Gender Party for Cousin

The twins are looking forward to another cousin! My sister is pregnant with her first baby. During her last visit, she planned to surprise us with the sex of the baby. Angela brought cake balls where the outside was yellow or green but the cake inside would either be blue for a boy or pink for a girl.
Caroline was very happy to be given a dessert and she bit right in to find the cake inside was...BLUE!!! The twins are getting a boy cousin!Caden took one tiny little bite of cake ball and that was it. However, he did enjoy posing for pictures. In this picture, Caden was pretending to bite both his cake ball and Angela's cake ball.
After the sex was revealed, Aunt Angela brought out some blue balloons and some homemade party hats.Again, Caden is just pretending to eat. :)
But Caroline was actually eating the cake. She loved the cake and is excited to be a big cousin.
We are all looking forward to another little baby in the family.

There is No Need to Worry About "Our Final Sonogram"

Apparently my previous blog post about our final sonogram has worried some people. Sorry about that. There is no reason to worry. Everything is fine. It was just a little stressful going through the minor ordeal. After the sonogram, Amy asked the sonographer if there was any reason to worry and she said no and that worrying would be a waste of time.

Our Final Sonogram

Amy had her last sonogram earlier this week. Normally, the sonograms are a lot of fun but this one turned out to be somewhat stressful. On every other sonogram we've had (other than the slow lady in the ER), it took the sonographer just a couple minutes to take measurements, watch the kids move, and look for some other stuff like breathing practice. This time, our little boy was not cooperating.

In the last several sonograms, it was obvious to everyone in the room that the twins were moving and practicing their breathing (you see their stomachs go up and down). This time, the boy was not moving nor was he practicing breathing. His heart was beating at a normal rate, but that was about it. The two hours before the sonogram, the boy had been moving all over the place causing all sorts of discomfort for Amy. By the time the cameras were on him, he seemed to have worn himself out.

We watched him for what seemed like a very long time to see if he would practice breathing. To pass the breathing test, a baby needs to breath somewhere in a fifteen minute period. At 14 minutes and 30 seconds, he finally took a breath! (He sure cut that close.) Amy and I completely missed it but the sonographer saw it and our boy passed his test.

Now, we need to make it just a few more days.

We Hit 35 Weeks!

We're at 35 weeks today! We want to make it just one more week (and a couple days). With Amy's preeclampsia and high blood pressure, her doctors don't think it will be worth keeping the twins in any longer than 36 weeks. We are planning to deliver on Monday the 28th. Hopefully we can make it until then.

All things considered, Amy is doing really well and her blood pressure has been under control. Amy can never get comfortable and is understandable tired of being stuck on the couch/bed/lazy boy. With her frustration of being on bed rest, Amy often tries to do a little more than she is suppose to which typically leads to her being scolded by me. Thankfully, Amy has had a lot of people stop by to visit and bring her food. We both appreciate that a ton. Each visit makes Amy's day much more bearable. Bed rest would have been far worse without the visitors.

We Made it to Week 34!

Jason and I just returned from a visit with my Perinatologist. The babies are getting big! Our little girl is 6 lbs and 2 oz (80th percentile) and our little boy is 5 lbs 4 oz (34th Percentile). That's over 11 lbs of baby in me!

Overall, the perinatologist was actually surprised at how well I am doing. He basically told me to keep on bed rest and recommended delivering in week 36 now, instead of week 37. So, back to the couch for me. After this experience, I am not sure I'll ever want to sit on the couch again!

Baby Updates - Week 33

Yesterday was Tuesday! That means I was able to leave the house for the first time in a week! Yay! Unfortunately, I only left for a few doctors appts, but still, it was so nice to be out and about!

There aren't very many updates from the doctors visits. My blood pressure seems to be controlled well by the bed rest, so for now, we wait. Both doctors told me to keep up the bed rest and come to see them next week.

We scheduled a c-section for October 5th, that's the first available date that the hospital will allow a scheduled c-section. We'll be at almost 37 1/2 weeks at that point. Until then, I have been told all of the symptoms of severe pre-eclampsia and pre-term labor. If I either go into labor before the 3rd, or have syptoms of advanced pre-eclampsia, we'll deliver right away.

