God bless you!

Today was a wonderful day! I got to go to the salon and get my hair done, my nails polished and brows waxed. I feel like a new woman!! It was so nice to be able to see my coworkers and some clients because I have missed them so much! I am so blessed to have a Christian based company to work for where it is more like a family than a business. I just want to thank all the girls from work for all you have done as well as our wonderful clients! Jared and I appreciate all the kind thoughts and prayers and the donations you have been so generous to bless us with. I couldn't even begin to tell you how much you all mean to us. We love you!!!!

33 weeks and 1 day

I just got home from my doctor's appointment and was almost certain I would be sent straight back to the hospital for high blood pressure, but my blood pressure was great and everything looked normal so I am basically waiting for my body to tell me when it's time to deliver and go into labor. I asked the doctor if he thought that the preeclampsia will get worse from here and he doesn't seem to think so. Overall it was a great appointment other than that little part at the end where they had to take blood and I almost passed out! You would think after being stuck with every kind of needle and IV imaginable, having a little blood taken would be a breeze! Oh well, I'm just thankful everything went well and I'm back at home safe and sound.

Getting closer...

Not much to report, I'm just happy as can be to be home! I will be 33 weeks on Tuesday and if we can make it to 34 weeks Telan will be in good shape. This means she probably won't need a feeding tube, IV or major assistance with breathing. Also, hopefully she won't have to stay in the hospital any more than a week or two. This is our main goal, but she is more than welcome to stay in and continue to grow and develop as long as she wants to! I have a doctor's appointment on Wednesday and I'm a little afraid my blood pressure will go up from anxiety and moving around more and I will be sent back to the hospital. So right now I am trying to enjoy the comfort of my own bed! :)

Home Sweet Home

I have a great update today...I'm home! I was discharged this morning after a 3 week, 2 day hospital stay. I talked to my doctor yesterday about all that has happened, and his comment was that he had never seen this happen before. He said preeclampsia doesn't get better, either it can stay the same for a short period of time or it gets worse and mine has gotten better. He told me that I could ask any other doctor and they wouldn't be able to explain it to me either because this just doesn't happen. His only possible explanation was that with Trinity passing away antibodies are being released and that could be helping the situation. As a friend told me yesterday...it sounds like Trinity is taking care of her sister.

Not there yet

Well...I didn't get to go home today. My blood pressure went up pretty high yesterday afternoon and the doctor said I needed to stay here and see if the preeclampsia is getting worse. So far today my blood pressure has went back down and everything else looks good, including the baby, so we shall see. He didn't say if I could go home if everything stabilized again but I am hoping :)

Good day!

I just got some great news! I may be going home tomorrow if my blood pressure stays stable and Telan looks good. I will be on strict bed rest...but at least it will be in my own bed! Please pray that everything stays normal so I can go home, and if I do me and Telan can stay healthy until delivery time. Thanks!!

I'm moving!!

We had an ultrasound done this morning and Telan looks good. She now weighs 3lbs 3oz, which is still a little on the small side but they don't seem too concerned. She is gaining about a half a pound every 2 weeks. She is practicing breathing and her anatomy looks good. I am waiting now to be discharged so I can go over to Northeast and be readmitted...I am sooo ready for the car ride over there!! A change of scenery will be wonderful!

Follow this blog

Just wanted to let everyone know that I have added a new followers gadget. You can click on "follow this blog" on the left side of the page and you will get updates on my new posts. Thanks!!

Happy Valentine's Day!

We had a little scare last night when I was on the monitor. Telan's heartbeat kept dropping down into the 60's and then jumping back up. After taking me off the monitor the nurse came back in and said the doctor told her to put me back on because she wasn't happy with what she saw. They monitored her for another hour and things looked better so they took me off. We asked our high risk doctor this morning what he thought about it and after he looked back on the computer at what her heart rate looked like her said it was nothing to worry about. He said her heartbeat looked more mature than most babies her gestational age, which was a relief!

So the plan is to be transferred to Northeast Monday and finish out the rest of my pregnancy there. We wanted to be a little closer to home and since the whole reason we were at CMC to begin with was because we were delivering so early and Trinity was so small, the plan has changed.

Looking for the positive

So, my stay in the hospital isn't quite over yet. I will remain in the hospital on bed rest until I deliver, which for Telan's sake we hope won't be too soon. I could possibly go another 6 weeks until delivery. The good news we received yesterday is that Telan looks healthy and if I can carry her close to term she may not have to stay in the NICU. There is a possibility she will be able to go home with us when I am discharged. This would make things so much easier, knowing that all the decisions we had to make at least gave Telan a better chance. Again, thanks to all who have kept us in their prayers!

Heartbreaking news

I just wanted to take a minute to thank everyone who has been praying for our girls the past few months. Jared and I are so thankful for wonderful family and friends who believe in the power of prayer. At 2:00pm yesterday the doctor did an ultrasound and found that Trinity has gone home to be with the Lord. We are devastated that she couldn't make it a few more days to delivery, but God obviously had other plans for her. Please continue to pray for Telan's health as we will be going as far as we can with the pregnancy now since the situation has changed. Also pray for peace for us and our family, we need it now more than ever. We love you all!

