ding!!!! the time is up!

Well tomorrow we will officially be 37 weeks!!! I cannot believe we have made it this far and have had such a normal pregnancy.. a few bumps in the road but nothing to some of the horror stories I have heard. Today we had our 2 dr appointments and both Morgan and Mackinzie are doing great. We are expecting to have a 5 lb 7 oz baby and a 5 lb 4 oz baby. We will see.....

My blood pressure has been up in the 150s over high 80s for both visits but since we have our c section scheduled for tomorrow they saw no real red flag to take them tonight. So mom and dad get one more night of freedom. Justin and I had a nice dinner out and we are enjoying a quiet night.

We talked to Dr Stanzyck about our c section and he answered ALL of my questions and concerns. I have complete faith that he will do a great job and deliver our two babies with ease. I am going to get a spinal instead of an epidural which means instead of the catheter staying in my back I will just get a big needle injected into my back with medicine to make me numb. Justin will be in the operating room next to me unless complications occur and they have to knock me out. I am feeling very nervous and overwhelmed and I just keep praying that God will calm my nerves and get me thru this. When I get nervous I tend to shake ALOT and get all crazy .... so all i have to say is they better strap me down good.

My final thoughts of today are on my girls. After 37 weeks of being pregnant and all the ultrasounds we have had the girls decided to show us what their faces look like. From the ultrasound pic they are VERY cute. But that is just my opinion :)

I have carried these girls for a good amount of time and feel like I have acheieved what I set out to acheive. We just have to wait and see what tomorrow brings.

The end of this pregnancy is kind of bitter sweet and I don't know why I am feeling this way since I have LITERALLY been counting down the days to our c section. But the time has come and I know Justin and I are READY!

Morgan and Mackinzie,

We love you more than words can express and we cannot wait to hold you! You are everything we have ever wanted and life is complete with your arrival. Till tomorrow! Love , Mom and Dad

36 weeks.... and almost done!

Here we are at 36 weeks. These last couple of weeks have dragged on sooooo sloooowwww! I am so ready to have these girls yet they seem perfectly content being womb mates. This past week we had some challenges and had to be up in springfield 3 times in one week. As most of you know the trip from Lebanon to Springfield is about 35-45 minutes with traffic and it is not fun to sit in the car that long being this pregnant.

Our monday visit went off fine with Dr Fraser. They are still very active and everything looked great on their end. I had talked to Dr Fraser about these severe headaches I was getting and he decided to do some lab work. He test my blood count and all my electrolytes and made sure my liver was ok and he also tested my uric acid and protein in my urine. The protein is to test for pre eclampsia and when the results came back I was 1 point over the breaking point to have it. So Dr Stanzyck ( my obgyn) had me come in on Friday for monitoring to make sure the babies were ok and sure enough they were.

Saturday came and we had to make a trip to triage. I had some leaking fluid and thought it was my water leaking. Went up to springfield and was tested and monitored and again everything was ok. We left very disappointed but there was nothing else to be done.

So now we are in our 36 week and almost to 37 and Dr Stanzyck has given us the medical clearance to have a c section on Tuesday, August 23rd. This is AMAZING news for us because if my protein would not have been a little high we would probably be delivering in September. I am super excited to have this date set and I am literally counting down the days, hours, minutes and seconds.

I know this week is going to go by even slower because the fact that I am dwelling on my c section date so I am trying to do things while keeping my feet propped up because they are ALWAYS swollen.

I cannot believe that in less than a week I will be holding my girls and this will be over. I would love to say that this last month has not been that bad but I would be lying if I did. Between the headaches, pelvic pain and constant discomfort of extra fluid I am ready to have these two.

We had them estimate how big they are on the ultrasound and Baby A ( mackinzie) is about 4lbs 14 oz and baby B ( morgan) is said to be 5lbs 70z. So I think they are going to be just fine and not have to spend any time in the NICU. They are growing and getting stronger everyday and the ultrasound tech mentioned if things were different with my health that they probably would stay closer to 40 weeks..... this people are CRAZY!

So Monday we have our 2 dr appointments and tuesday is the BIG day. It is kind of strange to think the next time I update this blog I will have pictures of the girls and be done with this pregnancy. Until then...... we will keep you all posted!

It is almost time... 33-35 weeks

Well everyone we have made it to 35 weeks. Dr Stanzyck is very happy with us making it this far and says that he normally shoots for 34 weeks. So Morgan and Mackinzie are overacheivers:) The pics are of the girls room. My sister made the "M's" and they are right above the cribs. We also have a frame in there from their cousin Cooper! Cannot wait to fill that one... the quilts are from Nana Jeanette. ( which are sooooo cute) Grandma Tracy bought the cribs and the cute little Giraffe's. The room has ALOT of pink in it so I am hoping that all the ultrasounds were correct.

33 weeks:

We had a minor scare about 33 weeks..... we went for our 2nd monitoring and Baby A's ( Mackinzie) heartrate would get into the high 170s and would not go down. So they ended up doing an ultrasound for 30 mins just focusing on her and her breathing and moving. She did not breath thru the 30 mins and had minor movement. With that said she scored a 6 out of 10. They need an 8 to pass. So we ended up going to Triage in the hospital to be monitored for another hour to make sure she was ok ( plus I was having some bad pain on my left side). We stayed for about an hour and 1/2 and we finally passed. The Dr on call said that I was having very mild contractions, which is normal at this time for carrying twins and that the girls heartrates were fine for the time being. If we had been 1-2 weeks further along we probably would have had them.