While the thought of not delivering until week 37 sounds great, the thought of being on bed rest until then does not! Oh well, we'll just take it one day at a time and do what's best for the babies!
Oh, and one last thing....my belly measures the same as a singleton pregnancy at week 43. This is probably the reason for my extreme discomfort and inability to breathe! :)

We Have Names...

Amy and I have finally decided on baby names. That's all for now. I think we are going to make people wait. Thanks. :)

More Bed Rest Updates: Pre-Eclampsia and Steroids

Just a quick update from Monday. I told you they put me on bed rest - but probably didn't mention why. My blood pressure all of the sudden spiked from a cool and consistent 120/80 to 145/90 in a matter of about three days. So, what does this mean? My perinatologist seems to think it's the begininning stages of pre-eclampsia. While bed rest doesn't stop pre-eclampsia, it can slow it down, or, make it more bearable for a little longer.

High Blood pressure can sometimes put the babies in distress because it's harder for them to get oxygen. I sat on a fetal heart monitor for about an hour earlier this week. All indications are that they are thriving and don't seem to be affected by the spike in blood pressure. Additionally, we had an ultrasound on Tuesday that confirmed that they are still very active! Instead of measuring their sizes at our Tuesday appt, they look for development markers to ensure that there are specific things that both twins can do....simple things like moving their tummies up and down. Both kids passed the test with flying colors!

Because of the risks of pre-eclampsia, the perinatologist seems to think there is a 50/50 chance that we will deliver next week and a 90% chance we'll deliver the week after that. You should have seen our jaws hit the floor when the doctor shared that news. WHAT? We're not ready! Neither are the babies! I started taking steroid shots on Tuesday to help the babies develop. The steroids won't make them bigger, but, they will progress their lung development and tissue development by a little over two weeks in just a few days. That's encouraging! Additionally, if I don't deliver by the Tuesday after next, we'll go through another round of steroids to even further their development. This should hopefully reduce or eliminate their stay's in the NICU.

The steroid shots have been great for the babies and for me. Despite a few sleepless nights that they promise will go away soon, I feel better than I have in weeks! The normal aches and pains of carrying twins seems to have all but gone away (at least until the drugs wear off). I'm already looking forward to the second round of steroid shots! :) It's just too bad I feel this great, but they only thing I am allowed to do is lay on the couch!

So.....next on our list of things to do? Pick names. :)

Bed Rest - Day 1

That's right, you read correctly. My doctor officially put me on bed rest on Monday morning. What does bed rest mean? Basically, I can get up out of a lying (not sitting) position to shower, use the restroom or go get food from the kitchen. Other than that, I am supposed to be lying down at all times. This could be a long few weeks!

So, here we are on day 2 and I have already noticed that some things are more difficult when you can't even sit up! Typing is a little slower than normal, the couch gets really hot when you never get off of it, and my pregnancy induced acid reflux isn't helped by the fact that my body is always horizontal!

That said, it's only been 24 hours and bed rest has also made me realize how incredibly blessed I am to have so many people around me that love me! Here are a few examples:

My dad brought me and my mom dinner last night from Chilis, then stayed to put together a bouncy seat for one of the kiddos (he was the perfect person because he'd already put together the first bouncy seat!)

My mom was over here putting away the tons of clothes that she had taken to her house to wash and fold (dad says you couldn't even see the hardwood floors in their house for all the onesies and burp cloths everywhere). She's seperated all the clothes into bins by size and is now working on putting them all away in their dressers and closets. Oh, and did I mention that she also irons? Both babies already have lots of ironed outfits hanging neatly in their closests! I think she knows that if she doesn't iron, it just won't ever get done and her grandchildren will be forever wrinkly.

Jason is amazing. He seems to be a never ending flood of energy and he's done soooo much for me lately! I am going to save the big stuff for a blog post later this week (complete with pictures), but I have to mention the little stuff he does......getting the mail, doing all the grocery shopping, cooking dinner for me, cutting up Watermelons and Pineapples so I can quickly grab them out of the fridge and constantly refilling my glass of water. The list could go on forever! I am so appreciative and thankful to have a husband that will do literally EVERYTHING for me without any complaining!

We are going to the Perinatologist today to get another Ultrasound, so, I'll let you know more about the size of each baby tomorrow. Expect to hear more from me in the next few weeks....after all, what else am I doing??

