I'm FINALLY in my third trimester... can you believe it! I can. LOL Just kidding. It just seems like a really long time ago I was driving 45 minutes south at 6:30 in the morning to be poked with a needle, waiting anxiously all day to hear the test results. I think one thing that is good and bad with IVF depending on what part of your pregnancy you are in, is that you can find out if you are pregnant from just about the soonest day possible to do so. So if you are at the beginning of your pregnancy, even that soon isn't soon enough to hear the wonderful news. If you are on the backside of your pregnancy, it just means that you have known you are pregnant for long time now, and it almost make it seem like you are going to be pregnant for the rest of your life.
Valentines Day passed, and I just have to note what we did this year because it was definitely one for the books. Tyk and I both worked like any other day. The night before, he wanted to give me his valentine gift that he had gotten me. I wasn't expecting another gift really. A couple of weeks before, there was a package on the porch that I wasn't supposed to see. And this was my valentine gift, Ovation Hair Cell Therapy! I was happy about that! That stuff works MIRACLES for my hair! When you brought the other gift in, I opened it, and I can honestly say that Tyk hit the nail right on the head with this one. It wasn't huge or expensive, but so thoughtful and sentimental. He got me a willow tree- Cherish. This is the pregnant women willow tree. If you don't know what a willow tree is, its a brand of little figurines that have no faces and have a meaning behind each piece. This is super special to me, considering our journey to get here, and I truly will cherish that little nik nak for years to come. We continued on with our day and when we got both had gotten home, neither of us had pulled anything out to make for dinner. When this happens at our house, I'm not cooking. I just want to get takeout, or fast food, or something! We had already planned earlier that we weren't going to go out to eat on Valentines Day. The restaurants are all crazy and the crowds aren't worth it. We said we would celebrate with a nice dinner another day. So when we put ourselves in this dilemma, Tyk had said to me "So you want to go out? We already planned on celebrating with dinner on a different night." I told him I didn't want anything fancy, and then I remembered that I had gotten some free McDonald's coupons from work a while back. I asked him if he wanted to use those, and we were off to old Micky D's for a romantic Valentines Day dinner. It couldn't have been more perfect, but I do have to laugh about it. This year was definitely our last Valentines Day to celebrate just us and our relationship and we ended up at a fast food restaurant. We don't need expensive things or fancy places to share the love that we have for each other. That's what I love about us.
I really wanted to get some maternity pictures done of this pregnancy, so we did! My sweet friend Erin is the best and froze in the snow up to her knees to get some good shots of us. When I was talking to her about doing them, we were both torn on what to do. Right now in Utah is not the prettiest time of year. We are in between seasons and everything is pretty dead looking still. Well we decided to go up to Pineview Reservoir to do them, and leave it to Erin to make anywhere look absolutely beautiful! If you are in need of a photographer for any type of picture at all, consider Erin Rich Photography! We've only gotten a couple back from her as of now, but I'll post a sneak peak for you all to see below!
I've had two baby showers thus far. A family shower on the Belnap side, and a small friends shower. I just want to say how grateful I am for the gifts that have been given to me for the babies. Having two kids at once at anytime, let alone for your first, can be extremely overwhelming when it comes to preparing for them. That's a lot of EVERYTHING that you have to buy and it adds up quick. With the help of our loved ones generosity, each day we are getting a little bit more prepared for these sweet babes to come! Thank you everyone, and to everyone else that may be coming to upcoming showers as well.
