Leaving on a jet plane...

I'm sitting at Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson airport (the king of all airports) in my home state of Georgia. I'm leaving on a jet plane, back one hour to another time zone and to the state that will soon be my state of residence. In all honesty, I feel totally sick. I'm leaving the Zabies with my parents to make the trip quicker and easier. This is my first time ever being away from my babies more than a few hours and I may barf from nervousness. Not that I don't think my parent won't take excellent care of them but because I have no reason to ever want to leave them. They are my world and I've always said I would have children to live life with them. Obviously, this was the best choice for our family for a quick house hunting and neighborhood stalking trip. It's just easier. No packing of kiddos to travel to another state and another adjustment for them but man do I miss those little boogers already! I can't say I will ever leave them overnight again. Praying for a smooth flight me and a great day for my sweet girls. Happy Friday y'all! 

It's Following Me...

The Zabies and I are visiting Georgia while our guy is settling into his new job in St. Louis. 

We came here for the amazing weather that Georgia is known and loved for, and of course to visit our wonderful family. Unfortunately, the weather has been less than ideal with many days of wintery mixes and one good snowfall {extremely rare in these parts}. Yep, the snow is following me. It must love me. Can you blame it? Ha! Kidding!

6 inches is way more enjoyable than 4 feet, not to mention it's a balmy 32 degrees instead of subzero. 

We can actually get out and play in it which is the plan for today. 

And the view out of my parent's window is beautiful!

Luckily a lot of our family lives nearby and has been by to visit even with the wintery weather. 

My 1st cousins, Tia and Tamera... nope not twins. 

The Zabies with their cousin Emerson and Uncle Drew whom they adore. 

We are loving getting to see our extended family and are hoping for some warmer weather to play in also. 

Linking up with:

Thoughts for Thursday with Annie. 

High Risk OB Consult

A few weeks ago I had an appointment at the Regional Perinatal Center in CNY.

 I just needed some clarification on the events that took place the day the Zabies were born 

and what that meant for us moving forward. 

I didn't go the the RPC when I was expecting the Zabies 

but due to the rarity of my situation {read here and complications here},

they consulted with the Chief of Obstetrics and Gynecology when I was on the table after they delivered the Zabies. 

Dr. Silverman is also the Regional Perinatal Doctor. 

So when I had detailed questions about the risks involved in becoming pregnant again my OB quickly referred me out to the RPC. 

I felt conflicted about my meeting with Dr. Silverman but had a lot of detailed questions I needed answers to. 

I didn't have to wait long before they called me back and was quickly seated in the consult room. 

The nurse was asking all of the initial questions when she realized that my patient history was a little more involved than most. She had a lot of questions about my situation. While I was explaining my history Dr. Silverman walked in and took over the appointment. 

He sat behind the desk and said, "So, I hear you're thinking about doing this again?"

I told him I was there for clarity on the situation. 

He had a medical student with him and was explaining to her, and the nurse, what happened the day I delivered.

"Mrs. Zabek was admitted for preterm labor, 90% effacement and dilated to 4 cm. She never experienced painful contractions and after one bolus of saline all contractions stopped and she was then only monitored every 12 hours for 48 hours. She was in the beginning stages of being discharged and she experienced a tetanic contraction. Doctors pushed terbutaline twice and Baby A was in d-cell. They moved forwarded with a STAT C. When they opened her up there was a lot of blood. They got both babies out and started searching for the bleed. Then they found a ruptured vessel of the posterior portion of her uterus...." 

It was like deja vu hearing it all over again. 

"Mrs. Zabek lost over half of her blood volume."

"So the question at hand is: is pregnancy contraindicated?..... Absolutely NOT!"

What? Why? I had been praying and coming to terms with the fact that we would have to have a gestational carrier for future pregnancies. This was not the information I was expecting. I really was just there to better understand why the rupture had happened. 

He explained it to me further and this is what I learned, 

"I've seen this exact same thing once before in my career, almost 10 years ago. Patient had undergone IVF treatments to gain pregnancy. It was like looking inside of the same belly. The vessel rupture was exactly the same. What we think happened is that when the embryos were being transferred back into the uterus the uterine lining was punctured and those embryos implanted deeper than normal causing the uterine wall and extra vessel (which is normal during pregnancy) to be weakened resulting in the rupture."

He continued to explain to me the risk factors and how he feels that the likelihood of it happening again is lower than 8% since it is kind of a freak incident and thought to be caused by IVF. He told me clearly that he recommends for women to never become pregnant again on a daily basis due to maternal death risks and that is not his recommendation for me. 

I walked away confused and torn.
Elated, scared, hopeful and nervous. 

I want to have more children but the risk scares me. 

To say I have been praying about it may be the understatement of the century...

I pray about it all the time. For God to help me to recognize the right path to take and to put the desire in my heart to do the right thing. 

The kicker?...

Dr. Silverman said he thought we wouldn't have a problem conceiving on our own since we have had one successful pregnancy!! 

