18 Weeks!!

I am a little late on this week's post, but since I'm not 19 weeks yet I figure that it still counts as being mostly on time!!

Week 18 has been pretty good overall! I really don't have any complaints at all to be honest. I went out shopping to look for maternity clothes over the weekend so that I'd have something cute to wear to Easter with Nathan's family. I must say that I HATE shopping for maternity clothes. Most places don't have any at all and the places that do  have maternity clothes only have 3 racks of overpriced clothes that just aren't me. I will admit that I'm kind of cheap about clothes though. There is no way that I'm going to spend $30 or more on a shirt that I will only wear for a couple of months when I would normally only spend $40-50 on a pair of jeans that I'd expect to wear for several years. I also generally prefer simple clothes. Jeans and a plain colored short sleeved shirt or tank top.  I ended up finding a shirt at Target that looked ok and bought it, but really it's completely not me at all and I still spent $20. Luckily I already bought a few pairs of jeans at Zulily for really cheap. Their maternity clothes are hit and miss. Normally they are still above my price range, but every once in awhile they have sales that fit my style and budget. With twins on the way I feel like I need to be extra careful about spending money! After that fiasco of a shopping trip, I ended up on just buying a handful of maternity shirts online at Old Navy since our store in town doesn't carry maternity. They had a good 25% off sale, so I felt pretty good about it in the end.

In other much more exciting news, we found out the genders of the babies!!! We decided to spend $50 and have an elective gender ultrasound done so that we could find out the genders before Easter  Unfortunately, I can't spill the beans yet because I know my mom reads the blog and she's not allowed to find out until this weekend. I promise to share with you guys once our immediate families know though. Here is a little preview of what my mom will be getting in the mail though to hold you over.

That's right Mom, you are getting two Easter eggs in the mail and you are forbidden to open that package until we are on Skype together!

Here is a picture of my twins' heads next to each other. Don't ask me about angles though cause it was really hard to even get a shot with both  babies in it. I am assuming that it's the top or back of their heads though since you can't see any facial features. Ultrasounds are really quite baffling though!

Here is my weekly survey and belly pics to wrap things up:

Weight: 142 (+6 lbs overall)
Due Date: August 22, 2013
Baby is the size of: A Bell Pepper! (note: all sizes are comparing the length of baby to a fruit)

Maternity Clothes?: Maternity pants all the time! I haven't even attempted to wear my regular jeans in a couple of weeks. I don't NEED maternity shirts yet, but anything that was originally form fitting definitely doesn't fit anymore. Looking forward to getting my shirts that I ordered online sometime soon.
Symptoms: Doing pretty well this week. My back is still sore, but much better than last week. There have been some less than exciting other symptoms that ended up requiring a t-shirt change as well. I am really kind of bummed that I only gained one pound this week. Honestly, it seems impossible. I am eating all the time! One night I ate a one pound steak plus potatoes and vegetables for dinner...yet here we are only one pound heavier than last week. 
Emotions: Happy!
Notable News or Events: Elective Gender Scan!

Movement?: Still really not sure. I think that whatever I was feeling before wasn't the babies though since they were still fairly low at the ultrasound. Last night I felt some weird thumps that might have been them...but it might have been gas too!! Ugh...who knows! I do know that one of the babies has an anterior placenta which acts like a pillow between their movement and me. 

Stretch Marks?: Just the one on my boobs so far. I have been trying to make myself use cocoa butter on my belly, but I only end up doing it 3 or 4 times a week because I hate the feeling of my shirt sticking to my belly. 

Upcoming Appointments: March 27 - So today! I switched so that I would have an appointment with my regular OB instead of the nurse practitioner since I have some questions and concerns I want to talk about.

What People are Saying: Nathan and I finalized our name choices last night!! I am sure that I will have much more to post next week after the big reveal!

17 Weeks and Growing!

We've made it to 17 weeks!! Honestly, every week feels like a little miracle. These babies are such an amazing gift and I feel so blessed to still be pregnant. I think that too many women take their pregnancies for granted. Mind you, I wish that I was still naive about the things that can go wrong.  I had my own early loss and through that I have met so many women who have dealt with late miscarriages and stillbirths. Perhaps that knowledge and those relationships is why I worry so much, but I wouldn't change it. It sounds weird, but I know that without that first heartbreaking loss, I wouldn't have my twins. I still mourn the what ifs of that baby, but I know that I am on the path that I was meant to be on.

