26 weeks update

The twins are looking great these days. We had a small scare on Sunday when I had some bleeding, but after 4 hours, the doctors said I was fine and so were the babies. Today I had an ultrasound that showed the boys were about 2lbs 3ounces and 2lbs 5 ounces. They are growing so fast! I am feeling alright, although it is difficult carrying almost 50 extra pounds around! On another note, the nursery is finished, and that makes me very happy. Chris and I are also begining the bathroom remodel that is LONG past due! It will be a few weeks of dust and an unusable bathroom, but it will be well worth it!

23 weeks and the boys are doing well

I had a doctor appointment on Friday and the boys are doing great. Since I have been on bedrest at home, the contractions have all but stopped. On Friday, Baby A weighed 1.6 lbs. and Baby B weighed 1.3 lbs. My cervix was looking great too; it had not changed from the contractions. Also, being on bedrest is not as bad as I thought it would be! It will probably get old real soon, but I like being able to read and watch movies and nap whenever I feel like it. The babies are really active. All the ultrasound techs have commented on how they must be soccer players and little athletes in there! That is slightly frightening, because I don't do sports. But I can certainly feel them doing gymnastics in there, and Chris can feel them too! Thank you for all the prayers and support!

In the hospital already...

Well, I planned to be updating this often with fun stories of my summer vacation. Well, that plan has changed quite a bit. Here is how I came to be put on hospital bedrest. On Wednesday the 10th I was shopping at Target with my mom. I felt a few tightenings of my uterus and I called my OBGYN. He asked me to go to Fairview Southdale to be assessed. I went in and they monitored my contractions and gave me a shot of terbutaline. After four hours they let me go home. I went home and laid low for Thursday, but I did feel contractions, but they went away when I laid down. On Friday morning I went from my bed to my reclining lawn chair and had 6 contractions in about 45 minutes. I called my OB and they asked that I come back in. I decided to go in to where my perinatologist is (Fairview Riverside) because it is closer. My mom came with me. The doctors put me on the monitor and saw my contractions. They also saw that my boys looked ok. My perinatologist gave me indocine and kept me on the monitor overnight. On Saturday, my contractions were basically gone and I was feeling better. I was told that I would be staying a few days. On Saturday they took me off the constant monitoring and just checked for an hour twice a day. All checks yesterday and today have shown very few contractions. So the plan is for me to take my last dose of indocine at 6 pm today and then they will monitor to see if there are any changes after the meds wear off. Tomorrow (Monday) they will do an ultrasound to make sure everything looks good, then they will monitor me for any contractions. If all goes well, I will be released on Tuesday. If I start to contract again, my doctor has said there is another drug they will try. I can't take indocine anymore because it causes fetal heart issues with prolonged use. So lets pray that my uterus is calm and quiet from now on! No matter what happens tomorrow I have a long 14 weeks of bedrest ahead of me. Let me know if you have any fun ideas how to keep occupied while on bedrest...

Welcome to our blog!

I am very excited to be able to share this twinventure with everyone through this blog. I am certainly no technology expert, but Chris will be able to spruce up the site.

To catch everyone up to speed, here is a short version of how we came to be 20 weeks pregnant with twin boys.
Last summer, Chris and I decided that we were ready to start a family. I knew I had some reproductive issues, so I went to see my OBGYN for advice on how to proceed. He was concerned about the length of my cervix, which is the bottom part of the uterus that holds the baby in. I looked online for some information and found a wonderful organization called Abbyloopers. With their support I found a wonderful doctor who was an expert in placing trans-abdominal cerclages (TAC). A TAC is a permanent, kevlar band that acts as a sort of 'super-cervix'. I travelled to Chicago to get my TAC placed by Dr. Haney. The surgery went great and we were given the go-ahead to start trying for a child. (Oh, yeah, this is the short version...)So, after multiple rounds of failed fertility treatments, Chris and I found out we were pregnant in February. We were so excited! My sister Jessica joined Chris and I for our first ultrasound at about 6 weeks. The tech showed us the baby and said that everything was looking good. I was sort of sad that there was only one little bean on the screen. I had been feeling pretty sick already and I thought that it might mean I had twins. I scanned the screen as the tech moved the ultrasound around. I saw a little blip at the bottom and asked the tech "what's that?" She scanned down and said "Yup, that's another one!" I was so excited! I looked at Chris who turned to my sister and said "You want one?" I was appalled, we hadn't even know we were having twins for 30 seconds and he was trying to give one away! We went home from that appointment excited but apprehensive too. Over the next 6 weeks we saw the babies on ultrasound three more times, and each time they were just great. At 12 weeks we had some genetic tests done, and the results were wonderful. The one concern was that there appeared to be only one placenta. This meant the twins had to share blood and nutrients. I began seeing the perinatologist and they said they would monitor the twins every two weeks to make sure they were both growing at the same rate. So every two weeks I have faithfully gone in to see my two cuties on the ultrasound, and every two weeks they both get bigger and bigger. We are at 20 weeks now and the boys weigh over 9 ounces each. I see the perinatologist tomorrow and I am excited to see my boys again. I will update after my appointment and post the ultrasound pictures that I get!