Babies Video

Paul has been working on splicing our ultrasound video. We're going to give this post a try!

Paul's Birthday!

Paul turned 24 on May 8th! Yea! We didn't do a whole lot because it was on a weeknight. His new soccer cleats came a few days earlier. I think they're pretty awesome. He had a soccer game where he scored and they won! We had breakfast casserole for dinner and FunFetti cake. We also got him a bike so he can ride to class and I can sleep in (I'm told we'll save money on gas, too!). On Friday, we went to 10,000 BC and Cafe Rio for dinner. We're planning on going to the new Chronicles movie when it comes out. I feel bad that we didn't do more, but it had been a rough week. Maybe next year will be a little more eventful with some "Happy Birthday Daddy" cards!

We went to Cedar City for Mother's Day. My mom was speaking in Church and wanted her mom to come down. Paul drove Grandma's little red sports car while Arianne's oldest, Anderson told us about his mountain climbing adventures with deer and beavers. He's a pretty imaginative kid at 3. My mom got me the WillowTree figuring holding a baby. She said she looked for twins, but they didn't have any baby twins. Paul got me the pregnant figuring and said he couldn't find the twin one either (he measured the pregnant figurings' bellies and they were all the same size!). We had a good visit with the 'rents and brothers. They can't wait for Paul to come down when it's not Sunday so he can play soccer.

Paul felt the babies kick a few nights ago. We've been able to feel them move a lot more. We've learned that if I drink something sweet like koolaid or apple juice and then wait a few minutes, they kick all over the place. I've been trying to sleep on my sides more. I hear sleeping on my back isn't the best thing. If I'm on my right side for a while and then switch the my left, I can feel Ailsee move across my stomach. It's pretty neat to know that there's actually something there and not just my protruding abdomen! Just fifteen more weeks (-ish)...!

Another Week Goes By

Paul and I have enjoyed some time together while he only has classes Monday, Wednesday and Friday and I'm home every day. We've gone on a few walks, seen a few movies, made another trip to the hospital...Yeah, another one. Last Friday I wasn't feeling very good but thought that it may have been just a bug. I hung out, took a nap, and drank a lot of Gatorade. By Sunday, I was feeling a little better. However, Monday afternoon came and I thought I was going to die! My right back ached horribly. Paul was in class with the car so I waited for him to come home. I thought maybe I had just slept on my side funny. Paul rubbed my back a little bit, but it didn't matter how I sat, walked or lied. I thought I was going to die. We called the on-call doctor who said it was probably a UTI or a kidney infection. By 1:30am I was in more pain than I could bare. If this is what childbirth is going to be like, I am SO getting an epidural! We went to the emergency room and they took us up to the maternity ward where the babies were put on monitors and I was given some heavy duty painkillers. They found that I either had a pretty bad kidney infection or a kidney stone. They wanted to keep me under observation until the morning. They soon decided that it was an infection. Poor Paul had to sleep on the hospital recliner in my room while I was given fluids, drugs, and powerful antibiotics. The doctor said that it may have been caused from the babies positioning themselves on my kidney and causing a serious blockage. I am now supposed to "take it easy" and continue with the IV fluids along with a new arsenal of antibiotics and painkillers. Luckily, the antibiotics have helped tremendously and I haven't needed the painkillers. Paul's been a really good sport. He gets me whatever I want while I lie in bed and lets me take a nap whenever I feel a little drowsy. We're looking forward to having the babies and feeling....I don't know if I'll ever feel normal again, but not so sick. After our trip to the hospital we had a follow-up visit with Dr. England. He had heard about our little visit to the ER and asked if I thought I could survive this pregnancy. We'll see...

Graduation

I finally graduated! I'm pretty excited to be done. Paul says that I've been done long before graduation...I didn't really go to class all that often this semester. Oh well. I still graduated! Paul's parents were out for his sister, Kathleen's graduation. And, my parents came up from Cedar City. When I went to pick my cap and gown up, they told me that they lost mine. They threw some stuff together (not everything in the package) and I left. I was a little disappointed. I was only wearing the cap and gown because my mom told me I needed to. Otherwise, I would have sat with those not in a gown. It was pretty chilly and even started to snow a little bit while we were outside getting ready to walk in. it's in times like these that I am grateful for nylons! Elder Bednar spoke. It was good and not too long. Afterwards, Arianne's family came out for pizza and brownies at Paul's grandma's house. We had a good time. I got to spend some time with my parents the next morning while Paul helped Kathleen and Bryce move out of their apartment. Overall, it was a good visit.

