April 9th = DC, Here We Come!

What a boring Wednesday, so far! In all reality, anything up until I get my final orders to get out of Germany is going to be boring, as far as work goes. Which we are still waiting on, obviously. We got our paperwork back from our Doctor stating that I must be in the DC area before the 9^th of April, so yay! Now the army just needs to hurry up.. Hopefully they take this situation as serious as possible.

I mean, of course if they don’t hurry up, I’ll be leaving regardless with MEDEVAC procedures. I’d just rather not.

It’s kind of scary to know that in a few weeks I could be leaving Brandon to do everything here by himself. I’m really nervous about being somewhere new without him, too. That is something I’m sure can be handled though. I’m sure that my welcoming unit will be supportive of what’s going on. The last thing I need right now is to be stressed, I know. I’m usually pretty good with dealing with stress but moving from one country to another is not going to be easy. It’s possible but I just have to remember to maintain my serenity.

I’m realizing that this is not going to be easy. Well, I knew that already but I realized that all the posts we could possibly be stationed at are 40-50 minutes away from the Hospital we are being directed to. That’s without traffic. Supposedly it gets close to 1 ½ to 2 hours with traffic. So imagine the gas money and the time we’ll be spending. Time, I’m not really worried about but money – well we’re trying to save it right now.

The main thing I am focused on is of course my son and my daughter. I love them so much! I can’t wait to meet them! They are definitely putting up a fight against my stomach. It’s just not going to stop growing, I’ve accepted that. I just hope with them being twins they are okay with room and I hope they aren’t born SUPER early to the point where operation is out of the question or they can’t handle it… anything is possible. Still, I’m keeping my head up and thinking more positive thoughts. I just feel like posting/ writing/ getting it out of my system makes me feel a little better about the whole situation.

I’ve considered getting a green ribbon tattoo with their birth date on it but maybe that’s too cheesy. Hahaha. Who knows… All I know is I can’t wait to get another ultrasound for some type of status update!

And before it slips my mind, like everything else does – thank you to all of our friends and family who are providing extra support for our family! It means a lot to us. It’s because of you guys my hope does not fall short. (:

More to come soon!

<3

A Little Bit To Learn!

Time to bust out the preggo belly pictures! I've really been delaying this.

19 Weeks, tomorrow and I'm out there, kind of. I can't wait to see myself in the next few months. This should be so much fun! Ha! After recently losing 30 pounds and getting my body to that almost perfect spot for myself, it was definitely hard to start seeing my belly come out. But you know what, I'm really okay with it. I hope my babies know they can make me the size of 3 basketballs and stretch me to the moon and back, and I wouldn't mind. As long as they have enough room to swim around, I'm a satisfied Mommy. (: 

I especially worry now though, about them having room with their intestines also floating around in there. It's scary to think that they could end up getting too crowded and coming way too early but I just keep hoping for the best. Who knows, that may not even be an issue the doctors are concerned about but I will be asking at my next visit/ next phone call! 

I don't even run or do any type of stressful exercise anymore and it's driving me nuts! I love being active! But I am a little too worried that that one extra stride or that one extra crunch could do something to harm their bowels. I can't wait until these babies pop out because I am so ready to do some P90X and some running! 

Anyways, tomorrow is the day I get my paperwork back from the doctor! Yay! And then it's all a stressball of out processing from there. But we can handle this (: Moving shouldn't be too awful. I know for a fact we have lots of help on this end! I am worried about being able to find a decent place that accepts doggies (so Daddy can bring his lab, Max) and has 2 bedrooms, at least. We really wanted 3 BUT we quickly realized that's not going to happen within our price range or needs but that's okay! 2 is just fine! 

Anyways, I decided I would give a description of Gastroschisis for this blog. I actually stole it from another website I go to pretty often for Gastroschisis but that's because to me, it seemed like the easiest way to get it across without writing a book or two.

Gastroschisis,  causes the intestines to protrude outside the belly, results from a weakness in the abdominal wall and must be repaired surgically. Gastroschisis is not normal. Although a fetus' intestines will develop outside its body for a time, they should be totally internalized at the time of birth.

