11 Weeks!!!!

  Well, we made it one more week!  I am now in full blow maternity pants (although they don't stay up perfectly so I count that as a win that I am not giant yet) and really nothing looks or fits right.  I have pains from time to time but all the books say that is completely normal from ligaments and such relaxing.  The zofran has helped take the edge off the nausea although I am trying to take it as little as possible because those babies are EXPENSIVE.  Things have been busy busy around here and when I look at my calendar it appears that things will be staying that way until at least March!  Mason and I went to the Luke Bryan concert with all our friends this past weekend.  I'm not gonna lie, it was rough.  My back hurt, I had to leave the concert midway through to get my Zofran out of the car, and I reallllllllly wanted a margarita BUT once Luke came on and the weather cooled off he put on a great show!

  

   In baby news, Mason and I went to Target for our biweekly diaper trip and walked around for a little while looking at the GIANT AMOUNT OF STUFF there is for babies.  We talked a lot about the carseats and we left Target with intentions of researching which one we wanted to go with.  We have decided on the Chicco KeyFit 30 and, let me tell you, they aren't giving those things away.  I think we have just about decided to register for them but we realized we will need extra bases and those suckers are $85 by themselves!  So I took to perusing Craigslist and found two different people selling brand new bases in the box for under $50!  Also, a lady selling a brand new Medela Breast Pump still sealed in box (she won it at a raffle) for $150...they retail for nearly $300!  So Saturday I will be driving all over creation to go pick up my Craigslist finds!

   This Friday after work I am going to the FAIR with my Fair date....  

   Melissa and I love the fair like no one else.  I remember one year we got season passes and must have gone 10 times.  I don't foresee that happening this year for me but nevertheless I am PUMPED for some fair food.  And this is the babies first time....so I will eat two corny dogs, just to make it fair!

10 Weeks + Nausea

    Well...it's back.  My wonderful Diclegis that has been like my nectar from God has done an amazing job keeping me from being nauseous and keeping food down.  I haven't been sick in weeks really.  Well, I woke up today excited to hit 10 weeks and it was baaaaaaack.  I took my normal dosage and by the time I got to work I was almost sweating I was feeling so sick.  I sat back in my chair and closed my eyes and then the spinning started.  I read that occasional dizziness is normal, especially with multiples, as they are sucking all your oxygen out of you!  By 10am I was working with my reading groups and trying to eat peanut butter crackers slowly but it just wasn't helping.  I promptly called my doc and told them what was up and my wonderful nurse immediately called me in some Zofran.  So I am now on TWO prescriptions for this nausea...its looking like two is our lucky number!
   The babies are the size of kumquats today!  They have bendable limbs, developing spinal cords, and giant bulging heads with all those brains.  I am still extremely tired a lot of the time and I would give my right arm for someone to come clean my house. I have realized that I am not really interested in meat (which is not normal for me) and I can't get enough macaroni and cheese or cherry tomatoes dipped in ranch. 
   In other news, when we found out I was pregnant our immediate concern became this girl...

Sweet baby Brooklyn!

   This is our beautiful one-year-old girl, Brooklyn.  We adopted her as a rescue a few months before we were married as a puppy and she has been such a wonderful addition to our family joining Jaxon (7) and Macy (5).  Having said that, Brooklyn also weighs in at 65 pounds and her favorite place to be is smack dab in my lap.  She is very stubborn and has difficulty with manners.  When we realized we were having a baby we knew something had to be done about her behavior so I did some research and called around and found a place where they would keep her for 4-5 weeks and train her.  So on August 19th we dropped her off and we pick her up THIS SATURDAY!  We have really missed her and we are anxious to see what she has learned and if she has calmed any. She is a complete love bug who simply doesn't know her own size or strength.

   We have also picked out all our names but I won't share until we know what we are having!  Here's to being 1/4th of the way done!!!  I can't wait to meet them!

9 weeks and 2 days...and a Sonogram!

