36 week update

Yesterday I had my 36 week appointment. Can you believe it? I have made it 36 weeks with twins. I had a very quick ultrasound where we saw both babies with plenty of amniotic fluid, so we are in the clear. Zachary is weighing in at 5 lbs. 12 oz. and Madelin is 5 lbs. 8 oz. (Maddie might actually weigh a little more, poor thing she is extremely mushed, so the sonographer couldn't get a good measurement.) After the ultrasound, I met with one of the doctors. I had my GBS test and then talked to him. He asked if we were already scheduled for the section. I told him no. He said "Well every time we schedule twins, they usually don't cooperate. They come early." I immediately told him "well let's schedule them right away!!". He started laughing. It appears that my doctor's office doesn't agree with every twin book/website that I have ever read. I have always read that they will not let you get past 38 weeks with twins. Well they won't take me before 39 weeks. That's right I have yet another 3 weeks to go. Our birth date is planned on the 17th of August. I am already absolutely miserable and I just can't imagine getting bigger and more miserable.

(Warning, about to start complaining) I understand everyone complains this far along in a normal pregnancy, but you have to realize, I'm carrying TWO! I'm already hauling around almost 12 lbs. of just baby!! In three more weeks they could be around 7 lbs. , 14lbs of baby!! AGHHHH!! I have one in my ribs and the other far down. I'm swollen and look like I have elephant disease. And they expect me to go THREE more weeks???? (okay that is done).

I also did my hemoglobin test which was good. They also drew blood from me, but I have no idea what that was for. All in all it was a good appointment and we praise God for two healthy babies!

Once I got home Michael and I joked about all the home remedies we are going to try and get these babies out of me sooner than the 17th. I'm going to be walking, eating spicy foods, foot rubs, drinking tea, castor oil, and trying any other wives tale. If anyone else has any ideas just let us know!

Back home...

After my post last night I was given more fluids than I thought anyone could possibly put in their body. So much that I had to pee every 30-45 minutes. I did manage to go from 2:45am-3:45am without going to the bathroom and was able to sleep an hour. Poor Michael had to get up every time I did b/c I had to unplug the monitors, unplug my IV from the outlet and then roll everything into the bathroom with me. At 4am I called a nurse in b/c I became SOOOO swollen. My feet, hands, knees, face were all completely swollen. She said that was normal with the amount of fluids they were putting in me. I honestly felt like I had just had lip and cheek injections like I was Lisa Renna or Goldie Hawn. I'm still pretty swollen. Around 7:30am my regular doctor came in (last night was not my regular) and performed another ultrasound. To be honest it looked the exact same as yesterday. The only difference was this doctor decided to measure the fluid and it was perfectly fine. I was immediately discharged and we are now home trying to get at least a little bit of sleep. We are so exhausted. I have a regular Dr. Appt. on Tuesday and another ultrasound scheduled so we will see then if everything still looks good. I'm mostly happy b/c I was only 35 weeks and I know they need to bake a little longer, but I'm also a little disappointed b/c I was so ready to meet them and hold them. Thank you everyone for all the prayers. We will find out more info Tuesday!

Baby Update

I woke up this morning kinda upset. I didn't feel Zack move yesterday. So after lunch I decided to call the doctor's office. They told me to go to Labor and Delivery and get a Non Stress Test (NST). So Michael came back to the house, packed the car w/ our bags (just in case) and headed to Tarboro. After we got there, we had to first check in, which literally took 30 minutes because the lady in the office typed one letter at a time. I went up to the maternity ward and they had me get in a gown so they could start the NST. Immediately Zack started to move ALL around, so he has pulled his first prank on me and he isn't even born yet. Both heartbeats were great. I had 6 contractions within an hour, but not big contractions so I was about to be discharged when my doctor came in. He saw us and said "hey for fun, let's do an ultrasound." So I came back in the room and we did an ultrasound. At first the doctor scared us...he said Maddie was a boy b/c he could see um...the turtle. But later after giving us a heart attack he noticed that it was Zack's um...private parts. Then he looked at Maddie and started to get worried over the amount of amniotic fluid around her (a low amount of fluid usually indicates the placenta is not working properly). He said that he wanted me to stay in the hospital overnight to try and get more fluids in me, to see if that would help Maddie. So that is where I am right now. Tomorrow morning they are going to perform another ultrasound and see if the fluids help. If she stays the same, they are probably going to go ahead and take the babies. If it works, I will be discharged. I'll update when we know more, that is if I don't go into labor.

Mystery Bell Ringing...

Wednesday night was a night that we hardly got any sleep. I meant to post this yesterday, but I was so tired I couldn't do it. This is totally another "April story".

