A New and Challenging Chapter

Hi friends and family! I know many of you have heard the news already, but we want to make sure we reach everyone possible. Adam typed up an email explaining our current situation, and I've pasted it into this post below. My plan is to continue to update this blog regularly with our progress, both to keep everyone updated who is interested, and to capture every miraculous moment in our sweet boys' lives! Please read on, and I promise I (or Adam) will keep you updated as best we can. We love you all!

Hi Everyone.

I'm so sorry we didn't get to talk to everyone in person, but I thought at least we'd send a note to get everyone up to speed.

On Sunday night, Erin's water broke on one of the babies. She's at about 18 weeks, which is way too early to safely deliver any babies. At the time, Erin was having some contractions, and we were told we probably were going to have to deliver both babies that night. Obviously that was devastating news. However, praise God, the contractions stopped quickly later that night, and since then, she's been very stable. So although Baby A lost his fluid, it's still possible for her to carry both babies all the way to a normal delivery date. Our biggest risks at this point would be if she went into labor, or if she got an infection. But she's not had any contractions for the last 3 days, and she shows no signs of infection - in addition to being on lots of IV antibiotics. Life is going to be hour-to-hour, day-to-day for the Bortkas for a long time, but we know beyond any doubt that the situation is in God's hands, and with that we find comfort. As most of you know, our entire pregnancy has been miraculous and we feel so blessed to have experienced 18 straight weeks of miracles so far! We're just praying now that we get to see many more :)

If Erin continues to be perfectly stable, they'll send us home on Monday for continued bedrest. We'll be at home until she gets to 23 weeks, at which point we'd come back to the hospital, hopefully for a long time :) Right now we're at St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital downtown in the Medical Center, and are so happy to be surrounded by a medical practice that specializes in high risk multiple births, and next door to one of the world's best neo-natal programs at Texas Children's!

We are so blessed to have such amazing friends & family that have been so supportive. We certainly love having your prayers to help through the journey ahead. For now, we've loved getting supportive notes from people, as phone conversations have been tricky buried deep in the concrete hospital. And although we are so honored to have folks wanting to come visit and are happy to host at our new downtown address, I'd like to ask that if you're going to come, please call, text, or write to me ahead of time (281-202-8228, & please use my gmail address at abortka@gmail.com) to double check that we're in a good state to have visitors at that moment. And, if you can't make it this week but still want to show support, we're going to have lots of time at home for the next month or so and would be happy to see people then :)

So again, for now we're doing really good. Erin is stable and healthy, both babies are healthy, and God's firmly in control!

I'll try to keep sending out updates on a regular basis, or as things change. Erin loves hearing from people at ebortka@gmail.com or texts at 281-633-6830.

We love you all, God bless you for your support in our time of need.

"We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed" 2 Corinthians 4:8-9

With much love,

Adam & Erin

Getting a little carried away...

Sorry I've delayed in keeping everyone updated! Since we found out about our boys, I have been going nonstop to try and get ready for their arrival. We've picked out bedding, narrowed down furniture choices, picked a stroller, found a diaper bag (it's embarrassing how much shopping I did for that), and started a registry. Add to that a full week of work and an activity every single night, and I am absolutely worn out.

I'm not sure why - maybe it's the "nesting phase," maybe my natural tendency to get carried away, but I'm having a really hard time slowing down and pacing myself with this baby stuff. I want everything to be ready NOW, despite the fact that we have almost five months until our due date! I'm also having a hard time relinquishing control of anything. Adam offered to do the big closet cleanout and room rearrangement that's necessary before we can set up the nursery, and I straight up told him, "No, I want to do it, because I don't think you'll do it the way I want you to." Wha?! This is not normally like me; I promise!!

After a week of completely wearing myself out, I may be starting to learn my lesson (with the help of my very wise husband). I don't have to do everything right now, CAN'T do everything myself, and need to accept help when it is offered. It's okay that I don't know what the heck to do with a breast pump, that I don't know how I'll manage feeding two babies, that we haven't yet decided which car seats to buy. I need to stop attempting to steal control from God and just rest in the knowledge that He will take care of us and our baby boys!

A couple of side-notes from the week:

-Our boys are 5 inches long from head to bottom (and my stomach shows it!).

-I THINK I may be feeling some movement, but I can't be sure yet.

