Easter Weekend

Since I have been putting off blogging, here is a quick rundown of how our Easter weekend went:

Easter Egg Hunt: We brought Macyn to the local egg hunt and it was complete chaos! I think she was overwhelmed in the crows of people trying to find eggs, but she managed to find a gold one! She received a new kickball along with a bag full of candy. She also had her face painted and got to hold a baby chick.

Easter Morning: We had a little surprise for Macyn - a new wagon filled with presents! They were mostly practical things, like socks, underwear, etc. but she didn't seem to mind. Now if only the weather would cooperate and we could actually go outside with her new wagon!

She also wore her new dress that my mom sewed for her. She was pretty excited and she loves to twirl in it!

Easter Lunch: We held Easter at our house this year since my parent's kitchen was all torn up. It turned out to be a good time. Macyn and Caden and the boys played downstairs while the girls just chilled upstairs. Macyn also was able to pull Caden in her new wagon out to his car when it was time for them to leave.

We had a great Easter with my family. It was a nice, relaxing day!

28 - 29 Weeks

28 weeks (left), 29 weeks (right) - can you see Macyn hiding behind me?! :)

I have made it to 29 weeks! I am definitely starting to feel more pregnant everyday. At this point in twin pregnancy, I am as big as a full term person with a singleton! It really hit me after walking around the indoor fair last week. I was super tired…and stayed that way until I could catch up on napping this past weekend. Night time sleep is a different story. I feel like I don't sleep at all. All I do is toss and turn, which is painful due to achiness. I also still get up 5-6 times per night for bathroom breaks, heartburn, and leg cramps. I have tried to not drink so much at night, but it doesn't seem to help. I guess this is just how its going to be these last 7 weeks! I can't complain though, things could be worse – like bed rest or something! I still get more and more tired doing simple tasks. I have now resorted to sitting on a roller chair to wheel around the house and do chores like laundry, etc. We have dubbed this my "wheel chair." Literally.

We had our 28 week checkup last week and both babies are still head down. I don't have any good ultrasound pictures since they are running out of space it is hard to get some good ones! Here is how they are measuring.

Baby A: 2lbs 15oz

Baby B: 3lbs 5oz

I also had my diabetes test. I was not expecting a good outcome since I failed mine with Macyn, and passed the three hour. So I drank the stuff about 1/2 way through my ultrasound and then they drew my blood and hour later. That afternoon I received a phone call that I passed! I was super excited! I had to get below a 134 and I had an 84! I think with Macyn my score was like in the 170's. Its amazing how different pregnancies can be. My blood pressure is still continuing to be good as well.  I am still on no restrictions and will have another checkup in two weeks. I have gained 25 lbs so far, and I gained about 25-30 total with Macyn. So with 7 weeks left and twins, I can't complain!

Also, we scheduled my repeat c-section for May 15! That leaves about 50 days left. I will be 36 weeks 3 days at that point. If the babies are born at 35 weeks they will have to be in NICU. They won't go past 37 weeks because the mortality rate goes up. So 36 weeks it is! Lots to do, but we are getting more and more excited to meet our girls!

Easter Eggs

We decided to make some Easter Eggs this afternoon. We bought the same kit as last year, but Macyn didn't seem to mind!

Macyn with one of her eggs

 I forgot to buy some Easter grass, but then I remembered I at least had a basket in the closet. I found some old spring garland in there too and thought this would be a good place to put her eggs for the season. She must really like them - she even had to tell them "good night" before she went to bed!

Surgery Day

We had in inkling this day would come, and unfortunately, it did. Macyn was scheduled to have her ear tubes redone and her adenoids taken out. This is her 3rd set of tubes, so we are used to the procedure. However, adenoids meant a little more anesthesia, IV's, being intubated, and a longer recovery time in the hospital. Our day started bright and early, and we all didn't eat breakfast since she couldn't have anything after midnight. We just couldn't bring ourselves to eat in front of her. Her surgery was scheduled at 9:00 so, its hard to tell a three year old no drinks and no food. I needed a little something since I'm hungry most the time, so I hid in the bathroom and drank some Mountain Dew :)

We let Macyn pick out her jammies for the surgery and her shoes. She chose her stompees and all the nurses loved them! She also wanted to bring her blankie and her teddy bear that Great Grandpa Stan had given her when she was a baby.

Rock'n the gown

 We did some paperwork, they went over the risks and what to expect, and then we waited in the room until it was time to go down to the surgery.

About 15 minutes before the surgery, they give them sometime called, Versed to make them calm. Its a drug that pretty much makes them loopy. They can often have double vision and have a hard time standing up. It didn't take long for this to kick in - check out the video of her laughing hysterically at basically nothing:

Shortly afer that she chose to be brought to surgery in a wagon instead of a wheelchair.

Then she was off to surgery. The surgery itself took about 15 minutes longer than expected. Everything went mostly well, except in one ear, the hole in the drum was 2x larger than normal. I guess this is just something that happens sometimes. The Dr. told us that 90% of the time the hole will close on it's own - we just have to wait and see. Adenoid surgery went well too, she just had a scratchy throat from being intubated. They said her adenoids did look infected, so it could have been contributing to the recurring ear infections and fluid.

