22 week belly, but looking much further along!

Well it has been quite a busy week in all aspects of my life.  Physically I feel like my body is changing dramatically every couple of days, mentally I feel drained, and life in general has just been packed full of events and appointments this week.

The week at least started off relaxing and I spent Monday lounging in the lazy river at the pool with my friend Melissa.  It felt great and was really nice to feel weightless for a couple hours.  My back has also been hurting really bad on the left lower side due to some muscles that are locked up, so I decided 2 visits to the chiropractor this week were necessary, so I saw her Monday and again on Wednesday. She also continues to work on my feet and they seem to be stabilizing.  They still hurt, but the pain isn't getting worse.

We had our last multiples class on Monday evening, which I said in my previous blog we weren't really anticipating learning anything worthwhile, but made ourselves go anyway just because we had already paid quite a bit for the class.  And I am actually glad we went to the last one because it was the most informative and the scariest all wrapped into 3 hours of fun!  The first half of the class we talked about epidurals and multiple births and we learned that no matter how you want to deliver your babies, if you are carrying multiples, you HAVE to get an epidural even if it is never activated.  This is for the safety of the babies and me.  But don't be confused, I WANT an epidural with all the pain medicine they can give me no matter which way they are delivered!!  I have been through enough pain with this process as it is.  We then watched 4 birth videos.  The multiple births were both c-sections.  Ok, wait let me say the class watched 4 birth videos, I sat with my head down most of the time, because I just couldn't watch!  I did look up at one point, and the 2 seconds I saw were enough to scare the crap out of anyone! Let alone someone having multiples, who knows they have to go through the process twice!  I mean come on why put those scary scenarios and pictures into my head, no thanks!!

The second half of the class was the best part of the entire 3 weeks! They had a neo-natal pediatrician who has her own set of triplets come in and talk to us.  She was very upfront and mostly talked about ideas and suggestions for when the babies get here.  (This is what I thought the entire class was going to be about!!)   She said get a system set up ahead of time, with people, your home, meals, and a schedule for the babies.  She suggested having a point person who can help organize your helper people, and instead of me having to organize everything, that person can do it.  The reason being is if I am spending all this time organizing when help is going to come, it will take so much time I might as well just do everything myself, which I DON'T want to happen.  I want as much help as is offered!!  I don't want or think for even a second that Justin or I can do this on our own.  It's going to take a village!!  So for the first time in my life I am admitting that I will not and can not do this on my/our own, so I am asking and hoping for lots of help! Wow, you have no idea how hard it is for someone like me who always just does everything herself to admit that! Big step!   Other very helpful things the doctor talked about were color-coding each babies things, being flexible with sleeping arrangements for them, feeding at the same time always, sleeping blocks of time for husbands and wives, and yes she said if you can afford a night nanny, GET ONE!! We are definitely going to look into this for the first couple months.

Tuesday morning I woke up at 530am for no reason and couldn't fall back asleep.  Then at 7am, I had this overwhelming feeling again and I ran into the bathroom and threw up.  Ugh!! What the heck? So random! I spent most of the day Tuesday laying in bed, feeling very tired and crappy.

Wednesday morning I babysat for my friend Maggie's baby Charlie for a couple hours.  I was a little scared at first, but realized it was pretty fun and easy and I am capable of taking care of a baby for a couple hours at least by myself! Ha!  Wednesday evening I had my monthly girls dinner, which I get very excited about because I don't see my friends as often right now.  It is great to just get together and hang out and chat.  I look forward to it every month!!

Thursday morning was our doctors appointment with the big ultrasound at the hospital first.  Ummm, let me just start by saying, it was awful!!  The ultrasound tech was nice enough and we started like normal but for some reason I couldn't get comfortable on the table and kept getting dizzy and nauseous like I was going to throw up.  We had to stop the ultrasound like 3 different times because I had to either sit up, walk around, or lay on my left side to avoid puking.  Then to make matters worse, this tech was so compulsive about getting everything so precise, it ended up taking 2 hours and 15 minutes to complete the ultrasound.  Man, was I glad to get out of there.  But our results were.....everything looks perfect! The babies have all the parts they should have, and they are big and healthy.  Their estimated weights are: Baby A, 15oz and Baby B, 1lb 1oz.  So baby B is 2oz bigger than Baby A which is completely in the normal range.  That means I have about 2lbs of baby in there! Wow, can't believe they are that big already!  Ok, on to the doctor appt....and since we were late from the ultrasound the doctor bumped us and we didn't get into a room until 12:20pm!!  He finally came in at 12:40 and said everything looked great with the ultrasound results.  He said I had gained 2 more pounds, so I am at a total gain of 8lbs.  He said he isn't happy that I haven't gained more, but that he wasn't going to say a word because the babies are so big and healthy.  He just said keep eating as much as possible and the throwing up was normal and maybe take one of the pills from the prescription he had given me earlier to avoid throwing up. He also said the swelling in my ankles and feet looked normal.  He measured my belly and it was......29inches!! Holy moly! That means my belly is measuring over 7 weeks ahead or 29 weeks along.  I told him I was traveling to Denver to visit my mom the next day and he did not like hearing that.  He gave me some tips for flying on the plane which included taking 400mg of ibuprofen before flying to prevent contractions and drink lots and lots of water.  He said Denver was not on his favorite list of places for pregnant women to travel because of the altitude.  More on that in a minute.  The last thing he mentioned was that we should have my bag packed for the hospital at 28weeks.  So I have 6 weeks to get that together.

Whew!!  I spent Thursday afternoon with my hair goddess, Trish, who made me super relaxed after my stressful 4 hour morning ordeal.  Thanks Trish!

So it is Monday now and I flew to Denver Friday morning and had no issues on the plane and when I touched down I felt fine.  But.....I woke up Saturday morning and it was a whole new ball game.  It is really dry here and super hot right now so I woke up with a  super dry throat and chapped lips, a stuffy nose, and wow, swollen swollen swollen from my toes to my lips! I now understand why the doctor doesn't like pregnant women traveling here!!  My mom and I went and got massages that morning and it made me feel a lot better and this massage lady was amazing! I hate to say it, but even better than Gary and she did the massage laying on my sides which I really liked.  I only wish she lived in St. Louis!!

