Weeks 22, 23 & 24: Cribs, Clothes, and Diapers..Oh My!

Did you see it? Month 6 of this pregnancy just flew by! As of today I am 25 weeks pregnant; some would say I am entering the 7^th month of pregnancy, others would say I am still in the end stages of the 6^th month. I choose to believe that I am entering my 7^th month, 1) because I want these babies here! And 2) I am having twins and measuring 7 weeks ahead of my actual time (based on a singleton pregnancy).

These past few weeks have boasted mostly the same symptoms as my last post stated, however the acid reflux seems to have kicked it up in gear, followed by shin splints and leg cramps, as well as an achy back. But all in all, I am feeling pretty great! During week 23 I travelled alone to be a team member with an amazing ministry that I work with. It was a long weekend in a camp/retreat setting that can be physically, emotionally and spiritually draining. However, God is so good to me, and although I didn’t get much sleep I left that retreat refreshed and filled up!

I drove back home on Sunday, and on Monday I went to my specialist to have an echocardiogram on the twins. The fetal cardiologist said that as of right now, everything looks normal and perfect! Great news! We also managed to get a great 3D picture of each baby.

 The next weekend my husband, mother, and I drove to my husband’s hometown where my mother-in-law was throwing us a baby shower! We stayed with my MIL for this trip and it was so nice to spend time with her and my husband’s grandmother, who also lives with her. The baby shower was beyond amazing! I have only been to one baby shower in my life so I did not have any expectations really; but we were both just blown away! My MIL really went all out for us; she booked us a beautiful room at a banquet hall, provided dinner and dessert for 40 people, decorated beautifully, baked cookies, and even bought us gifts on top of that. She really poured out her love upon us.

My MIL also invited people that we had never even met, and even those people showered us with extravagant gifts! Everyone at the shower went above and beyond to show us that we, and the twins, are loved. We are still flabbergasted by the generosity of people…God is good. One baby is expensive; two babies are scarily expensive. God definitely has been using people to bless us! Another thing that was so great about this weekend was that my Aunt, whom I have seen once in the past 10 years, drove 6 hours the day of the shower to see us, stayed for the shower, and then drove back home another 6 hours! I would never have expected anyone to do that for me. I am so thankful that I got to see her!

So we packed up what we could fit in the SUV and drove back home right after the baby shower. I was completely exhausted. No nap plus “being on” for 4 hours was a sleepy combination. However, I cannot sleep in a car, so alas, I did not sleep until much later that night. But it was all well worth it! The rest of the week was spent putting together 2 cribs and a changing table. The nursery is finally beginning to look like a nursery instead of a yellow room with stuff on the floor.

 We have been pretty excited here lately. All of this baby stuff makes the impending birth of our first children all so real! I spent the last few days washing baby clothes and trying to put away some of the gifts. My husband got so excited he decided to put together a pack-n-play! It has been soooo fun to watch this man put together baby furniture and gear. To think that earlier this year we were staring at a zero % chance of having a pregnancy….and now I am watching him venture into fatherhood….GOD IS SO GOOD! My husband has even started going around the house and planning for the twin’s future play areas! I told him it was cute, his response to me was, “I’m nesting!” How classic is that??!! I love him so much!

Yesterday I “turned” 25 weeks pregnant and attended a baby shower for a friend who is 10 weeks ahead of me. It was a lot of fun and I won 2 prizes (this is a big deal because I never win) and ate a lot of food! I realized last week that I know over 17 women who are pregnant! So much for being the only one…I do think that it will be fun to have so many moms with kids the same age as ours. Maybe arranged marriages are in the future? Haha, I am only joking!

Tomorrow I go to the specialist for them to do an ultrasound and check the twin’s growth! I am so darn excited to see how big they are!!! I just know they are 5 pounds each already (or so it feels). I love these ultrasounds. Sometimes it is hard to tell exactly where each baby is in my womb, so the ultrasounds help me to pinpoint their location; which is nice so I know what exactly is poking my bladder.

On Halloween I go in to see my regular OB and they will be giving me the glucose tolerance test. I am sure that will be loads of fun. Oh, and the day before Halloween we have our first birthing class! Things are just rolling right along around here! Oh and did I mention that a friend here at home is also throwing us a baby shower this weekend? God is a God of abundance….and He lets it flow freely upon us!