Update

On Wednesday, January 28, 2009 I was admitted to the hospital for preeclampsia (high blood pressure that can be very dangerous for the babies and myself). At that time the doctors wanted to deliver asap, but did manage to get my blood pressure stable enough that we can hold off on delivery for now. Our plan is to get to 32 weeks, which will be Feburary 17th, and we will deliver by c-section that day. Until then...this tiny little gray hospital room is where I will stay.

Please pray for our little girls to arrive healthy and in God's time!

Our Story

First let me start by saying how blessed I am to have a mighty God, a wonderful husband and supportive family that has helped me get through the roller coaster that has been the few years of my live. I have been married to my high school sweetheart for almost 6 years now, we have been together for 10, and we have a sweet little puppy named Diesel that has been our world for the past 5 years. Jared and I decided about 3 years ago that it was time we added onto our family and bring a new life into the world. We were so excited about trying for a baby and that soon became all we talked about. After a while it seemed to consume our lives and we became overwhelmed with confusion, frustration and bitterness. We wanted to know why it came so easy for all our friends and not us. After having exploratory surgery and different procedures than left us with no answers, we looked into infertility treatments. We chose to do an IUI, which the infertility doctor felt was all we needed, and the hope we had soon turned into disappointed when we had complications during the procedure and it didn't work. We went the next month to try again, and had the same complications we had the month prior. The small amount of hope we had was crushed when he told us that that would be the last time we could do that procedure because of the complications, and the possibility of IVF was out as well. This was our last shot and we both knew it. After years of taking pregnancy test after pregnancy test I knew I couldn't get my hopes up. I woke Jared up on the morning I took the test and we prayed as we waited for the results.......POSITIVE!!! We both cried with joy and disbelief. We had waited for so long and our prayers had been answered. A couple weeks later we went to the doctor for the first ultrasound not knowing what was in store for us when we got there. The doctor started the ultrasound and saw the little tiny peanut there on the screen with a heartbeat and said "everything looks good, one little happy healthy baby.....wait....wait we have an intruder". I was a little confused by his comment until I looked at Jared's face. I asked if he meant 2 and he said yes he did! Twins! I think I would have been less shocked if he would have started doing the chicken dance right there in front of me! So, Jared and I started planning out how life would be with twins (like you can actually plan that out!). We were so excited and scared to death all at the same time! We had spent weeks looking forward to the day we would have the ultrasound that would tell us what we were having. When that day came things went much differently than we ever thought they would. One of the most special days in our lives was replaced with one of the most terrifying. We found out that we were having two little girls and one may be very sick. Her body was measuring in the 3rd percentile while her head was in the 18th. The doctors said that she had strong markers for a chromosome disorder such as Downs Syndrome or much worse Trisomy 18 or 13 which would give her only a 10% chance of living a year after birth if she survived the pregnancy. We chose to do an amniocentesis on both babies which would show us if either baby had these problems. When we went home we decided that if something was wrong with one of the babies we wanted them to have name instead of just referring to them as baby a and baby b. Within about 30 minutes we came up with the most perfect names...it was like they were just meant to be. The small baby would be named Trinity and the larger baby would be named Telan. We waited what seemed like an eternity for the results and we got the phone call telling us both girls checked out just fine! Praise God! Now we just needed to find out why she was measuring so small. On our next trip to the doctor’s office we faced even more possible bad news. There could be a placenta problem that was causing Trinity not to grow, which is called intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) or she could just be a small baby. If it was IUGR then she would more than likely not make it past 26 weeks. We had to make a very though decision, if we continued to go to the doctor's office regularly like we had been doing we may have to make the decision to deliver extremely early and put the larger baby (Telan) at risk tying to save the smaller baby (Trinity) or we wait until 26 weeks to come back to the doctor's office and let nature take it's course. Jared and I were both in agreement that the odds of both babies surviving outside the womb prior to 26 weeks especially with one being very small was not a chance we were willing to take. We felt like by waiting until 26 weeks to get another ultrasound it would mean we wouldn’t have to make anymore decisions about the fate of our children…it was all left in God’s hands. So at our 26 week appointment we knew there was a possibility that the ultrasound would show that Trinity didn't make it, but she also could be growing and developing like a normal baby. As it turned out, we had to make another difficult decision, Trinity had not grown much and she had absence of flow through her umbilical cord. This confirmed that there was definitely a problem and she wasn’t just a normal small baby. They explained that the next step was reversed blood flow through the cord and then death. We were told there was a good chance she wouldn’t make it another week and if we wanted to save her now was the time. Jared and I were torn, we felt as though we were having to choose which life was more valuable between our two children. After much prayer and research, we both had a strong feeling that we needed to wait and try to give them more time to grow and develop and God would take care of the rest. The next appointment at 27 weeks did show reversed blood flow and it seemed that now was the time to choose. We both still had a gut feeling that we needed to wait. So the plan was to take it week by week. Every week we had an ultrasound and every week we struggled to decide what to do. The one thing we did know was that Trinity is a fighter because every Monday when we went in for the ultrasound to see if she was still hanging on, there she was! The doctor’s continued to tell us every time she probably wouldn’t make it another week, but she continues to surprise them. We have been told that they truly didn’t think she would make it this far and that she is not a “textbook case”…and we know that. Both of our miracle babies are strong little girls who God has apparently chosen to carry out his will.