Sleeping during recovery

From when we went to recovery until we left, was about 4 hours. There were sad times, and lots of sleepy times. She did eventually perk up after some tylenol was given and wanted to eat. She thought it was pretty cool to have ice cream, popsicles, a bed that moved, AND a TV all to herself. Once she ate and drank and was acting normal we were discharged. She rode in a wheelchair down to the main floor and we headed home.

Once home, she was still tired. We have to follow up with ear drops, nasal spray, and an antibiotic. She hates the ear drops, and once we convinced her to do the nasal spray she liked it, and the antibiotic she likes too. Her sleep schedule was a little off, so we had a 2:00 am wake up call with her thinking its time to be up for the day. But so far everything is going well and hopefully it continues!

Some "quotes" from the day:
When describing why she has an IV: "My hand is really thirsty. It needs a drink"
While going to the bathroom on the tall potty in our room: "Mom! My pee sounds like music!"

Something's Missing..

 Can you find what is missing from this picture? I will give you a hint: these are peanut butter sandwich crackers.

We gave Macyn a package of peanut butter crackers as a snack and we noticed a stack of crackers with no peanut butter. She simply said, "I just wanted the peanut butter." So, she licked them all out. Little stinker!

26 Week Appointment

We drove to our appointment in a blizzard, and drove home in a ground blizzard. Its kinda funny how we have been going to appointments ever since January and today was the first time we ever had bad weather! Everything at our 26 week appointment continued to look good. I was quite shocked when I stepped on the scale to found out I had gained 4 lbs in two weeks! However, each baby gained about a pound, so I didn't feel so bad then!

Baby A: Head down position, she weighs 2lbs 7oz, with a heart rate of 146 bpm.
Baby B: Head down position, she also weighs 2lbs 7oz, and her heart rate was also 146 bpm.

Other information:
• TTTS is getting more lower risk every appointment, but we will still need to check growth every two weeks
• I have noticed a decrease in movement, mostly more "rolls" than kicks. They didn't notice anything concerning, and I was pretty much told by having an anterior placenta could just make movements less noticable until 28 weeks.
• The fluid looked good around both babies. They did have to poke Baby A to start moving since she just looked pretty cozy in there. They were able to see some good movements, even though I couldn't feel them.
• Sleeping is still a challenge. I go to the bathroom more now, and I get exhausted pretty easily. By the end of the week on Fridays I am pretty much pooped out. Weekends I really try and catch up on some napping and sleep

AND we "splurged" on a baby purchase - matching carseat covers! I bought them from Carseat Canopy and purchased the "whole caboodle" in the Belle pattern. They arrived in the mail and I am quite happy with them. Its a good way to update or change a carseat without buying a brand new one. Each caboodle included a carseat cover, canopy, sun shade, lap blanket, and headrest. The price is listed on the website as $79.95, but if you look hard enough you can find a $50 off coupon. With shipping each caboodle only comes out to $42! Or you could get the canopy free and just pay the $12 shipping. We put them on our carseats and Macyn added her babies too :) I thought this was a good way to update an old looking carseat at an affordable price.

We also broke down and bought about 200+ newborn diapers. I did some research and keep a price per diaper document on my phone so when I am out shopping, I am making sure I am finding the best deals. We still have some things to buy, but buying things here and there make it seem like we don't need as much.

Little Moments

I don't know how to say this, or where to start, but I have a greater appreciation and love for my child today. Life changes fast. Don't take things for granted. Last week Wednesday I had learned that our friend's baby died at the tender age of 4 months. I was shocked, I cried, and there were no words to express to the family besides my heart physically ached for them. Five days earlier we had supper together. I held Reegan and tried making him laugh. Macyn held Reegan, and fed him his bottle. Josh held Reegan, while eating his food. He was perfect, a happy baby. I would have never imagined that five days later he would be going to heaven.

We attended the funeral and I'm not going to lie when I say how hard it was to see Reegan's family. I felt no words could console them. We just hugged through the tears, with Reegan's mom saying, "I just don't understand." Reegan's dad said, "I know the last words I said to him were I love you buddy, see you later."

I don't understand either, except that someday everything will make sense. With that being said, when I look at Macyn I am reminded how blessed I am to have her. Even though some days can be quite difficult, I love everything about her. I am blessed to have these babies in my tummy as well. Every kick I appreciate, and I don't complain about being pregnant. Reegan was the 4th baby that has died since the beginning of the year. My cousin had a stillborn at 28 weeks, a neighbor a few blocks up the street lost her twin girls a few hours after birth, and now Reegan, who just went down for a nap not to wake up, is in heaven.

It's scary, and makes a paranoid mama even more nervous, but its truly in God's hands. A quote I love is "Let your faith be bigger than your fear." I try not to take these little moments with Macyn, my family, and the twins for granted. Life can change in a blink of an eye.