Prepare yourself

for one hot-lookin’ lady:

There are 2 reasons I know I was meant to live in the 21st century

#1: the DVR

#2: Modern Medicine

As most of you know, my body was just not made to have children. But thankfully, Heavenly Father put me on this earth at a time where that can be fixed:

• After 2 years of trying, pregnancy #1 came with the help of Clomid
• At 20 weeks pregnant, I found myself in labor and delivery learning that I have an incompetent cervix. With the help of a cerclage, very strict bed rest, weekly visits to the doctor for monitoring, and weekly shots of progesterone, I was able to deliver the twins at 34 weeks
• They then had to stay in the NICU for 2 and 3 weeks because of feeding and breathing issues. I won’t even go into the modern miracle that the NICU is.
• After they were born, I had a surgery where a permanent cerclage was put in place so I wouldn’t have to be on bed rest for future pregnancies
• With pregnancy #2, I’ve had the weekly progesterone shots, but I’ve been able to maintain “active mom” status
• Something about the flight home from California 2 weeks ago put my body into all sorts of distress and I was in the hospital contracting for all of Saturday and flat on the couch all day Sunday. They gave me steroid shots for the baby’s lungs and some other shots to stop contractions and started me on a pill (terbutaline, for those who care) that I now take every 8 hours. These pills make me shaky like Mohammed Ali (is that insensitive?) but keep the baby inside where he should be, till hopefully 36 weeks. My status has been demoted to “limited activity,” which means I can’t really clean, do grocery shopping, carry my children, or jump on trampolines.

Today marks 34 weeks. That’s a huge milestone which I’m very grateful to hit. Next week Greg takes the bar and I would really love it if my husband could be there when our child is born. If I’m being picky, I’d really like to make it to my 38 week C-section date, but I’m starting to think that’s just a dream. Either way, we’re doing well and 34 weeks is a whole lot better than 32 weeks. And making it to 32 weeks without ANY bed rest is truly nothing short of a miracle.

So this is my ode to modern medicine. I heart you. I am so grateful that research has gone before me and made it so that I can get fat like a cow and have 3 little squirts in my house.

But after these past 2 weeks, don’t be surprised if there’s never a 4th.