22 Weeks

As you can see in my 22 week picture, I am beginning to get large. And I am feeling large too. I looked back at pictures while pregnant with Macyn and I am about the same size as I was at 28-30 weeks with her.

My belly is starting to feel heavy when I stand up after sitting for a while, and I still have lots of aches and pains when I try getting up or walking around. Its hard to get comfortable to sleep and my belly already needs it's very own pillow. I get really tired doing simple tasks like laundry, grocery shopping, pretty much anything that involves me on my feet. I take lots of breaks and continue to ice my back daily. Anyways, we had our 22 week check up yesterday and boy have the babies grown!

Baby A: 1lb 3oz
Baby B: 1lb 4oz

Holy cows - two weeks ago they didn't even weigh a pound each. Now I'm carrying around 2.5 lbs of babies! No wonder why my belly is starting to get heavy! I don't remember their heart rates, but they were only about 4 BPM apart. Both babies are still breech. I will continue to have my 2 week checkups to check for TTTS, but things are still going smoothly for now! We also confirmed that the babies will be here sometime between May 12 and May 19. My doctor said with identicals the mortality rate goes up if you deliver past 37 weeks. So the 36 week mark is our goal. Here are some pictures of the peanuts!

Looking at each other!

 DH and I discussed some names for the babies on the way up to the doctor. We have two names we like, but haven't made the names "official" yet..

I will be trying to update with Macyn too, but we have been super busy! Its a lot of work making sure to keep everyone updated with the twins every two weeks :)

New Haircut

Before and After

After about 4 months without a trim, we decided to have Macyn get a new haircut. I had the stylist cut off about 3" so her bangs would be the same length as the rest of her hair. Macyn was very specific that she wanted curls. The hair stylist just curled it under really nice and then asked Macyn if she liked it. Her response? "No, I want it to have curls." So she ended up curling it and from here on out she lets me know that when I curl her hair its not as good as the hair dresser :) But, she likes it nonetheless!

20 Week Update

First off, I forgot to take a 20 week bump picture....so I guess we will just skip that this time.

We had another big ultrasound yesterday as they did echoes on both babies' hearts. Here are some updates as what we found out:

• Baby A is weighing in at 13 oz, heart rate at 147 BPM, and she is now in breech position. 2 weeks ago she was head down. Crazy how she turned completely around!
• Baby B is weighing in at 15 oz, heart rate of 139 BPM, and she is still breech. 
• Babies are both measuring about a week ahead - about 21 weeks based on all their measurements
• Babies are confirmed once again, that they are girls!
• Baby A is the "ornery" one. She didn't like to stay in one spot while they were doing the echoes. Baby B laid there ever so nicely!
• Our doctor came in and said he looked at all the pictures and that the reason they do all these extra things is because these babies are at high risk of birth defects. He stated that after looking at all images of the heart, and other parts, he sees no indications of abnormalities/deformities! We were so relieved to hear this - its hard to be told that these babies are "high risk" and worry that everything will be okay. This put us a little more at peace and a little more calm.
• The babies will now be delivered for sure by 37 weeks now instead of 36. In fact, I could have penciled in my c-section, but we chose to hold off for a little bit.
• I asked about Twin To Twin Transfusion Syndrome (TTTS), because they look for this every two weeks. He said the most severe cases happen before 20 weeks, but it can begin any time between 20 - 30 weeks. So the good news is, I am out of the "severe cases" stage. He said it can really start anytime and has had patients where the babies were growing normally and within two weeks one quit growing as fast. So this is the reason for two week ultrasounds.
• The babies each grew 4 oz in the past two weeks, so I have almost 2lbs of babies already!
• The babies are both facing towards my back. We got a really cute picture of the back of their heads together:

I have noticed a lot of questions we get asked pretty often, so here are a couple of FAQ's:
• How are you feeling?
I tell most people I feel well, just so I don't  have to explain how I'm really feeling. In reality, I have quite a bit of lower back pain and lots of aches. I have been to the chiropracter at least 3 times in the past month and I ice daily. It doesn't really hurt sitting in a chair or anything, but it hurts if I lounge around a lot. I can't complain, though. And yes, I am sure it will get worse the farther I go. I get really bad heartburn, but I have noticed if I eat a yogurt before bed, this seems to curb it a little bit, and keeps me full for the most part through the night.
• Do you feel the babies move?
Yes! I wasn't quite sure the past couple of weeks, but its obvious now. DH even felt one move/kick/punch last week Friday. I feel movement mostly up high, about rib level. Once in a while I will feel one down low, and I mostly feel movements in the middle - right side.
• Are you going to dress them the same?
Well, since they are identical I don't think so - we need to have some way to tell them apart! We have thrown around the idea of sharpie marker on their heads (DH's idea) or keep one baby in pink and one in purple, etc. We aren't quite sure how to approach this one!
 

