Hospital Food Sucks!

Last week we were seriously considering declaring Kapiolani Hospital as our new place of residence. We should start getting our mail there!

As many of you know we had the pleasure of staying here for most of the week last week. I mentioned in an earlier post that I had a stomach virus but it turns out to be so much better than that. Actually so much better that they really have no idea what is going on with me. Two Saturday's ago I collapsed in our kitchen and Trav and I had a really fun bumpy ride in an ambulance that started our 5 day stay. Just about every test imaginable was done but we still don't have many answers. We have had another 8 hour stretch back at the hospital since then and they THINK it may be kidney stones now- but that is number 10 of a possible diagnosis so we will see.

We did however find out some important information while staying there. We still do not know who, but someone mistakenly ran a blood test on one of my labs that none of my doctors had ordered. This blood test was repeated because they thought it was an entry error. It turns out that my blood is mixing with the babies blood a little bit. I guess this isn't supposed to happen until delivery. It is not causing any problems now but they will closely monitor it to make sure that it doesn't.

And now for the hard part. We had a two hour long ultrasound that showed our little Ninja is not growing like she should be. Both Travis and I noticed right away when the screen showed our little girls heads side by side that Ninja's was definitely smaller. Her sister is now 2 lbs 6 oz. but Ninja is still only 1 lbs. 10 oz. This news was very hard for me to hear and I now worry about her night and day. It appears that the placenta feeding Ninja just isn't as strong and Lenni's. Because of this we will probably have to take the babies early- at 34 weeks because they can do more for Ninja once she is out. That puts them being born around the first week of November. That is definitely much sooner then we thought which is scary; and our girls are going to be small which is even scarier. But I know they will get great care and they have lots of angels in heaven and here that will help them fight! It may not be easy for a little while but I know they will be okay.

Everything about the hospital wasn't terrible. Some of the meals weren't actually too bad and we had lots of visitors including my mom- thank heavens she was still here!!!! By far the most excitement we had there was during our second quick trip back when Travis was so sick of watching me being in pain that when a rude doctor that had absolutely no finesse was giving me an exam and making me cry, Trav had some choice words for her! Really he could have said alot more and that would have been fine with me. I felt like I was in the room with my dad! This is BY FAR not the first time my husband has had glimpses of my father.

So meanwhile we wait and see if we can control my pain without too many narcotics and see if our little girls grow. At least we are back to sleeping in our own bed. Hospital beds aren't comfy but they are at least better then the thin piece of foam covered in pleather that Travis was sleeping on! And yes we are still trying to move- hopefully this weekend. That all got delayed and switched up because of the hospital detour, but hopefully in the next two weeks we will be settled and ready for life to change forever!

So I am now sleeping all day so I can avoid having two preemie babies that are addicted to Narcotics. But, with the Stock Market basically crashing around Travis at work, a wife in constant pain with at least one doctor visit a day, and moving to worry about please pray for my husband. And PLEASE pray for our little Ninja! Good thing I have always felt like she was our spunky one! She may need it.

Lunch Bunch

Since my mom has been here I have actually been fairly sick. I have what may be a stomach virus so we have done a little more just hangin out then I thought we would. But, we did have a really nice lunch the other day at Mariposa at Neiman Marcus with Travis mom, Grandma, Auntie Mona and Auntie Jo. It was yummy and fun!

My mom was here during Hurricane Ike that as you know has left quite a mess behind him. Luckily her empty house is still fine and that my sisters has has fairly minimal damage. But neither of them have power yet! Since one of Nana's top 5 loves in her life
(after my dad, her kids, her grand kids, and chocolate) is air conditioning, it is a good thing she is here roughing it at the Marriott! She has extended her trip til Tuesday and lets all pray she has power- and air by then!

The Grandma's

I got the photos from the Shower and there are alot of cute ones but I will only post a couple. I doubt any of you want to see a million pictures of my huge pregnant self holding up pictures of adorable hooded towels, diapers, baby clothes, the tiniest gold bracelets and a crib mattress! But there are good pictures that you will like!

My favorite picture is of me and the girls with the three Grandma's. They are all OVER THE TOP excited for the twins!

All the girls!

At the shower I realized not only do I have alot of girls on my side of the family, but with the addition of the twins there are more girls on Trav's side of the family too. These are the girls in Trav's immediate family.
A picture with Trav's mom. She worked so hard for such a nice shower! Thank you!

The Balish and Kikuchi Girls- the six of us! Auntie Mona, Jacquie, and Maddie.

Me with the Lee girls. Auntie Jo and Kelsey

One BIG happy family

YUMS!

