My Mom/ Lisa/ Nonna

My mom will no longer be visiting us monthly from Texas.  No more picking her up and dropping her off from the airport.  Ryan will no longer get to push her suitcase around the living room on a regular basis.  Why, you ask?  Cause she's moving to Richmond!  That's right and she's going to stay with us for a year.  The adults will not be outnumbered! 

When I got hospitalized and put on bedrest she accelerated her plans and will now be here the first of May.  No more worrying about what to do with Ryan when I go into labor.  Or, for that matter, worrying about how I will go to the grocery store for the first year of the twins lives.  Maybe Ryan won't feel the need to say 'Nonna' one million times a day once she lives here.



Nonna & Pop Pop

Ryan got a double dose of grandparents a couple weeks ago and loved every minute of it!

32 weeks and still standing

I'm officially 32 weeks pregnant today.  In recent conversations with my OB he said he'd be happy if I made it to 32 weeks.  I replied I'd be ok at 34 weeks and happy at 37 weeks.  When I was released from the hospital, my OB and high risk specialist both said once you bleed its likely to happen again.  I was told to minimize contractions, which I do by taking my meds and resting as much as possible, but even being completely sedate doesn't guarantee it wont happen again.  So what if it does happen again?  Well, they try and stop the bleeding again.  If they succeed, I remain hospitalized until the babes are born.  If they don't, then its happy birthday babies. 

Here are some pictures from today.  The second picture is the standard shot we've been taking.  However, my mom doesn't think that shot does justice to my ever growing belly.  So enjoy my belly from various angles.

Of course, I'm already head over heels in love with the two newest members of our clan, but I'm starting to rack up some complaints.

• reflux when sleeping
• 4 point turns to change positions when sleeping
• intense pain on top of my baby bump
• random shortness of breath
• blood rushing, painfully, to my legs when I stand
• intense thirst resulting in many, many trips to the little girls room
• random pelvis pain
• the hormones, watch out for the hormones

I keep telling myself, in the scheme of things, this is short lived and for a very worthy cause.  When I was pregnant with Ryan people told me sleep as I knew it was over.  Recently a mom of young twins told me sleeping was so much easier once she delivered and brought her boys home.  That speaks volumes to how difficult it is to sleep when you are cooking 2 or more babies at a time.  That's right, I expect to sleep better in 1-2 hour increments than I do now.  Pitiful. 

Renovating from Bed

I'm home from the hospital!  And it's good to be home.  More about that later.

It's been incredibly frustrating to be on bedrest just as we closed on our new house.  There is so much to do.  By virtue of being pregnant, I knew I wouldn't be able to do much, but I still thought I would be able to do some.  Nope.  Nada.  It sucks. 

My Dad was in town for a week, the exact week I was hospitalized.  That's right, I was admitted the day he arrived and discharged the day he left.   So much for family time in Virginia.  He did however spend a ton of time painting our family room.  Let me first explain this room.   It's not just a 'paint the walls and trim kinda room'.  No, in addition to the walls, I wanted the ceiling, a huge brick fireplace, crown molding, trim (including 6 large windows), 2 wood doors, 2 metal doors, and 1/2 wall wood paneling painted.  Hence the need for serious help.  He was able to get the bulk done and then give Chris directions to finish.  Thanks Dad!  And Chris!  Here's a sneak peak at the, incomplete, transformation.

Oh, and if anyone wants that pretty gold fireplace cover it's yours.

Fortunately, there are many things I can do right here from my designated position.  I can set up appointments, shop via the the world wide web, and even supervise all of Chris's efforts.  More pictures to come...

From House to Hospital

Over several days I'd noticed an increase in braxton hicks with my activity.  They always resolved when I laid down and the babies were still as active as ever.  However, on Tuesday morning (4/10) I sent Chris a text message 'I hate to say it, or even think it, but I think I may be on the verge of bedrest'.  This is something we've always feared.  Afterall, bedrest for a toddlers mom requires full-time help.  After texting Chris, at about 11am, I called my OB.  He's response was to take it easy, come in the following day for an ultrasound and check up.

A couple hours later Chris and I closed on our new house!  We took my dad and Ryan over to the house to take a look around.  And that's when IT happened.  I had a gush of blood that didn't stop.  We immediately headed to the hospital.  So at 30 weeks, 2 days pregnant I was directly admitted to labor and delivery, babies and I were placed on monitors, I was given an IV, started on magnesium (to stop contractions, thus hoping to stop bleeding).  I was also given the first of two beta shots that, in the event of premature births, would help boost the babes lung development.

The doctors were trying to determine if I was having a placental abruption which would mean an emergency c-section, however they decided to wait and see my response to the magnesium.  And it worked.  It slowed my contractions and bleeding and eventually stopped both.  Delivery diverted. 

