When we found out there was two! September 12, 2007

The past week or so was rather busy for us and I totally forgot to post on the day that it was a year since we found out we were having twins. So - this is a week or so late, but oh well. For those that might not know, or want to hear it again here is the story: :)

Mike and I got off of birth control in July and got pregnant in August (our first big shock!). I went to my doctor - the best in the WORLD (if anyone in Louisville needs a doctor go to Dr. Nett at Advocates for Women's Health). She said that my hormone levels came back high and that I was VERY pregnant and she scheduled an ultrasound the following week to determine what uterus the baby was in. For those that don't know, I have two of those! :)

Well, the day of the ultrasound came and I was talking to my friend Laura and told her that I thought I might be having twins. I had no reason at all to base that on, just that I felt more pregnant. To be quite honest, I thought I was just joking! Also, that same day a family that was in the preschool had two cribs available and asked if I wanted one of them. I gladly accepted and she asked if I knew of someone that needed the other - jokingly I said "If I have twins can I have the other one?" and she said "IF you have twins, I have everything you need" - you see, she also has twin boys!

Well, Mike and I drove to our appointment and on the way I told him about the conversation with Laura and asked what he would think if we had twins! We both agreed it would be exciting but never, in our wildest dreams, would have guessed it to be true!

We got called back to the ultrasound room and the tech got us set up and the first thing on the screen that I saw were two black dots! I was not sure what I was looking at because you never know with your inside stuff what things could be. So, I said "That's two!" The tech would never confirm that I was having twins. I had to keep asking things like "Typically when you see two sacs that means twins, right?" and She would say "typically." I was overjoyed! Part of me was just so shocked by the conversations I had earlier in the day. While we were in the waiting room waiting to see the doctor to confirm the ultrasound Mike didn't say a word! He was so shoked and was hesitant to get excited since it wasn't confirmed yet. I called my friend Laura to tell her that I was right (She thought I was joking at first) and then we were sent in to see Dr. Nett.

The first thing she said to me was "Are you wanting to give me a heart attack?!" Because, remember the fact that I have two uteruses? That means my one uterus is half the size of an average one, so there is not alot of room for one baby, let alone two! She just kept saying that if one uterus can hold six babies, then a half of a uterus can hold two!

Our next conversation was about the risks of carrying two and she discussed with us that the babies were measuring smaller then what they should be and we needed to prepare to possibly miscarry the babies! Imagine our emotions, one minute we are told that I am carrying two lives, and the next we are told that we might lose those two lives! After more examination of the ultrasound she came to the conclusion that the boys were not as far off as originally thought and she seemed optimistic about the pregnancy!

We left the office in tears! Joyful tears!!! We called everyone we knew to share the exciting news! I don't think anyone believed us at first - it was such a shock!

We knew the risks of miscarriage yet we knew that God had already ordained the future events and He was and is sovereign over our lives and the lives of our children! The day we told my mom she said, "You have to learn early on to give your children over to the Lord." That has been a lesson that since day one we are learning over and over again.

How thankful we are that he ordained Michael and Jeremiah to come into this world and the he entrusted Mike and I to be their parents!

One year ago today!

One year ago today, we found out that we were expecting! For those that have joined the blog later in the pregnancy/birth I will share how we found out:

I had always wanted our pregnancies to be a "surprise." Mike and I had gotten off of birth control the prior month, but neither of us were expecting to get pregnant so quickly. I had a feeling that I was pregnant but didn't share that with Mike, because I wanted it to be a total surprise for him. So early on a Sunday morning, Sept, 2, 2007, I woke up and took a pregnancy test - IT WAS POSITIVE!! I knealt on the bathroom floor in tears! I climbed back in bed, knowing full well that I was pregnant, and just laid there with my husband at my side who had no idea! His alarm went off for chuch and I told him that I wasn't feeling well and wanted to stay at home. So, the minute I heard his truck crank up and him leave the parking lot, I jumped out of bed and made him a video of our life together and at the end had a picture of the test. Once I finished the video, I ran to walgreens to buy some more tests (You know, you HAVE to be sure!) and they were positive as well!

So, I had to wait impatiently for Mike to come home, and when he came home I told him that I made this video if he wanted to watch it. He still had no clue, because I enjoy making videos for our family and some for our friends. As we were watching the video, my stomach was in knots - I could not contain my excitement! The picture of the pregnancy test came up and he was completely shocked. He didn't believe it at first, and I showed him the test and gave him a Daddy-To-Be card.. we wept as we held each other thanking the Lord for this blessing...little did we know that I was pregnant with two little blessings!

