Pregnancy Journal 4/10/07

Well, my appt. was very interesting to say the least. It was about a two hour ultrasound and then after that another 30 min. or so with a parrinatologist (sp). Both the babies were wide awake and not making it easy to get certain measurements. In fact when we started the ultrasound baby B was transverse and by the end she was breech! So lots of movement going on which was fun to see. :) Didn't get many pictures though because it was strictly a medical ultrasound.

The Dr. was very detailed in explaining things to us. He said that there are three main things that Dr.'s worry about with twins. First, pre-term labor. He said that I'm at a very low risk for PTL because my cervix measures 4cm and usually they're happy to see 3cm so that's a huge positive! Second he said they worry about pre-eclampsia. My blood pressure is always great whenever I go in, and I told him that I'm simply just not going to have that problem. I've decided. :P He said, "Ok, we'll just mark that complication off the list then." And then thirdly the thing that they worry about is growth problems.

He said growth problems can be caused by three issues in fraternal twins. One is a virus, which he said is not an issue in my situation. If it was there would be other obvious problems with both babies and there isn't. Two is a chromosome abnormality. He said that in 95% of cases with chromosome problems there are also other visible defects in the baby, and he said that other than her size Baby A looks perfectly healthy so he said he'd be VERY surprised if that were the case here. Three is some sort of placenta problem. He said at this point he can't really tell if there is a problem with Baby A's placenta, but that as time goes on it would become more obvious if there was. He said it could just be that Baby A's placenta implanted in the uterus in a place where the circulation isn't as good. And he said that since the babies came from separate eggs that it could just be that the two babies inherited different genetics that play a roll in how big or small they will be.

He said the good news is that since my cervix is so long that we have plenty of time for Baby A to grow enough to be healthy. He said that at some point I may want to have an amino test to verify that there is no chromosome problem with Baby A, but at this point he said that was too risky. He said right now he only has one point of info, so he'd like me to come back and have another ultrasound there in 2-3 weeks to check on Baby A's growth.

Pregnancy Journal 4/9/07

We had an ultrasound on Monday that confirmed for sure that we are having two girls. So now we just have to nail down names! We’ve pretty much agreed upon Anya for a first name for one of them, and we were toying with Elsa for the other one but DJ nixed it. So now we’re back to the drawing board. I’d really like their middle names to be Jean & Lynn after our mom’s middle names. I think that’d be an awesome gift for our moms. But really we’re undecided, so we’ll see.

At our ultrasound they discovered that Baby A isn’t growing like she should. Last time she measured in the 11th percentile, and this time she measured in the 6th. So I have an appointment with maternal fetal medicine today to run more tests and find out what’s going on. They did say that all her systems look healthy. They measured the flow of the umbilical cord and it was the same for both babies, which is a good sign that they’re getting enough nutrition. And just to reassure me, she was moving around like crazy yesterday, probably more than I’ve ever felt her. So I’m actually feeling pretty positive about my appt. today.

It was a good Easter weekend for us. Great one even! :) We had Lee & Sabrina over on Saturday for a BBQ and had lots of fun even though it rained and we ended up watching a movie instead. Sabrina is throwing a shower for me, so she asked me lots of questions about what I wanted or what I liked/disliked. I pretty much gave her free reign to do what she wanted with a few exceptions (such as I really don't want everything to be pink). Lee & DJ moved all the exercise equipment downstairs to the garage, so that’s one more thing to check off our list of things we needed to do. And then DJ and I went to church Sat. night and the sermon was really good. :)

Then on Sun. morning we went to an Easter brunch with Mom & Dad, Aunt Darlene, and Suzy Wayne & Jalen. The food was good, and there was lots of good conversation. And when I got home I felt so energetic that I weeded nearly our entire yard! lol It was sunny and beautiful and I guess I just wanted to be out in it after the rain the previous day. Now I have all kinds of great ideas about what I want to plant this year. I may go buy some plants today if the mood takes me.

Pregnancy Journal 3/27/07

We had a very busy but good weekend. On Saturday we went to a Breastfeeding & Baby Care class. It was much better than I expected! I read a lot, and cruise these boards all the time for info, so I wasn't sure how much I'd actually get out of it. But I actually did learn quite a bit, and took a lot of notes. And I think it helped reality to set in for DJ.

