It was a Merry "Twinsmas"!

As for many, the month of December is crazy and is going so fast! The twins are officially 5 months old today, but this post is going to cover what they were up to in month 4.  They started out the month by going to the Dr.  The weight difference continues to be about two pounds between them.  Ava now weighs 11 pounds and 12 1/2 oz. and 23 3/4 inches long. She is in the 25th percentile. Emma weighs 14-0 pounds and 24 3/4 inches long and she is in the 75th percentile.  You can definitely tell the difference in weight when holding them.  Ava is still a peanut.  Unfortunately, they both had colds going into this appointment, so their shots had to be postponed.  They both had lots of wax in their ears and the Dr. found that Emma had her first ear infection.  The Dr. told us to go ahead and start cereal with the girls.

The girls are finally sleeping through the night and it has made all the difference!!! We have started to give the girls rice cereal in the morning and before they go to bed.  This has helped them to sleep through the nights.  Emma really likes her cereal, but Ava does not like it as much.  They finally started sleeping through the night around week 15.  They are in somewhat of a routine.  They will usually take their last bottle of the night with their cereal between 7:30-830 and then sleep until about 7-8.  They will then wake up have a bottle with cereal and play for about two hours and go down for a nap.  Their morning nap can be anywhere from 1-3 hours and they usually take a total of three naps a day. Both of the girls like to suck on their hands to soothe themselves to sleep.  I believe they will be thumb suckers once they find them. They are napping in their beds and when they are at my mom's, they sleep in their pack-n-plays.  A lot of people ask if they wake each other up and they really do not, which is nice.  One could be screaming and the other one is sound asleep.  We are going to add a fruit and a vegetable next month.

They are really starting to notice each other now.  One of the cutest things they do is hold hands when they are laying or sitting together.  The first time they did it, I thought it was probably fluky.  However, anytime they are laying on the floor together they will hold hands.  It is absolutely adorable.  I am posting a picture of it below.

 On Christmas Eve, I took Emma to the Dr. to get her ears checked. She started with a cold a couple of days before that and was crying when eating. However, she did not have an ear infection. The Dr. said her right ear was a little red, but not infected. She did mention that her head was a little flat on the right side and she was concerned that it is shifting her forehead and ear forward. Emma likes to sleep with her head turned to the right. She indicated that we need to self correct it now, so we do not have to get a helmet. We were instructed that any time she is awake, we need to keep her off the back of her head. Of course, I am totally worried now. We got the exersaucer out today and put her in that, the bumbo and tummy time. I pray that this will help. I do not want to get a helmet for her!! Ava's head is flat in the back, but the Dr. said that flat head in the back is fine. 

Last but not least, the girls celebrated their first Christmas together. It was wonderful sitting around on Christmas morning with all five kids watching them open presentes from Santa  I felt so blessed!!!  I thought getting three kids dressed and out the door was hard....add two more in there :).  I have to admit, it is a lot of fun (and expensive---poor Marc) to dress up four little girls. Marc and I find it funny that we pretty much take up an entire row at church and I am sure we are a comedy show for many.

I think is all for four months......

                                                              Ava

                                                             Emma

                              Daddy and the girls holding hands watching Sports Center

                                         Ava is not real happy about the big flower hat

                                         Emma did not seem to mind

    Ava and Emma getting ready to be fed on their boppies with their stocking from St. Nick

3 months and so much to be thankful for this month!

With going back to work, my blogging time has been put off for the last couple of weeks. However, they are still 3 months old until the 26th, so all is good :). We are finally starting to settle into a schedule as much as we can with our crazy days and crazy weekends.  Now that I am back to work, our days and nights seem to go so fast.  There is always so much to do with so little time, but we are managing!  It is amazing how we can feed two babies, get homework complete for Melis and Tyler all at the same time, while keeping Lydia entertained.  We are becoming quite the multi-taskers.

So what is the new with the girls this month......

