First major "hiccup" during my pregnancy

Sorry to all that were looking for this post last week. For some reason, it didn't "publish" so I'm trying to up-date ya'll now.
Sun. Jan. 24th- Sunday night was a rough night for me. I was up from around 1am until about 5am with what I found out later were contractions.

Mon. Jan. 25th- I ended up going to work, but not going in until late. Even before I left for work, my legs were already swollen with fluid even though I had only been up on my feet for about an hour. Nick mentioned that morning that he thought this week would be my last week of work (he knew I had a drs. appointment later in the day). While at work, I was miserable, exhausted, & ready to go to my doctor to see what was going on. I wasn't at my drs. office more than 20 minutes when they sent me onto Greenville Memorial Hospital to be admitted. My fluid was no longer just in my lower legs, it was up past my knees & also in my hands & fingers. My blood pressure was 158/98, which was too high and my urine dip was showing protein. So I was admitted into the hospital & they started more blood work & testing. It took 2 nurses and 4 tries to get an IV started...I had so much fluid on me that my veins wiggled around when they would stick me. They also had me start collecting my urine for a 24 hr. protein test. As they monitored the twins for a non-stress test, they also determined I was having contractions every 7 minutes. Thankfully, they were able to give me a shot that slowed them down & kept me from feeling them as much.

Tues. Jan. 26th- At about 2am, the nurses came in & placed Potassium in my IV drip. My blood work had showed that my level was below normal for potassium and above normal for my liver function/enzyme. At about 5am they came in to due more blood work and 6am for vitals & weight. By Tuesday evening, I was feeling better, my blood pressure was dropping & the NST for the twins was going well, with little to no contractions. I also had an ultra-sound done with the MFM. Baby A (girl) was still breached & measuring 3 lbs. 8 oz. and Baby B (boy) was head-down with his feet kicking my ribs, as usual. He was measuring 3 lbs. 14 oz.

Wed. Jan. 27th- By Wednesday, I was feeling lots better, but my Dr. did determine based on my protein/urine test that I have Preeclampsia. She told me it was a mild-case at this point & that they thankfully did not need to do an emergency C-section; however, they did want to go ahead & give me 2 steroid shots to help the babies' lungs develop in case they are premature. The 2 shots were to be given 24 hrs. apart, so she also informed me that I wouldn't be discharged until Friday or possibly not at all depending on how safe she felt it would be.

Thurs. Jan. 28 & Fri. Jan. 29th- They continued to monitor the babies, my contractions, blood work, etc... but it was very nice to finally see my shins, knees, ankles, & feet once again! I was feeling so much better after several days of strict bed-rest. My IV had become occluded, so they also removed it & allowed me to take the potassium orally instead. It was so much nicer to shower & sleep without the IV in my arm! By Thurs. night I was so ready to go home since I was feeling better than I had in a few months. Friday morning, Dr. Hogan said I could be discharged as long as an at home health nurse was available to come out to my house to check my blood pressure and to do the NST on the twins. It was so very nice to get home Friday evening. As I was driving home, it started snowing so it was great to come lay down on my couch & look out the window as the snow flakes were falling.

Sat. & Sun. Jan. 30-31- We ended up getting about 4 inches of snow & sleet/ice on top of it so of course we lost power around 5am. Nick's gym was closed for the day, so he got up & built a fire and then went & purchased a generator. This was pretty needed since he was going to be gone Sat. & Sun. at competitions for his gym, plus the salt-water fish tank needs to stay at a specific temperature or our fish could die. I of course, took full advantage of sleeping in my own bed & resting pretty much the entire day. Sunday, Nick was also gone at a competition, so thankfully our friends, Corby & Katie, live only about 15 minutes away. Corby came up & put more gas in the generator & also took me to their home so that I could take a hot shower & visit with some people while I was just laying in his reclining chair. It was nice to eat dinner with them too & not by myself. Nick got home late that night & thankfully our power had come back on so the house wasn't freezing.

Mon. Feb. 1st- Dr. Hogan had scheduled for me to come in for an appointment to follow up on lab work, blood pressure, NST, etc... to make sure my strict bed rest was doing ok. Nick went with me just in case the results weren't good & I needed to return to the hospital. Thankfully, other than feeling a few contractions & seeing some black spots, I felt like I was doing much better. My blood pressure wasn't great, but it was a lot lower than a week ago & the NST was showing good rates on the twins so other than Dr. Hogan asking for me to do another 24 hr. urine test, we were pleased with the results. However, after eating lunch, I was feeling pretty bad & couldn't wait to get home to lay down & rest. Which is exactly what I did. I got home, Nick got my ice water filled-up, the DVD player hooked-up, and I watched a movie while he went off to work.

