Hmmm ... I'm starting to see a pattern. Missed out on eighteen weeks. No sweet potatoes here! I'd really hoped that I'd be able to keep up to my once-a-week posting, but since this is the third I've missed, it looks like that's not going to happen.
Last week I felt the first movements! Nothing huge, just what felt like two little bubble pops against my right side. I was so unsure if it was actually them, I didn't have much excitement. This week I've had some "muscle twitches" movements and more what I can only call "little tickles" one early morning. So right side, middle, and left side respectively. At least I know I've felt both of them! It's almost secretive - something that only I can experience. Ben tried holding my tummy one night, and even when I told him it was too early for him to feel anything (and that I didn't even feel any movements right then), all he could say was "Hush." It's so cute watching him. The way that he fawns over us just melts my heart. He's going to be such a good daddy. I honestly could not have wound up with a more perfect husband. <3
Monday I was scheduled for an anatomic screening at DKH. Of course, after waiting for 45 minutes, I was told that they don't do screenings for twins there, and then was sent home. Feeling all sorts of frustrated, I went to Wal*Mart and chatted with Nikki and proceeded to buy a pack of yellow onesies. The first baby purchase I've made! I'm proud that I made it past my half way mark before buying anything for them. Yes, I've made blankets, but the yarn had already been purchased. So I somehow managed to wait until my second half of pregnancy before spending money! I still wound up having a bit of a rough evening. When I have an upcoming appointment, my stress starts rising. My mind begins its route through everything that could have gone wrong without my knowledge. Seeing them on the screen is such an ease to my heart, and I'm able to make it through the next two weeks before I begin to worry again. Monday morning I'd been all ramped up, but never got the release of knowing that they were fine. My stress just continued until the Thursday appointment in Hartford. After crying Wednesday night, and Thursday morning, the drive through rush-hour traffic just made my panicky self even more jumpy. Thank God Ben was with me, and the one driving. I never would have handled the traffic.
Turns out the Thursday appointment was an anatomic screening. So the one with DKH was completely un-necessary and only served to make my emotions fly all over the place. It was the longest appointment I've had to date, and it seemed like every bone had its picture taken and then got measured. One of the cutest things we saw was Nemo stretch and arch his back just like Mommy does. Little spines lit up the screen, profiles looking just as cute as ever. It really is amazing what they can see nowadays! And, lucky for us, both of them decided to cooperate and position themselves so the sonogram could pick up on gender. We've got two little boys on their way! Ben and I both felt a moment of disappointment, since we'd been hoping for one of each. But less than thirty seconds later, we were just thrilled. I'm so glad we found out now - I would hate to look back on when they were born and remember that I was disappointed. Even for a second. Now we've got ourselves prepared. Ben had said that he'd been looking forward to having his little princess, but he's so happy about the boys. One of his first thoughts was that he didn't have to worry about needing to murder some stupid teenage guy who broke his little girl's heart. At least not with these two, lol. The last really cool thing that happened was that they were able to give us a 3D picture of Nemo. Nudge wasn't in the right postion for it, but Nemo's face is just so cute!! Adorable already!! We're just too happy. If they don't completely wear me out and things work out right, we can always try for a girl later on. I told Ben it would depend on how these two little rascals run circles around Mommy. I could very well just be too tired to even think of another. He just nodded and said he'd know the look of "I want a baby" when it came into my eyes. Psh. Like he knows whats going to happen. :P (We all know he's gonna be right...haha)
So once we got home and shared the news with everyone, we had our first Childbirthing Class that night. It was interesting. Slides and information, and then a tour of the birthing center. We're the only ones with twins, and my old boss is in the same class, but it's still going to be really good. I got this pain in my side - I think from standing too long/walking around the center. The rooms are amazing ... so homey! Definitely not the sterile white portrayed in TV and movies. Once we sat down, it was so much better. The pain pretty much disappeared. After a nervous week, I slept awesome last night.
The boys have new nicknames already. Matt wants us to name them Chaos and Mayhem (LOL!), and I've taken to calling them Bubs and Bubbas when we're alone ... when I'm alone... We still refer to them as Nemo and Nudge, but Ben asked if we'd start calling them by their names. I said no only because we won't know which one is which until we see them and can give them the name that fits. I find myself even more anxious for their birth date. I can't wait to see the little faces of my two precious boys.
Micah Samuel and Darius Isaiah, Mommy and Daddy love you immensely already!
