It's Boys - 17 Weeks

One more week and I'm halfway!  I can't believe it...  Normal pregnancies last 40 weeks, that's 10 months, but average gestational of twins is 36 weeks so I don't want to get my hopes up of lasting much longer than that, so I'm calling it halfway next week :-)

I know in my last post I said my next doctor's appointment was supposed to be tomorrow but every time I have a doctor's appointment I have a separate appointment scheduled later with the maternal fetal medicine department for sooner than my OBGYN appointment so they can do an ultrasound check and I can consult with the high risk doctor.  The whole seeing two doctors is already old so I'm in the market for a new OB, oh joy!

I had an ultrasound so they could take a quick peak at the kids and measure my cervix (which is a normal length, good news for staving away bed rest) and the tech told me he could tell me the sex if I wanted to know.  I'm a control freak and an information whore so for me the decision was easy for me, HH not so much, but his heart wasn't set on not knowing so agreed (from over 1,500 miles away).  And so the tech zoomed in between their legs and I could see each had their own little penis and balls.  HH guessed right again, just like he predicted that I was pregnant, he has way more intuition than I do it seems.  We are so excited but now need a new name, which for now I'm not stressing over, I'm thinking one will come to me...  Baby A was being uncooperative but that allowed for a cool pic of his spine.  Baby B was more cooperative in giving us the profile (he looks less like an alien when moving around):

I've been going to prenatal yoga classes every Sunday which have been wonderful.  Last week I went to multiples class put on by a local hospital, it was me and 5 other couples.  We went around the room and had to say the best and worst moment so far in pregnancy.  Best was easy, seeing them on the ultrasound screen for the first time.  Worst was when HH left for military training, being overcome with hormones it took way too much will power to hold back the tears.  But I learned a bunch, including the placenta is an organ, I grew two organs and two babies!  The next night I went to a Eastside Moms of Multiples (EMOMs) meeting which was WAY better, I learned so much and feel so much more at ease about the whole thing, again the control and information whore thing.

I've been working hard at getting my protein, supposed to target 160g a day!  I'm now a protein hunter, my treasures so far are Dave's Killer Bread, Premier protein bars, Pure Protein Whey powder (vanilla - great in fruit smoothies) and greek yogurt.

I feel the babies every once in a while (a few times a week), not as often as I would like.  I feel great other than still being tired.  People are saying I look tired, hopefully nothing a week in the Outerbanks, NC with my family can't cure (I depart Saturday, so ridiculously excited, just need to pack)!  People are also pointing out I'm pregnant, I must be getting to that point where it's either pregnancy or a tumor, see token bump pictures below, relaxed on the left and sucked in w/good posture on the right:

My hormones are still a little crazy.  We read Fifty Shades of Grey this month for book club, and let's just say the sexy story line and my crazy hormones coupled with my HH be over 1,500 miles away has been quite torturous.  But book club discussion was amazing, and Domi, who is scheduled to deliver in 1.5 weeks, loaned me her fabulous jeans (think Sevens) that she sewed elastic into, I so hope they fit!  She also loaned her doppler to hear the heart beat which I'm gonna bring to NC in hopes I can get it to work for the family (big thanks to Laura for letting me play with it first).

Stats:

17 weeks pregnant

+ 13 lbs from starting weight
Back to being exhausted

Cravings have lessened, may be because I'm constantly eating to get the protein!

Next appointment 6/21, anatomy tentatively scheduled for 7/6 but may move if I switch docs (scheduled to visit first candidate (thanks Domi) 7/2)
Starting to think about the baby room, thinking space theme for now...
Also thinking about wood floors in the house and repainting all the downstairs walls...
Hired someone to mow my lawn
Reading Fifty Shades Darker (thanks Steph for bringing the third for me to NC)

15 Weeks Pregnant and 1.5 Weeks Sans Husband

It has been a crazy two weeks.  I can't express how incredibly grateful HH and I are for the love and support we have received.  We often miss being close to so many of our friends and family but thank goodness for technology which has the ability to make you all feel so near.

We had an amazing Memorial Day weekend.  Our friend Derrick had us and a few other friends up to his family's beautiful lake house.  I got a much needed dose of Vitamin D, had fun on their boat, ate some really great food and stoked the fire with some amazing company  We left early Sunday so that HH could get packed and clear all his stuff out of the nursery before departing on Monday for some Army training.

Since he left I've been watching a lot of Grey's Anatomy and Army Wives, which gives me a good excuse to cry when I need to (luckily very infrequently), and cuddle with the Lucas who is the best cuddler after HH.

But mostly I've been cleaning, so far nesting has taken the form of getting the rest of the house in shape, not so much the nursery yet other than perusing Amazon and starting a registry.  And having fun and prenatal yoga :-)  And buying a minivan, a Toyota Sienna XLE (which HH promised we could trade-in in 3 years so I can get my dream SUV).

I can feel the babies (wrote baby originally, I guess it's still sinking in that it's twins) move.  I can't tell what they're doing, and it's only when I'm pretty still, but I can tell their having a grand ole time and it's awesome like a cool party that I'm hosting.   Before I got to see them at 12 weeks it was sometimes hard to believe that I wasn't just fat and sober.  Now some days I actually look pregnant, especially when I've got bad posture, and after nachos and two virgin mango margaritas, like today (picture on left).

Other days, like yesterday (picture on right), I still look just a bit fat, especially with my core engaged (aka belly sucked in and back straight) and when it's been over 2 hours since I ate, I can't believe the difference myself.