My Belly

This week at my doctor visit, my belly measured 41 weeks. In case you are wondering, fourty weeks is considered full term. With nine weeks to go, I'm already passed the fourty week belly and it is already getting in the way. Jason complains constantly that I don't leave him room to walk by, I think I forget just how far this thing sticks out. Today was monumental, I actually shut the pantry door on my belly! Needless to say, it didn't feel great, but I'm sure everything is fine!

The babies are doing great! Our baby girl is 4 lbs 9 ounces and our baby boy is 3 pounds 4 ounces. Quite the difference in weights, but our doctor assured us that everything is ok since they are both growing in a normal range. Our only concern now is keeping my blood pressure under control--it seems to be creeping up just a little. That's to be expected with a twin pregnancy. My doctor estimates I'll be on bed rest soon...let's just hope I can get just a few more things done before I am couch bound!

We'll post pictures of the nursery's soon! Jason has put in many hours of work getting them ready!

My First Punch

After 29 weeks, I felt one of our babies move for the first time! Up until tonight, every time I put my hand on Amy's stomach to feel a moving baby, they immediately calmed down and stopped moving. Amy thinks my hand and voice have a calming affect on the twins.

Tonight was a different story. Amy called me over and told me to be quite and not say a word. I quietly snuck over and put my hand on Amy's belly. Sure enough, I felt one of them give a pretty serious punch. Then, the baby kept moving around for another few minutes. Amy was not sure which child was moving but she thinks it was most likely the girl.

I was surprised how much I could actually feel. I thought that the punching or kicking would be soft where I might not even be positive it was happening. That was definitely not the case. I could easily feel the baby's hand push out and then move around. I can see why Amy complains about being kicked in the bladder. That was some pretty serious movement...and I only felt a hand. I'm sure the kicking is much stronger.

I look forward to the next time I get punched.

37 Weeks!

I went to the doctor for my 27 Week Check-Up yesterday. I go every two weeks, so, normally, there isn't anything to write about. Yesterday was a bit different!

First, the doctor measures my belly (this is never fun), I am 27 weeks pregnant, however, my belly measures 37 weeks! Yay twins! They have lots of room in there. I am afraid to hear what my belly will actually measure at 37 weeks. One of my friends with twins measured 50 weeks when she was at 37 weeks, I am sure this will be lovely!

Second, we had the c-section conversation. I've always known that with twins I have a higher risk for having a c-section. One of the babies has been positioned correctly for 26 weeks....so I thought maybe I wouldn't have to have the c-section at all. But, last week sometime, she turned around, and now both babies are breech. The doctor says she'll continue to monitor their positions, however, this late in the pregnancy, it's unlikely that they will both turn. So, c-section it is! The best thing I see is that I get paid another 2 weeks for my maternity leave, so, it's not all bad!

Right now, the babies are a combined 5 lbs! Keep praying for healthy babies, our goal is at least 5.5 lbs each, more if we can make it! That's 11 lbs of baby! We'll have more updates on the babies coming over the next few weeks!

Fathers Day

Fathers day was an extra special event this year....not only did we get to celebrate with my Dad, this is the first year we got to honor Jason as a father too! He hasn't changed his first diaper yet, or sung his first baby to sleep, but, I have no doubt he'll be an excellent father! If his skills as an uncle are any indication (he's way more popular with Ella, Will & Cal than I am) then I think he'll get the hang of this fathering thing fairly easily. My mom got the perfect fathers day gift for Jason. First, a gift card to Rudy's. You can't go wrong when you give him the gift of meat. Plus, she bought these cute little outfits! I love them! Can't wait to take a picture of Jason & his two kids in these outfits!

Happy (belated) Father's Day Jason! You're children will be blessed to have you as a daddy!

We're Halfway There!

On Saturday, we hit the halfway mark of 20 weeks!!! Okay, so we are probably more than halfway there since it is unlikely we will make it the full 40 weeks. But we'll go ahead and call this the halfway mark.

Here is what babycenter.com has to say about babies at week 20:

Your baby weighs about 10 1/2 ounces now. He's also around 6 1/2 inches long from head to bottom and about 10 inches from head to heel — the length of a banana. (For the first 20 weeks, when a baby's legs are curled up against his torso and hard to measure, measurements are taken from the top of his head to his bottom — the "crown to rump" measurement. After 20 weeks, he's measured from head to toe.)

