Olivia Grace and Sadie Faith's Birthday!

           Today is the day!! I hit my mark 37 weeks pregnant with our twin girls. I still remember the day we learned we were expecting twins what a God thing!

        We had to arrive at the hospital at 5:30am which was fine I could not sleep anyways. Our Dr. likes to have you checked in and paperwork ready to go by 6am when he arrives. The excitement in the room was crazy. Everyone was excited to meet our sweet girls as much as we were. First the paperwork TWO of everything to sign! My Dr. who is Dr. Rebenack arrived right at 6 am. From my previous experience once things get going with me they get going fast!! He checked to make sure girls were still head down and not to my surprise I was not dilated yet ( I had started from zero before no biggie). He gave me a pill to get labor started (it's law you have to wait 4 hrs from the pill to get pitocin started. At 11 am he came and I was 2 cm dilated (I had expected a lot more). He started pitocin and we began the waiting process by 4pm I was 4cm. Oh boy this is not my normal! By 6:30 pm I was still only 5 cm. Dr. decided to ultrasound me and that's when we discovered Olivia who was baby A on the bottom had her head turned. But Dr. Rebenack ( why we love him so much) was not giving up, he is not one to call a c-section the moment he hits a rough patch. By 7pm my angel nurse arrived and  had seen this before and got me in a position where Olivia had no choice but to move her head. I don't remember her name but God Bless her! By 7:45pm I was 10cm and being packed up to head to the OR to meet my girls. The staff quickly moved me on to the OR table my contractions were coming fast now and it was already time to push. With about 4 total pushes Olivia came in to the world at 8:23 pm, weighing 6.9lbs, and 20.1inches long. But my job was not through. We took a very very short break and then it was Sadie's turn. The nurses manipulated my belly to get her in the right path and a few more pushes and Sadie Faith was born at 8:42pm, weighing 6.2lbs, and 19.5 inches. The babies were completely healthy and I had did it!!
Since the babies were healthy they remained in the OR with us. The staff was so excited and the moral was so fun and encouraging. But my job still was not done I needed to deliver the placenta. my contractions had stopped so they started me on another Pitocin drip. Nurses once again pushed and pushed on my stomach (this was way more painful then the delivery). But I was just watching David with our babies oblivious as to what was going on. Then it all started it was not coming! The Dr. requested a D and C tray with suction to try to manually remove it. This was unsuccessful for the most part a little came but not enough. At this point they asked David to accompany the babies back to our room. The Dr. than requested another procedure be set up this time a D and C to scrape. By this time I was bleeding a lot. I could hear all of the monitors going off , all of my stats beeping, someone asking to hang blood, someone asking for my blood pressure. I had been in these situations before but not as the patient. The Dr was so calm going down the list of things to try while everyone else ran about the room gathering supplies and ordering more blood. I heard that my husband was outside inquiring what was going on? why is it taking so long? What felt like in an instant the Dr. called out that she is losing blood we need to do an emergency hysterectomy. Within seconds the Anaesthesiologist gave me 4 shots in my thigh and I was out. The following are posts from my husband aka his version while I was out.

9:00pm My girls are born!!!! World meet Olivia Grace and Sadie Faith. Olivia born at 2023 and weighs 6lbs 9 oz. Sadie weighs 6lbs 1 oz and born 19 minutes later at 2042. Both born by vaginal birth (no c-section) — 

9:15pm I need everyone to pray. Even those who don't. They couldn't stop Christina Couch bleeding so they are giving her a blood transfusion and performing an emergency hysterectomy. Please pray for her. She is my life.

2am Doc just came in. He said Christina Couch is out of the woods. He finished her hysterectomy and gave her two units of blood due to the amount of blood loss. She is in recovery now. Pray for a speedy recovery. But it appears that the worse is over. I will update more when I know more. Thank you all for your prayers and well wishes. She is the light of my life and I don't know what I'd do without her. 

