Our Last Hurrah

Yup, I flew at 25 weeks pregnant for our second anniversary trip!! We went to South Dakota to see Mt Rushmore (which is really neat to see in person). We also saw lots of beautiful scenery in the Black Hills (where Mt Rushmore is located), went to several local restaurants (including the Corn Exchange Bistro and the Firehouse Brewery), and we we went to the town of Deadwood. Also, we stayed in a hotel that had a nice pool & indoor waterpark, which was very nice for relaxing :)

I admit I was nervous to go on a plane trip this far into my pregnancy, but I kept hydrated and moving around on the plane and bus rides. And a lot of people were praying for the safety of our babies. Everything seems to have worked out ok :) And I loved, loved, loved spending 4 days away from home with Alan <3 He is the best!

Also a highlight of our trip: Alan got to see the babies move from the outside for the first time!!

Here are a few pictures:


In front of Mt. Rushmore! So amazing to see it in person.


Standing in front of the Crazy Horse memorial model. This is the goal for the mountain carving in the background; it is a memorial honoring the American Indians. So far they have the indian's face done (which you can see in the background) & they are starting to work on the horse's face. It will be impressive once it's finished.

In Deadwood, SD after a play that depicted the death of Wild Bill (on the left). Alan got roped in to playing the bartender for the play. Jack McCall (Wild Bill's assassin) is on the right.

On the set of Dances with Wolves. I haven't seen this movie, but Kevin Costner was standing right in front of this desk in one of the scenes.

The indoor waterpark at the hotel. Alan enjoyed the slides in the background (the body of the slides run outside the actual building). I had the pregnancy excuse, so I got out of that :)

Nicknames

Alan's nicknames for my baby belly:

Fat Roll (That was earlier in the pregnancy)
B.W. or "Beached Whale"
O.B. or "Obnoxious Belly"
W.W. or "Whale Woman"

Ok, it sounds bad.. but it's more of a joke between us. I think it's kind of cute ;)

Nicknames for the baby (these were before we found out the gender(s)):

Gummy Bear
Dugan

24 Week Doctor Appointment

Two heads, and they are facing each other! So cute.

3 different hands :)

3 days before the appointment at a friend's baby shower.

• My new due date is September 7th, so today I am already 24 weeks 1 day. We are viable!
• I had my second ultrasound today. The twins are both head down & facing each other. So adorable!! They are now calling the baby on the right Twin A because he is further down. Twin B's head is right at Twin A's chest. We got a picture of their hands overlapping, it is so cute. Both babies are between 1-1.5 pounds, and the tech said everything looked good. They both have their own sac, but as far as the ultrasound showed.. they only have one placenta. Which means they are most likely identical. :-o The reason they don't know for sure is because I didn't have an early ultrasound. At this point in my pregnancy the placentas could have fused even if they started out separate. Also the placenta is towards the back of my uterus... maybe that's why I can feel them kick so well already :)
• The tech said they are definitely both boys. I guess they are just that manly.
• We will be watching for a complication called Twin to Twin Transfusion, which is where the twins get nutrition unproportionally. So one grows slower or even stops growing. This is only seen in identical twins. I think everything will be fine though :)
• My cervical length is good.
• Weight gain: 19 pounds
• Fundal height: 26cm
• My OB said I was hiding the twins well :) And her advice was to keep growing just like I am. She said if I do, then I shouldn't feel too bad during this pregnancy.
• Right twin's HB: 141. Left twin's HB: 137. (I call them left & right twins now, because the twin that was A last time is now B.. so I'm all confused, lol)

Milestone!

So... the moment I have been waiting for since I got pregnant...

I saw one of the babies move from the outside this morning!

I was feeling a pretty forceful kick in the same location a few times in a row this monring, so I put my hand there. He kicked again and I saw my hand move. So I moved my hand.. and sure enough... I could see the little kicker (I think it was Twin A) moving my belly :)

22 Week Update

Weight Gain: 15 pounds

Baby Movement: I'm starting to feel them from the outside just about every day. And Alan has gotten to feel them several times as well! :) It still seems like twin A is a little more active than twin B.