WHAT???
Apparently, fertility rates go up after being pregnant and delivering successfully in couples who have a history of infertility. 

Since I have been praying about this, I have literally had 10 friends announce pregnancies.

A sign? Maybe.

Until I feel confident in our path, I will just keep loving and adoring these two little ladies.
They are truly a blessing.

...and of course I'm praying...every. single. day.

I am so thankful that the decision is now between me, my guy and our Heavenly Father. 

Linking up with:

Jess for It's the little things 

CNY Home Tour || Main Floor

Happy Tuesday Y'all!

I'm finishing up our CNY home today with out main floor 

since I totally failed to photograph our basement before we left. 

Maybe I can tackle that when we return next month. 

This is what it looks like when you walk into our foyer, minus the speckled walls. 

They've been painted a beautiful shade of grey since this was taken. 

My favorite foyer decor.

My parents gave it to us for Christmas last year.

The formal living area turned office area. 

My favorite part of this room is the table on the right. 

My guy made that for me three Christmases ago, the last one we spent in our Georgia house. 

The view from the kitchen back to the front door. 

The view from the kitchen into the family area. 

And vice versa. 

I love these book shelves and how beautiful it is to display favorite items. 

This is the office turned play room. 

It's the perfect play area for the girls since the doors are easily closed 

and toys are out of sight.

Half bath on the main. 

We recently re-did this room. 

New mirror and stainless faucet. 

We took down the old medicine cabinet over the toilet and added these shelves instead.

The dining room. 

It looks exactly like our dining room in Georgia, except the color. 

Man, I am going to miss our home! 

It has been perfect for us these past two years. 

I am thankful I have found a way to document the things we love about it, right here in this space of the web!

Linking up with:

Beth for Tuesday Talk

Moving|| House Selling Woes

Josh went back to our home in CNY last week to tie up some loose ends. 

Everything at our house is perfect for showing and hopefully getting an awesome offer. 

There is only one problem...

SNOW!!

Lots of it. 

I mean record amounts of snow. 

Which mean no one is looking for their dream home. 

My guy sent me these pictures on Friday. 

He had to dig out our mailbox. 

A friend of mine reported that the plow took her mailbox out last week.

Silver lining: We still have ours!

Check out the snow pile behind him. 

This is across the street from our drive way. 

Head high.

The snow is really putting a damper on the quick, easy sell of our house. 

It makes me nervous since we {the girls and myself} will be staying in CNY until the house sells and it's time to move into our new home. 

Limbo is the worst part of getting a promotion and moving for this planning crazed gal.

Linking up with:

 Mommy Moments with Faith

Mingle Monday with Meg

Weekending with B Loved Boston

Georgia Fun|| Play Date with Porter

When we visit Georgia it is crazy. 

My parent's house is a constant revolving door of visitors that are dying to see me... err... the Zabies.

Between friends and family we have has about 5-6 people a day visiting. 

I love it. 

It reminds me of when I was a teenager. 

Everyone loved to hang out at my house.

We haven't had many play dates since we got here but we did get to see my long-time, 

best friend and her son on Tuesday. 

Morgan and I have been friends since middle school, our birthdays are two days apart and our due dates with our babies were only 3 days apart. 

Morgan is a teacher and, luckily. is on February break this week. 

Porter loved having the girls to himself. 

It was so much fun seeing these little ones play together! 

Linking up with:

Thoughts for Thursday with Annie. 

Organization || Family Binder

There are so many things that need to be done before moving 

or in preparation to move that it has my head spinning. 

The only way I can keep up is to stay organized. 

Since we are being packed up and moved by a professional moving company there are some things that we simply don't want them to move for us. 

Some of those things are all of our personal important documents. 

When we moved from Georgia to New York I created a family binder that held all of those documents. It was easy to keep up when during the move and I didn't have to worry about anything getting lost or misplaced. Honestly, I haven't touched this thing since we moved other than grabbing a document here or there. 

One of the many things on my to do list was to add Kensington and Quinn to the binder. 

Meet our Family Binder

I think I paid $3 for this binder at Target a few years ago. It's just a simple 3-ring binder. 

Each of us has our own folder, even the dogs. 

I really like these folders. They are pocket folders that button and fit into the 3-ring binder.

You don't have to worry about anything falling out with the snap closure. 

Not only do I put important documents in each our folders but I also put things that I would be devastated if they turned up missing.  

What we include:

Marriage Certificate

Birth Certificates

Draft Card

Passports

Social Security Cards

Baby Footprints (I would be heartbroken if these got lost)

Hospital Bracelets (Devastated if lost)

Immunization records (for the people of the house)

Copies of health & dental insurance cards

Other important certificates

Immunization records and tags (for the pups)

I love that everything is in one place for quick access for moving or in case of an emergency {or a zombie apocalypse!}

How do you store your important documents?  Do you have a family binder? What all do you include in it?

Linking up with:

Jess for It's the little things