Sunday we took my aunt to the New Age trade show and honestly I wasn't feeling good from the moment I got up that morning.  Not sure if it is the altitude, the swelling, the heat or a combination.  My left side had an ache in it all day that wouldn't go away, and I was swollen and tired.  I feel like I have jumped from my first trimester to my third trimester overnight!  After a couple hours of walking around the convention center I was done.  This morning I went to my step-sister Caroline's horse riding/jumping lesson.  It was super cool to watch but the enclosed arena was pretty stuffy.  After about 20 minutes I looked down at my feet and hands and felt my lips and I was SO swollen and swelling more by the minute, so we left right away and came home.  We have decided to just take it easy the rest of the time I am here and try to stay indoors as much as possible to avoid the heat which I am sure in some way is contributing to my tiredness, swelling, aches and pains.  Learning to take it easy is my new lesson to be learned.

Well I hate to complain so much this week in my blog, but already having a belly measuring at 29 weeks I honestly feel like I only got a week or so of what you would call the good part of the 2nd trimester and basically jumped from the first trimester to the 3rd.

I will be in Denver till Wednesday and then I head back to STL to my hubby and my furry babies whom I miss!

Whew, that was a long week to recap!  I am exhausted from just typing all that and my fingers are swollen from typing so much, he he!!

Below are my belly pictures and ultrasound photos:

Thanks mom for taking my picture! Wow, look how big that belly is!!  Babies are the size/weight of papayas and the length of spaghetti squashes

Here is one with the "belly hand hold"

Baby A profile hand by face

Baby A sucking thumb?

Baby A lips (directly in the middle of photo, top lip on right)

Confirming Baby A is a girl

Profile of Baby B, not sure what that other stuff on the left is, maybe hands or legs?

Another Baby B profile

Baby B's foot

Confirming baby B is a girl

Alien face of Baby A, Ahhh!!

How far along?  22 weeks, but measuring 29 weeks!!
Total weight gain/loss:  8 lbs
Stretch marks?  Nope!  Yay!
Sleep:  This last week yes, but not so much now that I have been in Denver
Best moment this week:  Finally getting some real, helpful information of how life is going to be with twins and how to take the best care of them possible
Miss Anything?  My ankles, rolling out of bed with ease, eating large meals
Movement:  Yes, all the time.
Food cravings?  Oh, I wish!
Anything making you queasy or sick:  Same as it has always been, more things make me queasy than sound good
Labor Signs:  No, and hopefully not for at least 14 more weeks!
Belly Button in or out?  The top part is curling out which makes it look as though it is sticking out through my shirts. Darnit!
Wedding rings on or off?  Off, and the fake one I bought is super tight here is Denver!
Happy or Moody most of the time:  Happy, but tired.
Weekly Wisdom:  Ask for help!  It is ok to!
Looking forward to:  Hopefully, my swelling goes down when I return to STL, and hoping I am not too big and immobile by the time the furniture arrives and it is time to decorate the nursery.  Might have to ask for help, Mom!!??

Jenny & Justin +5

21 Weeks!

Another week down!!  And another week to be grateful that I am pregnant!  I can't say that I have many exciting things to tell you about this week.  All was pretty quite and normal.  Chores around the house, and errands (yes, I am still limiting myself to a couple places a day), ya know stuff like that.  We went to our second multiples class last Monday and again there was lots of useful "general" information, but I still feel like, for a class that is supposed to be about pregnancy/birth and caring for multiples, the nurse instructor doesn't seem to talk much about scenarios with 2+ babies.  Sooooo, we were debating going to the last class tonight, and after some discussion we decided we will just go and finish it out.  Oh, and I just have to mention, 2 of the girls in my class are 30 and 31 weeks along, and both have been to the hospital already a couple times they said for early contractions and labor, which obviously the hospital stopped with some sort of drugs.  I am really hoping this doesn't happen to me because it sounds scary, but the nurse instructor said it is quite common when carrying multiples.  (Oh, so she did say one thing about multiples, there you go!)

The nurse instructor also took us on a brief tour of the labor and delivery floor.  (we are scheduled to take an in-depth tour in a couple weeks)  I think we learned the most useful information there about the process of birthing twins, and where they will be born and so on.  Multiples are a little different because they are not born in a regular labor room.  They are always born in an operating room because there is more room for the 2 teams of people and in case of an emergency it is better to be prepared for anything in there.  We also learned that Justin is the only person besides medical personal allowed in the delivery (no matter if it is c-section or vaginal delivery) because there are just too many other medical people in the room.  I should mention again, we still haven't really figured out with our doctor how these babies will be born, and it seems to me he likes it to be a last minute decision, so I am learning to let go and just go with the flow and not have a plan.

On wednesday, Saturday and Sunday this past week we had things to do outside and it is quite hot and humid here right now, and before I even step foot outside, actually when I wake up in the morning and it is this hot and humid I am already swollen in my feet, ankles, and fingers.  And the swelling continues to get worse the longer I am out in the elements.  Ha ha, actually as I am typing this I just looked down at my fingers and they look like sausages!  Yes, it is hot and humid again here today.  Oh well, what are you going to do right?  I continue to soak my feet in the foot spa bath thing I have and I think it helps, but who knows.

This week I did cross off a couple things on my list of things to do before the babies get here.  One was put the stroller together that was sitting in the massive box in our front entry way.  (thanks mom and Bruce!!)  Justin dumped it out for me and on thursday when he went out of town I began the task of putting it together.  And I was shocked at how user friendly the instructions were and how easy it was to put together.  Thank you European stroller makers!  I will post a picture below of the final product.  It is so pretty and makes me really excited!!  Justin and I were pushing it around the front room the other night, ha ha!  The other thing I began doing was making a playlist of music for the hospital.  Most of the songs I have added to it so far are happy mellow songs, and many from the 80's that I remember my mom singing to me.  We were told by the nurse instructor that we can have music in our labor room and can probably request to have our music played in the delivery/operating room where the twins will be born no matter if it is vaginally or c-section.