Family Shower

On Saturday my mother in law threw me the nicest baby shower for all of Travis's family to get together and celebrate our little girls! She did SO much work and everyone had such a great time! Not only did she work hard but she did it at the last minute. When she found out my mom was coming to stay with me while Trav was gone, she decided to have the party for all the Grandma's to enjoy. That meant she put it together in two weeks! Not only was everything so nice but also there were almost 40 family members there that only had two weeks to schedule the twins in! It was SO nice!

Travis has the camera with him in New York so his mom took lots of photos for us that I haven't gotten yet- but once I do I will post them. The decorations were so cute- flowers and pastels everywhere. The food was amazing! Lots of salads and pupus- or appetizers for you non Hawaiians, that were beyond delicious! We played cute games and one of the best parts was the adorable favors. Each person had a small cup and saucer to make there own fresh flower bouget in- adorable.

Everyone also scrapbooked advice pages for Travis and I to keep. Before I opened presents I read all of these out loud and it made me so emotional- I know shocking for a pregnant woman! Everyone gave such amazing advice but more than that they were so supportive and loving! Everyone is so beyond excited for our two baby girls! And it is so nice to here that people have confidence in Trav and I as parents and are there to love and support us- and babysit!!

Pictures will hopefully follow soon but I had to post about the event and give a HUGE thank you to Travis's mom, his Aunty Mona, Aunty Jo, and four cousins Kelsey, Jacquie, Hunter, and Maddie who worked really hard to make such a special day. Thank you!!!

Growing EVERYDAY!!!

Another belly shot for all of you to enjoy- or laugh at! Travis told me this week when he was "lovingly" poking/rubbing my belly that he thinks it gets bigger everyday. I really couldn't be offended because HE IS RIGHT! It does, and I feel HUGE! But if that means healthy little girls then that is a great thing!

I know these aren't the best pictures. My hair is actually hideous, but we had a very long Saturday and I thought the gorgeous view would make up for it!

Catchin Up

Okay my sister and my mom have been quite irritated that my blog has been almost a month old. I kept thinking that besides a seriously growing belly, I didn't have much to post. When my mom mentioned it AGAIN yesterday, I decided I had to come up with something and then realized I did have quite a bit to post. So my catch up post are below....Trav's travelin, a fun babymoon, hospital visits, and a shower!

The bottom line is we are good, the baby girls are great, and I am getting huge! In the next month Trav will be headed to NYC while my mom comes to visit- YEAH! And we will be moving. So I will try not to let another month go by without a post- or my mom and my sister may just nag me to death!

An Amazing RED HOT Shower!

Saturday night I was treated to such a great shower thrown by my incredibly nice sister in law Kim! It was a small shower for my close friends here in Hawaii at pretty much the only good Mexican restaurant we have. After the week I had, this shower could not have been more fun and I owe Kim and everyone who came a HUGE thank you!

Kim claims to be neither crafty nor creative, but I think she has been lying for the 6 years I have known her because the shower was adorable! The invitations were two adorable chili peppers with "Please join the Fiesta celebrating Emily's little chili's" on them. She had maracas and balloons, and the cutest candy filled favors that were pink take out boxes with Mexican drink stickers on them and a rattling Mexican beaded necklace for everyone. She even found a chili pepper necklace and bracelet set for me to wear! ADORABLE!

I must admit I was anxious for the shower. I don't particularly like the attention and feel really bad when people spend money on me! But it was such a great time that I forgot about all of that- and even about the contractions I was having through out the night! It was an eclectic group of friends that was definitely enjoying alot of laughter and good food! And can I just tell you they were all MUCH to generous with all the adorable gifts!!! I got tons of cute pjs and outfits, bouncy seats, needed baby toiletries, books, hand made towels, a diaper bag, diapers, gift certificates, and a huge bright pink tub! WAY TOO NICE!

Me with my two friends Bella and Delia- oh yeah and they are also my bosses

With Tiffany, Trisha, and Candice

With Summer and Jen

With Tara and Bella


Kim thank you SO much for all your hard work and for such amazing gifts of diapers, wipes, dresses, towels, burp clothes and more! Three HUGE baskets worth! It was SO much fun and I can't thank you enough! And girls thank you SO much for coming! It was a BLAST and much needed! It wouldn't be the same without all of you there! I love ya'll!!!!

3 Days in a Row!

Can you believe that I would actually post these photos of myself on here? I actually can't believe my husband took them! This is a long post with REALLY great pictures because these are three days I don't want to forget-eventhough I don't know how I could!
Last week we had 3 long days hanging out with the doctors and nurses in the Labor and Delivery department of Kapiolani Hospital! It was quite the trio of fun!

On Tuesday night I could not sleep because my back and my belly were really sore. I wasn't really concerned just uncomfortable and tired. I finally fell asleep Wednesday morning but was up in time to call my doctor when his office opened at 9am. They said just to be safe I should go to the Labor and Delivery department so they could check me out. I called Trav at work and told him I was just going to go down by myself because I didn't think it was a big deal. Well that didn't fly and Trav came to get me. By 10 am I was checked in and all hooked up on the baby heart monitors and contraction detectors.

