New Years Eve!

Happy New Years Eve everyone! :)  And happy 18 weeks to the babies!  Baby B must be getting excited for the new year...  I've been feeling movement much more consistenly and a few decent kicks here and there.  It's only late evening/nighttime though... hopefully night shift isn't training that one to be a late night partier!  Baby A on the other hand, who is usually the wild one during ultrasounds must be very content and comfortable :)  They are now each the size of sweet potato or bell pepper!  5 1/2 inches long and around 7 ounces!  This is also finally the week of my appointment.. yay!  Although, it's Friday, not Thursday, like I thought last week.  I seem to be noticably bigger each week...this rate of growth is kinda scaring me :)  Still feeling pretty good other than the ligament pain at night and some occassional heartburn that has started. 

I hope everyone has a safe and happy New Years!  Here's to 2013 and all the good times it may bring everyone!

The last picture with the Christmas tree :(

Merry Christmas!! :)

I hope everyone has had a Merry Christmas! We've had a great day so far and I will finish it off tonight with the babies at work.  I feel so lucky and blessed this Christmas!  Santa spoiled me with an AMAZING new camera, so we will have some better quality pictures of the little ones when they arrive! :)  Joe also got me the best gift I could ever imagine...  As most of you know we were calling baby C, Henry.  I'm not sure how it started, but it stuck, and we've always called him our little Henry (yes, we realize "he" could have been a "she") :).  I've been wanting to get something special to remember him by since we learned that he stopped growing.  I was immediately in tears when I opened this present.  It couldn't be more perfect!  When the twins are born they can have a picture with the Henry bear! :)

I was 17 weeks yesterday! Yay!  It's been a pretty good week.  The babies are each around 5 inches long and weigh around 5 ounces!  I'm still *thinking* that I feel them sometimes, but still nothing definite or consistant.  I was hoping for a few Christmas kicks today :)  I'm starting to have some ligament pain at night that wakes me up and I'm still having some headaches here and there, but otherwise feeling pretty well... just kinda big and slow already!  I'm definitely missing jogging and working out!  Our appointment and ultrasound still isn't till next Thursday, so we're still counting down the days till then.  We will probably reveal the genders after that, so we need more gender votes from those of you who haven't voted so far! :)  Merry Christmas to everyone!

Two avacado's!

It's so great to say, another week down!  Things continue to go well, and I'm feeling fairly well, other than just exhausted.  The babies are now a little over 4.5inches, the size of an avacado :)  We are still very anxious to reach the 23/24 week mark so we can breath a little sigh of relief.  I think I'm feeling them, but still not 100%.  I'm guessing it must be since it's the first time I've questioned in the pregnancy if it could be them.  I'm ready for them to get big and strong and start kicking me in the ribs!!  Being patient and positive through all this can sometimes be so hard! 



   



Appointment updates

Well our appointment went pretty well!  They did another cervical measurement, which my OB said was stable.  Because it wasn't shortended from last time, at this point its not a hurry to do a cerclage unless I wanted to do it now and get it out of the way.  However chances are still pretty high that we will most likely be getting it done before 24 weeks.  I told her the more I thought about getting one the more nervous I felt about possibly causing preterm labor or rupturing a sac.  Some days I feel like I'd rather go on bedrest than take that risk.  Next appointment is in 3 weeks, so we will check another one then and go from there, and if I started getting nervous about what the cervical length is before then just to call and they could get me in earlier.  Until then she said she is fine with me working 3 or 4 eight hour shifts a week.  We will also finally get a real OB scan of the babies then!  They were still small enough we got a peak at them during the cervical measurement, but the quality isn't as great, especially for B.  The tech felt very confident on each baby's sex this time, although as usual A was just flipping around in there and wouldn't sit still.  They looked pretty similar to last week, but noticably bigger.  A's heartrate was 156 and B's was 154.  Last night laying in bed I thought I maybe felt them moving, and both the tech and OB said I should be any time now as tight as they are in there.  Everyone I ask says it feels like butterflies, but the closest thing it felt like to me was a gas bubble.  But it really just literally felt like a tiny 4 inch human was knocking on my uterus wall!  :) 

 

 

Hopefully the next couple weeks are pretty boring and I don't have many updates for you! :)

15 weeks!