The goal is to keep the twins "in the oven" until at least 34 wks and preferably 35-36 wks. On Wed. Feb. 3, I will be 33 weeks. So prayers are needed! I came out of work about 3 weeks earlier than expected. Thankfully, I have a wonderful team of teachers & faculty that have been very helpful & supportive! I miss my co-workers already, but I know that the stress of my classroom would not be a good place for me to be. My students will have to understand & know that I will return soon....sooner than some of them may want me to!

Belly Portraits

While I was home in Indiana for Christmas, my older sister, Tera, was kind enough to take belly pictures for me! I knew that I wanted to get some done since I doubt I will ever experience pregnancy again, but I didn't want to spend a bunch of money for a professional. On Dec. 22 when I was 27 weeks pregnant, Tera took lots of pictures. Earlier that day my younger sister, Trista, had darkened my hair, so if it looks different than normal, that is why. Also, if you notice my bright red belly in the colored pictures especially, that is due to a minor reaction to some body wash/lotion. I was pretty miserable for 4-5 days since the rash was extremely itchy, but at least it wasn't anything serious. By the way, Tera burned a CD for me of all the pics she took and I had several framed for Nick as part of his Christmas gift. The ladies at Wal-Mart made me sign a paper stating that the portraits were not taken by a professional. My sister Tera is very creative & has always loved taking pictures, so I'm sure she was happy to hear that they also thought the pictures were well done.

~Baby Shower Celebrations~

Wow! Nick & I are so very blessed to have such wonderful families & friends! They all showed us such great love & support through attending our baby showers. We are both still in disbelief at all the great gifts we have received. Baby Shower #1 was given by our friends & co-workers, Lexa & Stacy. It was held at the Clemens' home here in South Carolina on Nov. 14th. It was a "couples shower" so we had fun making the men play Baby Pictionary! Baby Shower #2 was given by my sisters, Tera & Trista, back in Indiana on Nov. 28th. The shower was held during the busy Thanksgiving holiday weekend, but it still turned out to be a wonderful shower. My sister's did a great job with all the decorations, especially coordinating all the colors to match our nursery. Nick & I were fortunate enough to drive my new truck up to IN, so we were able to bring all the gifts back with us. Marley & Gage had to sit/sleep on 2 baby matresses, but they didn't complain too much. Our 3rd baby shower was held at Carrabba's Italian Grill in SC on Dec. 5th. It was a "triple" affect shower, for me and the 2 other teachers from my MED co-hort that are also expecting their babies in March. Abbie is pregnant with twin girls and Tara is pregnant with her own sweet honey bun, but it's gender is still a secret! This shower was special in that we got to have a reunion with several of our co-hort buddies. It is hard to believe how fast our MED went by because during the time we were all taking the courses, I never thought I'd live through it all. Thankfully while I was taking my classes, I made some great friends. And last, but definitely not least, was the Dixon Baby Shower on Dec. 19th in Evansville, IN. My SIL's, Leslie & Shannon, and my MIL Kitty gave Nick & I another wonderful shower. That Saturday was an extremely long day, but well worth it! Nick drove me to the Charlotte airport around 4:30am, but then my flight was delayed 2 hours, so I just walked around the airport until I was able to fly to Indy. One of my greatest friends from high school, Autumn, picked me up from the Indy airport & drove me down to my Mom & Dad's (about 2 hours south). I only had about 45 minutes to get ready & then Mom & I drove down to E-ville for my last baby shower (another 2 hour drive). Leslie, Kitty, Shannon, & several of Nick's aunts worked extremely hard to decorate & prepare all the food for this shower. The tables were covered in stuffed animals, baby toys, blankets, bibs, etc... and it was all so sweet! I loved getting to see so many of our family members & friends that live in E-ville that we now rarely get to see due to living in SC. ALL of our baby shower's were special in their own way & I do not know what we would do without such wonderful family & friends! Our twins have new cribs, bedding, clothes, rocker chair, bibs, blankets, bottles, diapers, pacifiers, stroller, and much much much more all in thanks to our family & friends! THANK YOU so very much to everyone that was involved in helping Nick & I get better prepared for their arrival. I cannot express how grateful we are for everything we've received! I have created a slide show of pictures from the various baby shower celebrations, but I wasn't able to download all of the pictures. Hopefully I will be able to add more later. Hope you all enjoy, xoxo!!!