Half Way!

I am officially half way with this pregnancy. Yes, I know I am only 18 weeks, but the babies will be born at 36 weeks. We had our anatomy scan yesterday and it was quite a long appointment. We were there for three hours! Here is a rundown of how things went:

• First we met with a genetic counselor who took all of our family's history. He explained to us about things they look for on an ultrasound and that twins are at higher risk for defects
• Then, I met with my doctor's nurse. They asked more family history questions and did the usual - weight gain, blood pressure, etc.
• Ultrasound time! This ended up taking quite a long time, but we were able to find the dividing membrane between the two babies. We couldn't see it at 12 weeks because it was so small. I was relieved we found it, as if they are in the same sac, it's even higher risk. So, I am diagnosed with mono/di twins. They are identical (monochorionic, diamniotic) which means they share the same afterbirth and the egg has split into two different sacs
• Baby A is head down with it's feet into my ribs. Hard to believe they are that high already! Baby A had a heart rate of 148 BPM, and was about 9 oz.
• Baby B is breech and has its rump in the other one's face! If you look close at the picture you can see Baby A putting it's hand up to its face, while the butt is pressed against it. Baby B had a heart rate of 154 BPM, and weighed about 11 oz.

Poor Baby A getting a face full of Baby B!

• I also had my first 3d ultrasound (as you can tell) and it was pretty neat! Besides printouts they give you a disk with all your pictures and you bring it with you every time and they keep adding to it. 
• I will no longer be doctoring in town and will solely be doctoring with my Peri. He is requesting ultrasounds every two weeks starting now to watch for twin to twin transfusion syndrome. This only happens in identicals, and it pretty much means that one baby can grow faster than the other. They need to keep an eye on this and make sure the babies are growing at the same rates.
• Since this is a high risk pregnancy, there are greater chances of birth defects and other things that can go wrong. At my next ultrasound they will be doing another growth scan and an echo of the hearts to make sure everything is okay
• As of now, there isn't anything that showing cause for alarm. With that being said, yes, we did find out what we are having. I present to you....our beautiful identical twin......girls!

Macyn has already came up with a couple of names, including "Flower and Football" and even "Cindy Lou Who." She is excited and talks about her sisters pretty often!

Sunday School

Macyn attended her first Sunday School and came home with this piece of paper:

She started pointing at each sticker saying, "This is a twin, and this is a twin, and this is Mommy and this is Daddy and this is Macyn." I didn't really know what to think until I read the instructions:

"Help your child place dot stickers or make paint fingerprints inside the tent for every member of your family"

It seriously melted my heart!

She loved Sunday school and she goes from Children in worship (10:00 - 10:30), straight to Sunday School (10:45 - 11:45). They gave her a bag with her name on it to keep her stuff in, and when she got home she told us all about Sunday school. Its so nice to hear Bible stories through the words of a 3 year old!

17.5 weeks!

12 weeks, 13 weeks, 15 weeks, 16 weeks, 17 weeks

Not much has happened since the last baby update. We did hear both heartbeats right about 14 weeks, and I will have my "big" ultrasound on Monday at maternal fetal medicine with my Perinatologist. I will meet with a genetic counselor first, and then do an ultrasound that they said would last about 90 minutes. I am getting pretty anxious/excited for that appointment, so I am hoping and praying everything goes well. One thing I hate about pregnancy is waiting to hear from your babies at a month at a time. Makes a little more nervous since this is a high risk pregnancy. 