It was an all day class on Saturday (9-4pm), and DJ had worked Friday night from 10pm to 6am Sat. So he was EXHAUSTED! I'm amazed that he was able to stay awake for the whole class, although I know there were parts he missed because he was starting to zone out. So needless to say we didn't get a whole lot done on Sunday because we were both pretty tired. But we did do a lot of talking on Sunday about how we're going to re-arrange things, and what pieces of furniture we need to buy so that we'll be ready. One of the things we decided we need is 2 twin beds to go on the spare room. DJ's family will be coming from out of town to see the babies, so it will be good to actually have extra beds to sleep in. Plus, who knows how this whole thing will work out. We may end up hiring someone to come help out at night, or my parents my come help out at night when DJ goes back to work. Or one of us may end up sleeping in the spare room when we're on baby duty.. who knows! Either way though it would be helpful to have some extra beds. Plus, eventually they'll become kids beds, so they'll get long term use. So I've started looking for 2 matching twin sized beds on craigslist and hopefully I'll find something good. :)

We've also decided that the best place to start is to finally get some closet organizers for our closets. We built this house 2 years ago, and so far we've been living with only a wire shelf and bar to hang things in our closets, and we REALLY need to get something better so we actually have places to put things. So that's gonna be our next project.

Yesterday I went and got a spa facial w/ my mom. It was really awesome! I've never had a facial before like that. They had us change into bathrobes, and we sat in this room w/ relaxing music before they came to get us for our treatments. And then we each went to separate dimly lit rooms and laid down on these massage type tables. And a beautician came in and put layer upon layer of goop on our faces. They used a LOT of different kinds of massage on our faces, shoulders, neck, arms, hands, even our scalp! The whole thing lasted about 2 hours, and when we were done we both felt SO relaxed! Then we went out to lunch. It was really fun! :)

When I got home, DJ was spinning around our house like a whirlwind cleaning! Our house was SO disgusting, hadn't been cleaned in a long time. And I was THRILLED to see him cleaning from top to bottom! So now my house looks perfect and even smells good! He even had dinner going! What a guy!

My blood sugar numbers haven't been that great this week. When I last met w/ the dietician she thought I was cutting back too much on carbs, so I've been eating more of them this week and even though I've started insulin I'm on a very low dose. My guess is that when I see my Dr. tomorrow she will tell me to increase my dose. I'm ok with it at this point, I'm happy to do it for healthy babies.

I’ve been feeling lots of kicks and a few rolls from the babies. I feel Baby B quite a lot throughout the day, and I feel Baby A about once or twice a day. A couple days ago I felt them both just moving and rolling together! It was so cool!

I’m getting a LOT bigger. A few of Karin’s shirts don’t fit me anymore. I’ve also started to have rib pain, especially on the right side. I guess it’s just from everything getting pushed up. I saw Minga on Friday, and she said that the reason my right side hurts more is because my liver is on that side, and it’s getting shoved up to make room for the babies. So there’s pretty much nothing that can be done about it until after they’re born, and then I’ll probably need a major adjustment.

Pregnancy Journal 3/8/07

Well my glucose test came back on the high side, so I had to do the 3 hour glucose test yesterday... I don't recommend it! I didn't eat anything from 7:30 the night before until the test was over at around noon the next day! I was SOOOO hungry that by the end I was wobbly on my feet! Luckily DJ came with me because I don't think I would have been ok to drive myself home. Anyways... Dr. called today w/ the results and they were high. So the next step is an apt. w/ a dietician. Man... I'm so BUMMED about that!!!!

Anyways... /sigh

DJ and I printed off a list from the SSN web site and we narrowed down our list of names to 13! Out of those I think there's two that really stand out, Anya & Elsa. What do you think?? We're still working on middle names.

I'm absolutely huge already dang it! I don't know if I mentioned but at my apt. last week when I was at 19 weeks, they measured my belly and I measured at 24 weeks! I'm 20w now, so my guess is I'm bigger than 24 weeks at this point! Yowzerz! I definitely look like I'm in my 3rd trimester not my 2nd! And it's weird, the left side of my belly where Baby B hangs out actually sticks out more than my right side! I thought I was just imagining it, but DJ confirmed, I'm definitely lop sided. Baby B is just a little bruiser I guess. I'm definitely feeling movements on that side now. I think I'm starting to feel Baby A on the right, but it's not very often.

Pregnancy Journal 3/2/07

We had our full anatomy ultrasound yesterday. Babies both looked great; all major systems looked healthy and functioning as they should be. No abnormalities to report. The tech had a hard time getting pictures of their spine because they were both laying on their backs, so I'm going to have to go in again so they can get that certain picture they need. They were moving around a lot, but not in the way that was helpful for the tech! :P And we tried everything, she even had me get up and jump around a bit. :P But they were both comfy and wouldn't budge.

