Baby Details

Wow has the last couple of months been a life changer to say the least. It has had its ups and downs, but I definitely would not change it for the world. Bannik and MiLynn are changing and growing so much every day, and I need to start documenting it better on paper rather than just pictures.

Both of the babies are beginning to roll over! Bannik more than MiLynn right now, but things change so much with them, and SOOO fast that by this afternoon, it could be the other way around. Bannik is so funny though. He's been trying to roll for about the past week, and then Wednesday, September 13, 2017 he finally got it. Bannik did his first roll!!!! Now he will be laying down and trying to roll from his back to his belly. He will fuss and fuss and fuss until he finally gets over and gets his arm out, and then lay for about a minute or two. And they it starts all over! He will start to fuss and fuss again, but now its because he doesn't want to be on his belly and can't roll back over to his back! Silly boy. He is getting so close though.
MiLynn does this arch thing, where she arches her back and puts her head back and then all of a sudden she's made it to her belly. She's only done this about twice at this point, but I know within about a week or so I will have two Rolly Pollies that I won't even be able to have lay still long enough to change their diapers!

Bannik is my snuggle boy and has been since day one. He loves to lay on my chest and it puts him right to sleep. I love this and I know its not going to last forever, so I choose to do it for just a little bit just about every day! He is also our social butterfly. This dude is the smiliest baby and its the cheesiest smile you've ever seen, gums and all! He's starting to laugh too, which is the cutest thing!!! The other night I had just given the babies a bath before bedtime, and Tyk and I were putting on their jammies. When we were done, Banny was so smiley so I started talking to him. He started talking back and then I grabbed his feet and put them towards his belly in a crunch position. I did this a couple of times, watching him smile. Next thing I knew, he was full belly laughing! It was the cutest thing! Tyk grabbed his phone and was able to get him laughing on video, so I'll post it below! Bannik also LOVES the bath! As soon as you put him in, he does this funny breathing thing like its taking his breath away. From there I put a warm washcloth on his belly and he starts kicking in the water like crazy! Last night when he was in the tube, he was kicking in the water so fast and hard that it splashed up into his face and he started coughing! He looked surprised for a split second, and then he gave me a huge smile and began to kick again.  I bathe both of the babes together and they sit in their Angel care bath tubes. These are the ones with the holes in them. So I fill the bath up to about half way, put their baths in the tub and it allows them to sit elevated in the water. The babies are so funny together though. They sit facing one another and while they kick they TRY to kick each other. They will reach their legs out as long as they can to feel where the other is. And then as soon as they feel her/him, they just kick and kick at each other. I keep telling both of them that they will want to be an aunt and uncle one day so they have to be nice now and watch where they kick.

The two have really started noticing each other the past couple of weeks. Its almost like they notice the other and stare and stare at them in that one incident and then forget that they ever saw them the next time they notice again. I love it. I've told them from the beginning that they are not alone, and they always come in a pair, from the very beginning! One day they will realize this, and remember, but for now, I will keep reminding them! Especially when one is freaking out, and the other won't let me put him/her down. "You have to remember that there are TWO of you and only ONE of me." I say to them. I know they don't understand fully of course, but I tell them anyway.

MiLynn has been our sassy sister from the beginning. She's a scowly girl, but has really bloomed the last week or so. She would smile and talk a little bit before, but only right after she woke up. Now all she wants to do it talk and smile at you. Its been really fun to see her develop her sassiness into sweetness as well! She's found her hands more than Bannik, and they are always in her mouth. Which this leads to slobbering all over herself. That's okay though, its what babies do! I didn't realize though, that babies slobber before they are teething, so I ask their Pediatrician, Dr. Brown, about this at their last appointment. I said "they can't be teething yet right?" He replied and said "no, its just that they are 4 months old." MiLynn has also found her feet! They're not in her mouth yet, but I know they will be soon! She's developing her hand eye coordination the last couple of days and now she loves to grab things, like her bottle! The problem with this is that she has reflux and is on medication for it, so at times she can be a difficult eater. When she was really little you had to burp her every half ounce to and ounce that she ate, and then about three burps after she was done eating. So total she needed to burp about 5 times, and if you didn't get every single one of her burps out, she would projectile vomit her whole bottle. This was a great learning experience.... Once she got a little bit older, she began to cry every time she ate, while she was eating. This is just about the only time she would cry, and it would be in between her sucking on the bottle. It worsened and got to the point where she would eat a about and ounce, we would burp her, and she wouldn't take the bottle again so she wasn't eating much or gaining enough weight. So we hand to change things up. We learned that we couldn't take the bottle out of her month until she was either spitting it out with her tongue, or she had finished it all.  This is when the doctor decided to put her on medication for reflux, thank goodness! We still feed her like that, because she still won't take it after its been taken out, but she's not crying anymore. This is why her handsiness is a problem when she grabs the bottle. She will use her hands to push the bottle out of her month and not on purpose. So I have to hold the bottle in the dip of my hand by my thumb and then extend my thumb and my fingers so she has something to grab onto. Most times it works, but sometimes we are still dealing with her pushing the bottle out.

Here's the thing with babies, you think that you've got it down to a science and you know how to do things with your baby. Then, they grow and develop and you're back at square one because what you figured out that worked before no longer works and you're experimenting with new tactics. Its a roller coast and an on going learning experience for you and your baby. Patience is a virtue they say... and parenting can't be done without it. You know that parenting manual that everyone talks about wishing they had, you are the parent are the manual, and you're writing it continuously as your baby is changing by the minute. What works for one baby is not going to work for the next. They are individuals and they need their own manuals. I have to remind myself of this on the daily.

