Waiting for babies...

Now that my showers are over, I guess it's time that I post the maternity pictures that my dear friend, Amanda took of us. We did this back in March during her spring break and I'm so glad that we did because if we had waited until now then I wouldn't be able to take pictures. Here are our favorites...

Double the Pleasure, Double the Fun!

On Sunday, May 15th, I made it to another milestone in this pregnancy. I made it to my church shower!! Ever since going on bedrest, I have felt unsure as to when the babies would come and I was afraid I wasn't going to make it to this special day. But I told these lovely ladies as long as a)I haven't had the babies, and b) I am not on hospital bedrest, then I will be at the shower. My doctor gave me her blessing to go when I went to see her last Thursday, and so I'm so glad that it all worked out!

Shevawn hosted the "Perfect Pair" shower at her home with the help of Monique, Renae, Casey, Cassie, Sarah and Erin. It was so good to be showered by these ladies and to see all the other guests that made it to the shower. It has been a long three weeks of not being able to go to church.

The decorations were absolutely perfect even though I didn't really get to see them. I am seeing them all by way of the pictures that my sister and Renae took. I didn't really take a tour of the decorations before I plopped myself down on the couch to resume my bedrest position.

I invited a couple of people who were unable to attend my last shower and of course, my mom and sister were there to see all the wonderful gifts that Truett and Ellis were given.

Shevawn and I, what a great hostess she was!
Amanda and I... a great picture of us since it has been a long time since we have taken a picture together. I was so blessed to have her there with Lane. Lane wondered how we were going to "wash" the babies since they would be so small. Amanda had to explain that the babies aren't even here yet and that a shower is where you give gifts to the babies.

We were so blessed by everyone at Riverside... we were given many of the essentials such as our diaper genie, our bumper pads, a Bumbo seat, our activity mats and some travel booster seats. I was also given some very special handmade presents. I'm so excited about all of the presents though and being able to use them for the boys.

Bethany Cassity's sister makes these awesome hooded towels for little ones. She gave me green ones with a strip of cute dinosaur fabric. So cute! You can find her sister's shop at yellowdaydesigns.etsy.com.

These beautiful little sweaters were hand crochetted by Joan Harris. So special and I am so excited for the boys to be able to wear them around Christmas time!

My friend, Courtney makes cute little diaper cakes and she made two peas in a pod for me.
My friend, Amy had her friend monogram these precious burp clothes for the boys. I love them and then are so our style!

And the boys were given their first pairs of shoes. So cute!! Can't wait to put their little newborn feet into these!

Overall the shower was double the pleasure, double the fun! Just as the parting gifts said! Thank you so much Riverside ladies for making this an extra special day for me and the Shirley boys. Can't wait to introduce these little boys to all of you who have made an impact on our lives in the past two years!

30 weeks 7 days

Tomorrow marks 31 weeks for me and the boys. We are doing good this week. Enjoying the view outside today as it's beautiful with not a cloud in the sky, unlike earlier this week.

This week has been productive for me as far as working from home goes. Zach has also been productive in the babies room... the built in shelves are almost done. The final finishing touches will be done today and then the only piece of construction left will be to put up the crown molding around the room! Then it will be time to start organizing everything!! Definitely a good feeling considering I have no idea when these babies will come.

Yesterday was my visit to the specialist. It's been two weeks since my last appointment when she put me on bedrest. Thankfully, everything looked great. My cervix is at about the same place that it was two weeks ago which is great because that means that bedrest is doing its job! I actually lost 6 pounds since my last visit two weeks ago. Crazy. I don't really get it except that it's possible that I was extremely swollen at that visit and carrying a lot of water weight. Ever since being in the hospital two weeks ago, I haven't been swollen and my ankles are fully visible. It's a good feeling! Though I lost weight, the babies each gained a pound in two weeks.

Baby A is measuring 4lb 8oz (92% percentile) and Baby B (97% percentile) is measuring 4lb 12 oz. I grow big babies... they are about two and a half weeks ahead in their sizes for their gestational age.

