Is it January yet?

Hi Everyone~
Sorry it's been so long since I've posted. Being on bed "arrest" has finally taken it's toll on me emotionally. I won't lie, it's been a rough couple of weeks.

I am now on two different medications to help keep my contractions under control and I have been diagnosed as having an "irritable uterus". Basically this means that my uterus is triggered by a variety of things, like having a full bladder, being dehydrated (no win situation there), nausea, changing positions, babies shifting, etc, etc. If the contractions don't cause any changes to my cervix then they are considered more of an annoyance than anything else. Since my cervix has shortened, it's a different situation. I am being monitored weekly by my High Risk OB to make sure there is no dilating going on. As long as there is no dilation I can continue on bed rest at home. If I start to dilate then I go on hospital bed rest.

Jeff is continuing to take good care of me. Unfortunately I am still suffering from all day sickness, so keeping me fed is quite a challenge, to say the least. Family and friends are also helping out with a variety of things and for that we are grateful.

I'll be 25 weeks on Tuesday and the boys are looking good and moving around A LOT. My hope is that December is uneventful and flies right by. That's a weird thing to say since December is usually my favorite month of the year. 51 days until Inauguration Day, which will be a HUGE milestone for us.

Thank you for all of your positive thoughts and prayers. They are helping me "keep my eyes on the prize" that is at the end of all of this.

Love to all, Rebeca

Bed Arrest

Yay for November!! Here is a list of the "Top 10 Exciting Things" that happened this week while I was on bed "arrest":

10. The Lakers have started off strong!!

9. My spinal headache went away! After spending 4 days with this excruciatingly painful headache and being told by my OB's office that I probably had a sinus infection (not too happy with that nurse right now), it went away like Dr. Wong (the best anesthesiologist in the world) told me it would.

8. Teresa, my sister, brought me Rice Krispie treats on one of her many visits. Some of you know this already, but Jeff and I are still amazed by how efficient this woman is. She has our kitchen straightened up in the blink of an eye while getting lunch ready for the 3 of us. She has been a tremendous help so far!

7. Nancy and Jim sent us a box of movies that are all new for me. Some of the titles include Happy Feet, October Sky and West Side Story.

6. My mom cooking for us. My favorite meal she has made so far is her lasagna. Mmm...we ate that lasagna for 3 days!!

5. Jeff giving me a shot in my tush. More details on that below!

4. Going over to our neighbor's house for some home-made chili. It was my big outing of the week. The chili was very good, but I have to say the most exciting part of that outing was going through their son's bowl of Halloween candy. (Of course hanging out with them is always fun!)

3. A visit from my dear friend Allison. We listened to music, indulged in some valuable girl talk, and most importantly, she signed me on to Facebook. She is probably more excited about this than I am at this point, but I am glad to have one more way to spend my time.

2. We saw our boys on Friday at our Dr's appt. They were active as usual and are both almost a pound!

1. How can you not put the election at the top of the list? I know that not all of you voted the same way that we did here at our house, but what an incredible moment in history. I'm sure that most you can agree that our current president hasn't done that great of a job and I think we are all ready for a change. I find it very cool that when someone asks our boys who was president when they were born they will be able to say Barack Obama. (fingers crossed they come after Jan 20) After I voted, we went and got some french fries, which added to the excitement of the day.

We got some more unexpected news at our Dr's appt on Friday. I guess I have been having contractions without realizing what they were. I always imagined contractions to be painful and something obvious. So when the tech asked me if I had been having any contractions, I quickly said no. Then I described to her that sometimes my stomach gets really hard and uncomfortable. That's when I was given the news that I was experiencing contractions. I usually have 3 or 4 a day. So the Dr prescribed me progesterone shots that are supposed to calm my uterus down. Jeff gives me a shot in my glutes once a week. Hopefully they'll do the trick and I can keep resting comfortably on my couch and not in the hospital.

Here's a picture from our ultrasound. The babies were being very cute and "playing" together. This picture is mostly of Baby B, but if you look carefully you will see that Baby A is either reaching over for a hug or giving him a little smack. I'd like to guess they are attempting to hug each other! The membrane between them is thin like a sheet, so they can feel each other's arms/legs/ etc. How cool is that?

On a sidenote, my rebeca@fassett.com email has not been working well. My regular laptop has a virus of some sort, so I can only access some of my old messages. There were many emails that I have not been able to reply to! My ms1cbeca@hotmail.com has been more reliable, so if you want to send an email, use that address.

I hope you are all well!

Love, Rebeca

I was very brave and I'll be patiently waiting for my "prize" in February

I did it! I survived a spinal! I was very nervous about it, to say the least. Dad, you should be proud! I was a big girl and despite a few tense moments, there was very little panicking/ anxiousness involved.

The babies cooperated nicely. In fact, when I came out of the operating room and was on my way to the recovery room, Twin A was kicking up a storm. I still can't figure out how I felt him since everything was numb from my rib cage down. I received awesome care at the hospital and other than some headache pain, I am resting at home comfortably.

