New challenge

Yesterday a few friends and I did The Color Run. Some of us mostly walked it and the rest ran a good portion of it. We all realized how out of shape we all are and this led to a challenge.

Most of us own a Fitbit. One of the numbers it gives you is the number of steps you've taken in the last seven days. The challenge is to see who can do the most steps in a week. Next Sunday we will check our numbers and see how we all do.

We are hoping this will motivate us into moving more. Now I take a lot of steps walking the little ones around. Still, I'd like to be able to get out more and do a bit more running. I felt like crud walking most of this run when last year I was able to run most of it and felt great!

Wish me luck! What helps motivate you to move more?

Catching up...

Wow, I haven't posted in a long time!  Sorry about that.  These girls barely leave me any time to do anything.  So here's a quick rundown of what's been going on...

We've been doing a lot of doctor visits.  Nothing to worry about as it's pretty much all routine stuff.  Thankfully it is starting to slow down and the ladies have fewer appointments.  
The girls both showed low hemoglobin levels at one of their blood draws, so they are both on additional iron.  I think that's the worst thing to try to give them as they hate the taste and it can't be given in their formula because iron and milk counteract each other in the tummy.  The iron can't be given within an hour of formula or else it isn't as efficient.  This is especially difficult when both of the girls are pretty much at two hour intervals between feedings.
One trick that I have learned that really helps to administer this yucky-tasting stuff is to utilize their pacifier.  When the little one has a pacifier and is going to town on it, you can put some of the liquid vitamin in the corner of her mouth and she will just suck it down without much complaint.  I love the little tricks that I have learned from the nurses at the hospital!

The girls are sometimes sleeping longer at night.  Nothing too drastic, but it's progress!  When they do wake up after a longer-than-usual nap, they are starving, so I have to be ready with the bottle.  It's one of the disadvantages I've found with formula feeding.  When you have a starving baby, it is very hard to make up a bottle.  I'd much rather be able to put them to breast.  Alas, that doesn't work with these ladies.

We celebrated their first Mother's Day and are about to celebrate our first Father's Day!  I was so excited about Daddy's first Father's Day gift that I couldn't wait to give it to him.  It came in the mail today, so I just put a bow on it and gave it to him today.  I made up a photo book from Shutterfly with a coupon code I had.  It was amazing and he loved it!

But overall, I'm glad I'm unemployed at this point.  These little ones need so much attention that it would be almost counterproductive to have a job.  I'm still looking for something, of course, but it's a bit of a blessing in disguise to be able to stay home with the girls.  (Even if they drive me nuts some days.)

Overall, we are getting along well and making some positive progress!

Kaylee missed her nurses...

Last Wednesday Kaylee got another hospital visit.  She sometimes spits up out of her mouth and nose after eating.  When she does this, she stops breathing.  It's better than inhaling, but it's still not anything I want to happen.  Usually as soon as her airway is cleared she starts crying really loud and insistent.  

This time was different.  This time she took little breaths and only cried for less than a minute.  Her little lips and then face started to turn blue.  My MIL was there and called 911.  She was mostly recovered by the time the paramedics arrived, but just to be safe, we took an ambulance ride to the hospital.  During the entire drive she had oxygen, so she was much better when she got to the ER.

At the hospital they took blood and urine and did a spinal tap and took chest x-rays.  The spinal tap especially scared us.  I was able to hold her little hand throughout the process, though, so it made me feel a little better.

All of those fluids were taken to see if she had an infection and the x-rays were to check for pneumonia.  At 48 hours, everything came back negative, so she got to go home.

We have heard that the girls will outgrow these episodes, but that can't happen fast enough.  When your little one can't breathe, the world stops.  When there is nothing you can do, it's even harder.  But she is home now and we continue to be vigilant.  I hope this never happens again.

Finally confirmed

This morning I was finally able to talk to MY doctor.  She confirmed that they are definitely planning on inducing exactly AT 34 weeks.  That is a week from today, on April 1st.

Yep.  We're looking at April Fool's babies!  Somehow that's rather fitting.  When I first realized the date they were planning to induce, I wasn't really happy about it.  One of my friends from high school was killed in a car accident on that day, and since then I haven't really 'celebrated' that day.  

Then I thought on it for a little while and realized that my friend, Sheena, was always the happiest, most upbeat, cheerful person in the world.  Her death made a dark spot on April Fools for me.  What better way to ensure that I didn't mourn her death, but rather celebrated her life on that day than having my little girls born on that day?  My little angels will always be a cheery reminder of the light that Sheena brought to this world and hopefully they will continue her legacy of embracing the pure joy of life.

