From the Beginning

Here is a little background on how we got to where we are today. Dillon and I were married on June 24, 2011.  Shortly after we got married we found out we were pregnant with a boy!  Everything was going great up until 23 weeks and 2 days into our pregnancy when I woke up at 3:30 that morning in labor.  We got to the hospital and I was already dilated to 8 cm. At that point, we got the most devastating news that there was nothing they could do to stop the labor and we were going to have our baby boy that day. Traysen Tobias Lanksbury was born at 11:22 am weighing 1lb 9oz and 12 inches long. We got to hold him in our arms for just an hour until he was called to his forever home in heaven at 12:20.  Not a day goes by that we do not think about and miss Traysen.  He will forever be our first child.

Shortly after we lost Traysen, Dillon and I decided we wanted to try for another kid.  This time it was not as easy to get pregnant.  We struggled for about a year and a half with many many months of tears.  We were definitely losing hope and started to think about other options, but God answered our prayers on June 26th just two days after our 2nd anniversary with a positive pregnancy test!  A little scare in the beginning of our pregnancy led to an early ultrasound on July 10th when we found out we were having twins!  God is Good! Dillon and I were both shocked, but extremely excited when we saw on the ultrasound the two little blobs! We knew that my experience with preterm labor would consider us high risk, but adding twins to the equation made this an extremely high risk pregnancy.  We would soon find out that this pregnancy would be a long hard road. We had been seeing a specialist in Everett for a couple weeks and everything was looking really good until our September 19th (16 week mark) visit.  After doing a cervix check and finding that my cervix was shortening, they decided to put me on bedrest.  I had to quit my job and hang out on the couch at home. We had weekly follow up appointments in Everett and every time they would check my cervix.  Some weeks it had shortened more than others, but most of the time it held pretty stable which was very encouraging.  At my 21, 22, and 23 week appointments my cervix measured at 1.5 cm.  They told me as soon at it got below 1 cm, I would be admitted to UW.  We headed down to our 24 week appointment and as soon as they started the exam, I knew things weren't good.  The ultrasound tech and Dillon were watching the measurements and not saying anything.  I could tell that that was the day I was going to go to UW. My cervix had gone down to 0.8 cm.  The drive to UW was hard, but I knew that I was going to be in the best place possible if these babies decided to come early.  This brings us up to my stay in the hospital.