I woke up to violently shaking and so out of it. My husband was there in recovery along with our pastor Bill. After a little while I was transferred back to our room where my mom and sister in law Sheila had stayed with the babies so David could be with me. The Dr had placed a pain pump in my incision so that I could sit up to nurse. Immediately I was brought the girls and they latched on right away this was miraculous seeing that they had been waiting five hrs for me to nurse them. I did not have the strength to hold them both at once so I spent a little time with each. 

8am So just in case you were wondering what happened with Christina Couch she ended up having a great delivery with the twins. Then the problems started when she was trying to deliver her placenta. Apparently she had placenta accreta. Where her placenta attaches abnormally deep to her uterus. So when the placenta came out it caused her to hemorrhage out and to stop the bleeding and save her life. The doc had to remove her uterus. That in a nut shell was my nightmare tonight. But by the grace of God, like all bad dreams I woke up and my wife was still here. 

9am Latest Update: Mommy is doing better. Still itchy all over from anesthesia and a little nauseated but feeling better every minute. She was even able to breast feed the girls twice already. The girls are incredible (just like their mother). They latched on the first time and ate good. I pray for a speedy recovery and I'm grateful for my amazing wife.

10am Latest Update; doc just left and the latest news is that Christina Couch's blood is low...for you medical people her hemoglobin is down to 6.1 for you none medicals that's pretty low. She is getting two more units of blood today to try and help her out. She is weak and gets nauseated when she sits up. We are going to be in the hospital till at least Friday. I know everyone wants to visit, but she needs her rest now. I will let you know when she's up to seeing people. Thank you for the prayers and well wishes. 

Over the next few days I stayed in the hospital receiving a total of seven pints of blood. 

First time holding my sweet girl!

First time meeting Brother and Sister

Sept 11th Update: So the night went okay. Olivia was kind of fussy and apparently doesn't like sleeping in the dark. Between her being fussy and the medical staff doing their job,Christina Couch got about 3 hours of sleep. On a positive note, the doc moved her up to a regular diet, so for breakfast christina got cracker barrel, chick-fil-a and starbucks. On a negative note, christina's lastest hemoglobin dropped back down to a 7.0. For the non medical peeps, regular for woman is 12.1-15. The doc believes that at her lowest Christina was about a 3. So now we do some more blood levels and maybe some more blood. The girls are eating good, sleeping okay, and pooping and peeing like it was their job, but they are soooo crazy cute so it's ok. More updates when we know more. Thank you all for your prayers and well wishes.

Sept 13th Latest update: pediatrician just came in and said our girls look great. She gave us the okay to go home. We will have to return on Sunday to get their bili rubin checked.Christina Couch just got her (hopefully last) units of blood and now we wait till 1330 for a blood draw to see what her levels are. Good lord willing we will get to go home this afternoon.

We are finally home! Praise God!

36 Weeks

     I can not believe we have made it this far. I say we because David has been home with us now, he has taken over most of the household and kid duties. As of about 34 weeks I hit a stopping point it began to be too hard to do anything including being on my feet for too long, sitting on the floor with the kids, getting up from the floor, driving, and even sitting through church has become painful.
    At our 36 week apt everything looked great! Besides babies not coming yet. They were estimated over 5lbs each now. And my MFM said they were safe to come anytime now. We also celebrated Labor Day this past Monday. We had a very busy weekend and I was feeling awful Monday morning. David suggested I take a warm bath and relax. I was having lots of Braxton Hicks contractions. They were getting very painful though. I made a decision early on that I would not go to the hospital until I was in active labor meaning 4cm and beyond. But David got worried we called the Dr and went in to get checked. My doctor was out of town and so the on call had me come in and stay the night for observation. By 2am all contractions had stopped and by 7am my Dr was back and discharged us. It was not our time to deliver.
      We headed home and I rested in bed all day and decided that I could have no more busy days I needed to take it easy.  We already had a doctors apt scheduled for that day. So around 2pm we headed in, everything looked great I was having no more contractions and he scheduled to deliver me on September 10th for a vaginal induction.
      Due to the type of twins I was carrying Mono-DI (which share one placenta) the research shows that the chance of still births rise after the 37th week, so I was being induced at exactly 37 weeks. At this point our birth plan was vaginal birth in the OR with an epidural. Hospital policy states that all twins must deliver in OR and my doctor likes to have an epidural already in place in case of emergency. Little did we know that these two things were all going to be apart of my life saving surgery to be done in a timely manner.