He's swallowing more these days, which is good practice for his digestive system. He's also producing meconium, a black, sticky by-product of digestion. This gooey substance will accumulate in his bowels, and you'll see it in his first soiled diaper (some babies pass meconium in the womb or during delivery).

The "meconium" section sounds really gross. :) I guess I have a lot of gross stuff coming in the near future. Hopefully, it will be different when it is your own kids.

Here is an artist's rendition of our baby boy and girl. As you can see in the picture, twins normally hang out in the womb head to foot and have "marks" designating their gender.

One final note: Do two 20 week twins add up to one 40 week full term baby?

Sonograms!!!

We finally have some sonograms to post! (Thanks for scanning them for us, Jack.) Here are several of the better ones we have. Sadly, the images Amy and I see in the office on their HD television are way better than the prints they give us. But you get the idea. :)

Mouse over the sonogram images to help see what the sonogram is showing.

Our twins somewhere around eight weeks

I'm pretty sure this one is saying Gig 'Em Aggies.

It's a boy! In our video, we have a much better shot proving its a boy but this is the one they printed out for us.

It's a girl!

Here is one of the babies looking at us. Not sure if that is our little girl or boy.

Here is the other baby looking at the camera.

Baby Name Suggestions

Amy had a message on her phone from her brother's number. Turns out, it was from our nephew, Will. Here is the message in it's entirety.

"I want to name your babies Jack and Olivia."

He didn't waste any time with pleasantries like, "hello, this is Will," or "good-bye." He kept it short and sweet. Right to the point.

Sorry Will, but I doubt those names will make the cut. I think Jack Case sounds a little bit too much like something inappropriate. And Olivia isn't really my cup of tea. But Will, feel free to keep those suggestions coming.

After writing this post, I saw Amy Baker wrote a comment with her kids name suggestions. Will's was above. Ella thought Zach and Sarah sounds like a good name. Funny thing about that was is last night, we actually had dinner with our friends Zach and Sarah. What a coincidence. Cal's suggestion was great. He likes "Uh" for the girl and "Uh" for the boy. :)

It's a Girl!!! It's a Boy!!!

Amy and I went to the doctor today with hopes of finding out the sex of the babies. We were ready for a long appointment where the sonographer measured all sorts of baby stuff.

It's a Girl!
We started with baby A. Baby A would not sit still (or lay still or float stilly). Baby A really made the sonographer earn her money. Every time the image was in place, the baby would move. Eventually, it came time to check the sex and baby A was very cooperative. It did not take a trained eye to see that baby A is a girl. Another interesting thing we saw with baby A was she was smacking her lips. We could see her opening and closing her mouth quickly.

It's a Boy!
After examining baby A, it was baby B's turn. Throughout the exam, baby B was slightly more cooperative than baby A. About halfway through the scan, we had a full body side shot. I quickly noticed something and so did the sonographer. It was obvious that baby B is a boy. Amy didn't see it at first. The sonographer told her to look at the thing that looked like a turtle.

All the measurements turned out well and everything is good. Our little girl weighed ten ounces and our little boy weighed eight ounces. Both were about a week further along than they should be.

The exam was much faster than Amy and I expected. We thought it might take an hour or two but it was over in around thirty minutes. The exam was really cool. They zoomed in so far you could see the babies brains, hearts (and all the heart chambers) pumping, and internal organs. Multiple times, the sonographer said our babies were by far the two most active twins she has seen in a very long time. I actually thought the twins were acting quite a bit calmer when compared to our sonogram at the emergency room.

After the exam, we called our parents and siblings. Both of our moms squealed.

We have a VHS tape** of the entire ordeal. We need to come up with some way to get that up here. Also, we have a quite a few sonogram pictures that we need to scan and post. I tried to scan them at work today but they did not look good at all. We need to find a better scanner to try out. We'll get them up here some day.

**Amy and I just donated a dozen VHS tapes to Good Will. Then we found out we needed one for this so I went to Walmart. Walmart only had five packs for $7. We will probably just donate those tapes to Good Will in a couple months only to find we need another for some reason. I wish the doctor's office would upgrade to DVDs like the rest of America.

Flutters and the Tape Measure, oh, and a little Arthritis!

I got the best Mother's Day present ever on Mother's Day! Besides the lovely morning sickness that Jason blogged about earlier, I had a much more pleasant surprise that evening! Flutters!! I've been told that babies moving feels like butterly flutters in your tummy. It was great! I loved feeling the babies move for the first time!