Weeks 19, 20 &21: Will it be an "Innie" or an "Outtie?"

          Every week this pregnancy seems to get more real. People I know actually think I am showing now; it used to be that I was the only one who noticed. I think I feel more pregnant too. I am having more body aches and pains and I am having more trouble getting up from laying or sitting positions. Basically any movement that requires use of my abdominal area/muscles is becoming strenuous.

          I guess many changes are occurring in my abdominal region; some good, some unpleasant. My already pale skin is being stretched thin so my blue veins are very visible as well as some gorgeous busted blood vessels. On a positive note, I used to have a permanent red line/crease on my upper tummy from slouching and now that my uterus has grown so high it has stretched out that crease and now it is gone! Woohoo! The one change I am trying to document is my belly button. I hear that most women end up with an “outtie” during pregnancy. So one day I decided to look at my belly button and sure enough, my once deep belly button and become pretty shallow. I am watching it each week to see if an when it begins to protrude and become an “outtie”J

          The past few weeks have been relatively the same symptom wise; a lot of bathroom trips, indigestion, shortness of breath, and trouble sleeping. A new symptom that has developed is shin splints; all the time. I am just going to go ahead and assume these are due to my sudden weight change paired with my scrawny chicken legs. I also am feeling this strange painful urge in my arms and legs to stretch and strain them…hard to describe but it is often only on one side of my body and when it strikes, sleep is impossible. However, it happens when I am not lying down also…just strange.

          So in week 20 I went to see my regular OB and he checked for heart rate and fundal height. I believe I was measuring at around 22-24 weeks! Yikes! I also told him about some abdominal pains I had been having and he said they could have been contractions, thus I should have called him. However, I have no idea what contractions, true or false, feel like so I figured it was a nice combo of round ligament pain and indigestion. Bottom line was that I have to monitor these pains for frequency, timing and hardening of the uterus…oh and call him if they occur again. Thankfully I have not really noticed any more of these pains, but he did decide that I now have to come see him every 2 weeks instead of 4 and that as I progress I may have to come in weekly. (Just another thing that makes this pregnancy suddenly seem so real!).

          The following week, week 21, I was able to see the perinatologist who again did an in-depth scan of the babies to measure things like their head, palate, legs, arms, etc. which basically helps rule out deformities and abnormalities. Apparently everything looks great and the doctors are fairly confident that neither baby shows any sign of these things. The great thing about these scans is you get to see every detail of your babies while in utero, right down to fingers and toes. And speaking of fingers and toes, Elli was picking her nose and at one point she tried to kick her brother in the head! We actually got a picture of her little foot heading right towards his head!

          One of the strange things about carrying twins is that often you cannot be sure which baby is making which movement that you feel. Sometimes you can be aware of their relative position based on a recent ultrasound and you can make an educated guess, but as I recently found out, those babies have a mind of their own and may change spots and you may not be aware of it. For example, for months Eli and Elli were in an “L” shape; as of 20 weeks this was still true and my OB said that Elli would probably remain where she was for the duration of the pregnancy because Eli had her trapped. Well, week 21 rolled around and the ultrasound revealed that they had BOTH changed spots. Eli did a complete flip the opposite way and Elli went to the other side of my tummy. Now they are lying almost side by side (as of Monday!)

          The funny part about them changing locations like this is that we have been trying to use a stethoscope to hear their heartbeats at home and the whole time we were listening to their feet because that is where we thought their chest was!! So I guess the lesson is that babies are not always predictable. As the twins get bigger I can feel more and more of their movements. I have felt kicks, punches, somersaults, and I think even hiccups. There really is life in there…how amazing!

          At my perinatologist visit they also checked my cervix again and it has only gone down one centimeter (to 37) and apparently that is really good. In 2 weeks I go back for them to perform an echo on the babies’ hearts to verify that all is well because twins carry a higher risk for heart problems. I know that the health and wellbeing of these babies is in the hands of God and I am not worried! In 3 weeks I will be seen again by the specialist for basic growth charting.

