TWENTY TWO Weeks!!

Three Weeks ago, At 19 weeks

Today, January 31st, at 22 weeks

I seriously can not believe that I am 22 weeks today! In 4 months, 16 weeks away, (if the boys cooperate), we will be holding the Grieser Twins in our arms! I am getting so excited for the arrival of our little ones! My belly is growing, my feet are starting to swell (not that I can see them), I can not reach my toes anymore, I am totally off balance all the time and I love every minute of it!

I e-mailed Dr. Roberts this past week (technology is pretty amazing) in regards to the "whooshing" noise that I hear in my head. Constantly I hear my pulse, in its little rhythmic whoosh, whoosh, whoosh that just about makes me LOSE my mind. She said it is due to all the extra blood I've got migrating around and to be concerned if it comes with a headache (could mean high blood pressure).

We have a big "baby" week ahead of us. We go back down to the Maternal Fetal Medicine center on Wednesday afternoon for another ultrasound to hopefully get a better check of Baby A's profile. I think they will probably check growth and what not since they are in there. Then, on Friday, 2/6, I have a doctor appointment in Zimmerman, for my three week follow-up. I think we will schedule the gestational diabetes test then and maybe go to every two week check ups, we'll see how it goes.

Hope all is well in Blog land, Thank you for keeping up with us!

Love to All, The Grieser's
Dustin, Sara, baby A and baby B
:)

GREAT NEWS!!

This is the Mommy & I am sorry for the scare my husband put you all through with his most recent blog post.

We have VERY GREAT news and that is that the dinosaur bedding matches the paint perfectly and we love it! We even put together their little mobile last night. Now with the theme, it is coming together perfectly.

And the reasoning for my said "freakout" is that we are trying not to spend a lot of money right now. We all ready had perfectly good bedding, I just didn't like it. Not that Dustin would've cared if I just went out and bought it, I was trying to be responsible and include him in the decision.

I will post pictures of the nursery soon.

Love you All,
Sara

Bad News

Sara just called me at work in a tizzy - obviously in borderline freakout mode. She was at K-Mart.

I couldn't figure out what was wrong - she was almost crying!























"Sara, what's wrong?"



"Honey, *sob*, can the boys have a dinosaur room?!?!?"



"*sigh* Yes, Sara, the boys can have a dinosaur room."

In Memory...

It's now been officially one year since we knew that our precious angel, Sammie Kaelin Grieser, heart had stopped beating and her soul went to Heaven.

Mommy & Daddy love you VERY VERY much. We have a tree planted in front of our house for you, with special things in the ground to remember you by. It blooms pink flowers and for the holidays, we decorated it with pink lights. It's not much, but it is what we can do to honor you.

We miss you, and know that you are happy in Heaven. We are so blessed to have you watching out for us and your brothers.

We Love You Forever, Our First Born baby and only daughter.

-----Thank you to all those who remembered us on our special day with cards, thoughts or prayers. They mean so much to us, and help us to keep going. Although we are so blessed with the upcoming birth of our twin boys, please know that one child (or even two) will NEVER replace another.-----

21 weeks

Good Morning!

I can't believe we are at 21 weeks all ready, but I am so glad that is where we are! I have had a little nausea/vomiting return, but, not as bad as before. I have been pretty hungry, but still managing to keep my weight right where it should be!

As far as the boys, their hearts are still beating and they are growing all the time. They hate when I go to school. They fight, kick, squirm, whatever it is that they do in there! I am so uncomfortable by the time I get out, I can hardly stand up!! I don't know what it is that gets to them, maybe they think they are too little for college.

Dustin has been amazing, working on all kinds of little projects. He has been cleaning the carpets and vacuuming, two things that I can't do. He is such an amazing husband and a great Dad. He finally was able to feel the babies from the outside this morning. I was so glad that he could share in that. It is such an amazing feeling.

Last night, we went out to my parents to celebrate their 28th wedding anniversary. It certainly was another great time with great food!! The time out there goes way too fast, but we enjoy every second of it!

I got really tired about 1/2 way through our evening, that seems to be the general theme of everything we do. I am really great, and then, I just get exhausted and crabby. My narcolepsy is nearly out of control at times, but, I am still going to refrain from caffeine. I have done it this long, why start now?

That's really all I've got. Our baby shower invitations are out and they are simply adorable! I am so thankful to our friend Julie for making them and to Betsy, Emma and Mom for all their work. I am from a really big family, and we sent the shower invites to my aunts & first cousins, but please know that all second/third cousins are welcomed to come, we just didn't have enough room to write it out on the envelope. :)

Enjoy the growing belly pic!