The last couple of weeks have been an unforeseen adventure at the Belnap house! Two weeks ago this Sunday, we had a bit of a scare that is now continuing to last. I woke up Sunday morning and wasn't feeling horrible, but not feeling normal. I ate breakfast and then it was time to get ready for church. I told Tyk that I was going to get ready and went back into the bedroom and laid on our bed. I felt crampy for some reason and just wanted to lay down for a couple of minutes. Well a couple of minutes turned into about 45, and the cramping continued. I was starting to worry a little bit, so I started looking on the Internet ( I know this is the best place to go for accurate health information) about what could be going on. All of the posts I read were about how cramping can be from dehydration. So Tyk filled up a big jug of water for me and I started drinking. I probably drake out 32 ounces, and nothing had changed. I was considering going to the emergency room at this point just to be sure, but I wanted my sisters opinion first. I called Karli and asked her what she thought. She told me that I needed to follow my gut feeling and its better to be safe than sorry in this situation. So I got my clothes changed and brushed my teeth and we headed up to the ER. Once we got there, the lady at the check in desk asked me what the issue was. I told her I was having some cramping and that I was 26 weeks pregnant with twins. You should have seen her face as soon as I said twins! LOL she immediate told another girl to get me a wheelchair and take me to Labor and Delivery. I wish I would have gotten that on video. We were taken to Labor and Delivery quickly and I answered some questions for the nurse there. We were then moved to a triage room for monitoring. They checked my cervix to make sure I wasn't dilating, and I wasn't. She then got me all hooked up to the monitor that tracks the babies heart beats and contractions. The nurse told me that she wanted to watch me for an hour and see how everything looks. After an hour had passed, the cramping hadn't, but the nurse said that I was just having some very small irritability contractions. She sent me home and told me to drink lots of water and take it easy. Better safe than sorry.
On our way home, we stopped at my in-laws, Robin and Gregg's, to eat the routinely Sunday breakfast. I was able to eat, but still wasn't feeling very well. We went home shortly after eating and I slept for about 3 or so hours. I would have slept longer, but I had a horrible pain on my left side and into my back so I got up. It was our week to have dinner at our house, so Robin and Gregg brought dinner over so we could all eat together. While I was eating, I asked Tyk and Robin where my kidneys were. I know where they are normally, but with being pregnant everything moves around so I wasn't sure if they did too. We talked about them being right in the spot where my back was hurting, and I started to wonder if I had a kidney stone. I went and sat on the couch after I was done eating and Gregg warmed up a rice bag for me to put on my side/back. Within minutes of having that heat on me, I was in so much pain. I asked Tyk if he could get me some Tylenol and then followed him into the bathroom. Suddenly I had the feeling that I was going to vomit, but I even hurt too bad to bend down to the toilet to try. I sat on the floor of the bathroom for half a second and then rolled to my hands and knees. That didn't work either. So I got up and went to lay on the bed. That was even worse, and I finally told Tyk that we needed to back to the hospital. We left quickly and got just about out of the neighborhood and to the main road when we had to pull over so I could vomit. I knew that something was really wrong and we were cruising the Hospital now. Once we got there, same thing. They asked what was wrong, I told them, and we were off to Labor and Delivery. Once we got there, I explained my whole day of already being there to now to the nurse and they put me back in the triage room. This time, I had to give them a urine sample, and then the nurse checked my cervix for dilation. I was dilating now, and I was a little bigger than a 1. This was not good, and the staff moved quickly to get me hooked up on an IV for fluids and the babies back on the monitors. This time I was having large contractions that were being tracked. The nurse spoke with the doctor on call, Dr. Beverly, and he told her to give me an oral medication to stop the contractions. I really wanted them to be working with my Doctor, Dr. Seale, but we quickly found out that he was out of town and would be until Wednesday. Great... She told me that this medication would lower my blood pressure and raise my heart rate, so she had to take my vitals every 15 minutes for the next 45 minutes. They also told me that I was going to be given steroid shots to help with the development of the babies lungs. I've heard from friends that the steroid shots hurt like heck, so I was not looking forward to that. She gave it to me and man did it hurt! Its like peanut butter going right into your butt muscle. And then it just sits there, so I had to rub it out which was just as bad. 45 minutes had passed and the coral medication wasn't working. So Dr. Beverly told the nurse to put me on Magnesium Sulfate through the IV. Oh man, I can't even explain what a joy this medication is.... The symptoms of this one is the flu. So shortly after, I was throwing up again and I had the body aches. Dr. Beverly wanted to monitor me over night, so I was being admitted.
