. Langer decided to let us enjoy the holidays without doctor appointments and we would meet with them on January 2nd unless there was any problems.

We don't really have anything to report, but on January 2nd we meet with Dr. Draper and Dr. Langer again. Baby A (Gage) and Baby B (Kenslee) are still doing great. They are both very active, healthy babies! We LOVE to see our babies on the ultra sounds. We are schedule to meet with the doctors again on February 6th.

Gender Reveal

     On October 26, 2012, we had our 16 week ultra sound where we can find out the gender of our babies. Ryan really did not want to find out the sex of the babies and I was on the fence. I really wanted to know, but I was okay with not finding out. Our doctor said early on that depending on the sex of the babies we might see "something" during an ultra sound, because we will be having a ton during my pregnancy. I told Ryan I didn't want to find out on accident and have no surprises and I am not one that cannot, not look the ultra sounds either. We finally agreed on finding out what we were having, but did not want to find out at the doctors office. Someone recommended to us having the ultra sound tech put the gender of each baby in an envelope and open it at dinner. So, that is exactly what we did! 

     "Baby A" had no problem showing off during the ultra sound appointment, but "Baby B" was being very modest and stubborn. The tech could not get the baby to uncross its legs. After an hour of trying to get the sex of "Baby B" the ultra sound tech sent us to see our doctor for the check up and had me drink a Capri Sun in the mean time so hopefully with a little sugar and me walking around the baby would uncross its legs!  Finally, the baby cooperated with us and the tech was able to get the gender of  both babies!

     We had two envelops with the gender of our babies sitting on the side of our fridge until our 3rd wedding anniversary on November 7th. They were labeled "Baby A" and "Baby B." We went to dinner in Park City at a restaurant called Prime Steakhouse and Piano Bar. Oh my goodness, the food was delicious! (We HIGHLY recommend it) After dinner our server brought out ice cream for us with  pink and blue candles. We had her record us opening up the envelops, Ryan opened the "Baby A" envelope and I opened "Baby B." (Results listed below!) After dinner we stopped at the Oshkosh store in the Tanger Outlet Mall to bought each baby an outfit and PJ's, gender specific!

     On the night of November 8th we had a little gender reveal party with our parents and siblings. Thank goodness for Skype/Facetime, Travis, Amanda, Terrance and Amber could be with us, even though they live out of state! To tell our family the sex of the babies we had two boxes labeled "Baby A Boy or Girl?" and "Baby B Boy or Girl?" We filled the boxes with balloons and whatever color of balloons is in the box represents the sex of the baby. We had a great time decorating the boxes and filling them with the balloons. Afterwards, we had ice cream for everyone to enjoy while visiting with one another. 

     We want to thank our friends and family again for the unconditional love and support you have shown us. We are so blessed and could not be more excited to have the opportunity to be parents of twin babies! It's going to be quite the journey, but we would not change it for the world! 

"Baby A"

IT'S A BOY!!!

                                   

 

"Baby B"

IT'S A GIRL!!!

Gender Reveal Boxes

Ryan and I both guess right on the sex of 

"Baby A" and "Baby B" based off of their actions 

during the last two ultra sounds! 

WooHoo!!

Yay! Best Of Both Worlds! 

Ice Cream Bar

We stared at the ultra sound pictures and shed some
tears together after finding out the gender of our babies

 Amazing Anniversary! With many more to come! 

 The outfits we picked out at Oshkosh!