The doctor was so pleased with their growth that at my next appointment she will just check my cervical length and not do the growth check on the babies. So here's to making it two more weeks until that appointment! I do have an appointment with my OB this coming Tuesday. So I go to the doctor every week now, it's just one or the other.

I have had several visitors this week and my dad has been taking care of me on the days that Zach had to work. My dad came over to make breakfast on Tuesday and Wednesday, since my mom was needed to work at Technology this week. My dad also graciously took Derby dog to the vet on Wednesday in the pouring rain because he needed his bi-annual checkup and he was itching like crazy. Derby didn't sleep a wink on Tuesday night because he was itching and scratching so bad. He had welts all over his under side. The vet gave us a steroid and an antibiotic for the pup because he had had an allergic reaction to something... most likely a bug bite or sting. We have no idea what, but he's much more like himself now.

This weekend, I'm looking forward to my church shower on Sunday afternoon! After that, I'm just taking it day by day!

First Mother's Day

First of all, I want to say that Zach treated me to a great first Mother's Day considering I couldn't really do anything but sit in the recliner. I wanted to post a better picture of me here at 30 weeks. I at least put makeup on and fixed my hair on Mother's Day. Tried to make the best of the fact that I'm on bedrest.

I thought it was only appropriate that Zach and I get a picture on my first mother's day. The boys sandwiched in between us... it's probably how it will be for years to come as well. (BTW, this was one of the few times that I was up during the day, probably again on one of my many trips to the potty.)

Reading my first Mother's Day card, Zach had to modify it to work for twins. I have a feeling that will be the case with all cards relating to this holiday. It makes it more special when you have to think about the card and how it will work for you.

I really had no clue what Zach was going to get me for Mother's Day, since I hadn't really asked for anything. He was thinking ahead of things that would keep me occupied during this bedrest time, so he got me a Kindle. No more reading real paper books.... now I can buy them wirelessly and save a lot of space. It's going to be really cool once I finish all the books that I have in paper. I did buy my first book on Mother's Day, Lineage of Grace by Francine Rivers. It's a story of the women in Jesus' geneology. I had read a couple of the individual books several years ago, but they now how this compilation book so I'm excited to read it.

Here are some belly pics that I forgot/didn't have the chance to post early. Kind of gives a chronology of my belly growth... Here I am at 25 weeks. This is in the boys' room. The room has made a lot more progress since this time, but I won't post final pics until it's finished. At the rate we're going, it might not be finished until after the babies are born.

And here I am at 28 weeks... this was taken just a couple days before I found out that I had to go on bedrest.

First two days this week have been productive as far as working from home. It's definitely slower than I would be at my desk at work because the systems just don't move as fast when you are accessing them remotely. But it's good to be useful!

Last night, the care calendar brought us dinner from Steve & Renae Cates, as well as Alaina. We had plum glazed pork chops with stuffing and salad. It was very yummy! Looking forward to some events this week, Holly brings lunch tomorrow, Bethany Sanders will bring dinner tomorrow night, Shevawn brings lunch on Thursday and Thursday afternoon is my appointment with the specialist. I'm counting down until this time! I'm very anxious to see how big the babies are now and to see what bedrest has done for me in the past two weeks. (BTW, when I went to my OB last week, I measured 40 weeks if I were having one baby. At the time, I was only 28 weeks. Yikes!) Pray for good results!

One week down...

An update from the recliner. Today marks 30 weeks with my babies and I'm so glad that they are staying put. Apparently the bedrest is doing what it is supposed, though it's not much fun.

Here I am on one of the many trips to the bathroom that I make. That's all that I am supposed to do on bedrest go to the bathroom and take a shower. Otherwise, I have to have other people to help me. Those other people have mostly been my mom and Zach. More so my mom since Zach has been working during the day. I could not have made it through the past week without my mom!!

