27 Weeks

Hello everyone. It has been a very exciting couple of weeks. Last Wednesday, Sonya with the help of my K team threw me a wonderful shower at work and I received so many wonderful gifts. The outfits are adorable and the diapers are definitely needed! I'm so lucky to work with such giving, wonderful people. I had a beautiful cake which was hand made and one of my students parents paid for it! I also had an appointment with my doctor on Thursday. It was a short visit. He just listened to the babies heartbeats and checked my blood pressure and weight. Everything looked fine. I've gained 7 more lbs. in a month which isn't too bad, but God help me when it's time to lose it all. I'm sure the babies will keep me busy in that department. I've had this sinus infection which I'm having a hard time getting rid of because I can't really take anything. The most annoying thing right now is the itching. Not just on my stomach where I have horrendou s stretch marks, but everywhere...on my legs, arms, feet, back....everywhere. I was told it's just the influx of hormones. I was told to bathe with Aveeno, lotion with Aveeno, and use Benadryl cream if it gets real bad. It all helps a little, but not too much. I guess I can deal with it, as long as I have 4 healthy babies!
This week took a little bit of a turn. I had an appointment on Wednesday for an ultrasound and to check my cervix. First the good news...the babies are all doing great. They are all healthy and gaining good amounts of weight. Baby Girl A weighs 2lbs. 1 oz (gained 7 oz. in 2 wks.), Baby Boy B weighs 2lbs. 5oz. (gained 8 oz. in 2 wks.), Baby Girl C weighs 2lbs. 1 oz. (gained 7 oz. in 2 wks.), and Baby Girl D, the runt nomore weighs 2lbs. 3 oz. (gained a whopping 10 oz. oz in 2 wks.). We have some great 3D pictures of Baby Girl C, who seems to be the ham. She takes great pictures. We have have half of Baby Girl D playing Peek A Boo trying to see past Baby C's sack. Baby Girl A is impossible to get a picture of. She is always facing the wrong way and she is very low. Baby Boy B gave us a a quick face pic, but we couldn't get him on 3 D. He is just showing us his skeleton face. Nick and I were also told that Baby Boy B has a l ot of hair, so did Nick when he was born. I guess he is already taking after his daddy. Now for the semi-bad news???...This Sinus infection I've had is finally starting to go away, but it turning into coughing and sneezing. I thought it was great, but turns out, not so great. When they went to check my cervix on ultrasound, it looked pretty good until I happened to cough while they were measuring. Then it shrunk down to under a centimeter, which is not good. They are worried that the coughing and sneezing is going to blow out my cervix and cause me to go into labor. SOOOOOOO, I am officially on real bed rest, only to get up to go to the bathroom and shower as quickly as I can. I also went right to the Labor and Delivery Triage after my appt. courtesy of Nick's wheelchair driving skills (that was funny, not!) for a steroid shot. The doctor told me it is to speed up the babies lung development, just in case something happens. I also had to go back today for another one . Now I'm done with that. My doctor told me that I need to rest because he is going on vacation. He also told the doctor that's on call that if something does happen over the weekend to give me all the drugs possible to stop contractions because I AM NOT to have these babies without him! He had a meeting with all of the doctors, nurses, and staff about me and they all know I'm coming at some point, which is reassuring I guess. Another good thing is that I'm not really having contractions! So we'll have to wait and see. Hopefully they'll stay in there another 3-4 weeks and everything will be fine! Please keep us in your prayers. I'll update again soon! Enjoy the pictures!
Kelly