My casualness about the whole thing was instantly crushed when I just happened to ask my nurse when she stopped by for the 15th time: "But I'm not having any contractions though right?" At this point Travis had left to go get some work to do and get us both some lunch. I wish he had been there to see the look on my face when she responded: "Oh yeah, your having a contraction every 2-3 minutes." WHAT? I am only 26 weeks!!!! YIKES! After several more hours of the same and several cervical exams, it was determined my cervix was completely closed and I was not having pre term labor- just the oh so fun pre term contractions!

I was sent home with a new prescription to add to the list to keep these girls inside. This new drug was a blood pressure medicine that is widely used to stop contractions. Whether due to sleeping all Tuesday afternoon or all the excitement, again on Wednesday night I could not sleep. At 4:30 am the last thing I remember was going to the fridge to get myself a glass of water. I woke up on the ground not understanding why I was there and then realized I must have fainted for the first time in my life. Scary! So back to the hospital we went for more monitoring and chit chat with many doctors and nurses.

Thursday was spent listening to our little girls heart beats and them moving around ALOT in my contracting belly. The great news was that our tough girls were completely unaffected by the contractions or the fainting. As is the big concern with contractions and what often happens, neither of the girls was at all effected by what my active uterus was doing! That was quite a relief! Again we were sent home Thursday late afternoon with the explanation from 3 different doctors that my body was adjusting to the new medicine and my blood pressure had dropped so quickly when I stood up to get a drink, that it caused my beautiful black out.

Then came Friday. Apparently the girls must have missed the oh so comfortable hospital bed and just wanted to force their dad not to go to work for a third day in a row! I was sorting the clean laundry on my bed when the next thing I knew I was on the ground again!!! This time I think I may have been out for a little while and I hit my head on the end of our sleigh bed before daintily landing back where I had been yesterday. You would think this would just be routine by now but I had an insane headache, was even more scared, and even more unhappy about going back to the hospital! After more baby and contraction monitoring, blood work, exams, an EKG of my heart, a Cat Scan of my head, and another entire day in the hospital we went home Friday night knowing that these contractions were just something I was going to have to live with because the medicine with the least amount of side effects just wasn't going to work for me.

We are doing great now-besides the contractions which aren't particularly fun. The thing I mostly care about is that our girls are healthy and strong and we have had alot of reassurance of that this week. Today Travis is very happily back at work with hopefully no interruptions. When I was being wheeled out of the department on Friday I told several of our nureses that they are not going to see me back there until I hit 37 weeks and I am ready for my C-section. Lets all pray that is the case!

Our Mini Babymoon

Last month we took a long and much needed weekend to have a mini Babymoon. We stayed on the west side of the island at Makaha Resort. Travis happened to be running a golf tournament there and had to be on the course at 4:30 am on Monday. So at the last minute we headed out there on Saturday and made a nice relaxing weekend out of it. After he left the room Monday morning for the tournament, I was laying in bed thinking about how it was really quite and I really had nothing to do. I realize days like that are going to be a very far distant memory soon- but I can't wait!!!

He's a Travelin Man!

Over the past two months my husband has been quite the jet setter! For work he has been to Utah for a week, LA for 2 days, Seattle for 4 days, and Chicago for 5. He also went to Kauai for a weekend to run a Hawaii State Golf Association Tournament which he is on the Board of Directors for. He loves the trips but says he is getting too old for the flights. My suggestion was that we buy a private jet! Then I could go see my family anytime! I don't see why he hasn't jumped right on that yet!

I am glad he is traveling now before the babies come-especially when several of the trips are free to us! When he is gone I definitely miss him but feel less guilty that I am just sitting on the couch watching tv and my belly grow at the same time- that is what I call pregnancy multi tasking! The two trips that I was VERY jealous of was Utah and Chicago. In Utah he got to see alot of our good friends and most of all my brother Kirk who came from Denver for the weekend. Then in Chicago he stayed 2 nights with my brother Tyler and his family. The lucky guy got to hang out with my two nieces! Next week he is headed to the Big Apple for a very VIP first class (literally) all expense paid trip for Merrill Lynch. NYC AND my best friend Jenn who lives there- that is alot to be jealous of!

In Kauai he stayed at the gorgeous Princeville Resort and was upgraded to a beautiful suite!

Lovin a day all about golf!

In Utah with Kirk and our adopted little brother Jordan.

Almost his only photo in LA. If you know him, you know he was excited!

At a White Sox game with some Co-workers.

Downtown Chicago-isn't he handsome!

A Cubs game! The Cubs are HIS TEAM!

My adorable nieces at a street fair! A cape always makes lunch taste better!