It's been awhile

It's been a little bit since I have posted. I never was good at keeping a "journal" so to speak. Hm. One more thing to add to the list of things I need to improve. I'm sitting here reflecting on the past year. So much has happened in 2008. I can't believe we are just less than two weeks out of 2009. How crazy is that?

2008 was a big year for my family. We had two babies, got out of the military, moved half way across the U.S. Yep, lots of things happened.

I'm amazed at how fast this year went by. The babies are almost 6 months old and are developing wonderfully! They are already getting their own distinct personalities. Ah..what a year.

I wouldn't have it any other way though!!!

How the twins came to be...

This might be long...so you better read it all! ;) J/K.

Ok, after having Kendall, we always knew we wanted more children. So we decided after Kendall turned 2, we would start trying, thinking it would be easy. Well, it wasn't. We tried for about a year and a half. Then I sought help. I went to my regular doctor on base, who sent me for an ultrasound of my uterus and ovaries. She said everything was normal. So she referred me out into town, to what I thought was just a regular gynecologist. Nope, she sent me to a reproductive endocrinologist. My first meeting with Dr. Chang was interesting. She did an ultrasound also of my ovaries and told me that I had Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome. I still don't really know too much about it. Then we set up for a battery of tests to see what was going on. I hadn't been having my period on my own, so she decided to put me on a medication to give me one. How much fun! After I got off of that induced period, we did a HSG(hysterosalpingogram), which is where they insert a catheter in through the cervix and inject a dye into the uterus while doing an Xray...the dye is supposed to light up the uterus, fallopian tubes and ovaries...it's to check for any blockages...it hurt like hell. Well, it was also normal. So, we decided to go ahead and try some Metformin to see what that did...nothing. OK, let me go back and say that I first saw Dr. Chang in May of 2007. OK. So, back to the story.

So, I was told I needed to have another period. YAY. This was in October. I had one, still no progress in my ovaries as far as follicle production went. Boo. So, we started the Chlomid. I took it for 5 days and all it did was thicken my uterine lining, which was good, because that meant my womb was ready...if only I could have an egg. Well, since we noticed that Chlomid wasn't working, they decided to let me try injections...yea, I know, not exactly what I wanted, but I just wanted to have a baby, so it was all worth it to me. They gave me Follistem and for the next 3 weeks, I injected myself every day of this medication. During the 3rd week, they had told me that they would let me continue through the weekend but if I didn't have any eggs in my ov's, that it was time to have a period...you see, we were now into November, a week before Thanksgiving. I did my injections like a champ over the weekend. On Monday, when I went in for what seemed like the millionth U/S, I was told I had 4 eggs!!!! Woohoo! Finally some progress! Although, she did say that only one was dominant, so I would *most likely* only ovulate one. So, it was time to put those OPK's to work! I was instructed to take them until I got a + LH surge. Which I did...on a Monday. I called like I was supposed to and they told me that I needed to have s-e-x(lol) on Wednesday and Thursday(which was Thanksgiving). Jeremy, of course, was more than happy to follow that Dr's order!!! Heehee.

So, I was given a test date: December 7th, which was 10-14 days after ovulation. Well, as that day neared, I was cramping, like I was going to start, so I told myself and Jeremy, that "I probably wasn't pregnant this time, but it was ok" Even though I didn't think I was, I still had to take that test. I decided on Thursday night, December 6th. What was 12 hours? After all, if I WAS pregnant, it would show up...Kendall's did at night. Well, much to my suprise, it was +!!!!

I was in shock and disbelief...then I got worried...why was I cramping? I never had any of that with Kendall, so surely this couldn't be good. I called Dr. Chang the next morning, and they had me come in for a blood test...Dr. Chang called back and said "Man, when we prepare your body to get pregnant, you sure don't waste any time!". My levels had come back at 596. It was determined that I was 4weeks and 4 days. I conceived the day before Thanksgiving. My due date was August 13th. They wanted to recheck my quant levels in 3 days just to make sure they were rising....oh boy, did they! They had QUADRUPLED in 3 days...they are only supposed to double every 48-72 hrs. Then she said "Let's get you in for an ultrasound and see how many we have in there". I was scared. I was prepared for twins, but not for more. I could not even imagine what triplets or quads would be like. So, December 18th, 2007, Jeremy and I head over to the clinic. Kendall was at daycare, and we were nervous! We get in there and get undressed...well, I get undressed, he stayed in his clothes! ;) Dr. Chang comes in and we get things started. This is what we saw:

TWINS! We were excited, happy, nervous, scared...a whole bundle of emotions! We told everyone right away! We got weekly ultrasounds until we hit 10 weeks, and then I was allowed to see a regular OB. I picked a great one! Our first appt with Adrienne Lara was January 31, 2008. I was a little over 10 weeks. We checked on the babies and they were doing great! They were dancing around. We knew right away that they were fraternal. You could see two distinct sacs and placentas. In additon to seeing Dr. Lara, I also saw Dr. Jadali, a perinatologist. I went every 4 weeks for ultrasounds to measure my cervical length and just an overall check of the babies. Well, at 16 weeks, I felt some pressure, so they got me in a little sooner to check my cervix. The length was normal and that is when we found out that we were having a boy and a girl!! How exciting!! We were hoping for at least one boy!

The rest of my pregnancy was pretty uncomplicated. I had some minor preterm labor at 29 weeks, but one shot of terbutaline got rid of that. At my 31 week visit I was placed on bed rest because I had already dilated to 1.5 cm and was 50% effaced. I went into PTL again at 33 weeks, was given terb again and sent home. At 34 weeks, I was taken off bedrest. I wasn't dilating any further and the twins could come at any moment from then on out. I also went into PTL at 34 weeks, refused the terb this time, got sent home and then had a small gush of blood. Woot, I was excited! I thought it was time! Nope...not my water. Adrienne had me stay overnight to get me some rest. I was so tired of being pregnant. I was HUGE!

Well, at 35 weeks, a Wednesday, I woke up feeling pretty cruddy. I put some cartoons on for Kendall and got on my laptop. I was chatting with my girls on Cafemom and I had realized that I was contracting every 7 minutes...then it got down to 5. This started at 8am. All the girls told me to go to L&D, but I was so tired of going there!!! Finally, I broke down and called my OB, Adrienne. I asked if I could just come into her office and have her check me. They told me to come in at 1145. I called Jeremy to let him know, it was 1030 at this point, called the sitter and got in the shower...I didn't have the energy to shave. Thank goodness it wasn't a jungle down there!! I got to Adrienne's office and they put me back in a room and hooked me up to the EFM. The girl was stupid and put the TOCO on the wrong place...oh well. After about 1/2 hr, Adrienne came in and was baffled by her techs dumbness. She could tell right then though, that I was in labor by how I was. It was different. She helped my get my pants down and checked me...no further dilation, but that was expected...Baby A was breech. So, she looked at us and said "We are having these babies today". I gave her the BIGGEST hug and Jeremy told her he loved her. LOL. We head over to L&D with Adrienne and they automatically put me in the C-section prep room. They hook me up...they couldn't pick up the contractions. I was having hard back labor as well. They decided to manually feel my contractions, so they put their hand on the top of my uterus, my fundus, and realized that, hey, I was contracting every 5 minutes!!! They started their IV, got blood, yada,yada, yada. Adrienne comes back in and tells me that they will start at around 530 pm and that we were finally going to have these babies! Woooooohoooo! She ordered some Stadol for the pain in the mean time. It was 430. That last hour seemed to drag on! Jeremy got suited up...he's such a nerd...see for yourself:

If you look at the clock, he was ready an HOUR before they were going to start. Could you tell he was excited? They wanted to do my catheter BEFORE my spinal and I said HELL NO! So, they let me go pee one last time and I walked, well, more like waddled, my happy butt to the OR...It was almost time!!!

I got my spinal, which freaked me out. I couldn't feel myself swallow or breath. I knew I was, but I couldn't feel it. I went in and out of sleep. I remember Adrienne saying that she was starting, and I remember her saying "Here comes Baby A" and then Austin cried...then I heard the same about Baby B, and Addison cried. They were both taken to the NICU for observation...only theirs turned into a 3 week observation. Both of them had mild RDS, they both battled jaundice and overcame feeding intolerance. They had feeding tubes in up until a few days before being discharged. Austin(Baby A) came into the world via C-section at 5:59pm weighing 5lbs 6.5 oz and 18 in long. Addison(Baby B) followed at 6:00pm weighing 5lbs 5oz and also 18 in long.

Austin:

Addison:

They are now almost 4 months old and are thriving and growing! Austin is our chuncky boy and now weighs 12lbs 7.5oz and Addison is our petite girl weighing 10 lbs 2.5 oz

My 3 beautiful children:

Sundayyyyyy..full of memes

OK, so I guess I was tagged to do a meme...at first I was like WTF is that? Then it was (kinda) explained to me. So here goes.





