FAT SUZ!!!

So, I'm the type of gal who tries to find humor in the crappiest of situations. There are many things about this pregnancy that I am having to take with a grain of salt (Right, isn't that the cliche? I don't understand the literal meaning of it, but I'm going to use it).
Things such as: not being able to walk around and be out and about like a normal pregnant woman, not being able to exercise..at all, not being able to eat a nice fresh crisp salad and nothing more, not being able to get into a bikini and go to the beach/pool/river/lake, not being able to get up to go to the refrigerator to grab something to drink (it is very hard for me to be waited on- hand and foot)...you get the picture?

But I guess, the funniest of them all, is the 170 pounds that I now weigh and seem to be carrying all in my face! It's hilarious! I'm about halfway to my weight goal between 60-70 lbs. Many of you don't really know me on a personal level, but to those close friends of mine..these pics are hysterical to me! I mean really, sometimes you just gotta laugh! Joe and I were both laughing as we looked through these pics from our party last weekend...and I tried to start you off with the worst one I could find! Enjoy! or should I say, Bon Appetit! ;) hee hee

"yum....tissue paper...is it edible? Give me food!"


Adriane and Suz, best friends since birth. (a little side note: both of our mothers are identical twins, and our moms happen to be best friends too...they are like my second family and I've seriously grown up with Ade my whole life: church, school, you name it). Isn't she adorable?

Ah yes, the Steece brothers...how could I NOT put a pic of them in here? The uncles of my children. This is pretty much your typical Steece bro pic: Dan doing something stupid..ALWAYS, Joe either looking at Dan or trying to copy him so he can be funny too, and Ed...sweet Ed, just smiling/laughing at the camera like, "yep, these are my goofy bros..but I love 'em" (just as I do)

Jenn, Molly, & Pam...the two ladies on the right were the gracious hostesses of this shin-dig, two of our best friends that we had to leave in Houston. :( Thanks again for the party, ladies! We had so much fun...even if I was glued to the sofa the whole time! :) Another side note: Aren't all of you pregnant women just LOVING the new summer fashion? Gotta love those baby doll shirts that make everyone look like they are wearing maternity clothes! LOVE IT.

Going over color palettes for the nurseries. Did I mention that Ade and her fam (full of decorating genius) are going to paint our nurseries and decorate them for us? Super excited!

Oh, and BTW, my doctor's appointment went well yesterday...I have been granted another week at the house! Hooray!! My cervix has lengthened out a bit and is holding strong for the time being. My babies are active and my amniotic fluid levels are good. However, the doc said to remember to bring a packed bag to every appointment, just in case it's that time again...to be hospitalized. So keep those fingers crossed through next Wednesday!

Nursery Bedding

**Addendum to this blog at the end...to answer your questions**


I thought I would post what my nursery bedding looks like. (and might I add, that it was so difficult trying to find unisex bedding that we liked!) We weren't big on "themes" for nurseries, but we found this bedding at Walmart (hooray for cheap prices..especially when you are buying four!!) and fell in love with it. These are the exact colors we had imagined for the nurseries...(yes, nurseries PLURAL...two bedrooms upstairs will be nursery rooms; and the living room upstairs--which for a very short time houses our pool table that we will be trying to sell immediately--will become like a gigantic play room for the babies). We love browns and blues together...nothing too loud and bright.

In other awesomely incredible news ;) ......I AM A FULL 21 WEEKS TODAY! My four little ones are as long as large bananas (about 7 inches and 11 ounces)! Yep, I'm starting my 22nd week of pregnancy...just THAT much closer to 24 wks, then 28 wks, then 30 wks, then every day after 30 wks will be a celebration! But we are still rooting for 34 wks max! Mom just arrived today for the long haul! She will be taking care of me all summer and more importantly, fattening me up!

