Twin Update

So far these boys are obeying and staying put. This past week we went to the high risk specialist for the first time, Dr. BK. After doing a detailed ultrasound of the boys that took almost an hour, they determined our boys are perfect. Unfortunately, my cervix has shortened some more even on bed rest. (Was 2.2 now 1.8) I have continued to have contractions each day even with the medication so they have increased my daily dosage, optimistic that this will help.

I still monitor my contractions 2 times a day and sometimes more if necessary. I see my regular OB every 2 weeks and Dr. BK in between. We are entering week 28 and with each passing week we claim it a victory.

We did have a bit of a scare yesterday morning. My friends shower was from 10-12. I woke up early so I'd have plenty of time to to get ready but still take it easy. After I showered, I laid back on the bed and did my morning monitoring for an hour. When my time was up on that I started getting ready and D sent my data to the nurse. Shortly afterwards, she called, which they normally do, but instead of the usual "2-3 contraction" update she said I had 6! First of all I never felt one. Second, this was not a good thing. 5-7 contractions in an hour means we go to the hospital... and I currently had people on their way to my shower, my hair is half way curled, d is clearly concerned that I had so many contractions, him being concerned made me concerned...but all I can think about is that only half my hair is curled! What did this mean... 6 contractions?! The nurse advised that I drink a ton of water, empty my bladder and re-monitor... another hour. It is currently 9:30.

D made an executive decision that I just had to be late for my shower. Thankfully everyone understood and after the second monitoring... I had only 1 contraction... which meant we weren't gong to the hospital but to my shower with strict orders to walk in, sit down and not move... which I was grateful to oblige.

I walked in to my shower, saw all of these sweet precious friends and I lost it. I was a blubbering mess. I was so happy to be there, so happy to see those faces, so happy my babies were staying put and we weren't going to the hospital, so happy to see all the fun things my sisters had been whispering about and so excited to be out of the house.

So... babies are good. No hospital visits have been made recently. I, though and hour late, was able t make it to my shower. And thankfully my husband though not understanding why... moved my curling iron to the bed so I was able to finish curling my dead gum hair that bothered me so much.... before we left for my baby shower. Which ironically I ended up throwing my hair up on my head anyway so you couldn't even tell it had been curled. :) Yea those pregnancy hormones that cause lots of emotional outbursts that I thought had missed me... yea, they found me.

25-26 weeks

25 weeks:

26 weeks:

Cravings: vegetables, cereal, peanuts

The past couple of weeks have def changed our lives a bit. My on the go lifestyle has changed to I get up to shower and go to the bathroom... and those are my main vertical times of the day. I don't have to lay down all day but I have to be sitting/reclining. Though this is not ideal, I understand the importance of why this is necessary and to think about keeping these boys safe and healthy... its well worth my inconvenience and boredom.

I am so thankful that we had gotten so much done prior to all of this. The nursery was pretty much completed, I had bought all my hostess gifts for my showers, and even had completed my Christmas shopping... I knew I wanted to get a jump on things, but I had no idea it would be so necessary. Then with the help of  family we have gotten clothes washed and things organized.

In general, everyone has been so good to us. The help offered, meals brought and signed up for, prayers going up on behalf.... we are overwhelmed and so thankful.

24 weeks at the beach

A couple of weeks ago, my 24th week being pregnant, was spent at the beach with the Burbee clan. Definitely a different trip having a huge belly and not as much stamina to walk in the sand but man was it nice to sit and soak up some sun and listen to those waves crash against the shore. I even had D dig me a hole so I could lay on my stomach and get some sun on my back. Wow... was it nice to get to lay on my belly for the first time in a while! I looked normal until I rolled out of my hole and then I freaked people out with my ready to pop belly.

Not only was it a different trip having a big belly, but it was fun because this is the first year we've had a little one tag along. Riley Paige experienced her first beach trip this year. Man was she fun. She loved the sand and the water. And you can imagine how cute her little rolls looked in all of her swimsuits.