I am supposed to post the 6th picture from an album. Well, I have lots of them..like seriously TONS. So I am going to go to my 6th album and post the 6th picture from that. OH you are going to LOVE this one.

The story behind this is that Jeremy(my hubby) was trying to see how many grapes he could fit in his GIANT mouth...he could fit 37...so I took a picture of it. Heehee...Told you that you would love it!

I can't pass this to anyone because they all got tagged for the same thing...so oh, well, ya'll can just read mine!

Meme#2....7 things about me that are weird and random...hmmmm....this might be hard...

7. If I am cooking something and a single part doesn't cook right, I will throw the whole thing away and start over

6. Well...um...hmmm...sometimes I wish I was still in high school

5. Crap...I really can't think of any more....hmmmmmm....Yea...ok, well, I don't know what to tell ya...lol

4...oh, I stole this from my teenie...cuz we are just too much alike, but I too, can not stand any of my food touching...I know it all goes to the same place, but it tastes different if its mixed.

3. I'm basically weird...ha

2. Once I start lauging, I can't stop at times...and when that happens, I get the weirdest laugh...like, it's freaky

1. yea...there isn't anymore...haha

Lets see...next is 6 things no one knows about me...well, the thing is, no one knows because I don't want them to know!!! HA! I like to be mysterious...and the babies are crying, so that is my cue to bounce!

A random Saturday

Not much is going on over here today on this beautiful Saturday...It's nice outside, which is nice considering that past few days have been cold. I am so extrememly tired because we stayed up until 3 am hanging out with one of Jeremy's friends...(DON'T ask what we were doing up at 3am....lol) I just got back from taking Kendall to the park in our neighborhood. She had fun. She met a couple of little girls that she played with for awhile. They played some game where they pretended they were aliens...wtf...ah, to be a kid again. Jeremy just pretended to attempt to give Addison a drink of Dr. Pepper...I don't think so!!! It's cold in my house right now. Maybe I should turn the heater on. Like I said, this is such a random Saturday to me. Normally, we have something going on, but not this time. I think I am going to try and convince Jerm to go out to dinner...we try and go out once every week or two to a sit down resturant. Oooh, he's watching Indiana Jones and Shia LaBuff(sp?) came on the screen...he's kinda hot. ;) Jeremy's friend Luke is over here today...he's a nice guy, Christian, but still a virgin...who woulda thought that there were still decent guys that are virgins out in this world? Ok, I think that is the end. I hear Addison starting to whimper because Daddy put her down...
By the way...I got tagged for a meme...WTF is that? Someone explain what I am supposed to do.

Kendall Renee's Birth Story

I can still recall vividly the birth of my first child. I was due on October 20, 2004 with a little girl that we had decided to name Kendall. We chose this name because it is not as comman as Sarah or Amy. You get the drift. My pregnancy was pretty uneventful. Found out we were expecting on Feb 28th at 6 weeks 3 days. Found out we were having a girl on June 2oth at 22 weeks. Poor Jeremy. He was soooooooo sure that we were having a boy...after all, according to him, everyone in his family had boys first...well, if that was the case, we altered the tradition. Broke it. Done. Our baby had a vagina and not a penis. In fact, Jeremy held on to the 20% chance that it wasn't a girl until the delivery...but at 40 weeks, with still no sign of Kendall making her appearance, we had a NST...and there it was, plain as day, a baby vagina. Can you even believe that at this point, he STILL had hope that she would grow a penis before her grand arrival?? Sad, but true. So, finally at my 41 week, yes, 41 FREAKING weeks, we set an induction date for Nov.1...Darn, I wouldn't get my Halloween baby. I was excited, nervous, scared, anxious...probably every emotion in human nature, I was feeling. I was to call the hospital at 5 am to find out what time to come in...by the way, we were both Active Duty at this time, so her delivery was at the Naval Hospital...the one that I worked at. We were instructed to come in at 8am...we got there at 730...we were just SO excited!!! We brought all of our stuff up and we were put into a room. The nurse immediately checked me, which I believe I was 2cm and 50%...which I had been for the past 4 weeks..crazy, I know. So, they decided to do some Cytotec. Now, let me just say that I was NAIVE with Kendall...I didn't research anything. Cytotec is NOT approved by the FDA for labor induction. Ok, so after 8 whole hours of Cytotec and walking, I was still at a 2, but I was "softer". So they decided to do a foley bulb...which is a catheter that they insert into your cervix that helps you dilate, but falls out once you reach 3cm. Well, it wouldn't stay in...that's because miraculously, I was able to be stretched to a 3! WOOT! So they went ahead and gave me an epidural because they were going to start the pitocin. Thank JESUS for technology. Even with my epi, I still felt the contractions and they HURT!!! Well, I guess somewhere down the line, I developed an infection in my uterine lining called chorioamnionitis...my heart rate went up, and so did Kendall's. That was an automatic IV for little Kendall bug to receive antibiotics. They started treating me right then. So, then, they broke my water..a lot of this was a blur because by this time, it was 10pm...14 hours into the induction. My water was stained with meconium..ok, nice. Well, by 2 am I was at an 8...I dilated slooooooooooow. At about 0430, I told my dad, his gf(who is an OB RN) and Jeremy that I had to poo...the nurse came in and told me that I wasn't at a 10 yet, that the pressure is normal. I told her to get the doc NOW. So he came in and sure enough, I was 10, complete and +1 station. I TOLD YOU SO!!! I began pushing then...man...now let me tell you...a lot of women are scared of pooping on the table...I was TRYING to poop...gross, I know, but hey, that is life. So, after about an hour of pushing, I was begging for a C-section. I felt tired, drained and pooped...and no, I still hadn't pooped. Well, then it was time for some oxygen...damn. The nurses kept telling me to breath...I yelled at them "I am f*%c^ing breathing or I would be dead, wouldn't I?" They left me alone after that...so finally, after almost 3 hours of pushing, my little princess arrived in this world...She looked like a damn rainbow. She had NO problems, what-so-ever. She was born on November 2nd, 2004 at 0738 weighing 8lbs 9.5 oz and 20.5 in long...with BLONDER than blonde hair. I had 2nd degree lacerations and got stitched. I lost over a half of liter of blood. But it was all worth it. She is now getting ready to turn 4 and is such a princess and stubborn little girl. She has such a fiery personality, yet she is so loving.

