28 Week - Growth Check

Just as I hoped, these boys are still growing healthy and strong! Kevin and I can't help but feel blessed beyond measure and know that God is watching over our family.

I thank God every day, but can't seem to think there is more that I can do for Him, because of all He is doing for me. It is truly amazing the power our prayers have when we put our faith and trust in Him!!! PRAISE HIM!

28 week growth stats:

Hudson had a heart rate of 127 and was kicking a little, but mostly calm (as usual).  He is measuring 4 days ahead of their due date at a whopping 2lb 8oz (tiny still, but I feel every bit of that 2.5 pounds of miracle). Hudson is in the 46th%. 

Harrison was putting on a performance today. At our last visit (2 weeks ago) he was head down with his brother. Today he started the ultrasound sideways (I can tell he's been laying like this a lot lately), and mid-ultrasound did a little kick turn and flipped into the breech position. His heart rate is 148 today and he, too, is measuring 4 days ahead at 2 lbs 11oz! Harrison is in the 55th% (probably the only time my children will be in that percentile range). 

I am in complete awe of this entire process and feel such a love and connection with these babies that it literally brings me to tears at times. Identical or not, I can tell there will be differences in their little personalities, and look forward to the day where I can meet them face to face(s)!

For the most part I'm still getting around pretty well. Moving slower, but still moving forward. My iron levels are still low (despite taking pills twice a day for that, in addition to my prenatal). Now I get the pleasure of having injections occasionally to help me not be so anemic (super awesome). Those good ole Braxton Hicks contractions have started at night (making the 2am-4am hours particularly difficult to get comfortable). But regardless of these aches and pains, knowing that the boys are growing and getting strong helps me to endure my own growing pains. 

Kevin and Grady have been such troopers, and help me in every way possible. Grady is finally warming up to the idea that we're having babies (he will no doubt be in shock a little when he meets them and realizes that they're going to stay with us...permanently). He is so sweet and wants to hug the babies now and I think he's going to be a great big brother once we all get settled in.   Yesterday morning the kiddos were moving around and it was hurting me, so I took a deep breath and held my stomach. Grady walked up to me with this look of concern and said, "What's the matter mommy?" I told him the babies are moving and that a hug from him would help, so he climbed into my lap and gave me the biggest sweetest hug and kiss. That child melts my heart!

In two short days, my first baby will be 2 years old. It's so hard to believe how quickly the time passes, and in no time at all we will have the other two additions to our family here with us. This is such an exciting and wonderful time. Thanks to everyone who has mentioned us in your prayers! We greatly appreciate your thoughts and can tell you first hand that God is listening!

26 Week Update

We're finally at 27 weeks, so I think it's time to give and update on our last appointment.  Last Thursday, I had the pleasure of taking my glucose test.  Those who are pregnant or have been know that wonderful sweet taste of the worst made kool-aid you've ever put in your mouth. For those who have yet to experience this dreaded test, you go in to the lab to drink a special concoction and then you wait for one hour before having your blood drawn.  They're checking to see how you're body is working to break down sugars and basically determine if you need to adjust your diet or not.  The special drink is about the equivalent of drinking kool-aid your mom made while talking on the phone to her best friend, and when the directions say one cup of sugar per gallon she accidentally drops in a 5lb bag instead.  It's SWEEEEEET! (and not in a good way)

Once I arrived and drank my portion, I went to meet with the doctor.  Everything is still going pretty much the same as it has been for the past 2-4 weeks, so there wasn't much to talk about.  Now that the specialist sees no reason for me to return to them, I will be doing my 2 week fluid checks and 4 week size checks at my doctor's office.

The ultrasounds this week were just a fluid check, and everything looked great!!!  Every time we have an ultrasound these days, we get comments about how active Harrison is.  I cannot deny the energy he possesses, and expect him to come out with completely toned muscles in those legs and abs.  Hudson is still holding his own and kicking Harrison back when necessary, but remains my calm twin that's just chilling and growing in there.

I can tell they're getting bigger, because I am.  My total weight gain up to this point is about 25lbs (no clue how many inches around I am these days, but it's enough to be trapped in a car if parked too close to another).

After purchasing a maternity belt to help carry this load, my hips feel much closer to normal than they were several weeks ago.  The walking is slow, but it's forward!  The biggest physical struggle this past week or two has been the stretching skin and finding a position that I can sleep in comfortably.  It's remarkable for me to think my stomach can stretch out any more, because it already feels so tight and stretched to the max!

