Lots of things to celebrate in the last couple of days! Of course this past weekend was July 4th weekend, always a fun time. Ours was a little stressful and chaotic at times (and I got a little stressed out that all I could do was sit by and watch instead of helping out), but everything turned out great in the end. My mom, dad and brother were in town this weekend (dad had been here all week) and of course one of my sisters who lives down the street was here all weekend too, so lots of people in our little house! Dad and Jacob helped Clint put up a storage shed which took them the better part of Saturday, Sunday and Monday. They wanted to get started Friday, but the weather did not permit it. It poured rain here all day on Friday and off on all day Saturday and Sunday. The upside was that it was in the 80's (very cool for July), the downside was of course trying to work between rain storms! Our average yearly rainfall is something like 12 inches and I think we got 8 inches this weekend!! The storage shed is up though and Clint has cleaned out and organized his garage. He is ecstatic, this was the big project he felt he needed to accomplish before the babies came. It also means that the concrete slab that was poured 3 years ago for the storage shed is no longer barren ;)
On top of storage shed chaos, my mom's 12 year old dog tore through my sister's fence on Sunday and ran off. My mom was very upset, the dog is one of her babies. After lots of searching Sunday afternoon, she was not to be found and my parents were leaving Monday! Everyone was praying that the dog would make it's way back to us. Then lo and behold, someone called my parents local vet clinic Monday morning to tell them that they had the dog! They had found her Sunday, but didn't call until Monday since it was a weekend. So in the end everything ended well!
Fourth of July celebrations were soggy, but good. We watched fireworks over the lake on Saturday night in the rain. Fireworks in the rain was a first for all of us! As we were leaving the lake it started pouring so hard Clint could barely see through the windshield. On Sunday, we did sparklers and small fireworks in the backyard with Jackson and watched some big fireworks that were being set off just outside the city limits behind our house. It was like our own private show! Jackson was not as enamored with the fireworks this year as he has been in the past, but I think he still enjoyed them. He did like shooting off our own, but was a little skittish of them, which is fine by me. Not like Clint and Jacob (my brother) who were not skittish enough! I did think Jackson would enjoy sparklers, but he really did not want to hold them, even with help. He did a couple and then was done. He did love the poppers, but who doesn't?! And of course the evening was finished off with homemade ice cream! All in all a successful July 4th!
Fireworks in the rain
In the backyard
The pyros (minus Clint in this picture, but he joined in shortly)
Clint and Jackson (the last sparkler he would do that evening)
My mom of course spent the weekend cooking, cleaning, running errands and working on the nursery. She stayed busy the entire time! She barely even allowed me to get up to get my own water. I think everyone was exhausted by the end of the weekend with all the work they did! We are SO grateful though! I was exhausted just from having all the activity around me! Mom and dad took Jackson back with them until Saturday, so I wll get to rest this week. He was so excited to go again. He is getting very spoiled with all the grandparent time! Before he left yesterday he told Clint, "Please don't let mommy be sad." Then right before he left he told both of us not to be sad! He can be so unbelievably sweet and adorable. That's why you keep them right:)
Now on to today's celebration: VIABILITY. That's right, today is 24 weeks and the babies now have a chance of survival outside the womb (still not a strong chance, but a chance!). Next big milestone is 28 weeks. Today we'll cheer in celebration, at 28 weeks we'll sing and if we get to 32 we'll dance! (Well, I might not be able to dance, but you all can dance for me!) Most of all we'll praise the Lord for the continued health of myself and all babies. Now for the details of my latest appointment this morning with my high risk doctor.
24 weeks and growing! I'm starting to feel like a beach ball with arms and legs:)Everything continues to look great! They measured my cervix today at approximately 4.8 cm even without a cerclage, which is absolutely amazing and all fluid levels are high and perfect (they said that even twins often have low fluid levels and I have four with perfect fluid levels!) The ultrasound tech said she had no idea how I was doing it and this must be meant to be. The doctor came in and reiterated how outstandig my lab work was last week and how great everything looked. He also told me that his threshold for finding a reason to put me in the hospital is lower now and he would put me in at the slightest indication. I kind of knew this already and like I said before, I'll be in at 26 weeks no matter what. I'm not looking forward to it, but I also think it's getting to be that time. The tocolytic monitor showed no contractions, just some irritability and my blood pressure was lower again this week, 127/74. The fFN test today (to check for premature labor risk within the next couple weeks) came back negative and we started steriods today for lung development. I go see my OB tomorrow for my glucose tolerance test and for the second in this round of steriods. My high risk doctor is meeting me in antepartum at the hospital on Saturday to monitor contractions again ( I kind of think this may be a play to keep me there since I will already be there, but so be it if that is the case) and then I am scheduled to see him again on Monday for ultrasound and more monitoring. I'd really like to be home Sunday to spend one more day with Jackson outside the hospital (since he doesn't come home until Saturday), but I will do what I'm told.
Baby measurements and growth are still awesome. The estimated weights are as follows today:
Baby girl A: 1 lb 13 oz
Baby boy B: 1 lb 15 oz
Baby girl C: 1 lb 10 oz
Baby boy D: 1 lb 12 oz
That is a total of 7 lbs 2 oz of baby already. That's more than Jackson, he was 7 lb 1 oz at birth (36 weeks 3 days). The largest baby is in the 100th percentile for size and the smallest is in the 81st percentile for size. Once again absolutely miraculous and the my doctor was so pleased. Weight gain is pretty good too. I was striving for 50 lbs by 24 weeks and I missed it by a little. I'm at 45 lbs ( I gained 44 lbs with Jackson). I am now officially 2 lbs over my ending weight with Jackson and the number needs to keep climbing. YIKES!! But, it's worth it for healthy babies. My only complaints at this point are still some back and pelvic pain and I've started to swell more which can be uncomfortable, but I seem to be able to reduce swelling with water and laying down.
God is so good. I am daily saying prayers for continued well being of everyone and in thanks for all the gifts he has given us during this pregnancy. I can't say that I don't have my down moments where I worry about outcomes, or finances, or how I will ever do this, but God has provided so far and I am confident that He will continue to do so! Keep up the prayer power out there. That is the best gift we have been given!
Woohoo!!!!! Good job momma!
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