Miscalculation or Miracle????

As many of you are aware I've had frequent appointments with the perintologists out of Utah. On Friday was one of those appointments & the good news was that the doctor was happy with the size of the babies but the bad news was that one amniotic sac was measuring at 4cm and the other at 7 cm. As the Doctor put it we were seeing the start of twin to twin transfusion. This can be a very serious disease that could have drastically changed my care & the health of the babies. Although I've never been alarmed or too nervous I have tried to be prepared for anything. As a result he said he needed to see my on Tuesday or Wednesday of this week to check the fluids again to see if they had gotten any worse.

The perintologists only come down once in a while so an ultrasound tech here does all the measurements & then transmits that data to Utah. The Doctor will then come on camera to talk to me about the results. Every time I go in it's been a different tech that has taken my measurements.

Yesterday I could tell right away that I had a tech that was confident in what he was doing, whereas on Friday I could tell my tech was getting nervous as the Dr kept instructing him to check different things.

When everything came back as NORMAL I assumed that on friday the measurements had been done incorrectly.

Late last night Chris came home from bishopric meeting & mentioned that to the 2nd counselor (an anesthesiologist) exclaimed that it was a miracle. I assumed that a mistake on friday was made but maybe it wasn't. In addition, another lady I know that had identical twins about 20 years ago with tears in her eyes told me that I need to remember who has ultimate control. So today I'm grateful for healthy babies & the miracle that they are. I do know that there may be more hiccups along the way but I think I need to acknowledge & be grateful for all the good. I personally have had a great pregnancy without any problems to my health and with twins my risks increased.

So today I'm grateful!!!! I am still trying to be prepared for anything because I know that things can change at any time....I'm grateful for each week that I'm able to carry these babies & with each week I know they are stronger & healthier.

"LOVE" day!

I feel like valentines day just snuck up on me. I felt like I was doing a lot of last minute scrambling but it all ended up great & wonderful!

Last Monday (over a week ago) when I was at my Doctors appointment my stomach was measuring at 36 weeks (yikes & completely shocking) and I've really felt it this week. So that's my excuse if this day was less then perfect:):):)

Backing up, the Saturday before Valentines Day we were treated to dinner by my parents. My love/hate relationship with food has been difficult this pregnancy so I was excited when I made a good choice at the restuarant and was very happy with my meal. That said, half way through I lost it all to throwing up but the positive is that it was a HUGE meal and I got to start all over again:) Thanks mom & dad...you guys are the best!

On Valentines Day we decided to invite all the little cousins over so that their parents could go out. This was in trade so that Chris and I could go out last night (two dates in less then a week is a real treat). What a blessing it is for my kids to have so many cousins around; as I watched their interractions I was so grateful for the forever friendships they'll always have. For their party they got heart-shaped hamburgers & rice crispy treats. For an activity they made their parents chocolate dipped strawberries that were delicious!>

Last night I made filet-minon with lobster & cheese cake. I'm not going to lie, by the time we sat down to dinner I was miserable. I was tired & my back was in a lot of pain...I'm a little scared as this pregnancy progresses. Chris encouraged me to go & lay down but it's not often we have time without the kids & I wanted to do a little baby shopping so we did....it was quick but fun to look at little girly things. We did have Jaden take 1 pictures of us together but I was closing my eyes so we have nothing to show of our night except our plates of food:)

And we DECIDED almost 100% on names for the babies! About 2 weeks ago we were showing Jaden the bedding or something in two's (can't remember what) when he replied, is that one for Alecia & that one for Elly. He kept talking about how "We" decided these names. We were confused and didn't think much of it until yesterday when Jaden called them by these names again. Again we asked him where he came up with these names. He then said that in January him & Landon decided that that was their names....I'm going to doubt that Landon really contributed & am guessing that Jaden had a dream about their conversation. Anyways, as Chris and I pondered this we did start to like the names. We do have a niece named Ella although in my family almost every name is taken so we don't have a lot to work with....and thought Eliza (Chris has been voting for this name anyways) would be better & we could call her Elly for short. Today I was playing with spelling and kind of would rather spell Eliza as Elyssa but Chris said that would be said like Allyssa...do you agree???? I also thought we could spell Alecia like Alycia and maybe (this may be too close to Elly) call her Ally for short. They are identical twins after all...would close nicknames be too weird:):):)

Happy, Happy, Birthday Landon!!!!

