24 weeks 4 days

This morning we are blesing God for another day! What a difference it can make if you put your hope & trust in our heavenly father. He is in control!

I have been having some slight irritability & contractions, but mostly just when I have to pee so the docs do not seem real concerned about that. Dr. S rechecked me today and he said I am a 1-2, 20% effaced, and more posterior. Meaning he cannot feel either of the babies and in his words "you are even further away from active labor." Praise God!

We know this could change at any moment, we are just continuing to trust in God & are so thankful for each extra day. Dr.S has dropped my mag to 2 grams an hour to see how I tolerate that. Meaning, do my contractions &/or irritability increase. He said that he is going to talk with his partners about possibly putting me on a terbutaline pump as an alternative to the mag. I do not know much about that, but my guess is it must be better in terms of side effects related to long term use. We will have to do some more learning there. So we are praying that things do not get to harry here as they play with my meds, but if so we are ready & can handle it with God at our side.

So for now Dr.S wants to keep me camped out on labor & delivery until we get my meds figured out. I am okay with that, where ever is the best place for the twinners & I to be :)

I hope everyone has a safe, happy & dry Halloween! Wish I could see all your cute kiddos in their costumes. Feel free to send me pics :)

God bless!

Additional update for today

To God be all glory and praise!

This morning I was having a little bit of cramping. I had 2 contractions, 1 at 10:30 & 1 at 12:30 and so far none since. I am at e
2.5 grams per hour of Mag & tolerating it better. I am off oxygen, eatting, coherent & relatively alert mag eyes :)

Dr. S came to check me again because he wanted to make sure I was not progressing even though the contractions had slowed. I am elated to report I am dilated to a 2 and 20% effaced! We gained ground. Something none of us expected. Dr. S called me a marvel. Medically who knows why or how that happened, but my faith tells me that is just God in control, as we already knew. Who knows what this will buy us in terms of time, but even if it is a day we are grateful!

Like Dave said, I hate scares like that, but I will take many more if it means we get more time. Amen! What a super man I married! I just love him to pieces :)

So I get semi bathroom priveleges back, and I get to go to intermittent monitoring. I will be staying on labor & delivery for sure through the day.

24 weeks 3 days

Yesterday I did not think we would make it to this point. We are praising God for another day!

Yesterday was an interesting day. At one point I was dilated to a 6 and 20% effaced with a bulging bag of water. I was contracting every 6-8 minutes. They had me on 4 grams of mag per hour which ended up resulting in a mag level of 8.2 (they want it between 4-7). So needless to say I was not feeling well. I could hardley walk, I was on 4 liters of oxygen, it was hard for me to see and difficult to stay awake, but I was too uncomfortable to fall asleep. Later on things settled down and my cervix has been steady at a 4, 60% effaced, and no bulging bag of water. My contractions are now about 30 minutes apart, my mag is down to 2.5 grams per hour, my mag level was a 7 last time they checked, and my oxygen is down to 2 liters. They are going to let me have breakfast which I am very excited about since I have not eatten since dinner wednesday night. Unfortunately ice cream & oreos is not on the breakfast menu :)

So today we are hanging out & watching my contractions at this mag dose. I got another dose of betamethasone (steroids for babies lungs) yesterday morning and I will get another one this morning. The twinners continue to be their normal fiesty, stubborn selves through all of this. They are constantly moving & eluding the heart rate monitors. Every time the docs try to nail down their position (vertex, breech, transverse) they change and briefly settle in someplace else. Weird, they do not sound at all like Dave & I's offspring :)

Please continue to pray. Each hour is a blessing. Pray that when theses twinners are born God gives them health, strength, and a lot of fight. Thanks for the prayers and support, we can feel it.