-For fun, I added up the cost we can expect to spend on diapers for our boys through potty training. A conservative estimate is $8000.

-My appetite is picking up, and so is my weight. That pesky little milestone I was worrying about a few weeks ago? Yeah, long gone.

-We're taking family photos with Adam's family tomorrow. I'm hoping a bulky sweater and artfully-placed scarf will hide the fact that I'll be pregnant on his parents' wall for the next 10 years.

-My parents are moving down here in less than a month!

Boy Oh Boy!!

The results are in, and I have given away the news in the title - we are having 2 boys!!! I might as well start embarrassing them now; photo proof of their genders is shown below:

Adam and I were both honestly shocked at the outcome. We had somehow both convinced ourselves that we would be having at least one girl. We also had both had dreams that we were having one of each, but I guess you can never really know until you know!

Now that the initial shock has worn off, we are both so thrilled. We are very excited to jump into the world of blocks, trucks, legos, and sports; it's going to be quite an adventure! We can't wait to really begin getting ready in earnest - decorating the nursery, registering, etc. It can all really start. Now we just have to decide on names...

In other news, I'm just trucking along! I FINALLY passed up that weight milestone I was struggling with; I have a resolution to stop worrying about it so much and just do my best. The babies are both still ahead of schedule in size, and everything is going great.

Happy New Year, all - 2011 will be the year of the BOYS!!

Let's put it to a vote!

We have our next big ultrasound scheduled for Tuesday, January 4th, and I'll be just about 16 weeks along. Even though my doctor isn't promising they'll be able to tell genders, I've got my hopes way up! So I added a voting bar on the right side - I want to see what y'all think our babies will be! This idea was shamelessly stolen from another blog I read, so some of you may recognize it.

You have two weeks to vote before the ultrasound; let's see how close we all get to the truth! I honestly have no idea what they'll be. Adam's family is a bunch of boys; my extended family is dominated by girls. I find myself hoping a little that they're boy/girl, for the sole reason that we have a boy and a girl name picked out that we LOVE, and I want to be able to use them both! Obviously, I'll be thrilled no matter what. If we end up with two of the same gender, I can dress them alike until they can't stand it anymore. :o)

Thanks to all of you who continue to celebrate this experience with us - we are so grateful for the privilege of bringing these babies into the world!

Ugh.

I was apparently WAY too premature in thinking that 1st trimester symptoms were coming to an end. This morning as I was getting ready for work, I threw up my entire breakfast. Sigh. I actually think I probably caused it. My doctor has prescribed a bunch of vitamins for me to take, and I'd been previously taking them before bed, but all the large pills have been making me gag. So I thought maybe if I took them in the morning before I ate anything, I wouldn't gag as badly. That is true - the actual act of taking the pills this morning was much easier. But the end result - major barf - was not good. So back to the evening I go...sigh.

I'm also a bit discouraged because of the weight gain issue. It's really silly, but I've been flirting with a certain milestone weight - 120 - for about two weeks, and I just can't seem to maintain it. I FINALLY hit 120 a couple of days ago, in the morning, before eating (when we're at our lightest), and I was so excited! But the next day, I was back down to 119. Argh! I know in a few months when I'm leaving 160 behind I'll probably look back on this and laugh, but right now it just seems like every pound is a hard-fought battle. It's also very funny to see this in perspective - I have definitely never been so frustrated about not being able to GAIN weight! Pregnancy is a strange time of life!

Ok, enough complaining. Adam and I are getting so excited about Christmas vacation! We are spending a week over Christmas with my parents in Vegas, and then flying to Kansas for a week over New Years for Adam's cousin's wedding. I just love this time of year, and I can't wait to spend so much time with the ones we love. We have incredible things to celebrate this year, so it feels even more special than usual.

And of course I need to include a baby update! I passed the 13-week mark yesterday. Our little ones are, according to my pregnancy email, the size of large shrimp. Personally, I think that's stupid - shrimp are not a fruit! I do not like inconsistency! So Adam and I have decided that they're kiwis this week. A couple of really interesting tidbits - they have fingerprints now (so cool!), and if either are girls, they have all their eggs for their entire lifetime already. So I may have the building blocks of grandbabies in my tummy, which is very neat but a little strange!

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas holiday and remember the main reason for celebration - the ultimate gift of the life of Jesus Christ. We are so blessed.

