Traditions

If you hang around long enough, you'll find out that my favorite holiday tradition is the Fitzgerald Annual Christmas Tree Hunt. The day after Thanksgiving, we all bundle up and head up to the mountains in search of a great tree. The last couple of years we've been stopping in Brevard, shopping at O.P. Taylor's and eating at the Cardinal Drive-In, before Christmas tree hunting.

I wasn't allowed to go this year.

Bless their hearts- my parents agreed to take the girls anyway and they did have a fun day and they even found us a tree. Jonathan & I took the opportunity to go to a matinee- The Blind Side. It was excellent. I've doubled my yearly average of movies seen in the theater. Both movies (Slumdog Millionaire and The Blind Side) have been a worthy experience.

I did get to participate in our other family tradition. The one where we hook Will's computer up to Dad's big tv and share our favorite You Tube videos. Some of the highlights were Flight of the Conchords Issues and the distraught Clemson fan. But the best video of the night was passed along from Uncle Tim somehow. The last verse is what makes this song brilliant.

Happy Thanksgiving

I hope you are enjoying this holiday. Thanksgiving came at a very apt time for us- we are thankful for the hope we now have that we will get these boys here safely. This is not the path we would have chosen, given the choice. But now that this path has been chosen for us, we don't want off.We have a thanksgiving tradition of buying a new Christmas CD for the holiday season. Last year we got the Elf soundtrack. Any recommendations for favorite Christmas CDs?

Sent from my iPod

Finally...A Good One

We had our 1 week post-op ultrasound this morning and the boys looked wonderfully normal. We are so excited with how they have responded to the surgery. Their fluids are still unequal but at 2.2cm and 6.5cm, both fluid levels are within normal range. I think the best part was seeing the membrane floating around Owen and not stuck to him. He looked just like his brother- moving and wiggling around. They weighed 1lb and 1lb 3oz- again within normal range. Owen's heart was not stressed and he showed no signs of anemia. Rhys also looked extremely normal. And I was upgraded from laying down bedrest to modified bedrest. That means I can sit up and move around the house with an occasional outing that doesn't require much walking. It also means no housework, no cooking and no driving. So its going to be an interesting few months.

From here we'll monitor them with weekly ultrasounds until 30 weeks and then we'll go twice a week. I'm still at a huge risk for preterm labor plus all the other elevated risks that are simply due to the fact that I'm carrying multiples.

Plus I'm starting to feel both of them moving. I have an anterior placenta which I had heard causes you to feel less movement. Its totally true. Up until now I've felt much less movement with two than I did with each of my girls. But now I'm starting to feel them more distinctly and I am eating it up.

Thank you to everyone who has brought/sent food or gift cards, who has helped with the girls, who has helped clean our house. You have made this many times easier than it could have been.

Doctor

Jonathan and I were not the only ones getting a medical education this week.
Introducing Dr Kiran

and Dr Sienna!

By the Numbers

22 days
1 set of twins
2 boys!
9 ultrasounds
1 amnioreduction
979 miles flown
900mL + 2.5L of fluid drained from my belly
1 fetal echo cardiogram
13+ doctors from 4 countries
1 laser ablation surgery
30 hours in the hospital
countless prayers from friends and family and
1 God who hears

equals =

TWO HEARTBEATS!

We have successfully made it through phase 1 post op which gives the boys each about an 80% survival rate. We still have a long way to go and will need a lot of help so that I can not overexert myself. On Monday Rhys's heart was starting to show one abnormal pattern, but today his heart looked perfect. Owen's heart looked perfect on Monday but today it is stressed a bit. He is anemic and his heart is trying to deal with this new blood flow and placenta share. It's rare that this happens but not unheard of. It should correct itself over the next few weeks. There is really nothing we can do but pray that it will heal itself.

Thank you for all your support! We are getting ready to leave the hospital and are planning to fly home tomorrow.

Surgery Day

Kelley's surgery this morning went very well. The doctor said that they were able to do all that they had wanted to do. They severed eight connections between the babies, and now we are resting and waiting until the ultrasound tomorrow morning when we will see how the boys have responded.

Kelley is feeling pretty good - a lot better than if she had actually given birth to these boys today!

Thank you for all the prayers that have been lifted up on our behalf. And major props to Brantley Smith (our middle school youth minister 16 years ago!) for being at the hospital at 6 a.m. to pray with us!

Babymoon

Have y'all heard about this trendy thing called the babymoon?

According to Wikipedia, a babymoon is "More recently the term has come to be used to describe a vacation taken by a couple that is expecting a baby in order to allow the couple to enjoy a final trip together before the many sleepless nights that usually accompany a newborn baby. Babymoons usually take place at a resort that offers appropriate services like prenatal massage."

Jonathan & I have decided to dub this our babymoon.

Our babymoon has gotten off to a fantastic start- mostly due to the wonderfully engaging people Houston has provided. There's Amos who wheeled me around the airport- he has five sons and moved here from SoCal b/c of the cost of living just in time to ride out Hurricane Ike. And Aaron at Whataburger who gave us complimentary apple and pumpkin pies. Najma, our ultrasound tech, who while born in India, actually grew up in Iran because her father was a personal physician to one of the king's sons. She herself is an identical twin who's job now is do to ultrasounds on identical twins. We had doctors today from India and the Philippines and were able to reminisce about our time in each country. Fascinating people at every turn.

We had a blind date for dinner with a family that went through this same TTTS and laser surgery a little over a year ago. Their bubbly, energetic, precious 16 month old identical boys were a delight to observe as we consider our future. We connected with them quickly and decided we would have liked them anyways even if we didn't share this awful diagnosis.

We had evaluations all day long at the hospital and we are set for surgery at 7:30am Central/ 8:30am Eastern time. Which means I have to be at the hospital at 5:30 am. We are praying for no complications with the surgery and that the boys will respond well to being disconnected. We are praying to hear two heartbeats on the ultrasound the next morning. Thanks for your prayers! We hope to have a positive update for you tomorrow.