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.

On 13w3d & making the announcement!

After a great visit at Maternal Fetal Medicine on 03/08 (officially 12 weeks), and an awesome NT scan, we decided to make the "official" Facebook announcement. Here's Mojo in his big brother shirt!

I was honestly surprised by the amount of people who responded to the post. My BFF says that this is a "celebrity" thing, lol. But, we really had hundreds of people "like" and comment the post. It feels nice that so many people are already being so great about the pregnancy. The day after our FB announcement, I posted a bit about our infertility struggles and our journey to the twins, and that was really well-received as well. I've gotten tons of messages, text messages, and hugs from people who have said it helped them to know others are dealing/have dealt with it. I will never understand why IF is treated as some dirty little secret.

Anyways, the NT scan was great. We got to see both babies, see their brains, the blood flow through the cords, their legs, arms, hands, everything. I loved the detail and to see them moving. We did Baby B (right upper) first, as that baby is sooo much more calm than Baby A, and always cooperates nicely. Baby B had a heartrate of 150bpm.

Baby A is definitely my wild child. This baby never wants to cooperate for ultrasounds, and is constantly flipping around and waving like a crazy person, lol. We would be doing pictures and measurements of Baby B, and you could see Baby A off in the background waving and moving. It was hysterical. Baby A had a heartrate of 145bpm.

Here are both of them in their fake bunk beds. ;) Baby A is on the bottom, Baby B is on the top.

I feel pretty confident that Baby A is a boy. I'm not exactly sure why, but I just feel that way. I've felt "boy" from the beginning, like I've felt "twins" from the beginning, so I'll be beyond shocked if they are both girls. DH's dad thinks Baby A is just a girl who doesn't like her picture taken, lol. My sisters all think it's 2 boys, whereas most other people think I'm having one of each. I'll be honest - I'll be happy with anything.

We find out genders on 05/10, and plan on doing a gender reveal party on 05/12 (Mother's Day). I need to start planning for that, but I plan on just having some family and friends over for some snacks and to see what the babies are.

Here's a picture of me with my bump on Saturday at the Irish Parade. I HATE the picture of me (I swear my face looks so round and fat!) but it's neat to see my bump. I definitely look much bigger than 13 weeks, but I was told to expect to measure about 6-8 weeks ahead throughout the pregnancy, so it makes sense. I've gained about 7-8lbs so far, and while I'm definitely more "flabby" since I haven't been able to work out, almost all of my weight gain is definitely in my belly area.

Overall, I've felt pretty good. I'm still nauseous most mornings, but the vomiting has definitely decreased. I have to eat small meals versus normal sized meals, my stomach just can't take that much in at once. I've definitely felt some "stretching" in my belly area, yesterday I swore my belly button was stretching, lol.

I've been weaning off of the progesterone injections, and in fact, my last injection is tomorrow! I'm so excited. I've also been weaning off of the Endometrin and should be done that soon, as well. :)

I feel so lucky about everything and I'll take every single symptom and every extra medication if it means a healthy pregnancy.