I went to the chiropractor on Monday and Friday for my leg/feet issue and it seems to be helping about 50%, so I am going to continue to go.  I have also started to get an annoying back muscle pain on my left side (which is an old problem that has resurfaced).  I am assuming it is because I have this huge belly pulling me forward and because I sit/stand and sleep in very weird positions now.

The best news of the week is that I think (crossing my fingers) that the nausea is completely gone!!!  I have not been nauseous at all this past week and I have been able to eat dinner every night!  Hurray!!!!!  You have no idea what a relief it is and how big I am smiling right now while typing that sentence!  I will trade nausea ANYDAY for swollen ankles and a backache!!

One other thing I have to mention because it was the coolest part of my week.  We went to a friends daughters 1st birthday party on Saturday and immediately after we walked in the door this girl comes up to me and says, "I know you don't know who I am but I just want you to know I follow your blog and it has been very helpful and insightful in my own journey, so thank you."  Umm, I wanted to cry!  Good tears of course, but I refrained since I didn't want the people at the party to think I was a hormonal emotional pregnant lady!  But honestly, HOW freaking cool is that!  I am helping and affecting people I don't even know with my little rambling blog.  I never imagined that is what this outlet would do.  I have no words.

A little later in the party I ended up sitting and talking with her for a little while about her "trying to get pregnant" journey.  She asked me lots of questions and it is funny how it was hard for me to even remember some of the things she was asking about from early on in our infertility journey.  I'm not sure if that is just how the mind works, or because I have major forgetful pregnancy brain, but it seems like soooo long ago already that we couldn't get pregnant.  It is like my mind is trying to block out those bad memories and focus on the present.   Either way I told her I would email her the info I had once I went back and re-read a couple of my own blogs to refresh myself.  So thank you (you know who you are)  for making my day/week/month!!  And I hope I can help you on your journey as well.

Oh and congrats to our friends Natalie and Dane on the birth of their little girl Aubrey on Friday!!  She is super cute!

 Well I think that about sums up the week.  Here are some pictures from the week and my belly picture.

Babies are the weight and size of pomegranates but the length is a carrot this week

Another one with the "belly hand hold"

The before picture

All put together, yay me!!

Very cool!  Can't wait to use it!  Justin wanted to test it with the chihuahuas, but I said NO because of the dog hair, ha ha!

I am not going to do the milestone questions this week.  I will do them next week after our doctor appt.

Jenny & Justin +5 girlies!!

I am 5 months pregnant with twins!!

Wow! I still have to keep repeating those words and still they don't seem real, well....except for this massive growing belly makes it a little more real.  

Again, I had quite a busy week and lots of exciting and not so exciting things happening.  

Last Sunday evening while I was putting my nightly tummy oil/lotion regimen I noticed that the "vertical line" they talk about that runs down the center of the belly is starting to appear.  It was kinda cool to see and I immediately called Justin into the bathroom to make sure I wasn't seeing things.  He said he noticed it too and ask what the heck it was.  I think it is some hormone thing??  I acted like I totally knew in front of Justin, but honestly I don't know why you get it and after some googling I realized I was right. Cool.  

Monday I had my second pre-natal massage (my first was on our baby moon).  And I must say it was amazing!  The masseur's name was Gary and he is the best! I told Justin I am now in love with a man named Gary, and he said if Gary can keep me happy for the next several months he is totally ok with that! Ha ha!  Gary also told me he has 2 sets of fraternal twins!! How cool is that! He gave me a ton of positive information about twin pregnancy, birth, and taking care of them.  I will continue to see Gary about every 3 weeks, and I can't wait! It makes my hips, legs, feet and lower back feel so much better.

Monday night we went for our first of a 3 week class at the hospital called Multiples and more.  There are 5 other couples in the class besides us and everyone is having fraternal twins.  I was surprised that out of the 6 couples only us and one other couple used infertility methods to conceive twins.  The rest were just natural twins.  One other couple in the class is actually due the same day as us with twin boys, so we were laughing and saying we could set them up!! They are both anesthesiologists too, so hey, might as well set the girls up with rich doctors sons right!?  Most of the information in this first class was pretty general, but we did get to ask questions amongst the group and it was nice to see what other women in my position thought or felt.  We will go to this class for the next 2 Monday's, and we are hoping we get lots of new helpful information.

I have also started making baby headbands and decorating knit caps as well.  It is so much fun and relaxing for me.  I found a tutorial online and I can make the headbands in different age sizes with all kinds of fun colors and flowers.  I will post a picture of some of them below.  

Wednesday late morning I had a very cool moment!  I felt Baby B move or kick for the first time! It was so amazing!  And in that moment it made it a little more real that there is something in this growing belly of mine.  I felt her again kicking Wednesday evening.  Justin tried to feel it by putting his hand on my belly, but he said he couldn't feel anything.  I feel like I can feel it on the inside and with my hand on the outside.  I was disappointed that he couldn't feel it because it is such a cool feeling, but I asked another one of my friends husband and he said the same thing happened to them and he really couldn't feel any movement till like 22 weeks.  On Friday I felt Baby A move and kick for the first time which was another very cool moment.  It seems like she is harder to feel because she is so smooshed down at the bottom.  And once I felt each one move I now feel them several times a day and I am still in awwww every time it happens.  I can't wait for Justin to be able to feel it!  Ok, update!!!  We were just laying on the couch and i had him put his hands on my belly and he totally felt Baby B kick like 5 times!!  It was awesome!