Anyways, here are some basics about how the pregnancy is going:

• I am hungry All. The. Time. To the point of waking up at 3:00 starving so I have to eat something. My stomach growls every 1-2 hours, so I eat. I gained 2 lbs my first trimester and am up about 10 lbs so far since pre pregnancy. So I'm not gaining as much as I feel like I should considering I eat all the time. It sounds crazy, but I am so sick of eating. They say I should gain about 1lb/week in the 2nd trimester - eeps!

• I am still pretty tired and try to go bed before 10:00 every night. I usually eat a bowl of cereal before bed, just so I don't wake up hungry

• Heartburn is terrible

• I no longer fit into my biggest pair of "fat jeans" but I will still rubber band some pants to make them fit longer

• I am patiently waiting to feel the babies kick. I think I feel them sometimes, but its hard to tell because there isn't any consistency.

• I definitely have more aches this time around, and its getting hard to lift things like my 35lb child!

Mostly, I have been trying to eat healthy, taking it easy, and resting! I can't complain and am trying to enjoy this stage before I become ridiculously huge.

On a more serious note, my step-cousin's wife lost their baby at 29 weeks on Saturday and had a stillborn on Monday. She simply went into the ER because she hadn't felt her move and they said she was gone. Prayers for them as they deal with this loss. It scares me that it can happen to someone you know. Prayers for us as well as we go about our high risk pregnancy journey.

Five Christmases

Starting the Saturday before Christmas, we had five of them in four days. Here is how they went:

Saturday: My extended family at the Pizza Ranch. This is the only time of the year we get together, so it was super fun to see my cousins and their kids! It was the first time I have meet two of them, and my cousin and their adorable daughter came all the way back from South Carolina. It was a fun time to watch all the kids play and interact with each other.

Sunday: DH's immediate family - time was spent eating supper, opening presents, and playing with all the new stuff. Macyn received some Minnie Mouse play sets, a little people castle, a Cinderella carriage, and a puzzle.

Monday: Christmas Eve spent with my family. We decided to have a late afternoon/early supper around 3:00 so we could all be home at a good time. I was feeling quite nauseous and got a little sick right  before we left. I decided to at least try and go to Christmas and felt okay the rest of the day and kept all my food down. DH & I got this fun yard game - Big Birdie Golf. I also received some maternity clothes and a flat wallet. Macyn got a play doh set, clothes, Baby Alive, crayons, a Barbie, and a Minnie Mouse. Fortunately, I started feeling better before church so we decided to go. We ended up sitting in the front row so that was quite the experience!

Tuesday: Christmas morning was spent with our family opening presents. We didn't go too overboard this year since we knew the Grandparents would set her up pretty well. She received an easel from Ikea, color wonder pages, fingernail polish set with a nail dryer, some some from bath and body (yes we have a girly girl) and a "baby that takes a bath."

 There is a funny story about this "baby that takes a bath." We decided to go Christmas shopping way back in November and we had all the gifts in the back of our SUV. We went to pick up Macyn and didn't even think to hide the presents in the back. So what does she do? She looks behind the seat and exclaims "A BABY THAT TAKES A BATH!" So I explained to her that we did get her the baby for Christmas, but she has to wait until then to open it. A couple of weeks had passed and I decided to ask her what she wanted for Christmas. This is how it went:
Me: Macyn, what do you want for Christmas?
Macyn: A baby that takes a bath - it's in the car.

DH bought me some touch screen gloves, some handi bac, and a Snoogle - the seriously best pillow ever, whether you are preggers or not! Even Macyn liked it and she proceeded to use it all morning while watching the parade.

I bought DH a new Vikings polo, a grill spatula, movies, and Battleship.

Tuesday Lunch: Lunch time was spent on Josh's extended family. We also had another one of DH's extended family Christmas at night, but we were so Christmas'd out that we decided to pass. We did visit his Grandpa before the meal, so at least we got to see him on Christmas.

Tuesday Night: We decided to head out and drive around a check out the Christmas lights in Maurice. Macyn LOVED it. She made comments of, "That's pretty awesome." "That's really cool" but my favorite one was when she saw a whole bunch of toy soldiers lined up and said, "There's the marching band!"

Unfortunately, in the night Macyn got the stomach flu so she had an extra day at home after Christmas. Fortunately, it wasn't a severe case of the flu, so she was pretty much back to normal after one day at home.

Our Christmas weekend was super busy, but it is always nice visiting and seeing our families.