Here is the video that I made for Mike on that day: (For some reason, the quality of the pictures are poor on the online video.. sorry)

10 Centimeters and about to push!!!

Molly just called-two minutes ago. She is 10 Cm. is about to start pushing!!!!
She has an epidural and said she can't feel a thing-which is always a good thing. :) She is about to be wheeled to the Operating Room to push. She is going to attempt to deliver vaginally, but they deliver all multiple births in the OR just to be safe-and in case they have to do a hurried C-section. Dr. Nett walked in as I was talking to her, so she had to go-so she can start pushing!!!! She is going to call me when they are born, and like I said I will update then. Keep praying, she said she is still nervous about delivery, but we all know that she and the boys are in God's hands so we will trust him with the safety of all three of them.
Hopefully I will have an update very soon:)

Looks like it is time!!!

This is Molly's friend Laura.

I talked to Molly about an hour ago- HER WATER BROKE-and she is at the hospital!!!

That is all she told me for now, because she was still in the triage area waiting for Mike to get her registered. She is going to call me with an update or once the boys arrive-whichever comes first! She is hoping her labor will be very short since she is already so far progressed, but like she said-there is no telling with her-she is a unique case. :) But, anyway, I will update the minute I hear from her-even if it is in the middle of the night-I know some of you are anxiously awaiting the boys' arrival. :) Keep her in your prayers, she said she was a little nervous, but of course just ready for the boys to be here. :)


UPDATED at 10:48pm-still no word from Molly, I will let you all know as soon as I hear anything! We are excited and waiting!

The room is ready, our bags are packed, WE ARE READY TO GO!

Everything is in its place for the boys - we are just missing two essential items: JEREMIAH AND MICHAEL!

Here are some pictures of the Nursery/Guest Bed Room. My good friend Laura bought wooden letters for their initials and painted them for me - THANKS LAURA! They are so cute and I think look great over the crib.




*Those little outfits are their Graduation Outfits for their daddy's BIG day!*




Here is a picture of the pack n play set up in the living room. THANKS TERESA FOR THE PACK N PLAY!!!



Also, my friend Laura will be posting a post on this blog when I go into labor and at the hospital - since I am pretty sure I will be quite occupied, she will let you guys know when the BIG TIME as come - since I know some of y'all only know what's going on through the blog. Hopefully that BIG TIME will come REAL soon! Let's go boys - get movin'!

ONE MORE DAY...

... UNTIL 34 WEEKS!

Dr. Appointment Update - We are 2 days away!!!

We went to the doctor today to begin our weekly visits. I am 33 weeks 5 days pregnant - TWO more days and we would have made it to our HUGE MILESTONE of 34 weeks! We are so thankful that God has protected the boys and have kept them in me this long. We were expecting to be on bed rest or have preterm labor weeks ago - and we have made it (almost) to 34 weeks with absolutely no complications! We are so thankful. Now that we are almost in the clear Dr. Nett will not stop labor if it happens. As much as I don't want to be pregnant anymore and I just want to see our little men, I would like to stay pregnant until at least 36 weeks. Dr. Nett will not induce me until 38 weeks (if I am still pregnant by then). I tried to talk her into inducing at 37 because Eric and Malissa (brother and sister in law) will be hear, but she was not thrilled with that proposition! ;)

Alright, onto our progress - Boys are doing well - nice heartbeats! We don't have another ultrasound until I am 36 weeks, so we just heard their heartbeats today. Of course it took her a while to find Jeremiah's because that little guy is contstantly moving! (I am looking forward to getting to know their little personalities, because they definitly have different ones inside the womb!)

I have gained 5 1/2 pounds this week! Which is wild to me, because I haven't even gained that in two weeks so far. That brings my total weight gain, so far, to 24 1/2 pounds! And I am measuring 46 weeks.

Well, that is about all. I would post a belly picture but I am exhausted right now and can't find the energy to take one. I will try to take one in the next few days and post it.

32 week appointment - and belly pic :)

We went to the doctor today for out 32 week appointment and ultrasound. All went well! I have not gained a pound since my last appointment (which suprises me because the boys weights increased) so it keeps my total at 19 pounds (26 if you could that weight I lost and gained back - but they don't count that).