Energy Level: I worked two days in a row last week, and it almost killed me. (I also didn't get good sleep at all before either of those shifts.) I had to rest for the next two days. Our census at work has been high for the last week and a half, so I've been getting calls almost every day to work extra. Usually I don't have a problem working a little extra, but I think it's more important right now that I don't push myself if I don't have to. So I haven't been answering the phone :) Plus until I hit about 30 weeks I am going to be really paranoid about premature labor. I don't want any 24-29 weekers.

Also... Happy Mother's Day to all of you mothers!

Food

I kind of miss getting full after eating a meal. It's a lot of work eating all the time. I just want to go to sleep but my stomach is growling!

Doctor Visit - 21 Weeks

It's only been two weeks and a day since I was seen my a midwife & had the ultrasound, but I haven't talked to any professionals (besides nurse friends and neonatologists at work) since I found out I was having twins (because my ultrasound was after my midwife appointment). I was getting tired of not having a practitioner and not knowing what the plan was going to be for the rest of my pregnancy! So today I felt like I finally got to discuss the twin situation with my new doctor. I actually went with a different doctor than I originally intended, because the other doctor couldn't see me for another 3 weeks, and I thought that was too long. Maybe I am just impatient.

So... here's the update :)

The medical assistant was able to hear both heartbeats right away. They were both strong, although I didn't get the exact bpm. The medical assistant is actually the mom of 6 year old identical twin boys! So I told her... "I guess it is possible" ;) Weight gain so far: 13 pounds.

The doctor did a full physical exam on me because I am a new patient. My fundal height is 25cm. (For a singleton delivery, the fundal height approximately matches the gestational age in cm's.. give or take a few cm's... so I think 25 cm is good for twins). And she didn't mention anything else so I guess everything else is fine :)

I am going to be seen every two weeks from now until 32 weeks. Then, I will be seen weekly. And I will be having monthly ultrasounds to check the growth of the babies. So lots of monitoring! My next ultrasound is two weeks from now. They said they are sending me to the best ultrasound tech at the clinic, because they want to get really good shots, and see if they can tell one more time if they babies are in separate placentas. (This would be the best situation as far as the level of risk). They are definitely in their own sacs within the placenta though.. so that is good. Also at 26 weeks I am getting two steroid shots, 24 hours apart, to help develop the babies' lungs in case they are delivered early. Since twins are more likely to be delivered.

Also my doctor talked to me a little about the actual delivery. (Which is exactly what I wanted to discuss!) And let me just say... my goal has always been a natural, epidural-free birth.. but that was before the twins & before I heard about my birthing options with twins. Now I'm thinking the epidural sounds preettty good, but we'll see what happens.

So, the doctor said she has never had to deliver twins with a combination of vaginal & c-section. This was music to my ears, because the recovery for that sounds pretty intense. She said if there is no medical necessity/emergency and twin A is vertex (head down), she usually tries a vag delivery. Then twin B usually is floating around in a strange position, so usually a little manipualation is needed (as in the practioner grabs the feet), and twin B is usually delivered breech. This is safe since the cervix has already dilated and delivered one baby. I asked if both babies are ever delivered vertex.. and she said it does happen if twin B rotates into that position after the first birth, but it's much more common for the second to be breech. So it sounds like I will only get a C-section if I really need it.. which is good.. but the whole manipulating the baby while he's still inside scares me a little! She said all the doctors in the practice have the same philosophy too, just in case I am delivered by an on-call doctor.

Also, she said she's only had a couple of twins that had to stay for any length of time in the NICU, but she said it was very common for one or both twins to either transition in the NICU or stay for 3 or 4 days. She said most of her twins are born between 36-39 weeks. She doesn't like them to go much further due to growth problems. If my babies do have to go to the NICU... at least I will know the staff taking care of them :)

Soo... I think that is about my entire doctor update. Kudos to you if you got through it all! :)

**On a personal note... I am exhausted today. Working the last 2 days in a row (12 hour shifts, mainly on my feet) without a lot of sleep before either shift has not been good for this mommy. I had to drag myself just to get up and take a shower today at 11:00am so I could make it to my doctor appt. Now that is sad!**

It's TWO BOYS

Baby A:

Baby B:

(I accidentally deleted this post... it was supposed to show up before the 21 week update)

Yes we're having twins!! We found out at our 19 week sono (April 19th). I almost fell off the table when they told me.

