On 19w & No More Ambulance

I'm 19 weeks today, which puts me at officially half way through my pregnancy (since it's twins and they won't let me go past 38 weeks). When I did the scale hop this morning, I was officially up 16lbs. I'm still looking like it's mostly all belly gain, but my shape has definitely changed a bit (no waistline) and I'm feeling a bit flabby in my normally toned areas. I feel like my belly button is just weeks away from being popped out, lol. It amazes me how much my belly skin has stretched and how much further it still has to go. I still always find myself staring at my belly as I get in the shower and I just giggle. This is really happening. It blows my mind every single day.

I had an emergency appointment with my OB about a week and a half ago because I was having abdominal pain and bladder spasms that I thought were related to another kidney stone. After running some tests and a follow-up appointment, he doesn't think it was a kidney stone, but rather thinks it was round ligament pain. He told me it would be more severe for me considering I'm stretching to accomodate 2 little ones, but that it's pretty normal.

The biggest takeaway from it? He wanted me off the ambulance. He told me I need to take it easy and remember it's a twin pregnancy - which is totally different than a singleton pregnancy. I'll be the first to admit that I've felt so great the past few weeks that I thought I would be able to continue just leading life normally... but I need to realize I have an even greater job and responsibility to these 2 babies... so I need to slow my ass down. So, I relented and am officially done working EMS until after the babies arrive. It was definitely emotional for me packing away all my uniforms, but it's for a good reason.

With that, I have enjoyed the time off and definitely feel a huge difference in my body. There's no more daily aches, pains, and difficulty finding a good position to sleep in. I've been trying to get more stuff done around the house that has been neglected because I was working so much and I've also been in bed every night by 8pm. Honestly, by the end of the day, I'm usually fast asleep by 8pm, too.
Since I have been feeling better and the weather has been nicer, I've been trying to do some walks with Mojo around our development. I've also been trying to do some stretching. It's the first real exercise I've gotten since I found out I was pregnant, so it's welcome.

Not sure if I've mentioned it, but I have a huge diaper/wipes/paper towels/toilet paper/other household essentials stash going. I have close to 5000 diapers (in varying sizes) and over 6000 wipes, lol. DH thinks I'm nuts, but I think I'm being smart! LOL. My basement looks like a cross between Extreme Couponers and Hoarders. I've been really good with couponing to buy everything, too.

Two more weeks until our anatomy scan, and then 2 days later (Mother's Day), we have our Gender Reveal Party. I'm growing more and more anxious to know what these 2 babies are. I still swear Baby A is a boy, and I'm convinced they are either 2 boys or boy/girl... although at this point, if they were 2 girls, I wouldn't be surprised, lol.

Also, over the past few days, I've felt some, what I think are, distinct kicks from Baby A. It was very often a few days ago, but when I would put my hand to my belly, the baby would stop (of course!) I cannot wait until DH can feel them kicking and moving. <3

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.

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.

On 10w5d

Here are pictures of the twins from the visit at Maternal Fetal Medicine on 02/11/13.

It took me until just now to realize that the RE's office and MFM refer to the babies differently. Those labels are from MFM, but my RE refers to them in reverse.

Anyways, here is a picture of the twins from the visit with my RE last Friday, when I was exactly 10 weeks.

The baby laying sideways was asleep until the ultrasound tech jostled it with the ultrasound wand, and then it woke up and went crazy. The other baby was moving around like crazy the whole time. Both had strong heartbeats (163 & 164) and were really active. I always cry at the ultrasounds, but this one was special because they actually look like babies now. 

The RE released me from their care. They gave me my weaning schedule for the progesterone injections and the Endometrin, and it basically has me on some sort of supplemental progesterone through Week 16. :( I'm not happy about that (I cannot stand the friggin Endometrin anymore), but I am feeling a bit better since starting to wean from the injections.

I saw my OB yesterday, and she said everything looks great. We got to hear both babies' heartbeats on the doppler, which was pretty much amazing. It really does make things more "real". She was surprised at how easy it was to pick them both up, and it's funny to be able to tell where each one is in my body.

I've gained 3 lbs in 4 weeks, according to the OB's scale. She is really happy with that, especially given how much I've been vomiting recently, even with the Zuplenz and the Zofran, and said I could stand to gain a bit more weight. My next appt with her is in 4 weeks.

Next Friday, we go to Maternal Fetal Medicine for my NT scan, and then we plan on announcing the pregnancy (as long as everything looks good). I want to try to find out when they plan on doing my gender scan, because we are thinking of doing a gender reveal party. :)

On 9w5d

I feel like I've been neglecting my blog. :(

In general, right now, my life revolves around doctor's appointments.

On 02/08, I went for a follow-up with my urologist about my kidney stone. He said everything looked good, the stone probably passed (thank you, lemon water!) and that he wants me to come back after I have the babies so they can do x-rays to make sure there are no issues and so that I can finally do metabolic testing to figure out why I always get stones.

On 02/11, I had my first appointment with Maternal Fetal Medicine. First, a tech did my ultrasound, and we got to see both babies. They were really in-depth with measuring everything and checking in on them. I loved it because they have a large TV screen so DH & I could both watch everything that was going on. Baby A (on my right) had a heartbeat of 167bpm. Baby B (on my left) had a heartbeat of 163bpm. Overall, both babies were measuring right on target and were much closer together in size.

