Well, here's the update. About an hour ago they checked Andi again and we are now at 7cm! So we are probably having these babies in the next 24 hours. They are letting her go as long as she can. She still isn't feeling any pain and the contractions aren't really strong. We're going to try to get some sleep before a big day tomorrow! Amazing how things change so quickly. We celebrated midnight with a sprite. Now it's time for some sleep.
Happy New Year! 2010 is here (an Cooper and Kennedy are not far behind!)
UPDATE!
Everyone can relax! The doctored just informed us that the nurses are measuring the wrong thing, so at one part if seems like she is further along than others. She is really only at the same 4+cm/5cm she was at in Cedar City. We are back to BORING! This is good news because that means that if she stays the same then we can still go back home to have them. 6 days to go!
We thought it would be fund to have a 01/01/10 baby, but are sure that would probably consign them to be computer programmers with such a binary birthday, but we will take another day if that means bigger and more developed babies.
So, some of you might have heard, but yesterday Andi "won" a fun little trip to St. George, Utah for a most-expesnes paid (by insurance) ? night/? day stay at the beautiful Dixie Regional hopspital! It included an Iron county ambulance ride down the snowy I-15 corridor. The in-hospital dining includes gourmet cuisine and even some free ice chips!!! Is anyone jealous yet?
Here's the low down on how you too can be a winner! First, you must be pregnant with twins. At 33 weeks pregnant you will need your physician to examine you and you will need to be about 3cm dialated. You will get a quick stay at the Valley View hospital where they will poke and prod and monitor you for a few hours before telling you that you have progressed in labor to almost 5cm! At which time the physician will see to it that you are on your way to Utah's breathtaking Dixie! Okay, all joking aside. When we went to Andi's routine appointment yesterday the doctor said it was time for bed rest a some monitoring at the hospital, which actually turned into some pre-term labor. Trying to slow things down they sent us to St. George just in case the babies do have to come early (Cedar won't deliver the babies if they are before 34 weeks).
So here we are. They have slowed things down and are holding out for 24-48 more hours before the babies come. The best thing would be to hold out for a week more and then we can go home and have them in Cedar, but that's still looking unlikely at this point. Everyone is fine though. The babies are still kicking, heartrates are great, positioning is great and Andi is doing fine except for dealing with the uncomfortable hospital beds. Last night we got some sleep and there were no major changes. At 11am this morning she can get the second of two steriod shots that will help with the babies lung function if they do come early.
We are joking about having one of them at 11:59 on 12/31 and the other at 12:01 1/1 so we would get a tax deduction for one in 2009 and have the New Year's baby in 2010. They could have completely different birthdays - day, month, and year! We'd probably just prefer that they wait, but there are mixed feelings about staying in the hospital for two more weeks! We will see what happens today. Watch for more updates.
Just a quick post tonight to share a wonderful experience (pictures coming later). We got to play a part tonight in the live Nativity at Tuachan ampitheater in St. George (Santa Clara). This was the third year that we were able to be a part of it and as always it was an amazing experience. Our good friends the Stuart family actually started the live Nativity and it grew to be so big that Tuachan invited them a few years back to use their stage. It has grown and changed over the years and many people in the area volunteer on different nights to be part of the cast. Families take part as either towns-people, shepherds, angels, wisemen, and of course Mary and Joseph. It is completed with recorded narration by Dick Norse, a wonderful soundtrack of moving music, and even live animals including a horse, a donkey, a camel, and a few goats and sheep. Three years ago we took part an I (Curtis) got to be the shepherd that carried the baby Jesus over to show the rest of the shepherds. Andi was there supervising some of her treatment center girls who were angels. Last year it was rained out so we actually had a little party at the Stuarts and watched one of the first years videos when their children were young and did it for their neighborhood. This year Andi and I were towns-people and I was the third innkeeper that turns Joseph away, but then feels bad and shows them to the manger where they can sleep. Because it is a volunteer cast we show up early to get our costumes, run through our part, do a practice run thru, and then do two performances back to back (it's about 20 minutes long). My friend Adam kept joking about getting a "Nativy" award for Best Performance (hence the title of this post--no such awards exist however.)
It really is an interesting feeling to play part in the story. I think no matter what part you get you begin to see the story unfold from a different perspective than just an onlooker. It makes you wonder how the people in the story really felt and what they really experienced. It has become a favorite new tradition of mine and we hope we can keep participating each year. We are grateful to the Stuart's and the Endsley's for inviting us to be a part of it.
On the way home we were listening to the radio and I heard an AMAZING new Christmas song. It is probably one of the best original pieces I have heard in a long time. I am always looking for good new music and this fits the bill. Here is the song on YouTube. The artist is Brandon Heath, a christian artist. If you like the song it is available until Friday on Amazon for free! (part of a 25 days of free Christmas songs) Or it is $.99 at iTunes. http://www.amazon.com/The-Night-Before-Christmas/dp/B002X33IRO/
Enjoy! I think that this song summed up some of my feelings about our experience tonight. Very well written and performed:
Thursday, December 17, 2009
It's hard being pregnant. First, I should say that everything is going very well. If I were only having one baby, I would be big enough to have it now. As it is, I have an estimated 6 weeks left. The babies and I are growing rapidly. We're all slightly ahead of schedule:) Anyways, the hard part of being pregnant comes in the not sleeping well at night, the swollen feet, the weird dreams, and especially the things that people say. Following, is an exchange I had with my boss' 5 year old son earlier today. It's probably what most people are thinking, but they're not five so they can't get away with saying it. Boy (pointing to my belly): What's that? Me: My tummy with two babies in it. Boy: I want to see. I lift up one of my shirts (I dress in layers these days). Boy: THAT'S GROSE! -Pause- Boy: I know someone who's REALLY REALLY REALLY fat...like you. She has five babies in her belly. As far as I know he doesn't know someone who's pregnant with quintuplets. I think he's finally come up with a logical explanation for why some people are so big.