Here are some pictures from our trip via iphone.

 

 Cravings during this week: m&m mcflurry's, cheez its, donuts, honey nut cheerios- I blame vacation on these terrible cravings!

Thanks mom and dad for such a fun getaway!

24 week picture taken once we got home:

I'll post some more pics soon  from the good camera... including our record breaking photo shoot.

Unknown Path

Tuesday, I woke up feeling a little weird. I thought nothing of it and went about my day. By lunch time I was very tired and my belly was feeling crampy and tight. I rested all afternoon and then we went to D's double header softball games. Throughout the last game I began feeling the cramps and tightness pretty frequently. I then began to think maybe what I was experiencing were fact contractions. I contacted 2 of my friends who both have twins. They confirmed that they too experienced early contractions, that I needed to drink tons of water and contact my dr. I debated calling because what I was feeling didn't meet my expectation of contractions. Once home I had decided I better call because I had been experiencing these cramps long enough to be concerned. The on call nurse advised me to take tylenol, lay on my left side and monitor my condition for 30 min. If not better in 30 min then we should plan to head to the hospital to get checked out. 30 min later when the nurse called to check on me I was feeling better. Huge relief. We could go to bed and not worry.

I spoke too soon.

Not 10 min later I began to have more intense tightness and cramps. Not painful, but enough for me to know that it wasn't normal. Still I was afraid we'd go in and they'd laugh at me and say, Oh honey you just have gas or something crazy like that. Not wanting to chance it we headed to the hospital. Can I just say Baptist Womens is awesome. We show up and 5 minutes later I am hooked up to monitors where they immediately tell me 2 things: yes, I am having contractions, but both babies look great.

Relief.
1. I'm not crazy or gassy.
2. My babies are healthy and ok.

The nurse starts me on an IV to quickly hydrate me to help reduce contractions. As if I wasn't already peeing enough... lets add way more fluids. Then came the scary, unexpected news. They wanted to do a test that would tell us if I was going into labor in the near future.

What?! I'm only 25 weeks! True the babies are technically viable outside the womb but they'd be tiny and sick and there are HUGE risks. Thankfully 20 minutes later the nurse informs us the test was negative.

Relief. Now hopefully these babies will bake inside a lot longer... or at least several more weeks.

They decided to keep us over night and monitor my contractions and the babies. With the IV fluids, the contractions ceased. They ordered an ultrasound to measure my cervix and make sure the contractions hadn't caused it to thin out which would lead to preterm labor. Unfortunately we discovered the contractions had caused my cervix to shorten (which leads to thinning) so my doctor consulted with the high risk specialist who decided we needed to stay and be monitored a couple of more days while they give the babies steroids and me a contraction reducing medication.

The boys and I are doing great though. I am now a "lady of leisure" per the high risk dr.'s request meaning I'm on bed rest the duration of my pregnancy... but good news is he is ok with me attending my baby showers as long as I take it easy. Sister has already graciously agreed to open my gifts as if that is too strenuous. :)

Everyone is asking what they can do to help... Please just pray. Pray for D as he now has more on his plate due to my lack of helpfulness. (He has been amazing. No shocker there, but I know he will get tired and I'm sure I won't always be the sweetest patient.)

And then continue to pray for us as we travel this crazy unknown path. We know God has brought us this far and are confident that He is still good and faithful no matter what happens.

P.S. If you get a hankering to fix a yummy dish, we won't decline.

Twin Update

These boys are growing leaps and bounds and after seeing those pics, you know what I mean. I look like I'm about to give birth (belly measuring at 30 weeks if I were to have just 1 baby in there.) And I love freaking people out when I tell them I'm only 23 weeks... before I tell them we're having twins.

Jude and Luke are moving like crazy. Any time I get still they start flipping and kicking.  So far its a pleasant feeling that I can't get enough of... def the coolest part of being pregnant. We had a doctor's visit yesterday and we watched as Luke continued to kick Jude. Jude kept putting his little hand up which looked like he was trying to protect his head. Hopefully the violence will cease. :) My doctor was very pleased with our progress. We go back in 3 weeks and then will start going every 2 weeks after that.

