Bye Bye Terb Pump

First off, the first picture is on Christmas morning, and the second was on Sunday. I went off the Terbutaline Pump last night. I was already having a lot of contractions with it, so I can only imagine what this is going to be like. I am contracting quite a bit this morning. The doctor said yesterday that I could go into labor immediately. Mind you I was on the pump nearly 8 weeks! :) I am 35 weeks 5 days today, and once again I am so grateful that the girls and I have made it this far. Hopefully the next post will be that the girls are here!

Christmas Eve

We are so so so blessed this year! I am 34 weeks 6 days today. It is truly a miracle that I have made it this far, and our girls are more than safe now! It seems like just yesterday (at 28 weeks) they were giving me steroid shots because they thought we were going to deliver. I am home with my family for Christmas and just feel so overwhelmingly grateful right now. My dad has been in town for 2 or so weeks right now, and I know that has influenced this whole situation because my stress has gone WAY down. He has taken me to all my doctor appointments, kept up with Caden, helped Jerald stay on top of the household chores, and helped pack up everything for the move next week. We had a great time at my moms today for Christmas. Ashlyn and Caden got a lot of really great stuff. My little brother Clayton is coming over in the morning, and we will all have a great breakfast after we do Santa. The kids made cookies tonight and they are so excited! I won't be upset if the girls come after tomorrow morning. Ideally they need another week or two in BUT we have made it so far! :) Thanks so much everyone for all the great support and we all love you so much!

Gramps came to visit :)

My grandpa came in town tonight, and I snuck out and went to camp out on the couch at my Mom's for a few hours. I saw the doctor today, and he said it would be OK as long as I stayed horizontal. God knows Mom, my step-dad, Grandpa, and husband all made sure I did not lift a finger. We visited for a while, and his flight is first thing in the morning. BUT he had to make a special "few hour" trip to make sure for himself that I was doing ok. We look some cute pictures, had a nice dinner, and watched some game shows. :) I tend to make things pretty boring these days. He is very excited about the arrival of his great-granddaughers, so I anticipate he will be back in town when they are born. Him and I have always been very close, and I respect and love him so much! It was also really good for Caden to get to spend time with him because he is his only living great-grandparent. I was close with my great-grandpa, and I am really glad he is getting to know and love his great-grandpa, too.

Also, I went to the doctor today, and my cervix is still holding up strong. Blood pressure and all that stuff are doing good too, so that's all stable. Contractions are still iffy, but since they are not changing my cervix who knows. I go back on Monday, so let's hope to have a quiet rest of the weekend. That's all for now....

Back home...(for now)

Well I got released from the hospital again! The "mag wash" served its purpose and the terb pump is working to slow the contractions down again. I only had 5 last hour! Mind you all...my cervix has still not changed at all, so this is the only reason my doctors even considered letting me come back home. Even contracting ever 1-2 minutes....no change :) I can tell the girls have grown a lot because my tummy is enormous. It is now much bigger than I was full term with Caden. My Dad is in town, so it has been nice to have someone to visit while Jerald is off at work and Caden at daycare. I go back to the doctor tomorrow and hopefully everything still looks great. I am 33 weeks today! Another week!! I am so grateful for that.

Happy Birthday Jerald!

Today is Jerald's birthday. He kept joking with me and all of our friends that he was "skipping his birthday this year" Well it looks like I literally helped him do that. I am back in the hospital. I got here early Sunday morning for contractions 1-2 minutes apart. They disconnected the terbutaline pump and did a "mag wash". That is a term used for magnesium sulfate. It flushes the receptors to the terbutaline, calms the uterus, and legitimately works the best for stopping labor. BUT....it is such an awful feeling. So here I am at 4 pm on Monday and they just weaned me off the last of the mag and I am back on the terb. Hopefully this will buy us another 2 weeks or so. They are taking me off of the terb pump at 34 weeks. Also, they will discontinue the progesterone shot at 34 weeks, and also they will only use magnesium with me up until 34 weeks as well.

I just wanted to take a minute to tell Jerald, Happy Birthday! He has been working his butt off, trying to manage the house, me, moving, and the kids. Bless his heart. I wish so much we could go out for a romantic dinner tonight, but his little girls had other ideas! Haha guess this won't be the first time! :) I take for granted how wonderful he is to me sometimes, but he has helped keep me together through all this. He is such a wonderful father to Caden and Ashlyn, and I know he will be just as wonderful to Abigail and Madison. So Happy 32nd Birthday Jerald from a loving wife to her amazing husband on his birthday! I love you with all my heart and soul!

