Today

Carolyn came by the house today, so we did a belly comparison.  She gets stopped by strangers on the street and asked if she is having twins, as well as if she is due at that very moment.  She is in fact only having one, but he has just made himself a nice little home in there with lots of fluid...one that he has no desire to leave!  So here you can see a little comparison. 

37 WEEKS...FULL TERM!

I have made it to 37 weeks, yay!!  However, this does not mean I am ready to go into labor.  At this point, knowing I am going to have a c section I would just prefer to avoid the pain of all of those contractions all together.  I am sorry Holland and Tracy I know you cannot stand it and I ready for these babies to be here, but I am hoping we can hold out until Wednesday and avoid all of the caos.  And know that Dr. Kouri is going to be the one to do the very scary surgery.  (I know it is not really scary, but the unknown is scary to me.)  Below is what Baby Center says about 37 weeks:

"Your baby is now considered "full term," even though your due date is three weeks away. If you go into labor now, his lungs will likely be mature enough to fully adjust to life outside the womb. (Some babies need a bit more time, though. So if you're planning to have a repeat c-section, for example, your practitioner will schedule it for no earlier than 39 weeks unless there's a medical reason to intervene earlier.)


Your baby weighs 6 1/3 pounds and measures a bit over 19 inches, head to heel (like a stalk of Swiss chard). Many babies have a full head of hair at birth, with locks from 1/2 inch to 1 1/2 inches long."

Nursery for Two

So thanks to the hard work of everyone around me, my Mom, my sister (who is pregnant by the way), Michael, my Dad, Etta and Big Mike my house is now in order!  And here are pictures of the nursery put together and ready for the girls.  Look here if you want to see what it used to look like when there was just one small child on the way. 

Circus

This week Riley is in Brewton, he has had a haircut and a flu shot, and is eagerly awaiting all of the homecoming festivities this weekend.  Aunt Mary, Aunt Liz, and Uncle John are all going to be in town.  But, in the meantime he has gotten to go to the circus. 

Just like Daddy...

After seeing the video of Riley predicting his future as a T. R. Miller Tiger, Etta new exactly what Riley needed.  And it was an easy purchase to make in Brewton!  See Riley modeling his new jersey below.  He is wearing his fathers football number and he loves it!  He continues to go on and on about his need for a helmet (he is Captain Safety's son after all) so he can "strow" (throw) the football. 

36 Weeks and 4 Days...

Saw Dr.Kouri this morning. I was hooked up to the NST this morning for about 30 minutes, and in that time had 4 contractions.  2 that I thought were pretty mean.  Anyway, we are still on track for October 5th.  I will go back in to see Dr. Kouri a week from today, but for now I will return to house arrest.

36 Weeks and 1 Day...

Today I had a doctors appointment and I did not have to sit on the NST machine, luckily!  Being monitoredon the NST is nice because it monitors my contractions and there heart rates for 30 minutes, however, it also involves me being covered in gel and trying to keep the babies on the heart monitors in sometimes uncomfortable positions. 

Instead we had an ultrasound and our sweet tech attempted to guess the babies size.  Anytime you have them find the size of the baby via ultrasound it is an estimate, but it was especially hard with the placement of the twins.  Baby A's head is deep down in my pelvis and Baby B's head is very high up in my ribs.  Apparently if you cannot get a measure of the heads then their measurements are not likely to be very accurate.  So her estimate for Baby A is 6 lbs. 3 oz.  And her estimate of Baby B was 5 lbs. 14  oz.  This is the first time Baby B has been measuring smaller than Baby A, though Baby B is likely to be smaller because of her two vessel cord. 

Dr. Kouri was very pleased with the girls sizes and completely confident that we will make it to October 5th.  So for now the bedrest continues.  I will go back in to see him on Monday and get on the NST, and then go back the following Monday in preperation for surgery on Wednesday the 5th. 

Tuesdays = PTL 9/20/2011

So it seems that Tuesdays every 3 weeks are pre-term labor days for me!  Because today once again I was sent in to Labor and Delivery.  I woke up earlier than normal and was really uncomfortable.  I took my procardia and went downstairs to lay on the sofa with my feet up (the norm) and try to take in fluids to see if I could get what I assumed were contractions to go away!  This was all before 8.  Normally about 30 minutes after the procardia they stop.  About 9 am I took a bath and soaked and thought all was well until 11:30 when they were back in full swing.  This time I got out my ipad and opened up my BabyBump app and started timing my contractions as best I can.  You know how I don't realize I am having them...today was no different.  I was physically touching my abdomen to feel it tighten to try to feel when I was having them.  By my count they were anywhere from 7 to 9 minutes apart.  So I gave in and called my Mom and Michael and then the nurse and once again Michael and I set off for L & D and for the 3rd Tuesday afternoon this summer, we were checked into room 473.  My favorite nurse Leslie was there once again and she came to take care of me...she herself went into PTL and was on hospital bedrest, so she knows from experience how it all goes.  I told her I was actually feeling better, as moving around seems to help and thought they may have quit again.  She said she would monitor me for about 20 minutes if the contractions were every 5-7 minutes and then call the doctor.  if they were further apart than that she would monitor me and hour before she called Dr. Kouri.  Well, she was back in 15 minutes because those darn contractions were one minute apart!  Ha!  Luckily though I had not dialated any further or become more effaced.  Dr. Kouri order two shots of brethine and fluids.  He came by and said that depending on how the monitoring went he may keep me overnight for observation but if they calmed down I could go home.  I was so relieved!  I had begun to think he was going to order up a c section, but he really wants me to make it to 37 weeks and so do I! 

