Another Day!

We made it home yesterday afternoon after getting a chance to tour the NICU and ask questions so we can be more prepared for what's ahead. After my last steroid shot we headed home.

We were able to get a few things wrapped up at home and got our bags packed so we're more prepared to stay each day depending on what our sonograms show.

This morning we had a sonogram at the hospital since it's the weekend. We were a little more stressed and nervous than usual because the sono tech was a student who is still learning and just didn't quite have the expertise that our previous techs have had. He did fine - it was just that everything moved slower and seconds seem like hours when we're waiting to see results on certain things they're looking at. He did get help from a more experienced tech and ran everything by our doctor before sending us home! Our little girl's s/d ratio looked the same as yesterday and both of their fluid levels were fine. They were not quite their normal wiggly selves this morning but they've been moving throughout the day. So we're rejoicing for another day!

We're taking it easy today and trying to catch up on sleep and get ready to head back tomorrow morning for another sono! Thanks so much for all of your continued prayers.

Please pray for wisdom for the sono techs, doctors, and nurses as they make the decision as to when it will be better for the babies to be delivered than to stay where they are. Also please pray for Ryan as he feels like he is fighting a cold. If we are sick at all we will not be able to see our babies in the NICU so that is a scary thought and we're hoping he can fight off the cold and be completely well whenever the babies do arrive.

Not the birthday we had planned!

Yesterday we came in for a complete sonogram and to see our high risk doctor. We had been in the routine of them saying all was well and sending us home! Plus it was my 27th birthday so we had plans to do a little shopping and spend the afternoon together. When our sono tech checked our little girl's s/d ratio she was extra quiet and she is usually pretty bubbly. We couldn't see exactly what was wrong but things just didn't seem normal. So we waited in the lobby for a while to see the doctor which wasn't all that unusual. Then we heard her say that we were being admitted to the hospital and realized we weren't going home. Our litte girl's s/d ratio had gone to absent. That doesn't mean she doesn't get any flow through her umbilical cord - it just means that she is getting nutrients when my heart contracts or pumps but when it rests before the next beat she is not receiving nutrients for that brief period. Plus she did not gain as much as she should have over the past 3 weeks.

So we walked across to the hospital and were admitted. They gave me a steriod shot to help both baby's lungs develop in case we deliver soon and I am getting the second shot this afternoon. They also hooked up the heart and contraction monitors to my tummy so they could monitor their heart rates. Every nurse and doctor that came by said their heart rates look amazing for this stage of pregnancy and that's what we've been told the entire pregnancy so that was great to hear. The only worries are really that her s/d ratio will go to reversed or that their amniotic fluid amounts go too low and at that point they would deliver both babies. There are of course a lot of other complications that could appear out of the blue but right now they're concentrating on the fluid and s/d ratios.

Yesterday was definitely an up and down day - we are almost 30 weeks which is a huge point and ups their survivial rates greatly but it is still scary to read all the possible complications for such little preemies. They think our girl is 1 pound 14 ounces and our little boy is 3 pounds 1 ounce. We were able to talk to the neo-natologist late last night about the NICU (neo-natal intensive care unit) which is where our babies will likely spend several months. He was great and very informative but really optimistic too. Once the babies are born at this point he thinks that our little boy will actually have more trouble than our little girl. Girls apparently are more resilient and especially since she has been stressed her organs will be more developed than his, especially her lungs. But of course they'll know a lot more once the babies are out and they can examine them better.

So it is a day by day game at this point. We get to go home this afternoon after my shot and a tour of the NICU. But we will be back every day to the hospital or the high risk doctor for daily sonograms to make sure that their fluid is ok and that her s/d ratio has not gone to reversed.

The report today is good so we are excited and thankful for that. We are also so thankful for all the wonderful doctors and nurses we have met - they are all so helpful and caring. Just being more informed of what we're up against makes today seem less scary than yesterday. Ryan has a cousin that is an OB/GYN at the hospital we're at and she made yesterday much easier for us - we are so thankful for her taking the time to check in on us and answer our questions. It just made us feel so much more comfortable and less scared! We also had lots of visitors last night which helped the time go by instead of worrying about the sono this morning. We're excited to be headed home to sleep in our beds tonight and get things more "ready" so we're prepared every day we come in in case we stay and deliver. We could deliver tomorrow or they possibly say a week or two later realistically, but I guess they think it might be possible for us to last several weeks. Every day and hour is worth so much to the babies so we're just praying that they can stay inside and continue to develop as long as possible!

