Tuesday, January 29, 2008

The Computer Goes Bump, Bump, Bump

I'm laying in bed right now ANXIOUSLY awaiting Jeremy's arrival home from work. Tonight is pizza and Idol night and I've been looking forward to it all day. As I am laying here flat, feet elevated, and laptop on my belly a funny thing is happening. My computer is bouncing up and down every few seconds. A kick? Nope. A punch? Nope...Hiccups. Not mine either. I can't help but smile at this dear moment. One of the babies has the hiccups, and for the first time (at least that I've been able to feel). What a blessed reminder for why I'm typing like a T-Rex. These little miracles are growing and changing every day. Thank you Lord for another week. After all...a week ago there were no hiccups.

A Glimpse at Hospital Bedrest


Saturday, January 26, 2008

Mom's In Town! Yeah!

My mom flew into town yesterday. Originally the plan was so that she could attend my baby shower but instead she's been cooking, doing laundry and cleaning. What a vacation! It's been wonderful though. I haven't had much of an appetite since the hospital and my weight seems to show it; I've lost six pounds. However, mom made spaghetti, her wonderful salad and bread last night and this morning she made french toast. At this rate, I'll gain those six pounds back no problem.
Tomorrow is the two week mark since I've been put on bed rest. I really cannot believe it's been that long~It seems so strange not to have driven or grocery shopped for two weeks. I've never been so stationary in my life!!! I am just SO grateful that we have these two weeks behind us though. Jeremy and I heard while we were in the hospital that for every three weeks I can stay on bed rest that will save the babies six weeks time in the NICU. Totally worth it. I just hope we can go another three weeks and without going back to the hospital.
We had a doctor's appointment this last Wednesday and thankfully everything checked out wonderfully. The babies heartbeats sounded strong and my contractions still seem to be under control with the medicine. Even though I am only 29 weeks, I measured at 37 weeks (term for a singleton pregnancy!) This growth is still so amazing. I also measured around my belly for the first time in two weeks. I measured at 43" inches around my belly button. I have officially added over a foot to my waistline!! Jeremy and I will try and get a picture up this weekend so those of you in belly picture withdrawal can get your fix. We have another doctor's appointment this coming Wednesday as well. So check back for more ultrasound movies and pictures!

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

The "Mother" of All Twin Inventions

Since I have quite a bit of free time on my hands these days, I have been combing the internet looking for items to make our soon to be "twinsane" life more managable. This has got to be the one of the best things that I have come across!! Sure you look like a idiot, but this seems like the only way I will EVER get out of the house by myself. Check out the MaxiMom. Maybe I will be a MaxiMom soon...HAHAHAHA

The Baby Shower?!?!

Quite a few of you have been asking what is going on with the baby shower...well...here's the info...
We originally planned to have it January 27th but all plans were put on hold and no invitations were sent out because of my little trip to the hospital. Because I wouldn't be able to attend a shower until these tykes are born (thank you bedrest) we decided to hold off until after they are born to make any plans. It's not the most ideal situation but we have to work with what we've got. : ) As for those of you who were wondering where we were registered, you can find us at Babies 'R' Us. Hope that makes things a little bit more clear for everybody!