Emma and Ava are continuing to eat well.  We just bumped their feeding amount up to 5 ounces.  They are still eating every three to four hours.  Emma usually sucks her bottle down in about 20 minutes, whereas Ava usually takes about 45 minutes. Therefore, Marc always wants to feed Ava for the middle of the night feeding :).

They are still not sleeping through the night.  Each night is different, as far as who gets up. One night it could be Emma and the next night it is Ava.  We still wake them both up to feed them to keep them on the same schedule.  I think this is the hardest part of being back to work.  There are nights where they wake up around 4 am and this is when my work day begins. We typically feed them between 9-10 and they wake up anywhere from 3-6.  The good thing is that we typically are only getting up once to feed them.  We are just longing for full nights of sleep!

They are starting to stay up for longer periods of time during the day.  We put them on their stomach a couple of times today to help with their neck muscles.  Emma's neck muscles are a little bit stronger than Ava's.   However, Ava gets a little stronger with this everyday.  They like to play on their playmat next to each other.  They are also big fans of the swing and vibrating chair.  Baby Einstein is also a big favorite of the girls.  They will sit in their chairs or lay on the boppies and watch it.  This is so helpful while I am cooking dinner!!  The girls love to be talked to and I love to talk to them because they smile right back at you and coo back at you.  It is adorable! Emma is very nosey. While you are holding her she is constantly looking to see what is going on around her.  My mom has indicated I did the exact same thing as a baby :).

We have three "firsts" this month.  They both had their first cold, which resulted in a Dr. visit for both.  Ava had to be suctioned at the office and she also ended up with an ear infection. Her tear duct is still blocked.  I learned double the babies, double the Dr. visits.  Thank goodness it did not turn into anything more!  They also celebratd their first Halloween and dressed up as ladybugs.  They were not huge fans of their costumes, but I was able to get a few picture of them not screaming.  It was something getting all five kids dressed and fed before Halloween began.  They also celebrated their first Thanksgiving today.

As I mentioned in the title, we have a lot to be thankful for this Thanksgiving.  We were blessed with these beautiful baby girls that melt our hearts!

Here are a few pictures from this month.  They had their 3 month professional pictures taken this month as well.

 

 

 

 

The twins are 2 months!

The girls are 11 weeks old ...time is flying.  Unfortunately, I have to go back to work in one week and two days (not looking forward to that). Although my mom is my life saver and she will be watching the twins and Lydia.  I am very blessed to have such a wonderful mother!!! She has been amazing and of course is always there for me!!  I think the hardest part of going back to work besides missing the babies and being home with the older kids is going to be the lack of sleep until the girls are sleeping better and getting homework, dinner,  babies fed and kids off to sports on those days.    However, it will get done one way or another, right?!

The twins had their Dr. appt. last week and they are growing!  Ava is now up to 8 lbs. 13 oz. and is  19 1/2 inches long.  She is still a little peanut and is in the 15th percentile in height and weight.  Emma is 10 lbs. 8 oz. and is 22 1/2 inches long.  She is in the 50th percentile.  So, they continue to have a difference in height and weight.  The Dr. said that is what is keeping them from looking identical to one another right now.  He indicated they will eventually catch up to each other in size.  The only other thing to report is Ava continues to have a blocked tear duct in one eye and it is infected, so she is on a second round of eye ointment.  I hope this clears soon! The poor thing either has green goop in her eye or the eye is red from the irritation of wiping it all day long.  The rest of the appointment went well and they will have their next check up at four months.

This month they are starting to be a lot more alert.  After switching them to the Soy formula, they became happier babies (thank goodness).  We decided to switch them to their room around 9 weeks and of course I was a nervous wreck about having them in their alone, but they did great.  The first night they were in there they slept 5 consecutive hours...it was glorious!!!  Since then we have been giving them a bottle around 11-12 and they will sleep until about 4-5.  I am hoping in another week they may add an hour or two, so I do not have to start my work days at 4 am with a feeding.