They're both head down right next to each other. Baby A is on the right and B is on my left. And their placentas are both right across the top of my belly, so she said I might not feel them move on a consistent basis for a few more weeks. Baby B is measuring ahead of Baby A, but they've pretty much been that way since the very beginning. She said as long as their growth stays consistent for 'them' (not in comparison to the other baby) then there's nothing to worry about. So if Baby B is the bigger one then I think I might really have felt that one the other night. It makes sense that I should feel the bigger baby first.

They're both girls! lol Poor DJ...he was really hoping for a hunting buddy. I told him that you never know, maybe one of the girls will take to it. But he says he doesn't want to turn one of our girls into a tom boy just because he wants a hunting buddy. :P So I guess the circumcision debate we were having will go right out the window. Now we just have to debate about names! Oh geez.. it's gonna be brutal. I like old fashioned somewhat traditional names and he likes trendy modern names... ugh! He's all Madison and Piper, and I'm Analise and Esther. Another thing he likes to do is name them something that's really a nick name instead of the full name, like Jessie or Kate... and I just think that's so wrong! :P Why Jessie rather than Jessica??? I just don't get it. It's gonna be an uphill battle that's for sure!

Pregnancy Journal 2/11/07

I got my library books about freezer cooking, and man it sounds like the first cooking day will be crazy, but then I won't have to do it again for a month and even DJ could pull out dinner and warm it up if I'm not feeling good that day. After 4 months of me not cooking we're both getting SO sick of take out and fast food.

I haven't started feeling anything and the Dr. said I might not until later because of the position of the placenta. At the last ultrasound the babies heart rates were between 120-140 bpm, which was kinda interesting because the time I had this ultrasound was about the same time that I usually take my nap and when the house is really quiet. I was a little worried that their rates were so low, but the Dr. didn't seem at all concerned.

You know how they say that the first thing the babies hear is their mother's voice? I swear the first thing my kids are gonna hear is me yelling at our dogs. I'm kinda worried about how loud and crazy our house is and how they will sleep. We live near the train tracks, and you can certainly hear it plain and clear, especially when they blow their horn. And then of course there's our crazy herding dogs always running around and yipping at each other.. yikes!

Pregnancy Journal 2/6/07

This week has been crazy.

Last Sunday morning I started to come down with stomach flu, apparently it's really been going around. And by Tuesday night I woke up at 2am with vomiting and diarrhea. Called my Dr. Wednesday morning and she wanted me to go to the ER because she was concerned about dehydration. So I went w/ DJ and they gave me an IV and some Zofran. They also did a quickie ultrasound to check the babies’ heartbeats, and they were VERY active and fine.

Then Thursday I had my regularly scheduled OB appt. and ultrasound. My parents came, which was fun. The babies seemed to be resting with lower heart rates. They moved around a little bit, but not much. I think it was such a different time of day than when I saw them at the ER the previous day that we caught them at their nap time. The tech said that she thought they both looked pretty 'girly' but wasn't completely sure, especially about one of them. So we're kinda thinking one is most likely a girl (I could see the 3 lines on the screen that are usually girl parts so I feel pretty sure about that one), and the other who knows.

Then Friday I was feeling a LOT better so I went and got a haircut. Ended up WAY shorter than I'd like... GRRR!!!! I've always had very long hair, and it was starting to bother me, especially tossing and turning at night. So I wanted to go shorter, but seriously, my hair hasn't been this short since jr. high. At least Locks of Love is going to get a nice donation.

Then this weekend DJ and I went and bought a freezer for the garage. My mom has been pushing me to freeze away meals for after the babies are here. She suggested 60 meals. So I've been doing some research and now I'm actually really excited about the idea. I think it'll be so convenient to just pull dinner out of the freezer instead of trying to figure out what we're gonna eat each night and then making stuff from scratch all while caring for newborns. The freezer should be here in 3 weeks, so that gives me lots of time to try out recipes and decide if we like them enough to make it in bulk.

Then DJ and I both ended up buying shoes. I really needed some shoes I could just slide into without bending over, and DJ needed new casual shoes which isn't easy to find for him because he has triple wide feet. But we were successful and ended up finding shoes we like and that fit.

So after having a few good days I thought maybe my m/s was over... HA HA HA!!! I went out to lunch w/ DJ yesterday at Ruby Tuesdays and ended up throwing up in my soup bowl. I'm still feeling pretty yucky today. So I think it's time to eat a snack and take a nap.