Monday, January 21, 2008

Hospital Update

Here's what went down the last week for the Sloan's. I'll try to keep details to a minimum, but please remember sister and stranger alike check this blog. It's hard to find the balance...
So as many of you know, I went to the hospital Saturday, January 12th, with a really bad headache. No matter what I did I couldn't find any relief and I just seemed to be getting more and more uncomfortable by the minute. When we got to the hospital, the first thing the doc did was hook me up to the b/p monitor. To our surprise my b/p came back 170/100. The doctor was EXTREMLY concerned at this point because with a blood pressure this high there is concern of stroke/seizures/and organ failure. They are also concerned because with all the vessels in the body constricted so much the babies weren't getting adequate oxygen, blood and food. They decided at this point to put me on the baby monitors and contraction monitor to make sure everything was okay with the babies. Well the babies were great! Heartbeats great, lots of movement too. In fact, they were moving so much I attributed the tightening in my stomach to them just moving so much. Boy was I wrong. Once the monitors were hooked up, they found that I was having contractions every two minutes~not good. From there it was a ton of shots, IV's, med's; anything the doctors could do to try and stop the labor and get my b/p down. Nothing was working and it was at this point that the doctor told us the scary news, they were going to have to deliver the babies if my blood pressure didn't drop and the headache didn't go away. So they hooked me up to the magnesium sulfate and turned the drip on full blast.
Now, I've heard a lot of bad things about this magnesium sulfate; however, I was pleased to find out that the only reaction I had was it made me feel like my whole body, inside and out, was on FIRE! I mean this was not like being hot because you're outside on an August afternoon in Albuquerque. This was an unreal hot that actually added some comedy to the week. Every nurse, doctor, or visitor that came in asked if I wanted the room warmed up. Apparently, the 60 degree room didn't agree with them. I, however, had bags of ice all over my body. Poor Jeremy froze too. IT WAS GREAT!~For the first time in our whole marriage, he got to be the cold one. Thankfully, within an hour of starting the drip, my b/p dropped and my headache went away. The contractions didn't stop until Monday afternoon and managed to dialate me to 2 cm however. At this point, the doctors felt I was stable enough to transfer to a long term care room in the Labor and Delivery unit and I was able to come off the magnesium and start oral medication. The oral medication seemed to work okay and eventually they discharged me on Wednesday. Well, we made it home for 10 short hours before the home monitoring company called to tell me I was back to having 14 contractions an hour~so back to the hospital we went! They kept me at the hospital until Sunday just trying to get the contractions to stop again. Finally, between a mix of two different drugs every two hours things were stable enough for us to come home once again. So, for today we're home. For today I am still pregnant. We are just hoping and praying that the babies can make it four more weeks (to 32 weeks) without the preterm labor acting up again or the preeclampsia causing me to deliver.
We are just so grateful to God that he allowed the doctors to be able to stop the contractions and that I was able to keep the babies in for another week. It's amazing how much of a difference one week can make for the babies. Even though technology has the ability to deliver and keep alive babies as young as 22 weeks, it's a long and hard road for them and usually doesn't have a great outcome. God is so good and is so faithful to us. It was such a blessing to be able to rest in the fact that He has a sovereign and perfect plan for us and our family even though things seemed so unsure. He knows and has predetermined the exact day and time that our little ones will come into the world and while we hope and pray that it's later rather than sooner, at least we can rest in the fact that it is out of our control and yet completely for our good.
Even with everything that has gone on though, I am still not ready for them to be born. I am still loving having them in my belly, feeling them move and kick, and really just having them all to myself. We waited so long to get pregnant and now that the time is finally here I feel like it's just going too fast. Maybe that's why the Lord has me on bedrest, I don't know...Maybe he just wants me to use this time to focus on him, rest, and just enjoy my babies during this final and short lap in the pregnancy. Bedrest doesn't sound so bad when I put it that way! Time to just enjoy the Lord and my babies.
We are also thankful to each of you for your love, prayers, meals, cards, words of encouragement, visits, whatever!! We are so blessed to have such wonderful family and friends and we are grateful to God for each one of you. Everyone has contributed in such different ways and we have been blessed in abundance! Thank you so much. I hope I can express to you in the coming weeks how much your love has ministered to us. We do ask though that you please continuing praying for us, as we are still not out of the woods. Specifically that we would...
  • Seek the Lord and His will for us.
  • That I could remain healthy and pregnant for at least another four weeks.
  • That the babies would continue to grow, grow, grow!
  • That the doctors would have wisdom in treating me and the babies.

Sunday, January 20, 2008

We're Home...

We're home...I'm too tired to post much but I wanted to at least let you all know that we're home and the babies are still in the womb! Thank you for your prayers and concern. We love you all and will update you shortly.

J$ and Sarah

Tuesday, January 8, 2008

Hee Hee Hooo

Tonight is our first birthing class. All I know is that I'm supposed to bring two pillows and my "coach." HA! We'll see how things go!

Sunday, January 6, 2008

New Ultrasounds

Below are a few clips from our last ultrasound. However, you might notice that they are no where near as clear as the 19 week clips. The reason for this is that the babies are big enough now where they cast shadows on each other and so the pictures aren't as clear. Unfortunately, Darcy said this will just get worse as they grow. Bummer. Jeremy and I talked about getting one of those new 3D/4D ultrasounds, but it's just too risky in terms of finding out the babies sexes. I guess we'll just have to wait it out...man can I not wait to find out who these little ones are and what they are going to be like though. How exciting!!

Sarah's 26 Week Ultrasound

Baby B blinking and moving his arm around.

Sarah's 26 Week Ultrasound

Baby B stretching and moving away from the ultrasound tech. I guess he/she likes having their picture taken as much as I did as a kid!

Sarah's 26 Week Ultrasound

Baby A's foot.

Sarah's 26 Week Ultrasound

Baby A's heartbeat.

Wednesday, January 2, 2008

26 Week Appointment

We had our 26 week appointment today! Everything went wonderfully and we got to have another ultrasound. I can't believe how much they've grown!! Baby B weighed in at 1lb 13 oz and Baby A weighed in at 1lb 11oz. That's more than double in size since the last ultrasound at 19 weeks. How strange it is to think that there's almost four pounds of baby in my stomach...Even crazier is that before we're done there will be about four to six more : )

Sarah's 19 week ultrasound

Waving his/her hand.

19 week ultrasound

Some thumb sucking footage...

19 Week Ultrasound

Finally some footage from our 19 week ultrasound!