I had no intention of this becoming a sappy post, but there it is...I am completely in awe of this pregnancy and the little lives growing inside me. I am not really sure, but in the last couple of days I have started feeling odd sensations in my stomach. They have been a little higher than where I've been finding babies' heartbeats though...so I am not getting my hopes too high yet. The babies are growing, growing, growing and should now measure approximately 5 inches long from crown to rump (which means head to butt, so that doesn't count their little legs), so it's entirely possible that it really is the first sign of movement in there. If it's not, I know it should happen within the next several weeks. I am so eager to feel them moving and know that it will make me feel even more connected to the pregnancy than I already am! I will say that having the doppler and being able to find and listen to their heartbeats (one on each side of my belly now!) is the most amazing thing in the world. I normally wait to listen for the day until Nathan gets home so that I can share the moment with him. It makes me feel even closer and more connected to the babies and I hope that it does the same for him.

We also started working on the nursery this weekend!! We picked out our primary paint color and Nathan primed and painted the room. I intended to help paint since we purposely bought low VOC paint, but honestly the smell of the paint was just too much. I've always had a strong sense of smell, but now it's crazy! I will post some pictures soon to share our nursery progress with you.

I also have a post planned to share some of my craftier baby projects with everyone. I don't have a ton done yet, but I'm suddenly in the mood to make things for the babies and am really happy with how things are turning out. It's so exciting to actually be able to start doing things for these little ones, it definitely makes it seem more real that we will have two babies this summer!

Now, onto my weekly pregnancy update:
17 Weeks!!

Weight: 141 (+5 lbs overall)
Due Date: August 22, 2013
Baby is the size of: A turnip (note: all sizes are comparing the length of baby to a fruit)

Maternity Clothes?: I got my second pair of maternity jeans in the mail at the end of last week and they fit much better than the first pair. I also got a pair of capris for the spring and summer even though it's WAY too cold to wear them now. I tried on my first maternity shirt and I think it will still be a week or two before it fits quite right. I am small busted, so that's actually where most of the fit problem is at. Luckily most of my shirts are made of stretchy cotton and will fit for awhile longer. 
Symptoms: Tired and achy mostly, but overall doing alright! Sleeping is fairly uncomfortable and so is staying in any position for a long time, but as long as I can readjust every 15 minutes or so I am doing ok! I have also had a pretty big appetite this last week as evidenced by gaining 3 whole pounds in a week! I'm honestly not concerned at all about weight gain, especially since I know that I should have gained a lot more than I have by now with twins. So hopefully that trend of 2-3 pounds per week will continue for awhile. 
Emotions: Optimistic and thankful! 
Notable News or Events: Painting the nursery!

Movement?: Not sure. Nothing that I can be certain is fetal movement, but some new unique sensations that have me wondering!

Stretch Marks?: I got my first stretch mark this week and it's on my breasts of course. I have always been very small busted and have only gone up MAYBE one cup size, but apparently that was enough. 

Upcoming Appointments: March 26

What People are Saying: People are mostly excited about the fact that we should be finding out the genders of the babies in the next several weeks! 

15 And 16 Weeks

So I failed to get a blog post up for 15 weeks, but I did take my picture and still remember what was going on...so it's probably not too late!

Week 15 was pretty uneventful for the most part. Not a lot new happened. My belly grew some and I continued to be able to hear my little ones on my doppler at home.

Week 16 on the other hand, was stressful. The week was mostly good...but on Sunday I ended up having to go to OB Triage at the hospital due to spotting. Now, I know that spotting in pregnancy can be very normal, but with my past miscarriage I was terrified. I called the after hours line for my OB's office and the doctor on call said that she thought it was probably ok, but since she could tell how worried I was that I should head to the hospital and have things checked out. It ended up being a sensitive, irritated cervix and the spotting has stopped since then. While we were there we did get to see the twins on a quick ultrasound (sorry, no pics since it was an emergency sort of scan). Both babies were moving around like crazy in there. We could see them kicking each other and even punching at my stomach. It was so surreal to see a baby hitting me and not be able to feel it! So, the week has been rather stressful overall, but the babies are still looking ok and I am hoping that we won't have any repeat episodes.