          In the area of growth our babies are soaring! Based on the Bump.com and Babygaga.com, the average size of a single baby in week 21 is 12-13oz…our twins are coming in at 15oz each! To me that is huge! In a good way! One of my concerns was that we would have these tiny babies that wouldn’t be allowed to leave the hospital, but if they keep this growth up we should have no problems in the weight department! Elli’s heartbeat was about 148 and Eli’s was around 151; good strong heartbeats.

Here are the ultrasound photos:

The first time they were able to capture her gender on film!

Weeks 17 & 18: Baby Olympics?

So here I am in the middle of week 18 and I think I may be glowing! I feel like my baby bump has really begun to show this week and that is so exciting! What isn’t exciting is going through every shirt in my closet trying to find one that covers this growing belly! The problem is the shirts just aren’t long enough! I guess I will be hitting the maternity stores soon.

The biggest update for weeks 17 and 18 is that the babies are moving all the time and they can be felt from the outside! My husband and my mom both have felt them kick (I guess that is what they are doing) several times now! Baby Olympics maybe? They normally are active when I lay down in bed, but lately they have been really moving in the afternoons. I read that drinking ice cold water can make them move, and yes, it does seem to work. Something about the coldness stimulating your digestive system which they can hear now!

I have taken to reading Proverbs aloud to them each day because science says they can now hear. I know they don’t understand English yet, but hey, they are learning my voice and I believe it can nourish their spirits. My husband has begun to play the guitar for them. Science also says that babies in the womb often respond more to low pitched noise (such as a man’s voice) and vibrations. Hopefully they will come out as musical prodigies!

Physically I am doing great! My doctor gave me a medication that is for chronic GERD and it seems to help with the constant acid reflux, however, if I eat too much I can still get it pretty bad. I am getting some lovely pregnancy pimples and dry skin, but I would choose those over nausea or constipation any day! I am also finding that I am out of breath a lot, or just have trouble catching it. I also wake up with a bloodied nose (thanks to all the extra blood I am pumping now). Oh and strangely enough, my leg hair seems to be growing back more slowly; go figure! That one I will not complain about.

So in a couple of weeks I will hit the 5 month mark and we will get another amazing ultrasound. I cannot wait to see how much the twins weigh now because my weight seems to be skyrocketing! I swear I gained 3 pounds in 3 days! I know that at the last ultrasound they were heavier than singleton babies so I will not be surprised if they are pretty large now. Big twins would make me very happy though in the chance that they come early.

I did go ahead and register us for child birthing classes even though they do not begin until November. But as far as I know we are not expecting Thanksgiving babies so I think it will all work out. Registering for those classes was another one of those reality milestones for me; like, whoa, this is real.

Weeks 14-16: God is so good!

          Sometimes days and weeks pass by in a blur because they are so busy, and sometimes I am just being plain lazy and don’t update this blog. Either way, WOW, I cannot believe that as of yesterday I hit the 17 week mark! I am the type of person who jumps ahead to the next big thing. I find it very hard to just relax and be in the moment. Case in point: from the time my husband turned 26 I began telling him that he is almost 30. Also, if it is 11:15 and you ask me what time it is I will most likely tell you it is almost 11:30. (Some people may call this exaggeration…) So, at 17 weeks pregnant, in my mind I am almost 20 weeks, or 5 months! Which I am very excited about.

          The reality is that this pregnancy will be over and done with before I know it so I really need to stop rushing it along. In 4 or 5 months the twins will be here and I will wonder where the time actually went. *sigh*

My last post was about week 13; weeks 14 & 15 were relatively uneventful. I continued to suffer daily from acid reflux and heartburn. I became quite impatient with my body because it would say “I’m hungry.” So then I would feed it, but then it would say “that was too much or too acidic, now I feel sick!” So I lived in a constant struggle between hunger and hating food due to how it made me feel.

          I read that the top of my uterus at 16 weeks should still be a good 3 inches below my belly button, so I figured these problems couldn’t be caused by my squished organs yet. However, when I went to my 16 week OB appointment, the doctor informed me that the top of MY uterus was already at my belly button (WHAT?) due to me carrying twins. So apparently I am not crazy and imaging that my stomach feels shoved against my esophagus already, it actually is. So while it is comforting to know WHY I am getting this horrible acid problem…it doesn’t make it feel any better.