UPDATE ON BOYS:
They are doing fabulous! Michael weighs 4.1 pounds and his heart rate was 141 bmp. He is in the 46th percentile. He is still head down and we got some good 3d shots of him. He was rubbing his eyes for the first half of the ultrasound and then was rubbing Jeremiah's head for the second half. It was precious and was really wierd to sit there and think about how he was our son! We enjoyed his entertainment today! Jeremiah weighs 3.7 pounds and his heart rate was 143 bmp. He is in the 37th percentile. He is also head down and sits like a frog with his bottom up in the air. (Which fits him perfectly - "Jeremiah was a bullfrog.....") Here is our interesting fact about Jeremiah: He has a head full of hair!!! I didn't think they could see that on the ultrasounds, but right when she went to his head she said "Look at all that hair!" You can see a bright outlining of his head and she said that was hair. Our hairy little frog is doing great and is as active as ever!!! Also, poor Jeremiah is laying in the womb with Michael knee directly pushing on his face. They are so cramped in there it is very hard to tell what is what and who's limb is who's.

UPDATE ON ME:
I am 32 weeks and 5 days now. Being on part-time work as worked well for me and has limited contractions significantly. I still will contract at night if I am real active during the day. She checked to see if I was dialated today because I did have painful contractions last night and had some other "funky" things go on - I was not dialated at all, so that is a good thing. She did say that I have dropped though - the second she went to examine me she said Michaels head was RIGHT there. She will let me deliver if I go into labor after 34 weeks but if I am not progressing she will not induce me until I am 38 weeks. But she did mention that she doesn't think I will go that long. So, that is good - because I really don't want to be pregnant for 6 more weeks. Last but not least, she measured me and I am measuring 44 weeks pregnant.

Here is a pic of my 32/44 week pregnant belly. NOTE: this might be the last bare belly shot - the stretch marks are gross to me, so I know they must be gross for you.

Hospital and NICU tour

Mike and I went to the hospital today for a tour. We were registered for all the Classes, however canceled them due to Mike's schedule and the fact that taking them or not I probably still wouldn't be prepared, so I might as well save my money. :) The one thing that I didn't want to cancel was the tour and the breastfeeding class. The main reason we went on the tour was to see the NICU, however due to infection risks they do not take the toureree's (SP?) to the NICU. I explained our situation to the tour guide and so after the tour she took Mike and I by ourselves to the NICU. It was real helpful to get a tour of the NICU - there was not a lot of babies so they were able to spend time with us and just let us know what to expect. There was a set of twins that were 32 weeks old so we could see what size they would be if born within the next few weeks. They gave us tips on what to bring for them if they are in the NICU and how often we can be in there and hold them. As long as they keep their temp they will let us hold them and feed them as often as we would like. She did say that before they leave the NICU they HIGHLY recommend that both parents get CPR trained. Mike was registered for a CPR class, but we have to cancel it because of the day. But the tour guide told us that if we are at the hospital they will call her and she will come and train us and whoever we would like to before we take them home. So that was nice to know. We also toured the CCU, because they said if we make it to 34-35 weeks, they will probably be in the NICU for a few days and then they would be in the CCU for the rest. They did tell us that they will try their best in the NICU and CCU to co-sleep them since they will be co-sleeping at home. They seem very parent friendly!

It was helpful to tour the hospital and wierd to think that in just a few weeks we will be there! We are ALMOST ready for them.

* I have one more load of the boys clothes/blankets to wash. (We have a total of 11 tupperwares full of boy clothes! People have been so gracious to give us their sons clothes and we still have two families that are giving us clothes as well.)

* We need to wash one of the carseat covers and install both of them in the truck.

* We purchased a snap'n'go stroller from a lady online. She is mailing it tomorrow and we have to get that adjusted for the carseats.

* I need to steralize my breastpump and bottles and get those organized. Hopefully we won't have to use them (except when we go out) but I want to be prepared otherwise.

* I want to get wooden letters to paint and hang over their crib.

* We are going to sit down this week and re-read BabyWise so that we can be ready to get these boys on a schedule and sleeping mostly through the night.

* And I need to pack their bags for the hospital and mine so that we can be ready at any moment.

So we are on the way there and look forward to being done "preparing" and just relaxing until they come home.