ONE week left!!

33 Weeks

    Can't believe I have come so far!! This has been the hardest thing I have ever done physically. So what has helped me get this far? Well hands down my husband David, he has taken on so much. He has been doing the cooking, cleaning, entertaining the kids when he is not working, grocery shopping and just keeping the house running. I could not have asked for a more awesome man who was willing to step up and take on so much. Secondly, my mother. She has taken the kids so much not just for hours of doctors appointments sometimes three or four hours in a day but just so I can have days of rest for no other reason. I know that when I leave the kids with her they are going to be taken well care of , their needs will be met and they will have fun but also that she will keep their behavior well in check and the house running as if I were around. I am amazed at all she does for us and I hope she knows I am thankful because I need the help now more than ever.
  So as for the babies

Olivia
Head down
Stretched out on my left side
Heart beat in the 150's
Weight as of 32 weeks 4.4lbs

Sadie
Head down
Balled up on my right side (trying to keep from getting hit by her sister)
Heart beat in the 150's
Weight as of 32 weeks 3.14lbs

As for me
Weight is 170lbs
Belly measuring 41 weeks
Minimal swelling
Great blood Pressure

We got to discuss the birth plan this week!!
Both babies are head down so we are a go for a vaginal birth as long as the health of the babies continues. If we have not delivered by 37 weeks which is full term for Mono Di twins (sharing one placenta) we will be induced on September 10th. We are being monitored a lot for twin to twin syndrome. We go on Tuesdays for a non-stress test, an ultrasound for fluid check and movement check, and meet with the maternal fetal medicine doctor, and our OB. On Fridays we are seen again for the non-stress test and movement ultrasound and we meet with the Maternal fetal doctor again.
With mono-di twins things could change in hours so that is why they monitor us very closely and if at any test the babies show stress we will be sent over to the hospital for an emergency c-section.

I am hanging on the best I can as of now my back, feet, and ribs hurt the most. My appetite is pretty much non- existent so I am trying to do more shakes with protein to pack on some weight to these girls.
As of now I could pretty much go any day anytime. The average for a twin pregnancy is 33-36 weeks for natural labor. So I am ready to go!!

Week 28

Feeling more pregnant than ever before! My belly measured at 33 weeks today. Having lots of erratic contractions now, back pain, rib pain, swelling feet, and just tired.  Today's appointment went great.
Today's stats were

Olivia was
2lbs14 ozs
Same position for the last few weeks head up.
She has become the more calmer mover of the two.
Finally had her hands down away from her face.
Heart beat in the 150's.

Sadie was
2lbs 13 ozs
She is in a more of an I am taking over the womb position completely squashing Olivia to the side and laying a little horizontal with her bottom squashed against Olivia's face:)
She has become the more active mover.
Heartbeat in the 150's.

All of that very good news the fact that their weight's are steadily maintaining consistency is the greatest news of all! My cervix is what they are calling a 42 week cervix:)) Which they are very happy about but the doctor promises that I will not be a loud to carry them that long. All that to say I should be having no preterm labor. At thirty weeks I begin seeing the specialist twice a week, Tuesdays for an ultrasound and stress test and Fridays for another stress test. We scheduled nine of my appointments today. We have never been to the doctor so much!
It's getting so real seeing as at my appointments we are discussing the last few weeks more often now. methods of delivery for twins and such. Our baby shower is this Saturday and Lu and I are super excited for that. The nursery is put together for the most part ( I will have a post to show that later).
I am back to the doctor again tomorrow to take my glucose test. Praying for good results I hear a lot of twin pregnancies fail the first part.