Thursday we had a doctors appointment and ultrasound.  We took Justin's mom with us because she really wanted to see the babies on ultrasound.  I think from her reaction she really loved being there and seeing them on the screen.  We had a new ultrasound tech named Shana this time and I was not impressed with her.  She sped through the ultrasound and only gave us 2 pictures of baby B and none of baby A.  We are used to getting several pictures of each one so I think Justin and I were taken back by her, and we will say something at our next appointment.  But the good news is the babies look great and healthy.  She did not do growth measurements this time, but next appointment we will find out how big they are.  

The doctor appointment portion was pretty quick and I only had a few questions I had accumulated over the last 2 weeks.  We discussed my weight, which overall I have only gained 6 pounds, which is much less than the doctor would like, but the babies are big and healthy so he isn't too worried, but instructed me to eat lots of fats and carbohydrates to try and put on more weight.  He said everything I eat is just going to them, but he understood because I have been nauseated a lot.  And I just have to say how much it sucks that so many people told me how awesome pregnancy was because you were hungry all the time and could eat whatever you wanted and lots of it.  That has NOT been my experience, and just getting enough food in my body is an uphill battle daily.  

We also discussed cord blood banking, which I must say is a much more complicated decision for many reasons when you are having twins.  We did get the information we needed from the doctor in order for us to make an informed decision.  The doctor also suggested floating in water is really good for my body and the babies because it takes the pressure off of everything.  So, yes I will be at the pool a lot this summer with my rafts and noodles floating away!  The last thing we did is the doctor measured and poked at my belly.  He hit 2 spots down low on my abdomen that made me jump because they were very sore/sensitive. (I hadn't noticed before he did this). He said this soreness tells him that I am having tiny contractions.  But don't panic, this is totally normal! Phew! Yes, it made me freak out too until he said that.  Then he measured my belly and it measured 26 inches.  So I am measuring at what a woman carrying a single baby would be at 26 weeks.  Wow!!  This means I am about 6 weeks ahead which is totally normal for twins.  

I spent Thursday afternoon floating in my friend Jenny's pool and it felt great!  And overall I have been feeling great this whole week including evenings and night time.  I have been continuing the Prilosec Unisom combo and it seems to be helping.   But wait..........Friday morning I woke up at 530am and couldn't sleep, so I went on the couch to watch TV.  I made a cup of decaf and an English muffin, took one sip and one bite and jumped up, made a beeline for the bathroom and threw up.  Ummmm, it totally came out of nowhere.  And the entire rest of the day was ruined.  My stomach hurt all day, and I could not eat anything.  5 steps forward, 1 step back.  

I also saw the chiropractor again this week and I think that is helping my lower body pain, so I will continue with that.  I have just realized I can't run 20 errands in one day.  2-3 places is my limit, and then my legs and feet don't hurt so bad.  

Today my husband took me to brunch and it was so good except for the fact that I have to eat like a turtle and was pretty uncomfortable.  It seems like my uterus has taken over my entire abdomen and is trying to take over my lungs and rib cage, so I feel like everything is crushed in there, which makes it uncomfortable to eat.  I feel like I want to be put in a taffy pulling machine and stretched out to make my abdomen longer.  Oh Willy Wonka, where are you when I need you?  

I have been working on ordering things for the nursery this week including curtain rods, curtains, the dresser, and closet re-organization brackets.  I think I have everything ordered and in motion, which makes me much less stressed about it. I have heard our doctor is the king of putting his patients on bed rest (which is understandable because all of his patients are high risk), so I want to get everything done sooner rather than later in case this happens to me.

I think that is all for this week.  Still can't believe we have made it this far and that we are having 2 babies!! I pinch myself daily to remind myself that, YES this is really happening.  And even though I complain and they make me throw up, I am grateful for every moment, whether my complaining makes it seem that way or not.  

My mind seems to now be shifting to not being so concerned with the pregnancy and panicking about what to do with them once they get here, because I feel clueless!!! Help! More on that next week and after our second multiples class.

Here are the pictures from the week:

Only 1 ultrasound photo this time of Baby B sucking her thumb!  Pretty cute!

My 5 month/20 week belly photo.  Babies are the length of bananas.  We didn't get a fruit/weight comparison this week, only length.

Here is one without my hand in the way, so you can really see how big it is getting!  Ahhh!!

Here is my self-portrait attempt in the bathroom mirror.  Not too bad.  

Here is the first half of the hats and headbands I made.  Pretty cute, huh!?

This is the second round I made.

Thought I would include a picture of my handsome husband and one of our 3 furry friends since we only had 1 ultrasound photo this week.

And last but certainly not least are my 3 furry girls posing for their mama!!  Love you girls!

 

How far along?   5 months or 20 weeks!!!  Beyond half way in the twin world!!

Total weight gain/loss:  6 pounds total gain/loss

Maternity clothes?  Yes, but still loving my victoria's secret boyfriend sweatpants as well

Stretch marks?  No thank you

Sleep:  Sleeping better, but also going to bed early and waking up earlier

Best moment this week:  Feeling the babies move and kick!  One of the coolest feelings I have ever had!  

Miss Anything?  Smelled my husbands mimosa at brunch this morning and I miss it!!  

Movement:  Yes, finally!  So exciting!  Can't wait for them to get stronger!

Food cravings?  Unfortunately, no.

Anything making you queasy or sick:   Most things still.

Labor Signs:   Apparently I am having tiny contractions which I was unaware of, but they are totally normal??   Weird!!!

Belly Button in or out?   Top part is starting to flip out a little.  Bummer, thought I was going to maintain my innie!!

Wedding rings on or off?  Off, fake on one

Happy or Moody most of the time:   very happy this week, but I still have my random crying episodes at really weird things

Weekly Wisdom:   Slow down, take it easy and everything will get down when it is supposed to.

Looking forward to:  More movement and kicking from the babies, our next multiples class, and hopefully an appetite???  Please please!!