Pregnancy up to 32 weeks...

This pregnancy has been an uphill battle from the very beginning. I knew from the very beginning that this was not going to be an easy pregancy, so I somewhat prepared myself. When I was 12 1/2 weeks, we found out from the sonogram at my perinatolgist (high-risk OB), Dr. Rosnes that were having two little girls! :) Also, confirmed that they were identical because they shared a placenta and were in two thinning seperated amniotic sacs. I was extremely sick and nauseous up until about 18 weeks. I was also diagnosed with hyperthyroidism with a large goiter (Graves Disease) in June. I lost quite a bit of weight in the beginning, but the girls have always been healthy and little troopers. Once well into my 2nd trimester, my belly started getting bigger and bigger. Everyday Jerald would come home from work, and he would be able to notice a difference. Around 28 weeks, I started having some trouble with pre-term labor that landed me in the hospital. I was sent home on Procardia. After one week, one morning at 3 AM, my contractions were 2-3 minutes apart, so off the hospital again. I was only 29 weeks, and we were all scared there for a few hours that Dr. Rajala was going to have to deliver the babies. I got two doses of steroid shots to mature their lungs. Unfortunately, this time I had to go on Magnesium for 5 days. Let me just say....it was the worst experience ever. This medicine is a full body muscle relaxer, and it makes you feel AWFUL. Thank God, my contractions slowed down enough for me to go on a Terbutaline pump, and I have been home since. I am on strict bed rest, as my doctor puts it..."your feet are only to hit the floor to go to the bathroom and shower every two days" I am still having contractions 3 sometimes 9 an hour, but they are not changing my cervix, so I get to stay home for now. The girls are healthy as can be. No sonogram since the very beginning has showed any problems other than they are in the lower percentile for size. My doctors are not concerned about this though at all :) I am now 32 weeks which is very good for their development, and although I am huge and extremely uncomfortable I will do anything to keep them in another 4-6 weeks.

Adding to the family

Well...Jerald and I knew we wanted to have a baby right away. So we knew we were getting married in June, so I thought for sure it would take a few months. Not so much...we found out we were pregnant on May 25, 2008. I can not say either one of us were shocked, but we knew we had to wait a couple weeks to tell the family :) I chose Dr. Rajala here in Allen as my new OB, and we both loved him from the first visit. I was so sick, and even had to be on IV fluids for passing out and being dehydrated. I was taking care of my Grandma Helen at the time as well, and I had a feeling that this pregnancy was twins from the very beginning. I even told my Dr. that at my first appointment on June 17th, and he said, "well, if it is twins then we will know for sure next month at your 12 week sonogram" I could not wait that long, so I went to Real Options in Plano on June 25th for a sonogram, sure enough. I looked at the sonogram techinitian and said "there is not two is there?" She said, "well as a matter of fact there is!" with a huge smile on her face. She also explained to us that from the looks of it they were identical because there was only one placenta. I literally jumped off the table. I think Jerald and I both stopped breathing for a minute. Then I was in Mommy mode and automatically had to know that both babies had good and stong heart beats. Everyones reaction to twins was very shocked. It has been very up and down since. They truely are out little miracles!

Caden and Ashlyn

Caden is 3 1/2 and about as boy as boy gets. He is always getting into sometime. He is like a little firecracker and is non-stop day in and day out. Ashlyn is the complete opposite, girly and our sensitive one. She has the biggest heart and is learning so much at school this year. She did a shoot as an extra for two Barney episodes recently, and they will come out in September of 2009! We have really blended into a family over the last year and half. Jerald and I are both so proud of Caden and Ashlyn!

Let's backtrack a little bit...

OK...Let's start with how Jerald and I met. Initially Jerald and I started emailing back and forth on MYSPACE. We met in the June 27, 2007 at his apartment in Allen, and it was all history from there. We had both been married before and we both had children. My son's name is Caden Manion born March 29, 2005, and his daughter is Ashlyn Nicole born January 12, 2002. I just knew from the first date that I was going to marry him. We spent the majority of 8 strait days together, and then I had a trip planned to go to New York to see my family for 12 days. Needless to say, Jerald was on my mind the entire time and it was so painful to be away from him. When I got home from the trip we had a long talk about our feelings for each other, and our relationship started to grow more and more. We started talking about marriage just a few months later, and we ended up getting married exactly one year to the date of our first date on June 27, 2008. The ceremony was just extremely small, which is exactly what the two of us wanted.