23 Week Update

J and I had an ultrasound check-up yesterday and everything looks great!  No signs of cleft lip/palette, Down's, Spina Bifida or any other developmental problem for either of the boys.  Amniotic fluid is measuring normal and so is cervix length.  I was very glad to hear that the cervix is still long and closed because that is generally a good sign that I won't be going into labor any time soon.  As the babies have gotten bigger it is harder and harder to tell exactly what we are looking at on the screen during ultrasounds.  It's hard to tell who is who and which side is left and which is right.  How the tech finds the stuff is beyond me.  They sent us home with a disk with about 90 pictures on it but there weren't a ton of great ones because the appointment was mainly about checking length of bones and sizes of heads and bellies and to make sure kidneys and stomachs and hearts were all working right.  Here are the best I could come up with:

According to my dates, I am 23 weeks and 2 days along (as of today) but the boys are measuring 8 days ahead (baby A) and 5 days ahead (baby B).  The tech said that she thinks A is going to be a big baby based on the size of his belly.  He currently ways 1 pound 8 ounces.  His brother is 1 pound 7 ounces, so I already have about 3 pounds worth of baby in there.  And I can feel every bit of it!  At my appointment with my OB last week (at 22 weeks and 2 days) I was measuring at 26 weeks.  This is totally normal for a woman pregnant with twins but it does make me nervous for when I'm actually further along.  How large will I be measuring when I actually deliver?  Yikes!  They are both laying transversely with their heads to the left of my body.  Basically, baby B is laying right on top of his brother.  They still have lots of time to turn and end up head down which I really hope that they do.  I am really hoping to not have a c-section.  Here are some belly progression shots:

Week 18

 Week 19

 Week 20

 Week 21

 Week 22 (and a week 22 with O comparison shot)

 Week 23

 Me and O (she has no pants on for some reason, had just had a purple popsicle so her mouth looks really weird and she was busy putting stickers wherever she could find a place)

Bragging on my Daughter

For our anniversary a few weeks ago John and I went to the Carrie Underwood concert (awesome!) and left O with our friend, Me Too, and her son for the evening.  I received the following e-mail and wanted to put it out there because I am so proud of O and it appears that J and I are doing something right.  With the exception of being very stubborn when it came to bed time it sounds like she was a very polite little girl.

I know you probably already know all the cute thigns your daughter does, but I know I love hearing random little stories about L, and I wanted to share with you all the cute stories about O. . .


Around our alphabet foam playing mat are strips of foam that border the letters.  She found a couple of these border pieces, sat on the floor with them and said "Fott" and I was like "Foot?" "Yes. Foot." And then she was trying to put them on her feet. It was only then that I realized those border pieces look like really big versions of the dividers you use on your toes when you paint your toenails!!! Takes a child to show you something new in your home!!


She also said "thank you" and "please" for EVERYTHING. HOw did you teach her to be so polite? "Eat." She asked, pointing at her diaper bag. "Please. Eat." Then walked to the table and climbed onto a chair. I brought her goldfish to her, opened the container and placed it on the table. She ate for a few minutes, then took the lid, put it on the container (partway! :)) and said "Thank you". before getting down. Soooo cute!

When we headed to the pack n play bed about 9:30 ish, I had one of L's TTU blankets beside the pack n play in case she needed one (her pink) to hold and one to cover her. The first thing she said when we went in the room was "no" and pointed at the blanket. I moved the blanket away from the pack and play and again she pointed at it and said "no." I think her Daddy would be very proud to know that his little girl was very adamant that she did not want a Texas Tech blanket near her when she was sleeping!! :)

She helped pick up all the toys she was playing with - mainly blocks like the ones she has at "home" (or so she kept telling me!!) :) After we had finished cleaning up and moved on to another room, she found a block in that room, walked over to the zipped-up block bag and said "help" so that I could open it and she could put it away properly. What a considerate house guest - making sure her whole mess is cleaned up! (Oh, and the bag full of blocks was "heavy". I am so amazed at her vocabulary! So many words and so clearly said!)

I thought you might be potty training her bc she grabbed my hand and said "pee pee". "Did you go pee pee?" I asked, thinking that was maybe her way to tell me her diaper was too full. "No." Shakes her head. "Pee pee." "Do you need to go on the potty?" "yes." and walks to the bathroom. "Do you want to go on the potty?" "Yes. Pee pee." and points to the toilet. We don't have a little potty, so I thought, well, let's give this a shot on the big one!! She took off her pants, I took off her diaper and I held her up on the toilet. She looked a little bewildered and after about a minute said "No pee pee. Down." so either I did something wrong or she didn't have to go after all. (And I don't even know if you are potty training her - I may have gotten it completely wrong!!)