After the ultrasound, I met one of the perinatologists. I loved this guy! He was hilarious and wanted to do his own ultrasound to check on everything. You know how with most doctors you feel like they are just waiting to move onto the next patient? I felt the exact opposite with this doctor, I felt like he would've stayed with me all day to answer questions if I had them. He was really happy with how everything looked and said that he's about 85% certain they are fraternal twins, due to 2 sacs/2 placentas/a thick membrane between them. He answered any questions I had and told me I should be prepared to deliver about a month ahead of time. He said I could always carry longer, but just to be ready for it. He also went over my list of other specialists and he seemed so pleased with the doctors I have - he spoke so highly of all of them, which put me at ease.

The next day, on 02/12, I had an appointment at my RE's office. I got to see the babies again, and she gave me a script for Zuplenz. Basically, it's the new version of Zofran, and instead of being a dissolvable pill, it's a little dissolvable strip (remember those breath strips things, it's just like that), and it works in 10 minutes, plus it's double the dosage of Zofran. I love it, and it works so well.

On 02/14, I met with my endocrinologist. My thyroid has been perfect with the Synthroid and he hasn't even needed to bump up my dosage yet.

DH & I had a great Valentine's Day dinner with friends and he got me new earrings that I love. For his gift, I bought us plane tickets to California in May to see all his friends and his dad "back home". He loved it!

I did my first 1 hour glucose test on Monday, and also handed in my 24-hour urine. My OB wants to be proactive about the family history of diabetes and heart disease/hypertension, so they wanted good baselines before I have any issues (hopefully I don't have any issues, but who the heck knows!)

My next appointment is Friday with my RE. I'll get to have an ultrasound and they are going to try to start weaning me off of the progesterone injections. I'm so excited, lol. I also started gathering up all of my unused fertility medications and syringes and stuff - I'm hoping they will accept them as a donation for other patients.

I ordered the first set of baby furniture, and that came in yesterday. My plan is to keep the babies in a bassient in our room for the first few months, and then move them into the same crib in the nursery. After a few months, I'll separate them into 2 cribs, and then maybe once they move into toddler beds, put them into 2 separate bedrooms.

Overall, I have felt pretty good. I've had some intense nausea and vomiting the past week or so, but the Zuplenz really helps, as does drinking juice first thing in the morning. Crackers and ginger ale don't seem to help me at all. :( I'm super bloated, have been in maternity pants or using the belly band since the Superbowl, and I've gained about 7lbs so far. I know alot of it is water weight from all the progesterone, but I'll take the 7lbs regardless. I already have a baby bump, which I love. It cracks me up to look at it in the mirror.

On Telling Our Families

Now that we've told our families, I feel more comfortable "coming out" on this blog with the pregnancy.

What makes things difficult for us with telling our families is that my mom lives a state away (but comes "home" on the weekends), his mom lives about an hour & a half away, his sister lives another state away, 2 of my sisters live in the South, one lives on the West Coast, and his dad lives on the West Coast. So, the only local person is my dad, and my mom on the weekends.

As soon as I found out I was pregnant, I got these frames for my sisters.

After we found out we were having twins, and that so far everything looked good, I got these frames for our parents.

The plan was to mail the frames to our far-away immediate family, and to have my parents over for dinner at our house. I sent all of the packages on Wednesday, the day after we found out it was twins, via USPS Priority Mail Flat Rate - which side note, I LOVE. I marked the packages up saying "do not open until you call us!" and even contacted everyone to tell them.

My 2 sisters in Atlanta got their package first. My sister, Noelle, was immediately crying. I said "notice anything weird about the picture?" And I could hear Gab & Noey both going "is that two? Is it twins?" Their reaction was awesome.

About 2 hours later, DH's mom called. She was so excited and hysterical crying and sobbing that we could barely understand her.

About 4 hours later, DH's sister called, again another excited one.

My youngest sister got hers the next morning and was happy, as well.

On Sunday, we had my parents over for lunch. And before dessert, I put little gift bags on their place settings. They opened them at the same time - my Mom took a second to "get" it, and my Dad was speechless. Then we said, "notice anything weird?" And they both were in shock about twins. I know my dad was shocked because he was uncharacteristically speechless, lol.

DH's dad got his package last night, so DH will tell him today. I'm so excited for his reaction.

Right now, our immediate families know, some of my online friends know, my BFF, and a couple of my other close friends know. My plan is to keep it secret from everyone else until I'm out of the first trimester. I think it'll be hard though because I'm already showing with a little bump.

Overall, I've felt pretty good. I have almost constant nausea, but peppermint Lifesavers really seem to help me. I'm exhausted all the time and starving all the time, too. Really, nothing is as bad as I thought it would be (so far, knock on wood). I'm trying to take every symptom or discomfort as a blessing.

I've only put on a couple of pounds, but according to my twin book, I need to step it up in the weight gain department. I honestly have been eating like crap, but am now making a more conscious effort to eat better.