Perinatologist Appointment – 30 weeks

Posted on September 1, 2010 by Laurie Blundell

We had our 30 week high risk sonogram to get the boys’ weights and make sure everything is good with them and their growth. They checked my cervix and it was the same as it was when I had it checked last so that’s great news. The boys were a little sleepy this morning so they didn’t really cooperate much and were both hiding their faces. But eventually Baby A (Hayden) turned over and we were able to get a profile shot. He did move a little bit so his nose and forehead are a little elongated.

Baby A profile

He actually cooperated enough at one point that the technician decided to grab the other transducer out and got a 4D picture for us! You can see part of Baby B (Ian) to the left of Baby A’s head. It will be interesting to see how much this picture actually looks like him when he’s born.

Baby A 4D

Of course Baby B (Ian) wouldn’t cooperate as well so we couldn’t get a good 4D picture of him. We kind of got a shot of his face but nothing remotely close to what we got on A.

Baby B face

Now on to the other stuff. The boys looked great, they are both growing like crazy. Baby A is estimated at 3 pounds and 4 ounces and Baby B is 2 lbs 12 ounces. Their amniotic fluid levels and heart rates were good. A is still head down and B is transverse again – completely sideways! Baby A has hair, so he takes after me (I had A LOT of hair when I was born) and Baby B has none…poor thing, I guess he takes after his daddy since he didn’t have much hair when he was born (so I’ve been told).

Now I will be getting biophysical profiles (I talked about what these were in an earlier post) every two weeks starting at 32 weeks and then sonograms every week. My life is going to be full of doctors appointments starting in a few weeks. I sure hope Jonathan has a lot of sick time at work to use since I’m not driving and need him to take me. It’s getting so much closer to the arrival of these little boys and I CAN’T WAIT!! Seeing the 4D image of Hayden just makes it even harder to wait.

28 week OB appointment

Posted on August 22, 2010 by Laurie Blundell

I had my 28 week OB appointment on Friday and it went well. I got to drink the horrible tasting, super sweet, pure glucose drink for my gestational diabetes screening and then had my blood drawn an hour later. I don’t anticipate hearing about the results until my appointment next month, unless of course I failed the test. If I failed then I’ll have to drink even more and do a 3 hour glucose tolerance test. I also got to get a shot at this visit. I’m about to get medical on you so bear with me…..But, apparently I am Rh Negative so I got a Rhogam shot…or Rho(D) Immune Globulin which is a solution of IgG anti-D (anti-RhD) antibodies that bind to, and lead to the destruction of, fetal Rh D positive red blood cells that have passed from the fetal circulation to the maternal circulation. Therefore, in an Rh negative mother it can prevent sensitization of the maternal immune system to Rh D antigens, which can cause rhesus disease (Rh incompatibility) in the current or in subsequent pregnancies.

My Dr. did a sonogram and the boys still look good, the heartbeats were good, fluid levels were good and they are measuring like they should. We’ll get the more accurate measurements with weights, etc on Sep 1 when we go see the perinatologist. Baby A (Hayden) is still head down and Baby B (Ian) has turned breech again, the last four sonograms he has been in a different position, I think he likes breech the best since he’s in that one the most. We talked about delivery and have decided to go ahead and do a c-section for sure. We’ll wait to schedule it until I get further along..if I make it, it will be scheduled at 37 weeks. We just both agreed that it would be best for me to have a c-section instead of try a vaginal delivery. She said with twins, usually what happens is when baby A is head down (like ours is) he/she will deliver vaginally just fine but then baby B will usually get into trouble of some sort so they end up with a c-section. That combined with my heart, we decided it would be best. I also had her promise me she would deliver our boys. I don’t want anyone else delivering them!

As far as my cervical length and bed rest goes, nothing has changed. My cervix is about the length it was when I saw her last and I’m still on bed rest. I do have permission to go to the pool but a long as I only float, which is all I do anyway. When I’m in the pool I don’t have one contraction so when I told her that, she said “sure you can go…just no swimming laps or anything” I can also go out to eat every once in a while, but other than that I’m supposed to stay on the couch/bed with “minimal” activity. No cleaning, working, etc.

