One more week closer to our goal!!!! Only 5 more weeks until we hope to bring these little girls into the world. It's crazy to think that I have already been here for a week. Hospital life.... what can I say about hospital life.... It definitely has it's ups and downs.
I don't have a lot of complaints so far. I am getting used to the nurses schedule (like coming in at 6am to check my blood pressure) and I am starting to know what I do and don't have control over (like needing to state on a daily basis that I do NOT need to be wheel chaired down to do monitoring because I am capable of walking myself). However, the food....... uggghhhhh....... the food! I'm not sure I will be able to survive 5 more weeks of hospital food! I am able to go to the cafeteria which widens my selections a little, but I have a feeling even that will become monotonous pretty quickly. I am definitely missing freshly prepared food. It's hard to enjoy a chicken breast when you know it was boiled with about 500 other pieces 3 hours before it is brought to your room under a warmer. Oh, the sacrifices I am making for these babies :) A little more serious~ the hardest part BY FAR is being away from my family!!!! I miss my kids, my husband and my home so much!!!! Korby is trying to bring the kids up as often as he can, but even when it's every day it is only for an hour or so. I'm used to my older kids being at school and playing with friends, but little Vivian! It is breaking my heart to be away from her! I'm used to her being with me all day and I am missing her so much!
On the brighter side~ yes I am trying to find the positive things about being here too. All of the nurses, doctors, staff are so friendly and nice. Everyone that I have had contact with so far (which is way too many to count or remember them all) has been very pleasant. I am sleeping great (a major plus!) It is AWESOME not to have a single thing to clean! I have a beautiful view of the mountains. And the best of all, is that so far these babies are doing great!!!
Hopefully the next week will be as uneventful as this past week :)
Sunday, July 29, 2012
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
Goals
I am LOVING my goals for the day!
The hospital offers in room massages for their long term patients. So, I guess some good is going to come out of this long hospital stay :)
Other than that, I'm just trying to settle into my new room and figuring out what my daily schedule will be like. One thing I have already learned about hospitals~ they do not care if you are a morning or night person~ they will keep you up late and get you up early no matter what. Anyone who knows me well, knows that I am a night owl and I love to sleep in the mornings. However, as someone reminded me, once the babies are home I will pretty much be giving up on sleep altogether, so I guess this is a good time to start getting used to getting interrupted sleep at night and woken up early.
Babies are both still doing great!
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
A New Beginning
I am blogging from my new residence~ the hospital! I am starting this blog to keep friends and family informed of the progress of this pregnancy and to document this crazy, unpredictable, and hopefully in the end joyful journey of bringing these two little girls into the world.
As a quick recap~ Korby and I found out that I was pregnant in February. It was a TOTAL shock and surprise to us (Vivian was only 6 months old at the time!) Our first appointment was normal, but it was too early to hear a heart beat, so 2 weeks later I went back. That is when they did an ultrasound and I found out that we were expecting twins! I was then referred to the Maternal Fetal offices for another ultrasound because my midwife couldn't find a membrane between them. Korby and I didn't know much about what that meant, we were still trying to wrap our heads around having 2 more babies. That ultrasound was 2 days later and it changed everything! We found out that our babies are monoamniotic twins~ identical twins that are sharing the same amniotic sac (the 3rd picture down). It only happens in less than 1% of twin pregnancies. It is a high risk pregnancy because of the risks involved with their umbilical cords being in contact with each other, getting tangled and knotted up and getting compressed (cutting off blood supply and oxygen to the babies).
So, the normal proceedings in this type of pregnancy is being admitted to the hospital around 24-28 weeks, having the babies heart rates monitored from a range of 2 times daily for an hour at a time up to continuous monitoring depending on how well the babies are doing and if there are any problems. And then if the babies can make it to 32 weeks without any major complications they will be delivered via c-section at that time. Which means, at best, they will be born 8 weeks early (if not earlier) and will need to spend time in the NICU. They have told us to expect babies born premature to plan on coming home close to their actual due date, which wouldn't be until around October 28th!
We are penciled in to deliver on September 3rd (Labor Day, appropriately named), but understand that in reality these little girls could be born at time in between today and our planned date.
All of that being said, and with soooo... many different complications and possible outcomes~ as of today everything is looking GREAT! Both babies are growing well (last week they were 1 lb 9 oz and 1 lb 8 oz). Still so tiny, but it is wonderful that they are growing at the same rate. And so far their heart rates have looked great also.
We know so much of how well things have gone up until this point is a combination of a lot of prayers and thoughts on our behalf and a lot of faith and trusting that this is part of our Heavenly Father's plan for our family.
Hopefully things will be pretty uneventful for the next 6 weeks, but I've got nothing but a whole lot of time to keep this blog updated!
As a quick recap~ Korby and I found out that I was pregnant in February. It was a TOTAL shock and surprise to us (Vivian was only 6 months old at the time!) Our first appointment was normal, but it was too early to hear a heart beat, so 2 weeks later I went back. That is when they did an ultrasound and I found out that we were expecting twins! I was then referred to the Maternal Fetal offices for another ultrasound because my midwife couldn't find a membrane between them. Korby and I didn't know much about what that meant, we were still trying to wrap our heads around having 2 more babies. That ultrasound was 2 days later and it changed everything! We found out that our babies are monoamniotic twins~ identical twins that are sharing the same amniotic sac (the 3rd picture down). It only happens in less than 1% of twin pregnancies. It is a high risk pregnancy because of the risks involved with their umbilical cords being in contact with each other, getting tangled and knotted up and getting compressed (cutting off blood supply and oxygen to the babies).
So, the normal proceedings in this type of pregnancy is being admitted to the hospital around 24-28 weeks, having the babies heart rates monitored from a range of 2 times daily for an hour at a time up to continuous monitoring depending on how well the babies are doing and if there are any problems. And then if the babies can make it to 32 weeks without any major complications they will be delivered via c-section at that time. Which means, at best, they will be born 8 weeks early (if not earlier) and will need to spend time in the NICU. They have told us to expect babies born premature to plan on coming home close to their actual due date, which wouldn't be until around October 28th!
We are penciled in to deliver on September 3rd (Labor Day, appropriately named), but understand that in reality these little girls could be born at time in between today and our planned date.
All of that being said, and with soooo... many different complications and possible outcomes~ as of today everything is looking GREAT! Both babies are growing well (last week they were 1 lb 9 oz and 1 lb 8 oz). Still so tiny, but it is wonderful that they are growing at the same rate. And so far their heart rates have looked great also.
We know so much of how well things have gone up until this point is a combination of a lot of prayers and thoughts on our behalf and a lot of faith and trusting that this is part of our Heavenly Father's plan for our family.
Hopefully things will be pretty uneventful for the next 6 weeks, but I've got nothing but a whole lot of time to keep this blog updated!
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