Trial Run

We have had an eventful 24 hours to say the least. It all began with my routine weekly doctors appointment on Friday, December 28th at 10am. We went in for an ultrasound and weekly check-up at 34 weeks. The babies are both growing well and are up to roughly 5 lbs each. They continue to look good and have strong heart beats, move frequently, and my belly continues to expand. At around 11 am, we saw the physician who measured my cervix and said I was 3 cm dilated (previously I was 1 cm dilated) and 80% effaced. He scared us a little and told us to go directly to Labor and Delivery at the hospital. So, without stopping to pick up our overnight bags or anything else for that matter, we drove to the hospital immediately. I was put on three monitors-one for each baby and one for my contractions. The contractions began to become more regular and my cervix continued to dilate to around 4.5 cm. We were given options of C-section vs. natural delivery, epidural, etc... We were encouraged by the physician on call that both babies were doing well, not in any distress, Baby A was still head down, and appeared to be a good size if delivered at this stage. We opted to let nature take its course and shoot for a natural delivery. However, by around 7 pm, the majority of the contractions had stopped and at 8pm my cervix measured 4.5 cm. I was finally given permission to eat something (other than a popsicle) and moved to a room for the night. On Saturday, my cervix was measured again and showed no change. I was also not having any regular contractions; therefore the physician said I could go home and rest. We are very thankful that the pre-term labor stopped and the babies have the opportunity to grow a little more because staying in the belly is the best place for them even if it is only for a few more days. At this point, we don't know if it will be 24 hours or 2 weeks, but we will take it one day at a time. Thank you all for your thoughts, prayers, and support. We are posting a few pictures of our trip to the hospital as well as our amazing petsitters, the Maymirs. The Maymirs are wonderful friends that came over to get the pets last night along with all of the pet food and gear only to find out today that I was being sent home from the hospital! They also made a trip to the hospital with our bags that we failed to get on the way to the hospital-lesson learned....Thank you Debbie, Juan Carlos, Isabel, and Benjamin!

More to come!

John, Hannah, and the Twins

HAPPY BABY DAY!!!

Courtesy of my creative sister, Sarah, we enjoyed a suprise baby shower on Saturday, December 15th. John actually played a role in helping to organize the shower and I was completely overwhelmed and suprised. While we were very excited about our move to Minnesota, this has been a difficult move as we realized that our decisions were no longer about "John and Hannah", but also impacted the babies. It was disappointing not to share in the baby excitement with family and friends in a baby shower or to decorate a room for the babies since we are in temporary housing. But, this disappointment quickly changed to celebration on Saturday. Our MN friends, the Maymirs, stopped by to start off the suprise shower with a gift, decorations, and a suprise from John's two sisters, brother, and families. We received calls, cards, and gifts from friends and family members in Arkansas, Ohio, North Carolina, Texas, Louisiana, and Iowa. We were overwhelmed by the gifts and generousity. I am posting a few pictures from the shower below. Thank you all for the phone calls, cards, and gifts, we sincerely appreciate the thoughtfulness.

Belly Picture and Adi's New Hobby

We have discovered that our dog, Adi, has a new hobby. She loves hockey! The best part about it, as with any hobby that she enjoys, is that it wears her out so that we don't have to. Let me back and up and tell you that ice skating and hockey are as common as walking and running in Minnesota. Everyone has skates and everyone plays hockey! They flood the fields at all of the parks as soon as it is cold enough and put up outdoor hockey rinks for people to skate on. We are fortunate to have one across the street from our temporary housing so we have taken Adi over a few times and recently discovered that she loves to run on the ice and has an amazing ability to stop on the ice without running into the boards. She will chase the hockey puck for hours if you allow her to do so. Neither John nor I know much about hockey and we don't even have ice skates so John has been going out on the ice in his regular shoes with a hockey stick we found in our garage in the temp housing, but the kids we have met are more than happy to hit the puck around and play keep away from the dog! Adi does not seem to care that she only comes up with the puck once in awhile. She just runs back and forth, back and forth. I will attempt to post some video and a few pictures. The video is about 8 minutes long because I have not figured out how to edit yet. In addition, there are couple belly pictures. I began my 33rd week yesterday and continue to grow. I have a doctor's appointment again tomorrow to check the babies, but all is well. And yes, I know...the belly is HUGE, but keep reminding myself there are two babies in there!

The House, The Babies, and the Belly

The House, the Babies, and the Belly...that pretty much sums up what our lives revolve around at the moment. We had a wonderful week in all of these areas. Last Monday, we got an offer on our house in New Jersey. After about 4 days of negotiations, we came to consensus on the price and other issues. The inspection is scheduled for this Friday and we are praying that all will go well in that area. The House was built in the 1930's so it obviously has some issues, but we both feel it is a great house. We spent a lot of time updating it and hope that the next buyer enjoys it as well. This will be a big milestone if we can finalize the contract with the house so that we can move forward here in MN.

Now for the babies and the belly....I had a doctor's appointment and ultrasound today. I am at 32 weeks and the babies continue to thrive. The twins are each approximately 4 pounds which is a great size not only for a singleton, but particularly for twins at this stage. Baby A is also HEAD DOWN which is wonderful and increases the odds that I could potentially deliver naturally. Baby B is in the same position that he has been for virtually the entire pregnancy. He is head down and transverse, with his head on my left side. Both babies have their feet on my right side which explains why all the movement is typically on the right! The doctor was very optimistic with my progress as well as the fact that my cervix remains closed.

As for the belly, the picture will speak volumes. The belly is still growing and that is probably enough said. Please excuse the trash and Adi's rear end in the picture. We will update with a better belly picture in the future. This was an experiment with our new camera that we upgraded recently so we can get lots of pictures of the boys!

It is still cold here with temperatures much below normal. Adi continues to run daily with John and then fall asleep at about 7pm so that she is ready to wake up around 4am! She says she is trying to get us ready for the babies.

Adi and the Snow

We had our first really measureable snowfall in Minnesota over the weekend and probably got about 8 inches. Here are a couple of pictures of Adi in the snow, she absolutely loves it. We are really questioning if maybe she is a native Alaskan or something?? She is constantly wanting to go out in the snow and never seems to get cold! John and I have both decided that the purchase of a snow blower is soon to come. John got the pleasure of shoveling the snow at least three times in 24 hours.

31 weeks and Counting....

I am 31 weeks today and have officially gained 40 pounds. The doctors in NJ initially said I needed to gain 40-50 pounds and I thought they must be crazy, but it has not been that hard to do! We have an appointment on Monday and plan to discuss several things with the doctors as we get closer to the due date for the babies. As I mentioned in one of the earlier posts, we had some issues with the double snap n go and the car seats. Well, with a few slight modifications, the car seats now fit the snap n go.

We had our first measurable snowfall today. Although the natives say that they "rarely get any snow in December" and "they only got 4 inches last December", we have already gotten about 7 inches and it is still snowing. The snow is supposed to taper off, but it is not going to melt anytime soon. We had several people tell us that they hoped our dog liked the snow. Well, Adi loves it. All she wants to do is be outside and play in the snow. She stands at the door and paws the window waiting to go out so John has been out several times today. I will try to post some pictures of Adi in the snow, she is hilarious.