          On the bright side, I went to see the perinatologist at 16 weeks along. It was special because my husband and I were able to bring my father-in-law so that he could experience their amazing ultrasound abilities. He was speechless. Baby A and B were very active again but we were still able to get a good anatomy scan done and everything looks great! They both waved to us (which I am choosing to believe was intentional) and we of course got to see some great profile shots and even fingers and toes!!

          They are both measuring on track and they both weigh 5 oz.!! That is bigger than most singleton babies! I am very excited about this because it means that they may be born big enough to come home right away. Baby B is a little longer; measuring at 16 weeks 4 days and Baby A is measuring right at 16 weeks 1 day. 

          Oh, and did I mention we know the genders! At week 13 they told us but I wanted to wait until week 16 to announce it to ya’ll, just in case someone developed more in utero. Baby A is a sweet little baby GIRL and Baby B is a precious baby BOY!! Yep, one of each! Dream come true!

Baby B is Elijah (we will call him Eli) and Baby A is Elliana (we will call her Elli). I am so beyond excited right now! No more gender neutral terms for me! We thought and prayed hard about these names. Elijah means “the Lord is my God” and Elliana means “God has answered.”

          God continues to amaze us and reveal more and more blessings. Not only did He bless us with a pregnancy, and TWINS, but then He also revealed the blessing of a boy and a girl. So in 4 months I have gone from zero chance of pregnancy, to “you’re pregnant….with twins!,” to “you get one of each.” I am so thankful for a God who does not bless us based on our own merits, but on His mercy and grace.

          So I guess I was wrong when I said the past couple of weeks were pretty uneventful. In week 16 I felt the babies move for the first time. They are the tiniest, briefest sensations; sometimes I’m not even sure I felt them, but it is so exciting and fascinating! I can’t wait until they are big enough to be felt from the outside! I often spend my spare time trying to coax them into moving enough so that I can feel them. They are definitely night time movers!

Pregnancy: Lucky number 13

          Week 13 was actually a pretty great 

week! I did still have more nausea and acid 

reflux than I thought I would, as well as the 

up all night pee breaks. But as a whole, the 

week was pretty good. On Monday we went 

to the perinatologist to have our first 

trimester ultra-screen done. The office was 

nice enough, but boy oh boy, you should 

have seen the ultrasound machines! 

I haven’t seen many ultrasound machines in 

my life, but I am sure that this one would 

rank pretty high!

          The machine was hooked up to a very nice flat screen television above and in front of me so that I could see everything the tech saw. It was really amazing! I couldn’t believe how clear these pictures were. All of our previous ultrasounds were grainy and unfocused. You could tell that there was something in my womb, but you couldn’t really make out much detail. However, with this machine, it was like the babies were right there in front of us! We could see fingers, hands, legs, feet, noses, lips, spines, stomach cavities, bladders…etc.!!!!! 

Oh, and the heart beat! If you recall, I had a bad experience with the last lady who put a Doppler on me (please see last week’s post). This time we not only heard the heart beats loud and clear, but we saw them! The machine actually showed the heart beat wave, kind of like a heart monitor.

          Those babies were both very active as always! The amazing thing was that the babies would be dancing around, but as soon as the tech tried to get them on the ultrasound, they would pause and let her do what she needed to do. They were very cooperative. Baby B was actually lying on their side and waving at us! I think they are just as excited to meet us as we are to meet them!

          At this appointment the doctor screened for Down Syndrome, which consisted of measuring the fluid at the back of the babies necks and then they also drew some blood to be sent off. Based on the ultrasound, the doctor said the babies did not look like they were at risk for DS and then a few days later I also got a great call saying that the blood work also came back negative for DS, trisomy 13 and trisomy 18(?)!!! So that was fantastic news!

          The doctor that we saw was pretty good. He was nice enough and seemed very confident in his field. He also told me that he wants to see me every month (unlike the other perinatologist!!). This means that we have found our permanent perinatologist; yippee! He did mention that sometimes twins run a larger risk for heart defects, so in October I will have an echocardiogram (or something that sounds like that) done. Oh, and he also mentioned that these babies could be here as early as the beginning of December. That is just over 4 months away!! Guess we better get busy on that nursery!