When I was lying next to her on the floor trying to get her to sleep, I asked if she wanted me to tell her a story. "Yes please." So I did. I told her a childrens story that I had started writing a few months ago, but had stopped because I could not figure out what hte heck was going to happen next. Talking out loud to her, I was able to see where the story should go and how it should end!! Although she didn't give me alot of feedback :) I think she really helps with the creative process. If its ever published, she's getting an acknowledgment in the booK!! :)


There were probably more cute-as-heck moments, but these are the ones off the top of my head that I remember. And I am so sorry I couldn't get her to sleep earlier. I felt so bad for her and tried to make her as comfortable as possible, but I think nothing beats home and Momma. Besides the bed thing, she really was easy and sweet. And I would baby sit her again anytime. (Even at nighttime - I'll figure a way to get her to sleep somehow!) Glad you were able to take a night out :)


Now if we can only get her to act the same way at home . . .

Coyotes' Home Opener

Saturday was the Coyotes' home opener and J, O and I all went.  We were lucky enough to get bumped up to row A right behind one of the goals (our regular seats are in row O around center ice) and while I prefer to be further up so that we can see everything well these seats were awesome.  We got to see the players up close both during warm-ups and during the game (many of them are MUCH bigger than I thought - Mike Modano, and HOT! - Taylor Pyatt). 

O loved when they'd come right up close and she even got an official NHL practice puck during the pregame so she was super excited about that.  All she wanted to do after that was play with the puck.  Here are some pictures I shot.  I did the best I could but our camera sucks.

Player introductions

The game - O is now saying she wants to go to a game every day

We left in the middle of the third period and the game eventually went into overtime.  Unfortunately the Coyotes lost with 16 seconds left in the overtime period.  Damn Red Wings.

They Say Every Pregnancy is Different . . .

This couldn't be more true for me.  I've mentioned more than once to J and pretty much everyone else that it is like I am pregnant for the very first time all over again.  This pregnancy, so far, has been SO different from the one with O (especially in the first trimester).  This is how:

*With O I was pretty miserable for the first trimester as far as morning sickness went.  While I only threw up twice (both were on the same day within minutes of each other) I was nauseated almost all day long from about 6 weeks to the end of the first trimester.  I would start to feel some relief starting at about 2 p.m. every day but it never fully went away until I moved into the second trimester.

*Very few food aversions this time around.  I have been eating well and pretty much everything that I want.  With O the thought of vegetables and any kind of sandwich made me want to hurl.  When I did want to eat all I wanted was some sort of fried chicken be it a chicken finger or chicken nugget (the chicken crispers from Chili's called my name more than once!).  I am so glad that this time I can eat almost everything though in smaller amounts.  If I eat too much, or let myself get to hungry, that is when I start to feel sick.  You should see the amount of food I bring to work with me each day.  It's a wonder that my coworkers didn't figure it out on that hint alone.

*My work knew about my pregnancy at 8 weeks because of how sick I felt.  This time around I took my own sweet time in telling them.  I was almost 13 weeks when I let the cat out of the bag on this one.

*With O I started wearing maternity pants at 12 weeks.  Not because I was showing but because my regular pants weren't fitting exactly right and maternity pants are so much more comfortable.  This time around, at 10 1/2 weeks I was busting out the maternity stuff and using a rubber band on my pants to keep them up, though at 13 weeks I had yet to wear any maternity clothes to work.  It must have been bloat.

*My pregnancy symptoms really dissipated at about 9 weeks, to the point of making me nervous.  My breasts weren't as sore as they had been, the sick feeling after eating was almost gone, and the tiredness that I felt around 7:30 p.m. every night wasn't there as badly.  Heck, compared to my first pregnancy I was bouncing off the walls.  I would almost fall asleep at my desk when I was pregnant with O.  This time the fatigue is not there.

*I don't remember getting up every night in the first trimester to pee when I was pregnant with O, but that is what I am doing this time around.  Not fun.  I think we may go broke on toilet paper alone.

*For about 2 1/2 weeks (from about 6 1/2 weeks to close to 9 weeks) I was hungry 24/7.  Not just kind of hungry.  Starving.  My stomach growled all day.  I went to bed feeling a little hungry and woke up needing to eat.  Luckily, by 8 1/2 weeks I had only put on about 3 pounds.  It could have been much worse.  I would absolutely prefer this problem over the morning sickness however.  It now makes sense why I was so much hungrier.