Our babies have changed my world, flipped it upside down, and I absolutely love it. You fall into this parenting thing quick, and you have no idea what you're doing, but somehow you're doing it. As long as your kid is alive by the end of the day, you say your prays, count your blessings, and hope that you all survive the next day. Its the best and hardest thing I have ever experienced, and I'm so grateful that I get to experience it with them.

Thanks for reading,

Love,
Shandee

The Delivery

We got to the hospital right before midnight. My water had broke, and we were ready to get the ball rolling! When I walked in to the emergency room, I told the nurse what was going on as I stood with my legs apart, absolutely soaked and freezing. She got me a wheelchair, and before I sat down I just commented on how wet that seat was about to be if I sat on it. The nurse told me it was fine, and that they'd clean it off. We headed up to labor and deliver. Once I got up there, they had me switch out of the wheelchair to a regular chair. When I stood up to move, the nurse that had just wheeled me up said "Wow" as she looked at how wet the wheelchair was! Ha! I told you lady.... Sorry! Lol. I told the labor and delivery nurse the same thing, that this chair I was about to sit on was going to get really wet. She said "Oh we don't care, we see it all the time!" She got me checked in and we were taken to a room quickly. The nurse told me to change into a gown and to push the nurse button when we were ready. Well I took to long to get in my gown and the nurse was back as I was standing in the bathroom naked trying to figure out how to button up that stupid gown. She helped out and got me situated on the bed. Tage and Kyla had parked the car at this point and were there for the action. We had to have them go out for a couple of minutes so the nurse could make sure that the fluid that I was leaking was actually amniotic fluid. I remember thinking to myself... "Really people, I literally just dropped like a gallon of fluid. I'm POSITIVE that it was not pee." But I guess all patients that are under 36 weeks of gestation have to be tested. Well It didn't take long for the little tab that she used to turn positive for amniotic fluid. The nurse then checked to see how dilated my cervix was at this point, finding that I was at a 3. She then put my IV in and I was beginning to feel small contractions. Tage and Kyla came back into the room, and we told them to go home. We had some time to go before the babies were coming. They decided to leave, at this time being about 2 AM.

My mom and sister got there soon after we did, all excited and ready for the babies to come. Robin came next and then left to grab some food for mom and Karli. When she came back, I could tell something was wrong. She came over to the bed and said "I'm just going to go home." I asked her why and she said "just cuz." I said "No Robin, why are you leaving." and she said the same answer. So finally I said "Robin I want you here and I need you to stay. You are apart of this, and if you are willing to stay I want you to stay." She looked at me for about half a second and then said, "okay, I'll stay."

The nurse came in again and asked if I wanted my epidural soon. I didn't really know how to answer the question. I had never done this before, so how am I supposed to know when to get it and when to not. I was contracting a lot more at this point and they were getting to the point where I had to stop talking when they would come and just concentrate on breathing through them due to the pain. Karli had said "Shand don't wait too long. Thats what I did. So then when I finally got the epidural, I pumped so much into me that I couldn't feel a thing. I couldn't even move my legs, it was awful!" So I told the nurse to have the anesthesiologist come give it to me. He was on another one at the time, but was in my room within about 20 minutes to do mine. This is one thing that I was kinda nervous about getting put in as I thought about delivery throughout my pregnancy. I've just heard what other people have said about it, and i've seen those GINORMOUS needles they use, but honestly it was cake! And the feeling you have when it goes in, is really the weirdest, hardest thing to describe! I wish I could think of words to describe how it feels, but as i'm sitting here writing and trying to figure out a word, I just can't think of any. Its just one of those things you have to experience I guess. Once that got into my system, I was feeling pretty relaxed. I never got to the point where I couldn't feel my contractions. They were just very subtle, which was exactly how I wanted it. Come 6:30, the nurse checked me again. I was dilated to just under a 10 and the nurse had be push just for a second to see if I could get to a full 10. Well it worked and now it was waiting for doctor time. We called Gregg who had stayed home to sleep until we said it was time. It was kinda funny how fast he made it to the hospital. Well it seemed fast on my part. I guess he was just excited to finally be a grandpa!

