Well, we've made it to 28 weeks as of yesterday.  Our girls would stand a pretty good chance of surviving without permanent problems now if they had to be delivered, though they would likely spend 4 - 6 weeks in an incubator.  So I'm happy to say that they are still safely with Leesa and growing more every day.  She hasn't had any other issues recently.

We did have to go to the hospital last Tuesday around 11p, which was fun.  She hadn't felt them move much for a couple days and the discharge slip from our last visit said that was something to watch for.  So we called her OB on call and she said to head for the hospital for some monitoring.  Which means we had a few hours of find-the-babies, with both of them becoming very lively indeed once they felt the monitors on them.

So we weren't real concerned about their lack of movement by the time we left since they hardly stopped moving the whole time and both had good, strong heartrates.

I'd like to momentarily call attention to the excellent nursing staff working at the new Family Birth Center at St. Mary's in Athens.  They are really exceptional - Angela, in particular.  Especially considering all of the challenges of constantly putting up with our hyper girls and taking care of easily-excitable new parents, it's wonderful how professional and still friendly they are.

That being said, I'd really like it if I only see all of them once more in my life.  You know, nothing personal, we just never go there just because we're bored and have little else to do.

Leesa has an appointment with her perineonatologist (hah, Firefox's spellcheck isn't even going to try) tomorrow where I'm hoping we get some more great ultrasound footage (maybe even the 3D (4D?) dealie) and she's hoping he'll say, "Your placenta is like the Rock of Gibraltar and you may feel free to decorate the nursery, take frequent trips to Target, and lift objects many times your own weight at will!"

Probably not, but hopefully she'll at least be cleared to go up the stairs once in a while or take short shopping trips.  I know it's killing her being stuck in the house all the time and not even able to come upstairs and see the nursery.

Ann Coulter on Hannity and Colmes said that she would vote, even campaign, for Hillary over McCain if it comes to that.  I don't know if I would go quite that far (especially with news that Nancy Reagan is privately endorsing McCain) but if it came down to Obama and McCain?  Yeah, I don't know...

The idea is to stream the events of the Convention over the internet and allow more interactivity and such. I asked whether it was possible to save the streaming video and embed it for later play, and they said it would be possible. I haven't found a way to do it with the video of the press conference itself, however, so hopefully they didn't just misunderstand. After all, embedding streaming video is really only of limited use. The whole power behind YouTube and TiVo is that you don't have to be there when it happens.

You can see the page here but, of course, being streaming, there's nothing to see now.

Update: Just as they said, there is a place for "past clips" where you can see and embed previously aired video.  Very nice.  Look for a familiar mention around 13:30.

Leesa's been discharged and we're back home now.  She's been put on bed rest until delivery to try to prevent any further problems, but the doctor says that it's unlikely that we'd get a complete placental abruption -- which is my big fear.  Still, no reason we won't end up doing the very same thing later today or tomorrow.  But we know that God's watching over our little ones, no matter what.

It's a rough thing this father bit and I know it only gets harder.  It's a never-ending source of stress, fear, anxiety, and even terror -- to say nothing of the strain on sleep and finances.  Last night they refused to go to sleep and kept dodging and kicking the fetal monitors, turning what should have been an hour of observation into a night-long, sleepless marathon of find-the-baby.  I already have a long list of reasons to spank them once they finally get here and are big enough to know why.  Maybe I'll just make them wait until they're 18 to get their driver's license.

But, then again, we saw them on the ultrasound again today.  They were asleep (no wonder after last night).  Kate was lying sideways and Natalie was lying with her head resting on Kate's belly.  It was very cute.

So, you know, it's ok.  Whatever my little girls need. 

It started out as an ordinary day, but it is certainly not one.

I'm sitting here, reclined in a chair, next to my lovely wife.  She has three fetal monitors, an IV full of yummy dextrose, and a pulseox sensor.  The fetal monitor beeps every once in a while to indicate the Natalie and Kate's heartbeats.  Kate has been particularly bad in this area as she keeps moving around and away from the sensor.

It started earlier today with a yell from Leesa that I can honestly say I hope I never hear again.  I've always maintained that men (most men, anyway) are hardwired with a feature -- a cut-off switch, if you will -- that is tripped when a woman cries.  It's just something that says: "Stop what you're doing right now.  If you're busy, stop.  If you're angry, drop it.  Fix the crying now."  This was something else, though.  It was a mix of fear, anguish, panic, despair, and confusion coming from my beloved.  The kind of thing that goes right to your hindbrain.

It was blood, and lots of it.  The doctor has said it's a partial placental abruption.  Basically, the placenta has come partially loose from the uterus.  Which is bad, but it could be worse - and that's the real danger right now.  She's been admitted and we'll be here for a couple days at least.  Personally I'd feel safer if they just kept her after that until she's full term, but we'll see how it goes.

We certainly appreciate any prayers for us and the girls.  I'll try to keep this up with any status changes when they happen.

I have a whole diatribe on passive-aggresive holiday songs but no time to bang it out right now.  So here are some videos to tide you over.

An oldie but a goodie.

Michelle Malkin has noticed something eerily similar about the nominees for the Spoken Word Grammy...

Best Spoken Word Album (Includes Poetry, Audio Books & Story Telling)

• The Audacity Of Hope: Thoughts On Reclaiming The American Dream - Barack Obama
• Celebrations - Maya Angelou
• Giving: How Each Of Us Can Change The World - Bill Clinton
• Sunday Mornings In Plains: Bringing Peace To A Changing World - Jimmy Carter
• Things I Overheard While Talking To Myself - Alan Alda

Huh.  Anyone else notice a pattern?

Says White House Press Corps institution Helen Thomas:

Q: Do you think technology is changing [journalism]? That a good reporter will always find a venue because there are so many media outlets now?

Thomas: No, but I do think it is kind of sad when everybody who owns a laptop thinks they're a journalist and doesn't understand the ethics. We do have to have some sense of what's right and wrong in this job. Of how far we can go. We don't make accusations without absolute proof. We're not prosecutors. We don't assume.

Typical elitism.  Course we can't all have the professionalism and absolute proof requirements of Dan Rather.  Or the sense of right and wrong of the CNN debate organizers.  But let's just go to Ms. Thomas herself...

I'm covering the worst president in American history.

The day Dick Cheney is going to run for president, I'll kill myself. All we need is another liar... I think he'd like to run, but it would be a sad day for the country if he does.

She certainly has the professionalism down.

The approval rating for the war is at 41%.

Congress's approval rating is, heh, 20%...