A HUGE thank you to our wonderful neighbors who brought us a delicious dinner including fresh-out-of- the- oven chocolate chip cookies!!! Mmmmmmmmm.....................

So, it will be here on the couch that I will spend my days. We are looking into getting a wheelchair so that Jeff can take me out on walks. My only outing will be on Tuesday when I go vote!!

If anyone has any book/ movie/ website recommendations I am all ears!

Thanks for all of your thoughts and prayers.

Love, Rebeca

An Eventful Couple of Days

Hi All-

We had our 20 week ultrasound on Monday afternoon. I was anxious as usual, mostly because I have been so uncomfortable lately with severe back pain, and I suspected something might be going on in there. (other than the normal baby/ belly growing,etc.)

Well, it didn't take long for the tech to see that my cervix is shortening due to the pressure of the babies. Before this whole experience, I always thought that what a cervix does during pregnancy is dilate, open up in other words. Now I have learned that in addition to dilating, it shortens, which means it stretches in the other direction. A healthy cervix during pregnancy should be at 4 mm. Mine was at a 2. something. So that was enough for the dr to order me to immediate bedrest and I will be undergoing a surgical procedure tomorrow where they will place a cervical cerclage, which is just a stitch, in my cervix to help keep it closed.

Many emotions came over me at the thought of all of this. Work details are getting figured out and I was lucky to find a very experienced sub. I can do the bedrest, but I am quite nervous about this procedure.It seems to be quite common and my OB is great and very experienced.

On a positive note, my cervix is not dilated at all and we caught this early enough to where everything should be fine. The boys looked great and were very active during the ultrasound. In fact, we caught them kicking each other while the tech was moving the wand around.

Here is a picture of each one:

Twin A- He was being shy and wasn't posing so well!

Twin B- He was being more cooperative with his poses!

Please keep us in your thoughts...we'll keep you posted!

Babymoon

Since I have this week off (Fall Break), Jeff and I decided that we should take some time and enjoy one last getaway before our lives change completely. The timing worked out nicely as Jeff had his last wedding of the year the previous weekend and definitely deserved some R & R. Between working like a dog and processing the costs of two little ones, he's been under "a little bit" of stress.

Our vision of the getaway was "relaxation". So we stayed at an adorable Bed and Breakfast in the middle of the countryside of San Luis Obispo. We enjoyed a delicious home cooked breakfast each day and a wine (apple juice for me)/ appetizer happy hour at sunset. The Inn only had two rooms and we met a very nice couple who are in the process of planning a wedding. Between the local wineries nearby and the lively downtown (which had a record store and a used book store right next to each other- an easy way for us to kill a couple hours), we had a lots to do during the day. We slept a lot and watched some of our favorite movies. We attempted a game of Scrabble in front of the fireplace, but Jeff had enjoyed the wineries a little too much and we didn't get past the third round.

On the way home we stopped at an apple orchard in the middle of nowhere. We did some apple tasting and who would have thought that there were so many varieties of apples! We stopped in Avila Beach for lunch and then headed back home to reality!

Here are some pics of our trip:

Jeff and I in the living room.

Here is my 18 week belly pic! (Yes, the halfway point!!) I am standing right in front of the Bed and Breakfast.

Here is TigerLily- the official greeter of the Bed and Breakfast. She was so sweet and waited for us every morning on the back deck to get her daily rub!

Ahhhh, cozy nights by the fireplace!!

If anyone is looking for a great place to stay off the beaten path in San Luis Obispo, we highly recommend staying at the Bridge Creek Inn!

On another note, last night Jeff was excited to finally feel some of the kicking action that I've been feeling for the last couple of weeks. We have our 20 week ultrasound on Monday where they will be looking closely at their little hearts to make sure all is well. I'm sure all will be fine, but say a little extra prayer for us if you can!

Love to all- Rebeca

+7

I had an regular OB appt yesterday and I am happy to announce that I am up 7 pounds from my last appt. (4 weeks prior) In fact, according to their scale, I am now up 3 pounds from my pre-pregnancy weight! I had to wait a long time to see the dr because he had to be called out to deliver two babies. (2 moms) I had the option of rescheduling the appt, but it's always nice going into the weekend hearing those little hearts beating away. Luckily the hospital is just right across the street from the dr's office and none of the deliveries turned into C-sections, so I saw sweet Dr. Coyle an hour and a half after my appt time!! I don't get ultrasounds at these appts, but he does listen to the hearts with a doppler. We listened to them beating away and he could tell they were moving around a lot in there. I told them that I had been feeling movement for a couple of weeks now and he seemed really surprised that I could feel it so soon. Knowing my boys, they are probably having a kicking competition in there!

Hope you are all well!
Love, Rebeca

"Are there really two in there?"

Here they are..............Jeff and I agree that I look more squarish rather than round. Maybe because there are 2 babies in there. He assured me that pretty soon it will look more basketball-like and that little evidence of a waistline will be history. Our goal is to do a weekly pic.....We shall see!

17 weeks

We had to remind the dogs that it was still a bit early to play with the boys!