24 weeks 2 days

This is a short, quick update to ask for people to be our prayer warriors. This morning I was showing a lot of irritability & some stronger contractions on the monitor. Dr. E checked me this morning and I am dilated to a 4. Then I was having more contractions so they rechecked me again & I am a 4-5 and starting to thin out. They have started me on another medicine for contractions (Indocin) and increased my Mag dose. They having given me more betamethasone & some antibiotics incase they can't stop the labor. If that is the case I will need to have a c-section because baby B is transverse. Please pray that God stop the labor & give the babies more time in utero. If that is not God's plan please pray He protect them & make them the strongest 24 weekers around.

24 weeks 1 day

Well today has been a bit of a rollercoaster. Dr. E digitally checked my cervix this morning and said I was dilated to a 3 and she could feel the bag of water bulging into my cervix. So I was immediately moved to the labor & delivery floor where they restarted the Mag. I tolerated the bolus better this time, no puking :) They had me on the monitor & I was showing quite a bit of irritability as well as contractions. These contractions were stronger than ones I had had before & a bit uncomfortable. After being on mag for a while the irritability & contractions were calming down. Then Dr.S decided to see if I would tolerate turning down my mag to 1 gram an hour instead of 2. Well, not so much. The irritability & contractions came back. So I am back up to 2 grams an hour of mag. I am still having some contractions, but they are pretty spread out & not as intense. Dr. F has rechecked my cervix twice and he said it is a 2-3, still pretty long, and he cannot feel any bulging of the bag of water. So they are planning to keep me on the labor& delivery floor for sure overnight so they can monitor the babies & I more often. If things remain stable it sounds like I might head back to the OB special care floor tomorrow.

Needless to say Dave & I were both scared. The doctors were very reassuring which helped. We are continuing to pray that God bless the twinners with many more days in utero. And like Dave said "Don't forget our motto, God is in control." Please keep the prayers coming.

24 weeks !!!

We have made it to our first milestone, 24 weeks! We are praising God for taking us this far, and trusting that He plans to take us further.

Last night I had some uterine irritability which they said happens to some people as they transition from the Mag to the Procardia. Because of this Dr. S decided today to digitally check my cervix and also run a test called fetal fibronectin. When they checked my cervix they said it is the same as what Dr. Z had described, high, long, and dilated to a 1-2. The doctor that did it said I am closer to a 1 than a 2.

Dr. S said that we would suspect the fetal fibronectin test to be positive because I have already shown signs of preterm labor. However, he said it is still worth checking because if it were to come back negative we could breath a sigh of relief and know that my risk of delivering in the next couple weeks in <5%. Well, unfortunately we were not that lucky. As expected the fetal fibronectin came back positive. Which means that I am at high risk for delivering in the next couple weeks, which we already knew. It does not mean I will deliver in the next couple weeks, it just means that I am at high risk....no new news there :)

I also had my glucose tolerance test today to check for gestational diabetes and I am happy to report that I passed! I do not have gestational diabetes. So I do not have to give up my oreos, or ice cream, or any of my other little sugar coated guilty pleasures :)

Now that I am off the Mag my box of crayons is filling back up. Not sure when it will be totally full. Between pregnancy brain and the lack of much intellectual stimulation while on bed rest, I am still not at my smartest. Oh well :) That just means Dave has to be a little more on his toes than usual. The twinners are back to their rambunctious selves as well. The Mag made them sleepy too. That will definitely mack things interesting for the nurses since they have to start doing full monitoring now twice a day since I am 24 weeks. Which means they have to have the uterine monitor on & both baby heart beat monitors the whole time. Good luck with that!

So overall, a good day! Our next milestone is 26 weeks and we are praying that God has it in his plan to take us there. In the mean time we praise Him for each day that He blesses us with. Thank you for your continued prayers and support.

Oh and I changed the blog settings so you do not have to be a registered user to leave a comment. Hope that helps some of you with the difficulties you were having leaving comments.

23 weeks 6 days

The twinners, head to head, all on my left side :) A lot more of Baby B's head ended up in the picture than A's.

Baby B, best profile pic in a while. This baby likes to look at the camera which does not work out well for ultrasound pics.

Baby A.

Momma...23 weeks 5 days...on Mag, not feeling hot...not lookin so hot, but still preggers :)

The twinners and I on bed rest :)

Dave & I on bed rest...me with sleepy mag eyes.

