Update at almost 28 weeks!!!

We are so close to our first goal of 28 weeks!!! I can't believe it's been over 4 weeks since I was admitted, wow! I can thankfully say that looking back it has not felt like 4 weeks, so hopefully the next 4-8 weeks will fly by just as fast!! We had our sonogram yesterday first thing in the morning. Matt was able to be here to go with me before going to work, which was great!! It was a really fun sonogram to see how much the girls have changed. Miss Cooper has flipped back head-down again. She is definitely content and confident to have secured her position to be the first one out! I just need her to keep her head-down when it's time to deliver!! We were still able to see her and get a sweet profile shot (just barely), but the way she is turned we couldn't see her face too much. She is measuring at approximately 2 lbs 5 oz as of yesterday! Conley has her head up high in between my ribs, so she is still breach for now. We even got to see her open her mouth wide as if she yawned....so cool!! Her feet are way over on my right side, so that is a lot of fun when she gets to moving. I call her the cheerleader since I constantly feel her kicking. Matt said, "that's not fair to play favorites already and call Conley the cheerleader and Cooper the band nerd!" OK, first of all, I never called Cooper a band nerd, and second, there is nothing wrong with EITHER of them wanting to be in band someday....he still likes to give me a hard time! No matter what he says, I think he loved the way that I looked in my concert suit and bow tie :-) ... and probably even my hat and feather when marching ... I think that's how I won him over ;-)! Anyways, Miss Conley is measuring at approximately 2 lbs 12 oz! I asked him if their sizes were good, and he called them Big and Bigger, we are happy with that! Hopefully at our next appointment (on Wed in two more weeks) they will be close to, or over, 3 lbs!!!

Thank you God for this time for Cooper and Conley to grow bigger and stronger!! We are so thankful that you have given them the last 4 weeks to grow so much and make it safely to 28 weeks! We know that your protective hand is over them always.

Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything. Ephesians 5:19-20

My GREAT buy!!!

So, my sister, mom and grandparents have been decorating and organizing the nursery for me this weekend. I had a shower at the hospital (which, by the way, was SO cute and sweet!! I'll post pictures later), and so they all took the goodies back to our house to put things away and do some finishing touches to the nursery. I hope to send my camera home for someone to take pictures for me to post. It was actually pretty cool, because we learned to iChat on our Mac laptops, so I was able to see some of the things they were doing on the video chat! We ended up deciding on some different placements on the wall for some things than we originally had thought, so we now need something else to hang above the changing table/dresser. My sister had suggested a mirror. I remembered this cool mirror that my roommates and I had in our town home that we rented my senior year. The mirror was from Ikea. Well, I checked it out, and Ikea still carries the same mirror but not in the pink and orange color that I want for the nursery. So, I started searching online. I only found ONE posting on EBay for this mirror in the color that I wanted. The bid was at $0.99. I didn't want to get into a bidding war, so I emailed the seller to see if she would do a "Buy It Now" for me and I'd buy it for $20. She emailed me back that she can't change it once another person has bid on it, which meant I would just have to bid on it myself. I waited until less than two minutes to place my maximum bid. Of course I put a bid as high as I was willing to pay, but hoped to get it for less. Well....I won the bid for a whopping $1.04!!! I can't believe it! I was so excited to get such a good deal! Here is the picture:

27 Weeks!!!

We are so excited to be 27 weeks! One more week until our first goal is reached - can't wait!!! Thank you God for these three weeks for Conley and Cooper to grow big and strong!!! Let's see, what is new this week? Well, on Tuesday we (myself, Campbell, my mom and dad) went to "craft time" and made no-sew blankets. It was a great idea that the hospital has come up with for the antepartem moms that are here on bed rest to do, and they provided the supplies! I wanted Campbell to "help". It worked out great, because she was super entertained just playing with the scrap pieces of fleece. I put my dad to work since I had two blankets to make in the hour that we were there, and then when my mom arrived, I took advantage of her helping hands as well. I let Campbell pick out the fabric choices. Notice she didn't pick out anything pink! One blanket is yellow with brown and blue animals and words and a blue-colored solid back to it. Can you tell that I've learned to let a lot of things go??? :-) Here we are making blankets for Cooper and Conley!

