anticipation

I had another ultrasound/heart monitoring appointment with Dr. M yesterday. The girls look great! Care to guess how much they weigh?

Ashley weighs 5 lbs 6 oz and Ainsley weighs 5 lbs 13 oz! That's 11 lbs 3 oz of baby. Yeah. No wonder it's getting harder to breath!

This was the milestone I've been waiting for...both babies to be over five pounds...you see, five pounds is when the hospital lets you take your babies home...so we're there!!!

Now I'm just hoping they come soon so I don't have 10 lb babies! As far as when they'll come...who knows?! God knows, and now we're just waiting, anticipating with great excitement their arrival. We really can't wait to meet them!

Here's a little picture we got yesterday:

This is Ashley. And you see that bump on the left side? Well, that's Ainsley's HEAD! Completely amazing...especially considering that they're in different sacs. Ainsley was head down so we couldn't get a face shot of her. But since they're identical, Ashley should give you a pretty good idea of what Ainsley looks like!

I'm so amazed at these two little miracles. Life is such a work of God!

And now we're just full of anticipation!

It seems like every time I leave my appointments, especially the ultrasounds, I just feel like crying with joy. And a lot of times I do. I always call Jason and tell him how everything went and a few times have found myself tearing up. We've been blessed. We have had an incredibly uncomplicated twin pregnancy. Dr. M always comments on it so it must be true! I feel so thankful and grateful for the uncomplicated-ness of this pregnancy. So much can go wrong with this type of pregnancy...but God has chosen to protect me and the babies so far...and we're so thankful for that!

I'm also amazed day after day with how God's timing has worked with Jason's losing his job and all. It really couldn't have come at a better time. For instance, this week I had two doctor's appointments on different days. Next week...three. And Jason is home now and able to watch the girls. What a blessing! Plus, financially, as far as medical expenses go, we're a lot better off. We don't have to pay anything for the rest of this pregnancy...that's huge, especially with how many appointments I have and who knows how things will go with the delivery.

We've definitely seen God providing for us, day after day. And we're so thankful! Having Jason working from home is a dream come true, for all of us! We're praying that God will bless his job and that this can be a long-term thing! For now though, we can definitely see God's hand in working everything out, it's truly amazing to watch Him work!

santa...and an almost broken heart

The other day Jas said, "guess who Kate just called you..." I was thinking something like "Nana" or maybe someone from church.

Yeah, I wish.

"She said you look like Santa Claus."

Horror!

Gasp!

Tears!

Then I asked her WHY she thinks I look like Santa Claus.

She said, "Because of your red shirt."

Oh. Of course! My red shirt! NOT my insanely massive belly!

And so she was forgiven and my heart was saved from a very near break!

sisterly love...and lots of diapers!

Katey and Julia really like each other...most of the time! Katey can be really sweet (and she is most of the time) and likes to help her little sister...sometimes too much! She likes to invite Julia to sit in her lap...she gets this really cute little voice and says, "Julia, you wanna sit in my lap?" To which Julia vigorously nods her head and then plops herself down in Kate's lap. Precious!


So you know how we're having twins?! Well, diapers are one of those things that are going to be, um, somewhat expensive! So when Jas and I found a good deal last weekend we sorta stocked up. We bought nine, yes NINE, huge boxes of diapers. One baby goes through a lot of diapers...but two, HOLY COW! When you start doing the math...man oh man!

Here are the girls playing on some of the boxes of diapers...our living room was overcome for a couple days until we found somewhere to put them.

happy valentine's day!

Nana and Tata sent some Valentine's packages for the girls...including these super cute dresses! I decided this year that I wanted to do practical Valentine's gifts for the girls, rather than little pink bears and candy...=). So we did a coloring/sticker book, shirt and one special candy for Kate and a book, a shirt and hair clips for Juls. Fun! Fun!

Sunday morning all dressed up but BEFORE the hair was done!

made for twins!

34 weeks and one day!

Had a doctor's appt with Dr. M last Thursday. Went well. Really well. Freaked out a bit in the waiting room...knew it was an important appt!

Nurse did measurements and proclaimed everything "fine." Proceeded to tell me Baby A is 4 lbs. 10 oz. and Baby B is 4 lbs. 12 oz. WHAT?! Was hoping for four pounds...! God is good! Getting close to the five pound mark! Dr. M came in ecstatic. Nothing new there! Said I have perfect twins. Both are still head down...Dr. M can't believe it. Told him I prayed! Called me over to look at the computer and said he'd never seen this before--both babies measuring 33 weeks and 3 days, exactly where I'm supposed to be. One word....

Amazing!

Most monochorionic (identical in separate sacs but only one placenta) twins have at least a 20% weight difference...not ours. Nope! God is good!

Almost cried with relief! Was really worried about them for some reason. Was told at last appt to expect a significant weight difference. Also was worried about cervix, and it's shrinking...but was back to its normal huge size! Looks like maybe it'll be a 40 week pregnancy after all. Ugh. =)

Monitored babies' heart rates as planned. Heart rates were perfect, even during contractions. God is good! Dr. M only making me come in once a week for heart rate monitoring, instead of twice, because they're so perfect.

Thrilled! And thankful!

And just thrilled!

God is good!

heartbeats

I had my last ultrasound this past Thursday. It went well but the doctor was concerned with the shrinkage of my cervix. He ALMOST put me on anti-contraction medications and steroids for the babies (to develop their lungs more) BUT then I told him my OB had done this really cool little test that tells you if you're going to go into labor within the next two weeks...that made him very happy, because the test was negative! That means no babies until at least a week from today!

And today, I'm 32 weeks! We are reaching some really great milestones! My OB told me I only need to register at the low risk hospital once I reach 32 weeks! Awesome!

We do have a prayer request. I have my next ultrasound a week from this Thursday (the 12th) and after the ultrasound they're going to check the babies' heartrates for an extended period of time. Dr. M told me that with the type of twins we have, there is a higher risk of stillbirth. So, to prevent stillbirth, they check the babies' heartrates for an extended period of time. If there is any abnormality they deliver the babies right away. Pretty amazing! That's how they prevent the stillbirth. And pretty amazing that we might have our babies in the next two weeks....!

I am so amazed at medical technology...that they can even check for this kind of stuff! I'm so thankful! So please be praying for that doctor's appointment. I'll be 33 1/2 weeks, which is good but not great and the babies will probably still be too little to come home right away. Pray that the doctor doesn't see any abnormality, or if there IS a problem, that there WILL be an abnormality so they can deliver the babies safely!

And a praise--I've been praying for both babies to be head down this whole pregnancy...that's the only way my OB will deliver vaginally. Both of my doctors have always talked like a vaginal birth isn't very likely, but I've been really hoping and praying that they're wrong! Anyway, at my last OB appointment AND then the following ultrasound a few days later they were BOTH head down, BOTH times! Hallelujah! Now, if they'll just stay that way!