Week 15

Weight: 137 (+ 1 lbs overall)
Due Date: August 22, 2013
Baby is the size of: An Apple (note: all sizes are comparing the length of baby to a fruit)

Maternity Clothes?: Same as before, just maternity jeans.
Symptoms: Sore breasts and random cravings.
Emotions: Felt alright this week. Time sure seems to be dragging though.
Notable News or Events: Honestly, not a lot happened.

Movement?: Not yet.

Stretch Marks?: Still too early.

Upcoming Appointments: March 26

What People are Saying: Not too much. My mom is always very interested in how I am feeling though.

Week 16

Weight: 138 (+ 2   lbs overall)
Due Date: August 22, 2013
Baby is the size of: An avocado (note: all sizes are comparing the length of baby to a fruit)

Maternity Clothes?: Just maternity jeans for now. My regular shirts still fit, but I expect I will have to switch to maternity shirts in the next several weeks. The belly just isn't growing very fast yet.
Symptoms: Tired and generally speaking uncomfortable. There was the unfortunate spotting incident. I also had my first middle of the night, pregnancy leg cramp and that was a little rough. 
Emotions: It's been a roller coaster of a week. Everything from being terrified, to relieved, as well as starting to feel excited about the emerging baby bump.
Notable News or Events: Saw the babies at the ultrasound in the hospital. It was quick, but such a relief!

Movement?: Not yet.

Stretch Marks?: Still too early.

Upcoming Appointments: March 26

What People are Saying: My mom and sister have been great this past week. They have both dedicated lots of phone time to raising my spirits and talking about the babies in general. 

14 Weeks!

Well, I'm technically 15 weeks now...but I have been good about taking my weekly photos at least. My 14th week was actually pretty painful overall. I guess everything is stretching or growing, because I have been having lots of random sharp pains. I ended up going to my doctor's appointment on Monday just to make sure everything was ok instead of waiting until Friday and heartbeats were good on the doppler and these sorts of pains are completely normal according to the doctor I saw. Other than that, the week was rather uneventful.
14 Weeks!!

Weight: 136 (+ 0 lbs overall)
Due Date: August 22, 2013
Baby is the size of: A lemon (note: all sizes are comparing the length of baby to a fruit)

Maternity Clothes?: Same as before. I did order another pair of maternity jeans, some maternity capris for when it gets warm, and my first maternity shirt because Zulily was having a maternity sale and I am way too cheap to pay full price for clothes that I'll only wear for a few months!
Symptoms: Fatigue, sore breasts, and lots and lots of random aches and pains this week.
Emotions: Feeling ok. It's been a few weeks since I saw the babies last and it will be 5 more until I see them again...so the worry is coming back a little. Still feeling positive overall, but it's so hard not knowing what's going on in there!
Notable News or Events: Both babies had heart rates in the low 150s at my OB appointment on Monday.

Movement?: Not yet.

Stretch Marks?: Still too early.

Upcoming Appointments: End of March.

What People are Saying: Just general "how are things going?" sorts of questions this week. 

13 Weeks!

Week 13 has been significantly less eventful than week 12, but still pretty great nonetheless. I know that anything can  happen, but just making it this far with both of my babies doing ok in there has me feeling pretty positive lately! My hubby and I had a really nice weekend together, just hanging around the house and shopping. We also went out to eat for lunch on Sunday which was  really nice. We (and by we, I mean Nathan) cleared out the guest bedroom  that will be the nursery this weekend as well. It mostly involved moving our extra bed into my craft room, which will now be a dual purpose area. It is exciting to think that we will begin the real work of getting ready for babies in just a few weeks!

WEEK 13!!

Weight: 135 (-1 lbs) Really starting to gain that weight back! That's up 2 pounds from last week.
Due Date: August 22, 2013
Baby is the size of: A medium peach, a tangerine, or the length of a medium shrimp!