I know, I know. I need to post pictures with my posts. We don't have the internet at our apartment and the times I get to use a computer, I'm usually waiting for Paul to get his homework done in the engineering building (Paul's second home, or is it first and our home is his second?), without the jump drive or any pictures. I promise to scan the new ultrasound pictures and put some "belly-shots" on the jump drive. I must place caution with the pictures of my belly; it is huge! You may even think I'm carrying three and not two...!

Babies Update

Well, we went to the doctor and are excited to announce that we are having identical girls! Paul's parents and sister (Chelsea) came to the ultrasound with us. We got to go through all of their little structures. It was pretty neat. They're doing very well. However, with identical twins there are some concerns. They're sharing a placenta/blood supply. We have to go in every two weeks until 28 weeks to get ultrasounds to monitor the blood supply and growth. The doctor said that complications are extremely rare, but they'll keep an eye on things to be safe. Thank goodness for medical technology! We are so grateful! We've settled on names; Olivia and Aislee. Whenever we tell people "Aislee", they say they've never heard it. It's an Irish name similar to Ainsley. My mom probably would have used it if she wouldn't have had only 3 girls and 7 boys. I've always liked it. We even know what we're going to "call" them. We like Livi and Ase (pronounced Ace). Paul thought of the Ace one. We're still trying to figure out middle names. Olivia's will most likely be Christine after my sister (Megan Christine). I like Maureen for Aislee's because it is my middle name and it's my mom's name. She doesn't have a granddaughter named after her yet.
Other than the exciting news of identical girls, everything else is pretty boring. I'm graduating today! YEA! No more tests, papers, assignments, or boring lectures!

18 weeks and counting...

We are now well into the second trimester. For twins, I'm about half-way. It's nice to look at it that way. We had our doctor's appointment this past Thursday and everything looks great. The babies are huge! They can't get them in one screen on the ultrasound! We got to hear their heartbeats and see them wave their arms and kick their legs. Dr. England suspects that they are both girls (Aislee and Olivia). Paul's pretty excited! Quizno's for dinner...! We have a consult set up for Wednesday, the 23rd with a specialist to figure out what type of twins they are and how they're developing and truly whether or not they are boys or girls. We're looking forward to finding out more about them! I registered at Babies-R-US after our appointment. I figured that it's safe to now pick some pink clothes and blankets. I've never been a big fan of pink. I wear it sometimes to make me feel a little more feminine, but I like my greens and blues. So, I'm not too excited about ALL the pink. I picked out some sage green, which is my favorite color, and some yellow things along with the pink. We were thinking of doing a ducky theme when we get a two bedroom apartment. I have this yellow duck a babysitter gave to me when I was little. Paul thinks it's pretty cute and thought of the "ducky nursery" idea. He's gonna be such a good daddy!

Trips to the hospital...

Well, it's been a while since my last post. A lot has happened. The morning sickness hasn't gone away. I was told by a lot of people that it would go away by the 14th to 15th week, but I guess I'm just special or something. I think it got a little worse. Paul had to take me to the ER to get IV fluids. I wasn't keeping anything down and feeling pretty lousy. They gave me three liters of fluids, did some blood tests, and an ultrasound. The babies were fine. They were moving a lot and the fluid looked good for them. I was just having problems. So, for the next couple of days I was feeling a lot better. I stayed home from class (not that different from prior weeks) to make sure I got enough fluids and ate. However, by that Thursday I wasn't keeping anything down and started to get some muscle cramps. Our doctor set us up with the infusion clinic at the hospital and HomeHealth. They taught us how to "plug" me in to my fluids at home. Paul is a very good nurse. I have an IV line in my arm all the time and I have to get one liter of fluids a day. The bag also has vitamins and medicine so I can keep the food I eat down. It's been working pretty good. I have had a few bouts of vomiting, but once a day is a lot better than 12 times a day!
The IV isn't so bad. It's wrapped pretty good so I won't get the cord caught on things. I have to get it changed every three to four days. I now know who I can let put the IV in and who to avoid. I got a new person a few days ago who broke some serious blood vessels in my right arm. I had to come back in to get a new one an hour after because it was so sore. They had another woman come over. She was able to get it in my left arm. With all the needle pokes and bruising, I look like I am a user! It's pretty bad.