On Wednesday, Matt took the day off so that he could go to two appointments with me. First, we went to my weekly sonogram. We got to see both of our precious girls. The little stinkers are both feet-down now. I know everyone keeps telling me there is time for them to flip still, but I can already tell that they are running out of room. I'm not sure the likelihood of them BOTH flipping head-down at this point, but either way it will be just fine. I had hoped to avoid a c-section just because of the recovery after being on bed rest for so long....I'd like to be back on my feet and feeling good ASAP!!! I also really enjoyed our delivery with Campbell and was hopeful to have the same with the girls. I am, of course, most thankful that they are doing well and growing and for them to just stay where they are as long as possible. If that means that they stay feet down, so be it. Although, I don't know what's worse....them kicking you in the ribs if they were actually head down, or them kicking me elsewhere so much so that I'm afraid they are about to karate-chop their way out!! My goodness! I've always said that it doesn't feel much different than carrying one baby, but as they are bigger there really are feet and hands going EVERYWHERE!!! Anyways, the babies looked good and my cervix is still the same. Bed rest is working for me, because Dr. Graham said I would have delivered already if I had still been on my feet for sure. We will find out this next Wednesday how much they have grown over the last two weeks. Here is a shot of both of their heads right next to each other. We have not gotten a picture with both of them in it since our first trimester, so I was excited that he printed this one for us. You can't see their faces, but it's still sweet to see how close they are! Although, it doesn't look like it in this picture, they are actually in two separate sacs with a dividing membrane between them.

Our second appointment was a tour of the NICU. When we were first admitted, I wasn't interested right away to go tour it. I think it was just a little too much for me, and I was still adjusting the realization that our girls might be preemies, or even micro-preemies. We did decide this past week that it was a good idea for us to visit the NICU to learn more about it, see where it was, what it looks like, what it would be like to visit our babies there, how it is setup, what visitation rules there are for us as well as our family....things like that. I'm so glad that we went! It's still a place that I hope Cooper and Conley won't have to be in, but I'm certain that they will be well taken care of there. I think it helped prepare both of us in case the NICU is necessary.

We trust in God's plan for us and our girls, and there is so much comfort in that. Although, our personal hope is that Cooper and Conley can go to term and be of healthy birth weight with strong lungs and eating on their own, we know that whatever God's will is for them we will continue to have faith and trust in His plan. Thank you God again for these past three weeks for our girls to grow bigger and stronger!!

For our present troubles are small and won't last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever!

2 Corinthians 4:17

Silly Uncle Bubba!

Shout out to Uncle Bubba!! My brother-in-law is notorious for coming up with some funny, sometimes off-the-wall poems and jokes that we've all come to love. They keep us laughing, that is for sure!! When we were in the hospital delivering Campbell, Christy and Kyle weren't able to be there, so they sent flowers to our room. The card said:

Sorry we weren't there when you were induced.

We're just glad you were able to reproduce.

Also since being in the hospital, my sister has sent me two more poems on Facebook that he came up with. I thought I'd share them with everyone for a little humor today :-)

Having a c-section can be the worst;

therefore someone should tell Cooper to go out head first.

When Cooper and Conley arrive, they will get much lovin',

But for the next 2 months we prefer that they stay in the oven!

We love you Uncle Bubba!! Thanks for keeping us laughing!

Happy Anniversary!

Happy anniversary honey!! It's been 6 great years...ALREADY! Matt is an amazing husband and father, and I thank God so much for the man that he is. I feel so blessed that we found each other so early in life, because we have SO many wonderful stories and memories already. I know that marriage is not always easy, and I know people say all the time that they love each other more now than they did when they first met, which sometimes seems hard to believe...but I really do feel that way. I truly appreciate the man that Matt is and I feel so blessed that he is my husband. I don't know that early on in our marriage that I realized how much I would come to love him more and appreciate him more. I look forward to many more years of God's journey for us. I love you Matt. Happy anniversary.