That night was rough. I didn't sleep more than about an hour all night and I just felt sick. The nurses continued to monitor the babies and contractions through the night and would have to come in pretty often to get both heart beats back on the monitors. In the morning Dr. Beverly came in pretty early to check in on me. The first thing he did was introduce himself and tell me that he was Dr. Seales partner. For some reason this brought me a lot of peace, and I had a lot more trust for this guy at that point. He told me that I had a lot of blood in my urine and that I'm either passing a kidney stone or I had a kidney infection. He put me on antibiotics to clear that up immediately. He then told me that he wanted me to see Maternal Fetal Medicine, which is the high risk doctors, as soon as possible and that I needed to stay on the Magnesium Sulfate until I spoke to the MFM doctor. This meant I would continue on an all liquid diet, which is never fun. But, Labor and Delivery has these killer Popsicles that I ate a million of to hold me over. I can't even explain whats good about them. Maybe its just the situation you are in when you eat them. It's soothing. Dr. Andre from MFM came in a couple hours later with Dr. Beverly. He told me that he had been looking at my monitors and the babies looked really good. He wanted to do an ultrasound to check thing out, but I had been to their office too soon ago and it would not be safe for the babies to ultrasound this early after. I was a little disappointed at this, because I always love to see them. Dr. Andre said that he wanted to have a us see the NICU doctor at this point. He told us that it wasn't going to be a good conversation, and that honestly what they have to say will be scary. He felt that it was necessary at this point, so we know what is about to happen if I did have to deliver the babies soon. He explained to us that me being on the Magnesium Sulfate was not a normal protocol for preterm labor, but in my case it was a really good thing. He explained that it would not only stop my contractions, but aid in the development of the babies brains. I told myself that all of the nausea and vomiting was worth it as long as it was helping the babies. I had been on the medication for about 15 hours at this point, and Dr. Andre told Dr. Beverly that I could be taken off of the Magnesium Sulfate and put on a different oral medication. This meant I was able to eat solid foods again! I didn't want to go too heavy at this point, so some delicious chicken noodle soup is what I chose, and I'm not kidding when I say DELICIOUS!
A couple hours later, the NICU doctor came in. She was so comforting and sensitive to the situation. She explained to us what our babies would go through if they were born at this point. She explained that a lot of babies that are born before 30 weeks experience brain bleeds and that its not something that can be prevented really. She explained how they would most likely be on a ventilator for breathing, and have feeding tubes. She explained that they try to use the umbilical cord for blood draws, but if they can't they then get it from their little heels. She told us that our babies would be very sick for quite a long time, but that there is a 100% survival rate of babies born 26 weeks and over. She told us so much information, but in a way that was hopeful. And for some reason, I knew that my babies weren't coming soon, but I was grateful for the information in case I was wrong. The Dr. left and now we waited for a new plan for going forward. The nurse came in to tell us this and I asked her how long she thought I was going to be there. She explained that I would probably be moving to the postpartum wing and hopefully be going home maybe tomorrow, which was now Tuesday. At the longest she said I would be there till Wednesday. We later got the new plan from Dr. Beverly. I was moved to Postpartum and he wanted to monitor me for another night. That night was a little better because the nurses gave me ambien to sleep and I sleep really good till about 2:30 AM. I started having really bad contractions again and the monitoring was back on. The nurse from Labor and Delivery that had helped me the night before came to my room and checked my cervix to make sure I wasn't dilating more. I wasn't, which was such a relief. We got them under control after a while and I was able to go back to sleep for a couple of hours. Around about 8am Dr. Beverly came in to check on me and update me on the plan. He wanted me to stay another night to be monitored and go from there. It was a short and sweet conversation, and my hope to be going home on Tuesday was out the window.
Tuesday was pretty smooth. There were times throughout the day that I would get extremely uncomfortable due to my back hurting or a headache or just from being pregnant in a hospital bed, but no big contractions. I asked a couple nurses at one point how long they had seen a woman in preterm labor stay in the hospital before she had her baby. All of the shared experiences about patients who's water broke around 26-28 weeks and had to stay in the hospital for 12 weeks. This was daunting information.... PROPS TO YOU LADIES, I think I'd die if I had to do that. Tuesday passed and early Wednesday morning, in walks Dr. Seale. Man was it nice to seem him! I mean Dr. Beverly and the other doctors were great, but Dr. Seale is MY doctor and I prefer to work with him. He asked me what the heck was going on. I told him the story in a nutshell and he asked me if I had had an ultrasound done on my kidneys and bladder to see if they could see any stones. I told him no, and he ordered the ultrasound. He told me that I would be staying until the morning, now that being Thursday morning, and that he would look at the ultrasound results as soon as they were in. I asked him when I could go back to work. This was something that I had been really worried about the whole time I had been admitted to the hospital. I planned on taking my maternity leave April 21st, which put me just over 34 weeks. It is 6 plus weeks before that time, and I need to get back to work. I"m a teacher, and all teachers know that it is much much easier to just be there to teacher rather than to have a sub. I had already been scrabbling the last 3 days to get lesson plans to whoever was willing to teach my class for the day. I was not prepared to continue this until my scheduled long term sub could come save the day. Dr. Seale told me that I wouldn't be going back anytime soon. He told me that I would be on bed rest when I was released from the hospital... You see, that plan that you plan once again doesn't or never works out. I need to just stop planning!