34 weeks:

Dr Fraser and Dr Stanzyck were both seen last Monday and we talked ALOT about how and when the girls are coming. Baby A ( Mackinzie ) is the first baby to come out and she is in fact and staying BREECH ( feet down). Now this might not be an issue if she was the only one in there but with having two there is no real safe way to turn her. So we talked about C section( which by the way scares me) and when they will do it. Basically at this point I could go into labor at anytime and they would just do the procedure. However, if I do not go on my own it is looking like the last week of August ( 38 weeks). So with that said, 2-3 more weeks and we will be holding our little M&M soon.

35 weeks:

Today is our monitoring with Dr Fraser. We see him weekly and Dr Stanzyck every other week. Today is also the day we find out how much they are weighing. This is done every 2 weeks. At 33 weeks Mackinzie ( baby a) was 3lbs 10 oz and Morgan ( B) was 3lbs 15oz. So I am positive we will have two 4 1/2 to 5 lb babies. My blood pressure has been slightly elevated these last couple of weeks and I have had some blurry vision and headaches so we will find out what the Dr has to say about that. I checked it yesterday and it was 143/84. Dr Stanzyck does not get alarmed unless it is 150/100 but Dr Fraser is very concerned about it just being over 140. So needless to say I have 2 very different types of Dr's taking care of me.

Looking at how close we are makes me sooooo anxious and nervous about being a new mom. I have MANY challenges left to face and yet I feel so blessed. This pregnancy has been super rough and wonderful at the same time. I feel right now I am a sitting duck most of the time. Just waiting for them to arrive. :) I know when they get here time will fly and a year from now I won't even think about all this discomfort and pain I am in. I think the things that have helped me the most thses last couple of months is thinking back a year or two ago and how much I wanted to become a mom. I think about all the times we thought we were when we weren't. I also think about the day I found out and how amazing it was to see two hearbeats. I will never forget the first couple of kicks and moves and how cool it was to know that a little person was starting to grow. Or when we found out it was 2 girls and how even though we wanted one of each how excited we were to know how healthy they were and how much they were going to impact our lives. Even though we were scared and nervous about having twins I cannot picture our life any different. Our family is finally complete:)

32 weeks

Well everyone we have made it to 32 weeks. This week marks the start of our weekly fetal monitoring visits. The bottom picture shows me all wired up and the girls heartrates being monitored. Basically the girls heartrate has to be monitored for a full 20 minutes a week. They have to have 2 spikes of the their heartrate; 15 bpm higher than their resting. Morgan ( baby B) passed the test right away while Mackinzie lingered and took her time. Whenever the nurse would try and stimulate them to move and get their heartrates up Mackinzie would move and be off the monitor. Needless to say I will have my hands full with her. :) We will have their weight checked via ultrasound every other week so next Monday we will find out the their weight ( roughly).

The summer heat has really taken a toll on my feet, hands, face and legs. As you can see in the pics I have really retained alot of fluid.... EVERYWHERE! I am really trying to keep my feet elevated above my heart and drink lots of fluids! Other than that I have some indigestion and have been dealing with alot of tingling and pain in my hands, wrists and finger joints. I have read that this is normal and my Dr. does not seeme to be alarmed. My blood pressure is good and my weight gain is steady. All checked out good with Dr. Stanzyck except the fact that he got onto me about having a strawberry lemonade.... he only likes me to drink water. :)

As we approach the girls arrival I am starting to get more anxious and excited. Sometimes I feel as though I will not make it another week but suprisingly I do.... I am still working on getting the room put together but that should be done by next week. I find that the weeks seem to fly by now and I cannot believe we are almost finished. I cannot wait to see their little faces and touch their hands and feet and see their eyes for the first time. Even though this is the hardest part of the pregnancy I still feel sooooo blessed to be having these two miracles. I am very fortunate to be having a relatively calm pregnancy. I hear horror stories of mothers of twins and how I really have not experienced any real hardships. I continuely pray that the Lord keeps them safe and that we make it another week so that they can grow and be able to come into this world with no problems.

We Love Our Family!

We just want to say "thank you" to all of family who came and planned the shower. We are sooo blessed to have you apart of our life. The shower was wonderful and having the entire family together was amazing! The support we have received has been overwhelming. We love each and every one of you.

Kilene's suprise shower visit!

Originally my sister had told me she would not be able to make it for the shower. With 2 toddlers and her busy schedule I could understand her not being able to make it. This video is her and my mom suprising me with her arrival. As you can tell I had NO idea. I have not seen my sister in a year and it was WONDERFUL to have her here and help me with everything. Being that she just had 2 kids of her own recently she was an incredible help. If only we lived closer..... I know could use her expertise when the girls get here but skype is always an option. My niece, Caddie also was able to come which was great for Justin since he had yet to meet the Bug. Uncle Justin and Caddie bug got bound this past weekend and watching him take care of her really shows me more and more each day how wonderful of a Dad he will be. :)

I am so blessed to have such an amazing relationship with my sister and my mom and I cannot wait for the girls to meet them. We have had sooooo much support during this pregnancy I am so overwhelmed and grateful.

31 weeks.......

31 weeks and we made it to the babies shower. The theme had the same colors as the girls room and was absolutely gorgeous. Justin's mom, sister, aunt, step sister, cousin and my mom helped plan the shower. We had a pretty good turn out and everyone seemed to have a lot of fun. The cakes were made by Amy Cakes in Springfield MO and were soooooo good! I feel so blessed to have so much support and love from each and every one of you that came. It means alot to me!