Our trip to Ginnie Springs

David has picked up a new hobby of Scuba Diving. Well actually it's his only hobby. David is so devoted to family time and getting as much in as possible with us that sometimes he neglects things for himself.
So his partner at work decided to become certified in scuba diving although David is already certified he took a refresher course. They did there first dive in the aquarium at Epcot and had a blast. They brought home a video of them diving and the kids love watching daddy on DVD diving.
So, for the boys next dive they planned to dive at Ginnie Springs about 2 hours away and at the last minute I decided to tag along with the kids. Now that the kids are both great swimmers it is much easier for me to handle them alone around water.
We did not tell the kids where we were going just woke them in the morning packed them up and headed out. This has become one of our favorite things to do with the kids just wake them and put them in the car and go!
We had so much fun! The water is a year round 72 degrees and the spot where we went swimming is very shady! But we had floats, food and fun so there was no problems. Once you got in the water it was fabulous!
With me pretty pregnant the water was fabulous. We plan to go back next month to take the kids on a canoe trip.

FHC Celebration for Sadie and Olivia Couch

What a fabulous night!!
  Tonight David and I were thrown a couples shower to honor Sadie and Olivia. The theme was sweet and spicy. So there were lots of sweets (of course) and a taco bar with some spice. It was hosted by our home school group and all of the dads like to hang together so we thought it was a good reason for it to double as a couple's night. So we got to eat and chat and of course share a few gifts for the girls. But I think the best part was the Hot dad contest. The dads were suppose to attempt to eat the hottest pepper they could. I have never seen so many men crying in one room. Of course there was a few smart ones that did not participate including David who said that would tear up his stomach for a few days. So the men did it cried some and then indulged in a big glass of milk out of sippies together.

  A gift that we received also was a cherry tree that they used as a blessing tree. They had this beautiful tree set up and the guests had to write a blessing to our family and pin it on the tree. I can not wait to plant the tree in our yard. What a great memory of a great group of families.

Virginia, Susan, Crystal, baby Kenzie, and Tiffani

 

Susan and TIffani

The non-pepper eating dads!

Joann and Robert

Tiffani and Mike

Kelley

Sally and Paulette

David and I were very thankful for everything that everyone did to make the night so memorable. We all took home jarred homemade salsa and cupcakes (sweet and spicy).

Jacob is 6!

Six years ago we brought our first baby boy home. What an adventure it has been! From learning all the things a first time mom wishes she had known beforehand, starting homeschooling and so much more.  Jacob and Lu are so different yet so alike at times. Jacob is slow to warm up but once there takes off socially (just like his daddy). He has a sensitive heart he longs for animals to be saved, loves to cuddle and have his back scratched.
Here are some special things about Jacob and his sixth year of life
* We have completed his second year of homeschooling and he loves science experiments.
* Now that his reading has taken off he loves to read books. He was never really a young book boy, too busy, but now it's like a whole new world opened up to him.
* Since we moved he has become really good friends with our neighbor Brian who is 9.
* In the morning he loves getting the biggest hottest blanket out and wrapping up in it.
* Loves to come in our bed at night and watch history channel or animal planet with daddy.
* Takes showers now instead of baths. We have had to limit the time because he loves to just stand under the water.
* Still sleeps with his blanket. But now it never really leaves his room.
* Is in such a hurry to dress and get out and play in the morning he usually forgets his underwear!!
* Likes to dive for dive sticks in our pool
* Is a green belt in karate. He has been participating now for 1 year.
* Loves to draw pictures of army trucks.
* He has just started getting paid for chores. He does laundry, trash, vacuuming, and dusting. We pay him a dollar a week, we want them to learn about money and figured he needed to have money to learn how to be wise with it.
*Loves to swim.

This year he will be blessed with two more sisters so I am excited to see him grow in this new part of our lives and step up and be the great big brother he has been to Lu.

