Twin Pregnancy - 28 weeks

Week 28 is drawing to a close and as usual I'm pretty pumped and proud to be moving on to the next week. On Thursday, we saw my OB and had another ultrasound. It's amazing how big the babies are getting- not as easy to see  all the parts!  We successfully survived another ultrasound without accidentally finding out the gender of the babies and it's starting to look like we may actually pull that part off! Our tech this time was so sweet and went out of her way to get us sweet pictures of one of the babies ears, profiles, and hair (!) on both their heads. They were both estimated at about 3 pounds each with only 2% discordance which is wonderful. The doctor thinks that may be a bit of an overestimate on weight since all my babies generally tend to have large heads which throws off the weight estimate at this point.

My doctor was slightly concerned about the contractions I have been having but we were all comforted in learning that no progress has been made toward labor which is great news. I had to drink the glucola for the gestational diabetes test which is always a good time but at least this new office we are at chills the drink for you. My last two pregnancies when we were at family practice made me drink it warm- way nastier. I haven't heard from them about the results which hopefully is a good thing?  I've been warned that two babies makes you more prone to developing gestational diabetes so you just never know. 

Turns out that Baby B has actually traded places with Baby A and is now head down and the presenting twin. Baby A has moved from transverse last month to feet down.  Ideally, that baby would flip around to head down also but they will still attempt a vaginal delivery with a breech extraction of Baby A if everything stays as it is now. Honestly, a breech extraction scares the crap out of me but then so does a c-section so there's that. 

Before we left the doctors, we scheduled out the rest of the appointments for the pregnancy which totally put it all in perspective for me. We have four more appointments and two more ultrasounds scheduled before the end. Bananas. That was a massive motivator!!

I hope to finish up shopping for the babies this weekend and start washing things/ getting their room ready!

As always, happy to have made it this far and looking forward to what this week brings!!

We have a new ride

We did it. We took the plunge and are now a minivan family.  We used to have a Ford Escape and when we thought we would need to have three car seats in it, we thought it may be tight but we could do it.  However, four car seats is a game changer.  Our oldest kiddos aren't at a point right now where I feel comfortable letting them buckle themselves into their car seats safely so getting a large SUV where it would be difficult for a parent to climb back and buckle them was out of the question.  So... mini van it is.  

We've been putting off looking for one for months because I didn't really want to to deal.  To be honest, a big part of me was sad to be trading in our Escape.  It was the first new car Josh or I had ever had and the first thing we ever worked hard to pay off.  I felt like such an adult when we paid off that car loan ourselves!  

Everyone told me that when we got our mini van that I would LOVE it immediately.  And I mean... it's fine.  I like it.  I'm pretty sure when we have two more children to put in it then I will totally get why large families love them.  Right now, getting a minivan is he coolest thing that our boys think they have ever experienced.  They love that they have their own air conditioning vents and that the doors open and close with the push of a button.  Our van came with built in sun shades which just delights my mommy heart so I don't ever have to hear whining about 'the sun is in my eyeesss' anymore.  

Regardless of my reservations, I'm absolutely pumped that this is the last big purchase we needed for the babies (the BIGGEST one) and that we can actually now drive home from the hospital together.  It's the little things right?

Twin Pregnancy - 27 weeks

So happy to finally officially be in the third trimester!! Especially because I've felt like I've been in it for weeks now. 

Babies are moving around like crazy more everyday. It's exciting for me that I've finally been able to distinguish Baby A's movement from Baby B's and I'm able to keep tabs on each of them individually. Movement is my favorite part of pregnancy and these babies do not disappoint!

For the last several weeks, I've been having some contractions off and on which are making me fairly nervous. It seems like when I have them, I have a bunch in a row and then they will subside. They always say if you have more than 4 in an hour to come in to labor and delivery to be monitored, which is slightly funny to me since that happens multiple times literally every day.  I probably wouldn't think much of it if I hadn't felt contractions exactly like this at the end with Eli that I assumed were Braxton Hicks, only to end up at the doctors office at 7 cm with absolutely no idea I was in labor. So needless to say, I've been trying to stay as close to the couch as possible these days when I can. 

There is increasingly less room on my lap for this gargantuan belly of mine which makes it very difficult to get remotely comfortable in a sitting position at all. Especially at work since bringing a couch into my lab is slightly frowned upon.