The shower/party was great! I will try to post pics soon...just difficult b/c everything is on our main computer upstairs and I'm on a laptop downstairs. Oh, and we had a bad storm last Thursday that zapped our electricity for hours. Well, we think our computer is forever jacked up. My bro (master computer genius) thinks he MIGHT be able to somehow get our hard drive off of it..but it doesn't look good. It won't even turn on! and yes, we had a surge protector and everything. SO, I'm freakin' out about all the pictures I have stored on the computer. I made back up copies at the first of the year before we moved, but all of my pregnancy pics and every pic from January are on that computer! Not to mention all of our iTunes songs...sheesh! Wish us luck that we can get all of that stuff off of there! And go make copies of all of your important stuff on your computer RIGHT NOW!!! ;)

Answers to your questions

Sleeping arrangements: (which will all be subject to change based upon what works for our babies) They will all four start off in the same crib until they get crowded or don't want to sleep together, then we'll go 2 and 2 (the identicals together and the fraternals together) in two separate cribs, then eventually they will all be in their own crib. We are guessing that we will keep the identicals together and the fraternals together...but I don't know for how long. Poor Savannah having to share a room with Ben. Joe and I still don't see eye to eye on when Sav gets her own room and the three boys share a big room. (Thank god its three boys to share a room...they won't care) So, we will start off setting up each nursery room with two cribs and one changing table. (If one baby gets overstimulated and is crying and keeping the others up, we can always take him out and put him in the other "baby-less" nursery in his own crib)

Fetal movements: I felt a 100% real, unmistakable kick for the first time on Sunday afternoon (it was either Ben or Savannah)..it was so funny. I was laying by myself while Joe and our company went to the grocery store and all of a sudden "THUMP"...clear as day in my lower left belly. I just smiled to myself. But other than that, I will occasionally have weird feelings in my stomach. It feels so strange/abnormal, I can't describe it well. I just can't wait until I feel regular movements. Bring on the kicking, punching, etc...but I also know that I might not feel as much due to the LACK OF SPACE in my uterus. poor babies.

HOME AGAIN!!!

I cant thank yall enough for all the prayers and encouraging comments! I can see just how easy it would be to lose your mind while on complete bedrest in the hospital! However, the nurses were incredible and it made me feel good knowing that I was in good hands. It is somewhat comforting knowing that you are seconds away from help, just in case...knowing that you and your babies are being closely monitored, even if you feel like the walls are closing in on you.

Many of you will think I'm crazy, but I enjoyed being awake for my surgery. It was neat to be able to be awake for the "other side" of surgery. It felt so weird getting the epidural, and it didn't help that every time the anesthesiologist pressed on my back, I would jump/jerk. (I'm am ridiculously ticklish when you press hard on my back! crazy, huh?) I was so nervous that I would jump right when he was sticking the LONG needle into my spine...but I didn't. I continued to look back and stare at the anesthesia monitors so I could keep checking my blood pressure and oxygen saturation. Right at the beginning, my BP got down to like 80/35 (which is normal right after receiving spinal/epidural anesthesia) but I got really hot really quick and sweaty and told him, "hey, doctor, I'm about to pass out!" He shot me up with some Ephedrine and within seconds my BP went back up and I immediately felt great! So weird. I couldn't feel anything Dr. Tabor did, but he said he tightened it up and it looked good.

Now, the recovery was not near as pleasant. I had some pretty severe cramps (he found a couple of polyps on my cervix that he took off, which made for some lovely cramps). The nurse gave me some amazing "IV juice" and I pretty much passed out for the rest of the day. I didn't have any more pain or cramping after that.

So, this morning Dr. Tabor discharged me and I am home for now. Doc said to bring a packed bag to my weekly appointments, in case he decides to wheel me on over to the hospital again for admission! I see him again next Wednesday. Hopefully this cerclage will keep my cervix nice and tight! These babies need a lot more time to grow inside my belly.

In other news, this weekend is supposed to be a big shower/party for us...many of our friends are coming over to our house (since we knew I would be on bedrest). Talk about cutting it close! And yes, YOU KNOW I WILL BE TAKING IT EASY. I'm not messing around with this bedrest. My number one concern is keeping these babies healthy and INSIDE my body for as long as I can. I wont do anything to jeopardize that.