My story

Ok, where to begin. I guess I could start with my name. I am Amanda. That was easy. ;) Ok, so contrary to what my husband thinks, I didn't have an easy life. My parents divorced when I was just 2 and I was the victim of custody battles. My dad was actually granted custody of me. That was almost unheard of in that day. My mom suffered from bi-polar/manic depression, so that was a BIG factor in the custody. Ever since I can remember, my mom was always unstable and always trying to commit suicide. It was bad. My dad pretty much raised me. There were a few times in which I lived with my mom for a month or so, all at my choice, but then I always went back to my dad. My dad was a good dad. For the most part. He had this thing where he couldn't be happy unless there was a woman in his life. So, he had a lot. In and out...but also in and out of my life. Because of that and my mom, I never really had a stable female role model in my life. We lived with my aunt and uncle for awhile, and they became a second set of parents to me. I was finally surrounded by some stability...until my dad met and married what seemed to be a decent woman. She was for awhile...we moved in together and I gained two stepbrothers. Things were good for awhile. We lived in a very nice house, had nice things. Well, then when I was 16, my world was turned upside down. My mom died. She overdosed on PCP and benzo's. What a way to go. I was heartbroken. Not because she died, but because she died not knowing that I did love her. People tell me that she knew, but I wasn't able to tell her before she died. I saw what drugs did to my mom, so I had always vowed to never do them...even pot...so, still, to this day, I have never done a single drug. But, I coped in a different way. I was having sex with my older boyfriend way too much and then I had found and even older man...that was NOT a good idea. He was 7 years older than me...in high school, that is a big difference. I finally decided my senior year to get my shit straight and join the Navy. I left the following November. That is where I got happy. I dealt with my feelings and moved on. The Navy was great. I loved every aspect of it. That is where I met my husband. Ok, so maybe I didn't completely get over all the stuff, because we moved way fast. We married after only dating for five whole months...but we have now been married for five years. So, I guess it worked. ;) We got pregnant after 9 months of marriage. We were expecting a little girl!!! My pregnancy was uncomplicated. After being overdue for 13 days, I was finally induced and little Kendall Renee arrived into this world. She is getting ready to turn 4 in a couple of weeks. After she turned 2, we started trying for another...but we didn't have any success. So we finally seeked help. I had what they call PCOS or polycystic ovarian syndrome. We did a little Chlomid, but that didn't help, so we turned to injections to help me ovulate...we got pregnant the first time...with TWINS!!!! Even though it was twins, my pregnancy was very easy...they were born 5 weeks early on July 9th...a boy and a girl...more on the kids later...
Well, if you actually took the time to read my mini biography, then thank you. If not, then I don't blame you....peace!