On Friday, the 15th, while Jason was canoing in Arkansas, I had an appt at the Dr's office. She did a quick sonogram that was so cute! One of the babies was super active and was waving at me, the other was sleeping soundly. After the last sonogram we had when both babies were so active, I've been a little worried. I envision myself exhausted chasing two active toddlers around the house! Hopefully at least one of them will be a little mellow.

Now, my latest pregnancy symptom (the things they never tell you about) is that I feel as though I have a mild case of arthritis. It's developed over the last few days. I read briefly about it online, it's fairly common in multiple pregnancies since most of the blood in my body is centered in my abdomen, my limbs are getting less circulation, causing the ache in my joints. Oddly enough, one way to increase the blood flow is to sleep on my left side. Thankfully, my sweet mom and niece Ella picked out a pregnancy pillow called the Snoogle for me! I've slept on it the last few nights and I love it!!

Oh, and one of the most fun things I've done is start my registry! It's by no means complete at all, however, when my sister-in-law, Amy, was in town, I decided to lean on her expertise (mom of three and nurse) to help me with the registry. I basically followed her around Babies R Us with the Registry gun scanning everything she told me to while taking in all of her advice! I have a feeling this won't be the last advice I get from her!!

We go to the Perinatologist to find out the sexes of our little ones this Thursday! I can hardly wait! I hope they both cooperate!

Happy Mother's Day

This was Amy's first Mother's Day as a mom. She strongly hinted that I needed to do something for her. I think the twins must have overheard. Sunday morning, they had a little surprise for Amy...morning sickness! Before today, morning sickness has not been much of an issue. Hopefully, it was a one day only gift. After feeling sick, instead of going to church and Sunday school, Amy really wanted to sleep in. I think that understandable with two little ones inside so I agreed to let her sleep in.

For lunch, Amy and I went to Pappasito's with her parents for some fajitas. (Everyone other than Amy also enjoyed some shrimp and lobster.) Normally, Pappasito's gives away Mother's Day mugs to the moms. Amy was looking forward to getting one but they didn't give them away this year. Maybe next year. Amy was happy to get a couple chocolate covered strawberries as part of the Mom's Day special.

We Had a Little Scare...But Everything is Okay

Amy and I had a scare Wednesday night. At 4:45 pm, Amy noticed a little...let's say, spotting. She left work and called a nurse who suggested we head to the emergency room. With it being so late in the day, her normal doctors had gone home for the day and their offices were closed. Amy paged her normal doctor, called me, and we headed over to the emergency room.

Soon after arriving at the ER, Amy's doctor returned her page. After talking to Amy about what happened, he said he was not worried and that stuff like this happens...especially with twins. It was probably just a burst blood vessel. But to be safe, he thought we should go ahead and get it checked out. His phone call made us feel a lot better.

After waiting for about 45 minutes, Amy's name was called and we went back to a room. Soon, Amy saw a doctor who said they would take some blood, give her an exam, and then do a sonogram.

The sonogram turned out to be the longest sonogram ever. It was at least a half hour long. I was able to watch the entire thing but the doctor had the screen angled so that Amy couldn't see a thing. Amy missed out on seeing the two little babies (who are 15 weeks old and the size of apples) completely freaking out (in a good way). They were frantically kicking, punching, twisting, and turning. Basically, I think the Case twins were krump dancing. When the two of them weren't having a krump dance off, they would be still, get really close to one another (face to face) and would seem to be talking to each other. The doctor kept saying, "man, these kids are going to be trouble by the time they are two!" She said it is rare for twins to lay face to face for so close for so long. I think we all agreed they were already plotting something for when they break out of the joint.

The side by side baby competition, whether it was dancing or a form mixed martial arts, made me think we are having two boys. But then again, the face to face time sounds like two little girls practicing their communication skills. I guess we'll need to wait a few more weeks to find out the sexes.

After all the results finally came back, we learned that everything is okay but they don't know what caused the spotting. I'm betting our first doctor was correct. We may have spent four and a half hours in the emergency room, but at least we got the piece of mind that everything was okay. Here is a picture of Amy with her I went to the ER and thankfully, everything turned out okay but now I'm really hungry and need to pee very badly look.