Wednesday went on and I was taken down for the ultrasound. Everything went smooth there. It was funny when the techs were doing it. There was one tech that must of been training. She started the ultrasound and then the other tech took over because she was getting nervous that she was hurting me. The tech had a hard time finding my bladder because it is so squished. And when she did, the tech in training was surprised that what they were looking at was actually my bladder because it was so squished an thin, pinned down to my pelvic bone. It definitely feels this way right about now. They finished my ultrasound and I was taken back up to my room. I started to feel pains in places that I hadn't before. My neck hurt, and my lats, and my tailbone. I was so ready to go home and get out of that horrible bed. The night wasn't the best nights sleep and I couldn't get comfortable but did my best to get some sleep. The morning came, and Dr. Seale was in my 9am. He told us that I didn't have a kidney infection and there were no stones see on the ultrasound. So the reason of my body kicking into preterm labor is unknown to his view. He told me that I could go home then, and that I needed to be on bed rest for the time being. He told me that we could re-evaluate at about 32 weeks, but for now that I needed to be really careful about what I do and that the babies need to stay in there and grow. I highly doubt at 32 weeks I am going to feel a sudden burst of energy to get up and get going. That's 4+ weeks from now and I will only be that much bigger and uncomfortable. I do hope that I am less restricted at that point and can go places, but I do think I'm down for the count as far as working goes. I honestly think that my preterm labor was caused by over working myself. I had a crazy busy week at school, and I know I was hydrating like I should have been. I wasn't doing more than I was supposed to be at school, I was simply doing my job, but it seems at this point in my pregnancy that my job is too much for my body. So at home for the next 10+ weeks it is.
Since I have been home from the hospital, my body is feeling better. The hospital took a toll on me in every way, and now a week out I'm feeling more energy and sleeping better. I have a lot of time now and some days its hard to just sit. I'm not a TV watcher, so I spend a lot of my time on the computer making lesson plans, looking at Pinterest, looking up books I could read, and deciding what projects I am going to sew for the babies. I really love to sew, but this whole pregnancy I have told myself that I am not making anything for the babies due to not having any time. Well surprise Shandee!!! Now I have too much time, and I've decided that I want to make the babies everything. I may even be getting in over my head with all that I would like to make for them, but I can at least start and see how far I get. So I currently have a lot of fabric being shipped to my house, while I anxiously await its arrival. So many people have reached out to Tyker and I about what they can do to help. Dinners have been brought in and cleaning my house has been offered so many times. Thank you all so much!!! We are surviving right now, but I can guarantee in a month when I am still here laying around doing nothing, I am going to need so company! So if I've told you I'm good for now, just maybe not be surprised when I come to you in a couple of weeks.
I go back to MFM and Dr. Seale's office next week. I have the joy of doing the glucose test, and we are doing a 3D Ultrasound!!! At lease half will be good. When I was in the hospital, on the board in my room that the nurses write down information on, there is a section for today's goal. In that section for me it said STAY PREGNANT! That's my motto for now, and hopefully it sticks for at least two more months. Bed rest, water, and healthy babies.
Thanks for reading and for your love and support!
Stay tuned for updates.
Love,
Shandee
 |
| Our PERFECT Valentines Day Dinner |
 |
| First experiences of buying baby stuff has to be captured on film! |
 |
| Sneak Peak of Maternity Shoot. #ERINRICHPHOTOGRAPHY |
 |
| So this picture comes with a story. I saw this yesterday on social media and sent it to Tyk. This is only his biggest dream LOL. He asked if we could hang it above baby girls crib. So I told him we would print it out and put it in a small frame on a shelf above her crib. |
 |
| Getting the nursery all painted and baby ready! |
 |
| 23 Weeks! |
 |
| 24 Weeks |
 |
| 25 Weeks |
 |
| 26 Weeks! |
 |
| 27 Weeks |