Love to All,

Sara, Dustin, Twin A and Twin B

Doctor Appointment Update

I went to the doctor this morning at 8 a.m., I had a scheduled appointment for tomorrow at 10 a.m., but since my schedule was completely open today & Dr. Roberts had some openings, I went today. I was also really worried about this lower pelvic pain that I had been having. I had been reading a lot about pre-term labor (PTL) and I was very concerned that I would go into labor and not know what it felt like.

I was more nervous at this appointment than I ever had been before. My vital signs were really good, blood pressure was 116/68! I was so happy about that. I started to relax a little bit after that. Dr. Roberts came in right away and we talked a lot about PTL, what I should watch for, when to call, etc.

She told me I really need to do four things: sleep, eat, drink and stay stress free. As soon as I become tired, hungry, dehydrated or stressed, the uterine muscle will contract. I have been having some issues with my narcolepsy, I am so exhausted all the time. I didn't really get overly tired in the first trimester, but I swear, the 2nd trimester has been so much worse. My body & brain are all backwards, so, I guess what else would I expect.

My uterus measured ahead, and the heartbeats were strong. Of course, she couldn't find Baby A right away. He is SUCH a wiggle-worm!!! She hadn't gotten the ultrasound results yet, but asked me a bunch of questions and nothing had been bad. She assured me that they would've told me if there was anything wrong.

She also kind of gave me a birth plan. She wants me to go to at least 35-36 weeks (beginning of May), if I go into labor before that, they will try to stop it. If they can't, and I am before 35 weeks, I will have to "get shipped" out, to the University. Not because Dr. Roberts can't take care of me, but because the hospital won't be able to care for the babies. Any time after 35 weeks, if I go into labor, they will let me go and deliver the little ones in Princeton.

She still didn't give me any restrictions, just to watch what I do, find out what makes it worse and then, start restricting that activity.

I go back again in three weeks. I will have had our 2nd Level II ultrasound to check Baby A's profile. I am feeling so much better with a plan and knowing what to do.

Big Hugs, Sara

20 week belly pictures

Here is the babies belly at 20 weeks. I obviously needed to wash the bathroom mirror! If anyone wants to clean our bathroom, feel free. I am stuck using all this "green works" and it does NOT clean like the harsh chemicals that I would prefer! :) But, those probably cause birth defects and they definitely cause breathing issues for the mama.







I have been starting to have Braxton-Hicks contractions that scare the beejeepers out of me! I have been drinking so much water, it is ridiculous, but, good I suppose. On the weight gain, in 20 weeks, I have gained 8 lbs., and I am carrying two pounds of baby (they each weigh about 1 lb. now).

I go to the doctor again on Tuesday, January 20th at 10 a.m. for my 3 week check-up. I am going to ask her for a PLAN! I need one. I am such a little planner!

I will for sure update after that! I will let Dustin decide when he wants to decode the baby names!

Love to All, Sara

Chronicle of our Loss

On Christmas, I said I would chronicle our loss last year of our Sammie baby. We were so excited to be pregnant & I always knew she was a little girl, never had a single doubt in my mind. Also, at that point, I had NO idea what a miscarriage was. I didn't even know how it happened, etc. I was so entirely clueless to the whole thing.

On Wed. Jan. 16th, 2008, I had really bad lower back pain. I thought maybe I had a UTI. We had decided that we were going to doctor in Cambridge from a recommendation from our neighbor, but the OB absolutely WOULD NOT see me until I was 12-13 weeks. I was a new patient, had never gone there before (since we were still pretty new to the area) and I called the OB nurse about once a week with different concerns, BEGGING her to let me be seen, but she would not. So, I decided that night that we would go into Urgent Care. Dustin brought me, we waited in the waiting room for over three hours, (all I really wanted to do was leave a urinalysis but they MADE me wait with an entire room full of nasty sickos). I finally got into see the doctor, my urine was fine, no infection. He felt along my back, couldn't really find a problem. I kept telling him that I was pregnant, about 7 weeks, but he said, "that really doesn't matter."

Although he could find NOTHING wrong with me, he gave me a script for Amoxicillin and sent me home. I told him that I did not want to wait so long to see the OB and he gave me the name of a general practioner to see as my primary doctor. I couldn't make an appointment with her until the following Friday, Jan. 25th.

I went on with my week, I still was very crampy, moody, etc. I still had no idea that there was anything wrong with our baby. The day before my appt., I started spotting, I called the OB nurse again and she said that I was probably having a miscarrige, but there was nothing they could do about it now!! And to wait until the morning for my appointment.