From the beginning, my doctor has told us to expect their arrival early to mid december. Based on how well we've done so far she guessed they'd be here sometime between December 11-25. That would be 36-38 weeks... although she said theres a good chance I might even go into labor before then though.

What we've been up to: getting the nursery together! Its by no means finished but here's a sneak peak after the walls were painted and beds were put together.

Cravings: peanut butter banana toast, crunchy raisin bran cereal, hummus/wheat thins, orange juice

Here are our latest pics of Jude and Luke. Luke was very cooperative. Jude not so much.

I'm actually going into my 25th week now so new updates coming soon!

Twin Update: Our boys have names!

21 weeks:

Cravings: oats and honey crunchy granola bars, little debbie's (any kind)

New development: Our boys finally have names!!!!!

Jude Ryan

and

Luke David

Naming these babies was hard! I always thought this would be easy... especially once we knew their gender. Unfortunately for us that just made it harder! We didn't agree on any names until these. We have 2 very different tastes in names which you can imagine only added to our difficulty. So how did we finally come up with these names, might you ask?

We knew we wanted non-rhyming names and different initials, but still have the names sound good together. We also wanted them to be gender specific and we wanted to name them what we were going to call them. So.... with all of those "name rules" our name journey continued and continued with no luck. We had lots of help from others, but actually came to these names on our own.

There has been a J.R.J. in every generation of the Jerkins family since the civil war so we knew we wanted to carry on that tradition, but coming up with a cute J name is hard! Most are very common names and I wanted something a little different. I was reading through the new testament and came to the book of Jude. And I couldn't get it out of my head. Jude. There was something different about this one. Then I looked up the meaning and it means, "praise." I was in love. Ryan just came naturally as the only R name that we really liked. So baby A is now Jude Ryan Jerkins.

Luke was a name we had both liked for a long time. Come to find out it means "light" and we obviously want our boys to be a light in this dark world. We never just loved it though until we put it with Jude. Then it was a no brainer. Because we went with the J.R.J (Jerkins side) for baby A, we knew we wanted to do something meaningful from my side of the family for baby B. David is my dad's middle name and it fit so well so baby B became Luke David.

I am so glad that our boys will carry on their grandfathers' names/initials. They are men that we love and respect more than words can fully express. And our prayer is that Jude and Luke will be men of integrity that love the Lord and their families like their Papa and Pop do.

Twin Update: 20 weeks

Its hard to believe that we are half way through this pregnancy! Well, technically more than halfway since I won't go full term. On one hand it seems like the time if flying by but on the other hand I am feeling huge and still have a long way to go.

20 weeks:

Cravings: cheese dip/chips, blueberry poptarts, water... I can't get enough!

What we've been up to: trying to decide on names.... and no we haven't, we decided on cribs, we're working on bedding, we are going to register this week, and me and jules and sister have hit some consignment sales so we've started stocking up on sweet little boy things.

Oh and if anyone finds these cute outfits at a reasonabel price please let me know! I am in love.

I thought I had been saved from being due in the hottest Memphis months... however pregnant with one baby and pregnant with 2 babies are clearly very different. I currently look like I'm due any day with one baby... although I have 4 months to go with 2. And this August heat is reminding me... my feet/ankles in particular... that big and pregnant and Memphis in August don't go well together.

Also, some of the coolest pregnancy experiences thus far have happened lately. I must have missed the gentle butterflies because these boys do nothing but kicks, punches and flips. I have also felt them on the outside. I was laying in bed reading last night and the boys were active. With my hand on my belly, I thought I imagined a slight kick from baby A (lower baby). Then it happened several more times. I yelled for D. He came and of course it stopped. I made him stay and sure enough he was able to feel a slight nudge from active baby A.

Ok all my momma friends out there I need your "must register for" items. What have been the best brands and most helpful items you received or purchased for your babies?