I am on the pump!!!

Well I spent about 2 hours with two Matria home health care nurses. They got me all set up on the terb pump. So far I am a little jittery, like getting the shot in the hospital - but I feel good. They said that I should get used to the side effects within a week at the most. I hope so. Along with this I have to hook myself up to a contraction monitor twice a day for an hour at a time. I only have to send the info once a day. The good thing is that anytime I have contractions or just don't feel right I am able to hook myself up and then they can monitar me right then. My threshold is only 4-5 an hour. Kinda low - but then my Dr said that he doesn't want me messing with the contractions just because they are doing so much damage so early now. Here are some pictures of my pump and my site. I have to change my site every 3 to 5 days. I was under the impression that they come out and do it for me BUT NOOOOOOO!!!! I have to stick myself with this needle and do it all myself. It is actually pretty easy. It is a small needle and cath. I just stab myself with the whole thing - it just feels like a poke and then I take out the needle and the cath stays in. I will post pictures the next time I have to do it. I do have to change my medicine in my pump just about every 16 hours. That is a bit of an ordeal but overall really easy. I am constantly getting a slow dose of medicine and then every 4 hours I get a larger dose that takes 12 minutes to give. I am then able to give myself demand doses of the medicine as necessary based on my contractions. That demand dose has to be authorized by a nurse and it is only after I am over my contraction threshold. Lets cross our fingers that this works and keeps me out of the hospital for 7 more weeks!My site on my leg

My leg and my pump.

This is my kit that I change every 3-5 days or if the kids pull it out.

Pictures, Pictures and More Pictures!!!

Here are some pictures of Ang's and my get together and of course a 30 week picture in there too.

30 weeks!!!

All this and still no weight gain this week!

Brice decided to rebel and not wear clothes. Remind me not to eat at that spot at the table.....

This is a letter that Brandon wrote to one of his friends

Ang and the twins!

When you change your view.....

So far I have been on bedrest exactly 10 weeks. It is hard to imagine that I have been "taking it easy" for that long. I think that I have been able to come full circle in my thinking about this whole bedrest issue. At first, I was truly scared to death of even the thought of losing this baby. Once I made it to 24 weeks my thoughts went to the fact that she now has a fighting chance at life. Now just 1 week shy of 30 weeks, I am determined to keep this little one in the oven as long as possible so I don't even have to spend one day away from her. I want to be able to have a normal delivery (normal - what is that?) and spend the time in the hospital bonding with my daughter. Not looking at her through a isolette and seeing her struggle for life. That has kept me going this far. There is no doubt in my mind that there are some great things in store for my children!

I have also been able to see just how much is not getting done at my house. I was walking up the stairs the other day and needed to sit down 1/2 way through (fairly common). Well while I was sitting there I realized that the wall is SOO dirty. I would have continued to pass by that spot forever if I did not need to sit down at that point. Since the stairs are right off of our kitchen and there is a little ledge between the stairs and the small hallway leading to our living room. As you can see here there are so many things on that ledge.
Well on more than one occasion has there been the most unfortunate Pepsi, Route 44 Cherry LimeAid, coffee, juice, even bowl of oatmeal (don't ask) that has been knocked off of the ledge and down the stairs! David has done a ok job with cleaning up the stairs - I mean how easy is it to clean up Pepsi or Oatmeal even from 13 carpeted steps? Unfortunately the wall has been greatly neglected. Which I saw when I sat down. That wall needs some tender lov'n care. Oh the things that I will do once I am able to get up and around again! I am making my list as I type!

As much as this sucks, there have been some really great things that have come out of me being on bedrest. If noticing oatmeal stuck to my wall can be called a great thing. I have been able to take a step back and look at the things that really matter. The things that are important in life. Sometimes we really need to take a time out on the stairs to see what is on the wall.

28 weeks, insulin, small baby and a teary goodbye

It has been forever since my last post - I apologize. I think that many things are to blame, of course none of them are my flat out laziness. I guess that I will first start with an update of my latest Doctors appointment.

The wonderful news is that I have made it to 28 weeks! I now officially look pregnant in all of my clothes that I wear. My baby bump can no longer be confused with just another "roll". I have now been on bed rest longer than I will need to be! I had my 28 week Dr. visit this week and saw another new Dr. It was a little hard at the beginning because he kept referring to our little one as "the twins" or "they". I had to correct him a few times so it brought up some feelings that I thought I had already gotten over. I guess that no matter how or when it happens the loss of a baby in-utero is always hard and mourned. On to some good news - last week I was taken off of the insulin that I was on and yesterday I was told that I only need to check my sugar twice a day! My fingers bowed to the Dr. Because I am wanting to deliver VBAC, this Dr says that it is best to go into labor naturally when my body is ready. I guess that it is now that I am dealing with the fact that if I just say that I want a c-sec we will have a date and be done with it BUT the fact remains that I want to avoid a c-sec at all costs!

I also had both a growth ultrasound and a cervical length check. You might remember that 4 weeks ago my Dr expresses concern over the growth rate of our little ones head. This has had me worried for weeks. Well as we were doing the growth scan she showed us all the moves that she had. She literally flipped twice during the scan - giving the tech a run for her money! This child knows no sleep and is always moving! After many sets of measurements we find that she is measuring 2 weeks behind where I actually am. Just at the boarder of their window of error. My cervical length is still good, but still shrinking. The crappy thing that that means is that these miserable contractions are slowly but surely doing their job - just a little early. The smallest measurement they got was 2.5 with the longest at 3.1. I am also funneling rather pronounced now. At this point my new Dr. STRONGLY suggested that I go on bedrest. Okay I think that I will do that. At this point we got the typed report of the growth scan back and found that she is between the 20th and 30th % for her gestational age. As long as she continues to grow at that rate we are good. As they looked back they see that is where she has been the whole pregnancy so far. With the small head, they think that they just got some screwy measurements last time. They are going to now follow up with another growth scan in 2 more weeks just to make sure that there is nothing funky going on. The Dr. said well at least you won't have to worry about giving birth to a 9 lb baby! He is thinking that if I make it to full term I will have a 5-6 lb baby. I sure hope so - well at least my .....um....... you know ..... hopes so!

Today we said Goodbye to Davids parents - it was hard. We really miss them. Davis mom stocked our freezer with cooked chicken and beef! So thankful! We just need to make some rice or some pasta and the chicken is already cooked and just needs to be thawed and heated! The boys loved spending time with them and when they came downstairs after there nap (David took them to the airport during it) they started looking around for g'ma and pop. Aidan was teary eyed when we said that they went bye-bye. The will be back - after the baby is born and then they will take my Ethan to their house for a while. I am not sure if I am ready for him to go on a long trip and be states away for 3 weeks. My baby is growing up.

I think that is all for now - I will post my 28 week preggo pic and Ethan doing his Impromptu speech for my public speaking class. It is just too cute.