We went over to Cambridge and Dustin came with, Thank God. I told the nurse that I was pregnant and spotting and HER response, "Well, what do you think that means??" My BP was really low, 90/60 and I got a stinking feeling in my heart. The doctor came in, did the examine, hardly said a word to me, and sent us down for an ultrasound.

We went down to radiology, had to wait FOREVER to get in. We started the ultrasound and the tech was all nicey, nicey and then, she just got DEAD quiet. Completely silent and moved the screen away from me right away so I couldn't see a thing. Dustin still could see a little bit, he was able to see our baby, he swears that he could see two little sacs, but I never got to see a thing. When it was over, we went back upstairs, and about 3 1/2 hours had passed. My mom called and asked if we had heard the heartbeat. I didn't even think about that? No, we didn't-- were we supposed to? I had NO idea about what was supposed to happen.

When a different nurse called us back, I could see the doctor crying. The nurse wanted me to sit next to Dustin and I insisted on sitting on the table. I was certain there was nothing wrong. The doctor came in and her first words were, "I'm afraid I don't have good news." I didn't hear a ton after that. She babbled on and on about her own miscarriage. She said that our baby measured at 7w, 4d; which meant that I had lost her on 1/18, TWO days AFTER I went to Urgent Care.

I didn't know what I wanted for treatment. She just gave me a book, "Empty Arms" and said that she was certain I would "pass" it over the weekend. Well, the weekend came and went, nothing. I had actually stopped bleeding. On the following Tues. 1/29, after trying all Monday to get ahold of the doctor to tell her what was going on, I decided to get a second opinion. I called the Fairview clinic in Zimmerman and talked to the Triage nurse there. She immediately said I had to be seen, I had an appt. at 3 p.m.

The doctor wanted to be certain I was miscarrying, so he was going to draw some blood to be sure that my levels were dropping, something that never happened in Cambridge. They did SO, so many things wrong, which made our loss so much worse. I had a repeat blood draw on Thurs. and I woke up Friday, 2/1 with heavy bleeding. I called the doctor in Zimmerman who wanted me to go to the ER right away.

We went into the ER and Dr. Ferry had all ready called, they were waiting for us. The nurses were exceptional. Everyone was so understanding, caring and concerned for my health. It had now been almost two weeks since our baby had died and my body was still holding on. The ER doctor ordered an ultrasound and the tech was amazing. She actually gave us pictures and showed us everything, explained everything to us. I was bawling & hugged her so tight at the end of the exam. She printed out a picture of our Sammie and I just lost it. That was all we were ever really going to have and this lady realized that and gave us the most amazing gift.

They called OB for a consult around 11:30 a.m., about 1 1/2 hours after we had got to the ER. The doctor that came in was Dr. Roberts, my OB now. I had no dilated at all and my contractions had stopped. They decided I needed an emergency D & C and I would go into surgery as soon as a room opened up. I was back to surgery in 10 minutes or so. Super fast.

I was given Versed to help relax, so I wouldn't remember a ton, or not care. I still remember everything. The surgical staff was amazing. When I woke up, I needed my glasses and the anesthologist came over and told the post-op nurse that I needed a ton of Cytotec because they couldn't get me to dilate, so I would need extra morphine.

Dr. Roberts talked to Dustin and I was home by 4 p.m.

I guess I just chronicled that out as a type of rememberance for our baby. I will never, ever forget the hell I went through or how tight my body held on. There was nothing wrong with her, the pathology report came back perfect.

I know that she is in Heaven, smiling down. Like I said before, she will always be an important part in our lives, our first born if you will and our very special angel. She is what allowed us to have her two little brothers.

We feel so blessed, to have earth babies on their way and one sparkling angel baby star.

The Name Game

d i y r m a o u e f e z f l q i d w l u q c c w y g h r y u a d e h c i c y t a m s z
e u e r m i o s w d c i o l s e y b h d k t w c l v y l a z e j e w y b x n s a j e m

Encoded in that jumble of nonsense are the names for the twins.

See if you can unscramble them. :-)

Dustin

19 Weeks

What a week we have had! We are so relieved to know that the little ones are BOYS! We went to a movie on Friday night (Gran Torino, you all MUST, MUST go see it. May be the best movie ever), in the movie theater entryway was the ever popular group of preteen girls gushing and being little drama queens. Oh, I was thankful I will never have to worry about that!!! Plus, I am enough of a drama queen for this whole house & I carry the estrogen of four girls, so, we're good with boys & testosterone!

We are even more relieved to know that they are healthy. They are getting enough blood from their placentas, they are BIG (even bigger than singletons at this point), and so much fun! We named them this week too, with names we are going to stick with. Maybe after the engine poll is over, we will have you guess on the poll what their names will be. :)

I am feeling good, my nausea is almost gone, and I am hungry again. Eating good but not gaining a ton of weight (just what I should be!)

