Not so fun contractions and update

I've been having contractions for about 5 weeks now. Most of them are just a tummy tightening with some mildly painful ones. On Sunday night (it's Tuesday now) they became very painful. They were so strong they made me throw up. Yuk! It's only the third time this whole pregnancy. Because I threw up I thought the pains were related to overeating or an upset stomach. Two hours later after still having them it finally dawned that they were really contractions. I drank as much as possible to stay hydrated since upchucking can make one dehydrated. I finally fell asleep and within 20 minutes was woken up by another very painful contraction. After waking Guy up we called the on call OB who had us go into the hospital. We got in there, had to strip and wear one of those pretty gowns, and was hooked up to a monitor. The babies were moving a lot so they weren't able to get a steady h/b on either of them. The girl was a bit easier, but she finally gave up on trying. At first there were no contractions and she said she was going to give me a button to push to indicate when I thought I was having them. Then about 15 minutes later I still didn't have a button and mentioned I was having a contraction. She told me I was having them every 2 minutes. They let the doctor know who ordered a couple of tests and came in to do a check on me. They had me do a urine sample to test for an infection, an FFN test to see if the protein babies release just prior to labor was there, and a few other tests for misc. things. All of them were negative which is great. He also did a cervical check, my first, which is a very unpleasant exam as women who have given birth would know. He thought the cervix felt closed and thought only a finger maybe on the dilation. He also had them give me a Tributaline shot as well as some IV fluids. After the shot and starting the fluid I felt sooooo much better. The shot's side effects are a racing heart and some very jittery babies... They were already moving a lot but became wild little monkey's in there! Guy could see my tummy jumping a few times. The OB said to just take it easy yesterday and to go to my already scheduled appointments on Tuesday.

Today we went to our growth u/s first. The babies look great and the digital image of my cervix showed it is still 4 cm which is great. So those nasty contractions haven't been making a change which is a big relief. The OB was the last new one I hadn't met yet. She was very nice, and took a look at the babies. She let me know Tributaline doesn't work to stop real labor so my painful contractions weren't real labor and they didn't change my cervical length. Both very good signs that pre term labor is not imminent. She said we'll be in the office so often at the end that we should schedule our next apt for 4 weeks out with the understanding if anything goes wrong I will call or come in right away.

I did have a weird experience when getting the u/s done. I felt really starving hungry and mentioned it. Then I started feeling faint. The u/s tech was great and recognized the signs of the baby weight cutting off my main circulation since I have to lay on my back for the u/s. She got me to lay on my left, a nice cool washcloth for my forehead (right as I started to get really hot), and some lovely graham crackers. After a minute or so I felt much better. Never saw that one coming. She said it is pretty common in later pregnancy or us really big multiple baby carriers. No wonder I never lay on my back as instinct must have let me know it would be an issue!

We made it to 24 weeks!

The 24 week mark of pregnancy is a wonderful milestone to get to. It means that we are now looking at an 80% or better chance of bringing home live children from here on out. Of course, that's with fine medical staff and facilities close by. Any birth in the next four weeks would mean an extended stay in the NICU with many difficulties as well as the potential for long term developmental issues. So this means we don't want The Boy and The Girl to make an appearance anytime soon we're just happy they are now viable. And besides that, we still have no concrete idea of what to name them. Our next OB and perinatal growth u/s appointments are scheduled for this Tuesday 1/29. Hopefully we'll get some cool u/s photos to post and they will tell us all is well. I have lots to post about our trip to Phoenix, me being super sick the last week and just life in general. Hopefully tomorrow. There are some photos too.

For my cousin Mar

Here are some of the interior spaces of my mom and grandma's house. No one had a chance to clean or straighten so it is what it is. There are a couple of my mom getting ready to take us to the airport and for work. The living room and dining room are on either side of the double door entry.






The kitchen is next. Beyond the kitchen in the shadows is the family foom with the massive big screen TV. There is a large pantry which includes a full size freezer on the right side of the family room.






This photo is of the hallway the three bedrooms and common bath are off of.