Jenny & Justin +5 girls

19 Weeks

I have survived another week of this roller coaster adventure called pregnancy! We had quite a busy week again starting with a Memorial Day BBQ party on Monday.  Then on Tuesday I went with 3 of my girls (Osman, Katie, and Nat) to register for baby stuff.  Upon entering the store I was immediately overwhelmed and super glad that my support would arrive shortly to show me the ropes.  For 2 hours we made our way through each aisle, me with the scanning gun in hand looking lost as ever, scanning every barcode they put in front of me.  I made sure to ask what the heck each thing was for, and honestly some things I am still not sure what the heck they are for and other things look so much alike I'm not sure why you need 3 different ones.  Half way through I was exhausted and my brain turned to mush, so I had no idea what I registered for by the end.  I sure am glad I had all of them there to help.  Thanks girls! 

I decided to also register at another place, so Justin and I ventured to the other store on Thursday.  He was excited to go, but I soon knew he would get overwhelmed like I did.  I gave him the scanning gun and off we went.  We made it through 2 sections of the store and we were both tired and ready to be done.  But we soldiered through and after 2.5 hours we were exhausted, my feet were killing me and we were ready to get out of there!!  

Registering is done, and I am glad about that! 

We spent this past weekend just relaxing and hanging out which was so nice!  I love afternoon naps!  

Today I am 19 weeks pregnant! How am I feeling?  Well the Prilosec and Unisom seem to be working.  My nausea is getting better and better.  I still had probably 1-2 evenings where food just wasn't sounding good, and so I didn't eat.  The other evenings I had an appetite and was able to eat dinner which was awesome!  My huge u-shaped body pillow combined with the other 5 pillows I have cushioning me also seem to be helping my night hip and leg pain.  My feet are still pretty painful to walk on in the morning and after a long day on them.  I got an at home water foot spa that I am using nightly which feels great!  I also went to the chiropractor and she adjusted my back and hips, gave me some exercises to do, and I will continue to see her twice a week for the next several weeks which I am hoping will help.  Overall, I have to say I feel A LOT better than I have in a few months!!! Yay for that!!!

Ok, I spoke too soon!  I was having a good day today and even told Justin in the late afternoon that Italian food sounded good for dinner. (Which I haven't eaten in forever!!)  And then by 6pm, my stomach got the best of me, but this time I was hungry, but nothing sounded good.  So what did I do?  I started crying because I felt bad that I didn't feel like eating Italian food and felt like I let Justin down.  I was also crying because I was frustrated at not being able to choose something to eat, but I was starving!!!  That feeling sucks!!  Poor Justin just looked and me and asked why I was crying and hugged me.  Oh the joys of pregnancy and pregnancy hormones.  Well you are probably wondering if I ate dinner?  Yes I did.  Thank you KFC for the large order of mashed potatoes and gravy, because when nothing else sounds good I can still manage to eat them.

I think that is all for now.  We are headed to the doctor Thursday for our next appointment! Can't wait to see how big the babies have gotten on the ultrasound.  My belly picture is below.

Babies are the size of heirloom tomatoes or softballs

Funny how my face and arms are tan and my belly is so white!

How far along? 19 weeks today

Total weight gain/loss:  no update since I haven't been to the doctor since the last blog

Stretch marks?  Nope

Sleep:  Better this past week thanks to the new drugs

Best moment this week:  Eating dinner more times than not

Miss Anything?  Being decisive about what i want; I am very indecisive lately

Movement:  A little this week, but no kicks or anything major to feel on the outside

Food cravings?  I wish!

 Anything making you queasy or sick:  Just about everything 

Labor Signs:  Heck no!

Belly Button in or out?   Still in and hoping it stays that way!!??

Wedding rings on or off?  Off, but I got my new fun fake one

Happy or Moody most of the time:   Happy, but cried a couple times this week.

Weekly Wisdom:   Do not venture into a baby store alone, if it is unfamiliar territory for you.  It is a very scary place!!

Looking forward to:  Thursday doctors appt, more normal evenings??, kicking, and hopefully more cool weather like this past week??!!

Jenny & Justin +5 kiddies!!

Half Way!!!!

Wow these last 2 weeks have been a whirlwind!  And now I am 4.5 months pregnant or 18 weeks along! And in twin pregnancy terms I am half way there, since 36 weeks is considered full term for twins.  Holy crap! Can't believe I have made it this far.  

So let me rewind to week 16.  We left that Thursday the 17th for our baby moon vacation to Hilton Head Island.  We stayed at a beautiful resort right on the beach.  The weather didn't cooperate 100%, but we did get 2 days of sunshine where we were able to soak up some sun by the ocean and pool.  The other days we spent walking on the beach, bike riding, mini golfing, eating, and just relaxing.  We did have one funny experience while out on a bike ride the second day of our trip.  (let me just say, the island is very flat and there are no hills, and the bikes you rent are beach cruisers, so it was very fun and easy for me being pregnant)  We biked about 1.5 miles from our hotel to get some lunch and after lunch we decided to bike another 2.5 miles to this amazing gelato place we had discovered the day before.  After eating the gelato we looked up in the distance and noticed some storm clouds in the direction of our resort.  We both decided we better get a move on since we had a 4 mile ride back to the resort to avoid the storm.  Well 5 minutes into our ride back the rain started and we stopped under a tree, hoping that the rain would stop.  Well...not only did the rain not stop, but it started raining harder and harder as we stood there.  So we looked at each other and made a decision....since we were already getting wet we might as well keep riding.  So I pulled my hoodie sweatshirt on and tied the hood tight around my head, secured our phones and camera and off we went.  Justin said with my hoodie tied and the basket on my bike full of our stuff I looked like the kid from E.T., ha ha!!  And that's when the rain from hell started!!  It was like this tropical storm big rain drop rain falling in buckets!!  Mind you the bike path back to our resort is on the side of the highway, so I can only imagine how much entertainment the people driving by us got seeing us biking the the torrential downpour.  And so we peddled and peddled, drenched, laughing so hard, because there was nothing else we could do.  I mean why stop at this point because we were already soaked.  So we laughed and biked 4 miles back to the resort.  It honestly was one of the most entertaining experiences of the trip.

