24 weeks - happy v-day to me!

i can breath a pretty big sigh of relief now.... i've made it to 24 weeks, which is a milestone. 24 weeks is when the babies are considered viable, meaning that if they were born today, every efford would be made to make sure they were resuscitated and would survive. so, happy v-day to me!

i've scheduled my maternity pictures with my kick-ass wedding photographer, Melissa Cannon - she's become a very good friend of mine, and is backing me up on a few of the weddings i had scheduled in the next few months. if anyone in the area is looking for baby's first year sessions or boudoir, she does incredible studio work - check her out! and of course, i'll be posting her pics of me here as soon as i get them.

i'll be posting more ultrasound pics after my appointment on tuesday with MFM - i can't wait to see them again!

furniture.... done!

eek! our furniture is picked out, in stock, and we're picking it up this week. i'm so freakin' excited!

the style is serenity, and we're getting two cribs, one chest of drawers, and one dresser/changer. the wood color is called cinnamon, and it's very pretty.... not as dark and red as cherry, but not as yellow as the natural/chestnut. i changed my mind from white when my husband pointed out that the baseboards, windowsill, and door in the babies' room are off-white. i'm sure no one else would notice the difference, but it would have bugged the crap out of me. =)

this is the style of the crib in a different color:

and this is the cinnamon color, just a different crib:

i abso-freakin'-lutely cannot wait to get it all home and arranged!

23 week belly pic

please excuse the bathroom pics - this was yesterday, my first day back at work in over a week. i have to say, the only good thing about bedrest is that it's the only time i'm completely comfortable! the minute i'm up and about, the pain/discomfort/contractions start up again!

How far along? 23 weeks, 5 days
Total weight gain/loss: + 1/2 pound

Stretch marks? i can't see any, but jeff says it's just because i can't see my lower belly - he says they are there.

Sleep: not too hot.... i'm only comfortable on my left side or flat on my back.

Best moment this week: when sadie was really acting up last night, jeff put his hand on my belly... his eyes got as big as saucers and he said "i'm glad they're in you and not me!" i had to laugh. =)

Movement: it's so cool how these two have totally different personalities already. jeffry is so calm and mellow, but sadie is a spastic little thing. jeffry just kind of rolls around, but her.... it's like the 4th of july fireworks show in my uterus.

Food cravings: apple juice.

Labor signs: just the everyday contractions, nothing progressive.

What I miss: being able to fully stretch in the mornings.

What I’m looking forward to: making it to 24 weeks will put my mind at ease a little. should anything happen, that will be the marker for viability. two more days! and seeing the kiddos again next tuesday at my MFM appt.

Weekly Wisdom: not much new to add.

Milestones: the babies' room is finally cleaned out - hell hath frozen over! just kidding.... we're getting furniture this week, so jeff was antsy to get things moved into the attic (after me hounding him for a month about it). he's starting to nest - it's so cute.... i went to the grocery store sunday afternoon and he told me i needed to get a bottle of dreft so he could start washing all the baby clothes that we've been storing in bins. i come home from the store and he's in the babies' room, unpacking diapers and arranging them on shelves in the closet. =)

so, here's the before pic of the babies' room!

22 week belly pic

time to start buying bigger shorts! =)

How far along? 22 weeks, 5 days
Total weight gain/loss: probably down again due to dehydration - haven't weighed myself yet.
Stretch marks? not yet, but starting to get itchy. i'm sure they are on their way.
Sleep: aside from peeing 3 times a night, pretty good.
Best moment this week: any moment when i'm not throwing up.
Movement: i finally realize how big these kiddos are getting. i felt sadie stretch out for a few seconds today and i felt it from my pelvic bone all the way up to under my ribs.
Food cravings: apple juice.
Labor signs: other than the everyday stuff, not really.
What I miss: getting out of the bathtub on my own.
What I’m looking forward to: making it to 24 weeks will put my mind at ease a little. should anything happen, that will be the marker for viability.
Weekly Wisdom: not much new to add.
Milestones: second and third trips to the hospital are in the books.

:: sigh :: weekend bedrest.

after another trip to the hospital at 2am on friday, i am on bedrest until i see my OB tuesday morning.

i wasn't dehydrated like last time, just woke out of a dead sleep with intense contractions/abdominal pain... we're talking can't stand up straight, short of breath, blood pressure through the roof pain. i get to the hospital, get hooked up to the monitor, and was having longer contractions this time (60-70 seconds each) with only a minute between them. and i was tortured with a catheter for a urine culture. =(

so, after two liters of fluid in the assessment center, and two more Brethine shots, i was sent up to the floor for monitoring. i was comfortable until about 1pm, when (like clockwork) the contractions started up again like they do each day. i got hooked back up to the monitor and was having mild contractions again, but the on-call doctor who saw me that morning said that as long as my cervix isn't changing, then there isn't much they will do to stop the contractions.

