Dateline: Hoblitzelle Hospital, June 16, 2008

First of all "Hoblitzelle Hospital" sounds like something out of Lemony Snicket. Perhaps that's a bad beginning! Ha! Ha! Ha! Sorry if that's too esoteric for most people. Mmmm...is the word "esoteric" itself esoteric? Kind of like the word "monosyllabic" is also monosyllabic. yep.

Next of all, Abby's doing pretty well. Mondays are fast becoming the best day of the week since she is rolled out of her room for 20 minuets to get a sonogram. Thursdays are nice too because she gets to leave to see the doctor. Good Times! So the doctor said the girls are doing fine. He didn't give us weight, but we're hopeful that they'll be right around 3 lbs. She gets to eat a lot of good food here so that's a plus. Other than that it's kind of boring. Todd/Melissa and I we're discussing how bed rest at a hospital would be a really sweet mid week break, if you got it once a week, say maybe Wednesdays. Seven weeks in a row, however, might become a little tedious.

Right now Abby is only a few days away from 29 weeks, which is good. 30 weeks is good, 32 weeks will be awesome and 34 will be the promise land! So far so good.

Jami and Matt Schweers came over and started me, James by the by, off painting the little lady's room and then my parents were up last weekend to help me finish it off and build some cribs. I guess Abigail was just bluffing about having them sleep in my dresser draws. I'll post pictures so you can see the nursery. I just hope that girls have a healthy appreciation of bright colors.

currently im having the troubles posting pictures, will try harder

Sorry We Never Update This

The babies have been doing well since we've last updated. They are now up to a little over 2 pounds a piece and we're at 27 weeks. They are right on track with where they should be and are very active.



We've had a few showers, which were all wonderful. Everyone has been so generous and thoughful with our growing bunch and we really appreciate it.



So in the lastest news, we went to the doctor for a regular old check-up on Wendesday. The sonogram for the babies was fine, but my cervix had shortened a good deal over the past two weeks. The doctor decided to put me on long term bed rest and she felt the best place for that would be Baylor hospital in Dallas. We checked in Friday evening, and after a day of waiting for a more permanent room in Labor and Delivery, I'm now upstairs in the antepartum area.



They gave me two rounds of shots for lung development for the babies, just in case the bed rest doesn't go as they planned. I'm also on a blood pressure medication, which can help with contractions, and hopefully won't lower my blood pressure too much (so far so good on that one). I had gotten pretty aenemic over the past few months, and my blood counts are off. They think they can get that under control while I'm here, before the babies come, so that will be great. But I really do feel fine, and the babies are right on track, so everything is pretty good.

Hospital life is a bit boring, but everyone is really nice. The nurses check in on me a lot, and they have great snacks and food. The check the babies every few hours, so I get to hear their little hearts going all day long. So far things are plugging along well, and we only have 46 more days until they might let me go home (unless the babies come earlier). It's crazy to think I will hopefully be here for over a month, but it will be worth it if it keeps the babies from having to stay here for that long on their own.

I'll do my best to keep everyone updated on any changes, but everything is doing fine for now. We really appreciate all the well wishes, visits, and phone calls, it makes the days go faster.

How Tigg Plans to Handle His New Responsibilities

James made a power point presentation of his baby handling plans. If you would like it, send us an email at jamestigg@aol.com and I'll send it your way.

We tried to post it on here, but it didn't work.

What's Happening

So, we haven't written anything in awhile, but not much has been happening. We've been enjoying our much needed spring break, and doing some things around the house.

We went to San Antonio and visited family. We also celebrated Sheila and Nelson's 25th wedding anniversary and Mike and Cathy's engagement. Grandpa Tigg bought the twins some great uniforms (pics). Cathy also got us some great journals to keep track of baby info.

We also registered at Target and Babies R Us with the wonderful help of Jami Schweers. The registries still need some revisions, but at least they're a start. They have a lot of really cute stuff at both places. We registered for a lot of green and blue things because we like green and blue, we still don't know the sex of the babies.

Lastly, our next doctor's appointment is on April 4th. We could learn the sex of the babies then, if they are cooperating (or at least one is, since they're probably identical). If we can't tell then, we have a 1-2 hour sonogram a few weeks after that, so hopefully by the end of April we'll know if they're little boys or girls.

That's really all I have to add. Hopefully James will add funnier thoughts soon.

2nd Sonogram

First Picture: Baby A, Second: Baby B, Third: Both

We were looking forward to the second sonogram to find out more about the status of the twins, apparently twins are complicated from the beginning. We needed to know about the status of the placenta(s) and sack(s).

Stats:

Baby Alberto
Size: 34 millimeters
Heart Rate: 174 bpm
Striking Feature: Looks like it sleeps like an angel.
Baby Ben
Size: 34 millimeters
Heart Rate: 174 bpm
Striking Feature: Kicks like a soccer player.

We found out that the babies are in 1 placenta and 2 sacks. That's pretty good news. Abby will not be required to go into the hospital at 24 weeks, which is always good. They actually looked like real babies, really cute, in your face ugly babies.

Pictures of the 1st Sonogram

Stats

Baby A(Alberto)

Size: 9.4 millimeters

Heart Rate: 163 bpm

Striking Feature: Fluid Sack

Baby B(Ben)

Size: 9.7 millimeters

Heart Rate: 154 bpm

Striking Feature: Yolk sack looks like an adorable head

Due Date: September 3rd (but will probably early-mid August because it's twins)

Reaction to the news of twins:

1. Room gets hot.

2. James Tiggeman and Diana Morris cry together.

3. Sarah Morris says she'll believe it when she sees the pictures, since Diana Morris has been claiming to have "had a feeling it's twins."

4. "Dad Expresses Pride in Son's Virility" New banner headline in Tiggeman family newsletter

Later That Week

"I had a feeling she was pregnant, she was taking a lot of naps during Christmas." -- Theresa Tiggeman. "Yeah, mom, she's just kind of lazy like that. I don't think it was the pregnancy." James Tiggeman. "Oh, Honey, you're always joking!" Terry Sue. "Yessss.....joking..." Me. "Can I speak with Abby?" Terry Sue. "No, she's napping." Me

paraphrased conversation repeated without the express written permission of Theresa "Terry Sue" Tiggeman or Major League Baseball.