They have also started to smile and coo when you talk to them.  It just melts my heart!  They spend their days eating, sleeping, playing as well as going to soccer practice/games to football games....poor things :).  They will spend many years at their sibling games, so they are just getting a taste of it now.

Here are a few photos over the last couple of weeks.

                                     Ava being baptized

                             Emma being baptized

 All dressed for the baptism (their bonnets were a gift from Marc's sister Julie, they can be made into  handkerchiefs for their wedding..love it!)

                                        All 7 of us

                         You can see the size difference in the girls here

                  Oh how they have grown from wearing these onsies in the hospital

                                   Ava

                                   Emma

The pictures are finally here!!

The twins are now 8 weeks and time is just flying!  Last week they begin crying on a daily and nightly basis, unless they were being held.  Of course with twins, this is a challenge when there is only one of us around to hold them.  It is also a challenge when there are three other kids to give attention to.  We just take it day by day.  I talked to the nurse at the Dr.'s office and she suggested switching their formula from Similac to Similac Sensitive.  However, I made the decision to switch to Soy formula.  Tyler and Lydia went through this and Soy formula really helped.  They have been on it for about 4 days and unfortunately, I have not seen a big change. They go to their Dr. on Friday for a check up, so I will be interested to get some input from the Dr. They are still only sleeping 3-4 hours at night...still waiting to get an extra hour or two.

Tomorrow is their big day, they will be baptized.  The girls will be wearing dresses from each side of the family.  They are dresses that have been in the families for a very long time. 

Last but not least, I have been waiting for their pictures to come in and they are finally here. The photographer was very slow in getting the CD mailed to me. However, the pictures were worth the wait! They were taken on August 8, the twins were almost 2 weeks. She came to our house and spent about two hours with the girls. Here are the pictures below.

                                  Love this one, Emma has her arm around Ava

                                                               Ava

                                                        Emma

                              You can really see the size difference in this picture

                                                   The princesses

Twin ballerinas (I wish Ava's umbilical cord was not visible)

                                  All five of my beautiful kids....we are so blessed!!!

Ava and Emma are one month!!

The girls turn one month!  They were not supposed to go to the Dr. for two more weeks for their one month check up, but I noticed that Ava had a white coating on her tongue and thought it could possibly be thrush.  They wanted me to bring her and they had a cancellation, so I brought both of them in for their check up.  It was confirmed that Ava has thrush as well as a blocked tear duct in each eye.  We were given a prescription for each and hope that they clear up soon.

The rest of the check up went well!!   The girls are doing great.  Ava is now up to 6 lbs 6oz and 19 1/2 inches and Emma weighs 7 lbs 12 oz and she is 20 3/4 inches inches. I was thinking of taking them to Tyler's first football game this weekend, but the Dr. encouraged me to keep them at home. While they have each grown, the Dr. said to keep them away from big crowds of people and little kids.  He said they are still so little and it is not worth taking a chance on them getting sick.  I would have to agree.

On a seperate note, after the twins were born the hospital sent the placenta out to be tested to see if they are identical.  I have been curious about this because the girls do not look identical, but I believe the weight difference has a lot do do with that. On Thursday I spoke with a nurse at the OB's office and she said it was confirmed that the girls are identical.   Let the fun begin of parenting identical twin girls......

The girls are still only sleeping about three hours at night.  We have had them sleeping together in a pack-n-play.  When we put them in there to sleep at night we put some space between them, but they always seem to get together by the time of the next feeding.  It is really cute!  Although, they are now to the point when one wakes up and starts crying, her arms are moving around and starts hitting the other.  So, we have decided tonight we are going to seperate them when they sleep and give them some space.  I hope they do not miss each other :).

I know this is random..but I just needed to share it.  Lydia told me today that she did want to have a baby someday because she is not laying on that couch all day.  I thought this was pretty funny and very smart of her. 

I have posted two pictures that I took last night of Ava and Emma playing on their playmat. It is so fun to watch them together!!!!