GGGRRRRRRR.

i was pretty much told that this is going to be my new baseline normal - contracting every day. i was supposed to stay all weekend long in the hospital, but my nurse logic kicked in..... what's the point of staying if they aren't going to treat anything? so i asked to go home late friday night, and my wish was granted.

i guess this is something i better get used to.

Weeks 21-24: Papayas

i guess TheBump.com finally ran out of fruits, because now my weekly updates are turning monthly.

Watch what you say -- babies are now able to hear outside noise from down in the womb. Studies show that babies find gentle music and your own voice most soothing. Nipples are starting to sprout, and their little faces are fully formed. And, they are starting to settle into sleep cycles, snoozing about 12 to 14 hours a day. It shouldn't be hard to figure out when -- just pay attention to those kicks as they start and stop.

baby shower is in the works!

we've got a date set for my baby shower, and i'm so excited! seems like just a few months ago i had no hope of ever being able to have something like this, and now it's a little over a month away. amazing.

anyways, my best friend D and my mom/aunts/sister are all working on it, and D is doing the invitations. i have to share the one i found (pulled pic off of the site):



if anyone else is expecting twins, Twin Gifts & Invitations has tons of cute modern invites, thank you cards, favors, games, etc.

21 week belly pic

How far along? 21 weeks, 3 days

Total weight gain/loss: probably down again due to dehydration - haven't weighed myself yet.

Stretch marks? not yet, but starting to get itchy. i'm sure they are on their way.

Sleep: actually improving! in addition to running the central AC, we pulled out our hurricane season window unit AC and put it in the bedroom... that baby stays running at 66 degrees at night. =)

Best moment this week: getting to go home from the hospital friday night.

Movement: picture two cats fighting, minus the screeching... that's what's going on right now.

Food cravings: although they give me horrendous heartburn, nachos and sunkist.

Labor signs: check my hospital post below.

What I miss: being able to put on socks and underwear with two hands.

What I’m looking forward to: just taking it week by week.

Weekly Wisdom: coworker told me the babies are going to have two headfuls of hair because of all the heartburn.

Milestones: first hospital trip is in the books.

first hospital trip.... check.

i've made it this far without going in to the hospital, which i thought was pretty darn good!

but on thursday evening, i started with the evening sickness again (or so i thought). i couldn't keep anything down that evening, or that night, or in the middle of the night. i tried jello, gatorade, water, and nothing would stay down. i called in sick to work on friday, thinking that if i just rested, it would be better, but by noon i still wasn't able to hold anything down.

i called my doctor, and they told me to head on over to the hospital to get loaded up on IV fluids. when i got there, they hooked me up to the contraction monitor because i had mentioned feeling uncomfortable, and found out that i was having mild contractions - nothing severe, but just really frequent, happening about every minute and lasting 10-15 seconds (normal contractions last a minute or longer). they called it "timable irritability."

the on call dr. (dr. l) thought that dehydration was what was causing the irritability, and thought it would resolve on its own after i had a bolus of fluids. but after getting one bag, they were still going on, so she gave me a shot of brethine to stop the contractions. and within 2-3 minutes of getting it, all the irritability stopped..... but then the side effects came. =( i had the shakes, sweating all over, face flushed, and racing heartbeat. but the medicine did its job, and i was given the choice of whether i wanted to stay overnight or come home.

i probably should have stayed, but decided to come home. i'm feeling much better now, holding down fluids, just a litte tired from trying to do laundry. i'll be taking it easy for a few days and will be back to work on monday doing desk work.

thanks for all the thoughts and prayers!

21 weeks: bananas

I tried to figure out how in the heck a banana is bigger than a cantaloupe - apparently it's the length. From 20 weeks on, babies are measured from head to toe instead of from crown to rump, so they really don't grow inches in a matter of days. Just a change in the way they are measured.