This is the master bath vanity and shower. The shower feels comfy and warm when using it. There is a fakey fakey plant in there at the far end which actually helps provide the mood. I love the rainbath head with its adjustable height as well as the second movable head which can opperate at the same time or seperately.

This is the large master closet with mom getting ready. She has a vanity table and storage in front of her. The second shot is from the bedroom towards the master entry.

This next one is looking into the master bedroom. The bed actually does look very nice when made. And she does make it almost every day. The last one is looking into grandma's bathroom.

All alone

I am so upset at the moment! I had five paragraphs all written out. Then when trying to format them to show the paragraph breaks it erased everything! There is no undo. Uggggggg.....

So here's the much condensed summary unless I get back into the post.

Guy left for Phoenix with our friend Armando (Mando) on Sunday very early in the morning. Mando is moving out there to start with the Gilbert police department. His wife and kids (Aleesha & two boys Ethan & Jaxson) are still here waiting for their house to sell. Mando will stay with his brother in the meantime. The two fellas make excellent time and arrived on Monday evening in time to watch the end of the LSU football game.

The dog has missed Guy and was depressed by Monday. He didn't even eat his food that day. Yesterday was better. He actually has liked the kennel in the past. I'll bring him to work on Friday then drop him at the kennel. Aleesha is going to take me to the airport for my flight to Phoenix. Only two more days!!!!

The house has seemed really empty and boring. Since Sunday I have had quite a lot of Braxton Hicks contractions with three painful ones. So it has meant camping out on the couch when not at work. In a few more months I'll be wishing for the boredom annoying me now.. The babies are also starting to move a bit more and more noticeably. Guy is hoping they will be able to be felt by the time I get to Phoenix this weekend. I don't think so since it's already Wednesday.

It has been really warm the past few days enabling short sleeves. Nice. However, all of my maternity tops are becoming rapidly too short as my belly pokes out farther. Now what? This may be the only time I actually wish I was shorter.

This isn't near as good as the first post and the information is different, but oh well. Ta ta for now!

Sad update on my uncle

My uncle Lance passed away very early Saturday (12/29/07) morning from his lung cancer which had metastasized through 4-5 other organs/body parts. He found out he had cancer and about a year to live right when I got pregnant 21 weeks ago in August 2007. He only lived 20 weeks from his diagnosis. I was unable to fly home for the funeral which was held yesterday morning graveside in Phoenix. My aunt seems to be doing really well. She said my cousin, Ty, is not handling it very well at all. He was there with them when he had a severe seizure. After the seizure he was unable to speak or move. They had 6 hours with him in this condition before he passed, and Ty is having a hard time dealing. My other cousin, Corey, arrived Sunday night and had to leave today to head back to his army base in Virginia Beach. Tawni flew out for the week from Virginia beach. I only got to speak to someone briefly yesterday as they were at the after gathering (way too loud to talk). Tawni said the service was nice and there were many many people.

He will be missed terribly by us all. Those of us who knew him well have so many good times to remember we'll have a piece of him in our hearts forever.

Belly shot at 21 weeks and u/s update

Here is the belly shot at exactly 21 weeks pregnant. The OB said I have a 'huge' uterus. lol It made me laugh. She only said that because I said the belly seemed to get big fast and I've had some major growing pains. The u/s showed my cervix is still long and closed. This means the contractions I was having are definitely the Braxton Hicks kind and harmless. Or the hardness of the stomach can also mean not enough water or I'm doing too much. She was very pleased overall and asked me to set my next apt for four weeks out. She was a bit discouraging about flying just because I am considered high risk, and you never know when something could happen even though everything is going well. The u/s was not a good one. The tech wasn't very good at explaining or showing much. We still enjoyed getting to see the babies. No good pictures though. The girl is still commanding the top part of the uterus laying across my belly with her head on the right side. I thought the pain where her head is was one of my fibroids. She's a hard headed little gal. The boy's head is directly below hers. His body is somewhat across and down taking up the bottom of the uterus. It's pretty cool to see their heads together and it looked like they were batting their hands at each other. All good news on the baby front with all discomfort and pain perfectly normal.