A Lot of Catching Up to Do

Hello everyone, I am so sorry we have neglected the blog for so long. It seemed that by the middle/end of my pregnancy we had so much to do in preparation for the babies that the blog was put on the backburner.

I want to fill you in on what happened, so I plan to do a series of posts from the past until I catch up to the present. This post will focus on the end of my pregnancy.

Most of my pregnancy I felt wonderful and I kept waiting "for the other shoe to drop". By week 28 I was definitely starting to slow down and work was becoming harder and harder to manage. I talked to my doctor and decided to stop working at week 32. My work threw me an amazing going away/baby shower and I was so touched by their caring and generosity that it made it very hard for me to leave.

By week 32 I was still walking, driving, and even going on short shopping trips by myself. Occasionally I did have to pause and sit down but I could still manage. On Sunday of week 32 my wonderful friends Amy and Ann hosted the babies' shower at our house. I felt very blessed to be able to celebrate the babies' upcoming arrival with many of my friends, including my childhood & college friend Lizzie, who came all the way from Los Angeles to be there.

Here is a picture of me and the baby shower hosts, Ann with her daughter Savannah, and Amy:



Here is a picture of the rest of the lovely ladies that attended the babies' shower:



Saturday of week 34 Chad and I decided to go out for lunch and take a shopping trip to Target and Babies R Us for more baby gear. By this time I had to go in a wheelchair since I couldn't walk for longer periods of time. That particular day Babies R Us was running a big sale and it was a complete madhouse. After navigating both stores with me in a wheelchair, Chad and I were both exhausted.

When we got home I was not feeling well at all. I started feeling nauseous and having contractions. We timed them for several hours and eventually called the doctor. The doctor on call recommended we go to the hospital and so we did. I was having frequent contractions and the doctors felt that if I progressed I would have a c-section the next morning. Because they believed I would be undergoing surgery soon, I was not allowed pain medicine or any food or water for approx. 10 hours until the next morning. In the morning they determined that I had not progressed into actual labor and so I was not going to have a c-section that day. I began to feel better by Sunday afternoon and was released from the hospital that night.

After I spent the weekend of week 34 in the hospital my mother decided she needed to be there to support me and she was in Houston by Tuesday evening. From this point on I had contractions off and on almost daily. Even though the babies were not born for another three weeks I was so grateful to have my mother there during the last part of my pregnancy. It was a really special bonding time for both of us and I will always treasure the time we had.

Here is a picture of me and my mother just before the babies were born:



By week 36 I went to my doctor for a check-up and I had not progressed at all even though I was still having contractions. Based on everything that was going on the doctor gave us the option to have an Amniocentesis (where they extract amniotic fluid) to determine if the babies' lungs were mature enough to be born. If so, they would be delivered that day by c-section. We agreed to have the test and went back to the hospital on Friday, Feb. 11th for the procedure. The test revealed the babies' lungs needed another week to fully mature so I received a steroid shot to accelerate the babies' lungs' development and we all went back home. The doctor scheduled the c-section for the following Friday, February 18th.

Here is a picture of me on the day of the Amniocentesis at 36 weeks & 2 days:



Although the last weeks of my pregnancy were difficult, I was extremely lucky to have such an overall healthy pregnancy with no major health complications for me or the babies.

Next post will be about their Birthday!