In general, I'm sleeping better than I expected. I'm still up at least 4 times (or 7) during the night to pee but usually the actual moments I spend sleeping are restful. I refused to spend money on a new pregnancy pillow this time - I felt we had enough expenses this go round amiright??? - so I sleep with two pillows under my head, two under my tummy, and another boppy pregnancy pillow between my legs. Watching me attempt to maneuver all these pillows and actually get out of bed I would imagine is quite comical although at this point I sure fail to see the hilarity. 

In general, we are trucking along day by day. Looking forward to having an ultrasound and doctors appointment this week to check on these sweet babies. Happy to have made it this far, looking forward to the coming week! 

How we found out there were two

I found out I was pregnant in the middle of February, right around Valentine's Day.  Unlike with the boys, we chose to keep the news to ourselves for a little while this time instead of telling family right away.  This time more than the others, I felt very worried and concerned about losing the pregnancy early and it didn't feel right to me to share the news until I was ready.  I didn't have morning sickness as early as I did with Eli and I worried myself crazy that that fact was a bad sign.  Right when I started to really worry, the nausea hit me like a ton of bricks.  We told our immediate families at that point and our extended families a couple weeks later.

The morning sickness was SO intense and lasted for so long every day that it definitely had me wondering what was going on.  Was it because it was my third pregnancy and it gets worse every time?  Was it because I was carrying a girl and it was worse than my boys?  Around 9 weeks, I started noticing that I already felt pregnant.  My clothes still fit and I hadn't gained any weight but I just felt.... like I was already growing at a much faster rate than it ever had with the boys.  In the back of my mind I thought could there be more than one baby?  But I didn't say anything to anyone- not even Josh because I figured he would just laugh at me!                             

We saw my family doctor (who is also an OB) for my first check up at 10 weeks.  While she was listening for the heartbeat and examining me, she kept asking me if I was sure about my dates- if I could be farther along than I thought.  She said I definitely felt more like 15 weeks which could indicate we were a month further than we thought OR there was multiples.  As soon as she mentioned a possibility for more than one baby, I just knew.  She listened for two heartbeats but could only find one and ordered an ultrasound for 2 weeks later.  At that point, I knew of the real possibility that my feeling about having multiples was possible but was also concerned about the fact that she could only find one heartbeat.  Josh was definitely less sure there were two and less consumed by the possibility than I was.  That two week wait was really difficult for me. 

Ultrasound day arrived and I was SO nervous!  All our paperwork all only had 'one fetus' marked on it and the tech was unaware there was even a question of that until she put the probe on my stomach.  This is what we all saw:

"Uhhhhh..... did you know there were two??" she said.  I watched Josh's face go into shock and I just remember feeling SO validated!  Watching the tech type Twin A and Twin B on the screen was completely surreal!  She said that they each had their own placenta and their own amniotic sac, making them di/di twins.  As far as medical danger with twins goes, di/di twins are the least risky which we were very happy to hear.  We also found out right away that they were fraternal twins (not identical).  The tech was able to see that I had ovulated twice (TMI?) which was totally amazing to see and showed that each baby came from their own egg.  We told our families the news right away and everyone was SHOCKED.  SO happy but so shocked! 

Thankfully, we found out on a Friday morning so we had all weekend to kind of digest the new surprise blessing.  I was in such bliss after finding out and I don't think it really hit me until around 4:00 Saturday morning when I woke up, started panicking, and couldn't go back to sleep.  Don't get me wrong- I was SO happy but I am a worrier by nature and was really caught off guard by our new financial situation that we were unprepared for and how we were going to have two babies at once!

Obviously, since then we have become well adjusted to this beautiful blessing and are absolutely overjoyed. I'd be completely lying if I said my financial and logistical worries were gone- we still have no idea how we are going to pull this off exactly but we have faith that we will figure it out.  We may be flying by the seat of our pants but we know that God blessed us with these babies for a reason and we know how very fortunate we are.  Looking forward to the adventure!

For highlights from the next 15 weeks that I didn't blog about- click here.

                                           

And then one day I blogged again....

This space fell silent for so long because at some point I just wasn't sure I had anything of interest to say!  Life with a 1 and 3 year old.... now a 2 and 4 year old is plain old crazy and sometimes routine but never boring.  The last 6 months have been arguably the most unexpectedly exciting of our lives so far and I felt like now was a time that I certainly didn't want to forget.