I apologize for the large number of pictures that I posted, but I'm lying in a hospital bed with nothing else but time on my hands, so I came up with quite a few while taking a trip down memory lane :-)

Celebrating 6 years at HEB Hospital with our Dr. Peppers

Hope Now

I have recently started following a blog that has been referred to me by many friends....Pray for Coy. Her blog posts are so inspirational to me, and I have really appreciated that she has shared so much about her journey with both of her pregnancies. I have also found that I LOVE this song that begins to play when you visit her blog, Hope Now by Addison Road. It is my favorite song right now! Even when she hasn't posted anything new, I will still go to her blog just to listen to her playlist. Well, I figured out how to add a playlist of my own finally....see at the bottom of the page. Along with Hope Now, I've added some other favorites. I also wanted to share the lyrics to the song, because I think the words are so perfect.

If everything comes down to love

Then just what am I afraid of

When I call out Your name

Something inside awakes in my soul

How quickly I forget I'm Yours

I'm not my own

I've been carried by You

All my life

Everything rides on hope now

Everything rides on faith somehow

When the world has broken me down

Your love sets me free

When my life is like a storm

Rising waters all I want is the shore

You say I'll be ok and

Make it through the rain

You are my shelter from the storm

Everything rides on hope now

Everything rides on faith somehow

When the world has broken me down

Your love sets me free

I am not my own

I've been carried by you all my life

Everything rides on hope now

Everything rides on faith somehow

When the world has broken me down

Your love sets me free

You've become my hearts desire

I will sing Your praises higher

Cause Your love sets me free

Your love sets me free

Your love sets me free

26 Weeks!!!

Well, being half an hour past midnight, we are officially 26 weeks!!! I'll be more relieved at 28 weeks, but I'm so happy to already be at this point! This week, my cervix measured at 1.2. Last time it measured up to 1.5, but the day I was admitted it measured 0.6....so, 1.2 is really about the same. It sill looks like it's funneling a lot, but the funnel never opened when the doctor checked it out and he watched it for a while to see if it would. I think he was concerned because Cooper's butt (sorry, bottom) is REALLY low right on my cervix and her fist was actually down in the funnel. She must have her arms tucked up under her and be curled up somewhat in a ball to have her fist down past her rear-end :-) . Anyways, that was my main disappointment, Cooper is now breech. She's been head-down this entire time, and she flipped this past week. She will be the first one delivered, so she HAS to be head-down if I even have a chance of avoiding a c-section. I'm hopeful that she will turn again. There's still time and she's still small enough that it could happen. Overall, my sonogram went well...the girls still look good and my cervix is pretty much the same. Cooper weighs approximately 1 lb 15 oz and Conley weighs approximately 2 lbs as of Wednesday. They will measure their size again on Aug 5th.

As many of you Facebook followers already know, I found someone to do my nails here on my patio - woo hoo!! I got them done on Wednesday morning. I also got a free 15 minute neck and shoulder massage as a treat from the hospital to the antepartem moms today. I was very pampered this week, it was really nice!

I have another funny Campbell story. She was sitting next to me in my bed eating M&M minis, and I asked her if she thinks Cooper and Conley like M&Ms. She of course said yes, and then put one on my belly that she said was for Cooper and another one that she said was for Conley. They were right next to each other like two eyes in a smiley face, so she then put another one on there and said it was the nose. She then continued to eat her M&Ms and left Cooper and Conley's on my belly. Matt took them off and ate them a few seconds later. Campbell yelled at him, "Daddy! Don't eat Cooper and Conley's eyes!!!" It was really funny, and it's cute that she's already sticking up for them :-) .

She also often says that babies are coming out of her bellybutton. Today she said that the babies are coming out of my bellybutton. I told her that they are not ready to come out yet, because they need to grow bigger and bigger before they can come out.

Thank you God for this day for Conley and Cooper to grow bigger and stronger!!

My God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Jesus Christ. Philippians 4:19