Twenty Little Fingers and Twenty Little Toes: April 2012

This past week my sweet husband has "caught" the nesting bug! This has been a relief to me as I feel the need to get everything done - but anything I do besides get up to "go potty" (see, parenting terms are already kicking in at our house!) is against doctor's orders. Shane got off work on Tuesday morning at 7:30am (finishing nights for the month of March and switching to days for the month of April) and instead of going to bed when he got home (and brought me breakfast!), he went straight to work on the next steps in the nursery. Anna came over and helped him and they finished taping and painted the pink and the blue stripe. I had Shane bring in the reclining lawn-chair so I could at least be in the same room with them and visit and watch. They worked hard and after a little lunch break finished up the touch-ups and the paint is done!!!

After the painting was done, Shane and Hurley assembled the second crib and vacuumed and "polished" all the furniture. He wants to keep a dust cloth in the nursery so he can frequently polish the furniture. It is good to see him proud of his accomplishments! We still have some decorating to do.... the bedding is in process and my sweet dad is making curtain cornices.... so we will work on that on Shane's next set of days off. By we - I mean Shane!

If you look closely - you can can see Hurley on Shane's lap. I think that the dog truly believes that if anyone is on the floor it is only to hold him. It happens so infrequently that he really tries to take advantage of every opportunity!

Shane and I (with him driving the train and me laid out in the new glider) also went through and washed and hung the rest of the "hand-me-down" cousin's baby clothes. I think we may not ever have to do laundry and just change out size break-downs instead! We got it all hung-up and folded into the closet and dresser. It feels nice to have it done. With the plentiful amount we can only fit the NB to 3-months-old clothes for both babies in the closet and drawers. These babies may be clothes horses like their parents!

We also went to the doctor on Wednesday. My blood pressure continues to rise despite the meds and the option for that is currently to stay on bedrest. Dr. Robinson reiterated that I should only be getting up to use the bathroom and if I'm going crazy I can walk around the living room a few times. We are still working on staying pregnant to help the babies be as strong as healthy as possible and manage my own health. We had the AF test (measuring the amount of amniotic fluid for each baby), the Doppler cord blood flow for each baby, and the non-stress test for the babies. They both have to be "on" the monitor for 15 minutes each - which is not easy based on their wiggle-wormie-ness. They are often on the move. So - the non-stress test really takes more like an hour. Shane was in charge this week of keeping the babies on the monitors. Dr. Robison came in for a while during the NST and visited with us for a while. Our son is still breach and our daughter is vertex. I am scheduled next Thursday for another appointment as well as a growth measurement ultrasound.

I'm very logical in the mornings and motivated to stay pregnant and be smart for our twins. But by 9pm at night my emotion is on the verge of winning out and it takes all my will-power to keep from running stairs to either go into labor or push my blood pressure into the sky and force the issue. I have been telling people I'm in the "hating-it-stage". And yet - we are so grateful for this blessing in and miracle in our lives. Not only the miracle of being pregnant, being pregnant with twins, and getting to (so far, 33 weeks and 2 days).

The further along I get, and as my blood pressure is headed back up - despite the triple dosing of blood-pressure meds - the less positive things I have to say. I am (most of the time) really trying not to complain because: 1) we prayed for this; 2) it won't change anything; 3) it makes everyone around me uncomfortable when I'm not being cheerful. But let the record reflect that we are very, very grateful and thankful for all the prayers, thoughts and help we have received to enable us to make it from 25 weeks and "on the cusp of viability" to 32 weeks and 1 day (I'll just take each day I can get / make it). We couldn't have done it without so much help.

My doctor was out of town for the last 10 days and returned to Idaho Falls today - which was my next personal goal. Our appointment last week indicated high BP again and a few other things that put our radar up for preeclampsia. We even went up to the hospital on Thursday night to be hooked up to the monitors and "just in case". I was feeling horrible (flu-ish, headache, my BP at home was high and the babies weren't putting on their regular evening circus performances). I talked to the doctor's office around 4:30 and they advised me to go up... but I felt like such a drama queen and was trying to talk myself out of it. But then - when the babies weren't really moving like they normally do - we went up at 9:30pm. We were on the monitors for a couple of hours and then came home. The nurse was kind enough to make me promise to come back if it got worse and tried to make us feel like responsible parents and patients for coming up - but it was silly.

We have had so much help in working on the nursery. Anna has been heading it up as well as working on bedding. She has an excellent ability of being able to visualize the finished product. My skill set is in execution... which makes me helpless! It is a very frustrating feeling! Shane and Anna have painted and Rachel, Ruth, Valeen and my dad came over to help Shane tape stripes while my mom tended their gaggle of babies. Several areas of wall had to be re-taped because it was so easy to get off track. Some areas more than once! I was pleased and a little surprised at my husbands "push" to do it right - not to do it easy. "in 2 years we will be glad we took an extra hour to re-taped it correctly". I didn't have much to say because I can't help or do anything. It is very aggravating! The tape has to go in stages about 3-4 days apart so that the new paint doesn't get pulled off my the next round of tape for the next stage of the stripe. The room will eventually be milk-chocolate on all 4 walls with the 2 walls that will have the cribs being striped with a dark brown stripe with a little baby stripe on each side (one pink and one blue). I think it is coming a long nicely. At one point Shane moved the reclining lawn chair into the nursery so I could watch and pretend to participate on some level. Also - Rachel put together the closet organizer stuff that I had ordered. My Aunt and Uncle, LuDean and Maynard Jackson washed a bunch of little baby boy clothes and hung them up for me.