On 16w6d & lots of doctor's appointments

I feel like I've been neglecting my little blog.

I'm 16w6d today. I jumped on the scale this morning, and I'm up about 13lbs. I'm definitely almost all belly, but am also more flabby because I haven't been able to workout. The morning sickness is almost totally gone (except for when I smell certain things or brush my teeth, lol) and I feel like a new woman! The only thing I've noticed is that I get tired really quickly.

I met with my new ob last week and immediately loved him. The only issue is that he doesn't want me to work on the ambulance anymore. I made a compromise and I will be finishing out April on the truck and then that's it. To be honest, I'm having mixed feelings about it. I love doing EMS but understand it's best for me and the babies to not be running right now. I cried a little bit when I took the recurring shifts out of my Google calendar from May on.

I had my echocardiogram done at the cardiologist on Monday. The tech said he could see my heart murmur but that it's not very large. I go back next Friday for my follow-up.

I had an appointment with Maternal Fetal Medicine the other day, too. Nothing crazy came out of the appointment, but I did receive confirmation that they won't let me go past 38 weeks... so, that means these babies will more than likely be here in August! Mentally, that messed with me a bit. This whole time I've been telling people "I'm due in September but will probably deliver in August", but now that it's for real for real that I'll probably deliver in August, I'm like "omg". It went from "I have all summer" to "they are coming at the end of the summer", lol.

I bought a doppler on eBay, and before bed most nights, I just listen to the babies. They have been so active, but it's still reassuring. Sometimes I have a hard time finding their heartbeats, but instead hear a lot of them "wooshing" around in there, and that's just as comforting to me. I've also been trying to read to them.

I've been preparing for our Mother's Day gender reveal party. At first, I honestly wasn't super anxious to find out what we are having, but now I find myself wanting to know. I think it's moreso because everyone else wants to know and because I want to pick out the nursery theme, lol.

I'm currently bidding on my dream stroller on eBay and crossing my fingers that I get it! I've also been selling some of my old clothes on eBay. I went through my closet and had a ton of stuff that still had tags on it! LOL. I've also been using my coupons to stockpile diapers, wipes, and lots of household stuff. DH thinks I'm nuts, but he'll be happy once the babies are here, lol.

Here are some belly pictures, at around 14 weeks, 15+ weeks, and 16+ weeks. :)

On 14w6d, changing my OB, baby movement, & baby furniture

I'm 14w6d today - hard to believe. I weighed in this morning and am up about 10lbs.

This past week I've been drinking orange juice like it's my job. It's my first 'real' craving of the pregnancy. I love it with ice cubes, lol. The babies either really love or really hate it though, because I've been feeling them move like crazy. The first time I felt movement was 03/20. I was sitting in a meeting, and felt this weird "flip" sensation in my lower left abdomen. My new midwife had warned me I'd start feeling them soon but it totally took me by surprise. At first, I wasn't even sure what it was. But now that I know, I'm able to recognize it more. I was only really feeling Baby A up until yesterday when I started feeling Baby B, too.

A few weeks back, DH mentioned that he didn't like my OB. To be honest, I'd been with the practice since I was about 17 (when I went on birth control), and had originally seen the OB but soon switched to one of the midwives I really liked. The practice has 2 OBs and about 5 midwives. Since I got pregnant, they had me rotating through everyone... but then once we confirmed it was twins, they stuck me with just the OB. So, when DH accompanied me to one of the appointments, he decided he just did not like her and did not trust her as a surgeon (in case I need a c-section). Of course, he didn't immediately tell me this but rather waited a week or so, which sent me into panic mode when he brought it up. I figured if we are going to switch, now is the time. At first, I kind of discounted his opinion but then realized (a) he NEVER stated adament opinions about things unless they are important and (b) with his medical background, I really needed to trust him.

So, I started my research. I asked a bunch of mom-friends that I trust and got the names of a few doctors and practices. I then started asking some OB nurses that I know and narrowed the list down. Eventually, I made an appointment with a new practice. My first appointment was with the midwife, and from the minute she walked in, I loved her. I was also experiencing a little mini-crisis, so by the time she walked in the exam room, I was an hysterical crying mess. Long story short, while I was in the waiting room, Maternal Fetal Medicine called saying my old OB (who wasn't aware I was switching yet) called them to set up a physician's consult for me. I had no idea what this was about, and I'm in the middle of sequential screening, so I thought that there must be something wrong with the babies. I made DH called MFM, but they said they didn't know why the OB had set it up. The midwive walks into the exam room, I tell her what's going on, and she calls MFM, gets all the info and straighens everything out. Moral of the story is - my idiot old OB didn't realize, even though they have all of my records from MFM and are the ones who sent me there in the first place, that I've already been established with MFM and have been seeing them for weeks. To me, it was even more of a sign to leave that practice and switch to the new practice.

So far, the new practice has been amazing. The midwife referred me to a cardiologist (due to my past history of hypertension, even though I've been asymptomatic and off medication for over a year) and a special eye doctor to get my eyes checked because of the hypertension past. She also has me getting a home blood pressure cuff, and had me add more iron and calcium supplements because of the twins. Then, this morning, she called me to make sure I got the sequential screen results from MFM (all good on the Down's syndrome front!) and to see how I've been feeling, etc. We spent like 10 minutes on the phone just gabbing about things... you couldn't ask for more personal service. I'm excited because I have my first appointment with the OB on Monday, too. :)

Also, when I went to the cardiologist on Tuesday, my 12-lead EKG was perfect, but the doctor discovered I now have an audible heart murmur. About 10 years ago, I had an echo done and it showed a small murmur, but it was never audible until now. He said not to worry yet, and ordered another echo for me.

DH and one of our friends put the baby furniture together this weekend. I'm a psycho Type-A planner, so I knew before we announced what furniture we would be getting, and I had also already ordered it. We ordered 2 sets of furniture, even though we only plan on having 2 cribs and 1 set furniture in the nursery. The plan is that we will probably split the twins into 2 rooms once they make the move to toddler beds, so I like the idea of having 2 sets of furniture already ready.

We ordered all of the furniture in Espresso - Stork Craft Tuscany crib, Stork Craft Beatrice Dresser, and Stork Craft Beatrice Combo Tower Chest. I also plan on ordering the matching hutch for the combo towers to use for storage once we are done using it as a changing table. My BFF used this furniture for her 3 kids, so I feel pretty confident in how well it'll work out for us.