Another Update

-Thursday I went in for my weekly appointment and my doctor admitted me to the hospital because I had dilated to almost 4 cm. Last check I was 2 cm.
-Doc. checked me later that evening and said we were losing the battle, and he called for a helicopter to get me to a hospital in Mesa with a NICU.
-Got put on magnesium and flew to Mesa (very uncomfortable flight) and have been here since.
-Hit 32 weeks yesterday, and have slowly been taken off the magnesium.
-Got another round of steroids shots for babies lungs.
-Had a sonogram that estimated babies to weigh 4 lbs 4 oz and 4 lbs 1 oz.
-Baby A is still head down, and B is still breech.
-Jay drove here yesterday with kids and Cindy and Sean's family. They finished up school shopping and had fun swimming at the hotel.
-They brought me all kinds of lotions and potions, and some clothes for the babies.
-Kim brought me a cherry limeade, Derek brought me gum (I had bad breath), Candace painted my toe nails, Chelsey brought me stuff to take a real shower then braided my hair, Derek brought me a taste of his Maggiano's (sp?) lasagne. I am feeling very spoiled.
-Still not sure if they'll keep me here until I deliver, or if they'll let me go to my parents house. My history of fast labors makes everyone a little nervous.
-As much as I want to be home, I know this is a safer place to be.
-And I like visitors. Hint, hint.

Baby Update

-As of last Thursday, babies were estimated at 3 lbs 9 oz and 3 lbs 10 oz
-I am 31 1/2 weeks, which is 3 days past when Abbey and Emma were born
-I am now officially bigger than I've been with any of my other pregnancies
-If I want to have the babies in Safford, I have to last another 4 1/2 weeks

Cousins

This face Hayden is making reminds me of the Grinch.

Lia

Camilla

Emma

24th Celebration

My mind still hasn't figured out that my body can't keep up. We attended the 24th of July festivities on Saturday. I thought I would be fine. Most of the kids rode on the float in the parade, but I didn't get any pictures because Jay and I watched from the van. We set up our camp chairs on the EAC football field and had an awesome BBQ beef dinner. I didn't even make it through dinner and had to lay down. I forgot to bring a blanket, but Jay's and my camp chairs came with small pillows. I put one under my head and one under my stomach, and spent the rest of the night laying in the grass.The weather was wonderful, which is a miracle. Traditionally it rains on every 24th of July celebration. We were very lightly sprinkled on as we walked into the stadium, but that was the end of it.

Suzee chewed on this pop top forever.

Ryan Innes did a small concert before the fireworks show, which was really nice.

Papa and Patty finished their duties serving food and sat with us to watch the fireworks. Suzee was so fun to listen to during the fireworks show. She would see one shooting up and yell "Color, color, color" until everyone around her guessed what color it was going to be. James covered his ears and asked me a thousand times if it was over yet.

Even though it was harder than I thought it would be, it felt good to get out in that awesome weather.

See You Later

We had a party for Jace (he reports to the MTC today) last week, and these are the only 2 decent pictures I got. Suzee eating Papa's homemade chocolate ice cream.

And Jonathan and Bob messing around. I don't get smiles out of Bob very often.

It was fun having family in town for the weekend, and I was glad to make it through Sacrament Meeting for the first time in over a month. His farewell and setting apart were very nice.

Cakes

Janna's been baking. One girl at the office was going away to school,

and another had a birthday.

She asked them both their favorite color, then went to work. She did both cakes by herself.

Swimming Again

Suzee has always loved the water, but both she and James are getting really brave.

Emma and Suzee

Abbey, James (with his black eye) and Brook

Suzee floating on her back. Love the puddle jumpers.

I got permission to swim, so we swam Friday morning and Saturday night. It was wonderful.

Accidents

2 Accidents 5 days apart. Both involving the 4-wheeler with Bob driving. The first one got James a bloody nose. The second one was a swollen eye that James said looked like a marble. It has since turned into a black eye.

Suzee's Faces

Suzee thought James was getting too much camera time, so she started making faces so I would take pictures of her.

Baby Update

Babies are 2 lbs 12 oz each, and for the first time they're both breech. Explains a lot about the pain I had Monday night.

Birthday/4th of July

Help!

My mom and Aunt Sherri put all the baby clothes in the closet that used to not be a closet. It was an empty cupboard where the stove pipe used to go up to the roof. My dad built shelves and put some flooring in, and it's wonderful.

My parents came last week and got a BUNCH of items done on my "To Do" list:

-Re-hung a shelf that Suzee had pulled out of the wall.

-Re-hung cupboard doors downstairs that Bob had taken down because he likes using tools, but he couldn't figure out how to put them back up.

-Fixed drawers on 3 dressers that kids had "accidentally" broken.

-Built shelves and a closet rod for the babies.

-Boxed up winter stuff (I'm a little behind).

-Cleaned out the crib.

-Cooked and cleaned and got ready for a birthday celebration.

-Kept kids entertained.

-Got groceries.

-Stocked baby clothes and supplies on new shelves.

-Folded laundry.

-Got the golf cart un-stuck from a utility cable Janna backed into.

I feel like we're almost ready for babies now!

Haircuts

Karen gave Lilly

and Brook new haircuts. So cute.

Gila Box- Bonita Creek

Last Saturday we took an afternoon trip to the Gila River.

The water was only about a foot deep in most places, but the kids loved it.

After they swam, we had a picnic with sandwiches, chips and frog-eye salad.

They've been begging to go back ever since.

Especially James who said "Thank you, mom, for my surprise of taking me to the lake."

Suzee would rather have been in the pool where the water is warmer.

