Thank you all from the bottom of our hearts for the thoughts and prayers of the last 3 weeks.  It seems to have made a difference because what has happened so far is considered a miracle.   I'm finally able to get online at the hospital.  It's nice to feel "connected" to the world again.  That's been one of the hard things about this is the fact that we are so far from family and friends. 

Right now everything is going ok.  It's still up in the air whether I will get to go home or stay in the hospital.  It would be easier in some ways to be home, but possibly not as good for the babies.  We're very interested in doing what's best for the babies and bringing them home as safely as possible.  So we'll see.  Every Monday we have ultrasounds to check the cervix and make sure it is holding and to check the babies to make sure they are doing well.  Our ultrasound this week showed the cervix the same.  The babies are both around 1 1/2 lbs each.  I am really hoping that they can make it until about 3 lbs before they are born at least.  That will be around 30 weeks or the first week of June.  I still have contractions every day, but not very many of them.  I'm on pretty much a minimum of medication to stop them so if I need to take more I can.  We are trying to be as optimistic as possible.  But the fact is that this is a time that is filled with a lot of fear and doubt.  We're grateful to be given a chance to fight for our babies lives, but we still have quite a road in front of us.  It's overwhelming at times.  We appreciate your continued thoughts and prayers... 

 This is Amanda's Mom writing for her with her most recent news.  On Monday, March 31, she went to her regular scheduled appointment for the anatomy ultrasound.  Everything was fine with the babies,who were at 21 plus weeks, but when they got to her cervix, she had dilated to 2 cm.  She was taken immediately to the hospital (attached to the clinic) and hooked up to monitors which showed active labor.  Throughout the next few hours they administered medication to stop her labor.  These medications were successful and at 8:30 am on April 1, she had a cervical cerclage (spelling?).  This procedure carried some risk of restarting her labor, but although she had a few contractions, they stopped.  The membrane for the baby girl was visible and the doctor was able to push the babies back enough and the membrane did not rupture.  Since then Amanda and babies have done well and her medication doses are being lowered which makes her feel much better.  We praise God for his hand in taking care of this little family.  We thank all of you who joined us to pray.  Amanda will be in the hospital (Legacy Salmon Creek in Vancouver, WA) for at least another week and then home on bedrest.  She welcomes your calls to (360) 936-7343.

Amanda - These weeks went by quickly and we forgot to update.  I feel much better now and have more energy so find myself a bit busier now.  Slowly getting ready for our babies.  We saw the doctor again for a short visit, everything is still ok.  Still a boy and a girl and he wasn't sleeping this time.  It was a short scan so I didn't see much of them, but did see that they had moved around pretty drastically.  They've been top/bottom for about 6 weeks and now they are more of a diagonal sideways.  She's still closer to the exit, but he's giving her a run for her money.  They say he could still come out first, but not as likely.  I discovered why I only seem to feel one of them move.  I feel my daughter because my son kicks her more than he kicks me and also his placenta is in front so it muffles the movement.  It's glorious to feel them move.  I will definitely miss that.  We started our birth class so we can be done early.  I am about as big as the moms carrying one as I am measuring almost 29 weeks right now.  Sometimes I look at the singleton moms and wonder, what would that be like?  But not for long, I wouldn't trade this for the world. 

the twins -  Have started gaining fat.  The more they gain, the better chance they have surviving outside of me if they come early.  That is why doctors push multiple mothers to gain good weight quickly.  Donuts don't count, although they do taste delicious =)  Their movements are much stronger and more pronounced and we can clearly see their skeletol system.  At our next appt on the 31st, they'll be looking at their anatomy even more indepth than before.   They are up to about 7 inches and somewhere around that many ounces.  They look so lifelike, it's hard to believe that they would only be slightly larger than their daddy's hands if they were born right now.

Amanda -  The end of this week brought us some very exciting news.  We had our first anatomy scan today and all the organs look perfect so far.  Hearts, brains, kidneys, stomachs, all functioning.  We also received the welcome news that we will soon be enjoying our new son and daughter!  Mom was right on this one.  Baby A is our girl and Baby B is our boy.  "A" took advantage of the photo shoot and showed off to the max.  She couldn't hold still!  "B" was a bit calmer, but was still cooperative with letting us know whether to buy blue or pink.  It's beyond words to try to describe what it's like to see these little ones.  All I can say is I love my babies very much and cannot wait to hold them!  

Kenneth -  Well just found out that I am going to be the proud father of a boy and a girl. This is going to be wonderful. We were hoping to have one of each Amanda said from the begining that she felt that she was having one of each. The babies looked very good a lot bigger than the last time I saw them. Now we can  really come up with names and start the decoration process. That is one thing that we also realized is how much stuff people need to have.

the twins - are busy exploring their environment right now.  They can move on their own, though they don't seem to know what they're doing.  It's interesting to watch them make similar movements with their arms and legs that newborn infants do.  They love to touch their faces, sometimes sucking their thumbs, sometimes just smacking themselves on the head lol.  They both have transparent skin that you can see right through.  They're covered in that fine hair that babies get up until the end.  "A" has her daddy's toes!  Hopefully we'll see more of B next time when he's a bit more active...