As for sleep (or lack there of), I guess I'm in training for being up every 2-3 hours for feedings.  This past week, a typical night looks about like this:
-  8:30pm (fall asleep, unintentionally, on the couch)
- 12:30am wake-up uncomfortable (then get comfortable just in time to realize I need to pee)
- 2:30am wake-up uncomfortable (manage to get comfortable and fall back to sleep)
- 4:00am wake-up uncomfortable and go to the bathroom (no need to get comfortable just to have to stand up and walk to the bathroom)
- 5:15am our "Grady" alarm clock goes off (and there is no snooze button for this one)
- 5:30am my actual alarm goes off

Sleeping in a bed is officially in my past.  The couch works so much better for me these days.  Even with my 2 regular pillows, body pillow, and smaller pillow, the bed is just too flat and I can't prop the way I need to.  The couch keeps me propped better (still with all of my pillow friends), and I can more easily fall back to sleep if I happen to wake up.  I will miss Kevin these next few weeks, but we both sleep better without me tossing and turning and huffing and puffing in bed.

All in all we're all doing very good right now.  We plan to go to the beach with my family for the 4th of July next week (provided I'm still feeling this good a week from now).  After that, we will have Grady's 2nd birthday party, and time will really start to close in on us at that point.  So until then, we will just keep taking it easy and live one day at a time (and make adjustments as needed).

Next report will be some time next week!


Ohhhhh and for anyone curious if I "passed" that glucose test....you're darn right I did.  I may have almost passed out because I needed something to eat after and didn't get a chance to for 2 hours, but they didn't call me back the next day (no news is good news on this one)! So glad I don't have to go for another test.  Whew!

We have a NURSERY!

This past weekend was PROJECT NURSERY!

It's amazing how wrapped up you can get in life and how busy your life can seem.  When the time comes to work on a home project, it's such a challenge to find a weekend you're not too busy to get some things done (at least we seem to have this problem).  My limited desire to move helped make this a good weekend for Kevin to get in the nursery and start preparing it for Hudson and Harrison.

We moved into our house back in September, and never really did anything to decorate this particular room in the house.  It was initially Grady's room, but we moved him to the guest room when we put together his big boy bed room (I will make a separate back dated post for this one, because it was fun).

The paint was already a really neutral cream color (so naturally, I picked a different neutral color I wanted the walls to be painted).  After a little research, I decided I wanted to use Behr Cotton Grey.  Unlike the people who have blogged about their paint color choices, we didn't get a ton of samples.  We just went in full committal on this color and got our gallon and went about our way.

Cotton Grey...it turned out perfect!

Grady went to Home Depot with us and helped pick out all of the supplies we would be needing.

Kevin worked so hard on this, and it turned out just as I had hoped.

Next came the crib assembly. which was pretty painless.  We had all of the nursery furniture that we had with Grady, but the exact bed we used for him has been discontinued.  However, in the same product line, there's another bed design in the same color scheme.  My wonderful parents (mom) decided that the beds should really match.  I gratefully accepted her offer to get the 2 matching cribs, and then we could either sell the crib we had, or they may just use it at their house.  Kevin has already put Grady's crib together 3 different times, so this was pretty much like riding a bike for him.  Plus he had a good assistant this time.

Look at that concentration

He wants to be just like Daddy

The bedroom is a decent size (for 1 kid), but trying to cram 2 large wooden cribs, a dresser, and a glider (with ottoman) into this space proved to be a challenge.  Once the paint had all dried and beds were assembled, Kevin started working his Tetris magic with the furniture.

Here's what we've come up with for now....It looked too funny to overlap the beds, because of the way the front rail dips down, so we're just going to toss boxes of diapers back in the corner for storage, and call it a day.

Decorations (airplane theme) will hopefully happen before the twins arrive, but I make no promises.  They will get curtains (because I already have those in a box...somewhere). It's rough being the second kid, not to mention when you are the second kid and bring along a permanent friend with you. 

We will see what we can add to this in the coming weeks.  It'll get there.

Next project:  Getting one more car seat and cleaning up the double stroller

Twin Update

A little Finnen Five Fun

Last night, we decided we would take a piece of twine and measure it out to see how big my belly has gotten.  Then Kevin and I each cut a piece to the size we thought I would get before the twins arrived.  Just a little fun way to see which one of our predictions will be closer (his was about 1" longer than mine, and I'm nervous that he will be closer to being correct).

We took the following pictures:

Current size of the twin bump

Our prediction sizes...it's a close race.

Meanwhile, Gradybug is sitting in a chair watching us and laughing.  As soon as we're done taking pictures, he hops up to grab a string and stands on the wall like we were.  This was the result:

Holding it on the wall like daddy, and showing the camera how big the babies are getting like mommy.