Since I see the perinatologist once a month as well, that appointment and my monthly OB appointment end up being every 2 weeks. So my Ob said as long as someone is seeing me every two weeks then I don’t need to see her every 2 weeks yet. At about 32 weeks (my next appointment with her) she said she will probably start seeing me weekly.

So there you have it, we’ll have another appointment update in a few weeks from our perinatologist appointment but until then, here is another belly shot for you. I realized after I took the picture that I was wearing the same outfit as the last picture I posted. What can I say, I don’t have many clothes that fit anymore and I’m not exactly allowed to go shopping!

28 weeks with twins

There’s not much difference in the size of my belly in the pictures but I can definitely tell a difference!

Baby Shower #1

Posted on August 17, 2010 by Laurie Blundell

We had a baby shower this past weekend for me and the boys and I can honestly say I have never felt so loved! The gifts and “blessings” we received from everyone was amazing and will help us tremendously with the boys. There is so much a baby needs and we have that times TWO…two cribs, two car seats, a double stroller, two bouncy seats, two adorable little butts to diaper, two mouths to feed, etc. It can get a little expensive so every little bit helps!!

I want to thank Jen, Kara, Evie, my aunt Linda and aunt Gwen for giving us the baby shower, I can’t begin to express my gratitude to you guys and how much Jonathan and I both appreciate your hard work – Love you guys!

Here’s a picture of me with the wonderful hosts:

All the tasty food they prepared:

And even a diaper cake made by Evie, which included something like 190 diapers – that’ll last us about what 10 days?!

Jen also put together this “blessings tree” where people could write down some advice or a prayer for us. I’ve enjoyed looking over some of them and will finish looking at the rest soon. Thanks Jen, it was a great idea.

We have another shower coming up in a few weeks and then I think we should be all set! Then we just have to wait for the boys appearance. Hopefully not too soon though. If all goes as planned and I make it to 37 weeks we have roughly 9 weeks left!! Crazy isn’t it.

Now, I’m off to write some thank you notes.

Belly Picture

Posted on August 6, 2010 by Laurie Blundell

Since so many people have asked to see a belly picture I’ll post one….I wouldn’t show this to just anyone, so it’s just for you guys. Drum roll please………..

26 weeks with twins

Can you believe there are 2 almost 2 pound babies in that belly?

Now for my favorite belly picture………

Laurie 26 weeks, Jonathan....I think he's over due

This is our version of the new game we like to play called “which one is pregnant?” We play this game sometimes when we are out, especially at Babies R Us. Its an easy game to play, you just look at a couple and try to decide which one is pregnant or just had the baby. Believe it or not, there are a lot of guys out there that look like they are about 8 months pregnant.

Nursery

Posted on July 31, 2010 by Laurie Blundell

I think we have finally finished the nursery, well almost. We still need another crib bedding set that matches the other one and there are two blocks that I got that need to be painted. Other than that it’s pretty much done. Jonathan finished putting up the names above he cribs today and it looks finished now. Here are some pictures of the room:

Nursery - notice the 2 blocks I need to paint.

A changing pad will go on top of the chest below the tree

Hayden's crib and the glider

Ian's crib and their dresser I refinished

New House

Posted on May 30, 2010 by Laurie Blundell

We finally moved and are about 90% settled in. The only rooms we really have left to do are the guest room and babies room. We are waiting to find out for sure what the sex of the babies are before we do anything with their room so its all kind of just thrown in there right now. The guest room is set up but its kind of the catch all room, anything that doesn’t have a spot in the house ends up there until I figure out what to do with it.

I ended up at Kirklands about a week ago and they were having a big sale so of course I got some stuff to “update” the decor. There are a couple of rooms we will be painting eventually, the dining room, kitchen, our room and nursery….but I think the only two we’ll be painting anytime soon will be the nursery and our room. And by soon, I mean within the next year…as much as I would love to get it all done and painted, I can’t stand the thought of painting right now.