Yesterday was the first time in a long time I had energy after work!  I actually mowed AND weed wacked the yard.  The food I had aversions to in the first trimester are steadily dropping off the list, I can eat veggies again.  My back was killing me last week but since yoga on Sunday it's been much better.

The babies are currently 4" long, like 2 apples floating around.  In 5 weeks they will each be 10" long!  They are going to more than double in size by July 11th, HH isn't even going to recognize me when he returns mid-July.

Stats:

15 weeks pregnant

+ 10 lbs from starting weight

Two days so far not being exhausted

Still loving refried beans (burritos or anything taco bell), green olives, bagels with cream cheese and fruit.

Only bad smells make me want to puke, stupid people with gross lunches!

Bought a minivan...

Next appointment (potentially learning sexes) 6/21!

It's Twins!

That's right, on March 26th I found out I was pregnant!  My primary doctors kept leaving the practice I was with, so finally my hottie husband (HH for the purposes of this blog) demanded I go to his doctor, Dr. B.  I took an at home pregnancy test, gave my hubby a kiss saying it was positive, went to Dr. B's office for my initial appointment with her, peed in a cup, and she proceeded to tell me she was done with me and to go see my OBGYN and endocrinologist (I have Hashimoto's disease which requires me to take daily supplements to counteract my partially functional thyroid gland).

HH and I decided to try and go the first trimester without telling anyone.  Two days later I was Skyping with my mom and she point blank asked if I was pregnant, I couldn't believe it, I couldn't lie, and so it began, her and my sister proceeded to scream, and I knew our plans to keep it a secret were doomed.  My local friends were quick to figure it out, as not having a glass of wine in my hand only meant one thing.  Once we made it to 8 weeks we started telling our close friends and family, asking them to keep it quiet until I made it through the first trimester.

For the past 8 weeks all I've wanted to do is eat and sleep.  I have minimal nausea, I learned quickly that if I ate every 2 hours it would stave that away, so I'm like squirrel with food stored all over the place, my car, the nightstand, work, backpack, husband's car.  I had my first case of heart burn, I was glad to learn it was not a heart attack...

I was supposed to have my first appointment with my OBGYN early May, but we ended up taking a last minute trip to Hawaii, so had to re-schedule and first available was 5/21.  HH really wanted to do the genetic screening and since 5/21 was cutting it close to the end of the time frame they made me an appointment for 5/18.  So on 5/18 I left work early and headed to my screening (bloodwork and an ultrasound to check the empty space at the back of the baby's neck which indicates risk of certain conditions).  The nurse was getting the ultrasound ready, lubing up my belly and what not, and was surprised to learn it was my first and asked if my husband was on his way.  I told him he was 15 mins away so we didn't need to wait, he started the ultrasound, I got super excited that I was going to see my baby, the nurse asked me again if I wanted to wait, and I told him if it wouldn't be too much trouble that would be great.

HH finally arrives, the nurse lubes me up some more, asks if twins run in my family, and proceeds to show us two little aliens swimming side by side in my belly.  HH and I exclaimed a ton of profanities and I started laughing at the ridiculousness of the news we just heard.  HH says if you would have asked him if there was any chance of twins he would have given it a 2%, which is very close to the statistical 1.7% chance of naturally having twins, 1.7%!  I instantly felt better about how huge I was and became totally enamored with the little aliens.  After the appointment I proceeded to Old Navy to stock up on maternity clothes, big thanks to Beth for getting me started with some hand me downs.

Esses (our fave baby names are Emily and Sam, so Emily-Sam-Sam-Emily, now plural due to the twins, I can tribute the name to my mom) are healthy as can be as far as they can tell.  The have a healthy amount of space in the back of their neck, normal size and heart beats, and all body parts appear normal.  They are most likely fraternal twins, each has their own placenta/sack which is the least risky type of twins.  But, twins are still more risky than just one so they have promised to watch me often and closely, which means lots of ultrasounds where I get to see the babies :-)  HH is betting two boys, my bet is a boy and a girl.  Either way, looks like they are both going to have oral fixations just like his mother (that's a hand right by the mouth, the nurse thought one of them may have been sucking his thumb).

Baby A

 

Baby B

Tomorrow, 5/23, marks the start my 13th week of pregnancy, so I'm making it Facebook official and all that  jazz, I am freaking pregnant with twins, holy crap.

Every other thought in my mind is holy crap it's twins.  It's got us reconsidering EVERYTHING.  Do we need to get a minivan (yuck) instead of an SUV?  Would we survive HH being gone 18 months learning to fly helicopters?  Do we need to do two nurseries?  Is the due date 11/28 still accurate (no, we are looking at early to mid-November if my cervix is able to hold out that long)?  Will I end up in bed rest (my OBGYN says it's likely with twins even though all my vitals are currently normal)?  Is there room in my body for two babies?  How big am I going to get?  How will we afford this?  When should I go back to work after the babies are born?  What type of childcare do we get, can we even afford any kind with twins?

Despite the unanswered questions, the sleepiness and not being able to unwind with a glass of wine, I am LOVING being pregnant.  I am constantly rubbing my belly, often cause I have gas, but mostly because I love the thought of growing something(s) inside me.  I have less patience and I am more demanding with my husband, but things at work feel less stressful, it's like growing babies puts things in perspective in a good way.

Stats:

13 weeks pregnant

+ 7 lbs from starting weight

Still exhausted

Loving refried beans (burritos or anything taco bell), green olives, bagels with cream cheese and fruit.

Puking at the sight of ribs, but no morning sickness for over a week now.

Thinking about leasing a minivan...

Next appointment (potentially learning sexes) 6/21!