Miracles Coming Very Soon...July 23rd at noon!

"Before you were conceived I wanted you
Before you were born I loved you
Before you were an hour old I would give my life for you
This is the miracle of life"Maureen Hawkins

I have held on to this quote for years now, dreaming of the day when I would actually be holding my little one at only an hour old. I am truly standing amazed that this moment is about to happen and that I am going to be a mom to two very special little boys.

My last appointment with my OB/GYN prior to my c-section was last Thursday. When I was about to leave, she told me that Dr. Crochet, her office partner that delivered my triplets, asked to assist during the c-section. She said we all needed to experience these little ones coming into the world together. Everyone has worked hard to make sure that I have healthy babies and now are ready to celebrate such an accomplishment. The office staff and nurses all told me that they would come over to Baylor Hospital to meet the boys!

Tomorrow, July 22nd, I am going to go to my Fetal Care Specialist Office for the last time as a patient. Dr. Magee asked me to be a part of a photo shoot celebrating his practice being awarded a VERY significant amount of money to further expand services for high risk pregnancies. I think he chose me because I am probably the MOST pregnant woman he could think of. The photographer is going to take picture of Dr. Magee looking at the boys on the sonogram with Karry looking on! The pictures will be published to help to announce the donation of money for the practice. He told me last Thursday that his office would have an "emergency" at the hospital on Thurs so they could come and meet my sweet little guys!

I think that I am nesting! I have washed everything I have owned, packed for me and the boys and keep thinking over and over about things left to do! There is only one day that we have left in our home without the boys!

I guess it is normal, but I feel so many things right now. I am anxious about the birth, still praying that they are perfect in every way. I want to leave the hospital with both boys healthy and thriving. I pray every day that I will have wisdom even at the very beginning of establishing a happy life for them focusing of growing them up as men of faith. I am overwhelmed with gratitude for the people who want to be such a big part of the boys' lives!

Thank you to the many people that have prayed for these little boys. I know that this outcome is a product of those prayers and faith.

The next post should come with pictures of the cutest little boys ! Between my mother, family and friends it sounds as though there will be a hand full of cameras represented.

I will be dreaming of Thursday and looking forward to the magical moments!

A Special Prayer...

I have been on bed rest since May 7th. For an active and on the go person, there are times when the days get very long and it seems that time is standing still. To get me through each day, I think about what it will feel like to hear them cry for the first time, imagine what their sweet faces will look like, try to organize (in my mind and with tons of help from Karry) our home to prepare for them and relish the thought of walking in our front door with them! I have had so much encouragement from so many people! I am overly blessed and try to stay focused on that as I am going through this journey!
I go back to the doctor on July 2nd and think that I will know more about the expected delivery date. If they deliver at 35 weeks and 4 days, they will be able to eat on their own! I have 14 days until that time! I think at this point that I will be scheduled for a c-section no later than 36 weeks. If they stay on track with their growth, they should both be around 6lbs each! When I think of carrying even more baby in the Texas heat...well...let's just say that clothes are not appealing to me!!!
I can't believe that I am so close to meeting these little guys and am humbled daily with the gifts that are about to be given to me!
Thank you Charlotte for the special prayer for my little family!

Addition to the nursery....and already 4 1/2 lbs!

The boys will be staying in a daycare about 30 feet from my office next year! We are opening the daycare for employee's children. The teacher lead for the daycare, Elsa Tarango, painted the tricycle and airplane on the nursery wall. I am so impressed with how cute they both look! The nursery is ready for two boys that today weighed in at 4 1/2lbs each. If you add that up and add a couple of pounds for the amniotic fluid for both babies...you can visualize my belly! If you have ever been pregnant, you also must know how my back feels! I have arms, legs and several other body parts making it very hard to get comfortable!

I am continuing to be monitored 2 times daily for contractions. I have had as many as 10 in an hour and as few as 1 in an hour. I had a doctor's appointment today and they adjusted my medicine. Hopefully this medicine works or the next step is to have a pump that administers medicine continuously. They will insert a cathedar in my stomache and I will have to wear the pump that contains the medicine. The same company that monitors the contractions will also monitor and adjust the medication in the pump. Hopefully I will not get to that option!

If these little miracle boys stay put, I will more than likely have a scheduled c-section in 3 weeks. Collin, baby A, is breech. His little bum is sitting at the top of my cervix. Holden, Baby B, is spread out high in my abdomen!

Just thinking about seeing their sweet faces for the first time floods my heart with joy!

We ready for these baby boys...but they need to wait a few more weeks!

After a 5 day stay in the hosptial, Karry and I are so glad that the doctor's appointment yesterday landed us back at home and not back to Baylor Medical! My cervix is short and softening and I have been having contractions. I was given steroids at the hospital to help the boy's lungs develop and medication to help stop the contractions. I am pretty stable now at home with a monitor. I monitor every morning and afternoon for contractions and electronically send the information to a company. A nurse calls within a few minutes to discuss the results of each monitoring session. My threshold for contractions is 5 in a 60 minutes session. I have had anywhere between 2 to 10 contractions in a hour. I have had to start taking something to help me sleep and medication every 4 hours to stop contractions. I am hoping that all of this will buy us at least 26 more days. If the boys are born now, they will be fine but will have to spend time in the NICU. I really want to take them home with me when I leave the hospital, so I keep telling them that no matter how crowded they feel it is more comfortable where they are now!

I am in the hospital...but the nursery is ready for the boys!!!

I am so excited that I got the nursery done before I was admitted to the hospital! I went for a regular check up on Thursday and my cervix length had shortened and the cervix had also softened. While I was getting a sonogram, I had a contraction! I was admitted to labor and delivery and they monitored the boys and my contractions. I had several throughout that night, but they are giving me two different types of medication to stop them. As of Friday afternoon, no other conractions have been detected by the monitors!! They also have given me steroid shots to help the babies' lungs develop quicker. The needle for that shot was HUGE!!! If all goes well, there is a possibility that I could go home with a monitor on after a week! That is probably a long shot, but it helps to think that it is a possibility! Our goal is still to try to keep these guys incubating inside until 35 - 36 weeks!

Bedrest and growing baby boys!

I have accomplished nineteen days of bed rest and counting! I was hoping that I could finish the school year and then think about delivering these boys. I went to the doctor on May 7th and Dr. Magee discovered that my cervix length was shorter than expected. I was put on restrictive bed rest effective immediately! Thank goodness I had an urge to really organize my office the day before! Being on bed rest has maintained the length of the cervix and my goal is to keep these babies from meeting anyone until week 36! I am finishing my 29th week, so I think that I can do anything for 6 more weeks!
The pictures of the boys are from May 15th. Baby A is Collin Reed and Baby B is Holden Grey. Dr. Magee was looking at Holden and said he might be the next Brad Pitt...that he looked beautiful! Collin is a little more reserved than his brother, so we did not get as good of a look at him. I know that he is just as handsome as his brother! I am completely in love already and can't wait to kiss all over their sweet faces!

Beautiful Baby Boys!

The baby on the top is Holden (Baby B) and the baby on the bottom is Collin (Baby A). Now that they are bigger, I am amazed at how much their sonogram pictures look like their brothers. Holden's profile looks like Jackson's did and Collin's looks like the twins (Hudson and Weston)!

I go to the doctor now every week. Last week I saw Dr. Magee and he was thrilled with how things were progressing. Both boys look perfect and they are exactly the same size! Every day that passes, some of the anxiety that I feel just praying that the boys continue to be so perfect and healthy lessens. I already feel so blessed and know that being the mom of these miracle little boys will make me a better person.