Bye bye, 1st trimester!

I can't believe it. I passed the 12-week mark yesterday, so I'm now officially in the 2nd trimester! (Well, according to some sources. Others say 14 weeks, but I'm picking this one and sticking with it.) I know the 2nd trimester brings with it promises of many good things: less fatigue, less sickness, vastly lowered risk of miscarriage, etc. And while I've actually been more tired this week than last, I love the promise of changes hopefully coming soon!

Our babies are now the size of limes, and my tummy is the size of a basketball. Not a whole basketball yet, but like I sliced off a third of a basketball and stuck it under my shirt. I'm still able to wear several non-maternity shirts and dresses, but I am exclusively in maternity pants now. And lucky me, a couple of days ago a new pregnancy symptom visited me - swollen feet! It wasn't too bad, but after a long day of sitting in meetings and not being able to get up and walk very often, my shoes were definitely tight and my feet tender to the touch. I've started trying to grab an extra chair in meetings for my feet, and get up and walk at least every half hour, but it's difficult sometimes. I know this symptom will likely get much worse, so I want to establish those good habits now before I REALLY swell!

I also need to update on our Program for Multiples day Monday! It was amazing; I'm so glad this program is offered in Houston and that we got to participate. I love our clinic; I feel very taken care of. We got a looooong ultrasound (~1 hour) where everything related to our babies was measured and photographed: heads, legs, arms, hands, stomachs, intestines, umbilical cords, placentas, etc. It was really neat to just sit in there and watch our babies on the screen for such a long time. They are super adorable (in my unbiased opinion)!

We also got a genetics consultation, where our detailed family history was taken, and every tiny question we had was answered. Adam has a birth defect that required surgery when he was an infant (and left a ridiculously huge scar on his stomach!), and I have a cousin with Down's syndrome, so we talked at length on those subjects. Thankfully, neither of these issues affect our babies' risk because neither are typically hereditary, so that was a great relief.

Next was our consultation with the dietition. Oh, boy. I want to reiterate that I'm so glad we got to do this, but this part wasn't fun. I knew I would have to gain a lot of weight. I had no idea how much. First, there's the twin aspect - more weight than a usual pregnancy. Then, there's the "skinny Erin" aspect - I'm just barely in the category of underweight, but that added more weight to the goal. Finally, an additional 7 pounds is tacked on when a twin pregnancy is your first pregnancy, just for fun I think. So the final number is...wait for it...53 - 74 pounds.

When I heard this number, my mind just went blank. I know it seems like fun, right? Permission to eat whatever you want for 9 months? But it intimidates the heck out of me. I'm really not sure I'll be able to hit this number! But all I can do is try my best, so that's what I'll do.

The good news is that our babies are healthy and still measuring ahead of schedule, so that's really what it all boils down to. We are extremely blessed!

11 weeks

I know I already posted once today, but I wanted to get back on track with my weekly progress emails. We are 11 weeks today - rapidly approaching the end of the 1st trimester! I can't believe how quickly the time is going. According to our pregnancy email, the babies are the size of figs. However, due to our appointment yesterday, we know exactly how big the babies are: 1.67 inches and 1.75 inches. Keep in mind that measurement is from crown to rump, so it doesn't include their legs. It's incredible how fast they grow!

This week I've started to notice a gradual decrease in symptoms - praise the Lord! Though I blessedly have had an easy 1st trimester, it's still wonderful to begin having a little more energy, fewer food aversions, and fewer mood swings. I count myself extremely lucky at the easy time I've had so far - my doctor was shocked when I told him yesterday I hadn't had much nausea. Apparently almost all women pregnant with multiples struggle with morning sickness big-time, and many end up losing weight from not being able to keep food down. I have tossed my cookies - wait for it - once. Unbelieveable. And I have steadily gained weight since about week 6, though not that much yet! I'm crediting good heredity for this blessing; my mom didn't have nausea during her pregnancy, either. Thanks, Mom!!

Beyond that, everything else is going great as well. Adam and I are starting to shop around for the big purchases - new car, double stroller, etc. We're somewhat specific on which models/brands we want, but we're still bargain-hunting and hoping to find good deals. Anyone know of a 2005 or newer Land Rover for less than $10k? ;o) (Hint: you don't. We've given up this dream.)