Ben::Abby::Will: January 2014

Monday, January 27, 2014

January in the Park

A last minute trip to the park came together very nicely yesterday and Ben got to play with 3 of his favorite buddies! These random nice winter days need to be taken full advantage of since they seem to be followed up by the return of the polar vortex. We had the Latta's, Ingraham's and Dubill's all at the park! The kids all had a blast running around and playing! I don't think we have a pic of all 4 boys since Ryan's 1st birthday so it was great to get one-well try to get one!
Summer 2011

Winter 2014

Babies:: 27 Weeks

I had been dreading this doctors appointment for months...I knew it was the dreaded glucose test. I had been warned by my doctor that carrying multiples greatly increases my risk for gestational diabetes and that I shouldn't be surprised if I failed the 1 hour test. My pregnancy with Ben I had to fast after midnight and go to the lab at the hospital in the morning and they gave me a room temp bottle of orange flavored drink (I HATE orange flavored anything so this was even more unpleasant for me). I had 5 minutes to drink it and after an hour of sitting in the lab waiting room I was to have my blood drawn. I managed to get it down and barely keep it down but I did and I passed. So not having the best of experiences last time gave me all sorts of anxiety about this time. But this time was different-first off I had a choice of red or orange flavored drink! Secondly I got to drink it at home and just had to be at the doctor 40 minutes after drinking it. And lastly I didn't have to fast! So I ate my normal english muffin with peanut butter and banana for breakfast and had half a protein bar about 30 minutes before I had to drink the glucose drink. The red drink was nice and cool as I had had it in the fridge for a week and I got it down in the 5 minutes! This time I didn't really feel sick at all so that was a nice surprise! Dr P said no news is good news and that if I don't get a call the next day it meant I passed...and I never got a call so I PASSED! Yay! I got confirmation today when the nurse called to say my blood work showed I was slightly anemic and need to start on an iron supplement but I had indeed passed the glucose test!

As for my actual doctor appointment last week my blood pressure was great! Babies heartbeats were both in the 160's and my cervix is still high & closed. But I did mention that I hadn't felt brother move yet that morning so I was sent to get an ultrasound for a amniotic fluid check. Both babies looked good! Sister was much more active then Brother but he still got a good report. The other good news is that Sister's fluid measured at 14 and Brothers at 13.4. We want it above 5 but less than 20. The bad news is that Sister is now breach and Brother is head down. Not sure how the heck I missed 2 babies completely flipping around in my body but I did. I'm much more comfortable with them the other way around so hopefully they flip back soon. As I sit here Brother has his feet up in my rib cage and is pushing my ribs out-so not a pleasant feeling!

Sister's face with her hand up

Brothers face with his hand us too

Thursday, January 23, 2014

Happy 65th Birthday Dad!

Wednesday was my Dad's 65th Birthday! We celebrated with happy hour at Brio! Brio happy hour has kinda become a family tradition over the past few years starting with toasting Ben's birth! And my parents even hosted Patrick & Leah's rehearsal dinner there. We had a great time celebrating and being together as a family! After a few rounds of drinks and appetizers we headed back to my parents for presents and cupcakes! The boys and I got Dad Apple TV and I think he's really excited about it! After presents it was singing & cupcake time. And as usual after we sang to Dad we had to sing to Ben. BaPa thought it would be funny to give Ben a cupcake without frosting & sprinkles...Ben did not think this was funny! But that's BaPa for ya!

Vince & The BIG 3-5

I am pretty certain if you asked Vince how his 35th birthday would go it would not include a wife who was 26 weeks pregnant with twins or the flu or having to travel for work.

Vince always out does himself for my birthdays...surprise parties, weekend trip to NYC and Nashville and the list goes on. I have some major making up to do next year since this year didn't work out so well!

Vince's birthday weekend started out pretty good as he got to go to the KU vs KSU game! Kurt & Angela had invited him to go along with Kurt's dad and Reece. Vince was the only veteran to Allen Fieldhouse so he really enjoyed watching the others soak up the experience! And of course the KU victory wasn't a bad birthday gift either!