Amanda - Lots of aches and pains this week.  I can feel these munchkins settling in and making themselves comfortable.  Not always comfortable for mama, but glad to know they're there.  My singleton pregnant friends still have tiny little bellies carrying low.  I feel like my belly is quite big for 3 1/2 months.  Baby A is still quite low, but Baby B is a little below my belly button.  Baby B's the one I feel the most, although Baby A can certainly make her presence known.  Their heartbeats have changed to a slightly slower beat with a much louder thudding sound.  When they were smaller, it was tiny, rapid thud.  Now it's a pretty loud thud, fun to listen to.

the twins - are now about 12 centimeters or around 5 inches.  Still don't weigh too much.  They are developing all sorts of new skills.  Now they can practice making facial expressions.  We would pay a lot of money to see that right now!  They are making amniotic fluid and practicing breathing too.  We still find it remarkable that these babies breath water and then come out breathing air, wow!  Can't wait to see our growing bambinos this Friday at our big anatomy scan.

Amanda - Turns out our scale at home is just broken.  We went to visit the doctor again and we weighed in at 6 lbs above my pre-pregnancy weight.  Hooray!  Every pound counts.  Our goal now is a steady weight gain of 1-2 lbs per week.  I am still not feeling like my old self, but am definitely feeling much better than the beginning weeks.  People can almost always tell that I'm pregnant now.  I was even allowed to cut in line for the restroom due to my pregnant status.  God bless understanding women!  I have started to feel tiny fluttering.  It feels like somebody lightly rubbing their knuckles across my stomach, except on the inside.  Very cool feeling!  We are counting down days until February 29th which is our anatomy scan. 

Kenneth - wifes belly is getting bigger find myself wanting to rub it more often. Always telling Amanda that she is not getting fat she is pregnant and that is normal growth. Went to Babies R us to look at all the stuff that we might need and some that we won't we both said that we need to wait until we find out the sex to really decorate their room. We did find a really cool stroller for twins that could be changed around to 4 different settings. You don't really get an idea of how special twins are until you go to find things for twins in the store, there's hardly anything for twins. We had the first day in the 60's this month got the motorcycle fired up and ran it around the block. can't wait for the weather to start to warm up.

the twins -  The babies are now between 3 and 4 inches each.  They only weigh around an ounce each and are each about the size of a peach.  These are still days of very rapid growth for these little ones as their bodies catch up with the size their head has been, their eyes move closer together creating a more human look, their external genitalia become more visible, and their intestines shift into their proper place.  This week their vocal cords have also started to form.  Both are very active babies, but most of their movement is just reflexive. 

Amanda - I am continuing to grow rapidly, but unfortunately have not gained much weight yet.  Since I just started on my 14th week, they sent me to the nutritionist to assist in the weight gaining.  I quickly found out why I may be having problems.  Apparently twin pregnancy requires 3500 calories per day along with 155 grams of fat, 176 grams of protein, and 350 grams of carbs per day.  I had no idea I was expected to be eating that much.  I eat when I'm hungry, but perhaps I'm not eating enough.  Only time in my life I"ll be saying that!!!  It's important to gain weight early in a multiple pregnancy so this is our new goal.  In other news, I heard a saying this week that said "pregnancy is having company in one's own skin."  I'm finding that to be very true.  As they grow, I feel more and more connected to them and am really thoroughly enjoying the experience of pregnancy.  

the twins - This week their fingers and toes have separated and hair and nails begin to grow.  Amniotic fluid is starting to accumulate as the babies kidneys begin to work.  The sexes are definitely decided and formed, but we will not find out until at least 16 weeks.  We didn't get to see them this week and will actually not see them for 3 more weeks, which is a long time for us.  But I can tell they are doing well by the growth of my belly and the little flutters I'm beginning to feel.

Amanda - This week was full of growth.  Lots of stretching and no more pre-pregnancy jeans!  I have officially gained a pound and a half, but whatever I haven't gained, these babies have more than made up for.  They are growing fast.  I want to say that I am feeling a little better and hope that it is not a fluke.  I am so ready to eat some good food.  It's been very awe inspiring this week to see how quickly things can change.  I am visibly able to see my belly grow and am so thankful for that.  It is still a miracle to me that there are two lives thriving inside of me.  I am now convinced that Baby A is a girl and Baby B is a boy, but I'm sure I can still be wrong.  We had an appointment today and everything looked perfect.  Both the doctor and ultrasound technician said this was the best set of twins they've seen in awhile.  That made us proud.  I have placenta previa with baby A right now, but there is still plenty of time for that to change.  I said I would prefer not to have a C-section if possible and they wrote that down in my chart it shocked them so much.  I guess a lot of women are preferring C-sections nowadays.  The ultrasound today was a NTT (nuchal translucency) scan which showed normal, so we are in a very low risk category for Downs, other chromosomal anomalies, and congenital heart defect.  That's our big news for the week.

Kenneth -   Amanda went to this one by herself, had to work but was anxious to hear how the babies were. Very happy to see the babies are growing like weeds and look to be in perfect health. It is very cool to see the pictures, one pic you can see the baby kicking the mama, not feeling it yet though. The belly in pictures doesn't look like it is getting bigger but you can see in person. It is really weird to see my skinny wife getting a belly. I am the one that has always had the belly now she's the one with the belly.

the twins - According to the medical world, the twins have managed to grow from an embryo to a fetus this week.  We're not sure why they have different little names, but they've been our babies from the start.  This week they grew from about an inch to over two inches.  Their heads are more proportionate to their bodies now and we could easily see hands and feet on the ultrasound.  They touch each other all the time, wave, suck their thumbs, kick everything, and somersault about.  They must have the energy that mom is missing =)  At the end of this week Baby A measured 12wks exactly with a heartbeat of 167.  Baby B measured 12wks3days with a heartbeat of 154.  The most critical part of their development is over and from here on out they will be gaining rapidly in size.