    The day arrived for our second sonogram and we were so excited because this one would be with OUR actual doctor. We have seen his dad the times before (who we love too) but this would be our first time to see Dr. Hampton-Richards and discuss the twins.
     We were both very quiet on the way to the appointment and I guess I didn't realize how nervous we both were.  For a process as amazing and "like clockwork" as having a baby is, there is still so much that can go wrong and we know those odds are doubled with two babies.  So our hearts were both pounding a little.  We headed over to the OB office which is were they would be seeing us since I am now an obstetric patient. Traffic was horrible and we were already 5 minutes late when we arrived. As I was writing my name down and told them who I was, the nurses informed me that my appointment was at the OTHER building...across the street.  Well, like any normal pregnant person, I started crying and we began hoofing it over to the other office.  They were very sweet and told us they would call over and let them know.
    At 4:13 we arrive at the CORRECT office and I check in...only to find out that our insurance change went into effect September 1 and not October 1 like I thought.  This meant that I had no insurance card and it took another 15 minutes for them to get in touch with Aetna and figure out my benefits.  FINALLY, we were checked in and ready to see the doc.
   Our wonderful nurse, Kelly, came to get us and gave us a hard time about our directionally challenged lateness!!!  They weighed me and I gave a urine sample and we were finally in a room ready to go.  Dr. Hampton-Richards came in and looked at us and started laughing and just kept saying "twins!" over and over.  He and his wife have twins and way back when we began the process of trying to start a family I mentioned "I wouldn't mind having twins" to which he replied back "you watch your tongue, you don't know what you are asking for"!!  He explained that we were his first set of twins from IUI where only one follicle was present on day 12.  When I went in on day 12 way back in July before our IUI procedure and he did the sonogram I only had one follicle measuring at 13cm.  He told me he likes to see them around 20cm to be viable and prime for fertilization and I remember leaving feeling so disappointed and pretty convinced that this cycle would probably be a wash but we decided to take our chances!!  4 days later, I had a positive ovulation test and we went ahead with the procedure the next day.  Fast forward to now, to realize that my little 13cm egg not only developed big enough to make one baby but that ANOTHER egg did the same...he said we are definitely his first!!!
   He went about starting the sonogram and I remember my grip tightening on Mason and just praying to have two heartbeats.  He said "there's one heartbeat...." pause (longest pause of my life) and followed it with "there's the 2nd heartbeat"!  He turned the screen around and not only were there two heartbeats but there were two very wiggly little gummy bears in two separate sacs!  Their heads are huge of course but there they were, little arm and leg buds just moving like crazy!  They measured a few days ahead and all looked wonderful!

There they are together...although one always hides...

Tops of their heads!

Baby A was the wiggliest! Big head and little arms and leg buds!

   After he sat me up he answered any questions we had for the next 15 minutes or so.  He told me to be prepared for bedrest anytime after 24 weeks and I guess my eyes got huge and he laughed.  He explained that bedrest becomes a good option for extending their lives by 24 weeks because they are viable outside the womb then.  Meaning, if I came in at 26 weeks having contractions, a week or so of bedrest and drugs could keep them in there but if they were born they would survive with NICU. But if I came in at 19 weeks with contractions, bedrest isn't going to help anything.  He said he has no intentions of doing bedrest at all because I am young and, so far, (knock on wood) complication-free.  We discussed the high likeliness that I will have a C-section because a normal birth with twins would mean everything had to line up perfectly; both heads down, both heartrates in normal range etc.  Our next step is to have another sonogram at 12 weeks to check the babies for a couple of possible defects and take a blood test to check for any genetic abnormalities.  So October 6th...we get to see them again!!!
   They are about the size of strawberries and they are definitely making their presence known.  Very few of my pants fit and I tried on a dress the other day right after dinner and I looked 4 months along. I am clearly not prepared for the speed with which I am going to be growing. It got me thinking, anyone that knows me knows I am a planner. Its a gift and a curse at times.  I feel so strongly that God sent me these TWO babies to make me finally realize that planning is a waste in a lot of areas of life.  All my wonderful ideas of how life would be when we finally had a baby and the walks we would take and the playdates and the beautiful, serene, natural delivery we would have....all.out.the.window!  We will probably have a C-section and everything I have read on parenting twins says the first year is about survival and that two infants needing your constant attention at the same time, not to mention at the same time in your wallet....well, like I said.  Plans are shot to hell...now it is more like anything goes and I think it will be my greatest test.  But I think I am ready!!!!

To my wonderful Mason...


   This guy right here....

 

is AMAZING.  I have been less than enjoyable these last two weeks and most days he is making his own meals, doing his own laundry, and taking care of our pups while I lay in bed or on the bathroom floor.  He has cleaned up after my puking episodes, brought me sprite and ginger ale in bed, gone out and got me Gatorade or crackers, all the while working his full time job AND his second job with our landscaping business.  In the moments when my head starts to spin because we are having TWINS he tells me all will be well and how blessed we are to have made these two little lives.  I know he is bored and tired of staring at the 4 walls of this house or watching me sleep but he rarely complains. Last night, he drove an hour and 20 minutes to the Cheesecake Factory to get us me red velvet cheesecake.  This morning, he crawled out of bed before I woke up and went to 7-11 to get me more of my latest obsession, IBC root beer in a glass bottle!  I always knew he would make a great dad and he is living up to that reputation even before they are born.  I love you babe, thanks for being you!!!