Snow and Belly Pics

This weekend we got around 9 inches of snow in Louisville. Mike and I have lived here for 3 years and we are just now seeing a good amount of snow - and I am PREGNANT and CANNOT play in it they way I wanted to. We have a great hill by our apartment that I would have loved to sled down, but I have two reasons why that could not happen: Michael Dean and Jeremiah! So, we stayed inside most of the time, but we did venture out to go to Babies R Us to pick up some last minute things for the boys. I feel like we got everything we need. I need to go back to return some things that weren't what I thought they were, or realized I really don't need them. I started washing all of their stuff today and hopefully can get the carseats situated this week and the room organized. We also need to get the snap n go stroller, which we are trying to buy on ebay, but keep getting outbidded. Once that comes in I think we are set for these two little guys! We are down to 2 1/2 weeks at the LEAST and probably 4 1/2 weeks at the most.

Well here are some pictures of the snow and my belly at 29 & 31 weeks (Yes - the stretch marks are everywhere, and apart from itching and burning they don't bother me - just look yuck!)

BELLY:
29 Weeks


31 Weeks


SNOW:

Doctors Appointment Update

We went to the doctor today for our 30 week appointment today. I was glad our appointment was today because I have been having lots of contractions and back pain lately. Two nights ago I had contractions for around 2 hours and they were 10 minutes apart. We called the doctors office and they said to try to take a bath to relax the uterus muscles. After we took a bath the contrations decreased to about 4 the next hour.

Well, all day today at work I had cramps and back pain and just felt wierd and icky. So I was ready to see Dr. Nett.
As far as the boys they are doing great - heartbeats are wonderful and I have gained 3 pounds the past two weeks and have gained a total of 19 pounds so far. Everything thing else was fine (blood preasure, urine, etc...) however she was concerned with the consistant daily contractions and lower back pain and so told me to start working part time. Hopefully she said that will slow them down and if not then she will take me off of work compleltly. I am only working until the 20th of March anyway so part time for two weeks won't be so bad. I am fine with going part time, I just don't want to leave my job stranded right now. We are lacking people working and so I know it will be a burden for them to find people to cover me. Oh well, the boys health and safety is more important to us then my job. (that's for sure!)

I go back in two more weeks and we have an ultrasound! After that she said I will be going every week until our two little men make thre debut!

We Made It!!!

I am now 30 weeks pregnant! This was one of the firsts of some major milestones in this pregnancy. Our next milestone will be getting to 34 weeks. This is what my doctor was hoping we could get to. With having twins in only one of my uterus' this would be quite an accomplishment if I can make it that far. Once I get to 34 weeks she won't stop labor. We are praying and are sure that we can make it to 34 weeks with no problems and hopefully they will stay in there until 36 weeks.

It is hard to believe that we are 30 weeks pregnant (or at least I am) and have had no problems at all. We were expecting to be on bed rest by now. God has been so good to us and has taken care of me and the boys!

It is hard to believe that in 6 weeks we will most likely already have two little men in our lives! Sometimes I go into the nursery and look at all the matching tiny outfits and just think and praise God for how blessed we are to be having two little ones! I can only imagine the adventures we are going to have in the years to come with Michael Dean and Jeremiah! We look foward to the dirty hands and the worms in pockets and the holes in the pants. Mike is excited about taking them on "Man Retreats" - weekends where just the three of them go and do "manly" things - sports, hunting, camping, peeing outside - stuff like that. We look forward to the partnership in parenting these boys and raising them to be men of honor and integrity in the Lord. How we pray that they come to know the Lord at a young age and seek to serve Christ in all areas of their lives! Wow - six more weeks!

Hiccups, Pregnancy, and Preschool Children

It is past midnight and Mike and I went to bed over 4 hours ago! Yes, we go to bed, most nights, before 8:30! (Mike works at UPS and I am pregnant with twins - enough said!) However, because of the fact that I am pregnant with twins and getting huge I don't get much sleep. Several factors play into this:
1.) The boys are very active inside of me on a strict 3 hour schedule. Set you watch - every 3 hours in the middle of the night they wake me up playing soccer or something inside. It doesn't really bother me, but there are times when I want to sit up a rock so they will go back to sleep. But I normally let them play and get their energy out and they will settle back down after 30 minutes or so. (I guess they are preparing me for their arrival - hopefully they will be on this type of schedule at birth!)
2.) I only have to wake up and go to the bathroom 6 times on average a night. Which means I spend 1 1/2 hours a night going to the bathroom: 5 minutes to just get out of the bed, 5 minutes to make it to the bathroom, 5 minutes to get back into the bed. No, it really doesn't take me THAT long, but it sure feels like it! It takes a lot of work to get this pregnant woman out of bed - sometimes I feel like I am a cow trying to stand up.
3.) Now that I am in my third trimester the lack of breathing sensation has arrived. Which is why I am up writing this blog. I know I am not dying from lack of oxogen, but I sure feel like it at times.

