Hangin' at Arrowhead Hospital!

Well, not to brag or something, but our little family is just full of rock stars. :)

Our ultrasound Thursday indicated preterm labor (due to cervix issues with me...still no change with the babies) so we've been hanging out at Arrowhead hospital for the last 2 days. 75 grams of Magnesium Sulfate, round the clock Penicillin, 2-3 bags of LR, and two more of those despicable steroid shots later and we're hopefully going to be ok to go home in about an hour! Not gonna lie though, I'm so tired and pretty dang smelly...eew. Kai has once again stepped up as a top candidate for husband of the year award  (what a stud!) and has been incredibly helpful. The babies are just kickin it and are doing a great job of behaving till we get to our goal of 28 weeks (next Wed.). And me? Well, I'm not quite at rock star status yet like the boys in my family, but I did experience 24 hours of contractions and haven't even cried yet. So this whole preterm labor situation just adds another goofy hurdle to getting to meet our boys. Complete bed rest from here on out should be a snap...lame, but a snap. That's what we're up to! Have a great/safe weekend everyone :)

A Glimmer of Hope :)

We're going for ultrasounds every 3 days and today we got some possible good news!

We aren't out of the woods yet. Although Ashton still has the same problems with absent end diastolic flow and selective intrauterine growth restriction (only 3rd percentile), he's got incredible lung function. Seriously. I wish you could have seen the Perinatologist's face when he saw it. Priceless. Breathing is a non-essential thing while in the womb, but babies will occasionally practice to get ready. Ashton breathes ALL THE TIME! If he were in distress and not receiving enough oxygen, he wouldn't be breathing or moving as often, so that he could focus on getting blood to his brain and heart. Our doctor was so surprised that his whole overall outlook seemed to change. Last week's ominous tone was gone and he actually sounded very optimistic that mister Ashton can survive. 

While an early delivery and lots of challenges are still ahead of us, I can't tell you how grateful we are for the reassurance that both kiddos are working so hard to be a part of our family. Thanks again to all of you for prayers/fasting/support :). 

26 Weeks along... hope we can keep this up for just a couple more!

PS I know the mirror is so messy... and that's actually why I'm making that awkward face in this picture. I just noticed all of my handsome husband's toothpaste/water marks... and I hate cleaning bathrooms. bummer.

The toughest 48 hours so far.

Life isn't supposed to be easy. Since so many have sweetly offered their love and concern, I've decided to share with you the hardest challenge Kai or I have had to face up to this point in our lives...

I went in Thursday for a routine ultrasound and my world was flipped upside down as my typically goofy/joking doctor walked into the room with sad tone/concern. He began to explain that we may have found the answer as to why Ashton is growing slightly slower than Blake. They dopplered the umbilical cord flow from the placenta to each baby. Ashton isn't receiving enough blood flow due to a condition called Absent End Diastolic Flow (AEDF), which basically means his life is dependent on his own ability to pump the blood back to himself. Typically there should be a steady flow of blood, whether the baby's heart is helping with the pumping or not. They set us up for an immediate consultation with the Perinatologist, who was fantastic and spent 3 hours answering questions and explaining our options. Unfortunately, we didn't receive very many reassuring solutions.

I'm 25 weeks along right now. We've been presented with countless statistics/probabilities for survival for both kiddos within the next few weeks and the numbers are all pretty low. When the blood starts to back flow to Ashton, we will only have 24-48 hours to deliver him--and we'd also have to deliver Blake. If we decide to deliver both too soon, we could lose one or both babies. The other option is to let Ashton do the best he can, but only deliver as long as we're far along to give Blake the best chance he can have at survival, which means we would lose Ashton.  To sum everything up, Kai and I are possibly facing a difficult choice we never expected to have to make. We're terrified and we're heartbroken.

The Lessons: 

In such a short amount of time, I've realized how much I need the Gospel in my life.

I'm so grateful that I've been raised in a way that I could develop a testimony before this trial, so that I can lean and depend on those things that I know to be true to help me through it now.

