24 Weeks and FIVE days down!!!

Today I've been in the hospital for one whole week....and I survived!!! Ha ha!! It's flown by with all the visitors that I've had. I had a sonogram today. I got to see the girls as their usual active selves. Unfortunately, Conley is now turned where we can't get a shot of her face, so they only printed a picture of Cooper this time. They are both in the same positions, although I'm not sure how since I'm convinced that they do somersaults all day!! They will only measure their changes in size every two weeks, so I have one more week to find out how much they have grown...I look forward to those updates!!! My cervix is the same, which is good news for now. The bed rest is definitely keeping it from thinning anymore for the time being. Cooper's head is really low though, so I worry when they get bigger that she'll be putting more pressure on my cervix. We'll see how that goes. For now everything looks fine. I think we'll make it to 25 weeks....one week at a time, right?!!

Campbell seems to be doing great, and adjusting well, which really helps me to see. I have enjoyed our visits more and more as we've figured out some things to do with her that keep her entertained here. She likes movies, so those are fun for me since she'll just lay with me in the bed to watch. Now that I'm in a room with a patio...yes, I have my own patio and it's adorable...we can leave the door open so she can play outside even if I'm inside still. Also, my grandfather brought me one of his "zero-gravity" chairs that lays back, so I can actually lay back while sitting outside for a while. It's going to be GREAT!!! Campbell is so funny too, because when she leaves sometimes, she says, "OK Mommy, you go night night one more time." It's definitely the hardest part of being here knowing that she is too young to really understand why I can't take care of her right now and why I'm not at home with her right now. She still puts on her normal happy (and CHATTY) personality.

Oh yeah, potty training update....Campbell is doing really great!! You have to get used to her panicked announcement that she needs to go potty. She says over and over again in a very worried voice, "I going potty, I going potty, I going potty!!" It's funny that she says it that way, because she hasn't actually gone yet. It just means that she needs to go...NOW. She's even slowly doing better with #2 on the potty :-) !! Selfishly, I'm happy to think that I don't have to deal with the potty training much anymore, but I will get to enjoy that hard work that Matt and my mom are putting in since she'll be fully trained by the time I'm home with her....there are pros to this situation as well....ha ha!! Hey, I have to try to find some positives, right?

Tonight I got a very special treat...a pedicure!! I had asked my mother-in-law, Tina, to help me trim my toenails and paint them...I knew that she would agree that this was very important :-) . I shouldn't be surprised at all, and for those of you that know her, you won't either. Not only did she come up here prepared to trim my toenails and paint them, she brought an inflatable "tub" that she filled with hot soapy water for me to soak my feet in. Then, she rubbed them with an exfoliating scrub, clipped my nails and painted them pink with glitter!! As Campbell says, pink with sparkles. It was awesome!! Of course, I have pictures to document...stay tuned for another slide show!!

Also today, my mom brought up a poster board that she attached a bunch of printed pictures to hang in my room. It's great for me to be able to look at, and the nurses enjoy getting to see pictures of Campbell. My mom has thought of everything. She has supplied me with a bag of stuff for Campbell to do inside and outside on the patio....bubbles, puzzles, rubber duckies that she can put in the fountain on my patio, books and colors. She has even stocked the bag with a change of clothes for Campbell for when she is here in case we need backup. Thanks mom!!

My grandmother and aunt even brought me a cute little purse supplied with nail polish, glitter polish, little toenail stickers, cotton swabs and nail polish remover to do Campbell's toenails for her. She loves to have her toenails painted. We haven't had a successful polish change yet, but I hope to try again soon!!!

Matt and Campbell stopped by one more time tonight to bring me some dinner from my parents' house - steak and baked potato, yum!!! Matt was so thoughtful to pray over my belly with me for the girls while Campbell was occupied with a movie. That was perfect.

Here's some cool news...the nurses today told me that they want to start a program for the antepartem (not sure if I spelled that correctly) moms that are here on bed rest. On Monday night next week, we'll have our first "activity". They want to get us together to meet each other and try to have a fun activity planned like a movie or something. Well, for the first activity, they would like for ME to "instruct" the other mom's on my countdown chain. It sounds like I'm going to be the crafts teacher that night - isn't that hilarious!!!??? The nurses really like the chain! I'm really excited to meet other "bed rest buddies", but don't they know that Monday nights are The Bachelorette nights???

I did meet a girl on Friday that has been here since 27 weeks. When I met her last week she was 33 weeks. Once I moved to my new room, I became her neighbor and we share a patio. I had looked forward to talking to her more and getting to know her better. Well, she got to go home today!! Sad for me, but SO exciting for her!! She is almost 34 weeks with twin girls also. She will finish her bed rest, hopefully for 2 more weeks, at home. I was so excited for her. She's been her for almost 7 weeks - wow!! Her husband was so funny when they stopped in before they left. He told me, "you can do it no problem, it's just like a hockey season!" I got a kick out of that!

I'm sure I'll have more to update soon, so I'll try to post again in a day or two. Check out the slide show of pictures soon!! God, thank you for this week and this day for Cooper and Conley to grow stronger!