Well, here are a few pictures that Jonathan took of the house, before all the decor was up, buy you can get an idea of what it looks like. To get a better look you’ll just have to come on by!!

Here is the front of the house, we’re still waiting on the grass that they laid to green up.
I love the big front porch, we need to get some chairs and a little table or something to put out there so we can sit out on the porch.

This is the dining room with the lovely light fixture that I can’t wait to replace!

The living room

The kitchen and dining area looking onto the living room

Our bedroom, other than this one section of the room, I have no clue what to do with it. If you come by you have to give me ideas of what to do.

I just got the new comforter set yesterday for our bedroom. If you know of anyone that wants/needs a king size comforter set let me know. We have our old one that is just sitting in a closet now. Its about 3 years old and does have some snags in the comforter from our dogs nails but overall it’s still in good shape. It looks like this….

So there you have it, those are the main areas of the house. There are three other bedrooms (being used as a guest room, babies room and office) to round out the house. I love being this close to our families and have enjoyed it so much, it was well worth the move.

Photography

Posted on January 5, 2010 by Laurie Blundell

Over the last several years I have grown to love photography. I love how it captures life and it can take something that happens in a split second and freeze it in time. There are moments in life you want to remember forever and through photography you can.

These are some of my favorite pictures I have taken over the last few years.

During the last 6 months or so I haven’t take many photos, I’ve been in a photography rut! My excuse is, “I just don’t have anything to take pictures of.” In 2010 I want to get back into it and start taking more pictures. A few weeks ago we went out to Jonathan’s uncle and aunts house for Christmas and I took this photo. This photo reminds me how much I love photography and why. I love the time of day when the sun sets. The colors in the sky are usually amazing and it always seems peaceful at that time of the day.

The holidays…

Posted on January 4, 2009 by Laurie Blundell

ARE OVER!! Not that I’m happy about that but life can finally calm down now and get back to normal. What did we do for the holidays you ask…well, here is a look at what all we did the last few weeks/months. Over the last month I have taken several family photos. There were the Treadaways, our pastor and his family…

…And then Jalyn, our friends Josh and Shalyn’s baby…

…then there were the Nash’s. Gracelyn, who is 2, didn’t really want any part of taking photos so it made for a difficult day, along with my camera that was acting up…that’s a whole other story…

We went with a group of our friends from church to see Bethlehem Revisited in Waxahachie…

Our holiday festivities with family started on Dec 21 when we held our annual Turner-Medlin Family Christmas/Jake’s Birthday party. We all went to the Medlin’s and had some yummy chili and all the “kids” (we’re too old to be called kids) did a white elephant gift exchange and then Jake opened up his birthday presents. Jake turned 8 this year and I can’t believe he’s getting so old. I remember the day he was born…anyway, we had fun time together and couldn’t wait to do it all over again on New Years Day, when we celebrate my dad and Bob’s birthday…more on that later in the post.

On the 23rd we had all of Jonathan’s family over to our house for dinner and games. We all had a great time and always look forward to seeing everyone. (to see any of these collages bigger, simply click on it and viola)

Christmas Eve we went to our parents church for a candlelight service and then back to my parents house for dinner. After dinner we headed over to my aunts house to spend some time with her and my cousins and their kids. Had a good time seeing all of them and about 10:00pm my cousin’s son, Bryce, announced that “there was good news and bad news…the good news is that santa is in Texas, the bad news is that santa is in Texas and I’m not in bed!” So with that we all headed home.

Christmas morning Jonathan and I opened gifts at our house, well some of them…I made Jonathan go on a scavenger hunt for his gift. He started out at our house and then headed to the park which sent him to our pastors house where they slipped the present in their mailbox for me. I think he enjoyed it but maybe not as much as his present which was two tickets to the Trans-Siberian Orchestra concert.