*My skin is still not great, but with O my face broke out really badly.  Not so much now.  I've gotten more bumps on my chest and shoulders but not really on my face.  Thank goodness.

*I am much more run-down by the end of the day than I was with O.  I was pretty go, go, go with her, but I can't do as much now.  I notice much more pain with this pregnancy if I really overdo it, which I can have a tendency to do.  I have to make a conscious effort to slow down sometimes but when my toddler wants to be picked up or play it is hard for me to say no when I know how much her life is going to change in a few short months.  I have developed the SPD that I had the first time around (and some days I limp around because it hurts - I'm sure I look interesting) and I have a feeling that resting is not going to help me a ton this time.  I haven't been exercising much like when I had it with O so I think just the sheer weight and hormones from the babies are going to give me a hard time.  I broke down and took some Tylenol for the first time the other day but I do not want it to become a regular thing.

*This pregnancy has also been more stressful.  The surprise of twins threw a whole bunch of kinks in our planning for another child.  We now have to plan for two and that poses a bunch more questions and logistical dilemmas than we thought we'd have to deal with.  We had gotten a lot of neutral baby items (stroller, car seat, bedroom decor) planning to use it for future children.  While this was a great idea it isn't going to work out for us since we now need two car seats, a double stroller, two cribs, more diapers, etc.  And where we are going to put all the stuff only God knows.  We really need a bigger car (which we did get about a week ago) and a bigger house and those are both items that we really aren't wanting to have to buy right now.  Plus the daycare costs are going to pretty much triple (though our provider said she'd work with us on that) but it makes us wonder if it really makes much sense for me to continue working at all.  Ugh, the things we have to think about and decide in the next 3 or 4 months.

*While this has been more stressful this time around it also makes things a lot easier.  We know, for sure, that we are done having kids after this.  Three is our max.  Now that I know this is my last pregnancy I am trying to enjoy every minute of it.  The movements, the pain, the expanding belly are all things that I am making sure to appreciate as much as I can.  The novelty of having twins is fun too.  Not everyone gets the joy of having twins and I'm enjoying the special attention that twin moms get (along with some of the dumb questions but luckily it takes a lot to really bother me when it comes to that).  Maybe it is selfish to say that I enjoy the extra attention I've gotten since announcing that it is twins but it's true.  You don't often get to be the center of attention even for a short time after your wedding day.  =)

I told John about a week after we found out that we were having twins that I couldn't imagine it being one.  Two just feels right.  Yes, it is extremely scary to know that we are going to have two newborns to take care of by February, but I know it is how it is supposed to be.  I can't picture our family any other way.

Coyotes Fun

A couple of weeks ago the Coyotes had an open house for people to come out and buy stuff and watch the team scrimmage.  It was fun and O discovered her new favorite thing: a bounce house.

There are some great fountains outside of Jobing.com Arena and O thought they were really cool.  We had just come from gymnastics class so she was still wearing her leotard.  I doubt she would have let me take it off had I tried to change her clothes.

She had her stunner shades on (and monkey was along for the ride).  She wears these everywhere we go.

Between arrival and bounce house time we had an accident in the middle of the concourse.  I was talking to a couple of John's coworkers and all of a sudden I hear a whining/crying "pee-pee!  pee-pee!".  I would like to apologize to Kyle for having to handle the pee on the floor (the same guy whose house floor she peed on at his son's birthday party - oops!).

Ahh, the bounce house.

And the Winners are . . .

Those of you who voted boy/boy!  Yes, as most of you have already heard, we are having two boys.  And no, we don't have names so don't bother asking.  I am telling people that they will have to force us to pick names in the hospital in order to get the paperwork for birth certificates because J and I CAN NOT agree on names.  Especially boy names, so now that we have to pick two it's going to be an interesting "negotiation" process.

The boys look very good.  They both had heart rates of 158 and A weighed in at about 12 oz. with B at 11 oz.  The tech said that is measuring about 10 days ahead of my due date.  I'm thinking we'll have January babies but it is still too early to tell.  Our next ultrasound is scheduled for October 28.  I'm already looking forward to it.

They both looked healthy and were moving all over the place.  I didn't get a CD this time and I haven't had time to scan in the pictures but as soon as I get them onto my computer I'll post them.  Let's just say that neither boy was shy about showing the goods.  J and I joked that they are already proud and he said that they'll never grow out of it and that we (women) would be proud if we had one too.  Men.