Belly Pics

I have gotten several requests to see the torpedo belly, so here it is... Eric just took these real quick, he was in a hurry to eat some lunch, so the quality isn't the best, but it's all I can do... enjoy!

Successful Move...

We had an amazing weekend moving and had a great time! We had more help than we knew what to do with, and we greatly appreciate each person who moved our stuff and helped unpack everything! The Schmidt family (Peg, Bill, Adam, Lyndsay) were here from the beginning to the end and did everything from building steps in the back for Aspen, to cleaning out each and every cabinet (thanks Lynds), to carrying super heavy furniture (who knew Adam had muscles??), to organizing our closets, to carrying all our clothes out of the condo, then back into the house, to unpacking the entire kitchen and finding the perfect home for each item, and bringing food for the whole crew (not to mention toilet paper and other essentials!!

Also a huge shout out goes out the Mangins who supplied the moving truck which made multiple trips from all over the area where our things were stored, and spent countless hours moving and unpacking. Eric is one of the hardest workers I've ever seen (and I'm not referring to the one I married... :)) Monica also proved that she doesn't slow down and organizing is one of her strengths as well. We really appreciate all the support, and couldn't have asked for better friends!

Because of the contractions, I wasn't allowed to do much at all, and my wonderful mother-in-law did a fantastic job of taking care of me and even brought a blanket for me and kept filling up my water bottle :) She is going to be a wonderful Grandma.. I can't wait to see her with the Twinkies!!

Eric has been super hard at work these past couple days as well. Not only did he pack everything perfectly, but he has done an excellent job getting everything set in the new house, organizing the troops, and has spent many hours at the condo cleaning, painting and getting it ready for our new tenants! He has not gotten much sleep since he's still working the night shift, and I'm so proud of him and his dedication to making sure everything is done (and making sure I don't have to worry about anything!)

So, now that I went on and on.. I should probably share some pics. We have a lot unpacked and done, but you'll see, there is still some work to do! Eric is busy thinking of colors to paint and other jobs he would like to do. Let me know if you have any color ideas or decorating tips!!

Steps Before

Steps After

Entry Way from 2nd Floor

Entryway into house

Front Rooms (these need some work :)

Family Room

Kitchen Before (Lyndsay Cleaning)



Kitchen After


Breakfast Nook


Office

Master Bedroom

Master Bathroom

Twinkies Room (Those are the cribs in boxes! We picked them up last night, and I'm so excited to set them up!!)

Guest Bedroom

Guest Bathroom

Upstairs Laundry



Guest Bedroom #2

We have our first birthing class tonight and I'll post pics of my torpedo belly soon!!

Countdown to Moving Day

We close tomorrow on our new house and moving day is Saturday! Eric has done an amazing job packing up everything in the condo to prepare and make sure it goes as smoothly as possible. I haven't been able to help much because of the contractions, so Aspen and him have been hard at work :) Here are some pics of the boxes piled around our family room :)





I had another ultrasound yesterday to check the growth and development of the boys and everything looks great! They are growing normally with 'baby A' weighing in at 1 lb 9 oz and 'baby B' is 1 lb 8 oz, so the doctors were very happy with the growth. They have flipped around so they aren't hurting as much when they move around now that they are in a more normal position. Baby A is on my right side with his head down, and baby B is on my left side with his head up. I think they often wake each other up, and sleep during the same times. When there is movement in my belly, it's all over, but when they aren't moving, they are both pretty quiet. I can tell you they are getting stronger, and they don't really like when anything pushes on my belly. They had a fun time yesterday kicking the ultrasound machine wherever it was pushing! The boys are too big these days to both fit in the ultrasound picture, so they've started to get some individual portraits which I think they enjoy!





Aspen has been busy too! He got his haircut yesterday which he desperately needed! You can see the before after pics below. He sure is tired today as it usually takes him a day or two to recover from the drama of a grooming! We are very excited to see Aspen explore the new house and check out the windows that are low enough that he can see out!