A doctor once told me that he never understood why the Lord made the pregnant woman to have to get up so many times in the middle of the night to use the bathroom and stuff, and he realized later that it was to begin to prepare her for when her children arrived. I am getting lots of preparation!

Onto another subtopic: We have been really enjoying feeling these boys move a lot lately! Mike and I will sit on the couch and just watch my stomach roll and poke out. It reminds me of that weird movie (I think SpaceBalls) where the alien pokes out of the stomach. All 4 sets of limbs on these boys are in the middle of my stomach, so at any given time you can push down and most likely feel something poking you back! The other night, a little foot was sticking up and Mike pushed it back down, and he (Not sure which child) pushed it back out, and Mike pushed it back in and so forth. We continued this for a while until the little guy got bored and moved on to kick me somewhere else. They boys (mostly Michael Dean) have started getting the hiccups! It is one of the wierdest feelings. I am sure all you pregant women know what I am talking about. He gets them for about 30 minutes at a time and it is just a constant, patterned "twitch" inside. It is so odd! I told Mike to scare my belly so he would stop, but he thought it was a cookoo idea!

Another subtopic: The kids at school love the fact that both of their teachers are pregnant (Laura just had her baby 2 weeks ago). They are so fascinated with the babies and watching our bellys grow. And they know that Ms. Laura has ONE baby and Ms. Molly has TWO babies - they even know the boys names, but they have a heard time with Jeremiah's name at times. When Laura told the kids she was pregnant, she said "I have a baby inside my tummy" and a little boy named Sam spoke up very shocked "YOU ATE A BABY!!!"

With the fact that they are surronded my pregnant women, these precious 5 years old have lots of questions at time that I AM NOT ANSWERING! For one: One day I was not feeling well and I sat down next to this little boy. He said "I know why you aren't feeling good - you have 2 boys that are kicking you and making you sick. By the way, How did those boys get inside of you?" My response: "Ask you parents!" Then, the other day they babies were kicking up a storm and they kids were enjoying feeling them kick. They will come up with ideas of what they are doing inside of me. Ben says "I bet they are playing so well with one another!" As I have 10 little hands crowded on my stomach one boy says "How are they going to come out?" My Response: "Ask your parents!" 5 year old Makayla's response: "Through her belly button!"

Michael Dean and Jeremiah Weigh 2 1/2 POUNDS!!!

WE had our 28 week appointment today and we got to have an ultrasound. Both boys are doing great. Michael Dean weighs 2.4 pounds and his heart rate was 158 bmp. He is in the 39th percentile. (that is based on a "Singleton" baby, so for twins they are doing great!) Jeremiah weighs 2.8 pounds and his heart rate was 143 bmp. He is in the 43rd percentile. They are so smushed in that uterus!!! You can't really see a whole lot since they are so tight in there. They are both head down and Jeremiah is facing my back and towards the end of the ultrasound Michael Dean turned towards my back as well. So we only got to see his cute little face (with his big nose!) for just a little bit. Both sets of legs however are in the middle of my stomach and so we got to see a lot of kicking action going on. I don't know how they are in there - it is so crowded! They are going to come our black and blue I am sure of it!

As far as me, I only gained two pounds in the past two weeks, but once again, she is not concerned because the boys are doing great. That brings my total weight gain up to a whopping 16 pounds (plus the seven pounds I lost and gained back). I am measuring however 42 WEEKS! So, I am passed full term for a singleton pregnancy. Mike and I are betting that I will be measuring 60 weeks by the times these boys make their arrival - we'll see! Last time she said that we would be starting to meet every week around now, but since the boys are doing so well, we are still going every two weeks.

I passed my gest. diab. test, however, I am a bit anemic, so she gave me some iron supplements to begin taking.

I will post pics of the boys and my belly soon once I can find our camera.

A "Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day"

When I was a little kid we always read the book "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day" by Judith Viorst. Today I felt like Alexander.

