I was laying in my hospital bed Saturday afternoon. My parents were here visiting me for a couple hours. We were FaceTiming with my brother and his daughter in Vermont. The door opened and in walked the very first nurse I saw when I got here days ago. She came over with a HUGE smile, gave me a big hug and congratulated me on making it to 28 weeks. 6 days ago I went from caring for Juniper, the fuzzy beasts, grocery shopping, cleaning, cooking, laundry, gardening, etc, to trying to just stay pregnant for a moment more, and then a moment more. My life completely changed when I stepped into this hospital after having my water break at Fred Meyer.
Being here in the hospital until the boys are born means that all those days where it was just Juniper and me are probably gone. That's been a hard pill to swallow. Looking back I wouldn't have changed a single thing but I am really sad to think that my time to relish in focusing on only her are over. She is the most magnificent little lady, she is so smart, polite and happy. I couldn't ask for a better eldest child. This experience is gonna make us all stronger in the end and she's going to be the most wonderful big sister.
Greg has had to become a single dad all of the sudden too. Keeping up with the house is a full time job all on it's own but now the normal chores fall on Greg who also works full time. He's hanging in there as best he can but I know that it is a whole new challenge, a whole new routine to get used to. We're all gonna learn a lot through this experience.
I am so grateful that my parents live so close. They are watching Juniper during the week while Greg works. When Mom and Dad first told us that they were thinking about moving out to Oregon to be closer to us we were so excited. The whole reason that Greg and I ended up here in the first place is because we wanted to be closer to family and most of Greg's family lives in Oregon. It was a dream come true to know that my parents were going to be here too so that they could be right beside us as we raised our kids and grew older. My mom ended up finding their dream home the first time she came out to look and within months they had bought the house and were selling their house in Colorado. It all happened so fast we figured it was because Juniper was on the way and God knew that we'd need the extra support. What I didn't expect was that it wasn't Juniper that God was preparing us for, it was THIS moment. It was this week when everything we knew about our daily routines was going to be upended for months. We all seem to be finding some sort of new groove though, slowly but surely.
Now that I am out of the first 48 hours of steroids and magnesium my daily routine here has changed. I get antibiotics 3-4 times a day to help keep the twins from getting an infection, they hook me up to fetal monitors 3 times a day, usually after meals, to get a solid hour of monitoring each time. Sometimes, correction: MOST TIMES the twins are super active so that hour long session usually turns into an hour and a half or longer. The nurses tell me that it will be easier to monitor them as they get older because they will have less room to move around. I was originally on a diabetic diet when I got here because the steroids threw my blood sugars off but it's sounding like my body is finally leveling out. This may be the last day the they need to check my blood sugar every 2 hours. They stopped giving me insulin yesterday and it is really nice to get 5 fewer shots each day ;) The doctor and I decided I should stay on the diabetic diet for the long haul while I am here because all my vitals look great and why mess with something that isn't broken. My IV gets flushed 4 times a day just in case they need to use it but thankfully they disconnected my IV bags days ago so that I have a little more freedom to move around.
I have lots of projects I am working on to keep me busy. I have this blog, I am crocheting a blanket, puzzles, watercolors, pens & pencils, lots of books, my laptop which is connected to Netflix, xfinity, AmazonVideo, etc.
My overall mood is much better today. Yesterday was tough. Reality really set in yesterday and I got really down thinking about all the things that I can no longer help out with at home. It's easy to start feeling guilty for all the extra work that is now on Greg's shoulders but we knew this day was coming. In fact, it made me push hard to get a lot of tasks done at home long before we really needed to get them done. I filled the freezer with meals for when the kiddos are born, moved our bedroom to the main level so that both kid rooms can be upstairs, set-up and decorated the twins' room with Mom's help, redecorated Juniper's room for her birthday, got seedlings started for the greenhouse, stripped the UV film from the living room windows to let more light in during the day, planted a dozen new plants in the front yard to fill out the garden, pickled 7 lbs of asparagus (one of Juniper's favorite foods) & collected clothes for the twins, washed them and put them in their dresser. Seemed overkill at the time but all those little things have put us in a much better place and it is less that Greg needs to have on his list of things to do.
Now it's all about making it one more day. The next major milestone will be at 30 weeks and then again at 32 weeks. The goal is to keep these boys cooking until I'm 35-37 weeks and I will do absolutely everything I can to make that happen.
Never a dull moment in this life and I wouldn't have it any other way :)
With Love,
Whitney