Thanks again for the prayers! GOD IS GOOD!

Surgery

Whelp...at my appointment this morning, my cervix had shortened from 3.25 cm to 2.20 cm in a matter of days...and this happened, even with completely complying with SUPER STRICT bedrest!! Dr. Tabor immediately had me admitted to the hospital and I am awaiting surgery tomorrow (Wednesday) morning. At 10:00am, I will have a cervical cerclage performed, hopefully under spinal/epidural anesthesia. The doc didn't know if I would be able to go home or not and even mentioned that I might spend the rest of this pregnancy on complete hospital bedrest! YIKES!! So, we'll just have to wait and see.

Doc said that my uterus is already measuring as a full term singleton pregnancy. So, my body, in turn, is proceeding to make the necessary adjustments to deliver soon. The hormones in my body, due to my four precious little wonders, are what is causing the rapid shortening of my cervix. But thank God that they have at least have 2.2 cm to work with..so, it should be a very easy cheesy routine procedure.

PLEASE, please, please pray for me, the babies, and Joe...especially tomorrow at 10am. Today I am at a full 20 weeks (in my 21st week) and I'm having such negative thoughts about getting these babies to at LEAST 24 weeks (viability) for now. So please be praying for that specifically.

STRICT BEDREST HAS BEGUN!!

This has been one craaazy week! The doc decided at my appointment on Wednesday to go ahead and put me on STRICT bedrest (yes, he emphasized the word "STRICT" several times). Bathroom privileges only, and he didn't seem too keen on the idea of me taking a shower every day! He frowned and said, "if you have to take a shower, get in and get out...no 20 minute standing up showers"! Needless to say, I wasn't really ready to come home, sit on the couch, and not get up but to use the restroom. I knew bedrest was coming and I am in my 20th week of pregnancy (like he said I would be when I start BR)..I just didn't have anything in place yet.

I didn't realize how debilitating it is to sit in one spot alllllllllllllll day loooooong! You should try it! It is completely frustrating! Sure it might be fun for 2 hours while you watch a movie...but not for the whole day and night! I am currently using an old, crummy laptop that is persnickety...sometimes letting me get on the internet, but for the majority of the time, no bueno...which is SUPER frustrating! I feel so disconnected from the world! I haven't been able to read any of your blogs b/c all of my "favorites" are stored upstairs on our main computer. (also, where our scanner is and all of our pictures)..So, these posts might be a little boring until I can teach Joe how to download pictures for me.

All I can say is THANK GOD FOR MY SIS-IN-LAW, ASHLEY!!! She was actually able to go to my last doctor's appointment with me this past Wednesday (she starts her new job on Monday). She was able to see her nephews and niece bounce around and show off for her during the sonogram! It was awesome...I got so many great pics of the babies! I'll try to get Joe to scan some in later. Poor Savannah is all squished on the bottom of the pile. We saw her getting kicked in the head by her brothers, but you know what? she can definitely hold her own! she was stretching out and fighting back! It was hilarious! We also got a precious picture of one of the identical twins reaching out and touching his brother's chest. SO COOL! But Thank God Ashley was there! Joe was out of town in Las Vegas for some conference for a couple of days...so Ashley was able to come home with me and take care of me until Joe got home!

So the babies still look great, heartbeats were great. My cervix is shorter than my doctor would like (henceforth, the immediate strict bedrest), so hopefully by me laying down all the time, my cervix will stay put! We aren't in the danger zone yet, but a cervical cerclage might be in order in the coming weeks. I'm not dilating at all...just shortening. These babies are getting bigger and heavier and are putting pressure on my cervix. So, hopefully the bedrest will help. I am at war against gravity right now! I go back to the doctor with Joe next Tuesday morning..so please keep praying.

I'd love to hear from any of you who had to have a cerclage. How far along were you? What was your cervix measuring, etc...