My doctor already had a patient that was induced the night before, so he was ready to come for whoever was ready first. Well it ended up being the other gal, so we just hung out and waited for him to be ready for my delivery. At about 8 AM there was a knock at the door and in came Dr. Seale. He said "Well everything looks good, are you ready?" I said yes and he said "Okay, we'll see you in there." Since I was having twins, I had to deliver in the Operating Room in case of any type of emergency. This was kinda a hard thing for me when we first found this out. Only because in the operating room you can only have your spouse in there with you. I hadn't fully decided who I wanted to be in the room when I delivered when I found this information out, but the fact that I didn't even have a choice was upsetting to me. While I was at one of my prenatal visits, I had talked with Dr. Seale about this rule. He explained to me that it was not up to him at all, that it was the hospitals policy, or labor and deliveries. Well he told me that I could possibly have one more person with me, but he couldn't be absolutely positive. I was okay with that, and I had then decided that if I could not have my mom, sister, and Mother-in-Law in the room with me, then I wanted none of them. I was going to have my friend Erin instead. I was going to have her shoot a birth story of the delivery, and then everyone could see the pictures, and I didn't leave anyone out. Well that didn't end up happening how it was planned. Erin was in Las Vegas for the weekend, and I was super upset that she couldn't be there. But really when it came down to it, the labor and delivery nurses were not going to let her in there anyway. They were very strict with the policy and said absolutely no one else could be in the Operating Room with me besides my husband. At one point during the night Karli asked me if she could be in the Operating Room with me. I told her no, that if not everyone could be in there, then no one could be. This was all before we knew that the nurses were going to be such sticklers for the night. Karli just kept saying "please Shand, we have been planning this since Bryn was born."   BrynDee is my niece, she'll be 9 at the end of June. So it's been quite a while that "we had been planning this." Then it turned into her asking me with tears coming down her face. And honestly I understood how much this meant to her, I was just stuck between a rock and a hard spot. My mom even told me to let Karli come in the room, and said that she wouldn't be upset. It really wasn't my mom that I was having a hard time with. I knew that she experienced this with Karli when Bryn was born. It was Robin that I was having a hard time with. I didn't want to leave her out. Her and I have such a special relationship, and I am the daughter that she never had. So for her not to be able to be in the delivery room with me was a really big deal to me. I was so sad about it, but I did know that she would understand if I let Karli be. I explained all of this to my mom and Karli and they understood. I finally decided that it would be okay if not everyone was in the room, and that I needed to let Karli be apart of this special time in my life. I told her that we could ask the nurse, but I couldn't be positive that they would let her come. This was all when Robin had left the room for something. When she came back I explained to her that Karli was going to come with me into the Operating Room. And like I knew she would be, Robin was so understanding and sensitive to the situation. So now it was on to the nurses. For the longest time, they just kept saying no. They said there is absolutely no was they would be letting her in. I just kept working the nurse and she did what she could with the charge nurses. Well when it was about time for me to be taken into the Operating Room, my nurse came into the room and said that Karli could come into the room, but if anything crazy began to happen that she would need to leave immediately. Karli just keeping saying " ok ok, I will, ok."

In came two nurses with outfits for Tyk and Karli to put on. It was about 8 AM and it was go time. I started crying as soon as I realized how serious everything just got. The nurses had me put on a head cap too and I gave hugs to my mom, Robin, and Gregg. The nurses began to wheel me out of my room and I was just full of emotions. I couldn't believe that my babies were finally going to be here, that I wasn't going to be pregnant anymore, that we were going to be parents, FINALLY. It was all a little overwhelming, and such and incredible feeling. As I got into the Operating Room, the nurses had me move from my bed to the operating table. In came Dr. Seale and the first thing he said to me was "are you okay?" I shook my head back to him and said "this has just been a long time coming." I began to push on my next contraction. Two contractions later, my little man was born! I was a momma! Tyker and Karli were so cute while I had been pushing. Tyk was on my right holding my hand, and Karli on my left. While pushing, they were both my cheerleaders! I just remember them saying "you can do it, keep going Shand, you're doing so good, good job, keep going, push push push!" Dr. Seale sat Bannik on my belly/chest for about 30 seconds so I could see him. I just cried as I looked at him. And then he was whisked away to be analyzed. Tyk looked at me with tears in his eyes, told me good job, and gave me a kiss. I remember thinking at this point, "man that was pretty easy! If I only had one baby I'd be done already?" When we had gotten into the OR, Dr. Seale did a quick ultrasound on my belly to see what position MiLynn was in. She was transverse, and he told me that she would likely flip head down and soon as brother was born. Sure enough, right as soon as Bannik was out, MiLynn was right where she need to be. Two contractions after Bannik was born, I started pushing for MiLynn. She was just as easy as Brother, two contractions of pushing and my baby girl was born, 7 minutes later than her brother! Dr. Seale sat MiLynn on my belly/chest like he had done Bannik. She didn't cry very quick and then she let out the sweetest, softest little cry. I just looked at her, and remember thinking "wow look at all of her hair!" Dr. Seale handed her to the nurse and cleaned me up. I honestly should have 14 babies with how smooth my delivery went. I was in and out of the OR in less than 30 minutes with delivery twins! I could not have wished for a better experience!

Thanks for reading,

Love,
Shandee

Post Delivery (Written 5/8/17)

I have to write about this first week while I remember it. 

Once I delivered, I had to go back to my room to recover for 1 hour. On the way out as they were rolling me away on the hospital bed, they showed me both of the babies in the room next to me and it was pretty upsetting to me. I see MiLynn first and they have one of those oxygen masks with the bag on the end on her face pumping oxygen into her lungs. I remember the nurse saying they are just doing that to open up her lungs. I don't care what they were doing, no new mom wants to see their brand new baby like that... they rolled me around to another door so I could see Bannik and honestly I can't even remember really seeing him because I was upset about MiLynn. 

We got back to the room, where my mom, Robin, and Gregg were waiting for me. We walked in and my mom said "we have babies!" And I told her yes! They all gave me a huge hug and Karli said how good I did. The nurse got me all set up on the best way to recover, and told me in an hour that I could go see my babies and then they'd move me to postpartum. During that hour, Karli and I talked about the delivery and how smooth everything went. She got some pictures on her phone and recorded right as the babies came out, so she showed my mom, Robin, and Gregg that. Tyk stayed back with the babies for a couple of minutes and then he was back in my room too. He even says that it was too hard for him to watch the nurses and doctors poke our babies to put in IV's and do the required actions for the time being. 