So I'm back to blogging.  Sometimes what stopped me before was the pressure to have perfect pictures/perfect grammar/perfect content.  I'm letting that go now.  My pictures will not be perfect and the posts won't always be concise or on-topic but that is just fine with me.  I'll get better- I promise.

So.... what's been going on in our lives?

* Caleb turned 4 and Eli turned 2 and they are the very best of friends.  Caleb loved preschool last year and will start Pre-K in the fall.  Our Pre-K is every day, half days which will be quite the adjustment for everyone!  I know he is ready for it though and has been counting down the days since preschool was over in May.  Eli has really grown up in the past year and his spunky personality is coming through more and more.  He is so very sweet when he wants to be and also has so much more sass than his big brother.  Sometimes, he gives us a run for our money!

* Josh and I have been working like crazy on updating our home.  I think when I stopped posting, we had around 3 rooms in the entire house done.  We got a burst of motivation this last winter because we were preparing to have the boy's birthday party at our house and did our entire main level and basement in a few weeks. The last few months, Josh finished two of the bedrooms upstairs and now we only have 3 rooms left to do in the entire house.  Our bedroom, the laundry room, and our upstairs bathroom.  Can. Not. Wait. (I've been taking pictures the whole time and hopefully one of these days will get around to putting all the before/after photos up on here.)

* We're tackling the art of potty training our second child.  I thought it would get easier after the first... but that's not true.  At least not for us.  Potty training is not for the faint of heart and it is exhausting.  Slow and steady is our motto right now.  

*We spent our spring and early summer doing all the fun things we could as a family of 4.  We played, we went to movies, we traveled to visit family, we picked out new bedding and paint for the 'Big Boy Room', and we soaked up our time together because..... as of October we will no longer be a family of 4.  Our family is expecting..... TWINS!  We are thrilled, shocked, excited, nervous and everything in between.  A post on how we found out and how the pregnancy is going is on it's way.  We are currently 26 weeks and trucking along.

 This is definitely a time in our lives where nothing is boring...

Compartmentalizing

As I would imagine is the case with any mother, especially those working mothers, it is an absolute necessity for me to compartmentalize.  On paper, I do not have a job that you would think would be particularly stressful.  However, the environment that is created here is extremely stressful for me.  Very seldom does a day go by that I don't leave my building to head to the daycare to get my kiddos very stressed out and still thinking (and worrying) about my work day.

While it can be irritating sometimes, I have about a 10 minute walk to my car in the afternoon that really helps to de-stress after a long day.  Honestly, most days (except in this bitter cold) I wish it was longer.  I listen to music or podcasts and it helps to leave all the work stuff behind and think about my home life.  Lately though, I've been having a really hard time letting it all go and 'leaving it all behind'.

Never, ever, (ever, ever, ever) do I want to be a mother that is stressed out at home and let it affect my kids.  I never want to be short with them because I'm thinking about something that happened earlier in the day that they didn't even have anything to do with.  It's a constant struggle.  I'd love to know if this is something that most mothers deal with or if it's the environment that I work in that leaves me feeling this way.  And if it is.... is it worth it?

Slow .... and steady?

Well, I'll say it.  I grossly underestimated the time it would take to paint/update/refurbish our entire new house.  Pair that with two little dudes who turn into hyenas (cute ones though) whenever a parent steps their way into a remodeling space that they can't enter.  You know, because of the dry wall dust, the sharp tools, and the paint strewn about that zone.  I know, I'm such a mean mother for not letting them play with those things.

Never did I imagine that this home remodel would all lead to intense conversations with my husband late at night about whether the downstairs bathroom ceiling was smooth enough to paint or the brand of deglosser to use on the vanity cabinet.  This is what my fantasy had imagined: my boys play together nicely in the basement for 30 minutes while Josh quickly scrapes the ceiling down.  I toss a coat of paint on the walls and ta-da! room done in a weekend.  Yeah.... that's not how it works.

We have so many plans, not enough money in our remodeling fund, and not enough time in the world to do it all.  It's all moving along at a snail's pace with our lack of time and lack of late night motivation in the winter.

At this rate... we will be done with the house just in time to sell it.  Ick.