Again we want to praise God!

This morning they rechecked my cervix by ultrasound and everything looks the same as what it did on Friday. My cervix is not thinning. According to Dr. S there is "no obvious dilatation" which he said means I could be slightly dilated but not to the point where we should be concerned about it at this point. This particular physician is not a fan of keeping moms on Mag if they are not in active labor because it does have some potentially harmful side effects. Therefore they stopped my Mag just before lunch today. I have mixed feelings about that. I am glad because I do not like how it makes me feel, on the other hand if it is keeping the twinners inside I would rather stay on it.

For now I am on Procardia 20mg every 4 hours and if I start to have regular contractions that cause cervical changes (thinning and dilation) they will put me back on the magnesium. We are trusting God that this is the right move to make and that things are going to remain stable.

Dr. S said what we do not know is if the mag made me "stable" or if I would have progressed to this point with or without medication. So right now he is taking the "watch & wait" approach. So we are praying that he gets to wait & watch me be pregnant for quite a while yet. Dr. S was very reassuring. My nurse was in here when he talked to me & when he left she said "wow, that was a very positive conversation." I like those conversations :)

On the ultrasound today Baby A measured 1lb 9oz (57th percentile) and B measured 1lb 8oz (52nd percentile). Baby A is now breech and B is transverse, but that seems to change almost daily :) The ultrasound pics above are from today.

We are going to play it by ear as to when they recheck my cervix again by ultrasound. If I want it Dr. S said he will do it, otherwise if I am stable he will probably hold off for a while. They will manually check to see if I am dilating more only if I start having regular contractions.Tomorrow is my test for Gestational Diabetes so pray that that goes well.

Continue to pray things remain stable and the twinners stay inside. We are continuing to trust that God will keep me pregnant until He feels it is safe for the twinners to be born. I will let you know when I am ready for visitors again. Right now I would like to take it easy and see how things go off the Mag. I do not want to overdo it :)

A big thank you to all my friends at HPA & MPH for the flowers. They are gorgeous & smell really pretty :)

23 weeks 5 days

Praise God we got good news today!

Dr. Z checked me and she said that concerning my cervix everything is "high and soft". Meaning no bulging of the bag of water, she could not feel either of the babies. She did not specifically check how far dilated I am today, but she said it seems about the same (1-2) and my cervix still seems nice and long. Praise God!

So we are hanging out, on the mag, still very groggy. I am definitely not a full box of crayons lately :)

So tomorrow they will check my cervix by ultrasound as well as check the growth on both of the babies. So again, we are trusting God that things go well. Thank you to everyone for your prayers and support.

For right now because I am not feeling great on the mag and I am very sleepy I would like to keep visitors to immediate family. I would love to see the rest of you I just get tired very fast. If I start feeling better I will let everyone know.

Keep the prayers coming!

23 weeks 4 days

I am still on mag and feeling very drugged. I am very drowsy and do not feel at all like myself. Thankfully the nausea has passed and I have been able to eat and keep food down. I am willing to feel this way as long as I need to if it means the twinners are safe inside.

I talked to Dr. Z this morning and she plans to check my cervix tomorrow to make sure that it is not dilating further, my cervix is not thinning and that the babies have not dropped down at all. Please pray this is not the case. She said if she checks me and she feels a baby and/or the bag of water bulging through we would have to talk about a c-section.

Trusting God that all looks okay tomorrow, the plan is to recheck my cervical length via ultrasound on monday morning. Dr. Z said the question is no longer if the babies will be born early, but rather how early they will be born. She said it is still possible for me to make it to 26 or 28 weeks, it just depends on how things go.

Good thing she is not in control! God is in control and with Him all things are possibe! So keep praying that He keep the twinners in there for a long time yet.

23 weeks 3 days

Hoooo hummmmm...