20 week ultrasound pics & appt.

i had my 2nd appointment with dr. s. yesterday at MFM - he is funny. jeff thinks he's a little "dry", but i had to explain to him that some dr.'s have a different sense of humor than regular people.

i asked about my two main concerns - weight gain and the contractions. i have gained absolutely no weight so far in this pregnancy, and it worries me because i wonder if the babies are growing correctly if i'm not eating enough to pack on the pounds. and i'm terrified of going into preterm labor, so the contractions are stressing me out.

so here's the scenario from yesterday. dr. s. is at the ultrasound machine scanning, and i'm lying on my back gooped up to my neck in ultrasound gel. i whip out my neato little index card with my questions on it.

me: "dr. s., i'm worried because i can't gain weight. what if the babies don't get enough to grow?"

dr. s.: "i'm an outlier on this subject, but the babies are growing fine. i'm measuring them every four weeks, so as long as they are growing each month and measuring okay, i'm not worried, and neither should you."

me: "good, 'cause all the books say you should gain 20 pounds by now and....."

dr. s.: "now's the time to quit reading those books." =)

me: "i'm having braxton-hicks contractions every afternoon and evening, about 10-15 minutes apart. i'm freaking out thinking i'm going to have an incompetent cervix or i'm going to go into preterm labor."

dr. s.: "well, let's take a look at your cervix and see what's going on..." (whips out the dildocam) ".... everything looks corked up tight. you are nice and long and not funneling at all. you can contract out the wazoo but as long as your cervix stays the way it is, those babies aren't coming out anytime soon." =)

his exact words, i kid you not. so, i'm feeling much more relaxed now that i know i'm not starving my children and they are squatting for a few more months.

so here's the few pics we were able to get - the kiddos were acting like gymnasts and wouldn't stay in one place long enough to get many good shots. but they each have four heart chambers, two kidneys, and good cord blood flow - the important stuff. also, just as i predicted, these two are still head up, tap dancing on my bladder with all twenty of their little toes.

here's jeffry, contorted into a position i could never get into - feet over the head:



jeffry's profile, thumb going into the mouth:



and jeffry's foot:



we got one blurry face shot of sadie, and that's it. we had a talking-to after the appointment and she now knows that if she wants to get on the blog, she has to cooperate next time.

20 week belly pics

i apologize for the loungewear, but we slept in until 1130 today and i haven't even changed out of my nightclothes yet. =)








and this pic is for all the people who have been giving me comments like, "you don't look like you're carrying two!" or "you hardly look pregnant at all!"


this is what's hiding underneath.





(and, yes, the shirt i'm wearing has a pic of a bomb on it and says "i'm fixin' to blow up". i found it at storyville - they have a booth at the farmer's market - and i couldn't pass it up!)


How far along? 20 weeks, 3 days
Total weight gain/loss: i've broke even! finally back up to 132... i hope it keeps going up!
Stretch marks? not yet, but starting to get itchy. i'm sure they are on their way.
Sleep: still miserable.
Best moment this week: when a little girl at the pool asked me if i had a baby in my tummy, i said, "i do... i have two babies in my tummy" she looked at me for a minute and said, "nuh-uh. you can only have one baby in your tummy". her mom was a few feet away from her and laughed - she said "i guess i need to elaborate on the baby talk now!"
Movement: tons of it! i feel little taps nonstop way down low (which i am assuming are little feet), and up high above my belly button is where all the thuds and thumps happen.
Food cravings: not much this week, since i had a brief relapse of nighttime sickness. but watermelon has been awesome this week.
Labor signs: tons of braxton-hicks.... mostly in the evenings. happens about every 12-15 minutes, but they don't last very long (maybe 20-30 seconds at the longest). i had a few wake me up in the middle of the night last night, so i'm mentioning it to my MFM dr. at my appt. on tuesday.
What I miss: being able to stretch. if i stretch my legs out, i get calf cramps. if i stretch my back, i get that horrible round ligament pain in both sides of my abdomen. time for a massage, methinks.
What I’m looking forward to: seeing the babies on ultrasound again this week.
Milestones: not much new to add.... although i did go outlet shopping this weekend and cleaned out the Carter's store on preemie items.

an impulse buy

i saw these today at a baby boutique and couldn't resist. =)

ooh, yum.... 20 weeks: cantaloupes!

can you believe it? i'm over halfway there. the more i think about it, the more i break out in a cold sweat. just kidding. well, maybe.

the twinks officially have nicknames this week. i have been adamant about jeffry being called "jeffry" and not "jeff junior", or "little jeff"..... just a peeve of mine. i want dad and son to have a distinction between the two - hence dad being called jeff and baby being called jeffry. make sense?

so, of course, my mom's side of the family has taken to calling jeffry "j.j.", just to irk me. and mom has stuck sadie with the nickname of "junebug"..... so, there you have it.

j.j. and junebug.

dy-no-mite!