We have a lot coming up, birthing classes on 2-14, lactation class on 2-23, baby showers on 2-28 & 3-28. The nursery is almost finished, we bought the crib bedding yesterday. We have been washing the clothes and putting all the pink clothes into the "girl box." It is going back to my sister, Betsy. She also has two boys & she is just going to have to find a place for it!!

School starts tomorrow, it'll be good to pass the time & keep those babies occupied in the oven! I want them in there until 38 weeks!

Thanks for following our little blog!
Love, Sara

Ultrasound Update

Hey all,

Dustin here - updating the blog after the ultrasound today. Man, I gotta tell you guys, that ultrasound room is awesome. They have an LCD tv on the wall that's wired right into the tech's ultrasound machine and it shows everything that she is doing so we can watch in real-time without worrying and wondering exactly what the hell is going on.

As far as the actual ultrasound goes, quite honestly it could not have gone any better. They measured everything from toes and heels:


...to spines...


...to arms...


...to hands...


...to some 4d face pictures...



...to BOY PARTS!!!


If you've been paying attention thus far, you would realize that both twins are boys and they had absolutely no problems showing that off whenever the ultrasound tech waved the magic wand over them. It was hilarious. There was no searching involved here folks, none at all - boy parts in all their glory for everybody to see.

I won't gloat over this, but I will simply say this; I TOLD YOU. SUPER-SPERM DOES NOT DISAPPOINT. :-)

The doctor said that everything looked "fantastic" and we have a couple of wonderfully "healthy babies" - obviously the exact words that we were looking to hear. They both weigh in at a hefty 9oz. One twin is 256 grams while the other is 251 so they really couldn't be much closer in size and weight. The funny part is the one twin that was lagging a couple days behind at first is now the heavier one.

Thanks for reading all. :-)

Big Ultrasound!

Sorry for the delay on the 18 week picture, here it is! Here is a picture of the little twins from the outside, this afternoon, we will hopefully be able to post pictures of the cuties from the inside!

Our big ultrasound is at 1 or 1:30 p.m. at the Maternal Fetal Medicine Center at the University of Minnesota. It should take around 2 hours. They need to look at everything, growth, brains, organs, their little hearts, how they are situated, how I am carrying them and if they cooperate, if they are boys/girls/or one of each!

I am so excited, nervous, scared, etc. I keep thinking about our ultrasound with Sammie, when the tech freaked out and turned the screen and wouldn't show us anything. We didn't know why then, but now, of course it was because she didn't have a heartbeat. At the U, they have a flat screen on the wall, that shows the ultrasound, so Mommy & Daddy can comfortably watch what the tech is doing.

Dustin is at work for a couple more minutes & I need to run to the bank, so I better close, but rest assured that we will post when we get home!

Love to All,
The Grieser's

New Year

I thought I should update this, we have been fairly busy and not so busy the last few days. Dustin has almost completed the nursery. He wants to paint the ceiling and we need to shampoo the carpet. We can then put the crib together and start waiting for babies. I am ok waiting as close to their due date as possible. We did order a crib divider yesterday and a print about twins to hang on the wall, too cute.

We ended 2008 with a sad note, as Dustin's cousin, Isaac Hall, lost his three year battle to Leukemia. He was 8 years old. He has been struggling and fighting for years. On Monday, the doctors had a care conference with the family and informed them that there was nothing else they could do to sustain Isaac's life. He was brought home around 1 p.m. via ambulance on Tuesday and passed away Wednesday evening, at 6:10 p.m., on New Year's Eve. The services are Monday night in Nebraska, but we will not be able to make it, as our ultrasound appointment is Tuesday.

We are saddened by his death, but overjoyed at the thought that finally, Isaac is in Heaven. No more needles, no more hospitals, no more dialysis, no more surgeries, etc. His little body endured more than I could ever think of. I couldn't imagine what it would be like to watch over your child for years, devoting everything you have to trying to cure the illness, and then, letting God take your child to Heaven.

I continue to feel ok. I really have needed to cut back on what I have been doing... The protein in the urine scared me. I need to focus on keeping these babies healthy. No matter what. I also am probably going to need help, which I have never been great about asking for, but, my time is coming where I need to say, "Yep, I need help."

We are counting down the days to the Ultrasound. I think we have a little boy and a little girl in there, but it really doesn't matter, I just need to be reassured that everyone is well and get some direction on the rest of the pregnancy. Our regular peri doesn't work on Tues. We will be seeing Dr. Rauk, another high-risk OB.

Hugs, Sara