Update from my bed

Even a foot of snow couldn't stop me from my one outing of the week. My doctor's appointment got moved to the afternoon yesterday, but luckily it didn't get cancelled.

So here's the latest. My cervix shortened even more, down to .7cm from 1cm. At this point in the pregnancy, it should be around 3cm. The good news is that it's still closed, and I'm not dilated at all. The bad news (for me at least) is that bedrest continues as is. I'm happy to do it to keep those babies in there.

The doctor changed my medicine and changed the dosage to round the clock, so hopefully that will help stop the contractions. I started feeling some contractions, mild, but I could still feel them.

The doctor gave us an 80% chance of making it to 33 weeks, so that's good. Of course we'd like to go even longer than that, but getting another 4 weeks would be great.

Thanks to everyone for your prayers and well wishes. Right now I'm looking forward to my little boy coming home today!

Cute DIY

One of the things that I can do lying down is surf the net. I'm trying to be diligent about completing our 2010 family photo album online, but most of the time sometimes it feels like a chore and I escape into blogdom to explore cute blogs.

I came across this Valentine's Day project at Tatertots and Jello blog. The link for this particular post is here.
It's done with really inexpensive supplies-dollar store frames, scrapbooking paper, etc. And the frames can be used for other things after V-Day is over. I've never really decorated for Valentine's Day, but I thought this was cute.

28 Week Graphic

Just picture this with both babies' heads up. There doesn't appear to be a lot of room in there, so I'm not sure how Baby A managed to flip entirely the other way.

 

And it's Monday.

Well, I'm starting my 12th day now. No bed sores, but I have a case of bad attitude this morning. I'm having problems logging onto my work network because I had to change a password. After an hour on the phone with the helpdesk at my work, they said the new password won't be recognized until I "simply" go to a local rental branch or corporate office and run a series of programs he gave me. Of course. So I'm working through my list of stuff that can be done via email.

In other news, Kevin met my parents last evening and Eli went with them to Milton until Friday. Until Friday! That's the longest he'll have ever been away from us. He loves being there, so it's Kevin and me that I'm worried about- not him. :)

Update from the Couch

I had an appointment yesterday and will every Thursday until the babies come. My cervix is still the same- so that was good news. I was hoping it would have gone the other way (more closed), but I guess that doesn't happen.

The babies' growth looked great. They are measuring right on track and are estimated at 2 pounds 8 ounces and 2 pounds 7 ounces. We also found out that both babies are currently breech. Baby A had been head down the entire time. This past week I have felt so much movement on A's side- I seriously thought a limb might poke through my stomach. I guess that was him flipping around.

The doctor recommended that I get a device put under my skin to continuously administer the contraction medicine and also have an at-home contraction monitor to use twice a day to see if I'm contracting at all. Unfortunately my insurance company doesn't feel like either are necessary, so we're waiting to see what happens with that.

So... so far, so good. Still horizontal. Still getting a lot of work done, so that keeps me busy between 8-5. I'm spending a lot of time yelling at the cat to get her nose out of my water. She's a couch hog too. I'm looking forward to next Thursday's appointment. It was nice seeing the outside and breathing some fresh air for a little.

Of course there is drama...

Just when things are progressing along like normal, whammy.

I went in for 2 routine appointments last Thursday- the first was at my OB for my glucose test. Quick in and out and I was off to the perinatologist for my bi-weekly cervix check. Those checks have been going great. This time however, there were some changes. My cervix has shortened considerably from two weeks ago. It's still closed, but there is just 1 cm left.

So they sent me to labor and delivery in the hospital for some monitoring. I hadn't felt any contractions or anything like that, but they wanted to monitor the babies and for any contraction activity. After and hour or so, they had discovered contractions, so I was admitted. I spent Thursday all day until Friday night at the hospital. I was given shots of medicine to slow the contractions. They weren't major- mostly what they called irritability- with one or two larger ones every hour. I'm now on pill form of the medicine.

I also got two shots of steroids to strengthen the babies' lungs in the event they are born prematurely. It was just a precaution, but I'm glad they did it. It matures the babies' lungs to the equivalent of 32 weeks, which can make a world of difference if they are born early.

I was discharged Friday evening and sent home on strict bed rest for the next 2 weeks. I'm allowed to get up to go the bathroom and shower and that's it. I'm not allowed to do anything with Eli. I'm not even allowed to sit.

My parents came down this weekend to help out with Eli. Kevin works most Saturdays- half days- but I can't be home by myself with Eli. I just can't chase after him. So it's been great having them down. I have a little nest made around the couch. It's going to be a long days, that's for sure. There isn't much variety between one side of the couch and the other. The good part is that I am allowed to work from home. So I actually should be able to get a lot done during the week on my work laptop and cell phone. (As long as I can lay down doing it!)

We're hoping that the bedrest will help keep my cervix closed and not go into premature labor. It's super important to get these babies to at least 32 weeks and hopefully longer.

So if anyone wants to visit, I'll be here. Right here on the couch. If you don't see me on one side, I'm on the other.

Eli's Room... Part 1 Artwork

Eli has been sleeping in a twin bed for a couple weeks now. He's done really well with it. We started out with the mattress on the floor, but now he's in a regular bed. His room doesn't look like a nursery anymore. The walls had been light blue with one wall that had light green stripes painted on it. My dad painted navy blue stripes over the green ones. Kevin made an upholstered headboard and matching guard rails for the bed. Those updates will be in a separate post. I still need to take some pictures of the final results.

This weekend I worked on the artwork for his room. The colors in his bedding are navy, orange, light blue, brown, and green. We decided to accent in mostly orange since his walls are now light blue and navy. The bedding is not themed, so we decided that the accessories would be transportation-themed for now. Eli is really into trucks and buses and things with wheels.

I wanted to keep everything inexpensive, but I'm not exactly the craftiest person. My mom found transportation themed peel-and-stick appliques at Hallmark. The colors were perfect, and there was quite a variety of sizes and types of vehicles.

The first part of the project was to make something for a long narrow wall next to a window. I found unfinished chalkboard frames at Ben Frankin when I was home for Christmas. They had a navy blue chalkboard finish (that I'm sure would be terrible to actually use chalk on but worked for my purpose) for $1.49 each. Later on I found two more (gray chalkboard backgrounds) at JoAnn Fabric). I painted the frames orange and green. The finished products are below, but I just finished them today and haven't hung them in his room yet.





The next project was to make something for over Eli's bed. I changed my mind about what I wanted to do about 10 times but finally decided on painting a canvas. I found one on sale for $8 and got some acrylic paint.

Here it is with the first coat.

Here's the finished product. I'm really proud of how it came out. We haven't hung this over his bed yet, but I showed it to Eli and he liked it.

I also decided to pick up these letters and paint them to match. I think I am going to put them either above or below the canvas. Just a subtle reminder.

Hopefully I'll get my act together soon and take some pictures of the entire room. We still want to put a beanbag or make the corner of the room some sort of play area after we move the glider into the twins' room. If you're wondering what kind of progress we've made in that room.... well, nothing so far. Still plenty of time, right? :)

25 weeks- belly shot

I'm 25 weeks as of yesterday. I'm measuring 28 weeks for a singleton, but I feel and look a lot bigger than that. :)

Happy New Year

We're celebrating New Year's Day with lots of playing (in our pajamas). Here are Eli and Daddy playing with the new tunnel Eli got for Christmas.

Thank goodness this tunnel is durable!