Introducing Olivia Grace and Sadie Faith Couch

We have now hit the half way point! With this being our third upcoming birth, you would think I would feel fully prepared but yet I feel unprepared. There is so much unknown about a twin birth, there are so many last minute things to come about. So, what do I know....
* There is a large possibility that I may have to have a c-section. I really need to come to terms with this. Having both Jacob and Emily vaginally was the most amazing experience of my life!
* I must deliver in an OR no matter what. Which means I have to tell my mom that she can not be with us, this makes me sad.
* My babies may not be with me directly after birth.
*There is a chance of one or both may need to go to the NICU and Jacob and Emily would not be able to see them.
* The last 10 weeks of my pregnancy every doctors appointment is crucial to check for early labor and TTS (twin to twin syndrome) Where one baby starts getting more nutrition than the other.
* And most of all David and I are so anxious to meet our girls.

As you can see in the title we have given previously called baby A and baby B names. Baby A is Olivia Grace Couch and baby B is Sadie Faith Couch. David and I both like giving our children in the womb names as early as we can agree on and sharing those names so that we may pray for them and others can pray for them by name.
Every time in my life that I am beginning a new journey in life (marriage, kids, homeschooling, etc.) I like to look out for great books on those topics and read up on them. Some advice I throw out the window right after I read it, some stuff I actually try then throw it out if it does not work for us, and other great stuff I remember and share with others in my life. As for twins, there are tons of books on caring for twins in the womb but I am finding it is harder to find good info for caring for them after delivery.
So what have I found so far.....
* First thing that I found important try not to call them the twins, try to call them by name to create a one to one personality
* Let them share the same space until they begin to roll around or stand up.
* A BIG one have a way to identify them!
* Feed them at the same time
* Schedule, Schedule, Schedule... Get them on a schedule, the same schedule. When one eats feed the other, when one wakes, wake the other. I believe this will ring true. When Emily was about a year old we did our very best getting the kids on the same routine and man did it make a difference.
This journey of carrying these baby girl's in my womb is half way over but yet we have so much farther to go and the road is going to get tougher and my body has lots of growing to go. But this is such a blessing and an amazing journey for David and I and our children moments over the last year have made our faith grow so much stronger and we continue to trust in our God and have strength.

Girls, Girls, Girls!

Today we had an unexpected ultrasound due to a few other complications. I am now 15 weeks so I wanted David and the kids to come along because I just knew that today would be the day we could definitely know  if we had boys or girls. And sure enough after seeing the babies and hearing there heartbeats. There they were and confirmed our sweet baby GIRLS. To tell you the truth David and I had a sense from day one that they were girls, so we really were not at all surprised. Just the fact that both of us had the same visions of baby girls, I guess we would have been really surprised if they were boys. But God is definitely keeping us on our toes this time around so anything could have went!

Easter "God talking to me"

This Easter was a little different from the last few for a few reasons the first was David had to work over night so he would not be with us until after church and secondly we had just made it through our first major valley of our twin pregnancy, the thought of losing them.
I am healed and feeling better Easter was my first day out of the house since the blood clot was discovered. I was a little worried about over doing it. But I love Easter Sunday and planned to go with God's help.
During the sermon I realized why I was there sitting all alone on the third row on Easter Sunday that was God's plan, he had a story for me that day.
The Sermon was on giving everything you are holding on to up to God. Those things you think you need to hold on to, to be able to control, you know that won't go through if you don't keep hold.
The sermon talked a lot about those sinful things you hold on to, worldly things. But to me it was right in front of me, this pregnancy. Why the moment I have a scare I start wondering why he is doing this, why is it going to be this way. But instead why can't we hold on to the faith and give everything else away.
Giving this pregnancy completely up to God would be the ultimate sacrifice from us but it will be nothing compared to what he has done for us this Easter. It's time to step back from all the things I have been told that can go wrong with a twin pregnancy and really start focusing on the positive the "gift" in all of this. These precious girls made in God's image and who we will raise to love there Lord God with all of there being.
Thank you Bill Driscoll for giving us the good, bad, and ugly truths and making us own up to our own faith and weaknesses. I pray this pregnancy will be different through my eyes for the rest of my months ahead and through the mountains we dance with him and through the valley's we walk hand in hand with him.