We did not get good news this morning. I have no closed cervical length, it is all open. My cervix is still long, that has not gotten any shorter. In other words I am not thinning (or effacing) at all. The say I may be slightly dilated to a 1. So they have started me on magnesium sulfate (mag). They gave me a big bolus first which did not agree with me. I was really hot and vomiting for a while. Now I am on a maintenance dose of 2 grams an hour by IV and feeling better. I was able to eat lunch, and knock on wood, so far so good. They will be drawing my magnesium level every 6 hours to make sure the maintenance dose is keeping me at a therapeutic level. They put me on the monitor shortly after my bolus finished up and for about the first 15 minutes I was showing some irritability, no major contractions. They left me on the monitor another 30-45 minutes and the irritability "smoothed out". So they feel the mag is working.


So the plan is to keep me on the mag and try to keep my water from breaking, my cervix from effacing and dilating. If my water breaks it does not necessarily mean the babies are going to be born, again I am just much more at risk. If my water breaks they will start me on antibiotics as the babies are at risk for infection.


The babies are still looking good, praise God they are oblivious to what is going on. They have not estimated their weight again, they said usually they do that every 3-4 weeks.


So please pray that my water does not break and that my cervix does not dilate more or start to efface.


How are we doing? Okay. This is sort of what we were expecting based on how things have been progressing. We are still praying to make it as long as possible. We know that God is in control and we are trusting in Him. I was quite bummed initially and told Dave I just wanted some good news. His response was, we did get good news today, they are still inside. I am so thankful for such an awesome husband!


By the way, a big thank you to Mark & Kate Wiersma for the Aero Bed. Dave slept much better on that than the ironing board :)

23 weeks 2 days

First of all...Happy Birthday Dad!!!

Okay now about last night. I got to talk to Dr. Z last night. She did not have much to say. She said that right now I am on auto pilot. We are both hoping that things stay that way. Jen, Kylea & Abby came up for a girl's night and we watched The Proposal...very cute! Thanks girls!

Today is going well so far. All was quiet on the monitor this morning and Baby A's heart beat was 160's and B's was 150's. I continue to take the procardia 10 mg every 4 hours and we should find out tomorrow if that is doing what Dr. Z is hoping it will do. Please pray that the cervical length measurement goes well tomorrow morning. Pray that at the very least things are stable. Dave & I could both use some good news at this point.

Thank you to all of you who have come to visit. Thank you also to those of you who have stayed away because you or your kiddos are ill, I appreciate you not bringing me those gifts :) Thank you to all of you who have sent things. A big thank you to everyone who is praying!

I know that God is in control and that has been a huge lesson through all of this. Every morning I thank God for another night and every night I thank God for another day. One step at a time & only God knows how long I will be pregnant for. I am just hoping & praying it is for a long time :)

23 weeks 1 day

Dave & I had a nice dinner last night to celebrate 23 weeks. He brought Olive Graden...yummy! I slept really good last night and so far I am having a good day today. I went on the monitor this morning and there was no contractions or irritability. Baby A's heart beat was 140's and B's was 160's...lets just say B was liking the french toast I had for breakfast :) I did not get to talk to the doctors the morning. Apparently they came in while I was in the shower...oops! Maybe I will get to talk to them later. I figure it is a good thing they are not rushing to come see me because that means there is nothing urgent that has to be dealt with. Well gotta go, my mom just came :)

23 weeks

I have officially completed 1 week of home bed rest and 1 week of hospital bed rest. Things have been quiet today as far as I can tell. I cannot really tell a difference on the Procardia, probably because I did not feel like I was having many contractions before they put me on it. Dr. Z says we will recheck the cervical length on friday and if it is worse they will start me on Magnessium Sulfate or Mag as it is refered to. So pray things are at the very least stable on friday.

Otherwise I am doing good. My spirits are better today than yesterday. Is it time, is it God, is it hope? Hard to say, probably a little bit of all 3. Dave is doing okay, the roller coaster has been hard. We both wish we had a magic ball that would show us what is going to happen, but we don't, and that is why we rely on God to do what is best for us and the twinners.

Thank you again for all the prayers, keep them coming!