 I happen to catch this picture of Emma and Ava holding hands...love it!!!

Twins are 3 weeks old today

Time sure does fly lately!  It is hard to believe the girls are already three weeks.  Our days here at the Johnson house are non stop during the day. The girls are doing great.  They are still doing a lot of sleeping and eating.  Although the last couple of days they seem to be more awake during the day.  We have started tummy time with them as they both have lost their umbilical cord.  However, they are not real big fans of this.  They are sleeping for about 3 hour stretches at night, which can be very exhausting.  Marc gets up at night and feeds with me, which is a blessing!  We laugh because the 2-3 am feeding is a good time for us to have an adult conversation and catch up with each other.  Each night I am hoping for a 4 hour stretch of sleep, hopefully that will come soon :). 

The girls had their first photo shoot this week. The photographer came to our house this week and spent about 2 hours with the girls and looked to get so many good pictures.  The girls slept through the first hour and were awake the second.  I can't wait to see those pictures.  I will be sure to post them when I get them back.

Melis, Tyler and Lydia are doing great with the twins. They love them so much! We have time set aside each day so they can hold them. They are all great helpers with getting diapers, wipes, popping pacifiers in their mouths, etc.

I have posted some pictures that I took of the girls today below.

                                                                 Emma

                                                                  Ava

                                    Emma has had enough of the headband

                                       Ava's headband takes up half her head.

Emma and Ava are a week old today!

Wow!  It is hard to believe the twins are already a week old.  I wish I would have been able to post more over the last week, but unfortunately when I was admitted in the hospital I did not have access to my computer.  However, I want to briefly recap what has happened since my last post as I would like to be able to look back on this blog someday with the twins to see their journey into the world.

As previously posted, last Monday they put me back on bed rest because they felt preeclampsia was brewing and I had a low platelet count.  The next morning I woke up with a nose bleed and a headache.  I headed to the Dr. for my scheduled appointment with these concerns.  When I got to the appointment on Tuesday the Dr. sent me up to triage to be checked out with the assumption that I had preeclampsia.  They drew more blood and my platelet levels had gone from 101,000 to 102,000, but they wanted to keep me overnight because because of my other symptoms.  On Wednesday, they drew blood again in the morning and my platelet levels dropped to 90, 000.  At this point I was becoming very scared about what was happening.  I was having a difficult time understanding why they would not deliver me with the platelet count falling.  I knew that at some level, when platelet levels drop that the only option for delivery was to be put under general anesthesia.  The Dr. explained to me that they did not want to deliver me without knowing the cause of the platelet issue, so they could be as prepared as possible in the delivery room.  This began to make more sense because I did not want to deliver in an unsafe sitaution.  So, they ran tests and ruled out ITP and preeeclampsia and determined it was pregnancy related.  They told me if it dropped again on Thursday they would deliver.   On Thursday, July 26th, the final blood draw indicated that the platelet levels dropped to 82, 000 at 7:00 am and 88, 000 at 11:00 am.  Dr. Brady made the call that I was going to a c-section at 1:00.  Oh, I was so emotional at that moment.  I was scared and nervous, yet so excited to finally meet these baby girls! 

We were in the room being prepared for the c-section and Marc was all dressed up in his "Dr. gear", when the anesthologist came in and said we need to run one more blood test on you to be sure your blood is clotting sufficciently.  They drew the blood and 45 minutes later he came back and said my blood was not at a safe level for an epidural/spinal.   I was going to have to be put under general anesthesia and Marc was not able to be in the room.  While we were both disappointed, our main concern was the safety of the delivery.  I was so terrified, but had full faith that God was keeping us all safe   They wheeled me back and at 2:25 two perfect, healthy, beautiful, identical, little girls were brought into this world!  Ava Marie weighed 4 lbs. 12 oz., 18 inches long and Emma weighed 6 lbs. 3 oz., 19 3/4 inches long (the ultrasound was off on their weights, but not on their size discrepency). Marc said it was the longest 20 minutes of his life as he waited to hear that we were all ok.  I came out of the operating pretty groggy and not remembering much at all and Marc said the first words out my mouth were "Is everybody ok?", it brings tears to my eyes thinking about it!  Unfortunately, the drama did not end there.  I was in recovery until 8:00 pm because they were having a difficult time managing my oxygen levels.