I'm grateful for Priesthood blessings and the wonderful men in my life that are so willing/worthy to give those blessings. Kai and I are clinging to the words and comfort from these blessings to guide us through each step of this process.

I'm grateful for modern day revelation/scriptures. I've had countless talks, quotes and scriptures help me out in the last few days. I've especially come to study and understand the Plan of Salvation in a way that I never have before. It's hard to think of things with that perspective, but what an incredible gift it is to know that our time here on earth is short and there are so many more incredible things to come.

I can't even begin to explain in words how much I love my husband. He's an absolute rock, my best friend. I feel like he and I have been on the same page through every step of this. I'm grateful for his faithfulness and trust in our Heavenly Father to take care of our little family. He's been so supportive of me though all my random emotional break downs and he's the only person I could picture walking me through this trial. He's incredible. I'm so glad we were sealed in the temple and that we have that reassurance that our family WILL be together forever.

I'm so grateful for the overwhelming support we've found in our family and friends. Seriously, you are all amazing. Every message and text has had a lesson, advice, or just plain made me smile. I wish I could hug each of you and let you know how important you are in my life. Thank you so much for being such strong examples. We just couldn't do this without you.

 

 Above are a couple blurry ultrasound pictures... on the left are both of the boys' faces and on the right is Ashton's 3D picture. (Notice he's smiling... I think this means he has a couple tricks up his sleeve. He's just practicing early with being a mischievous little boy.)

Pregnant!

I thought we should catch you up on what has been going on over the past few months! Kai and I are pregnant with TWIN BOYS! We've decided to name them Ashton Brendan (baby A) and Blake Patrick (baby b). The official due date is April 17th...my mom's birthday! Pregnancy has been incredibly easy so far. A tiny bit of morning sickness at first and a minor episode of hydronephrosis, but aside from that, this really has been a breeze. These boys definitely like to kick a lot. We couldn't be more excited to meet them.
Here's a pic of the baby bump at 24 weeks and both babies' feet...Merry Christmas!

GOLF!

My amazing husband bought me some sweet golf shoes for my birthday and my dad-in-law also added to my golf collection with a hat, glove and towel. I finally got to put them to good use! I finished my first full round of 18 holes of golf and I didn't do too bad for a beginner! (especially considering it was 115 degrees outside...NOT exaggerating) It's the most fun/frustrating sport I've ever played- so addicting! I feel like after 10 more years of practice I might finally get the hang of it. In the mean time, I'll enjoy the exercise, company and tan!

Highlights from our Utah trip

It was a very busy and eventful "vacation" to Utah this weekend. We managed to find a few extra minutes to spend at the SLC temple, which is always amazing. The first few days we spent with Lindsay prepping for her wedding in Bountiful, UT. The wedding was fantastic! Lindsay, of course, looked beautiful and was just SO happy :) Love it. Kai was my hero and was so dang helpful with ironing, setting up chairs/tables, helping with Dillon's tie and keeping us entertained through all the stressful stuff- he even slept on the floor! What a guy, I'm telling ya! The next day we got to spend some time with the Weavers in Eagle Mountain UT. We took the kids to do glow in the dark mini golf! With all our driving around, we came across the most aMaZiNg thing in the whole world....FAZOLIS!!!! We thought it had gone out of business, so that was an amazing surprise. I think it's literally been 5-6 years since I've enjoyed their delightful italian food. We loaded up on breadsticks and pasta like nobody's business and were so stuffed/tired that we found Hunger Games playing at a nearby dollar theater, so that's where we spent the next couple of hours...partially napping and at times watching the movie. After some much needed sleep, we finished our adventure with the 11 hr road trip back to AZ. It was a really quick trip but was so great to see family/friends!!

Kelly Clarkson/The Fray Concert!!!!

Dad surprised us the other night with tickets to the Kelly Clarkson/The Fray concert! It's a late birthday/graduation present to us. We had so much fun! It was my first real concert (cuz I don't really count the Olathe Sweet Corn Festival as a real concert considering there's only one stop light in the whole town). I was actually really impressed though. Both groups sounded great in real life. It's been a couple days now and I still have the songs stuck in my head, which is fine by me!