Sadly Vince's birthday went downhill from here. He woke up Sunday morning sick. So sick. I have never seen him so sick. And Vince doesn't "do" sick as he says-he always fights through it. But this was bad like stay in bed or sit in his chair all day bad. So I tried to keep Ben as far away from him as possible while I tried to make him as comfortable as I could. I felt so bad for him we had big plans of making his favorite cherry pie & dinner at Jack Stack but there was no way the poor guy was going to be able to celebrate. So we decided after he got back from his work trip later in the week we would celebrate. Monday (his actual birthday) he tried to fight through it by going to the office but didn't last long. He fought through still and made it to my doctor and ultrasound appointment. And then is was the dreaded time to leave for the airport for a conference he was attending in Boston. Poor guy sucked it up and got on that plane. What a way to spend your 35th Birthday huh?

Sidebar:::
Monday night I started to not feel the best but brushed it off as not sleeping well the night before but I was wrong...Tuesday morning I woke up feeling awful with a fever. After managing to get Ben to school and a call into my ob's office I was at the doctor to get tested for the flu. My test came back negative but the doctor thought it was a false negative and wanted me on a zpak & tamiflu to cover all the bases and my ob's office agreed. I don't even want to imagine how much sicker I would have gotten had I not started those meds. Since Vince was out of town my parents rescued me and picked Ben up from school Tuesday and didn't bring him back to me until late Wednesday afternoon. I was so sick there was no way I could have taken care of him by myself. We are so lucky to be back in KC with our families-Vince's mom & Jimmy took Ben while we had that stomach bug and now my parents were able to save me!

Fast forward to Thursday...

Vince is back home and we are both slowly on the mend. Ben couldn't stand looking at Vince's unopened birthday presents so we had part 1 of his rain-checked birthday. Vince only had 1 gift request-new running shorts! So we made sure he got them along with a few other surprises. Ben was a very good present opener assistant!

Sunday we were both feeling much better and Vince was up for his cherry pie & Jack Stack finally! Ben my little baker was so excited to make Vince his pie that he came in from playing outside to bake it! It may not have been the prettiest pie but it sure was baked with a lot of love!

Dinner was great! We stuffed ourselves silly but there was no way Ben was going to let Vince skip over having pie! Ben picked out special candles for the pie as well as a candle for his ice cream because we still have to sing to him after we sing to whoever's birthday it really is! While it may not have gone anywhere close to how we wanted I think Vince still enjoyed his birthday! It's crazy to think next year we will be celebrating as a family of 5!

Thursday, January 16, 2014

Babies:: 24, 25 & 26 Weeks

Well a few days before we officially hit 24 weeks we made our first trip to Labor & Delivery thanks to that stomach bug going around. Vince & I both came down with it and after 24 hours I called the doctor and they said I needed to come into the hospital and get fluids and monitor any contractions I was having. Thankfully I wasn't having any contractions other than braxton hicks, my blood pressure was normal and I wasn't dilated. And I started to feel better after my bag of fluids!

We met our goal of 24 weeks and are now breathing a little sigh of relief! Our 24 week doctor appointment was uneventful just how I like them! As was week 25's! The belly is growing and the babies are constantly on the move! I didn't gain any weight the past 2 weeks-I actually lost 2 pounds which no one is concerned about and we are blaming the stomach bug for. And my blood pressure has been good so no worries there!

Week 26 (this week) meant it was time for an ultrasound at my weekly appointment! My appointment was Monday instead of the usual Thursday because Vince had to travel for work and Dr P was going to be out of town as well. The babies look great! Sister is still head down! And Brother is hanging out with his head up in my ribs. Surprisingly it is more comfortable with him like that when he goes head down. Both are still looking perfectly healthy and have plenty of fluid. Sister is weighing in at 1lb 13oz and Brother is 2lbs even! My cervix length is still at a 3.4 and closed up nice and tight! The pics we get now aren't as great as earlier because the babies are bigger. Again it was hard to get a good pic of Sisters face but we did get a good one of Brother with his feet over his head! I have to take the 1 hour glucose test next week so wish me luck-I have been warned that carrying twins increases my risk of gestational diabetes.
Brother with his feet up