At about 8:15 pm, we were moved to the mother and baby unit.  I was on morphene for the pain, but finally out of the groggy anesthesia phase.  My parents brought Melis, Tyler and Lydia up to meet their new sisters. It was the perfect moment for all 7 of us to finally be there together. We are so blessed!  The kids were so excited and of course wanted to hold them right away, but the twins still needed baths and to be under the warmer. The snuggling would have to wait until the next day for them.

We stayed at the hospital from Thursday until Monday, when we were finally able to come home.  They were giving me steriods in the hospital to help boost my platelet levels and taking daily blood draws to be sure they were coming back..  Ava also had a temperature drop and she was not eating as well as necessary, so they wanted to monitor her an extra day too.  We came home to Melis, Tyler and Lydia standing in the driveway with welcome home signs and cheers you could hear coming down our private drive. It was the sweetest thing, my tears were flowing!

We have now been home a week and things are going well!  It is definitely crazy at times, but I would not trade it for anything in the world. We have already had so much help this week, which has been amazing! The twins had their check up yesterday and they are doing well. Melis, Tyler and Lydia of course cannot get enough of them, but I can't blame them, neither can I.  I had a blood draw today and my platelet count is up to 200, 000.  This was a huge relief!

As I reflect back on the last nine months I could not have gotten through any of this without the support of so many of you. I know I have said this so many times, but we are so blessed to have you all in our lives.  The support has been amazing.  We have had so many people make dinners, run errands, watch our kids, car pools, emails, texts, prayers, etc.  I often said to Marc that there are so many people who already love these little girls who have not even been born yet.  I thank God everyday for all of you! 

I wanted to share a few pictures of the girls from the last week.

 Ava and Emma a few minutes old.

 Ava and Emma a day old already snuggling together.

 My five beautiful kiddos.

 The twins are ready to go home!

The twins are a week old today.  I just love this picture of Ava spitting her tongue out for the camera!

3 more days of bed rest, wooo hooo!!

The girls did great on the non stress test today.  I then saw the Dr. and I am now 2 cm. dilated. It is always nice to hear that things are progressing.  They tested my urine and found protein in it, which is a sign of preeclampsia. It is always something. The Dr. does not necessarily think that I have this because my blood pressure has always been low and I have no signs of swelling, but they are doing further testing to be sure.  I have to do a 24 hour urine collection and have blood drawn on Monday and the results should be in that afternoon.  If I do have preeclampsia, it means an earlier delivery.

My next appointment is Monday, which will be my final growth scan of the girls.  Monday is also a big day because I am finally off of bed rest.  I can hardly wait!!!!  The kids have a big day of swimming planned (the thought of getting into a bathing suit is a little scary :) and I have a big night of a manicure and pedicure planned.

I am feeling so blessed I have made it so far!  Have a great weekend!!

35 weeks :)

I am happy to say that I have made it to 35 weeks.  Each week I can keep the girls in is a blessing and hopefully out of the NICU.  Today's appointment went well.  The ultrasound indicated normal blood flow from the the umbilical cords to the placenta and normal levels of amniotic fluid.  The girls also passed the non stress test.  The non stress did show some contractions.  In fact I have had a lot of Braxton Hicks over the weekend and today, but they never amount to much.  I keep wondering if this is going to be it, but the moment I start timing them they become inconsistent and go away.  I am so anxious to meet these little girls!!!!

My next appointment is Thursday which will be a Dr.'s appt. and a non stress test.  I am counting down the days this week as I will be free of bed rest one week from today, so EXCITING!!!!!  As always, please keep us in your prayers.  They are much appreciated!!!