We got back from our trip on Tuesday evening the 22nd.  We were exhausted from the long day of travel, but excited for our doctors appointment the next morning.  So off to bed we went with anticipation that the news we would find out would change our lives again forever!

Wednesday morning I woke up way too early because I was so excited!  We went in to the doctor at 11am.  The ultrasound with Jessica was first, which is what we had been waiting for....to find out the sex of our munchkins.  We went in to the room and began the ultrasound.  She first measured the length of my cervix, which you want to be long, which means you have no signs of early labor. She said mine was long and normal, yay!  She then focused her attention to Baby A.  She measured the head, stomach, and femur bone, to get an approximate size and weight of Baby A.  She said everything looked normal and great and the baby weighs around 8 ounces or 1/2 a pound.  Then she looked to see the gender........and guess what!!!! She was 100% sure that Baby A is a GIRL!!!!  Yes!!!!!  Ok, so we are half way there.  She then did the same exact things with Baby B and determined it weighs 7 ounces, so Baby B has caught up in size.  So the babies total weight together is about 1 pound.  Wow, how fast they have grown!  Ok, ok so I know I am dragging this out, but that's exactly what we felt she was doing to us.  Justin finally said, are you delaying telling us the gender of Baby B to drive us crazy?? She laughed and went straight to it.  She said it was very easy to see and she was also 100% sure that Baby B is a...........GIRL!!!!  Holy moly we are having 2 girls!!!  I was ecstatic!  I never said it but I did have a gut feeling that it was always 2 girls.  I think Justin was happy, but secretively maybe a little bit wanted one of them to be a boy.  But honestly I think he is excited to have to little girls.  I am over the moon that it is 2 girls!  I think it will be so amazing for 2 reasons.  First, because I can't wait to have the mother/daughter relationships with them like I have with my mom.  And second, I was an only child, so I think it will be amazing for them to have a sister that I never had.  Very cool!!!

So let the shopping begin! He he!

The rest of the doctor appointment was with the nurse practitioner, whom we had not met, but soon after meeting we discovered we really liked.  Basically I had accumulated a list of questions over the last several weeks and she answered all of those which included; can I ride a bike (umm yea I know I had already ridden 10 miles 2 days before, whoops!) thank goodness the answer was yes.  Can I take a bath and sleep on my back also got yes answers. (these were things I had read or been told I couldn't do)  She also put me on Prilosec and a different unisom tablet, to try and fix this night nausea problem. (I forgot to mention my nausea finally boiled over on our trip and I threw up twice one evening).  She also said I had gained 4lbs since my last appointment and since the babies are at a healthy weight she said i should stop forcing myself to eat at night time if I didn't feel well or wasn't hungry.  She said let's try this new Prilosec/unisom combo and the non-forced eating in the evening and see if it helps.  Finally, she said it would be good to see my chiropractor to get an adjustment and some acupuncture to try and help with my hip/leg/foot pain and with the nausea.  Then she measured my belly on the outside with a tape measure.  That measurement is supposed to correspond in inches with the number of weeks you are pregnant.  My measurement was 23 inches, but I was only 17.5 weeks pregnant that day.  Which means I am measuring 5.5 weeks bigger.  She said twins measure 4-6 weeks ahead, so I am completely in the normal range.  Ok, yay!  Doctor appointment done, everything normal, and I have 2 baby girls growing in there!  I could not be happier!

We told my parents by video chat and phone on Wednesday evening and both sides seemed very excited!  We had to wait till Saturday afternoon when Justin's mom and sisters got back from vacation to tell his family.  It was super fun and I had my friend Erin make 2 little cakes with Baby A and Baby B frosted on them and then she put pink colored cake on the inside of each of them.  We let Justin's mom cut the first one and she was super excited when she saw the pink.  Her excitement was priceless!  We let Justin's dad cut the second cake and I wasn't sure what the reaction would be because I knew they really would like to have a boy and a girl.  But his reaction was super excited and happy which seemed to ease the pressure on me and us of it not being a boy.  So yay, all of our families are super excited that we are having 2 girls and we couldn't be happier about that!

We spent this past Saturday and Sunday telling more of our friends and family the genders, and everyones reactions were so cool to see!  People are just so happy for us, and it makes me feel so good inside!  So thanks everyone!  

One last thing....how am I feeling physically?  Well...week 16 was ruff and the nausea came back in full force nightly and like I said even made me get sick one night on our trip.  Week 17 seemed to calm down with the nausea and I started the Prilosec/Unisom regimin this past Wednesday and it seems to be helping.  I was actually able to eat a normal dinner Thursday-Sunday.  In fact my appetite seems to almost be growing this weekend, which I am hoping means the fun eating stage is here and the nausea stage is gone??  We shall wait and see.  My hip, calf and heel/foot pain continues to be a problem, but I got this incredible huge U-shaped pillow for sleeping and that seems to be helping me not be up as much as night with the pain, so that's good.  The new symptom I have acquired in the last several days is swelling.  I sure didn't expect it to come on this early, but I am thinking because the weather is so hot and humid combined with me being further ahead in size because it is twins made it appear.  So yes, I have KANKLES!!!  I no longer can see my inner ankle bone, which is very strange and kinda gross looking.  My feet swell too at the end of the day which makes shoes hard to get on, beyond flip flops.  And I can no longer wear my wedding ring!!!  This makes me really sad, but it was getting to the point where it was so tight it was freaking me out and making me think that I might have to have someone cut it off.  I think I could still wear it indoors, but the heat outside makes me swell quite quickly, so I would rather be safe than sorry.  So I am headed to the costume jewelry store this week to find a larger cheapy ring to wear.  

So i think that is about it and I have caught up with everything.  I have lots of pictures to share below.  Starting with week 17 belly picture, ultrasound photos, the gender cakes, and week 18 belly picture.  Enjoy!  

17 week belly photo taken on the beach during the tropical storm in Hilton Head

Our artistic sand caption

Trying to look trendy with my baby bump on the beach

Face profile shot of Baby Girl A

Baby Girl A feet

This shows you that Baby A is a Girl!!!

