Update from the Doctor

Charles and I went to the doctor today and the appointment went as well as we could have hoped. The ultrasound showed that Bryant (Baby A) weighs 2.6 lbs. and is breech and that Lucy (Baby B) weighs 3.1 lbs and is transverse. They are laying with their heads together, face down, and not willing to take any pictures today. Dr. Homesi said everything looks great, to continue bed rest and he thinks I will be able to make it to 35 weeks. That would be the 3rd week in March so we are very excited!! Please continue to pray for us, we want these babies to stay in as long as possible.

Charity Ball 2008

Junior Auxiliary of Clarksdale hosted the 2008 Fire and Ice Charity Ball. This is our single fundraiser for the year and it was a great success. Since I was unable to attend Charles took me out to the Country Club prior to the event and let me look around. I took a picture with some of the girls that were already there and looked at all the decorations. Charles went with some friends, took photos for me and won two items on the auction. Everyone had a great time and I plan on being there next year!

The Bed Rest Affect

As we are coming up on the one month mark of bed rest, the whole family has gotten the bug. As you can see from the pictures below our dogs Hutch and Bailey spend a lot of time sleeping. Charles also rest a little more than he used too. We are all adjusting to the new "lazy" lifestyle.

27 Weeks

We have made it to 27 weeks and this is a huge mark. This was the first goal the doctor set and the next big goal is 30 weeks. Things have been going along well and we go to the doctor next Thursday, the babies should be right at 2 pounds each. Here are some more belly shots and yes it did grow a lot in one week.

Making Progress on the Nursery

The other baby bed came in yesterday, so my sweet daddy went to Memphis and picked it up. I was so excited because it was supposed to take over a month to come in and I am so impatient. The beds are the same style but we had to get it in a different white color than the one we had. My sweet husband took a piece of the bed to Lowes and they matched up the paint, and it will be getting painted Monday. Today he put the other bed together and my dad helped him with the changing table, touch up painting, changing plug-ins and moving furniture. The ladies also came to hang the shower curtain and the roman shade in the bathroom. The bathroom looks great and I will post pictures later. Tomorrow the carpets are getting cleaned and then we will put the bedding on the beds. This is all so exciting and I just can't wait to see these sweet babies laying in their cribs.

Charles got a break

My wonderful husband has been staying home with me so much since I am on bed rest (day 22). He got a much needed break today and went duck hunting with some friends in Lula. Chad's wife. Monica came and spent the day with me and helped out so much. As you can see from the pictures they had a great hunt.

Charles, Tanner Brad, Chad, and of course Guss (Charles' Hunting Dog)

Chad, Tucker, Tanner, Guss, Brad, and Chuck with all the ducks. Good shooting guys!

Charles, Guss, and Chuck. Great times hunting in Lula.

Progress on the Nursery

We have been working very hard to try and get things started/finished in the nursery bathroom. I say we because I just give all the orders from the bed and Charles does all the work. He has had some help from my dad, a few neighbors, and friends so that has helped speed up the progress. We had a new tile floor laid, new tile around the shower, a new toilet and pedestal sink put in. Charles has painted the bathroom, put up the bead board and all the base boards and crown molding. The nursery has not had much done to it because we are waiting to finish the bathroom first and the carpets to get cleaned. My dad and brother came over and put down new baseboards in the nursery and got all the furniture moved out and some of the baby furniture moved in. Things are moving along well and I appreciate all that everyone has done. I can't forget to mention my mom coming over and starting to wash baby clothes and put all the babies stuff in the nursery closet. She also cleaned out some closets and is coming back next week to help clean out the office and my closet. For those of you who do not know I am a neat freak, so being on bed rest has been very difficult for me. Mom knows that her cleaning out and organizing is the best way to help me relax. Again thanks to everyone!

You can see the dresser and part of the

Armoire, along with the tools and paint.

Charles and Brad working on the nursery bathroom.

The dresser and the armoire for the nursery. White furniture, khaki walls, and the bedding is light blue/khaki and light pink/khaki. The drapes are a brown and white stripe that goes with the bedding. I think it will look very cute and perfect for Bryant and Lucy.

Doctor's Visit

We went to the doctor yesterday in Memphis and everything was great. I had to do the glucose test and we are waiting on the results, he listened to the babies heartbeats, and ask a ton of questions. We go back in two weeks and we will have an ultrasound. This is the longest we have ever had to wait for an ultrasound, it will be four weeks. We can't wait to see how much Bryant and Lucy have grown. Thanks for all the prayers and please continue to pray for the health of Bryant and Lucy.