P.S.  I have shared a picture of the good old belly at 35 weeks after a few requests.

What the Dr. said today

I started the day today with my weekly Dr. appointment.  I saw a new Dr. in the practice today and she was amazed at how well I am doing physically with this pregnancy, especially with it being my fourth pregnancy.  She said the fact that I can see that my ankles have bones in them and are not swollen is awesome.  I have also been lucky to keep my blood pressure in the normal range, which is great too!  I guess that is what 4 months and 2  weeks of bed rest will do:).   She checked my cervix and immediately said "Oh I can feel a head, you have to have a lot of pressure down there" (yes, I do!!!).  Melis is able to imitate my "pregnancy walk" perfectly as a result of this pressure. She said that I am still 1 cm. dilated, but my cervix 70-80% effaced.  Of course this really does not mean much, but she said she would not be surprised if I went into labor on my own before 38 weeks. My personal goal is to get to at least 36 weeks.  She also indicated her recommendation is for me to deliver via C-section.  While Baby A is head down, Baby B is transverse and I would not want to deliver vaginally and then have a c-section.

After my Dr. appointment, I had a non stress test.  Baby B gave me a little bit of a scare because her heartbeat was ranging in the 190-200 range (the average range is 130-160). The nurse said this was in relation to her movement (and she was moving around) and as long as she did not stay in the range for a long period of time, it was normal. The nurse monitored me a little bit longer than the typical 20 minutes and Baby B calmed down and stayed in the normal range.  There is never a dull moment!!

Until Monday.........

34 weeks

I did not know what to expect going into today's appointment as far as the girl's growth is concerned.  Each time I go into these appointments I take a deep breath and pray that these girls are doing well.  Overall the ultrasound was good because the babies are continuing to grow. While Baby A is continuing to grow, her growth is definitely not near Baby B's growth.  Baby B is just big or as the ultrasound tech called her "a chunk", as a result of a bigger placental share than Baby A.  Baby A now weighs 4 lbs. 3 oz. (she is now down in the 18th percentile) and Baby B now weighs 5 lbs. 13 oz. (she is back up in the 61st percentile).  I definitely feel the pressure of all 10 pounds of baby in me.  I did not have a Dr. appt. today, but a Dr. did come in and talk to us about the size difference. She said at this point she is not concerned, because they want the babies to grow at least 200 grams and Baby A grew 300.  She indicated that I can continue to do bed rest at home because the blood flow measurements and non stress tests continue to be normal.  She wants me to continue with the non stress tests and blood flow measurements next week.  If in two weeks at the 36 week growth measurement ultrasound, Baby A has not had much progress in growth, they will most likely deliver me.  At that point they are definitely safe to deliver.  On a side note we also got to see the babies practicing their breathing on their own, which was pretty neat!

My next appointment is Thursday which will include a non stress test and a Dr.'s visit.  As always thank you for your continued thoughts and prayers!!

I can see the light at the end of the tunnel!

The ending of this week is definitely better than the beginning! The surgeon did a great job on Monday and I have been able to manage the pain without going through another procedure.  Thank you for the prayers, they are continuing to work.  The  girls passed the non stress test today and the nurse said their heartbeats looked beautiful! I then met with a Dr. after the test.  She gave me some hope that as long as the next two growth scans go well on the girls, I can go off of bed rest at 36 weeks, YEAH!!!  My kids were so excited when I told them this, they just want their mommy back!!!  They started listing all kinds of things we can do.   Although, Lydia thinks 2 weeks is two days from now.  She could not wait to tell Marc that piece of news. It was really cute! I just hope these next two weeks go well, so I can do some fun things with them before the babies are born. My "cervix of steel" is now 1 cm. dilated and my stomach is measuring at 38 weeks.

My next appointment is on Monday, which will be a growth scan.  I hope you have a nice weekend and stay cool!!!!