26 Weeks

Hello again! My appt. on Wednesday went great. My doctor finally put me on bedrest. Modified bedrest, which means that I can walk around. He just felt that it was finally time to stop working. All 4 babies are doing great. They have each gained 6 more ounces. Baby Girl A weighs 1 lb. 10 oz., Baby Boy B weighs 1 lb. 13 oz., Baby Girl C weighs 1 lb. 10 oz., and baby Girl D weighs 1 lb. 9 oz. The doctor says I am doing very well and he is very proud of me. He now wants me to reach for 32 weeks. I will try my best. I have been monitoring for contractions 2x a day and I've had between 1 and 3 an hour which is good. Sometimes I don't have any and sometimes it's just the babies being irritable. I feel pretty good considering I only sleep about 2 hours at any given time. Either I have to go to the bathroom or I have to shift my body because it is stiff. I finally had my first charlie horse and I hope it was my last. The pain was horrendous and I couldn't reach my calf to rub it because my big belly was in the way and I was in bed and had a hard time getting up to stand and walk on it. I truly am a mess. I don't know what I would do if I didn't have Nick for massages, support, and take care of me or my mom to help feed me and the babies the appropriate foods and help to take care of me as well. Here are some ultrsound pictures, but not of all the babies. Baby Girl A & Baby Boy B were being stubborn, but there are some pretty good pictures of Girls C & D. The one of Baby Girl D's face is cool and the picture of C & D together is neat. That is how close together they are! My next appt. is on Thursday 18th. I also have an appt. afterwards to visit the NICU and the nurses. I'm excited for that! I go every week now, but every other week is an ultrasound. I'll check in on Saturday or Sunday next week. Time is winding down fast. I can't believe it!!! Nick and I are both nervous, but very excited to meet these precious babies. Talk to you soon!

Kelly

24 Weeks

This past week was a very busy and exciting week. Sunday, August 24th, I was thrown a surprise shower. Boy, was it a surprise! One of my friends flew in and Nick’s Mom and Sister both flew in just for the shower. I had a great time, not to mention all of the wonderful gifts I received. During the shower, I felt lots of tightness in my belly and decided to call the doctor on Monday morning. When I called, I was told to go right to the hospital. I was very scared. While I was there, I was put on a contraction monitoring device and they took a look at the babies. It turned out that everything was fine! The tightness I was feeling was just irritability. The babies are irritable because they are fighting for space. On the ultrasound, you could see them kicking and punching up a storm. I then started to actually feel them kicking. It feels more like someone is poking me very lightly.
On Tuesday, a nurse was sent out to my house and brought me a home contraction monitoring kit and a terbutaline pump. I have to monitor myself 2x a day for an hour on the contraction kit, after which I send the info via wireless connection to a nurse in Philadelphia or Tampa who then calls me to tell me how many or if I had any contractions. I am allowed to have up to 4 an hour, any more than that and I have to re-monitor for another hour. So far it has worked well. It feels good to know that if I am feeling contractions or even if I just am not sure of what I am feeling I can just monitor and the nurses will call to tell me if everything is ok. So far I have had a maximum of 4 contractions (only the first time I used it), but every other time it has been one contraction or none at all! I think the terbutaline pump has really helped in that department. It is to keep you from having contractions. It is a little pump that I have to wear 24/7; it will give me a constant dose of medication through a little tube in my leg. I do have to change the site every five days. The amount of medication can also be adjusted if I need it.
I had a doctor’s appt. on Wednesday. Everything is still going wonderful. The babies are all doing well. Baby Girl A is measuring 1 lb.4 oz., Baby Boy B is measuring 1 lb. 7 oz., Baby Girl C is measuring 1 lb. 4 oz., and Baby Girl D is measuring the smallest at 1 lb. 3 oz. The doctor said that their sizes are good and he told me to continue working, if you can believe it. I am exhausted! I am very swollen all over as you can see in the pictures. It is very hard to smile, because honestly, I am very uncomfortable. Don’t get me wrong I wouldn’t change anything. I am very excited to have these babies, but the weight and discomfort are really taking their toll on me as you can see in the latest pictures of me. I just have to take it one day at a time. Everyone here has been a great help giving me hand, feet, and back massages. It helps to push the water around because it tends to settle in those places. Overall, everything is good. I’ll be back in 2 weeks for an update because my next appt. is on Sept. 10th, unless something happens in between.

Kelly