Scary scream face with an open mouth of Baby A

Baby Girl B foot

Face shot of Baby Girl B

Baby B is a GIRL!!

Full body profile of Baby girl B

What color is it inside??

Could be blue, could be pink??

Thanks Erin for the cute pink cakes!

Ok, here is another self-belly portrait.  I tried it this time with my iPhone, sorry I cut my face off. The baby girls are the size of bell peppers this week and growing quickly!

How far along?  18 weeks 1 day as of today, Monday May 28th

Total weight gain/loss:  I gained 4lbs as of my last appointment, but not sure of my total gain/loss

Maternity clothes?  Absolutely!  

Stretch marks?  Nope

Sleep:  Sometimes good, sometimes bad, better with my giant U-Shaped pillow that looks like i am in a boat!  Ha ha! 

Best moment this week:  Finding out we are having girls and seeing the reaction from our families when we told them, priceless! 

Have you told family and friends:  Yes, everyone knows everything we know at this point.  The only thing we won't be revealing until the births is the names (which we have not chosen yet), so don't ask, guess, or question because we aren't telling!  We have to keep something between us!

Miss Anything?  My inner ankle bones that disappeared a couple days ago!

Movement:  I feel baby girl A moving/rolling around here and there, but I have not felt baby girl B yet.

Food cravings?  Nothing crazy yet.

Anything making you queasy or sick:  Anything acidic like fruit or fruit juice 

Have you started to show yet:  Yes, and people have started touching my belly. I think it is kinda cool.  No strangers have approached me yet.

Gender prediction:   We don't need a prediction!  We know we have 2 princesses!!

Labor Signs:  Please no!

Belly Button in or out?   In, but I have a purple ring around it that looks like a bruise!  Very strange!

Wedding rings on or off?  Off, and I'm very sad about it.   

Happy or Moody most of the time:  Happy, but I've cried at a couple TV shows this week.

Weekly Wisdom:  Wow, after this long blog, my brain is fried!  I have no wisdom this week.

Looking forward to:  Registering for stuff this week with my girlfriends!  Can't wait!

Jenny & Justin +5 girls!  2 human 3 furry He he he!!!

I am 4 months pregnant.....

can you believe it???   I for one cannot believe I am already this far along!  If this makes sense I feel like the time has gone by really slow and really fast.  The days seem slow when I am not feeling well, but the overall time seems to have flown by.  I feel like yesterday we were getting that first blood test result back and finding out it was multiples.  And by the way, I'm still not sure that the whole twins thing has really and truly settled into my mind yet and become a reality.  Yes, I see them on the screen every 2 weeks, but for some reason I just don't feel like it will seem real until they are here.

Justin and I had an extremely busy week this past week.  We traveled to Kansas City for a work thing for him Tuesday thru Thursday.  We got to make a stop to visit and have dinner with my Dad and step-mom Sheila which was really nice.  I also got to meet up with 2 very old friends for dinner, whom I have known since I was born!  Crazy, huh!?  Christy and Nicole are a couple years older than me and were our next door neighbors growing up in Kansas City.  They knew my mom when she was pregnant with me and saw me come home from the hospital, so I have known them for over 33 years!  I haven't seen them in probably over 10 years and we just started talking like no time had passed at all.  It was AWESOME to see them.

Then this past weekend my amazing husband Justin graduated from college!  I am so proud of him for sticking with it and getting his degree.  And it couldn't have been better timing to get it completed before the babies arrive.  We have spent the last 6 years taking classes (and I say "we" because there might have been a little help on my part) taking 1-2 classes a year towards his degree, because between the cost and work and life that was all we could manage.  But all this effort has paid off and he now has the diploma in hand, so congrats baby!!  My mom and step-dad Bruce came in town for the ceremony and celebration and stayed with us for the weekend which was fun.  We met up with all of Justin's family for the ceremony on Saturday and had a nice brunch after.  I think Justin and I are just glad this whole school thing is over!!!  It has been an extra added stress on our lives that is now GONE!!  Yay!  No more writing papers on Sunday nights!

And I just have to say this was a very cool Mother's Day on Sunday.  I know the babies aren't here yet, but I got a lot of nice messages from people wishing me a Happy Mommy to be Day!  That made me feel so good, so thanks everyone!

How am I feeling?  Well....  I officially have been in my second trimester for a couple weeks now, and so far it isn't what everyone told me it was going to be.  They said I would just wake up one day and feel awesome and have lots more energy.......Ummmmm hasn't happened!  I am still very tired and I am sleeping less now because for some reason I wake up sometime between 5-7am wide awake and I am up for the day.  What the hell?  And it is still very hard to get to sleep and I toss and turn most of the night because my hips, legs and feet ache most of the night.  The nausea is getting better weekly which I am the most grateful for!  It still hits me a couple times a week at night, so I am hoping it will be gone soon??  I have learned certain foods make my stomach hurt and seem to trigger the evening nausea, but the one that does it the most is cheese or pizza with cheese.  I miss my favorite foods cheese and pizza so much, so every once in a while I try to eat some just to see if it won't make my stomach upset and I have gotten the same result every time, so I guess I'll just quit trying and give up cheese and pizza for now.  But as soon as these babies are born there better be a huge pizza and an awesome cheese platter waiting for me!  Another thing everyone told me was that my appetite would come back and I would be starving all the time.  Ummmm, that hasn't happened either.  Food, all and all, still sounds pretty gross and I don't seem to be any hungrier than normal.  Popsicles still make me happy along with mixed berry sorbet gelato from whole foods!!  If you haven't tried it you are missing out!  It has been my nightly treat a couple nights the last week and puts a huge smile on my face.

I am still trying to follow doctors orders and eat like crap to gain weight, but I realized my idea of eating like crap isn't exactly what other peoples idea of eating like crap is.  So let's just say I am eating healthy crappy food.  Sugary cereal and french fries is about the worst it gets for me, but hey I am trying!!