33 weeks

This week has been difficult and it has just started, uggghhh!  I was in the ER on Saturday under the direction of my OB because one of the baby's is sitting on a vein which is causing some issues with the backside. Oh, it is extremely painful!!!  Unfortunately I saw two resident Dr.'s who looked all of about 25 and did not resolve the problem in the ER, so I saw a surgeon yesterday who provided some relief. Although I may be heading back to Good Sam on Thursday or Friday under mild sedation to completely take care of things; as he said there is only so much pain he can put me through without the sedation. My OB as well as the surgeon both have assured me that the babies will stay safe through this whole procedure and they will be completely monitored if we have to go this route. They said it is important for the babies and I to stay as pain free as possible, so I do not cause stress on the babies. Here I thought bed rest was difficult, but bed rest in pain is very trying!!

On a separate note the babies looked great on the ultrasound and their heartbeats looked great during the non stress test today.

Please keep me in your prayers this week that the babies are kept safe and sound and my situation is resolved.

10 years and 5 kids later.....

I had my final non stress test for this week today and the girls looked great. The meaning behind the title of today's blog is that Marc and I celebrate our 10 year anniversary tomorrow.  I am a very lucky girl to be married to such a wonderful man.  Marc has been amazing through out this journey and I thank God everyday for such a great husband and father to our kids!!! I would say we have been extra blessed this anniversary with not only one baby, but two, plus our three other healthy, beautiful, wonderful kids in those ten years. The one funny thing about this weekend is that Marc had booked a surprise trip to a Sandals resort in Jamaica and we would have left today (Oh a cocktail on the beach sounds so good right now). We had always talked about returning to a Sandals resort (we stayed at a Sandals for our honeymooon) for our 10 year anniversary. We had been on our last month of trying for the fourth baby and we both felt that perhaps a fourth baby was not in our cards after the miscarriage and 7 more months of trying to get pregnant.  I have always been fortunate enough to get pregnant right away, so this was another reason we thought a fourth baby was not in our future.  Marc thought this trip would be a nice get away for both of us and something we both needed. However, we were proven wrong times two. God had other plans for us.  At the end of that month, I was pregnant.  Luckily, we were able to get our money back and we will spend a quiet evening at our house with dinner and a movie.  It is not quite the beach by any means, however the gift of two babies is amazing and there is always next year for a beach trip (if only we will be able to find somebody to take 5 kids for a long weekend :).

My next ultrasound is on Tuesday.  On Sunday, I will begin my 33rd week.  5 more weeks to go, but who is counting, right????????

6 weeks and counting

Today's appointment was a great marker at 32 weeks.  As I was told in the beginning of all of this, I would deliver between 28-32 weeks and these baby girls are showing us how strong they are!  My day started off with an ultrasound which indicated that the amniotic fluid and blood flow measurements were all in the normal range.  The growth measurement indicated that the size difference went down, woohoo.  It is truly a roller coaster ride.  The difference in size between the girls is now 21%.  Baby A now weighs 3 lbs. 10 oz. (she is in the 30th percentile) and baby B now weighs 4 lbs. 9 oz. (she is in the 56th percentile).  All good news from the ultrasound.  I then went for the non stress test and passed  that.  Last but not least I saw the Dr.  He was just as happy with the results.  He said I have a cervix of steel after he checked that (WTH).  We talked about a delivery date and he scheduled me for August 7th, which at that point I will be 38 weeks.  HOLY COW if I make it to that point I will be enormous (I already feel huge), considering my stomach is measuring at 37 weeks right now.  So, the countdown is on...July is going to one long month!!!

As always I want to thank you for the prayers and support for these girls.  We would not be where we are without all of you!!!

Pictures from Leah's wedding

One of my activities this weekend to keep me busy was to download pictures, so I wanted to post a few from the wedding.

                                   I love this picture of Leah!  She made a stunning bride!

                                  The kids did awesome walking down the aisle!

                                                       The happy couple!

The photographer wanted this picture of Leah kissing my belly.  The smile just shows how excited I was to be there for Leah!!!  Thanks for all the prayers!!