I am on strict bed rest now, so next time we go, it will be with 2 more little boys.

12th Anniversary

Saturday, June 4th was our 12th anniversary. Jay didn't get home until 10, so we didn't go to dinner, but he came by the house for lunch and brought me beautiful flowers and some black jelly bellies.

That same day marked 24 weeks of pregnancy. Every day that passes, I feel a little less anxious about delivering early. Only problem is, I am now 26 weeks along, which means I am 1 week away from the time I went into labor and was hospitalized with Abbey and Emma. I think once I get past that point, I will not worry as much. Maybe not.

Oops!

The garbage man had a little accident. I'm not sure how he hit the neighbor's mailbox, then our garbage can without hitting the telephone pole in between.And he didn't stop to tell us something had happened. I was wondering if it had just been someone driving down the road. After a few hours, I called the city utilities department, and they told me that one of their drivers had had an accident.

Wednesday they came and gave me a shiny new garbage can, but they haven't fixed the mailbox yet.

Update

The Saturday before Easter we did a small egg hunt, and the little kids especially had a good time.

We had Abbey and Emma's friend birthday party on Easter Saturday. Emma had invited 5 friends and 4 of them came. Abbey had invited 6 friends, and not one of them showed up. 2 of them had confirmed they would be coming, but they were no-shows. Emma's friends had all brought gifts for both of the girls, but Abbey was still pretty bummed. Last week she invited a friend over for swimming and hot dogs. We had a family dinner on their birthday over at Dad and Patty's house, and I think they really enjoyed it.

We spent 3 days in Mesa with both of our families for Jason and Candace's wedding on April 29, then Josh and Errin's wedding on April 30. We were going to drive home on Saturday night, but Jay fell asleep just driving from the reception to my parents house. We were in 2 separate cars, so we would both have to stay awake for the drive home. Richard and Chelsey were blessing baby Carmen on Sunday, so we attended their ward and lunch with family before we drove home Sunday afternoon.

While we were in Mesa, we took my ring in to get two stones replaced that had fallen out. We decided to take a chance and replace the June stone with another August stone in hopes that I will be able to keep these babies in until August. Also, Jay surprised me with a ruby pendant which is Jeremiah's birthstone. I was so happy and in shock. We got back so late from our little outing that my mom and sisters had dressed and fixed all my childrens' hair, and driven to the reception for Jason and Candace. Jay and I got there just in time for family pictures (which turned out very cute). Thank you mom and sisters. That was a lot of extra work.

For now, I have a sonogram every Thursday. One week they do a growth ultrasound to make sure the babies are staying the same size as each other. Both my doctor and the ultrasound technician are sure that the placentas fused at some point, so now they are functioning as one. The alternating week they check cervical length to make sure my cervix isn't shortening. I think they said if it gets shorter than 3 cm, that's a sign of pre-term labor. So far it has been at 4.5 cm and hasn't changed. I thought it would be really annoying to have to go to the doctor every week, but it has actually been very reassuring to me to see the babies every week. Another reassurance is feeling these boys move frequently. Sometimes I will start to worry, then feel a little kick, and I just smile.

One of the most frustrating things is that I am still nauseous. Mostly, I have really sensitive gag reflexes. 4 rotten milk sippy cups in one day can really push me over the edge. I have an anti-nausea medication I've been taking the last 3 weeks or so, and it helps with the nausea, but has a side effect of causing tiredness. As if I wasn't tired enough already.

Probably the most annoying thing to deal with is people who make rude or rather insensitive comments. I realize I am bigger than most people at 20 weeks along. I also know there are reasons I am bigger. I get asked at least 4 times a day when I am due, and get all kinds of off-the-wall comments about having so many kids. A lady 2 days ago told me I was huge and that she was as big as me when she was full-term. Thank you.

The store has been incredibly busy through the spring, and we're happy to be able to, for the most part, keep up with things.

Easter 2011

Happy Easter!

Ultrasounds

Because I am high risk with this pregnancy, for more than one reason, I get to have frequent ultrasounds. This week I was scheduled for 3. That many kind of got me nervous, and I was really worried something was wrong and nobody was telling me. My first sonogram was at my doctor's office to measure cervical length (which I go in for every two weeks for now). The second one was at the cancer center where they do the in-depth ultrasounds to measure babies and look for any abnormalities. The lady doing the ultrasound didn't talk for the first 5 minutes and I got really nervous again. Eventually she got chatty and said everything looked good. And she said it's definitely 2 BOYS! I had one girl name and one boy name picked. Now I have to come up with another boy name. Both babies were exactly the same size, which is good. She said it looks like if there were 2 placentas (my doctor was pretty sure there were 2 separate placentas 2 weeks ago), that now it looks like they're fused. I wasn't sure how that would affect the babies, but after some research, it's possible it won't affect them at all. Definitely my doctor is being extremely cautious and watching for signs of early labor. 10 weeks from now (at 27 weeks along) is when I was admitted to the hospital with Abbey and Emma. Way too early. The third ultrasound was back at my doctor's office just as a follow up. He also showed me how to do my daily Lovenox injections. They are not fun. The needle doesn't hurt, but the medication burns, and each time it leaves a bruise on my stomach. So attractive. For about the last 2 weeks I've been getting headaches every day. Some are worse than others. I am also tired all the time. I feel exhausted just going up or down the stairs. I am not allowed to lift anything heavy, so I am getting good at asking everyone to do things for me. That's so hard for me to do. I just keep hoping I don't get put on bed rest because I think I would go crazy.

Versailles Pictures

I finally added pictures of Versailles. Scroll down to my post about Versailles to view.