This is a great page to learn a little more about Gastroschisis (also where I stole this pic from), but also to raise awareness.

http://butterflykissesforkaylee.webs.com/

I do plan on finding more websites like this one. 

In case you were curious, because I really didn't know, there's a green ribbon for Gastroschisis! (:

That's really all I have for now. But this week, I will keep you updated with things like when we're leaving Germany, when we will be stateside and anything new that I learn. Thank you again for taking the time to be a part of my family and helping us through this. 

<3

My First Post

Where do I begin? I guess the beginning would be the most logical starting point. We found out we were pregnant this past year. November, sometime. We had been trying since March or April. It was just after I started losing hope that we would ever have children so of course I was beyond excited when I finally "popped" positive.

We had our first baby appointment a few weeks later, week 10 to be exact. This was the most exciting moment of my entire life. Nothing will ever compare and I'm okay with that. I was already excited to see my baby but when it was two I was seeing on the ultrasound screen, I was ecstatic. To my knowledge, twins didn't run in my family or my husbands and we weren't on fertility treatments so we felt so lucky and so blessed.

We we directed to the high risk department in our hospital for the pure fact that they are twins. We didn't mind. Common knowledge would tell us we would have more risks. So at 12 weeks, we had another ultrasound. Baby B wanted to be the star so we ended up with a ton of great pictures from him/her but of course only a few decent ones for Baby A. 

Baby A (:

Baby B (:

At this time they noticed that both babies bowels were on the outside of their little baby bodies. They told us not to worry because they still had time to form on the inside and it could have just been late fetal development. Considering every pregnancy is different, we didn't worry too much. Of course the minute I was able to, I was "googling" away. Only to find the doctor was right, so I was able to brush the concern away, though it was always in the back of my head.

Finally at week 18, we had another ultrasound. I was so thrilled for this one! We both were! We wanted so badly for their to be a girl and a boy in there! Daddy was especially hoping for that little boy. (: To me, it didn't matter, they were already the loves of my life BUT for Daddy's sake, I wanted there to be a boy. And what do you know, we got what we were wishing and hoping so hard for! Baby A is our sweet little girl and Baby B is our sweet little boy! Of course, Baby B was trying to hard to steal the show, again! He was snapping his fingers and shaking his money maker!

Baby A - So far we have decided on Sophie Ann OR Marie.

Baby B - And for him, we like Charles Logan (: SN: Charles is my husbands first name!

So the moment we learn the sexes, clearly we were ecstatic. After finishing up the ultrasound, we were ready to go home and pick out names, clothes, gear and the whole 9 yards! Unfortunately, we had to receive some not so great news first. 

We currently live in Germany. We are both Active Duty Soldiers. The doctor came in to let us know that we are immediately being reassigned to a stateside assignment because both of our babies have Gastroschisis. We had no idea what that meant! It sounded very serious considering we can't even deliver our little ones here in Germany. We only had 3 options for the states and we have chosen the D.C. area. So for now I am continuously doing research and learning as much as possible. It's so hard being in the unknown. I of course cry from time to time but I do my best to stay positive and not to stress for my little ones. They need me right now. I talk to them daily. I let them know Mommy and Daddy are here and we will always be here. I tell them to take care of each other and not to be wrestling around too much. Even though they have different sacs, there are still so many risks involved. 

If the military decides to take too long to move our paper work along, I will be MEDEVAC'd out of Germany. Which basically means I will be moving to the states with or without the paper work involved. The goal is that both my husband and I go back at the same time because I need him more than ever right now. I have to be at a hospital by week 23 or 24. Right now, I am 18 weeks. So by the first week of April, I will have to say goodbye to all I've come to know here in Germany. It is really hard knowing that all of the great people, great friends I have made here will be so far away. I hate to be going to a state where I don't know anyone. This is the hardest thing I've ever had to deal with and without my friends, it will be hard. But as great as they are, I know they will keep me and our little ones in our thoughts. <3