pregnancy update

I know I haven't written much about my pregnancy. And I know some of you have been waiting for me to update this blog. Sorry. But I have a few excuses (in no particular order): 1) I really didn't have much to report on until recently. 2) I didn't want to get my hopes too high just to have a miscarriage or something. 3) I've been tired. 4) I don't feel like writing. 5) I miss Kris so much that I don't want any negativity to show thru my writing.

But here's a little update anyway......

The first 30 weeks of my pregnancy have been really great overall. I have been really blessed with a relatively uneventful pregnancy. I had a lot of morning sickness and major tiredness the first trimester, which is normal and to be expected I suppose. Then I found great relief during the first few weeks of my second trimester. But overall, most of my second trimester took a toll on my body. Aches and pains that I never expected...to the point where I began to question weather or not I could handle ever getting pregnant again (just to clarify, although there were very difficult times, I am 100% sure that I would love to be pregnant again). And I guess I should mention the hand full of dizzy/fainting spells I experienced due to low iron levels. One of which landed me in the ER because I was passing out on the airplane (at 19 weeks) when I flew from UT to CA for Thanksgiving. But even with those few things, I really feel like this pregnancy has been wonderful and I am so happy and blessed to soon be a mother to two precious baby boys.

I felt my first Braxton Hicks contractions at around 28 1/2 weeks. Just a few here and there...most of which were barely noticeable at first. But then a few days shy of 30 weeks, I started to feel them more and more often, and they were stronger and stronger. Some of them actually hurt a bit (not too much, but definitely not comfortable). At my Dr's appointment on Thursday (exactly 30 weeks along) I told her about them and that I was having 1-3 an hour pretty much every hour. She was a little concerned because that was more than I should be feeling, so she told me to take it easy and that I needed to be on partial bed rest. I could get up every once in a while to go to the bathroom, take a shower, get some food, sit around ( I didn't actually have to lie down all the time) but to generally take it easy. She told me to keep a pen and paper handy to keep track of the contractions. If I had 6 or more in an hour, I needed to immediately drink 4 glasses of water, lie down, and just relax. If they didn't ease up within the next hour, then I should call, even if they didn't hurt.

Well, that same night, I noticed that I was having a lot more than 3 an hour. It got to the point where they were coming every 10 minutes or so. Then 7-8 minutes. But even after following her instructions, they actually started coming even closer. By the time I called and we were on the way to the hospital they were coming every 2 minutes. Talk about scary. I know that with all the modern medical technology, these babies would have a pretty high chance of being OK, but the reality is that babies are "supposed" to be born around 40 weeks for a reason. They are not usually completely ready until then. Every day counts. And I want my boys to have the best chance possible at a healthy life. I would LOVE to make it to 40 weeks.

Anyway, I left to the hospital at around 1:00 am on Friday morning. I was hooked up to all kinds of wires, monitors, and the IV. They ended up giving me a shot to stop the contractions, and also a shot to help mature the babies' lungs in case they were born too early. And I was told to go on bed rest but to come back in 24 hours to get a second shot of the steroid for the babies' lungs. Also to call if the contractions were more than 6 an hour. We (me, my Aunt and Father-in-Law) got back to my Aunt's house at around 6:30 am.

Well, that evening, they started getting closer and closer again. We were off to the hospital again 5:15. I got another shot to calm the contractions. We got home again around 10:00 pm. The next morning (Saturday) at 4 am, I went in to get the second steroid for the twins' lungs. They checked me out while I was there and all looked well. But by the afternoon, I was experiencing contractions a few minutes apart. I decided to try and take a warm bath and see if that would help, but no luck. So I was back in the hospital by around 6 pm. This time, although they gave me a shot once again, they wrote out a prescription of that same medication in pill form so that I would have to make this a pattern and come in every day, even multiple times a day.

So after 4 trips to the hospital within a 2-day period, I am now on bed rest trying to keep these boys in as long as possible. Every ounce of discomfort is worth it. I'm excited to meet my babies, but I just hope they hang in there for several more weeks.

That's it for now...