First the tech said, "This is the baby on the bottom left... we'll name this 'A'." I thought she was just talking about where the baby was, and naming the picture "A" arbitrarily. She let us know the baby was a boy.

Then the words I will never forget: "Ok, now let's look at the other baby."

Umm, what?! I just looked at her and said, "You're joking."

She said, "No I'm not, there's two babies in there... I wasn't sure if you knew or not."

By this time it was pretty obvious that I didn't know as I was breathing faster, my heart was racing, and I kept repeating "Are you serious?"

She showed us "Baby B" (At this point I realized why she had named that first picture "A") She let us know he was a boy too!

I was completely shocked!! Alan was there when we found out; he was taking a video of the whole thing. He didn't change expressions as we found out, he told me later he was in "filming mode" It definitely hit him later though :)

On the way home from the ultrasound, I kept thinking about having two carseats in the backseat instead of one. For some reason, this made the news seem real... and it seemed like such a huge responsibility to take care of these two little people. This got me a little overwhelmed and teary. It is a huge responsibility, but hopefully we will be up to the challenge :)

21 Week Update

(Me in my work scrubs)

Baby Movement: The babies are getting stronger. I think I felt them from the outside 3 times in the past few days. Mainly I just feel stronger nudges/flutters from the inside than I did before. A lot of the movement is on my left side.. which is where baby "A" is hanging out. I dunno if he is more active than baby "B" or if it's just his position in there.

Weight: Gained 12.5 pounds so far. Maternity clothes that seemed huge just a few weeks ago now fit me quite nicely.

Appetite: Noticed an increase in appetite especially from week 17 on. Now that I know there's two, I've been really trying not to skip meals & concentrating even more on drinking as much water as I can. I really really want to carry these babies for as long as possible (being a NICU nurse I know every week counts... and we see so many twins that it makes me nervous), so I am trying to eat good food & keep myself hydrated.

Energy Level: Not too bad. Definitely improved from the first trimester, although I still get worn out faster than pre-pregnancy. Also trying to get some exercise.. but to rest when I'm tired.

People's reactions: Definitely more people staring at my stomach as I pass. I feel like I'm getting bigger every single day. Also I get two completely different reactions when I tell people I'm having twins. 1) "Really? But you're so tiny" or 2) "I knew you were popping out really fast!" So I really don't know which one it is! It may just depend on what I wear.

Doctor: I was being seen my a group of midwives that delivers at the hospital where I work. However, when they found out it was twins, they kicked me out! (I would have gone with a doctor anyway... just because of the higher risk of complications with two... but they didn't even let me make the choice, lol). I chose a doctor... but it has been a huge pain getting the midwife office to send over my medical records & to get an appointment. Yesterday the doctor's office FINALLY called saying the received the records & made an appointment with me. But I was not at home & didn't have a calendar in front of me. So I'm not sure now if they appointment is this coming week or 3 weeks from now (which I would not like.. I haven't been seen since I got the news). So I am calling them on Monday to double check.

Baby Supplies/Nursery: We decided on a nursery theme & colors (the boys will be sharing a room). Alan has almost finished painting. We are doing a dark chocolate brown on the bottom 1/3 & a baby blue on the top 2/3. :) Our theme is going to be "Safari Team" from Babies r Us. It's four different animals.. and each of them has a different sports ball they carry (football, basketball, soccer, and baseball). It is really adorable. So far we just bought the lamp & some sheets of the set, but we registered for the rest of it. Our baby registry is almost complete now, woo hoo! :) Yesterday I got some used stuff from a friend of mine's mom. So we now have a double stroller, a swing, a bouncy seat, a highchair, and a crib. I gave the crib to my mom so she will have a place to put at least one baby :)

Also I forgot to mention this on my last post... but the babies weighed 10 oz. each at my 19 week ultrasound. The tech said I was "growing them well." Also she said everything looked good health-wise.