Week 13 in The Valley

Well this one is a week I would love to put behind me and move on without remembering. But I start to wonder maybe God gave us this experience to make me realize a few things and it happened to be the week of Easter and a sermon that spoke straight to where I was at that moment.

 Thirteen weeks and two days lying in bed totally exhausted, David is rubbing my back which has been the routine lately for getting me to fall asleep easily. At 9pm kids are in bed and I feel a rush coming from my body, a feeling of my water just broke. I immediately knew something was wrong. I went in the bathroom and started yelling for David to call the doctor now, this was not good. Sitting on the bathroom floor crying out to God. Not this not now this is all to familiar event. I know many statistics say woman bleed in pregnancy but our experience so far is bleeding= miscarriage. I try not to think but to pray I can't help but to think I am too far along for this to happen naturely, I am going to have to go down the same road just last summer and I knew that we emotionally could not get pregnant again after this. 

David has already called the operator and I breath a sigh of relief when she says "YES Dr. Rebenack is on call". I knew that he would do whatever we needed at that moment. Not 5 minutes later is he on the phone with us. I am now laying in bed and David hands the phone over to me so I can explain the rush I had. I clear my voice and begin to speak. He listens asks a few specific questions and asks if we can meet him at the office in 30 minutes?. 

First off this is why we love him so much. He does not tell us not to worry and that he will see us first thing in the morning, he does not send us to the ER to sit and wait and pay $300 for lots of unnecessary stuff and for some strange doctor to tell us if our girls are still alive and well.

David's parents are at the house in minutes with no explanation we are out the door. There is nothing said in the car but prayers going non stop. Praying to God for his will to be our will. We are not positive they are girl's but have been told a few times. I begin praying for them by name YES we already have girl names if they are boys we are in deep trouble NO names:)

We are there a little early I keep praying David asks if I want to talk and all I could say is "I am scared". Of all times he gets on facebook ( I find out later he was reaching out to a few good prayer warriors). The doctor shows up gets us in the back door and immediately takes us to the ultrasound room. As we wait for the machine to warm up he reviews my chart and it brings him happiness to know that just the week before at the high risk doctor we had an amazing visit and everything looked picture perfect.

It was now time! I lay back he places the wand on my stomach and BAM he wakes one up and she was wiggly. My heart dropped and tears rushed I knew that was a good sign and then the other little lady wakes up and same thing dancing around. I can even see there heartbeats on my own. He spends lots of time looking and measuring, not rushing at all considering it is now 10 pm at night. After poking and proding and trying to get the girls still for heart checks. He does fine one thing a blood clot. The babies have already moved up and the blood clot is very far away from them. He measures it it is small and out of the way. That will be his diagnosis for the evening causing me to bleed like a water fall. He assures me with bed rest for the next couple of days that the bleeding should stop. I got off the table and once again another rush, he gave me time I cleaned up and then was ready to get home to lay down.

When asked why he met with us he said that he knows me and I would have stayed up all night and the best thing for this is for me to rest. He said if I needed it I could take a Benadryl to help me get to sleep. Surprisingly I felt emotionally drained and thought I would have no trouble going to sleep. 

I lay in bed thanking God for one more day with our girl's and asking for help to lay low this week. Very grateful for prayers we have received throughout the night. Just one more valley that we made it through with God's help.

12 week measurements

Seems like we are at the doctor every other week these days. Oh yeah it's because we are!
Today we went for our 12 week evaluation. They did measurements of each babies size, there necks, and we got to count toes and fingers!
All the measurements were right on and there was no sign of any deformities and importantly babies were still the same sizes.

