Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Trip to Tejas


Ruby




Julia



Gabe, not so happy, but we are all in the picture!









We lost our minds!


Okay, So I stole this pic from the Sandberg's blog, but I had to post it! We spent the night with the Sandbergs, yes, our good friends with TWINS and a 2 yr old also. We had so much fun and it was really wonderful to see another family dealing with the same issues we are. Our kids have brought us together in a way that nothing but a life altering blessing can. We are so fortunate to know them and call them friends!

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Big Family





The girls are changing more every day! Thanks to a whole lot of wonderful people who volunteered to help out with the babies, today is my first day alone!!! I've been so spoiled! Also, Lance's parents were so wonderful to take Gabe home with them for this week so I could "transition" a little bit easier! It's going to be a very interesting week! As glad as I am to only have 2 kids instead of three right now, I miss Gabe terribly already! Funny how that works for parents! Here are some pics of the girls and Gabe, I can't believe they are already 9 weeks old!



Saturday, August 2, 2008

New Pics




Donna, these are for you! The girls got weighed yesterday and Ruby has passed Julia at 8lbs 5oz and Julia is at 8lbs 2oz. They are getting big! They have been doing well at night until last night which was horrible! Hopefully they will get back on schedule tonight, I'm a zombie today!



Friday, July 18, 2008

Growing Girls

The girls had their first pediatritian appointment last friday and Julia has gained up to 5lbs 15 oz and Ruby is up to 5lbs 11 oz! They are doing great and we couldn't ask for better babies! Sorry for not posting any new pictures until now, but here are some on the blog and I've added some to our Picasa link as well.

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

We are ALL home!

The girls got to come home today! They are doing well and staying pretty close to their 4 hour feeding schedule. Many thanks to all our visitors and for the encouraging words from everyone. I've updated more pictures on the link I posted earlier. Gabe finally got to meet his sisters and is so excited, but also really confused. It will take a while for him to adjust but he is really sweet to them.
Congratulations to our good friends, Carl and Emily Sandberg! Their twins were born May 28th and Reed is getting to come home today as well! We are praying for Ryan to go home soon as well!

Sunday, June 29, 2008

Sunday, June 29th

Quick update on the girls: Ruby is down to 4 lb 9 oz and Julia is at 5 lbs. Both weights are fine, as most babies lose some weight after they are born. They are feeding better more and more every day and they are both maintaining their temperature very well. Really the only thing holding them back from going home is that they need to gain just a bit more weight. The neonatologist told us that they probably will be ready to go home in couple of days! That puts them home around Tuesday or Wednesday if they maintain their progress. We are so ready to take them home!!! We are so thankful they have done well. Here are some newer pics of them, enjoy!

Friday, June 27, 2008

More pics of the babies!

For more pics of the girls go to this link:

http://picasaweb.google.com/lanceandmichelle.gardner/RubyJulia
Ruby Anne Gardner arrived first on Thursday, June 26 at 2:36 am weighing 4 lbs. 10 oz. and 17 3/4 inches. Julia Berlin Gardner came next at 2:38 am weighing 5 lbs. 3 oz. and 18 1/2 inches. They look nothing alike but are both beautiful! Both girls are doing great, but are still in the NICU for a little while to monitor some breathing issues. They made it to 35 weeks!

I called in Wednesday having contractions 7 minutes apart and they told me to just watch them and call back if they got worse. They did, and were coming every 3 minutes apart by about 7pm so I called back and of course they told me to come into the hospital to be monitored. Of course we were pros at this by now, this being our 5th trip to the hospital. I was convinced this was a false alarm yet again, but Lance said we needed to go get checked out. By the time we arrived the contractions were a little worse, but not horrible and they checked my cervix- nothing... so the nurses were all laughing as were we, and we thought we were going home. Ha ha.

As soon as the nursing staff was changing shifts, my contractions returned fast and hard. The Dr. returned to check my cervix again, just in case and lo and behold I had gone from nothing to 2.5 in an hour!!! We decided to hold off and see if the contractions would stop and if I would continue to dialate. Within the next hour, my contractions got a lot more difficult for me and I was in PAIN! So the Dr. decided enough was enough and he wasn't going to make me suffer anymore.

Everything after that happened so fast, as this was a planned c-section. I was so nervous I was shaking like crazy! Next thing I knew we were in the operating room, I threw up, and the girls were born. What a scene! But they are both here now, I am now only hurting from my recovery and we are all happier for it! The girls are in the NICU, mostly for observation, and will probably have to stay even after I am discharged. We expected this, but please be in prayer for their continued improvement in health. We are so excited to have them here and so thankful to all our friends and family who have supported and cared for us!

Monday, June 16, 2008

Dr. Appt. 6/16/08

Well, no real progress to update from today's dr. appt. Babies look good, I'm still right where I was last time... NO CHANGE! I've been having contractions everyday, and they aren't doing anything. That is good news for the babies, they stay in longer, but for me it means all this discomfort and pain is in vain! Ah well, we'll see what happens next week. My dr. is out of town all week next week and we all know that is usually people's luck that everything happens when their regular dr. isn't around!

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Report from the Dr. appt.

Today we had a check up at the Dr. and had a wonderful report on the babies! Baby A (we still haven't figured out how we are going to decide who gets what name) is weighing in at 3 1/2 lbs and Baby B weighs over 4 lbs! These are just estimates from the sonogram, but these weights were even rounded down from the calculations, so these girls are growing! This is great news for me since I still have yet to come remotely close to the recommended weight gain suggestions. They apparently are getting what they need! Everything from their fluid levels to heartbeats also looked great and my cervix is still closed so now we just wait it out. Dr. Cole says no wonder I keep having preterm contractions, I've got at least 8 lbs of baby in there already, my uterus is having a hard time not going into labor. However, we have met our first goal of 32 weeks so now we will try and make it to 34. I told my doctor, my luck I'll still be laying here at 38 weeks waiting :) She said "highly unlikely!". Anyway, just thought I'd share the latest news. I go back next Wednesday and will report back then, unless something crazy happens :)

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Bedrest STINKS!

Well, we are officially 30 weeks pregnant today and the girls are jumping like crazy. If you didn't know, we have had two adventures in Labor and Delivery, already. Luckily, with the assistence of modern medicine, we have been able to control these early contractions! However, our OB is telling us her goal is for us to get to 32 weeks and she will be surprised if we go past 34! We have been trying to get used to the fact they will more than likely be preemies so your prayers are requested for them to be as healthy as possible. We go tomorrow for a check up appointment and I'm hoping we will be able to get a peek at them and get an estimate on their size. We'll let you know...

What a nut.

What a nut.

Daddy's girls

Daddy's girls