Naturally, we're all excited that the twins are growing and closer to joining the family.

Ultrasound Update - 6.4.15 (24.5 weeks)

Today, Kevin and I went to get a look at H&H to see how they're growing (my hips can tell you that they seem to be growing fine, but the visual confirmation is always good).

Here's a rundown of our report from this morning's ultrasound:

• Hudson 
• 1 lb 11 oz
• Heart rate of 142
• Measuring in the 52nd percentile
• Head down and kicking a lot (hand up in his face, but looking toward my back)
• Positioned on my left side
• Harrison
• 1 lb 12 oz
• Heart rate of 130
• Measuring in the 56th percentile
• Head down and kicking a LOT (looking right at us)
• Positioned on my right side

Both boys were curled up head to head looking at each other this morning. =)  Their fluids and the membrane all looks normal, and they have strong hearts!  This will likely be our last visit to the specialist, unless something else comes up.  I will resume my ultrasounds with my OB doing a fluid check every 2 weeks and measuring growth of babies every 4 weeks.  The doctor said that the risk of Twin to Twin Transfusion will go down if there are no signs by week 28, so we just continue to pray that they will keep progressing like they have so far.  Then by week 32, I will be doing weekly visits with my doctor to check on the kiddos and monitor their progress until we get to meet them (hopefully not until week 36 or 37).  Still on track to have late August babies!!!

Regardless of how bad mommy feels right now, at least the babies are getting what they need and doing great!  We couldn't be happier with the way everything is going so far, and we thank you all for your continued prayers for our family!

Long Road Ahead

Yesterday morning I woke up and as soon as my feet hit the floor I knew it would be a long day.  As I walked to the bathroom to start getting ready, I felt a sharp pain in my hips and pelvis with every step I took.  I managed to get in and out of the shower (but with difficulty) and that's when I realized that this wasn't something that was going to loosen up.

I can't truly explain the pain in a way that would do it justice.  I will admit that I can be a big baby when it comes to experiencing pain, and my flair for the dramatic tends to come to the surface.  However, I don't think anyone would say this pain I'm feeling is no big deal.  I can obviously feel the pressure of my growing belly, and the weight it now puts on my hips and pelvis.  I can feel the stretching of my skin and ligaments to make more room for these growing boys.  I can feel my ankles getting angry when I stand up for too long.  I can feel my lower back being pulled forward by this baby bump (or mountain).  As of yesterday morning, I now feel sharp pains that run all around my lower torso and shoot through my lower back around my pelvis.

There were a lot of tears as I tried to go about my normal morning routine.  The pain in my lower back and lower body was intense when I was moving, but I haven't had any contractions and I could feel both babies kicking around.  I understand that the weight and pressure of the babies is increasing, and the effects of that are starting to show on my body.  No one ever said this was going to be easy, but I don't remember hearing that it could possibly be this painful (this early on) either.

I made my slow journey to work, limping and walking like I was 600 lbs (see how dramatic I can be).  After I completed some of the tasks that had to be done that day, I decided it was in my best interest to go home and lay down.  Walking was/is painful, sitting was/is painful, but laying on my side with all of my pillows seemed to be sweet relief.  As I waddled down the hall at work, my boss asked if I was going into labor.  My reply, "Nope, just going home."  I'm very blessed to have the job I do with an understanding boss and co-workers.

On my way home, I decided to call my doctor to see if there was anything I could do to relieve this pain.  Once the nurse called back with the doctors response, she told me to come in that afternoon for an appointment.

For the record, my doctor is awesome.  Once I arrived they first checked on the babies heart rates (both in the 140's and kicking so much that the nurse started laughing as she was trying to get a reading).  They also checked me to make sure that my body wasn't showing any signs of wanting to go into labor.  Good news, just as I expected, the babies are great and still locked up so they can keep getting stronger (and bigger).  Basically, I've just hit that point in my pregnancy where I need to wear that maternity belt and take it slow and easy.  She said that it's not going to get any easier from this point, so I just need to find what makes me comfortable, and let the babies keep doing what they need to in order to grow and continue developing.

While my pain level today isn't any better than it was yesterday, I've decided we will just power through.  These boys and I are going to stick together for the next 12 weeks, and if I have to slow down a little to get there, then so be it.  No matter what the pain or discomfort I'm currently feeling, it's all just temporary, and the reward at the end of this experience is going to be better than words can describe.

God is so good to us, and we continue to thank Him for the blessings He gives us.  His power is so awesome, and there's no need for me to worry, because He has taken that burden away from me.