After that we went to my padres house for Christmas with my familia and ate a great lunch and opened gifts. And as always, we let the kids go first which only takes about 10 minutes total because they rip through them all at warp speed. After lunch and presents we decided to play a game of family feud…that was a lot of fun, except my dad kept forgetting the rules! My niece got a doll house and my nephew got a new Wii so they were both preoccupied with those the majority of the afternoon and that was a gift to all of us!!! That’s the only way we were able to play family feud.
Later that afternoon we headed over to Jonathan’s parents and hung out there a while. Tim and Kara got rock band for the wii so we played that for a while and then Jonathan’s dad made a great ham for dinner so we ate and opened some gifts. Over all, we had a wonderful Christmas and are blessed by our family and friends that spent it with us!

Then for about a week our lives were back to semi normalcy…I went back to work but Jonathan had the week off. New Years Eve we spent over at Richard and Amber’s house playing games and eating some yummy mexican food. Then for the countdown to bring in the new year we lit some sparklers–that’s always fun!

And finally, Welcome 2009! We have entered into yet another new year. We slept in new years day because lets face it, we were up late partying the night before!! You know us, we’re such the partiers-HA! Then later that afternoon my family and the Medlins came over to our house and we grilled some fajitas and celebrated our dad’s birthdays! Honestly I can’t remember how old they both are–somewhere in the early 60’s! yikes, sorry guys, I love you, but that’s old!

We always have fun getting together but don’t do it as often as I would like. The Medlin’s have always been a second family to us, Bob and Vicki were like our “other parents” and Ty and Tami were like siblings growing up. It’s so much fun now that we are all grown up and adults…We’ve all grown up together and shared special occasions together as we each get married, have kids and watch each of us, or them, become parents for the first time…it’s been fun!! A great way to start a new year. I’ve been told that how you spend your New Year’s Day sets the stage for that year…we’re off to a great start!

Because we had so much fun on New Year’s Day, you get two collages.

Tonight Jonathan and I went to the Trans-Siberian Orchestra concert for his Christmas gift and had a blast. This is my 5 year to go to the concert and I have loved every year. It’s a Christmas tradition that I had and then when Jonathan and I started dating we decided to make it our tradition. We are going on a cruise in February so we decided that we just wouldn’t be able to spring for tickets to TSO this year and the cruise. We were both bummed about not getting to go, Jonathan was pretty bummed so I decided to surprise him with tickets for Christmas. He tried many times to get me to agree to get tickets and it was hard to tell him “No, I just don’t think we can this year” when I had already bought 2 tickets. Anyway, we went to the concert and love it! The camera police are usually out making sure you don’t take any pictures of the concert but I was able to sneak some with my camera phone–gotta love them! So here are some illegal pictures from the TSO concert:

After the concert we met Jen and Jed for dinner at Patrizio’s in Highland Park Village….let me tell you, they have some amazing italian food! I’ve been there before and have always wanted to take Jonathan so I figured why not now! We had a good time with Jen and Jed and then decided to get some Italian Gelato at Paciugo’s to go with our Italian food.

And that concludes our holiday festivities! I hope everyone had a good time with their family and friends over the holidays and here’s to a wonderful new year!

Starving artist!!!

Posted on October 13, 2008 by Laurie Blundell

Okay not really, but I thought that would get your attention. I have opened a gallery on imagekind where people can purchase photos I’ve taken. Not that I’m expecting people to but I thought, why not make money if I can…and maybe help us pay off some of our debt, or a new camera lens-HAHA. So if you feel obliged visit my gallery at http://lblundell.imagekind.com or just click the link to the sidebar to the right…is says “imagekind, buy my art”. Take a look around and let me know what you think.

Fall pictures

Posted on September 29, 2008 by Laurie Blundell

I went with my brother, Brad, yesterday to the park with Jake and Brooklyn to get some pictures. He and my sister-in-law just wanted some updated shots of the kids to hang up so we attempted it. I have to be honest, they aren’t the easiest kids to photograph…they are just so busy and always moving and going everywhere except where you want them to. Out of about 200 shots we got some good ones though. Hopefully they will find some they can blow up and hang on the walls. These are my favorites I think:

If you want to see the rest of the pics of the kids or follow along in my project 365 (where I take a self portrait of some sort every day for a year) you can click on my flickr badge to the right (the green box with pictures in it).