When my hour was up, the nurse transferred me to a wheel chair and took me to see my babies in the NICU. I can't even explain how devastating this first experience seeming my babies for more than 30 seconds was. I knew before they were born that they would need some extra help and that they would be in the NICU for a while. I mean, they were born more than a month early what can you expect. But as we rolled in there, it was extremely hard to see them like that at first. I saw Bannik first, and I immediately started crying. He had been hooked up to a ventilator to help him breath, and he had tubes coming out and going in everywhere. He looked like he was having the hardest time breathing. The nurse told me that he had a collapsed chest and that it was something that they saw every so ofter, it would be like that his whole life, it was a genetic condition that happens, and it wasn't going to really effect him. I don't care if it was any of those things, he had it and I felt like it was my fault. We went over and saw MiLynn who was just a few steps away, and once again I don't really remember seeing her. The nurse kept telling me things about their care and other stuff and at this point I was so overwhelmed and exhausted that I couldn't even keep my eyes open to listen to what she was saying. I told Tyker I wanted to leave, and nurse took me to my room.

We got to my postpartum room and my mom, Karli, and Gregg were there. I got settled in the bed and began to tell them about the babies. I just cried as I talked about Bannik. I told them I felt like it was my fault that he had all of that happening to him and how much it looked like he was struggling. They all reassured me that it wasn't my fault, and that it was just time for them to come. I fell asleep shortly after that and slept for about three hours. 

The nurses came in and woke me up at about 3 o'clock. They made me get up to go to the bathroom and the whole time I thought Tyk was asleep in the chair or on the couch. Once I realized he wasn't in the room at all, I remember telling the nurses that I didn't know where my husband was, but probably getting some food. They left and I called Tyk. "Hi where are you?" He replies "I'm with the babies." How cute is this!!!? It made me smile and he told me he'd be right there to get me. When we got back to the NICU, it was a much better experience than the first time. Bannik was already off of the ventilator and his little chest was not moving up and down a hundred miles per hour just to breath. The nurse came back and talked with us about both of them, and explained how their care times worked. They have care times every three hours. This is the best time for us to see them because they change their bums, take their temperature, feed them, give them baths, and do anything else they need. They are awake during this time! At this time, it went care time. So we sat for a little bit and watched them and then went back to the room. 

We finally ordered some food from the cafeteria and I tried pumping for the first time. It wasn't horrible but I maybe got half a drop out in a 15 minute time period. I expected this, so I didn't mind. Our food came and I had chicken noodle soup. That soup is sooo good! I think I said this in my earlier post when I was in the hospital for preterm labor, but I'm serious, it's amazing! We just relaxed for a little while and then Tyk's parents came to see how we were doing. 

We all went down to see the babies at 7 and this is when I got to hold Bannik for the first time! I just sat and cried with him for a couple of minutes. It was such a special moment for me because he was my sick baby and I wanted nothing more than to just hold and protect him. We got to do skin to skin and I held him for over an hour while he looked at me and I told him how much I loved him. Tyk held MiLynn and she opened her eyes to look at her daddy. This was such a special night for both of us. We left feeling a lot better about how our babies were and knew that we just needed to give them time. 

The next day we went and saw the babies all throughout the day. When we went in early that morning, MiLynn had her oxygen tube that's supposed to go in her nose in her mouth! I asked the nurse if that's where it was supposed to be and of course she said no. She then told us that her oxygen saturation level hadn't even gone down with that not being in her nose, and she took her off of it! Yay! One down, one to go! Everyone had told us that little boys have a harder time than little boys, so asked the nurse if it was boys in multiple baby situations or was that the case in singleton births as well. She simply turned her head to me and said "white boys." Well there ya have it. White boys are little sissy's! Just kidding. But really if you think about it, boys in general mature slower than girls in most all things, do it makes sense. Bannik didn't take long though, he was off of the oxygen later that night! 

We got discharged the next day, Tuesday at this point. I could not wait to be home. We had the option to board in the hospital if we wanted to while the babes are in the NICU, but who in their right mind would want to stay in the hospital any longer than they had to... I think I'd feel different if we didn't live so close, but there was no way I was about to do that in our situation. Hospitals are not places to feel comfortable. There is people prying at you every couple of hours, the beds are awful, and they just suck! So we went and seen the babies and then we headed home for a couple of hours. On the way, we had to stop at the home health care place to get a breast pump. Tyk went in to pick it up, and came out empty handed. He told me that they need a pre-authorization from my insurance in order to pick it up and to come back later before they closed at 6. I was not okay with this. I needed that pump as soon as I got home and my insurance should have already authorized the transaction. So I called my insurance and the sweet lady gave me the authorization number over the phone and wished us lucky with the twins. I decided that I was going inside this time and I was coming back out with a pump. Tyk said "Shand don't be mean to her. It's not her fault!" Ha! I wasn't planning to be mean, I was just going to show her the urgency of my situation and explain that I needed the pump now. But I didn't even have to do that. As soon as she got the authorization number she said "give me a minute to get your pump." From there I had to sign some papers and we were on our way!

It was so nice to finally be home, but it was really hard to not have the babies with us. I can honestly say though, I wish every mom had the chance to come home without their babies for 3 nights so they had the chance to take care of themselves, sleep, and recover before they have to take care of a baby as well. Hospitals are not a place for sleep, so you are exhausted, you're figuring out this new life that you so happy have just entered, and its tough... So yes it sucked to not have my babies for the first little while, but I truly am so grateful that I was able to recover from the deliver before we got to bring them home. Once babies are home, it was see ya later to sleep, sanity, and me time... which I would change for anything, but its a still a transition that takes time!