Thanks for all of your prayers, visits, phone calls, and thoughts. We are reminded every day that God is in control and that He has our tiny babies in His hands which is so comforting when we realize there is nothing that we can physically do to make them better. We just continue to pray and trust that God knows the plans for our future - even when it seems so uncertain to us. We are so thankful for the babies he's given us and are trying to enjoy every minute we have with them, instead of worrying about the next hour or day.

Thanks again for your prayers!

Another Successful Sonogram

We made it through another successful appointment today!

We just had a quick sonogram but they checked for a few extra things today. They looked to make sure the babies are "practicing their breathing". They don't breathe all the time but randomly they will "practice breathing" and you can see their ribs and stuff move up and down. That was exciting to see! Both were doing that. Our little girl is just always wiggling around and it's hard for them to see anything because she won't sit still long enough to see what she's up to!

We also caught our little girl yawning during the sonogram. I guess she's had so many sonograms she's bored at it already! It was really cute to see. And you can see some hair on the back of our little boy's head - I guess it's true what they say about the heartburn - at least he has some hair!

She gave us a little scare when they checked her s/d ratio - she moves around so much that she's kicking her umbilical cord or just moving so much that it doesn't stay still enough for them to get a good reading. So it looks scary when the pattern doesn't look like it's supposed to - we are blessed to have a wonderful second sono tech that is also awesome and we've started to get to know and enjoy her. She is bubbly and encouraging which is what we need when we get nervous waiting for the readings!

So, another successful day! We have a full sonogram and get to see the high risk doctor who we haven't seen for 6 weeks on the 26th (next Thursday). We weren't sure we'd make it this long when they were scheduling all these appointments weeks in advance so we are praising God to have made it to this point! Starting next week we also get to see our OB doctor weekly so we'll have plenty of updates along the way.

We've also passed the 28 week mark which is a huge milestone - so there are plenty of things to be thankful for today!

Encouraging News

We had another appointment on Thursday and were very encouraged! Our doctor was so happy that we have made it to almost 28 weeks! Things look so much better for the babies now than at 23 weeks or so when they first realized just how small our daughter was. Their chances of survival if they needed to take the babies is just so much greater now than even a couple weeks ago. So we are thankful to the Lord for that and are glad to have something to be excited about! On average the doctor said that every day they can stay inside is worth 3 days in the NICU so we are rejoicing for every day!

Ryan is finally feeling like himself again after recovering from the flu that had him down for most of last week. I am also happy to say that I still have not caught the yucky flu or any of the other viruses that are going around!

We're headed to another appointment on Wednesday and are praying for a good report and that we'll be able to come home for another week!

Appointment Update

We left in the dark this morning for our weekly appointment and there were huge snowflakes falling! They quickly turned to rain but what a start to the day. Both babies heartbeats and amount of amniotic fluid are great. And our little girl's s/d ratio was again normal so we got to come home!

Today our sono tech looked at both babies in 3D. We were really excited to be able to see our little boy who has been hiding his face for weeks! We were able to get a 3D picture of him that is really cool (the picture on the left)! But then when our tech went to get a 3D picture of our girl, her brother had his feet right in her face so we weren't able to get a very good look at her! We praise the Lord for another week and a positive report.

Our little girl - - - - - - >

We have an appointment with our OB doctor tomorrow and hope to learn more details from our full sonogram last week since we haven't talked to the doctor since then (which is good news - if something looked bad the high risk doctor was supposed to call) so no news is good news this time.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The past week has been a tough one - our hearts are heavy for friends Joel and Jess and their precious 11 month old daughter Cora who went to be with Jesus on Sunday after a fight with cancer. The words to the song that is in our play list "Blessed Be the Name of the Lord" have been running through my head the last weeks especially.

Blessed be your name

On the road marked with suffering

Though there's pain in the offering

Blessed be your name
Every blessing you pour out,I turn back to praise

When the darkness closes in, Lord

Still I will say...

Blessed be the name of the Lord

Blessed be your name

Blessed be the name of the Lord

Blessed be your glorious name

You give and take away

You give and take away

My heart will choose to say Lord,

Blessed be your name

Even though life seems out of control and we certainly don't understand God's plans, we continue to choose to say Blessed be Your name and realize that God is the One that gives and takes away. Though we will probably never understand why He would cause such hurt by taking this little girl we know that He is sovereign and in control of all things - in our lives as well.

