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!!!