25 Weeks

I finally started to take pictures of this ever growing belly. I will post more photos as it continues to grow, hope it does not scare you.

Family Christmas

After Charles and I celebrated Christmas at our house we went to celebrate with my family. We ate a great breakfast and enjoyed watching everyone open gifts. My sister got a lot of great stuff and even got some pictures of her, she does not like to take pictures. Charles and I are so grateful for our wonderful families and we look forward to many more good times.

Merry Christmas

Charles and I had a wonderful Christmas. Hutch and Bailey loved their stockings and did not want to share with each other. We feel so blessed and know that next Christmas will be even more special with our new additions to the family, Bryant and Lucy.

Celebrating Christmas Eve

We celebrate Christmas with the Johnson's on Christmas Eve. We start the day with lunch at his grandparents and then everyone opens gifts. After some visiting and picture taking we head over to Chuck and Catherine's house to celebrate Christmas with Charles' 2 sisters, brother-in-law, and nephew. Tons of gifts are under the tree and seems like it only takes a few minutes to open them all. After that we head to Helena to my parents house for dinner and everyone opens one gift. This year I made everyone play some games and we had the best time. We feel so blessed this year and we are so thankful that everyone is healthy and we are looking forward to another great year.

Beth (Charles' sister), Paige (Charles' cousin), and I at Mr. Roger and

Mrs. Emma's on Christmas Eve.

Beth is also expecting this summer.

Ann Marie who gave you those

chocolate pecans? This is Paige and

Randy's little girl and she is so cute!

A photo of all the grandkids and

great grandkids.

Roger, Emma, Chuck, and Allen

They took a photo just like this about 30+ years

ago and I wanted them to take one to go with it.

Laura with her new trey and stool.

Chuck (Charles' dad) handing out gifts.

Joe and Charles putting together one of Carson's toys.

Christmas In Manila

Every year the whole family heads to Manila, AR. for Christmas at my Grandmas. We have such a wonderful time with all the famlily being together. The day is filled with lots of food, gifts, and great memories of my grandpa, he loved when all the family was gathered at his home.

Cameron and Kim

Emily, Caroline, Peyton, and Holly

Mom opening up her gifts

Grandma with her gifts

Emily and Caroline

Decorating for Christmas

Thanks to a very good friend, Dixie, our house looked wonderful for Christmas. She came over the week after Thanksgiving and started decorating. I was already on partial bed rest and unable to do our decorating. I don't know what I will do next year because I will never be able to make it look this good! Thanks so much Dixie!

Many trips to the Doctor

After finding out we were expecting, we had to go to the fertility doctor each week until I was 10 weeks pregnant. Charles was able to go to most of the doctor's appointments and we would have ultrasounds each time to make sure the babies were growing properly. It was during this time that we learned that Baby C was not going to fully develop. They explained to us that the sack would begin to shrink and my body would absorb the sack. Charles and I were okay with this because we still felt so blessed to have Baby A and Baby B. After 10 weeks I began going to my regular OB and a maternal fetal specialists. We were going each week to one doctor or the other because they were watching my cervix very closely. I continued to work full time until the OB requested that I work part time and rest the other half of the day. Of course I did exactly what he said and that was the start of partial bed rest.

A Little History About Us

Our story starts a little different than most....... Charles and I new that we wanted children soon after we were married in May of 2004, but after a checkup we found that this could be a difficult task. I began to take fertility drugs in October of 2005 and continued until January 2006 before going to visit a fertility specialist in February. After our visit we felt as though our chances would increase after undergoing exploratory surgery at the end of the month. The surgery revealed stage 3 endometriosis and I felt helpless. Our best option was In Vitro Fertilization (IVF), so we began the process. We found out that in May 2006 that we were expecting twins and we were so excited. Life continued as normal and we began to prepare for the arrival of our twins. In September 2006 the twins were born at 22 weeks and 1 day and our lives were forever changed. After this devastating tragedy in our lives we decided to start fertility treatments again. In July we went back to the doctor and he decided that IUI would be the best option for us. We started the process and found out on September 4th that it was successful and we have been so happy ever since that day. Not only did we find out we were expecting, but that the Lord had blessed us with triplets. We were overwhelmed and filled with so much emotion. Initially baby c was smaller and the doctor felt as though it would not fully develop and when we returned 2 weeks later for another ultrasound baby C was not growing and we were officially having twins. We are just so thankful for these two wonderful blessings and we thank God everyday for what He has done for us.

The day of our IUI Cycle- August 2, 2007

Found out we were expecting- September 4, 2007