Before... Hanging out at Grandma Schmidt's

Getting ready for a busy day at the groomers:)

After... looking handsome, but tired

Update on the Twinks :)

I thought since my last post was about a hospital stay, I should probably update on how I'm doing now. I've seen my doctors multiple times and had non-stress tests lately and everything is going well. I still have contractions when I have too much activity, but as soon as I sit down and relax, they go away. The doctor's say this is a great sign and means that the contractions aren't progressing at this point.

We got over 20 inches of snow this week, so there were some cancelled appointments, but we got in yesterday and everything is still going well. They boys are very active moving around constantly! It's fun to try to guess the positions, then when I go in for the tests I can see where they actually are! Yesterday we saw that they are both breech one on top of the other. This made it especially difficult to find both heartbeats b/c the hearts are so close together that they couldn't distinguish one from the other. That's why they got out the ultrasound machine and we got to see them! Both heartbeats continue to be strong and the boys are doing well!

We are going to see some friends in Ocean City this weekend. They moved recently and we're excited to see the new place and spend some time together. The doctor said a trip of this distance would be fine, so I'm very excited to get out of the house! I'm still getting used to not traveling every week, so a change of scenery will be awesome!

We are 8 days from moving day, and Eric is doing a great job packing. I haven't been able to help, but I'm pretty good at supervising :)

My mom called yesterday and cancelled my family baby shower in Cleveland. I'm pretty sure my doctor wouldn't have let me travel that far anyway, and it was going to be the week after the move. I was disappointed, but also a little relieved that I didn't have a 12 hour round trip journey coming up. It would've been great to see everyone, but probably not worth the risk of being that far away.

I'll post some belly pics soon! These boys are really growing fast!

Grandview Visit

Last night I ended up in the hospital for a couple of hours. I had felt some contractions later in the day, and I was a little nervous, but didn't think too much of it. We have dinner on Tuesday's at our good friend's the Mangin's, and yesterday was no different. We headed over there around 6:00 PM, and it was a special Tuesday because it was our hostess's Monica's birthday! We all brought food so she wouldn't have too cook and enjoyed a delicious meal, and then dessert.

After dinner we started watching the recap of Lost, and I had one of my contractions. Since it's my first pregnancy and I had been doubting myself, I asked Monica to feel my belly to see if it was really a contraction. She confirmed that it was and had me sit with my feet up and drink some water. Within 10 minutes, I got up to use the restroom, and thought I was having another one. The pro at having babies that she is, she told me to immediately call my doctor and let her know the situation. I was told to head to Grandview to the labor and delivery area to be monitored.

I was pretty nervous, and called my mom on the way. She prayed with me and really helped calm me down so I wouldn't stress out about it. Eric and I arrived at the ER, and they took me in a wheelchair up to the room. I had a few contractions early on and they immediately gave me an IV of fluids thinking I was probably just dehydrated. This helped stop the contractions until the fluids were done... then I proceeded to have several more contractions, and instead of letting us leave, they decided to monitor longer and try some more treatments.

My urine sample came back showing I had an infection, and this was probably the cause of the pre-term labor contractions. I had read about this some, so I understood that it wasn't harming the babies, and the ultrasound and hearing their heartbeat helped us know that the boys were doing just fine! They did give me some antibiotics and more fluid along with a muscle relaxer to stop the contractions. Luckily I only needed 1 shot to stop everything dead, and after about 2 hours of being monitored, they let us go home.

Eric was supposed to have his 3rd day working the night shift, but because of the hospital stay, he stuck by my side and even came home with me to make sure I would be OK. It was snowing on the way home, so it was great to have him there and make sure we took our time and got home safely. We arrived home around 2:00 AM and after a nice shower, I slept very well until 9:30 AM.

We both took off and Eric made me breakfast, lunch and dinner and even took really good care of Aspen. He ran out and got my prescriptions and couldn't have been more accommodating today! He is an amazing husband and I can't wait to see what a great father he will be. So far I've been having minor sporadic contractions, but thankfully nothing regular or anything to be worried about.

I know there were a lot of people who prayed for us, and we truly appreciate the prayers. I'm on antibiotics, and I'm confident that I will be just fine. I think this is a good reminder for me going into the big move in 2 weeks that I need to take it easy and make sure I'm putting the boys first.