My day started off real good - Mike came home and bought me something for Valentine's Day (I told him not to get anything) - it was a dozen chocolate covered donuts from Plehn's Bakery! YUMMY! He said it was the perfect v-day gift for a pregnant wife! He was right!

Well, back to the horrible parts of the day. We have felt a significant decrease in the twins movement the past few days and have been more concered as the days go by. I felt at first that they had just switched positions and I just wasn't feeling them where I normally feel them. I would try to lay real still and shake my stomach but we still couldn't get the little guys to wake up and kick. My mom mentioned that it might be the Tylonel I have been taking that is making them sleepy. So, I stopped taking tylonel, but we didn't get enough movement to feel like they were ok. Today Mike brought home a fetal heart monitor from a co-worker and we put it on this morning but couldn't hear Jeremiah's, so I just couldn't try to find it anylonger and I told Mike that we would just call Dr. Nett and see if we can come in to monitor them.

So I go to work and the girl I work with just had her baby on Tuesday and so she is not there and the kids have been wild! They know that Laura is gone and that she is not coming back. We have a new teacher in the room and she is really going to be good with the kids, but she is new and the kids are well aware of that. I also had another teacher in there that wasn't much help and, quite frankly, made things more stressful and overwhelming for everyone. I was on OVERLOAD of emotions and stress and didn't get a chance to call the Doctor until 11. When I did call them they wanted me to go straight to Labor and Delivery Triage to get monitored there. After I went through issues with the insurance company on pre-authorization and dealing with getting my class situated so I could leave, Mike and I left for the hospital.

Once we got there we got the run around on where to go and finally made it to L&D and was just wishing I could just see my doctor - well, Lo and Behold - there she was. We turn the corner and Dr. Nett is in the front desk and looks at me and I just start crying (overload on emotions - remember?) Mike told her what was happening and she took us where we needed to be and got us settled in. We love her!!! They hooked me up to monitors and did a Non-Stress Test (NST). They immediatly found Jeremiah's heart beat and took a little bit to find Michaels, but they did. Then they kept me on the monitor for a while to check their movements. They moved the whole time and I felt only 3 or 4 of their movements. Dr. Nett thinks that they have found themselves in strange positions and that they are kicking at one another and not me. It is comforting to know that they are kicking around, but it is going to be hard to know when to come in and when not to. The nurse said to lay on my left side and drink something sweet and cold, and after two hours of no movement, then come in. Hopefully they will switch positions soon and start kicking me more!

Feeling better, I was talking to some people about how much better I feel and someone said to me "Yeah - now you don't have to walk around wondering if you are carrying around dead babies!" I replied by telling her that you don't say that to pregnant woman and I had to leave the room.

It was not a good day, but I am thankful that the boys are ok and that they are kicking one another! My poor boys will come out bruised, I am sure of it!

Need Help!!!

Alright Guys - We need help! I might be changing our nursery decor! I need some advice, or sense knocked into me!!!

Here is what I am feeling: I feel very scattered and I feel like things are not coming together. I know this is probably just pregnancy hormone issues (wow - do I have pregnancy hormone issues - Praise the Lord for a gracious and patient husband! I Love you, Mike!). When I planned my wedding I had EVERYTHING in place - My wedding was my dream - I would spend nights laying awake before we were even engaged thinking on how I wanted my wedding. Everything I dreamed of happened! I was such an organized bride and had all the details in place. I, honestly, do not remember being stressed over it. I guess I imagined planning for a baby (or two!) would be the same way. Wow - am I wrong! I might just need to get over it and realize that I am not going to be able to be completley organized for these kids, especially with us moving in a few months. whew!

So, I dreamed about how I would want to do my nursery one day and so forth. Now that I am pregnant, I feel like things just aren't coming together and I feel that I made a mistake and purchased a "sissy" nursery for our two manly boys! I found a set on e-bay that I was able to purchase for real cheap! Our set is "Starlight" by Wendy Bellissimo (Picture Below).

It is Green, Yellow, and Blue and has a Lamb Mobile and Faint Stars on the blanket. Mike always said that lambs were too sissy and I would respond by saying they are babies - they can be lambs! Well now that it is more and more setting into me that we are having boys I am rethinking this nursery idea. It is definetly not the nursery I "dreamed" of.


We found this set that is new at Babies R Us. It is called "My Little MVP" and is a sports theme. (Pictured Below) Very manly and I really like the colors of blue, burgundy, etc... I also already have curtains and rugs that would match this set.



