Update

We went to the specialist day for another check-up & were thankful enough to receive some POSITIVE news on our little girl! I guess overall, we never know anything for sure, but from what the doctor saw, her ventricles look "normal" right now. I think they'll be checking her every week, just to be sure everything is ok.

I promised myself I wouldn't research anything on what could happen if her ventricle continue to be larger than "normal", and I kept that promise all week. I ended up being a nervous wreck though, the closer we got to the appointment. Chris decided to ask the "what if" question, and the Dr. Payne said it could mean learning disabilities. He also mentioned that MOST children with this condition don't have learning disabilities. My thoughts?? If someone tells me there COULD be something wrong with my babies, I'm going to attempt to take it with a grain of salt.

NAMES!!! Sorry, Christina, I keep forgetting to answer your question! We've decided on... Kayelynn Faye & Bradyn Michael :) Kaye is my mother & sister in law's middle names & Lynn is my sister's middle name. Faye is myself, my mom's, and my grandma's middle name. I guess our little girl will have lots of women taking ownership of her name! Michael is my husband's middle, his dad's middle, and his grandfather's first name. Bradyn... well... We just LIKE it! Actually, a co-worker's spouse mentioned that name at a Christmas party, and frankly, it's the only name that's come up that NEITHER of us have objections in using!

I'm quite happy to now have names for our sweet little ones.... Even though I keep calling them our "little boy & little girl", I know it'll be just a few more months before I'm holding them tight in my arms! Yes, I'm anxious... I find myself wrapped up in work or just being tired all the time, and then I think about how life is going to completely change so soon. I can't even fathom what it will be like, and I can't imagine how much I'm going to love them at first sight.

What happened to December?!?

Well, I would apologize for not posting AT ALL in the month of December, but it's quite a busy month with all the band concerts, rehearsals, and other festivities going on!

For a while, pregnancy seemed pretty easy going... I'm not sure if I posted this in my last blog, but we did find out that our daughter definitely has a clubbed foot (not sure if it's both or just one). Chris & I are taking it pretty well, as many people have told us it's a doable thing. Luckily, I have a wonderful coworker whose husband can get us in at Shriner's hospital.

This week has unfortunately been a little more hectic than I would like... Our first week back at school, and I get yet ANOTHER sinus infection! I felt it coming on last Sunday, but nothing I took was going to get in the way. Before I started feeling the worst symptoms from that, I had a somewhat embarrassing night & ended up in Labor & Delivery. I would give more details, but I'll just say that I was in a lot of pain, had a little bleeding, we checked the babies, and they were doing very well. It's not blog-worthy, trust me... So, essentially, I was at the hospital on Wednesday, saw my specialist & OB on Thursday (for regularly scheduled appointments), and went to my family doctor on Friday.

My specialist appointment was a little bitter-sweet. I like going there, because those doctors are very thorough. He said everything is going well, but he was a little suspicious of a ventricle in the brain that may be "larger than normal". I didn't really like to hear that, but he said not to be concerned just yet--he wants to watch the size for the next several weeks and see if there are any changes. He said, "I'm not telling you this to alarm you. I'm telling you this because I'm supposed to tell you what I'm thinking." I pray that he doesn't find anything bad when he looks next week... It'll break my heart if something else is wrong with our baby girl.

On a positive note, I have some belly pictures!! Enjoy...

Oops!! It's been busy...

So, I guess I've been bad lately at updating my blog! I have been so busy, I haven't even started the journal I talked about earlier! I promise to start this week, whatever it takes...

So, Thanksgiving is coming up, so that is putting me in the holiday/mommy-to-be mode of wanting to clean out the spare bedrooms, decorate for Christmas, and get ready for these sweet little angels! I have so many things on my to-do list, I don't know where to begin!

On another note... We received some unpleasant news from the specialist on Thursday. It looks like (right now at least) that my little girl has clubbed feet. This is thankfully a very treatable condition, and hopefully, we can have it corrected through braces, casts, or surgery before it's even time for her to start walking.

On an even sadder note... It looks like my sister's pregnancy is not going as well as we all prayed for. After several weeks of stress, it will most likely turn out to be a non-viable pregnancy that she will have to terminate within the next week. I unfortunately don't have the words to say to her to make her feel any better. It's so difficult to be pregnant & happy while she's going through all of this sadness. I pray that I find a way to reach out to her, as it's been really hard to do that over the past week. Please pray that God will bless her and her husband with a healthy baby someday (hopefully sooner than later).

Thanks to all of you for your prayers and kind words as we go through this exciting (and stressful, even though I try not to think about it) time of our lives. Chris and I are so excited to be parents soon, and we pray that we find a way to prepare these babies for a life full of love and happiness!

Back to the "real" world

Sorry for not posting any pictures from my obgyn appointment last week... They just didn't turn out very clear, so I figured I would wait until my specialist appointment this Thursday. :)

So, after a week of moving around comfortably, I've decided it's time to head back to work! I feel fine, and I'm really hoping and praying for no more major issues. I'll be taking it as easy as possible, and hopefully, I'll keep these babies safe for another 6 or so months!

