What's new?

It has definitely been awhile since I last posted our big news of finding out we're having two girls. With the excitement, travel, and busyness of both Thanksgiving and Christmas, there has been little time for writing and reflection.

Now that I am home-bound till the girls come, I hope to spend more time writing and sharing updates. For now, I want to write a small update of sorts from the last month.

We spent Thanksgiving in Little Rock with my family, the Rainey's. It was fun getting to all be together as every one of my 5 siblings were in town for the big feast. We spent a few days with my grandparents and extended family on my mom's side at a farm in south Arkansas. It was fun sharing our news with them and getting tips from my Aunt Judy who has twin boys.



After Thanksgiving, there arose a frenzy of activity at our house that happens every year at that time. Decorating the house, making lists of Christmas gifts, shopping, wrapping, and shipping! It was all a bit crazy, but I was able to get it all done before we left for Florida on the 17th to spend Christmas with the Mutzes.

But before we left for Florida, I did get a chance to fly to Texas for 4 days to visit my dear friend Christy Paine Hutchins. She and I were BFF in high school and college and even lived together for a year, such a blast!! So many memories and definitely a time in my life that I would love to re-live again if I were given the chance. I had such a great time with you Christy, thanks for taking such great care of me while I was there!



We had so much fun together talking, shopping, eating at this awesome Mexican place with free queso happy hour, watching The Proposal, and laughing together. She even hooked me up with a "tacky", maternity Christmas sweater to wear to our small group Christmas party.


I must note here that Jacob's sweater is actually a woman's sweater. But it still goes with the "tacky" theme, I do believe.

In Florida we spent a great 10 days with Jacob's family going to Disney, taking the family Christmas photo at 10:30 p.m., playing with the nieces and nephews, making and decorating Christmas cookies, doing Christmas three times, and doing our best to not pass around this awful 24 hour flu bug that Jacob, Cari, and Uncle Dave got. Thankfully they were the only three who did.



Just a picture of what's to come for us in the coming months. :) These precious boys are Cari and Phils' twins, Isaac and Will.

After the family left for a mission trip to Guatamala, Jacob and I traveled down to Longboat Key to spend the night at a condo there and get some time together. We went out on the boat Sunday morning and ended up losing power and having to be towed back to the dock, over an hour and a half long. We probably spent 3 hours on the boat, 1 hour of that was spent cruising along and enjoying ourselves. Even the dogs were enjoying the constant wind in their faces but not the cold seawater when they got tossed overboard by Jacob. :)

We drove back to Lakeland, packed our bags, and hit the hay around 11 p.m. only to get up again at 2:15 a.m. on Monday for our drive to the Orlando airport with Eric, Jacob's younger brother who had to drive to Miami for a new passport so he could fly to Guatamala to meet up with the fam. Our flight left at 6 a.m. and we made it to Denver and then home around 10 a.m.

3 hours later, after nice nap in my own bed, I awoke feeling awfully "weird" and unsettled. I couldn't put my finger on what was wrong or what I was feeling, I just knew it wasn't right. We called and made an appointment to see the nurse practitioner and then 10 minutes later I got sick and threw up. We went to the appointment and I had to lay down on the exam table because I felt like I was going to pass out. The decided to send me to the hospital for fluids and to be checked out more thoroughly. In triage, they tried to monitor the girls, but couldn't find their hearts very easily although they seemed to be doing just fine kicking at the little monitors on my belly. They finally hooked me up to an IV and told me to order some food and see if that would help. I had only 3 bites when it all came back up again. The nurse warned us that I might be spending the night at the hospital since I wasn't keeping anything down.

We checked in, officially, and I ordered more food to try again. I was also given some anti-nausea meds that seemed to help immensely. I was able to eat and keep it all down which was a huge praise. To pass the time, we watched The Mentalist and talked to a few family and friends. After a pitiful night of sleep, I was released the following morning.

I am definitely feeling better, but not 100%. I am weak and tired and achy from being sick, but not feeling as poorly as I did on Monday. Sleeping in my own bed has helped and being able to walk around more is good too. The general consensus for my stay in the hospital was dehydration and a possible flu bug or something in my GI tract. I'm doing my best to drink as much as I can and eat as well as I can. These babies need me to be healthy.

I see my doctor next Thursday for another check up, glucose screening test, and another ultrasound to check out the girls. At that point I will be 25 weeks in my pregnancy.

I am thankful that the girls were unfazed by my short stint in the hospital. They both had great heart rates and were constantly kicking and moving the entire time I was there.