My thinking is that I can sell my entire set on ebay and make about $100 extra then what we paid for it all, and then purchase the new set (and still have some money left over). But another dilemma is that the sports theme will be fine for boys (Even through their toddler years), but if I have a girl next then it won't work very well.

So here is my question for all you bloggers out there:

1. Am I just being pregnant and should I just get over it and keep the set I have?
2. Should I sell the starlight and pick out a "manly, gender neutral" set that can be used for girls too?
3. Should I sell the starlight and go for the "all boy" set and just hope we have all boys?

I guess I just want to feel that things are together in their room and not just "thrown" together. Emotions, I know, I just need to deal - huh?

26 week Appointment - Gestational Diab. Test

I went to the doctor today for my 26 week appointment and to have my gestational diabetes test. It went well - you have to drink this orange drink, that tasted like Orange kool-aid, and then wait an hour and get your blood drawn. Hopefully I won't hear anything from the doctor - which would be a good sign that I don't have it. We will find out soon!
I then met with Dr. Nett and the boys are doing well. Their heartbeats were great and quite different! I told Dr. Nett about my stretch marks that arrived quickly (seemed like overnight), and she measured my stomach and I am measuring 36 weeks!!! Two weeks ago I was only measuring 30 weeks. She said that explains the stretch marks. I aslo gained 4 pounds in the past 2 weeks which puts my total weight gain so far at 14 lbs. I go back in two weeks for an ultrasound. Here are some shots of my belly. If you scroll down to the last belly shots you can see the growth that occured in the past two weeks. These boys are just growing! And moving - I do believe that there is a circus in my stomach. The other night it was obvious that Jeremiah kicked Michael Dean, and Michael Dean moved and then immediatly Michael Dean kicked Jeremiah and Jeremiah moved. It was wild in there! Mike is enjoying being able to feel them and their little bones pushing on me.


I also bought them their "Going Home" outfits this weekend. (Below is a picture) They were the only cute premie outfits that were at Babies R Us. I am going to get their names embroidered on the hats. Hopefully these boys will fit into them.

First Baby Shower

We had our first baby shower yesterday. It was lots of fun! My good friends Emily, Beth, and Amelia threw it for me. The theme was Noah's Ark - two by two (isn't that cute?). Emily made a diaper cake, that was filled with washclothes, onesies, rattles, and a boat on the side with sets of pigs, cows, horses, etc.... It was real cute. We got alot of fun things for the boys and alot of stuff that we needed. We got their tub, diaper bags (large one and small matching one), monitor, cloth diapers, really cute outfits, towels, the frog bath toy holder (mentioned in a previous post), etc.. We are very thankful! I am going to go through all of the boys stuff this week and try to begin to organize their clothes and other things and make a list of things we NEED before they are born. Hopefully then I will feel a bit more ready and organized. We are having another shower from our church on Feb. 16th and the goal is to be ready for the boys by February 28th - I will be 30 weeks by then and hopefull they won't come that early, but I need to be prepared. So if any of you moms can think of things that you needed for your babies and things you feel you couldn't have lived without it would be great if you could let me know!

I am 25 weeks now and it is insane to think that in 9 weeks (hopefully 11) I could have two boys here! Whew - I need to get on the ball. :)

24 week appointment

We went to the doctor today and got an ultrasound to check on the boy's growth. The boys are doing great, and as my doctor put it, they are obeying perfectly! (Let's hope they stay that way). Both of their heads are down and we hope they won't move - although the very well could. This would explain all the kicks up top, and why every time I feel a kick I feel a movement right over my bladder. They have been kicking up a storm. It is so sweet to feel them all the time and Mike is enjoying feeling them as well. It is hard to imagine that I have two little humans inside of me making their prescence known!
Michael's head is in my left side with his body going across my abdomen, on my right side, and his feet are right under my belly button. Jeremiah's head is right on top of Michael's and he is straight up and down. They both weight 1.45 pounds and they measure perfectly with where they should be! Praise the Lord! We are so thankful that we have had such a healthy and "normal" pregnancy so far (Normal for us!).
Here are some pictures of the boys:

The top of both of their heads. (Michael is on the right, Jeremiah on the Left)

Jeremiah's feet

Side profile of Jeremiah

Side profile of Michael

Jeremiah's hands and fingers

3-d of both boys. Michael is rubbing Jeremiah's head. It was great to watch!