So last Friday, the first day of bedrest I waited and waited for the doctor to call me so that I could get my steriod injections to help develop these babies little lungs. I ended up going to the hospital Friday evening to get my first injection and then they put me on a magnesium sulfate iv drip in order to stop contractions and also to prevent bleeding on the brain should there be premature birth. Once I sat down in the hospital bed on Friday night, I was not allowed to get up. It was a somewhat miserable first two days of bedrest. I stayed overnight in the hospital with 10 wires hooked up to me and getting lots of medication to take care of the babies. My mom again stayed with me so that Zach could get a good night's sleep before having to go to work on Saturday morning. It was a very restless night of sleep that we both got in the labor and delivery room. Nurses were in and out all night long trying to adjust the monitors on the babies and also taking my blood. I was released from the hospital on Saturday night after I had my second steriod injection. Came home, took a shower to wash the hospital off me and crashed. I was never more thankful for my own bed than after having slept the night in the hospital bed.

Sunday morning, day 3 of bedrest, our sweet friends The McSpadden's brought us breakfast, children's worship and communion. It was a bummer to not be able to go to church, but I have a feeling it's not the first sunday that I won't be there. It was nice to have company and good food!! Part of children's worship, consisted of Claire going in and out of Derby's crate a million times. She had a blast.

When I found out that I was going to be on bedrest, Shevawn immediately setup a care calendar for me. So our first meal come on Monday night again by way of the The McSpadden's. I spent the day sleeping and reading and watching tv. My mom did some laundry and started putting stuff in the babies room that had accumulated all over the house. Monday night, Zach and I were treated to a lovely meal of tri tip roast, green beans and sister schbert's (sp?) rolls. It was very yummy.... though on Monday night I didn't feel so hot. Lots of back pain and pelvic pressure. More than what I had been experiencing beforehand, so finally at 930pm, I called the on-call doctor to see what I should do. It happened to be my doctor on call and she told me to take a warm bath and to come in to see her first thing in the morning. They would work me into the schedule.

So I took my bath, which felt most excellent and made it through the night. I was at the doctor's office (my only trip out of the house this week) by 8:15am on Tuesday morning. They examined me, measured my cervix, and looked at the babies and I found out that I had a bladder infection. Yea me! I most likely got the bladder infection while in the hospital, but I was very relieved to hear that my cervix hadn't changed in length since my appointment with the specialist the previous Thursday. So I got home from the doctor and planted myself again in the recliner. I started on my antibiotic to get rid of this infection and then I waited hoping that I would get a call from my work saying that they had a laptop ready for me to work from home.

Tuesday night. the family came over to eat meatloaf that mom had made. It was a feast.

Wednesday, again it was a waiting day. Watched some tv, read my book, took a nap and waited for a call saying that my laptop was ready. I was able to help my coworkers at least by phone calls get through some of the things that I had left behind. That afternoon, my boss let me know that the laptop was finally ready. She made plans to bring it to me for lunch on Thursday!! YEA! No more burning my vacation days just because I didn't have a laptop to work on. Wednesday night's care calendar brought us dinner courtesey of Allen and Casey Watson and sweet little Michael. They brought a great meal of glazed pork chops, broccoli, salad and my personal favorite pumpkin angel food cake. YUM-O!

Thursday was a big day for me and bedrest. It was the 7 day, so the first official week of bedrest was done. My boss, Suzanne and my coworker Erum came to have lunch with me and bring me the ever-promised laptop. The house was cleaned and straightened thanks to my momma! And when we got the mail that day... this arrived!!!

Zach graduated in December... ya know 6 months ago! This is the second diploma that we have received because the first one was wrong. He was orignally classified with all the liberal arts candidates, but his degree was in fine arts with a major in art. So it is now correct and all it needs a frame! I'm so proud of this little piece of paper. It took a lot of hardwork from my hubby and he endured and is now so happy to be done with it!!

Friday, I was actually able to work the full day since I had my work laptop all set up. It's so nice to be useful to my coworkers and to be plugged in with them on a daily basis. Friday night, Jason and Jacquie were to bring us supper. Jason called early in the afternoon to say that their plans for actually making a meal changed since Jacquie was sick all day. So, Zach and I put in our order for Chili's. A very yummy meal for Friday night!

And that was the end of the first week of bedrest... pretty exciting stuff huh? All from the view of the recliner/couch.

This picture of Derby basically sums up how I feel at the end of everyday! It's hard to imagine that life in a recliner is exhausting. I think it's more so, life growing two babies is exhausting. Here's to at least 4 more weeks of bedrest.