Friday, September 17, 2010
Friday, September 3, 2010
Seventeen Weeks Five Days/Two Onions
Things have been going well this week. After my freak out from last week, Ben and I got to talk for a while. I think it helped just to have someone listen. I was able to get out my fears, and purge the thoughts that had been plaguing me. We've agreed that should someone start in on the negativity (even if they're only trying to help prepare us), we'll kindly ask that they stop. I just don't need those things weighing heavily on me. I think the best part was that Ben had known intuitively that there was something wrong. He said that his "scalp was tingling" - which I guess has happened before when something was going wrong. He'd wanted to ask me what was wrong on his last break, but decided to wait until he got home. I find it interesting that he'd known. But I guess God was sending out a call. I certainly felt a lot better after we talked.
I had another appointment yesterday, my first with the newest doctor in the practice I go to. She was really young (looked too young to be a doctor, haha), but she's also going to be a delivering doctor, so now there's two in the practice instead of just one. So now if I deliver at DKH, it will either be Dr. K or Dr. T doing it. I like both of them, so either will be fine with me. We got to hear the heartbeats again, though it was much fainter on the doppler she was using compared to the one in Hartford. And she the doppler she had was seperate from the sonogram, so she had to use the sono-wand to find where the hearts were so she could put the doppler in the right place instead of just guessing. Both were in the 150s, so they're still girls according to the old-wives tale. The one picture I got this week was of their two little heads. Looks like a top down shot. I mentioned some of my symptoms to her, since she had said that even if the pregnancy books say it's normal, I need to tell them. The intermittent pains I get in the lower abdomen are more than likely the "stretching" pains of my uterus making room for two little ones. But I also told her about the heartburn, and how I'd had moderate-to-severe acid reflux before getting pregnant. So I now have a prescription to try. When taking Zantac, I'd have to wait for the pain to start before taking one (since I never knew if the heartburn would start acting up, or when) and I always had to take one before bed. If this one works, it'll be just one pill a day. If it doesn't, she said we'll try a two a day pill. Either way, I'm glad I won't have to worry about permanent damage to my esophagus anymore.
The last thing I told her about was that my heartrate seemed higher than normal. They checked it for me - 108. She said it was a little high, so I need to push fluids and rest as much as possible. Fast heartbeat can be a sign of anemia, but it could also just be because I have more blood in my body, so my heart has to work harder (or faster) to get it all moving. She said that if it lasts a few weeks, they're going to have to keep a close eye on it. I had known that everyone needs 8 8oz glasses of water a day (64oz), but she said that for me she'd recommend doubling that. I don't know if I can consume that much water! But as long as I get the 64 in, I should be ok. I know I don't drink near enough. The biggest problem is that we can't drink the tap water where we live, so we have to buy bottled. I'm think that I might get a couple liters (she also said two litres should be fine), and refil them with gallon jugs. We might go shopping tonight to see what we can get.
I still have yet to feel them moving. I'm so impatient for that!! But at least now, I'm feeling some changes. I can feel the hardness in my stomach, and when I sit/stand/move a certain way, it feels heavy. I also have the "muscle aches" you get after a work out and things are stretched and not used to it. Again, usually only when I'm in a certain position. I can still lay on my back, but I have a feeling that will be stopping soon. Over the course of my pregnancy, I've lost about 8 pounds. My stomach is clearly bigger, so those two must be eating up all my calories! Ben keeps joking that he'll make millions promoting the "pregnancy diet". I told him that as long as the pregancies for the diet aren't from him, I'm fine with it - lol. The weirdest part about it is that I'm so tired all the time that I don't actually do any excersizing, or even much moving at all. I spend most of my day sitting. Fifteen minutes on my feet and I'm wiped. There hasn't been much getting done around the house. But Ben is such a trooper. <3 He doesn't complain when he comes home and I haven't done dishes or anything. In fact, he's told me more than once that he'd be more upset if he came home and I'd pushed myself too much instead of taking it easy. He's a big proponent of the "resting mama" style of pregnancy. :) I honestly cannot belive how blessed I am to have him. I can't say how many times I've been asked to clone him, or get him to teach classes! Yep, God sent me the biggest blessing of my life when he came around.
I'd always said that I wanted to wait and be surprised at delivery to find out the sex of my children. I just never took into account how very impatient I am. Ben has no problem waiting, but it's me who's getting antsy. I've known so many people who have been told one thing and gotten the other. I think that when the doctor asks if I want to know, I'm not going to be able to say no. But I'll still have that thought in the back of my mind that they could be wrong. We're hoping for one of each, so we can be done after these two. I want a girl, Ben wants a boy. But since twins are so prevalent in our family trees, we just don't want to run the risk of another set of twins. I'd be perfectly content with two, and while Ben used to say he wanted 3 or 4, he's recently come to agree that two would be perfect. I guess we'll just have to wait and see! Now if only I could start feeling my little wigglers...