3-d of the side of Michael


As far as me - I have gained 3 pounds in 2 weeks making my total weight gain so far at 10 pounds. She is not concerned, because the boys are growing fine - so I will not stress to gain more weight. Belly size I am measuring at 30 weeks. And everything else is right on target.
Here are some belly shots taken at 24w4d:




My back pain is MUCH better since we bought the snoogle pillow from Babies R Us. We had lot's of coupons and gift cards so we paid less then half for it. This pillow is A MUST HAVE for pregnant women with twins. It has done wonders for my back support while I sleep.



I went to get fitted for a bra from the lactation consultant and I will just say that the results were depressing! I will not give specifics except for the fact that all that weight gain might NOT have been the babies!!! AGH!!! Depressing... that's all I have to say on this subject... Depressing... Did I say, Depressing already?

On to more encouraging topics. We finally got our new bed and got the rooms all set up. Our bedroom is now the nursery/guest room and the nursery is now our bedroom. When we have family visiting after the twins are born they will just sleep in our room and we will sleep in the guest so we can get up with the twins. I plan on nursing the twins on that bed, so I won't have to worry about having a place to nurse when we have company. In order to put the rooms this way, we had to reorganize every closet in our apartment. Mike brought out EVERY tupperware, box, bucket from EVERY closet and put it in the living room and I consolidated a lot of stuff, and threw alot of stuff away - and somehow we managed to fit it all back in the closets. It was like a puzzle, but we did it!

The Guest Bed

Our Nursery Rug

The Crib - I am going to put their initials over it.

Changing Table

Sign that my sister-in-law gave us

Our New Bed

We are EXHAUSTED...

Because we just spent the past three hours out registering at Babies R Us. It was a very long and tiring process but I think we have everything on it - minus bottles. Laura if you could message me the type of bottles that are safe, that would be great. We couldn't remember the type of bottles to register for so we just skipped that part.

Here are several things that I learned from this long process today:

1. Babies really don't need anything! As we are registering for stuff, the thoughts go through, "Do we REALLY need this?" "Will I REALLY use this?" I am sure some of it will come in handy, and some of it I really need. But alot of it is just darn cute - so we registered for it.
2. My husband thinks anything that is NOT blue is girly! I could barely get close to anything that was green or yellow before I heard out of my husband's mouth "Our boys won't be sissy's!" I reply by saying "They are BABIES!" So - most of what we registered for is blue with "manly" things on it. (manly for babies = cars, trucks, dinosaurs, bugs, etc...) Our nursery is done in mostly green and yellow and blue with lambs and stars and after today I am wondering how he agreed to that. It was a miracle I think.
3. I don't have a third lesson, but two didn't seem enough for our long day.

All in all, we had fun looking at all the cute stuff and Mike was a real trooper. Here are a few of some "Fun" things that we registered for:

Diaper Bag - isn't it SOO manly - Mike will not feel whimpy carrying this.

Isn't this adorable!!! I saw it when I babysat some kids and thought it was precious. It is a frog that hangs on the bathroom wall to put toys in. Yes, it is green - but it is a frog (a bug) which equals Baby Manly. So we are good to go.


So - this one was COMPLETELY Mike's idea. He saw this and thought it was funny and great - so we registerd for two of them, The "Tinkle, Tinkle Little Star" and the "Lil Squirt". Here is the Item Description: "A must-have for the parents of baby boys, the Weeblock® Tinkle Tinkle Lil' Star from Sozo® is a wee-wee-absorbing sponge for use when changing diapers. Weeblock was invented by the parents of two boys who have developed a useful and fun solution to the inevitable "fountains of youth." Just cover the baby during changing with the Weeblock® and stay dry! Weeblock® is a machine washable sponge covered in soft cotton jersey." We'll see how much we use them.

We have our first baby shower on the 26th. Emily, my good friend from Knoxville, is throwing it for us along with a few of our neighbors here at the seminary. So, I figured I needed to finish our registry before then. If any of you "mom's" know of "must-haves" let me know so I can add it - because quite honestly - we have no clue!

Oh - one other exciting thing that happened today was that we got a really "nice" refund on our rug and lamp that goes with our nursery. Mike bought them for me for Christmas at full price - and now they are on clearance and I found a coupon for an EXTRA 40% off the clearance price. So, we took them our receipt and asked if they would credit us for the clearance price + 40% off and THEY DID!!! So we now got the rug and lamp for half of what Mike paid for it. NICE!