34 weeks 4 days

These babies are still cooking!!! Home bedrest is going well. In the last couple of days though, I have had increased contractions. I mentioned this to my doctor at my appt. today and he increased my terbutaline dose. He said I can stop taking it at 36 weeks. Halleluiah!! I hope my body can make it till then because he said there's a good chance the babies can come home with us if I can make it that far. I'm not sleeping great and I'm a bit uncomfortable. Last week at the ultrasound, they estimated that baby girl is 4 lbs 14 oz and baby boy is 4 lbs 13 oz. Both babies are presenting head down. Yippie!! I measured 39.5 weeks last week, but he didn't tell me what I measured today. I did lose seven pounds this past week, but that was all the fluid weight they pumped into me while in the hosptial. So, weight gain is holding steady around 40 lbs. Not bad.

David has done an excellent job maintaining the household. I sorta feel bad that he has to get up every morning with Addison, but I quickly get over it when I think that I'll be the one getting up with the twins throughout the night. Addison doesn't always get why I am just lying around and not playing with her, and quite frequently I am dodging the toys that she is throwing at me in frustration. Poor Addie. Poor me!Here is Addie taking her babies to the store. Not sure where the babies were while the picture was being snapped, but she did have twins that she was caring for.

Thanks to my friends who have taken care of Addison and/or provided us with food in the last week. I don't know what I would do without you guys!!! Thanks to Liz for the books!!! I have finished "Certain Girls" and am now on "Sail." That one is a quick read!! Good stuff. I hope to make it through all three books before the babies are born. After that, there will be no reading time, for sure!!!

Daddy and Addie

Now that I am on "house arrest," David is the main caregiver for Addison. It kind of stinks to not be able to take care of your child. I have been granted three trips up the stairs each day, so since I am the one who can get her to stay asleep better, I use my trips for that.

David and Addison have been having fun without me. They go to the park, the pool, the zoo and shopping (but usually to the grocery store and I don't miss that one bit). Here is Addison playing at the park. They arrived there in the early morning before the heat and other kids showed up!

33 weeks

On June 17, around 5:30 p.m., I started having back to back contractions. I thought they were just braxton hicks. After lying down and realizing they weren't letting up, I decided to call the nurse's line. When asked how many I had in the last hour and I said 12, they said I need to come in. In complete denial, I showered, we dropped Addie off at my parents, and went to the hospital. I had no bag and thought I would just be hooked up to some monitors for an hour and be sent home. Boy, was I wrong!!! The monitors showed that I was having contractions every two to three minutes. I was immediately put on magnesium-sulfate and given the first of two steriod shots to help the twins lungs develop. Here I sit three days later, hoping to be discharged tomorrow for "house-arrest" on brethine. They are currently switching me from magnesium-sulfate to brethine and if I can keep the contractions at bay, then I can go home tomorrow. I am hoping to keep these babies growing until at least 35 weeks. My doctor feels that since the contractions were so easy to shut down, I will do well on this medicine at home and still make it several more weeks.

The ultrasound the other day showed the babies are still doing great. Baby A weighs around 4 lbs. 1 oz, and Baby B weighs about 4 lbs. 7 oz. On the fetal monitors, their heartrates are always strong. My cervix is shortening and my fetal fibronectin test came back positive, but my doctor doesn't feel like those items by themselves indicate pre-term labor. We'll just be taking it one day at a time and every day I can keep them in is one less day that we have to visit them in the NICU!!!

Future Triathlete Learns to Pedal

With just a few weeks of practice, Addison has learned to pedal her new bike. She showed a lot of interest in the big wheel the neighbor gave her and would walk that thing all around the cul-de-sac. We got her a little bike and at first she would just sit on it and walk. After a lot of practice, she has finally mastered the art of pedaling.

Look at Addison go!

Fierce determination. That's my girl!

"Mommy, are you watching?"

32 weeks

All is well in the land of babies. I had my non-stress today and did not have a single contraction. The babies heartrates were excellent. My blood pressure was 138/90 when I first got to the office, but after 15 minutes was down to 122/70. Still something my doctor wants to watch of course. Weight gain is about 42 pounds. I am measuring 38.5 weeks.

32 weeks with Addison on left/twins on right

I imagine this will be the second to last belly picture. I am certain these babies will go to at least 36 weeks. No stretch marks yet, but I doubt I can escape them here in the last four to six weeks. I am interested to see how much these babies weigh. I won't find out until my next ultrasound on June 23rd.



How my singleton and twin pregnancy have differed: with Addison I just stopped running at 31 weeks. Up to that point, I was running 15-20 miles a week. I switched to walking for a couple of weeks. With this pregnancy, water aerobics is all I want to do and feel like I can do! Water has always been a true friend to me! Things that have happened in the last week include: vomiting(for the first time in either of my pregnancies), pitting edema, lots of contractions of some sort, carpal tunnel in my right hand and lots of hand numbness.

Until next week...

Baby Shower!

Today my good friend Cathy threw me a baby shower! It was a lot of fun and Cathy is like a Martha Stewart host! It was lots of fun and baby Landon is well equipped now with onesies, and blue stuff! I was spared from shower games such as get a length of toilet paper which you think will be the circumference around pregnant person's belly. I love you Cathy. A true friend indeed!!! Cathy had all sorts of yummy things that she made. A true chef! It was great to see my friends who I have not had a chance to be around in a long time. Hopefully with less responsibility, for a few weeks at least, I can see my friends a bit! Here I am with my friend Kelly on the left and Cathy on the right:


My yummy cake (It's supposed to say "Pink and Blue, We Welcome You," but I guess someone interpreted the statement different!) Yummy, none-the-less!



Thanks to all my friends who were able to attend and thank you Cathy!!!

31 weeks!

Only six weeks until I am officially full term. I have a lot to wash, organize, buy, and set up. I better get to it! I started my weekly doctor's appointments today. First, I had my non-stress test. I had two contractions during the 20 minute test and a lot of "irratability" according to my doctor, which he said is common with twins. All in all, the heartrates were great!! The nurse said they were beautiful! After the non-stress test, I had my regular appointment.

Weight gain: 40 pounds (officially one pound more than with Addison...so far!)
Blood pressure: 148/82 initially and then 110/68 after a few minutes on my left side
Fundal height: measuring 37 weeks

My blood pressure went up last week to 148/98, but after a day and a half of "rest," it returned to normal. The doctor isn't concerned yet since I don't appear to have any other problematic symptoms.

Baby B finally has a name. The same name we've had for the whole pregnancy, but now David will commit. His name will be Landon Reid. Works for me!!! YAY!
Other than that, I am officially a stay at home mom. That's weird. It probably won't occur to me until the school year resumes and I don't have to go back to work. Oh, how nice that will be! I'll just be busy in a whole other way!