Baby B

Baby A

They gave us a great show. Really looked like they were having a party in there. We saw hands in the air opening and closing legs flaring, waving, and great butt shots:) we are only 12 weeks so they could not tell for sure the sex of them but the ultrasound tech had a very good suspicion that they were girls. We did not say but David and I both had a secret that we some reason felt like they were girls. So we believe the technologist knew what she was talking about, I guess we will see in a few weeks.

Baby B Waving

The doctor was so pleased with there progress he said he would see us in 4 weeks instead of 2. But not to get used to the break because after that it's strictly every two weeks to make sure they keep up with each other.

I made it!! 12weeks!!

It's been 8 weeks since we found out we were pregnant, it's been 7 weeks since we discovered our double blessing and 2 weeks since we moved in to our beautiful new home! In these 8 weeks I have experienced a slew of pregnancy symptoms! I feel like I have been in a sleep coma for the last 8 weeks, keeping my eyes open for only a few hours at a time, and resting whenever I could. My wonderful husband has been cooking, cleaning, working, satisfying my cravings at odd times of the day and night, and most importantly tending to the kids. Lots of days we homeschooled right from my bed. Jacob has been preparing his own breakfast when I was so nauseous I could not get my head off the pillow. Some days that I managed to get up and get going and then paid for it the next day by spending a day in bed. Lots of symptoms that probably are not appropriate for the blog but my husband had to bring his nursing skills to the table and it's just another reason I am grateful for him.

New home!

So many changes in our life right now! Big ones! The day before we found out we were pregnant we signed a contract to move! We have been waiting for God to open a door for us. We loved our house but we were on a busy corner and just made it very difficult to play outside. We got word that one of our neighbors in our cul de sac was thinking of selling. Two great things about this got us super excited
1. It was a house away from David's sister and
2. It was in the cul de sac!
What more did we need! We followed Gods plan and with not much trouble we closed 8 weeks later. With lots of help from lots of great people we were moved in in a week! Just a few adjustments to the house and we were up and running.
So thankful God has brought us to this point in our lives.

Emily is 4!

Emily is 4 now! Wow I know every mother says it but time is truly passing by. In the last few months she has blossomed so much. Things like using bigger vocabulary, doing new chores, dressing herself and brushing her teeth. For school she is so proud of writing her own name and doing her BIG girl workbooks. There is so much I want to remember about her and this special time in our lives.....


*Her number one toy is anything related to her baby dolls.
*She dislikes breakfast and usually does like a mid morning meal instead.
*She still carries around her blankie but not near as much as she used to but it is still a bedtime must.
*She loves going to the movieater ( not a typo that is what she calls it)!
*She expects dessert after every meal ( which is not something we typically do)
*She has become an expert bike rider ( with training wheels). At our new house there is so much room for them to play and ride now, that definitely helps.
*She has become a very strong swimmer. She began swimming last summer and now that we have a pool she is jumping in, doing strokes, floating on her back, and even swimming toward the bottom.
*She still shares a room with her bubba. That may change in the near future but as of right now she will stay put.
*For school she likes puzzles, sorting, coloring, and sticker books. Loves to write her name!
* Since we moved here we don't currently have a swing set but that is on daddy's list to build because she loves to swing. She has learned to pump her legs on her own.
*She dislikes strangers A LOT! Daddy has definitely made her aware of people we don't know and so she does not speak to anyone who speaks to her in public. Kind of embarrassing for me but it's better than an out going child who may talk to anyone (just my opinion).

She makes us laugh all of the time and keeps life going a mile a minute. There is so many thing's about her big dark brown eyes that just sucks you in to her. She loves getting older you know the big girl. She is super excited about becoming a big sister to two little baby girls in September, she loves to hug and kiss the babies in my belly and she always wants to know where each one is positioned in my belly.

