Contractions, Contractions go away....

So I guess that I am paying for feeling so good the past few days. I have been shaky and having contractions all day long - you know the ones that seem to last forever. I am not having more than my allowed 8 per hour but they are still very annoying. The Dr that I saw on Monday seems to be of the mindset that if you are feeling good then you can get up and around but if you are not then stay down. With our lack of babysitters Mon and Tue I was up a bit more than normal helping David out around the house. I didn't do much - but enough that I am paying for it today.

And of course just when we thought that we were all on the mend - Isaac threw up again last night. He didn't cry and scream so we didn't know it until we got him this morning. Of course that meant that it was all crusted over him and the bed - NASTY STUFF. He has also been oh so fussy today too. I sure hope that it is just a fluke. I think that I have had my fill of sick kids this year. I am ready for the spring/summer!

We decided to go for a drive or do something yesterday that would get everyone out of the house. In the past month the boys have only left the house twice and both of those times were for Dr's visits. We needed to get out of the house!! We just ended up going to WalMart to get some much needed overnight diapers. Don't worry - I used one of those electric carts that go .5 miles per hour. When we went into WalMart it was extremely windy out but rather warm (60+) degrees. We were in WalMart for close to an hour and by the time that we left the store it was still extremely windy but it was 20 degrees out. It literally dropped 40 degrees in less than an hour. And we wonder why our kids are sick. We were in the 70's yesterday and now they are forecasting sub-zero wind chills and 3-6 inches of snow for the next two days.

On Monday night I made a really easy dinner. I think that I found a new dish for pot lucks and many other things. It was soooo easy to put together and everyone ate it. Well everyone except Aidan who is the pickiest kid on the planet and will still only eat baby food. Okay so do you want to know what it is??? I'll tell you. First I got a casserole dish and put a good layer of broccoli on the bottom (either fresh or if you are using frozen thaw it first) then on top of the broccoli put a layer of cooked shredded chicken. To top it off I mixed a can of cheddar cheese soup and broccoli and cheese soup and one can of milk (to make it creamy) and poured it over the chicken. Just add it right on top - I then topped the whole thing off with a good layer of uncooked Stove Top. I baked it (just to warm it through and through) at 350 for about 40 minutes. I then cooked some rice to go with it. It was great. The cheese sauce just melted through the whole dish and it was sooooo good. Let me now if you try it and like it.

I am not sure if I have mentioned it our not but I am also taking my last 3 classes right now! I am so excited at the prospect of being done in just a few weeks. I am taking Human Sexuality, Public Speaking, and Intercultural Communications. There is so much work in those classes but my teachers are aware of my situation and are going to let me work at my pace - I am hoping to finish early. I am just really hoping to finish before I land in the hospital again.

I think that I have now procrastinated long enough and I need to now attempt to complete some school work.

TTFN!

I am offically 26 weeks!!!

I have decided to finally post a preggo picture of myself. I have gained 1 lb. since my last Dr's visit. So in just 4 more pounds I will make it to my pre-pregnancy weight. All and all my Dr's appointment went well. No change in my cervix - still holding strong at 3.1. I get to lower my insulin to 8 units AM and PM from 10 units - good news but it still means that I have to give myself 2 shots a day. I didn't see my normal Dr, but I did see one of the Dr's that I saw in the hospital. He told me that I could start weaning myself off of my meds to stop contractions. He said to just start with my Procardia - he actually said that I could stop it altogether but I am just going to go down to every 6 hours from every 4. I mean I am still having contractions so I am sure hoping that I won't have more. Lets see, what else? I still am going in every 2 weeks for right now - I get an ultrasound each time - they do a cervical length each week and a growth scan every 4 weeks. Oh this week when the nurse measured my belly I actually measured at 26 weeks. So far I have been 2-3 weeks behind. I guess that I have a baby bump now!.

Well it seems that we are all on our way to getting better. No one has thrown up in 36 hours! I decided to be proactive and combat my nausea sympathy feelings with my Compazine prescription. So far it has worked. Heres to hoping that it stays that way.

Well that is it for now. I am needing to take a much needed nap, and then try to scramble something together for dinner. Until later...

I guess its just going to be like that

Okay well since my last post - Aidan in fact did get sick and was up with David from about 3:30am to 5am. Then they all went to sleep and just when we thought that we might get some sleep - David started to puke!!!

So now everyone except me has got this stomach bug. Other than a headache and extremely low blood sugar I am feeling okay. Lets just pray that I don't get this too.