When Dr. Kouri came back he checked and my cervix was still in the same condition and the contractions had stopped so I got to come home...again!  Holland and Tracy are over me coming home from the hospital without babies in hand and Kim thinks I have just become fond of Jackson Hospital as if it is a nice little get away, but I am thrilled to still be hanging on for a couple more days. 

Pregnant Ladies

Today a group of us hosted a baby shower for my friends Kim and Tracy, despite both Kim and Tracy's best efforts to keep me from doing so.  Something about bed rest and hosting a shower at your house seeming crazy!  However, it is really alot easier to host a shower from bedrest when you have a team of worker bees around you (thank you Mama, Etta and Michael). 

These pictures are of all the pregnant women who were still in attendance at the end of the shower, a couple of ladies managed to skip out before the photo session started.  We are suppossed to be in order of due date from left to right, but somehow I messed that up...technically my due date is October 20th but since I am scheduled for a section on the 5th we have started thinking of the 5th as my due date. 

Here we are from left to right:  Mandy Dubina (April), Angela Howell (March), Holland Williams (January), Tracy Williford (December), Kim Gross (November), Carolyn Dwyer (October 10th), and me (October 20th)

T.R. Miller Tiger

This afternoon right before we put RIley in his high chair for dinner, Momma and I mentioned to Riley that Michael was going to take him to the T. R. Miller vs Montgomery Academy football game.  (for those who do not know T.R.Miller is wear Michael went to highschool and played football)  Anyway, Riley got really excited and was hilarious. He made his father very proud!  Below is a video I took tring to coax him to repeat everything he had said with such enthusiasm just minutes earlier. 

As soon as Michael walked in the door from work he was ready to walk out the door to the game.  He kept asking Michael "is it time yet?"  This is how he left the house and he came back even more fired up!  He did not let that football out of his site. 

How big am I? 35 weeks...

I know everyone who knows me is dying to see how big I am since I am carrying twins.  So here I am at 35 weeks.  Most people who see me in person are shocked I am not bigger, but when I see the pictures I am thinking I am huge!  I can tell you that at this point I have gained less weight than with Riley, but my baby bump is much more compact and full and weighs sooo much more.  If I weren't on bedrest I would not be survivng this.  Sleeping is ridiculous!  I sleep with the Boppy Wedge pillow, the Boppy Snoogle pillow, two regular pillows, and two king size pillows.  This is all in an effort to support my belly without harming my back and vice versa...not to mention the reflux!  Pregnancy is a beautiful thing! 

I went to the doctor this morning and everything is still going well.  I had a couple of contractions while being monitored, but otherwise I was good and Dr. Kouri thinks that i will make it to my October 5th c-sections date.  Next week when I caome back he will do an ultrasound to measure the girls weights to make sure they are still growing at the same rate. 

New School

Since I will now be staying at home with Riley and the girls we can no longer afford ECDC, however we still want Riley to be in "school", so today he started the Mothers Morning Out program at our church, it is on the other side of the church from where ECDC is located.  It is a half day program and he was lucky enough to get into the last available spot in the two year old class.  he will go three days a week.  He has to carry a bag everyday and his lunch, so here he is getting ready for school! 

Was that really neccessary?

In order to celebrate my 30th birthday properly my family felt that it was neccessary to put 30 candles in a cake...and then for effect they cut down the lights...it looks like the couch might be on fire if I don't blow the candles out fast. 

33 Weeks and home...

I am home now and on bedrest.  I was put back on the monitor last night and I had no contractions.  I have been prescribed procardia (not sure about spelling) inorder to ward off my contractions and have been given instructions to take “as needed”.  Well, you know how good I am with contractions…I cannot tell that I am having them!  So needless to say these instructions stress me out.  Anyway, I am working on being more in tune with my body and hoping that at the very least I can go 3 full weeks from today before I am put back in the hospital.  My doctors instructions on bed rest were to use “common sense”, so I have not been given strict instructions, but time will tell, I go back in a week from today so my instructions could change.  Anyway, for now I am at home under Gie Gie’s watch.  And she will not leave me at the house by myself because she does not want me moving….period!  And today is Riley’s first day without ECDC.  So we will see how the next couple of weeks ago.