And the PJ's

17 Weeks and 3 Days
(November 7, 2012) 

Sleepless Night

On Thursday night I went to the restroom around 10:00pm right before going to bed. I was feeling good that night and had not thrown up. Around 12:15am our dog, Lucky, woke me up because he was running around the house like a wild puppy. When he does that he usually has hives from a bee sting. Well, sure enough he had hives all over his body. I took him into the kitchen and gave him benadryl. On my way back to bed I decided I should go to the restroom again before falling asleep. Ryan was at work and I had called him when Lucky woke me up because I had two miss calls from him. I told him to hold on while I went to the restroom. I got back on the phone and was freaking out, I discovered what every pregnant women is afraid of.....bleeding. Ryan kept telling me to calm down, told me that everything would be okay, and asked me  what exactly was going on. He also kept asking if we needed to go to the ER. I wasn't sure what to do and couldn't give him an answer because I was so upset. I was not just spotting, I had bleeding like a menstrual cycle. I called my mom and woke her up and asked her to come over for an opinion. We decided to go to the ER because it more blood than we both thought was "normal" and I wouldn't be able to sleep without knowing everything was okay. My mom called Ryan and we meet him at the ER. We got registered and was taken back right away. The doctor was very understanding of our concerns and was very sympathetic. He checked my cervix and said everything looks okay. There were no blood clots and the bleeding had stopped. We did an ultra sound to make sure the babies were okay. Both babies looked good and were very active for 2:45am. Let's just say I hope they get better sleeping habits than what they have now! They both had good heart beats of 150bmp and 148bmp. One of the babies was waving to us during the ultra sound, which at that point I couldn't help but to smile. The doctor said one of the sacs pulled away from my uterus causing the bleeding and that a main vein was torn because of the amount of bleeding. The ultra sound does not show the tear, which is good because that means it is not very large and should heal up quickly. The doctor informed us that many things can cause the sacs to pull away. In our situation he though the amount of vomiting during my pregnancy could have pulled the sac away or one of the babies could have made a very hard sudden movement. I was put on bed rest for the weekend and was told to take it easy. We go back in on Wednesday for a follow up with Dr. Langer. I am excited to have another ultra sound to confirm the babies are still doing good!

We want to thank our amazing family and friends for bringing us meals and checking up on our little family! Thank you mom for staying with me Friday night while Ryan was at work. We appreciate you waiting on me hand and foot and helping out around the house. We are so blessed to have the family and friends we do! We are overwhelmed by the unconditional love, support and prayers we have received during our journey.

11 Weeks

Well, I figured if I wanted to do belly pictures, I should start now!

11 Weeks

Meeting Dr. Langer

On September 7, 2012 we had our 9 week ultra sound with Dr. Foulk. Everything on our ultra sound looked great! Baby A measured 8 weeks and 6 days (2.17cm) with a healthy heart beat of 168 BPM. Baby B was measured at 8 weeks and 5 days (2.12cm) with a heart beat of 172 BPM. Dr. Foulk signed us off and released us to a regular OB. We are excited that we don't have to travel so far for our appointments, but we sure will miss Dr. Foulk and his amazing staff! They will always hold a special place in our hearts!

We we're referred to Dr. Kathleen Langer at Jordan Valley Hospital by Dr. Foulk. A patient of mine also highly recommended her. I called to make us an appointment but the scheduler said I would have to leave a message with the nurse to see if Dr. Langer could take us on as patients because she was reaching her maximum amount of patients that are due in March and April. Luckily for us, Dr. Langer accepted us as patients. We were so relieved!!

Dr. Langer wanted to meet with us at 10 weeks for a base line appointment on Sept 27th, 2012. Everything looked really good both physically and on the ultra sound. We got to see our cute little babies on the ultra sound again but we were not able to get pictures of them because they were too busy playing and doing flips! We LOVED Dr. Langer. She is so sweet, understanding and very educational. She talked with us on how another doctor from the U of U hospital will be helping her monitor our pregnancy. He helps Dr. Langer and many other doctors across the valley with patients who are pregnant with multiplies. We are excited to meet him and will hopefully get to do so at our 13 week appointment, which is scheduled for Oct. 8th. I am considered a "high intensity" pregnancy because I am having twins, which as of now means I will have more ultra sounds than the average person. I am also able to continue with my regular daily activities including going to the gym to walk on the treadmill, use the elliptical or ride the bike a couple of times a week. I just need to get past this "morning" sickness!

So far the pregnancy has been pretty hard on me. It has been tough being on so many hormone pills and shots for so long and being winged off of them has put my body in a lot of shock causing sever headaches and vomiting. However, as of Friday we finished up all hormone shots, pills and suppositories.Yay!! As of now, I am on prenatal pills and Metformin. My doctor told me the pregnancy gets much better once the hormone injections are released from my body. Also, I have been on antibiotics for a UTI. This has made it so I have not been able to keep food down for four days now. We finally called my doctor today and got my antibiotics changed. She gave me anti nausea medication so I am able to keep some food down. Even though the pregnancy has been really tough so far I am extremely thankful for the opportunity to carry our twin babies!

(Baby A at 9 weeks)

It was hard to get an ultra sound picture of Baby A

because Baby B was on top of it.

(Baby B at 9 weeks)

The bubble on the top left by the baby's head is called the Yolk Sac.

It provides early nourishment until the internal organs are formed.