Thanks for reading!

Love,
Shandee

Tyk! My water broke!!!

My babies are a week old!!! I have to write about how I went into labor the night before because it truly is the perfect story and I don't want to forget it!! 

Friday night we were planning our day for Saturday. Our friends Kory and Kenzie were getting Sealed in the temple on Saturday and we were planning on going. I remember thinking to myself, "oh no I'm going to be clear down in Salt Lake. What if I go into labor? I'm far away from the hospital I will be delivering at!" I think I felt like this because I wasn't feeling very good on Friday. The day before I was definitely nesting, and I had decided that I needed to scrub down the whole kitchen. So I did, along with the sink in our bathroom, the mirrors, swept the floor, and cleaned up all of the sewing stuff that was everywhere in the dining room. I was lifting things that I shouldn't have, and ultimately doing things that I hadn't done in 8 weeks. At the time it wasn't "nesting" in my eyes. I just wanted a clean kitchen, and I was sick of the sewing stuff out. Now I see 100% that that's EXACTLY what it was. So on Friday my body was feeling it! 

Saturday came and I felt a ton better. I wasn't worried about being in Salt Lake anymore, and come to find out the Sealing was actually in Bountiful! We went to the Sealing, and it was so beautiful and special. We even took pictures afterward with the group, which took a lot of walking and a lot of standing. Multiple people asked when I was due, and that was always such a loaded question for me. I would tell them I was having twins and that would change the whole scenario in their eyes, and then I'd just say "kinda any day." After the Sealing Kory and Kenzie had a little BBQ that we went to. On the way there we had a little bit of time to kill so we stopped at Sonic to get a drink. I had been craving peach stuff all week, so I got a peach ice cream slush. Oh my... it was sooo good! While we were in the car driving back to the BBQ, I told Tyk I wanted the babies to be born on the 23rd. Today was the 22nd so that would be tomorrow. He asked me why and I didn't really know why. My birthday is on the 23rd and I've really always loved that number. I also said that if it wasn't the 23rd then it needed to be the 28th because that was my grandma's birthday. She would've been 89 this year! Or it had to be May 8th. That's grandpa Belnap's birthday and he'll be 92 this year, and still kicking it strong! I can't say I knew that the babies were coming, but I knew something was different and the babies were coming.

We got to the BBQ and most of the time I sat at the table with the girls and we talked about the IVF process. By the time we left there and finally got home it was about 4:30. The Supercross was that night at Rice-Eccles Stadium at The University of Utah, and Tyk and I had decided months ago that we weren't going because we didn't know how I'd be. Well once we got home, Tyks whole family was there and I felt bad that he wasn't. We were sitting on the couch and I was scrolling through Facebook. One of our friends had posted that he and another kid had extra tickets for the night if he knew of anyone that wanted them. I didn't really say anything about it and Tyk was scrolling through the channels on the tv to pull up the broadcasted race. Well it didn't take long for us to realize that the race wasn't being broadcasted on the regular channel that it is on and we couldn't watch it. I felt horrible, so I just told him to go. "We can get a ticket for you and I'll be fine here. Woods has an extra one, I'm going to text him." Tyk just kept saying "no no I'm not leaving you by yourself." I texted our friend Woods to see if he had a ticket left, and he didn't. Tyk was not going to go without me, so I decided that we should both just go. I told him I felt fine and that I really wanted to go. He said "and what If you go into labor?" I said "then I go into labor, and I couldn't be closer to a hospital at that point." It's funny how my mindset had changed about going to Salt Lake from the night before to now, but I wasn't really worried at all. So I tried another friend that had a pair of tickets. While we were waiting for him to get back to us about a price and location of the tickets, he sold them. So on to KSL... Tyk had said the only way we were going is if we could get tickets in the middle sections of the stadium where there were actual folding seats rather than benches. We found some from a guy that was already at the stadium and we were on our way. On the way down, Tage called us and said "you're not really coming are you?" And we said yes we're already in Salt Lake. He didn't believe us and we were passing Temple Square, so I snapchatted him a picture of the Temple. We stopped at McDonalds drive through so we didn't have to buy food at the stadium and we headed to the stadium. 

Tyk dropped me off at the front gates where Robin met me. I was prepared to endure the night with a jacket and coat, pillow to put behind my back while I was sitting, my hospital water mug of course, and a blanket. We got me all set in my seat, and Tyk showed up shortly after. I had told him earlier that day that people were beginning to stare at me like I had some kind of disability with how big my belly was. And it was really true! I would walk into a store or really just anywhere and people would just stare at me! It started to bother me a little bit and made me a little self conscious. So while I was waiting for Tyk to get to our seats I felt like that was happening, but I guess what can I expect... my belly really was huge! 

The event began to start and they always have a big opening for the show. So there were big flames of fire going off, and big booms that scared probably the entire crowd the first time it happened. By the fourth or fifth one I was used to them, but baby boy just about jumped right out of my stomach from it scaring him! It was sooo cute that he jumped to where I could feel him. I felt a little bad that it scared him so bad, but it was pretty funny and it was a good sign that he wasn't deaf. The races began and as time went on, I got more and more uncomfortable. At this point, my belly really laid on my legs if they were together. It would then be so pushed up in my ribs that it would hurt and I couldn't breath very well. So I liked to sit with my legs way apart to where my belly could sit in between them. Well this wasn't an option because there wasn't enough room and I was beginning to feel it. I told Tyk that my pants were too tight and then I went to the bathroom. When I came back my pants were still hurting me and I told Tyk that I was going to go find some scissors so I could cut my waistband.