Well, we are leaving Thursday morning this week for our baby moon trip to Hilton Head, South Carolina and will be back the following Tuesday.  Then Wednesday the 23rd is our next doctor/ultrasound appt which is where we are hoping to find out the sex of the babies.  If we do, we are going to tell immediate family first and then everyone else.  So I might not put it on here till the weekend after the 23rd, sorry!  Many people have emailed/texted/called me and told me what they think the babies are going to be and I have been keeping track.  The majority of people think it is going to be a boy and a girl.  I am not sure if they think that because they think that would be ideal, or if they really think that is what they are.  Well.......we shall see!  I am so freaking excited to find out!!  I want to go shopping so bad it is killing me!

Here is my 16 week/4 month belly photo.  I got told by someone that I didn't look "that big" yet.  Ummmm, not sure how to take that.  So I look big but not that big?  Ummm, thanks?  People say the funniest things to you when you are pregnant!

Babies are the size of avocados

My husband the graduate!  Yay!

How far along?   16 weeks or 4 months as of Sunday May 13th

Total weight gain/loss:  4 pounds lost as of my last appointment

Maternity clothes?  Yes, except for dresses and my long shirts that still fit

Stretch marks?  No!  I now have 4 kinds of belly oils and lotions that I put on twice daily to prevent those nasty things!

Sleep:   Ahh, sleep!  Oh how I miss you!

Best moment this week:   Being included in the Mother's Day holiday, very cool!  Oh and my husband graduating, he he!

Miss Anything?   Read above: pizza and cheese

Movement:   I think I have felt a flutter or something here and there, but I am not sure if it is my organs or gas or the babies

Food cravings?  Nothing demanding or outrageous yet

Anything making you queasy or sick:   Food commercials

Have you started to show yet:  Yes, I think I am now getting to the point where strangers think I am pregnant and not just fat

Gender prediction:  I'm going with the majority and saying boy/girl

Labor Signs:   No

Belly Button in or out?   In

Wedding rings on or off?  On

Happy or Moody most of the time:  Very happy most of this week, except for late at night 

Weekly Wisdom:   No 2 people are the same, therefore no 2 peoples pregnancies are going to be the same, so I just need to stop trying to compare myself to others and just ride this pregnancy ride and whatever may come will come

Looking forward to:   Laying on the beach

Jenny & Justin +2 (+3 furry)

15 Weeks

This last week was the first week in several weeks that I felt good for several days in a row!  I did have 2 days where I just felt like crap and stayed in bed all day, but I am trying to focus on the positive, so Yay! for the good days with no nausea!  I am hoping this means I am nearing the end of it all on and on to the awesome part of the second trimester that everyone has been telling me about.

I went to my 2 week appointment on Thursday last week.  Justin couldn't go because he was traveling for the day.  It was pretty routine.  The crabby ultrasound lady, Jessica, was actually not really crabby at all today and was very nice and chatty with me!  Not sure if we are breaking her down or if she was being more friendly because Justin wasn't in the room or what, but hey I'll take  it!  She measured heartbeats and said they look normal.  I then asked about seeing the gender at this point.  She said at 14.5 weeks along her accuracy is only about 80%, and that is assuming the babies are in the right position.  She asked if I wanted her to check and I said no, not without Justin here.  I asked what her accuracy would be at our next appointment and she said 95% (because she never says she is 100%, but she has never been wrong)!  So we will wait until our next appointment which will be on May 23rd, which is almost 3 weeks away from this appointment because Justin and I are headed on our baby moon the week that we should be going in.

I also saw the doctor and it was very quick and he just asked me some routine questions measured my belly and listened to the babies heartbeats with the fetal doppler thing.  He also suggested some new medicine for my nausea, which I tried for a couple days and it didn't seem to help, so I am still taking Zofran.  Oh and one last thing....he said I have lost 2 pounds in the last 2 weeks and 2 pounds the 2 weeks before according to transferred records, so I am going in the opposite direction.  I told him food just sucks right now!  I eat during the day, but food just doesn't taste the same and then at night time it is almost impossible to force anything down, but I try really hard to eat something.  So his strict orders were to, "Eat like Crap!"  He said eat what ever sounds good but make it high calorie, high carb because if I am not eating a lot, at least what I am eating will have lots of calories.  He said eat french fries, dessert, what ever I can eat, but make it crappy.  Ummmm, those are the best doctors orders I have EVER gotten!  So fast food, and frozen yogurt, and extra butter, and french fries here I come!  This baby moon vacation next week is going to be even better!

Yep, we are headed on a get away to Hilton Head for about 5 days.  I am so excited to lay on the beach and get a tan!  I know people, sunscreen is key, but I gotta get my belly a little color so I am not so pasty.  Justin is really excited too, to get away from his hectic work for a couple days and just relax.  And then when we return, we find out the next day what the sexes of our babies are!!  What an awesome thing to come home to.

Here are the ultrasound pictures and belly picture for the week. Oh and a picture of how the nursery is coming along so far!  And please excuse the weird angle of the belly photo.  Justin and I had a hectic Sunday yesterday and forgot to take my picture, so I attempted to take it myself this morning with the automatic timer on the camera.  It'll have to do.

This is a view of the bellies of both babies

Frog legs of baby A.  Looks like someone might be tall like Daddy!

Alien face of Baby B, we couldn't get A to look the right way

Another shot of the alien face

Here is my awkward belly photo, but you get the idea.  I feel like it really is starting to pop out.  In case you can't read, according to my books the babies are the size of apples this week.

Here is the nursery so far.  I wish I would have taken a before picture, but the walls were a khaki peach color before.  Also we installed the new ceiling fan, white wood blinds, painted the grey color, had crown moulding installed and bought this new black and white Chevron rug that I LOVE!!!

Ok, I think that is all for now.  Justin and I are headed on a little road trip to Kansas City tomorrow (tuesday) thru Thursday.  And then next week we head to Hilton Head, so I am hoping these trips will keep us distracted until our next appt.

Jenny & Justin +2 (+3 furry)