2 AM and even the cat puked.

So why is it that when kids get sick it is always at 2 in the morning??? So this morning we were awoken by the sounds of one of the brothers coughing on the baby monitor. I told David that it didn't sound like just a cough - but it sounded like he just puked. Well sure enough it was Isaac and he had puked everywhere. I went and got a screaming Aidan while David cleaned up Isaac. Just what we need another sick kid. Isaac continued to puke as David was cleaning him up and changing his sheets. Ethan soon joined me in the big chair with Aidan. Ethan wanted to make sure that Aidan was not sick because he did not want to throw up again. Ethan has not thrown up in 24 hours, but is still running a high fever and not feeling good. He didn't want to eat anything yesterday because he didn't want to throw up again. I am sure some of him stomach ache that he says he has is because he is hungry. So David and Isaac are upstairs and Ethan, Aidan and I are in the living room watching my Tivo'd episode of Wife Swap and Elmo (our cat) comes and joins us. Aidan gets a kick out of petting him. No sooner does Elmo jump on the arm of the chair does he start retching, I push him off the chair just in enough time for him to puke on floor. Lovely!

So now at 3am David is sitting upstairs with Isaac - who is still throwing up, Ethan and Aidan are back in their bed, and I am in mine. I can't afford to get sick. Not like David can either - but who wants to be a bedrested woman throwing up??

I sure hope that this bug runs its course through our family quickly - and if Aidan is going to get sick it is awful of me to ask that he gets sick sooner rather than later? This waiting 24 hours between kids puking isn't all that fun. Let them all be sick at once then we don't have to worry about separating them and keeping contaminated germs away from the well. Some job that we have been doing of that anyway - so far it has just postponed the inevitable - the kids still puke.

I mean even the cat caught it.

And just when we thought everyone was getting better......

So this morning and by morning I mean 3am Ethan came down into our room crying saying that he had thrown up in his bed. Well David went up and cleaned everything up, put Ethan back to bed and then came back to bed himself. He turned up the monitor so that we would be able to hear him if he woke up again. Well he ended up throwing up 4 more times through out the morning. UGH!!! The brothers are literally on day 28 of antibiotics and are STILL not getting any better. Now Ethan - Good thing that David was off today - I have no clue what I would do if it was just me and the babysitters here.

Oh and the babysitters. Just a little background - The awesome woman that has arranged all of our childcare runs a Christian School. Well she called me yesterday to let me know that they had to close the school Thursday and Friday because 2/3 of the school were sick!! Out of 60 some students only 20 or so showed up for school Thursday and most of them were sick too! This massive sickness that is going around really needs to stop! The news is now reporting that there have been a bunch of outbreaks of Whooping Cough in the St. Louis and surrounding area. Great just what we need!!!

Oh and sometime between laying in bed and getting up to pee and laying in bed, I have managed to pinch a nerve in my lower back! I can't even go up or down my stairs without crying. This just sucks!!!!!

Okay I am done complaining for today. I just have to look on the positive side - in 2 more days I will officially be 26 weeks!!

The perfect pregnant woman

As I am laying here in bed (story of my life) watching The Celebrity Apprentice I am dreading the fact that in 20 minutes I have to stick myself with a needle for the 6th time today. I just figured out that in the 10 days that I have been home from the hospital I have stuck myself more than 80 times. David has stuck me 3 times. Needleless to say I am sick of needles!!!

My Dr's have started me on this new wonder drug 17P, it is basically hormones that are supposed to help calm your uterus. Well I get the shot weekly. My pharmacy sent the shots directly to our house. We can drive down to our Dr's office for them to give me this shot - but it is a 45 minute drive there and back. Not going to do it for a 30 second shot in the butt. So then our other options are to find a nurse that can come to our house and give me this shot or just let David do it. That was going to be our plan - David. Then he saw the size of the needles that he needed to use. Compared to the size of my insulin needles these needles are giants!!!!

I spent all day Tuesday calling different places to see where I could go to have someone give me this shot. I called the Dr that is supposed to be my PCP but since I have never seen him, I can't go there for a stupid shot. Oh and it would take me 4 - 6 weeks to get into the office and become an established patient. I ended up calling a local Clinic and they said that they would do it no problem - they were busy at the time but called me back when they were ready for me. David drove me to the the Clinic and waited with me. After paying the "injection" charge and waiting for close to 30 minutes we get in to see the Nurse Practitioner and she tells me that they are not supposed to treat pregnant women at all - not even a shot in the butt!!!! At that point it was close to 7pm and I was already a day behind in getting this shot. We ask her if she can just talk David through giving me the shot. She did and after him playing dart practice on my butt - I have now deemed him worthy of giving me this weekly shot!! I just have to say that it hurts like HECK - not at first but about 3 hours later it hurt like HECK.

So I guess that I will end this rambling with a funny story. I was in the orthodontist's office on Tuesday standing at the counter waiting to get my next appointment when one of the employees came up to me and exclaimed "Oh My Gosh - You had your baby!!!!" I looked at her and said "No..... I am only 25 weeks. I still have a while to go." She then went on to say that I must have lost lots of weight or something because I really looked good and in her words "The perfect pregnant woman."