Valentine's Day

It's 7 am I have been up for a while. Could be we found out less than 24 hrs ago that we are expecting twins or it could be at 8 am we have an apt to make sure the two babies are in separate  sacs.Lots running through our minds. We did a little research last night about what they were looking for this morning and read there is a 1% chance that there will be no membrane present.
After meeting the doctor who little did we know we would be getting to know well over the next few months Dr. Guerdo. He explained to us and pointed out how relieved he was that he saw a small membrane present, two sacs, and one placenta. With that being said he explained we had identical monozygotic twins. What does this mean? Well we got past the first of many obstacles!
We will be monitored very closely because since they are identical and sharing the same life line ( one placenta) there is a danger of TTS ( twin to twin syndrome). One baby could start taking on more of the nutrition then the other, resulting in one being much smaller and in danger than the other.
But for now we are focusing on the most amazing thing we saw today, two babies,healthy, growing inside me! Praise be to the King!

8 weeks along and already showing off!

The unexpected

It was finally the day, we had an appointment with Dr. Rebenack to ultrasound me to make sure we had a healthy heartbeat. It was afternoon as we strolled in, the office staff was happy to see us back as just a few months ago they embraced us as we found out our baby had passed away. Now I lay on the same exact table with the same exact ultrasound machine. Praying the prayer over and over just want to see that heartbeat God please just that.
I brace myself for I have had many experiences on this same table I have lost two babies and found out I was welcoming a baby boy right here and discovered a little girl right here. It's time, David moves closer, the doctor says his usual "Lets take a peek". Staring at the monitor my eyes are fuzzy and it seems to be taking a little longer than I remember to find the heart beat and then the words I had been waiting for "There is one healthy heartbeat and then seconds after there is two healthy heartbeats". I assume he is joking until I see the biggest smile on the nurses face that tells me its all true. David bursts out giggling and proclaiming he knew it all the time. I'm quite and in total shock the doctor is still scanning so maybe he is not sure. He asks if I am ok and I told him I am just waiting for him to confirm before I react and he laughed and said "theres two alright".

He points out our two 7 week gestation babies and sure enough there are not ONE but TWO healthy heartbeats. Both measuring exactly 7 weeks. My God sure answered my prayer and up'd it one!
We are given a moment together as David helped me off the table every time we looked at each other we could not stop giggling. We moved to another room so we could discuss the ultrasound.
I spent all this time worrying about not miscarriaging now I really felt I had more worries. The doctor explained of course the dangers of twin pregnancies, we discussed there births, I was really beginning to understand that I knew nothing about twins.
And then he did have a concern during the ultrasound it looked as though the babies were sharing the same sac. What does that mean? If the babies are sharing the same sac there is a greater chance of them becoming entangled with each others umbilical cord and these babies usually need to be delivered very early because it is safer for them to live outside the womb then inside. The Dr did not see the membrane separating them clearly enough.
Seeing that my doctor is incredibly awesome and has been through everything with us he was on the phone within minutes to get me in the next morning at a high risk doctor who he wanted to follow us. Our apt is at 8am tomorrow, there he will ultrasound again with a much more powerful ultrasound. Until then WOW we have a lot to praise God for and we will not dwell on this factor right now because God wants us to feel the love he has poured into our hearts.

This was our announcement! I guess we need to redo our math now!

Pouring out his love

  It's that time again. It's been 5 months since our miscarriage. Our faith has grown stronger than ever before it's amazing to me how God works, how he heals us through our tears. We have come out on the other side as a stronger family especially the kids they have seen now how God gives and takes away but our hearts choose to stay.
   Today is different the answer is different  I just found out we are expecting again today. David is at work and I am home with the kids schooling with a few errands to run. My heart is heavy I want to rejoice but I back down in fear. I pull out my bible and read I need encouragement and fast. I come across, God has poured out his love into our hearts, Romans 5:5. I quickly took a big marker and wrote it across my bathroom mirror and prayed for God to allow me to feel that love he was filling me with. I left the verse on the mirror to remind me of the sweet gift we had received and I left it for David to see when he got home.
   Later that day David and I set down with the kids and explained to them that God had answered there prayer. They had been praying for God to send us another baby and it was so awesome for them to see God had answered there prayer!