I've decided to start a journal for the babies as I continue my pregnancy. After using my iphone "What to Expect" app, I found some cute forum topics where moms will write funny letters to their babies throughout their pregnancies. I'm going to actually write this out in a REAL journal (I know it's 2010, but I figure the good old-fashioned paper kind would be more memorable). I'll try to share some of the good ones as we go along!

Thanks to those of you who have supported me throughout the past several weeks. Your thoughts and prayers have meant a lot! Please pray that tomorrow and the rest of the week will go as smoothly as I hope!

PICTURES!! FINALLY! :)

September 1....................................September 14

October 1.........................................October 5

So, by the look of these pictures, you can tell I'm not as high-tech as I would like to be. I'll figure out a way to enlarge them, so you can have a better view. Notice how BIG my sweet babies are getting!! I will go to obgyn tomorrow, so more pictures to come soon! :)

Well-Rested

Soooo... I'm not sure if I mentioned that I'm pretty good at bedrest in my last post. What I MEANT to say was that I'm pretty good at bedrest when my husband is at home. I found myself yesterday talking other people's heads off whenever I had the chance. Apparently, all the talking I do at school must now be done while I'm at home!

Anyway, I went to the doctor again on Wednesday, and everything was good then. I haven't had any more bleeding lately (at least not the "bad" kind--not to get too descriptive). It's really difficult to sit here & feel like I should do nothing all day, because for the most part, I feel normal. Sometimes, I'll stand up too quickly and realize that I'm wrong. I think I'll see if I can get into the doctor next week (instead of waiting an additional week, when my current appointment is), and hopefully, they'll say I'm good to go back to work.

On another note... did I mention that my sister just completed her first round of Invetro? She's actually been trying to have a baby for several years now, and has gone through some pretty painful circumstances to get to the point that she is today. She'll find out next Friday whether it worked or not. My fingers and toes are crossed for her, and please everyone, say a prayer that God blesses her with at least one chance to fulfill her dream of motherhood! :)

I'll continue to keep you posted (on myself, the twins, and Julie).

Tough Weekend...

So, I'm quickly learning that I will do anything to keep these babies healthy and happy. Just a few months ago, I was mostly worried about all the needles, exams, and all the not-so-exciting parts of doctor visits. After a stressful and eye-opening weekend, I can say that all of those things seem like a walk in the park now.

If you're the squemish type, I am giving you the warning now to NOT read on... Now that you have been warned, I'll continue! :) Last Tuesday, I got home from work and noticed some odd "spotting" after looking in the toilet. I didn't know what to think, so I called the on-call doctor. After describing everything to her, she suggested that it may be a bladder infection and to see my doctor the next day. I did this, and after checking, the babies were great, and I heard no reason to be worried at all.

This comfortable feeling changed on Friday, between classes, when I went for a "quick" bathroom break. I saw what looked like a somewhat small amount of blood in my urine, so I quickly told my boss, and headed to my doctor. The secretary asked me if I "flew" there, because I must've gotten there quite fast. The doctor checked again, said there was no sign of blood, and said to take it easy after seeing that the babies were once again perfectly fine.

I decided against my family's opinions to go to 8th grade band night that night with our kids and the RHS band. I showed up to the school, and after about an hour or so, my head director decided I needed to go home after such a stressful day. As I was heading to my car, I noticed something wasn't right (girls, you probably know what I mean). I checked down there (yes, this is gross, but I didn't know what else to do!!) and sure enough, it was blood. I went to the gas station bathroom, and it was SUCH a difference than earlier that morning. I learned after the morning experience, I needed to stay calm for the babies, so I just called the doctor again, and they said to go straight to the ER and an obgyn on-call would be there "waiting" for me.

After waiting at the hospital for over an hour, I started questioning whether or not I really should plan on delivering there. They finally took me in, checked the babies, who were thankfully ok, did some awful procedure to get a urine sample (I would prefer not to do THAT one again), and later realized I had a bladder infection. Since my husband had contest all day the next day, my parents fortunately took me to their house in Saginaw, so they could "doctor" me. :)

I unfortunately woke up the next morning with the same bleeding I had Friday night. My mom quickly took me to Baylor Grapevine, and I can say nothing but WONDERFUL things about them and how they run a hospital. After an hour plus ultrasound, they noticed that I have a hemorrhage outside the placenta. The good thing is that the babies feel nothing about what is going on outside their little haven.

I decided to change my specialist appointment to yesterday, in Grapevine, where they elaborated on my condition. They said that it's called Placenta Previa, which I've heard of on my forums lately. Many moms have this, but mine just happens to bleed unlike most women. He put me on bedrest for 2 weeks, so here I sit, on the couch, finding more time to keep you all posted!!

Am I glad I'm on bedrest? Yes and no. I'm so happy that God has allowed my sweet babies to continue to grow and be happy as they prepare for their big entrance into the world (btw, baby A MIGHT be a boy, but we're not sure yet... baby B has decided to not tell any secrets just yet). Would I like to take this time "off" to do some shopping??? Yes, but I guess I'll stick to the doc's orders...

Sorry, Christina, no pictures for you just yet... BUT, I have plenty to scan in & post, so I'll get to it later when Chris brings them home from work! :)