Maternity Clothes?: Still the same as before. When I go out I either wear my one pair of maternity jeans or fasten my regular jeans with a hair tie. At home I wear mostly PJ pants because it's comfy! My shirts are still fitting ok, although my little bump is finally starting to show just a little bit.
Symptoms: Still fatigued, but it does seem to be improving. Sore breasts. The main symptom though is hunger! After weeks of no appetite, it is back with a vengeance. I need to eat every 4 hours with some snacks in between. 
Emotions: Feeling pretty upbeat!
Notable News or Events: I can sometimes find both heartbeats with my doppler at home. There are still days when I can't tell if I've found one or both babies, but I have definitely found both babies several times.

Movement?: Not yet.

Stretch Marks?: Still too early.

Upcoming Appointments: March 1st

What People are Saying: Nathan has been getting excited about my emerging bump and has started rubbing it and talking to the babies every once in awhile. Everyone is still very excited and people ask how we're doing all the time now. Nathan and I are also trying to narrow down names this week, but we still have a ways to go!

My left side is still way bigger than  my right side, which I think is kind of  funny. Ironically enough, both babies looked to be more to the right at my ultrasound. I think that they are moving a lot these days though, so that might change regularly!

12 Weeks and Ultrasound Pics!!

So week twelve has been a pretty eventful week around here. The biggest and most exciting thing was that we had our NT scan on Monday. I don't think that I can put into words how wonderful it was to see both babies still there with beating hearts and flailing limbs. I REALLY have to babies in there...it's amazing! It might seem kind of silly, but I've been trying not to get my hopes up about having twins, but after seeing both babies looking like babies, I am feeling pretty good. It is still possible for something bad to happen to one or both babies, but every week that we make it brings us closer to bringing home two little beings in August.

Baby A was measuring at 12 weeks 5 days (the ultrasound was at 12 weeks 4 days) and had a heartbeat of 148. This was my squirmy little one who wasn't as fond of posing for a picture. Baby A flipped completely over a couple of times during the ultrasound which was so cool to watch.

Baby B was measuring at 12 weeks  6 days and had a heartbeat of 154. This is my little ham of a baby, posing perfectly for profile shots. Baby B still wiggled around and kicked it's legs and sucked it's thumb...but was overall way more mellow than his or her sibling.

The ultrasound tech didn't have any guesses about babies' genders, but for the first time in this pregnancy I have a gut feeling. It will most assuredly be wrong, but I just have this feeling that Baby A is a boy and Baby B is a girl. We will see in either 1 or 2 months!

In other week 12 news we went to Nathan's yearly work party and went and saw Warm Bodies at the movie theater. We have also decided to really try and look at baby names so that we can at least have a starting list to narrow down! We are each going to write a long list of names that we like, then compare lists and veto names that we don't like. Then we will combine the lists and continue to narrow it down until we have two boy names and two girl names. Whew...it's going to be a long process!

WEEK 12!!!

Weight: 133 (-3 lbs)
Due Date: August 22, 2013
Baby is the size of: A lime! 

Maternity Clothes?: I alternate between wearing my regular jeans fastened with a hair tie and my single pair of maternity jeans. Shirts are fitting just fine.
Symptoms: Super fatigued! I have been eating quite a bit more and have even experienced some cravings (everything from strawberry shortcake to carrots and ranch dip).
Emotions: I am super happy this week! Just knowing that my babies are growing and moving around in there makes me feel happier than I could have imagined.
Notable News or Events: We had our NT Ultrasound!!

Movement?: Not yet.

Stretch Marks?: Still too early.

Upcoming Appointments: Sometime in the very beginning of March (apparently I'm too lazy to go check on the exact date).