Now if I only felt the the perfect pregnant woman................

I guess I tagged myself........

Even though I was not officially tagged I tagged myself so that I could have something to add to this blog that I was **forced** to start. Sorry Shar - I gave into blog peer pressure.......

TAG!

A. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning.
B. Each player answers the questions about themselves.
C. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

5 things I Was Doing 10 Years Ago:
Gee that was 1998 right?????
1. Buying my first car all by myself
2. Moving out of my parents house
3. Working as a Loan Processor for a Time Share Resort
4. Tutoring a girl in Math for 20 bucks an hour
5. Starting to find myself

5 Things On My To-Do List Today:
1. Lay on left side
2. Prick my finger to check my blood sugar 6 times
3. Pee at least 6549879876854687 times
4. Lay on right side
5. Miss my kids

Snacks I Enjoy:
1. Bell Peppers
2. Avocado
3. Danish Butter Cookies
4. Peanut Butter Cups (frozen of course)
5. Pepsi - although I now have to like Diet Pepsi - Damn this Gestational Diabetes!!!

Things I Would Do if (ahem, when) I Were a Billionaire:
1. Pay off all of the bills of all my fellow twin moms
2. Build my dream house
3. Hire a house staff (cook, housekeeper, nanny - The Supper Nanny to be exact, personal driver)
4. Get my PhD
5. Fully fund our church

Bad habits
1. Cuss in my head
2. Get sucked in by the TV too many times
3. I am the worst procrastinator
4. My Nintendo DS - I am addicted
5. Thinking I am perfect, obviously, since I can think of any really bad habits that I have

5 Places I've lived
1. Culver City, CA
2. Lake Havasu City, AZ
3. Phoenix, AZ
4. Harleysville, PA
5. Las Vegas, NV
6. Alton, IL

5 Jobs I've Had
1. Mother
2. Loan Processor
3. Director of Administration for a Time Share Resort
4. Dairy Queen Ice Cream Girl
5. Purchaser

5 Things People Probably Don't Know About Me:
1. Love reality TV
2. It is hard for me to pick up the phone to call someone - if they call I love to talk it is just hard for me to pick up the phone
3. I hate shopping (grocery, clothes, Christmas, all of it)
4. I want to be a research author
5. I don't do laundry - David does :)

Good-bye 2007 - Here's to an Awesome 2008!!!!!

Wow it is amazing how far we have come. We are now living in Illinois and love it. I do have to say that it is a little bittersweet though - we really miss all of our friends in Vegas. It is good to know that this is where God has placed us though for this season in our life. Right before we moved (3 weeks actually) I found out that I was pregnant again! It was a total shocker and had us reeling for a bit. We were able to have an ultrasound the day that we drove out of town to start our move halfway across the country. The tech didn't really talk much so we really didn't get much info other than everything was going good. The next day, while we were in Utah, my Dr. called me with the results and said that from what the tech saw it looked liked twins again! Wow it took me a while to wrap my head around that. Because I was diagnosed with Epilepsy earlier in 2007, that made this pregnancy High Risk so as soon as we got settled I needed to get set up with a Dr here.

Just about 3 weeks later I got in to see a new Dr and had an Ultrasound. It was during that Ultrasound that they confirmed that it was a twin pregnancy but unfortunately we lost one. The good news was the one that we still have is doing good and thriving. We have since found out that after 3 boys we are having a GIRL!!! AnnaGrace is due to make her entrance into the work May 5th (our 7th wedding anniversary). Just about 3 weeks ago I started having contractions and was concerned that we were dealing with Pre-Term labor again. I called my Dr and went in and he discovered that my cervix was starting to shorten. He started me on Medicine to help stop contractions.

Long story short, 2 weeks, 2 hospital visits, 3 ultrasounds, husband mandated bed rest, gallons of water and LOTS of prayers later - bed rest is working and keeping things where they should be. We are getting some help for me during the day so that I don't have to worry about going up and down the stairs or lifting the boys much. Our church has been awesome with support and helping out when we need it.

The medicine that I am on really kicks my butt and gives me the shakes and makes it hard for me to sleep at night BUT it is doing its job and keeping the contractions at bay.

Ward and Debbie were here for Christmas and New Years and they left yesterday morning, we are very sad to see them go. They blessed us greatly and were sooo much help to me. It was really good to see them and get to spend some time with them. We really need to pray that their house sells so that they can move here NOW!!! They spent time looking at places that they could buy here and I think that some of are really awesome!

The boys are all doing so good and getting so big. Right now they all have coughs and snot and are not feeling that well. We are praying for quick recoveries!!

I think that is about it.

Here's to a GREAT 2008!!!