I went down into the food area and found a worker man. I asked if he had scissors. He said no and asked me why. I told him and another lady that was standing there that I needed to cut my pants because they were too tight. They laughed at me and then the guy said he thought he might have a pocket knife in the office. So we went into this office with 3 other people in there. The room was crammed with strollers and there wasn't much room around them. He handed me a pocket knife and I asked one of the lady's in there if she would help me. I definitely would've cut my belly if I tried to cut them by myself. Before we started cutting, another lady said "why don't you take her to first aid, they will have scissors." I don't know why I didn't think of that, but I was really grateful for her genius thinking because that pocket knife thing was going to be a scary mess. The guy took me into first aid and they had scissors right away. I told them I needed to cut my pants because they were too tight and they all just kinda looked at me like I was a little nuts. I told them that I wasn't going to have to wear them much longer so I didn't care if they were cut. The lady helped me cut them and it was a pretty good feeling of relief! As I was about to walk out, one of the ladies said "your band is hanging down" and i just said "oh well, I don't care!" Lol!! I went back up to my seat and Tyk asked if I found scissors. I told him yep and I showed him the slit in the side of my pants. About 10 minutes later I decided that my pants we're still too tight and I had tyk rip one side more. By this point my pants were about to fall off if we ripped and further, so I had to be comfortable with what it was. 

As the races continued on, my back was killing me and I asked Tyk how many more races there were to go. I was counting down... I was ready to go, well my body was. So the final race began and it was an intense one! The whole crowd was standing up and at first Tyk said that he'd stay sitting with me. That didn't last very long haha, which was fine by me. I wanted him to be able to see the action. I was trying to feel if I was having contractions at all but my belly was too squished for me to tell. I was having sharp pains in my lower pelvic area every so often though. These had started within the last week and it was like a stabbing pain all of a sudden down by my pelvis and then it'd go away. I wasn't too worried about it all week, just figured it was body gearing up for delivery soon. The race was getting closer to ending and the rider in first place, Dungey, was about to get passed by Tomac. This was a big deal!! They were tied for the points lead for the championship and Tomac had come back from a bad start where he was in like 12th place. The crowd was cheering as Tomac got closer. I wanted to see, so I stood up and watched the pass. It was exciting and I was cheering probably bigger than I should have been when it happened. I sat back down, felt a couple of stab pains, and then I was fine. The race ended with Tomac taking first and taking the points lead only a couple minutes later. Now everyone was beginning to make their mad dash toward the exit trying to get to their cars as quickly as possible. Tyk and I sat for just a second and let it clear a little bit. Really, I was stressed about how I was going to get to the car. Tyk had parked at least a mile away, it's almost 11 o'clock at night, and I didn't want to have to wait for him at the stadium to get out of the parking lot and drive back to the stadium to pick me up. So I thought maybe I could walk to a cross street while he went and grabbed the jeep. Hopefully I would make it there by the time he got out of the parking lot. But that really was unrealistic for me. It was two blocks away and uphill... ya right. 

We still hadn't figures out what we were going to do and these people on our row needed to get by us to get out. I stood up and let them pass. Next thing I knew, I was peeing my pants. I whispered to Tyk that I was peeing my pants and he was so sweet and said "really babe, I'm sorry! We will get you to the bathroom as soon as we get out of here." Well the pee didn't stop. It began to gush out and I then realized that it wasn't pee coming out, it was amniotic fluid. My water had broke!!!! I turned to Tyker, gasped, and said "Tyk my water broke, my water broke!" I kept saying it over and over, and I started freaking out. This was the worst possible time of the entire night that my water could have broke. EVERYONE was leaving the stadium and in a hurry to get home, not just us! As I kept saying this over and over Tyker finally looked straight at me and with the calmest voice said "I know, it's going to be okay!" I remember looking down at my pants at this point and see a full on stream of fluid coming from my knee onto the stadium floor. All I knew was we had to get moving. We started for the stairs and they were packed with people. The couple that we had just let by us was right in front of me and I just said "excuse me can I get in front of you my water just broke." They stared at me for a split second and let us by. I was pretty quick down the stairs and I was just dodging people to get by them. As I walked I could just feel more and more fluid coming out. It was crazy, and I was soaked!! Tyker called his mom whose seats were on the other side of the stadium and told her my water broke. Robin replied and said "Shand's water broke? Oh no, you're kidding." And she really thought for a second that Tyk was. Well as soon as Tage heard that my water broke he knew his car was the closest and took off running. As we were still walking out, I called a friend that lives on campus, Josh and Camree, to see if they could come get us and take us to our car. She told me sh was on her way and be right there. We finally were to the main gate of the stadium. As we walked out to 400 South, the Main Street up and down from the stadium, had been CLOSED DOWN!!! All cars had to take alternate routes... Ha! What a mess. We had no idea what to do at this point. I called