Another week has gone by!  We are all doing well and anxiously awaiting tomorrow's appointment to see how things are going and get another look at the babies.  The babies are now the size of an orange or an apple, about 4 inches and weighing 2.5oz each! :)  Still haven't felt any movement... but I'm dying to!!  I'm also hoping to get a more solid answer on the genders tomorrow and we can get to work with names.  We started looking at names a couple weeks ago.... I always knew I'd have a hard time deciding!  I'll let you all know how the appointment goes! 

Hello Second Trimester!!

Another week down!  The babies are now the size of lemons! I'm feeling much bigger than I look in this picture!  I've had some requests for "bump" pictures... so here you go :)

New blog!

I decided to start this blog to make sure I can update anyone who wants updates on us and the twins!  I apologize for the privacey settings, however I didn't want to make this public information.  Although it has gotten out at work that I'm pregnant, I wanted to keep these updates to our family and close friends for now.  Thanks for everyone's love and support and questions about how things are going.  It really means a lot to us. 

I have started my every 2 week appointments with my OB.  Because it is twins she wants to check a cervical length every 2 weeks to make sure there aren't any changes.  A change, or shortening, is a sign of preterm labor or possible complications that should be addressed.  Yesterday was the first measurement and unfortunately was shorter than what it should be at this point.  She talked to me about a probable cerclage, but will decide after our next appointment. 

A cerclage is a strong suture put into your cervix to help keep it strong and closed, and prevent any preterm labor, and the goal of keeping me off bedrest.  I would be admitted into the hospital and given a spinal for the proceedure.  Because of the risk of causing preterm labor, you are given a dose of drugs to "calm your uterus" and prevent that.  Afterwards they would watch me for a few hours to make sure there are no contractions and the babies look good.  If everything goes well I would then be on bedrest for 2-3 days and then hopefully resume normal activity after that.  The scariest possible risk is rupturing one of the sacs while puting in the cerclage, which would then give that baby no chance of surviving. 

Until then I'm going to just keep concentrating on a day at a time and be thankful for each day I have with these babies.  I haven't felt any movement yet, but it's early, and we've definitely seen them dancing around during their ultrasounds.  The tech had a guess at what sex they are, but I think we will keep that a secret for now!  I have a bit of a bump right now, although its size is largely dependent on how much I've eaten. :) 

I wanted to share pictures of their ultrasounds just to show how far they have come in just a few short weeks!  It's amazing how quickly they grow! 

This was our first scan at 6 weeks.  They were nothing but blobs with heartbeats!  It was so amazing to see and hear their little tiny hearts.

 

This was at 8 weeks.  They started to take shape a little and you could distinguish a head from a body (kinda! :)

 

 

I don't want to exclude little baby C- this is our last picture of baby C with a heartbeat.  You can see how much smaller his sac was, and how much more difficult it is to distinguish a head and a body.  The dr. estimated it was about a week after this ultrasound that he stopped growing.  We will always remember and think about him.

 

 

At 10 weeks they were finally little tiny babies with arms and legs.  I think they measured around 1-1.5 inches here.  The one on the left in the picture was squirming around its little tiny arms and legs the whole time.

And here they are yesterday at 13w2d.  They have changed so much in 3 weeks.  Once again the one on the left (which is baby A I believe) was very active and wouldn't sit still.  This is the one the tech was most unsure of the sex just because of its movement.  A's heartrate was 154 and B's was 156!  A gave us a little wave too! :)

Baby C was still hiding up at the top of my uterus yesterday.  It was amazing to see the size difference of when he stopped growing at 8w5d, to babys A and B at 13w2d.  The tech told us it will take a while for everything to break down, but he is in the best "position".  There is no risk of bleeding or complications since he is so high up and "blocked" by the other babies. 

We will continue to add any updates as we have them!  :)