Life as a Hoarder...on bed rest

Being on bed rest has turned me into a hoarder.  As you can see from the picture why I have self diagnosed myself with the hoarding addiction.  I do not want to throw away anything on my bedside table, I only make request for family members to add more to my table.  I spend 90% of my day in bed, and I am afraid that if Martin is not home, and I need something, I will not be able to get it.  So I keep magazines, books, crafts, snacks, water, and anything else I could possibly imagine being in need of,  right by the bed. 

You may be concerned that I am running a pharmacy, overdosing on medications, or working on drug deals when spotting the basket of prescription drugs...don't worry it is not what it seems.

Although I do not watch a lot of TV...it is overstimulating, I do enjoy Hallmark movies and Meg and Will's wedding video.  We do not have a remote for the DVD player in our bedroom so when someone calls or I become distracted, I mute the TV and then wait to restart the DVD at the beginning when I get up to use the restroom.  Lets just say, I think I have seen the rehearsal dinner 15 times...I have still not seen the entire video.  You can see why this provides so much entertainment for me.

I also spend a lot of time sitting in the girls nursery.  I can't do anything but just sit and dream.  I had Martin pull in a bench for me to sit on, and I can spend a long time, thinking about what it will be like when both of the cribs have a baby girl sleeping in them..or screaming in them...I think about that too.  My mom has done an AMAZING job on the nursery. I will post more picture of the nursery when it is completed.


I also get a lot of visitors, which makes the day go so much faster!  I am very blessed with family and friends who have brought lunch, made dinner, and have come over to play.

My niece, Savannah

My niece, McKenzie

My niece, Sadie

And when I am really lucky, I get to take a car ride.  I even got to go inside Target.  Martin loved watching me in the motorized wheelchair.  He thought it was hysterical.  I was not paying him much attention, but the girls behind the counter thought he was a comedian.

I want to have this post to show Hadley and Harper one day when they are not behaving.  I can show them what I was doing to make sure they were healthy little babies.

9 Months in Review

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How many are you having?

  That's always a good question to ask first time parents. How many? Really did she even have to ask? With all do intentions we could never dream of having some one ask us that question because the honest answer is always one. I mean come on, women get the twin gene from their side and the husband has nothing to do with it. So to answer that question before you ask, no Traci does not have any twins on her side of the family, unless her mother was adopted and they forgot to tell her. We do have twins on the Shepard side, my great grandmother Ollie had a twin sister named Dollie and that's the only trace of twins in either side of our families. But I guess if twins are hereditary then they have to start some where and it mine as well be us to start this new tradition...
    I can remember like it was yesterday. My first appointment at Traci's OBGYN. Obviously, I was a little weary going into the whole thing. We walk into the waiting room, surrounded by other women waiting as we were.  A few minutes pass by and they call us back. The ultra sound tech walked us back, kind of a rather mundane woman no real frills or excitement and sat us down in the room. As Traci laid down on the table she said that the gel was gonna be cold and started the ultra sound on Traci's stomach. A few seconds had passed, which seemed to me as an eternity for not knowing what to expect, and then.....Traci stared at me, pale face and big eyes.  Traci knew right away what was on the screen.  All I heard was the ultrasound tech say something that I never expected her to say... How many? And without a hesitation I responded with one and she said "Nope, there's two!" My heart stopped for a second or maybe a minute and this is where we begin...

Traci and I sat in silence as we waited to see the doctor.  The doctor gave us a lot of information about twins and what to expect, something about nutrition, bed rest, weight.....All I heard was double the weddings, double the cars, double the college tuitions....

Once it all sunk in Traci and I were ecstatic, scared and confused all at the same time.  We had never thought about how we would tell our family we were having twins, besides we were not even suppose to be able to get pregnant and now we are having twins? 

We e-mailed this ultrasound picture to our family and waited throughout the day as each family member slowly checked their e-mail, which they never caught on to what "baby A" and "baby B" really meant because like before twins weren't even an option. "Does A and B really mean, uhhh twins?" Yeah,really.....  it does.

We're having a baby!

I had often thought about how I would tell Martin, and our family we were expecting a baby. So after taking a pregnancy test …I made a tank top that said “baby” with an arrow pointing down.  I made dinner and set the table to include bibs, baby spoons, and Sippy cups. It seemed like forever, but I waited at the door for Martin to come home from work.   We enjoyed dinner with big grins on our face and refrained from calling everyone we knew.

A few weeks later, after getting a positive blood test from the doctor, we invited my family over to celebrate a belated Father’s Day and we invited Martin’s family over to celebrate his dad’s birthday. Somehow by the grace of God we convinced 10 family members to all come over for a Sunday lunch.  We made baby back ribs, baby spinach salad, baby corn, baby tomatoes  (in pasta) and ice cream with baby chocolate chips.  We all gathered to say a blessing before lunch.  At the end of Martin’s blessing he said, “we pray that you protect and nourish the baby in Traci’s stomach…amen."  You can see the reaction from the pictures.  Such an exciting and memorable day.