Our cute little boy had his 3rd birthday on Wednesday. All the sudden it seems like he's growing up and becoming indepedent. He's doing well socially & doesn't get shy nearly as often. He's starting to make little friends, and he's turning into a big mess maker....that said he is good to entertain himself so I try not to get too frustrated with the messes he creates:)

Landon loves playlands...especially since our winters here provide ZERO opportunities to go to parks. So we thought birthday lunch at McDonalds was a must. Both him & Jaden had chocolate milk staches. Funny Boys!

That nights we invited all the cousins over for pizza & cake! He got lots of trains for his birthday & could hardly be rounded up to blow out his candles. He's so funny with his trains & will try to carry a bunch at once sometimes getting himself into a bind. On his birthday night he left all the kids so that he could play his new trains in peace.

Sometimes when we leave in the car he has his arms full of trains & we have to carry them every where we go. Jaden was always one to pick up a different like each month. Landon so far is sticking to his trains and he has a hard time sharing. Yesterday I was so proud of him when a little friend came over to play & he let him play with his trains.

One Saturday a month we give our dealership employee the day off. Today was that day & I had some paperwork I really wanted to get done & organized...I've been negleting the poor place & it really does need a womans eye once in a while...we just notice more things. I told Jaden before we left that he could earn some money today wiping down the cars. He wasn't too excited about being in the cold & I thought for sure he'd pass on the opportunity to make some money. Once we got there he was a fantastic little helper & did a really good job. He said he'd be willing to do this whenever we need him too. Hopefully we can teach him a good ethic through little opportunities like this.

Speaking of the dealership...we have a couple of cars we've been sitting on for a while that we'd be willing to give at our cost to friends or family. They are nothing fancy but if you want a great deal on an inexpensive car, please let us know. We have all repairs done by a fantastic mechanic...we don't cut corners so you know we haven't put a bandaid on a problem...we do our best to offer our customers the best quality at a very fair price....in this case at cost:):):)

~January~

Here's a quick recap of January....I'm kind of glad this cold month is over:)

On New Years Day we enjoyed "all you can eat" pizza at Craigos. I definately took advantage of eating for 3. We went there to celebrate mine & Easton's Birthday.

Afterwards a sledding party. Jaden doesn't love the cold but Landon for the most part does. It's fun to see him venture outside.

Jaden also did Ice Skating Lessons. His real goal was to learn to ice skate & be able to play ice hockey. He's actually good at it but really didn't enjoy it. There were days I was dragging him there. I think this will be another sport we check off of his list of possibilities. I'm waiting to find that one sport he enjoys & excels at.

Jaden also had a school singing program. He doesn't enjoy singing....I'm making it sound like he doesn't like anything. So I definately went to the program with a knot in my stomach. He had his moments of pure enjoyment & other times when he wasn't even paying attention. They had some fun dancing numbers that were hilarious & he did seem to get into those...maybe dancing is in his future???? I don't think Chris would agree.

Twin Update!

Some of you may have heard that we had a few crazy things going on so I thought I'd write a quick post about what's going with the girls.

A couple of weeks ago I got a phone call saying the Dr.'s from Salt Lake wouldn't be coming down this go round but that they could do the appointment video conference. So yesterday I had this appointment....I checked into the hospital for this appointment.

The ultrasound tech seemed to struggle getting good measurements because they were moving so much (this didn't surprise me since my stomach is constantly being kicked). Once the Dr. came on there was some concerns because they were measuring about 20% apart. He didn't like not being able to confirm and check things on his own and felt they were identical but wasn't able to tell definately so he told me he needed me to come down to Utah within a day or two.

So a couple hours later my mom & I headed to Utah for my appointment this morning. After a very thorough visit it's been determined that they are identical and they DO share a placenta. He said the shared placenta can be a large concern because of twin-to-twin transfusion. One is currently measuring at 1lb7oz and the other is 1lb3 oz....both a little over a week behind. The smaller size is probably a result of the two vessel umbilical cords.

So there is nothing alarming or super scary at this point BUT there are a lot risks. I now will have an ultrasound every other week and at 30 weeks a weekly non-stress test. This is to monitor their growth. If there does become a huge problem there is a surgical procedure in LA they do with a lazer to split the shared vessels....this would be a last resort.

Thankfully there's nothing to be worried about at this point & there's nothing to do but monitor them. I'm so grateful that I don't have to go on bedrest and can have normal activity. I've been working on their nursery & am getting excited:):):)