What People are Saying: People have loved seeing the babies' pictures!! Lots of comments about how the look like babies now and how amazing it is! :)

**This post was actually written on time and I could have sworn that I posted it, but when I went to write my 13 week post today it was sitting in my drafts unpublished. Oops! I will publish my 13 week post in the next day or two.**

Getting Caught Up: Weeks 10 & 11

The last week and a half or so has been rough! I caught a virus on Monday the 28th and am just now starting to feel better again. At first I thought it was the flu, but the fever stayed low grade...so it might have just been one of those things going around. Let me tell you though, being sick while pregnant is terrible. Being pregnant on its own is exhausting, but adding illness really takes it to a whole new level of misery! Between panicking about my fever getting too high and hurting the babies and throwing up from coughing so hard...it was rough. I still have a cough left over from the ordeal, but hopefully that's on its way out as well.

In other news, we also had a prenatal appointment last Thursday (@ 11 weeks exactly). The doctor told me that we would only be able to hear one heartbeat with the doppler because the babies are so close together at this point in time that it's virtually impossible to tell the heartbeats apart. It was such a relief to hear that heartbeat though. Seriously, it's a beautiful sound! Towards the end the doctor pointed out what sounded like a second heartbeat underneath the first. It sort of sounded like an echo of the main heartbeat. He said  he was pretty sure that was baby number two. It made me feel a lot better, because I have been worried that something bad has happened to one of my little monkeys in there. This early stage of pregnancy is hard on the nerves because you can't tell what's going on in there! We have our NT Ultrasound scheduled for Monday (just 5 days from now!!) and I can't wait to see both babies. I am, of course, a little nervous...but it's mostly excitement. The babies should look like babies now!!!

Yesterday was mine and Nathan's second wedding anniversary. It is truly astonishing to think about how fast the last two years have passed. It hasn't always been easy and we have had our share of disagreements, but if I had to do it over again, he would still be the one. I can't imagine what my life would be without him. He really is my rock and I feel so lucky to have met and married such a wonderful man. I know that he will be a wonderful father and just thinking about that moment when he meets his babies makes me tear up a little. We ended up going out to dinner, which was my first time out of the house since I got sick (other than to go to my OB appointment). I always feel a little bad going out to eat when I still have a cough, but there was no way that I was going to miss my anniversary dinner! He got me some lovely roses, chocolate truffles, and the sweetest card ever.

Now, onto our weekly updates!!

Week 10

Weight: 132 (-4 lbs)
Due Date: August 22, 2013
Baby is the size of: A kumquat or a prune

Maternity Clothes?: I bought my first pair of maternity jeans because they were on sale, but since I spent most of my week in my pajamas I didn't end up wearing them.
Symptoms: This week it was virtually impossible to separate pregnancy symptoms from my other symptoms of just being sick.
Emotions: Honestly, I was pretty negative this week...but I think being sick will do that to a person. I was super worried about how running a fever would affect the babies, but luckily Tylenol kept it under control.
Notable News or Events: Monthly OB Appointment where we got to hear heartbeats with the doppler for the first time.

Movement?: Not yet...could still be awhile.

Stretch Marks?: Still too early.

Upcoming Appointments: NT Scan on 2/11

What People are Saying: We jokingly decided to call the babies our "halflings." Although, we still don't do so consistently. They are normally just the babies and sometimes still the baby beans. 

The photos are too zoomed in this week, but honestly I was so sick that I didn't care enough to retake them. They were also taken at the very end of week 10 and not the middle...but I did what I could!

Week 11

Weight: 131 (-5 lbs)
Due Date: August 22, 2013
Baby is the size of: A fig! 

Maternity Clothes?: I can technically still fit into my pre-pregnancy jeans, but I did wear my maternity pants when we went out to dinner last night.
Symptoms: Mostly just tired. I did end up purchasing a doppler to use at home so that I could hear the heartbeats (well, I can mostly just find one..but that's good  enough for now) which has been a huge relief.
Emotions: Feeling more upbeat this week! Hearing the heartbeats and seeing my OB at the beginning of the week really made me feel more confident. I am super excited to see the babies at my ultrasound on Monday. I'm a little nervous too, but mostly just excited.
Notable News or Events: Our 2 year wedding anniversary was on Tuesday! 

Movement?: Not yet.

Stretch Marks?: Still too early.

Upcoming Appointments: NT Scan on 2/11

What People are Saying: This week has been pretty quiet, but all of our family was happy to hear about heartbeats at our doctor's appointment.