So what happened?  Due to having a placenta previa (placenta is low, partially blocking the cervix), its believed the contractions were squeezing my placenta (which is blood filled by nature), and some of the blood was able to get out though the cervix.  Who knows why I was having so many contractions. 

Plan/Action: 
~ 4/11 2nd Beta shot given
~ 4/12 Ended 36 hours of Magnesium IV
~ 4/12 Started Nifedipine PO
~ 4/12 Moved from L&D to Antepartum
~ Hospital bedrest and monitoring through at least the weekend (then reevaluate), then if I'm lucky bedrest at home. 
~ If I start bleeding again (whether hospitalized or at home) its an automatic hospital stay until the twins
   birthday.

The switch from mag to nifedipine has been nice in that the IV is locked and the ultrasound monitors go from constant to 20 minutes twice a day.  It's been so much easier to sleep without the mag side effects and cords everywhere.  Oh and the ambien doesn't hurt either. 

I want to add that the babies have remained 'happy' throughout the entire ordeal.  They have never shown any signs of distress.  They constantly move around.  Each baby kicks/hits the monitors placed over them which I think means 'stop pushing on me', it also makes a lot of noise.  The ultrasound on 4/11 estimated baby A to be 3 lbs 11 oz and baby B to be 4 lbs 2 oz.  That makes each baby bigger than expected for a singleton the same gestational age.  And people say I'm not big enough.  Ha. 

Since being in the hospital Ryan's been to see me twice a day.  At first he was intimidated with all the cords attached to me but now he runs in the room looking for snacks and buttons to push.  I think he may be slightly confused as to whats going on but at the same time he's enjoying time with his Nonna.  He's about to endure another change as Nonna heads back to Texas Saturday and Grandma comes in town on Monday.  Fortunately, he's a happy flexible kid.

Happy Friday the 13th!

all things RYAN: 21 months

Ryan turned 21 months on March 27th.  That means only 3 months til he's 2 years old.  Sniff, sniff.  Though he's about to be a big brother, he will always be my baby.

~ He weighs about 27 pounds.  And is, uh, tall.

~ His speech has taken off...
* For 'yes' he started with 'ya, ya, ya' and moved to 'yep, yep, yep'.  He almost always repeats it, quickly,  
   3 times.
* 'May'  or 'May May' for Mazie
* While he can say 'Mama' and 'Mommy', he most often calls me 'Me Me'
* He knows all his animals sounds and refers to animals by their sounds not the animal type
* He calls his sitter, Lacey, 'C'
* He uses 'Dada', 'Nonna', and 'Poppa' regularly
* And of course he says 'No'.  Repeatedly.  Frequently.

~ He continues to be such a sweet, loving boy.  When we read a book that mentions family he will always lean over and hug me or Chris and if Chris isn't there he air hugs dada.  So sweet.  When Barney sings 'I love you' he will always hug and kiss me or Chris.  When his talking bear says 'hug me' he will find one of us and give us hugs, then he usually presses the bear to say it again and repeats the love.  We always do a family hug, a family kiss and a circle kiss before bedtime.  He sometimes presses my face into Chris's to make us kiss.  And sometimes, in the midst of playing, he will just run over and give me a hug or kiss and then run back to play.  I could go on and on.  Seriously, sweetest boy ever. 

~ He's down to one nap.  It lasts anywhere from an hour and a half to 3 and a half hours.
~ Until this month he wanted nothing to do with ice cream.  He didn't like the cold.  Recently he's come to realize just how good the cold stuff is and he now indulges in milk shakes with Daddy on a regular basis. 

~ I know toddlers are copy cats by nature but I think he takes it to the extreme.  Every. Single. Thing. we do gets copied.  Chris scratches his arm, Ryan does too.  I pop my neck, Ryan 'does' too.

~ For about 1 week, when upset or frustrated, Ryan decided it was a good idea to growl at us.  At first we laughed but when we realized he was continuing to do it we decided to completely ignore it and it soon disappeared. 

~ He knows all his letters.  He will point to any letter on request and he will repeat the letters when we say them

~ At 20 months he moved from size 3 diapers to size 4.

~ Like his mom, he loves a good salad bar.

~ He strives at his color matching game (matches a card with a color square to a picture of the same color).  However, if you ask him what color something is, there's a 90% chance its blue.

~ His physical abilities continue to increase.  He runs almost everywhere.  He's hopping (not quite jumping yet).  He's much more capable on stairs, though I don't trust him alone just yet.

~ People ask me what Ryan knows about the babies.  Well, he often lifts my shirts and kisses the babies.  And yes, he knows what babies are.  Constantly points them out when we're in public.  He even tries to feed the babies through my belly button.  However, I'm fairly certain he hasn't a clue the babies will actually come out of my belly and be brought to live at his house. 

~ He continues to be the MOST loved baby-ever to be born!