Thursday morning at 3am I awoke to a barking dog. Trapper was going crazy. Michael got up and said that he thought he heard the doorbell ring. This immediately scared me to death. I have seen too many 20/20 episodes, scary movies, etc.. I was worried that he would answer the door and someone would overpower him and come in. (Yes I have a twisted mind). So I told Michael not to go downstairs, so he let Trapper out. Trapper ran downstairs but within a minute came back up calm. So we decided to go back to bed. I couldn't sleep...and not much longer this time I heard the doorbell. So I got up and looked out the front window in our room, the side window and the window in our bathroom which overlooks the backyard. I was so scared, I now have even put fear in Michael...yes I'm that good. Michael kept offering to go downstairs and I wouldn't let him. Then not much longer....yet again the doorbell rang. This time Michael offered to call the police. I asked him about the time of all of these rings. We thought about it and seemed that they were about 20 minutes apart. This is when I began to think that maybe our bell is shortening out. So...about 20 minutes later it rang again and we started to relax. BUT then it started getting crazy. The doorbell rang 6 minutes later, then 10 minutes later. I told Michael to go to sleep and I would stay up because I could sleep the next day. I stayed up for another hour, but I never heard another ring. The next thing I knew it was a little before 7am and another ring and then around 7:15am. So when Michael went to work Thursday morning he rang both bells and they rang just fine...so we were confused if there really was a short or if there were rambunctious kids running around....or maybe even a ghost (not really, but mom and I were joking about that one). I didn't hear it the rest of the day and there was not a single ring last night. So there is this mystery of what/who was ringing the bell all night. (cue spooky music). Welcome to the TWILIGHT ZONE!!

Nursery Pics

Sorry for the delay... We are now officially done with the nursery. I LOVE it!! I don't think the pictures do justice, but here they are...ENJOY!!

5 years ago..

5 years ago today I married the love of my life. Sometimes I can't believe how lucky I am. God really has blessed me. Hubby I love you more than I could ever express in words. Thank you so much for being so wonderful to me. I love you!! Happy Anniversary!!

Getting Carseats Inspected

Being a first time parent you go through all the worries and you follow every suggestion you read. For example, all books say that you should install your car seat and go by and get someone certified to inspect it, at either Highway Patrol or your local fire department. Michael had off today so we decided to get this done before I went into labor. Here, several people have told us to swing by Highway Patrol, they will make sure it is perfect, so we did. We were told that there was only one person that is certified at the station and he is in training for the next two days, but if we didn't want to wait we could swing by our local fire department. We went to the first one where we were told that ten of the men that worked there took the class six years ago, but not a one of them took any updated classes, in other words they were no longer certified. We then went to the other fire department in Roanoke Rapids. We were told there that no one was certified at this station either but we should check the police department, because they are now required to take the classes. So then we headed there... Poor Michael went in to find out, I stayed in the car. 10 minutes later (because no one was at their desk) he came back out and said that not a single person there is certified. So apparently there is only one person in Halifax County that is certified to inspect car seats. How sad?

So how can someone get a ticket for an improper installment on their car seat if there isn't anyone who is certified to know if it was properly installed in the first place?

4th of July Weekend

This past weekend was great!! Crystal and Dean came up to visit for the weekend. They arrived Friday night and we took them out on the big town of RR. We had dinner at Logan's Roadhouse (I love me some Logan's). After Logan's we came back to play a few board games. We tried a new one, The Last Word. I think the girls ended up winning and then we started Encore, but we all got a little tired and ended up not finishing. Saturday morning we woke up had breakfast, watched Surf's Up (if anyone hasn't seen this movie, I HIGHLY recommend), and then went to Walmart to try and find a game we could play outside while we were grilling out for our 4th of July dinner. I looked for Cornhole, but the only thing they had was Ladderball, which we ended up getting. After lunch out at Chick-fil-a we came home and played a couple of rounds of Ladderball. Unfortunately, this was not our game (us girls that is). I think we ended up playing about 4 rounds and we didn't win a single game, yes it kills me to admit this. There was a couple of games where we were very close, but they guys squeaked by. After dinner, which the boys grilled out some burgers and corn on the cobb, we played some more and then were able to watch some fireworks that were being set off in our neighborhood. When it got too dark to play we came in and watched the race. After the race we all went to bed. Sunday we had breakfast and then Crystal and Dean had to leave. Michael and I went to Walmart real quick to get some groceries and then to Belk to get some work shoes for him as well. For a late lunch/early dinner we had some take out Japanese and came back to watch some TV. We ended up watching a movie and then hit the bed. A very good 4th!

Hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July, and I want to thank all of the men and women who are serving our country throughout the world!!