Day 356 - Tuesday December 4, 2012

Remember last Christmas for us.....sitting in the ICU while Bridgett was in a coma.....memorable but not in the good way!  So, this year we are trying to have a better Christmas!  We have had several crazy Christmases in a row and this year we might be having preemies so it might just fit right in there!  This morning we went into Bigfork to buy a Christmas tree.  Gone are the days that we hike into the woods, which was our family tradition every year until we moved to Bigfork.  Of course, the last few times we went we ended up with Charlie Brown trees, so I was happy to move here and need to buy a big, nice tree the year that Jenn got married (our excuse was the reception here at the house!).  Since then we have continued that new tradition.  Of course, last year the we bought the tree, put it in the garage to warm up, got a call that night about the accident and left in a hurry; Mark threw the tree out a few months later.  It was probably a good thing that we didn't actually get it put up!  Anyway, we have a tree now and hope to get it decorated in the next few days.  Mark got the Christmas decorations out of the garage and we put up the big nativity, which had recently been displayed at the Christmas Creche display at the stake center.  It's so fun to see all the ornaments!  By this time the girls were both tired and so we will put off doing more decorations until tomorrow.  We have always decorated with the kids and so we want to have them still have the fun of decorating, even if it means spreading it out over a few days.

Day 355 - Monday December 3, 2012

Home at last!  Bridgett is glad to be home and "out of the car!"  Today was a day of unpacking and organizing.  It will be a busy, crazy week because Jenn could go into labor at any time and so we might be headed right back. 

Day 354 - Sunday December 2, 2012

I wasnt planning on heading home until tomorrow, but after some discussion with Mark we decided that I had better just head home today.  Jenn will have her ultrasound next Monday (just over a week from today) and then they might decide to deliver the babies right away.  I have a lot of things to get done at home before we come back down, so I had better get home sooner than later!  It is hard for me to leave Jenn at this time and I wish that I could stay, but hopefully everything will be under control with people helping her for now. It is very hard to be the mother on bed rest with small children. I was on bed rest when I was pregnant with Arri and it was very hard (and also at Christmas time!). We got up and did some last minute packing, a quick check of the hotel room and headed off to Salt Lake after kissing Arrianne goodbye; we had already kissed Jenn and family yesterday.  We stopped in Salt Lake to see my mom and had a short, very nice visit with her.  Stephany was able to go in today and see Grandma's new apartment, which is so very nice.  Grandma has her Christmas stuff out and it was nice to see her gas fireplace "burning".  Bridgett took Stephany on a tour of the apartment, so apparently she remembers seeing it earlier this week.  Afterwards we headed out on the long trip back to Montana.   The girls did really great on the trip home and actually the time went by very quickly.  Bridgett actually didn't have pain for the whole trip and that was awesome! The roads were very good until we got close to Butte and then we hit snow.  Luckily it turned to rain by the time we hit the swan highway.  It was great to get home and give Mark a big kiss!  There's no place like home!

Day 353 - Saturday December 1, 2012

I can hardly believe the time has gone by so quickly and already it is December.  We are still in Utah.  Jenn is on bed rest until the twins are born.  I spent the morning with Jenn and the boys while Tyler stayed with Bridgett and Stephany at the hotel.  We played for a while, I tried to help Jenn do some planning and then I took the boys to Burger King for hamburgers and then Target for shopping.  I forgot to mention this about Bridgett--she randomly decided that she wants to start straightening her hair again!  When we were with Arri she asked her to help straighten her hair and now she has asked me to help find her straightener when we get home so that she can use it.  Bridgett seems to be paying more attention to some of these kinds of details lately, which is good.  We tried to get to sleep early so that we can be fresh to head home tomorrow.  It's been a busy two weeks and seems about time to get back to home, our own beds, and more routine.

Day 352 - Friday November 30. 2012

When we went shopping for baby things we bought three sets of cute preemie outfits and Jenn was so excited to see those!  We hung them on the knobs on the dresser so that she could look at them while laying in bed.  She also loved the diapers; they are so small!  This morning before heading to Monroe with Bridgett and Stephany I started some lentil soup for Jenn's dinner and asked Mariah, Jenn's sister-in-law (who was helping today with the boys), to turn it off when it was finished so that we could head out.  Our appointments today went great, although I got a call again that Jenn was in the hospital again with more contractions.  After stress testing the babies and talking to the doctor, they released her home again.  She is dilated to a 1 but they just stressed keeping her fluids up and staying in bed; apparently it is somewhat common to get dehydrated when pregnant with twins.  A week from Monday they will do an ultrasound and check to see whether the one twin, Lincoln, is doing OK as far as growth; they are worried that with the poor umbilical cord placement he will stop growing.  As far as Bridgett's appointment.....she is having NO tailbone pain ever since she had her appointment on Tuesday (yippee!).  Also, her neck pain is very low, less than 1 on a 1-10 scale.  She is also very low on kidney pain.  Faith said that she doesn't have any kidney stones but that there is a lot of sludge, almost sand like, that she is having to pass.  This confirms what I had been thinking already.  I had mentioned this to the doctors months ago that it seemed that she had sediment but they just passed it off and said not to worry about it.  Faith was able to do more work on Bridgett's eyes and also more brain work.  Faith is very positive about how things are coming with Bridgett.  Next she worked on Stephany and that also went well.  We are finding more answers to the problems she is having and we are hopeful that she will be getting stronger now. 

Day 351 - Thursday November 29, 2012

Today was another early day for Bridgett.  She got into the swing of the time change in New York and so now she is waking up at 5:00 a.m. instead of 7:00 a.m. (and going to bed at 7:00-7:30 p.m.).  Of course, I am always awake early so, these past couple of days we have been leaving the hotel so that it is quiet for Stephany to sleep a little longer.  Yesterday we did some grocery shopping for Jenn, and today we did some shopping for the babies for Jenn.  First we hit Walmart (they are open 24/7).  We got preemie diapers and baby fingernail clippers, etc.  Afterwards we spent some time working on Bridgett's program.  Luckily there is a computer with internet access that we can use in the business center, since I also seem to forget to bring the laptop.  I am already carrying a bag with the kindle, the ipad and some books that Bridgett uses everyday.  We have been given new instructions for the eye exercises that we do daily; specifically to move very slowly so that her eye focuses completely and I believe to strengthen the muscles; we are working on that.  Also, Bridgett is supposed to read some news daily and watch some news daily; we are working on that as well. There are several other changes as well as instructions to continue the other things we are already doing.  Of course, while we were in New York much of the program was not accomplished daily, but instead we had lots of other stimulus that week. 

Day 350 - Wednesday November 28, 2012

While we were in Monroe yesterday I got a call from Tyler (Noland) saying that Jenn was having contractions and had gone to the hospital; he was with the kids.  She was having actual contractions and they finally sent her home and put her on complete bed rest.  I am not sure that I have mentioned this but they have told her that there is a complication with one of the twins; the umbilical cord is attached at the side of the placenta instead of the middle.  If her water breaks, he will die in one minute so there will be no time to do anything about it.  They told her about this some time last week before we left to New York.  She and Tyler (Fenn) are naturally very concerned and worried.  It is a lot of stress for her to deal with, especially when she is having contractions.  I spent part of the day over at Jenn's house, trying to help with the kids so she could stay down.  I will try to help her get things figured out before I try to go back to Montana, so that she is able to stay on bed rest.  Bridgett was doing just great after her yesterday appointment; Stephany is extremely fatigued.