I truly try to be a positive person.  I sometimes have to work at it, but it has gotten easier over the years.  Hopefully, these little girls help me to continue in that.  I know that it will be rough at times, but these little girls are pretty much exactly what I've wanted for as long as I remember.  I have always wanted a family and to be a mom, and I'm getting that with these ladies.

So the current plan is that I'll get something to 'ripen the cervix' next Monday, and they will begin the induction Tuesday morning.  I'm a bit scared and excited, but also happy and relieved to have an 'end' goal in sight.  What happens from there is yet to be seen, but I know that it will all work out somehow. I can't wait to meet these little ones!

Week 32 Bumpdate

This is going to be a rather strange one, so bear with me a bit.
 
How far along: 32 Weeks

Baby Size: Bok Choy (Estimated weights are 3 pounds, 10 ounces and 4 pounds, 3 ounces as of last Tuesday.)
 
Weight gain:  Haven't been on the scale this week!  

Maternity clothes: Pretty much living in sweat pants and maternity shirts or Dale's old shirts that are about an XL.
 
Stretch marks: All sorts of stretch marks south of my belly button as well as all around my belly button.  I feel like even my belly button has stretched!  Thankfully I can't see most of them, but I can feel them and boy, do they itch.

Sleep: I've been able to get into a bit of a routine this week.  I generally sleep pretty solid with one wakeup around 4am for a potty break and antibiotics.  

Gender: Two troublemaking angels.
 
Best moment this week:  Our ultrasound that gave us the estimated weights of the girls as well as showing us that both were head-down and facing my back.  This is the ideal positioning for them in order to do a natural birth.
 
Looking forward to: Eventually getting out of the hospital. 
 
What I miss:  Freedom!  I feel pretty trapped being stuck in the hospital.  Though I am glad to be able to get out of my room a bit.

Movement: Yes they do.  ALL OF THE TIME!

Food cravings: Nothing specific, just not hospital food. 

Anything making you queasy or sick:  Nope!

Labor Signs: Beyond my water breaking, nothing.  My water broke a week ago today and I've had no other labor signs since! 

Symptoms: Last Saturday I looked like I wet myself.  Thankfully nobody saw and all is well. 
 
Belly Button in or out?  So far out I'm convinced it is trying to reach the next zip code!
 
Rings on or off? They are currently off, but I honestly think that my hands are back down to normal size, so I would be able to wear them.

Mood: excited, anxious, bored of the hospital

Shower Saturday

Today was my Ohio baby shower.  Alas, my little munchkins made it impossible for me to physically attend, so we did a Skype session.  My niece and I established a Skype connection and I got passed around to all of the guests.  I was so happy to get to chat to everyone who was able to come!

Of course, there were a couple who ate right in front of me and explained the food (must be a family tradition) but that just made me send Dale out to pick up lunch.  I also got a bunch of pictures via text of the setup.  It was all rubber duckies and it was so adorable!  Each table had at least one princess duckie.  

There was also a gift-wrapping station set up.  Each of the guests was instructed to not wrap their gifts before the shower.  They could then ooh and aah over the gifts before wrapping them and sending them off to me.  At the end of the shower I was texted a picture of the beautifully wrapped gifts.  They will be delivered to me next weekend when my entourage journeys north to Michigan.

I was so happy and excited to see everyone today and show off my belly, even though it was over the internet.  Thank goodness for technology!  Oh, and any time someone wanted to see my belly, I had to tilt the camera and take about three steps away from the computer in order to fit my entire belly in the frame.  Yeah, I'm that huge.  Hopefully soon I will find a way to upload a picture to the blog.

Finally Friday

It is the day of the nurses!  There have been a number of nurses helping out today.  Of course the girls were troublesome during their NST, so we ended up on the monitors for about an hour total.  Their numbers were great, they just didn't stay under the monitors for a long enough stretch for the doctors to get a baseline.  

The sunny side of this is that during the test I called my mommy and told her to listen as I held the phone up to the speakers.  She was able to listen to the heartbeats of her grandbabies!  Of course, she was very excited to hear them.  And the girls were being good and the speaker was up loud, so she really got to listen to their strong little heartbeats. I'm so happy that my mom was able to listen in to them.  She isn't able to be here in person right now and I feel like she has missed out on a lot of the things that Dale's mom has gotten to do.  

It's not that I need my mommy here with me, but I do wish she was able to experience more of this journey.  My mommy will be here in another week and I can't wait!  I wish our teleporter worked and it didn't take three hours to get from there to here.  Sadly, we haven't gotten to that point yet.