Archive for October, 2009

We recently had a great time when we had family in town.  My mom came to town for a visit.  She used her skills in the kitchen to load us up with some soups (and other meals) to freeze for later after the girls arrive.  We had a great time hanging out, playing cards and getting ready.

Mom went home on Tuesday(10/13) and Friday morning Allison’s sister Lindsey arrived on Friday morning.  Lindsey was here for the weekend.  She painted and helped us get the cribs put together.  We were also able to grab dinner at her favorite Madison restaurant – the Great Dane.

Yesterday (10/25) we said good bye to Steve and Jan after they came for a weekend visit.  Steve and I watched the Hawks remain undefeated while, Jan, Marcia and Allison sorted baby clothes and worked on nursery finishing touches.  Allison’s Aunt Marcia is still here and will stay here through Wednesday.  We thank God for a loving family.

Can you believe we’re at 32 weeks and 5 days?  I have to apologize for not updating much lately.  The reason for this is that there hasn’t been much to report.  Here’s a summary of some significant happenings for the girls.  Ruby weighed 3lbs  11oz and Madison was 3lbs 8 oz when we had our last growth appointment on October 15th.  We’re told they are gaining 8 oz a week right now (increases to a pound a week at 34 weeks) so we think they’re pushing around 4 lbs.  There aren’t anymore scheduled growth appointments so the next time we talk weight will be when they are born.  We’re still going in twice a week for amniotic fluid check’s and non stress tests.  Everything has looked great so far.  Thank you Lord!

Allison has been a champ.  She wakes up often at night (up to 8 times) but usually is able to go back to sleep.  She’s been adjusting well to doing less activity each day.  We’ve been so blessed by the generosity of the care group that is making meals and cleaning the house.  Because we’re so well cared for, all of her daily decreasing supply of energy is going towards taking care of the babies and herself.  With the cribs up she’s also putting the finishing touches on the nursery.  The nesting is in full swing!

Here are some pictures of our doctors in Cincinnati.  Unfortunately, these pictures were the first I’ve taken with an iPhone so user error is the reason for their poor quality.  The first picture is with Dr. Lewis.  He is the one mentioned in an earlier post that prayed with us during one of the more difficult times.  The second picture is with Drs. Lim and Jaekle and the nurse coordinator Judy.  Unfortunately we were unable to get a picture of Dr. Van Hook.  Lewis, Van Hook and Jaekle were the three-member team of maternal fetal doctors and Lim was the fetal surgeon.  God truly used this team of professionals to help bring us through one of the most difficult times in our lives.  Their professional excellence can only be beaten by the way sincerely cared for us.  We will ALWAYS be grateful for them.

Allison’s youngest sister Ashley and her husband Micah came to town for a visit last weekend.  Micah had a presentation to give for work in the Madison so he and Ashley decided to make it a long weekend, take in a local bed and breakfast to celebrate their first anniversary and hang with us for a while as well.  We had a great time and loved having the chance to relax and have some fun with family.  As you see in the picture, Ashley and Micah are expecting as well and are due in November.

We hit week 30 on Wednesday (10/7) and had a full schedule of appointments.  The first was on Tuesday and it was the weekly  ultrasound(Doppler’s).  This appointment went really well.  The doctor said Madison’s Doppler’s have completely normalized and was encouraged by everything she saw.  Ruby’s have been normal the whole pregnancy and looked great this time as well.  At this appointment we decided to cancel the echo cardiogram that was scheduled for Friday.  We were encouraged by the doctors in Cincinnati back in August to do consider a re-check on Madison with an echo after we had been home for 4-6 weeks.  Well, since the Doppler’s have normalized and because the last echo that was done on Madison after Olivia passed away was normal, the doctors here in Madison decided that the echo was no longer medically indicated and wouldn’t give us any information that was actionable.  We have a ‘growth’ appointment next week and we will get to know what the girls current weights are (we know Allison’s current weight too and aren’t planning on sharing that).  Last time we checked the girls was September 24th.  Ruby was 2 lbs. 8 oz and Madison was 2 lbs 7 oz.  We’re excited to see the progress next week!

On Thursday we were in for a check up on Allison.  Everything looks great for her.  Her hands are starting to swell a bit but you pregnant ladies all know that’s par for the course.  We got to see our regular doctor for this visit.  She said we were ‘coasting’ our way towards the birth.  What that means is everything is stable.  The nurse coordinator said to relax and laugh a lot.  Our next big milestone is 32 weeks (October 21).  As an interesting aside one of the wholesalers I work with has triplets.  He laughed when I told him our doctor said we were ‘coasting’ because they ‘coasted’ to 31 weeks and then delivered in the 31st week.  In short, yes we’re coasting but my conversation with Ryan was a good reminder that we could deliver any day and need to be ready.

You’ve probably noticed that there haven’t been as many pictures lately.  There is good reason for that.  Ruby’s head is so low that the sonographer’s have a hard time seeing it.  The only image of her we could get was a nice foot!  Madison has been a bit more accommodating.