Ryan also has been under the weather the last couple days with the yucky stomach flu. Please pray that I would be able to keep from getting sick - the last thing that our little babies need is for me to be unable to eat!

Thanks so much for your continued prayers for all of us!

Made It Another Week!

We had a full sonogram today. Our little girl now weighs 24 ounces (1-1/2 pounds) and our little boy weighs 31 ounces (almost 2 pounds). They have continued on the same growth curve they were on which is great news! She is still in the less than 3% percentile so they are still concerned even though the sonogram today again showed no reason for her small size.

<-----Our Baby GIRL

We have a great sonogram tech who is very helpful and knows what she's doing. She's willing to answer our questions since we don't get to see the doctor each week and is a great encouragement to us!

So we made it another week and will be back next Wednesday morning to check on them again! Thanks so much for your continued prayers and support!

Our Baby Boy ------->
He is Not Photogenic :-)

Welcome to our brand new blog!

This is our first post so bear with us as we learn to blog!

To get you up to date with us and what's happening in our lives -
Ryan and I were married on August 3, 2002. We have had several big changes in the last several years. We built a house in the country and started farming and ranching! In 2006 we adopted our first puppy, Chloe, our beautiful black lab. She loves to give loves (sloppy wet kisses and licks . . . all over). She loves to play and hunt . . .we're not sure for what. In May of 2008 Maddie showed up on our porch and found her way into our hearts. She just wants to be close to you and snuggle. She is so goofy and has some of the silliest faces. They make us laugh!

Last summer we took our first big trip - we flew to Alaska for 11 days and had an awesome time! It was a great getaway after the struggles we had been facing with infertility and just life in general.

We were so excited to learn that we were finally pregnant last fall! We went for our first sonogram one week after learning we were having a baby. And to our surprise there was not 1, but 2 tiny babies on the screen! God had answered our prayers above and beyond anything that we could imagine. After the initial shock, we were so excited as we started dreaming of two babies to love. Ryan hoped for a girl and I thought a boy would be great. Finally we were far enough along for the sonogram to reveal their little parts. There were girl parts . . .and boy parts! One of each - could it get any better?

It was at this songoram that they mentioned that our little girl seemed a little smaller than her brother. But they didn't seem too worried.

At 23 weeks we saw a high risk pregnancy doctor - our OB/GYN said it was routine to have one sonogram there if you're having twins and a visit with the doctor just to make sure things were ok. The sonogram confirmed still a boy and a girl . . . and they seemed to have all the right organs, etc. But our little girl weighed only 12 ounces while our little boy was 20 ounces. We talked to the doctor right after the sonogram and she was very concerned about just how small our daughter is. There seems to be no apparent reason for her small size - I am gaining weight and there are no birth defects they can spot on a sonogram. Everything seems fine other than her small size. The doctor gave us best and worst case scenarios and we realized that they might arrive much earlier than the April "expected" due date.

So, we've been praying and trusting God to take care of our little babies. And I've been stuffing myself until I'm too full to eat anything else :). We go for weekly appointments for a quick sonogram to make sure their heart rates are good and that everything is moving correctly through our little girl's umbilical cord. So far things have been fine and they send us home . . .which is the best news that we can get on a weekly basis.

Every 3 weeks we will have full sonograms and they can calculate their weights to chart their growth. Tomorrow afternoon we have another full sonogram so we'll be able to find out how much they've grown in the last 3 weeks. We hope they send us home after the sonogram . . . if they keep us there that means more monitoring and if things look bad enough we may have to make some tough decisions about if and when to deliver the babies.

We are praying that God gives us wisdom and patience as we wait on Him. We know that these babies are a precious gift and are so happy to have enjoyed them for even the time He has given them to us. We are waiting to see what He has planned for them and for our lives, realizing that this could be a long and tough journey. But we are also looking forward to all the exciting things He may have in store for us. Each day that they can grow is a blessing and gives them such a better chance. So we'll head to the doctor again tomorrow, with the realization that there's a possibility we may not be coming home . . . and we could have babies at any point. We are really hoping to make it through the month of February which would make them about 30 weeks.

Please pray for us that we will not worry, but trust that God has us all in His hands and that He is sovereign and in control of all things. Also pray for wisdom in any decisions that may come our way regarding the babies.

Thanks to everyone for their prayers, kind words and thoughts. We know so many of you are keeping us and our babies on your minds.

We plan to keep you updated after our weekly appointments since I know so many of you want to keep up to date with what's going on. And with any other info we learn!