Camree to tell her about the street closure and we started walking down 400 South thinking that the first cross street below we be best for her to get to us. As I'm talking to her, we find two cops and I decide to go up to them and ask for help. I said "Excuse me, hi, my water broke and I need to get to my car as fast as possible." At first they both just looked at me, and then said "okay well this road is closed. No one is getting down it." Thanks ya jerks, for being so helpful. So I said it again "well my water broke, and I'm pregnant with twins. I need to get to the hospital." I swear the first time I said it they thought I was kidding. Then the one looked at my pants and saw them dripping. His eyes went wide, and he was ready to help. He first turned to the other cop and said "her water broke and she has twins! What do you think is best?" The other cop continued to be kinda a jerk and said "call those guys right there. That will be the fasts way." As he pointed to the Red Cross ambulance. Tyk and I both just kinda sat there for a second, all of this happening while Camree was still on the phone. The helpful cop said "okay tell me what I can do for you." I told him that I had a friend coming to get us. She just needed to be able to get here. He asked where she was at and what car she was driving. He then wackied to all of the cops and told them to let her through because

She was coming to get a woman in labor. He asked what hospital we were going to, and when we said McKay Dee, his eyes got big and is mouth about dropped to the floor. Cam was still having a hard time getting through, so I let her talk to the cop. As I had been talking to the cop, Tyker had called Tage to see where he was at. Tyk says Tage answered the phone out of breath from running uphill to get to his car as fast as possible. He told him he was in the car now and asked where we were. Tyk told him, and now it was a race to see who could get to us fastest. I'm watching up the road for a sight of either of them, and all of a sudden this car with its flashers on is coming down the hill. TAGE TO THE RESCUE! 

As he pulls up, Robin and Kyla are finally out of the stadium and have found us too. I hopped in the front seat and then realized I didn't have any form of ID because my purse was in the jeep. I told this to Tyk and he then realized that we hadn't figured out who was going to take our car home. Luckily, Robin had road down with Tage and Kyla and Gregg met her there. So Tyk told her she needed to go get our jeep and bring it home. She has no idea how to get to where we parked, but Tyk had fortunately pin dropped the location to Josh, Camree's husband earlier. So Robin walked all over campus, following the "compass" to find the jeep.

Now we were on our way!! We got stopped by the trax's for a good five minutes as soon as we got in the car. After that it was smooth sailing! Tage was the perfect driver for this situation, and as he was driving down 400 South he told us how he got there so fast. I guess an officer stopped him at the top of the hill and Tage told him that his wife's water broke and he needed to get to her as quickly as possible. The cop said back to him that he thought that he'd be driving a Honda Accord, not a Ford Escape. Tage then said, "okay it's not my wife it's my sister-in-law, but really her water broke." Lol! This made me laugh, and the cop let him through.  We got out of downtown Salt Lake fast enough, by some running of red lights and swerving around cars, that the traffic was light once we got on the freeway. Tyker and Kyla were freaking out as we were doing it though. Tage would get to a light and Kyla would yell "Tage you have to stop!" And Tyk would chime in with a "Ya Tage!" He would do a little yield to make sure no one was coming, and we would speed through. On the freeway, he was probably going 95 and we were all worried about getting pulled over. Tage said that he wasn't going to stop if he was being pulled over. And Tyk and Kyla started freaking out again, ha! They both were just saying you have to, you have to. I think I was the calmest one at this point. So I just said "Tage you'd have to stop. If you didn't, it would turn into a high speed chance. So you could pull over and I'd tell the cop, officer my water broke, I'm having twins, and I need to get to the hospital. And he'd then escort us there." Tage then said "THAT'D BE SICK!" Well there were no cops in sight, and we made it from Rice-Eccles Stadium to the hospital in 35 minutes!!!! 

It's funny when we talk to Tage about the experience. He said later that day that he knew he'd be the one driving me to the hospital when it was time. It's funny how we have those feelings, thanks Holy Ghost! And honestly, he was the perfect one for job. If Tyker had been driving, I would have been yelling at him the whole time probably... let's

Just say, his a little more cautious in most things than Tage. There were some other funny things that had happened leading up to the labor too. When we got to the stadium and settled in our seats, Tyk had sent out a couple snapchats about us being there. He sent one that said maybe Shand will go into labor tonight and we'll have Supercross babies. And another one he did where he was looking at the track saying supercross and then moving the camera to my belly and say babies. It's was super funny that we had both of those, like he deep down inside knew they were coming too. Since he sent those snaps, he decided to continue with the story when my water really did break. So we have some of the drive to the hospital recorded, and I'm super grateful for that for memories sake! 

It was such an eventful day all around for Tyker and I! I love every minute of it now that I look back, and even then it was pretty special how it all went down!

To be continued into my labor!

Thanks for reading! 

Love,

Shandee

Second Trimester Overview

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

6 MONTH MILESTONE

I am officially 6 months pregnant!

We went to our regular prenatal visit last Tuesday. It was short and sweet and we didn't really get too much information about the babies. Dr. Seale does an ultrasound on me every time because I am considered high risk, which is pretty fun to see them so often. This appointment, Dr. Seale said he wanted to check them out really quick, and he wasn't kidding. I told him that I was excited to see what position they were in because my ribs and back on my right side had been killing me. Well sure enough, both of them are breech still and baby girl is right up in my ribs on the right side. Dr. Seale said that the back pain was likely due to the weight of the babies increasing and my muscles are being strained. He gave me a pamphlet of some stretches to try, hoping some of the pain would be relieved. He then looked at both of their little heart beats and said they were going strong. He didn't tell us how fast they were beating, or even let us hear them. But, we did get to see them beating and all four chambers on both babies. We got to see the chambers really closely when we went to Maternal Fetal Medicine in January. It was so cool at this appointment with Dr. Seale to see how much the chambers had grown. I didn't think it would be so noticeable, but it was a huge difference. That was about the gist of the ultrasound. Dr. Seale then sat me up, verified that I had my next appointment schedule with MFM and him and sent me on my way.