I had another appointment yesterday, my first with the newest doctor in the practice I go to. She was really young (looked too young to be a doctor, haha), but she's also going to be a delivering doctor, so now there's two in the practice instead of just one. So now if I deliver at DKH, it will either be Dr. K or Dr. T doing it. I like both of them, so either will be fine with me. We got to hear the heartbeats again, though it was much fainter on the doppler she was using compared to the one in Hartford. And she the doppler she had was seperate from the sonogram, so she had to use the sono-wand to find where the hearts were so she could put the doppler in the right place instead of just guessing. Both were in the 150s, so they're still girls according to the old-wives tale. The one picture I got this week was of their two little heads. Looks like a top down shot. I mentioned some of my symptoms to her, since she had said that even if the pregnancy books say it's normal, I need to tell them. The intermittent pains I get in the lower abdomen are more than likely the "stretching" pains of my uterus making room for two little ones. But I also told her about the heartburn, and how I'd had moderate-to-severe acid reflux before getting pregnant. So I now have a prescription to try. When taking Zantac, I'd have to wait for the pain to start before taking one (since I never knew if the heartburn would start acting up, or when) and I always had to take one before bed. If this one works, it'll be just one pill a day. If it doesn't, she said we'll try a two a day pill. Either way, I'm glad I won't have to worry about permanent damage to my esophagus anymore.
The last thing I told her about was that my heartrate seemed higher than normal. They checked it for me - 108. She said it was a little high, so I need to push fluids and rest as much as possible. Fast heartbeat can be a sign of anemia, but it could also just be because I have more blood in my body, so my heart has to work harder (or faster) to get it all moving. She said that if it lasts a few weeks, they're going to have to keep a close eye on it. I had known that everyone needs 8 8oz glasses of water a day (64oz), but she said that for me she'd recommend doubling that. I don't know if I can consume that much water! But as long as I get the 64 in, I should be ok. I know I don't drink near enough. The biggest problem is that we can't drink the tap water where we live, so we have to buy bottled. I'm think that I might get a couple liters (she also said two litres should be fine), and refil them with gallon jugs. We might go shopping tonight to see what we can get.
I still have yet to feel them moving. I'm so impatient for that!! But at least now, I'm feeling some changes. I can feel the hardness in my stomach, and when I sit/stand/move a certain way, it feels heavy. I also have the "muscle aches" you get after a work out and things are stretched and not used to it. Again, usually only when I'm in a certain position. I can still lay on my back, but I have a feeling that will be stopping soon. Over the course of my pregnancy, I've lost about 8 pounds. My stomach is clearly bigger, so those two must be eating up all my calories! Ben keeps joking that he'll make millions promoting the "pregnancy diet". I told him that as long as the pregancies for the diet aren't from him, I'm fine with it - lol. The weirdest part about it is that I'm so tired all the time that I don't actually do any excersizing, or even much moving at all. I spend most of my day sitting. Fifteen minutes on my feet and I'm wiped. There hasn't been much getting done around the house. But Ben is such a trooper. <3 He doesn't complain when he comes home and I haven't done dishes or anything. In fact, he's told me more than once that he'd be more upset if he came home and I'd pushed myself too much instead of taking it easy. He's a big proponent of the "resting mama" style of pregnancy. :) I honestly cannot belive how blessed I am to have him. I can't say how many times I've been asked to clone him, or get him to teach classes! Yep, God sent me the biggest blessing of my life when he came around.
I'd always said that I wanted to wait and be surprised at delivery to find out the sex of my children. I just never took into account how very impatient I am. Ben has no problem waiting, but it's me who's getting antsy. I've known so many people who have been told one thing and gotten the other. I think that when the doctor asks if I want to know, I'm not going to be able to say no. But I'll still have that thought in the back of my mind that they could be wrong. We're hoping for one of each, so we can be done after these two. I want a girl, Ben wants a boy. But since twins are so prevalent in our family trees, we just don't want to run the risk of another set of twins. I'd be perfectly content with two, and while Ben used to say he wanted 3 or 4, he's recently come to agree that two would be perfect. I guess we'll just have to wait and see! Now if only I could start feeling my little wigglers...
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