At the time of this last appointment, by back and rib section had been hurting for about a week. It would ache throughout the day, and I couldn't really find anything to relieve it. I tried to get a massage, which was great, but it did not solve the problem. The stretches Dr. Seale gave me haven't really been helping either, and over the past week since my appointment the pain has just gotten worse and worse. I know the babies are there and I understand that could be causing some of the pain, but I knew it wasn't the pain cause. This week, Monday came around and I felt like I had been hit by a bus... My pelvis hurt, I slept horrible because no matter what position I was in my back and side were hurting, I finally felt the weight of everything on my body, and I was waddling like crazy. It was like night and day how fast the feeling of huge pregnancy had set in on me. It took everything in me to get through work that day, and I told Tyk later that night that I didn't think I was going to make it to my last day of work in the middle April. I also told him that my waddle had set in and it is what it is at this point. Well I slept even worse Monday night, and by Tuesday I knew something needed to change. So I decided to go to a Chiropractor to see if they could do an adjustment and relieve some pain. For a minute I felt like the pain was possibly a pinched nerve, so I thought an adjustment would be perfect. I also scheduled a physical therapy appointment for Wednesday, hoping something would give me relief. Well $40 and literally 4 minutes later, I was done with the Chiropractor and felt almost worse than I need when I walked in. I called Tyk when I left the office, and I was really upset. I told him I just wasted $40 and that it did absolutely nothing. I told him that I didn't want to go see a Physical Therapist because it would be a waste of time and money. He said no, that he thought it would be good. He said "The only reason why you feel like that is because the chiropractor didn't help, but what if the physical therapist does? So you should go." Well I ended up going, and it has turned me into a new woman!!! Come to find out, my pelvis was twisted way out of line which has been causing my whole body to compensate. I've had problems with my pelvis twisting since I was a little girl, so why I didn't think about that possibility is beyond me. Chris, the physical therapist, explained to me why this would be causing me so much pain. The pelvis is the foundation for my entire back, and for my babies. That's where they are sitting and growing. So if that is out of wack, then all of that pressure and weight is being distributed unevenly through the rest of my body. Chris did some exercises with me, and ultrasound on my right shoulder, which is way knotted up because I hold all of my stress here, and we did the shock stimulation thing that they do. By the time I walked out of the office, I could already feel a difference. My waddle was gone, and I felt so much lighter. Thank goodness for Chris! Otherwise my students and Tyk would be scraping me off the floor daily, LOL. From here on out, I just need to be consistent with the exercises I was given to make sure my pelvis stays in check.

When I do updates, I feel like I am so negative with this experience, and it may even seem that I'm not fully grateful for this experience. But honestly... I can't express to you just how grateful I am for being able to carry these babies. I've waited so long for this opportunity, and even though its hard and sucks sometimes, and I can get extremely uncomfortable at times, I wouldn't change any of it for the world. I'm just the type of person who doesn't beat around the bush. That's exactly how I want this blog to be too. I don't want to cover up the hard or easy stuff in pregnancy. I mean come on.... I'm growing TWO humans. That's an incredible thing, and if it were easy, we wouldn't be as magnificent as we are as human beings. So I'm going to keep it real in my posts, but I hope you all know that I am truly grateful for this experience.

To all of those women out there that are currently struggling with infertility, if its with your first pregnancy, second, or seventh, I know it doesn't get any easier. It doesn't matter if you already have a baby or four babies. That desire you have burning in your heart hurts and its the deepest pain you will ever feel. But once again... I know there's a plan for you, and a reason behind why right now may not be the  the right time. I was thinking about this again the other night with my own situation. I prayed and prayed for months to be blessed with a baby. But know looking back,  I also wanted other things in my life too. I wanted to finish school. And a career. And a house. And to go on vacations. And to set up a life for myself. I wanted to set myself up for success, and have a better life for my children and myself than what I had while growing up. All of these things were extremely important to me, and still are. And I can honestly say God was listening to these things. He knows me better than anyone else. He knows the true intentions of my heart. He knows that maybe if I was given a baby earlier that I might not have finished school, or started developing a career. He knows that if I hadn't done those things that I would feel like a failure... and he knows that failing is one of my biggest fears. He knew that if I would have had children earlier, that I may not be able to make my dreams that I have for my families future become a reality. He knows that even though I wanted a baby, that then wasn't the right time. He knows that if I would have been given a baby and not have had the chance to accomplish so many of my life goals that I had, that I would be devastated and disappointed. I would have been so beyond grateful for my child or children even and would have never changed it for anything, but I would have been disappointed that I didn't try harder to finish school faster, or save money better, or enjoy my time with Tyker longer. He knows... And I truly believe that for this one and only reason is why my babies are being sent to me now.

I know that infertility and other trials in our lives are hard to understand at the time, even impossible in some situations. But, as time goes by and you get through that trial, you will understand more and more why things happened the way they did. I see this in myself and in my story, and I am so grateful that I have someone in my life that cares about how I truly feel and knows me even better than I know myself to give me the things I need when the time is right. Trust in his plan. I know that it doesn't always make it better, or even easier, but in time you will see the whole plan and it will make perfect sense.

Our next appointment is next Wednesday with Maternal Fetal Medicine. I CAN'T WAIT! I'll post an update shortly after.

Thanks for reading

Love,

Shandee