Wow!!

So Chris and I went down to the hospital today to pre-register and clear up our insurance insurance and stuff.

First let me say, that the lady who is in charge of the billing/insurance stuff is the nicest person I've ever dealt with regarding insurance/payment plans. She actually listened to us, and helped us out even though the hospital policy is different than what we were asking to do. We have lots of options and we are not going to have to pay our entire deductible when we go in. She was sensible, rational, and sincerely a nice person. That is very unusual in my experience.

Second, we were fortunate enough to have a nurse show us around the hospital. We got to see a delivery room and a post partum room. Can I just tell you that I couldn't even have imagined rooms as nice as the rooms they have. They have built in beds for the dad, the rooms are big and private, they have really nice and clean bathrooms with jacuzzi tubs in each room! It's almost luxurious!
In post partum rooms they don't have jacuzzi tubs but they have showers with the jets in them, and like built in seats in case you have to sit to shower. It doesn't feel hospitalish at all!! It feels more like a hotel to be honest. I was so impressed. I am so happy we get to have our babies there! Not to mention the fact that I haven't met a single person there that wasn't kind, patient, and sensitive. I feel so comfortable about having the kiddos there. I am muy excited.

Chris' mom comes into town today. Her plane was delayed though. I am so happy to have some family in town. Plus in about two weeks my Mom comes into town!

Well that's all I've got for now.
Good day!

Umm...

I have a weird feeling about today. I can't sleep (I am up at 7am for goodness sakes), and my stomach is upset. I'm not sure what it is, but I just have a weird feeling. I'm not having contractions or anything this morning and actually I think the babies are sleeping right now but my body just feels different. I can't pin it down.

I think I am going to try to get back to sleep, but lets pray today isn't the day. I gotta hold out until Friday.

**Secretly I want today to be the day! I want to meet my girls!! Alas, two more days is not that long. We'll see what God's got in store though**

OH man...

I feel terrible tonight. I am SO SO nauseated. It's killing me. Add to that some heart burn and it's not been a good night :-(
This is the first time in a long time that I've just been miserable like the whole night. Personally I think it's just a sign of things to come. My body getting prepared for some hard work. Or maybe, I just ate too much. I don't know. Either way I am not a fan. Not at all.

I mentioned earlier that the doc gave me some meds to slow down the contractions. She told me it might make me jittery and boy does it ever! The directions say to take every 4 hours as needed, I am really following the 'as needed' part. I have only taken two doses of the stuff because the jittery-ness is so miserable. Of course I am taking it when I need to, but if I'm not contracting I am not taking that stuff. It's terrible. It's funny because it makes me tired but at the same time it makes me feel like I'm bouncing off the walls. It's weird.

Well that's all I've got for tonight. Three more days and we are in the clear!!! YAY!

Goodness gracious!

Here I sit, basically on bed rest. Not officially, but I was told not to cook or clean and only to do what I absolutely have to do for the kiddos. To me, that is bed rest. I can take a shower and stuff, but I can tell things start to happen if I stand for too long so I just decided to stay in bed, other than to make myself some food.

I got the babysitter, Alyssa, to come over and watch the girls for me today while Chris is at work, and one of the ladies I worked with at the preschool is going to bring us some dinner. Isn't that so nice?! So I basically have nothing to worry about :-) Chris' mom will be here tomorrow, but not until 330pm, so I am going to get Alyssa to come over again tomorrow and then I'll be set.
I just have to call the people who are going to take the girls for us when we go into labor and set things up.
I'm somewhat disappointed because I had made appointments for the girls to see both the dentist and the doctor today and tomorrow so I would have it out of the way before I had the babes. So of course all of this happens and it ends up I can't bring them. I'm going to have to reschedule on a day that Chris can bring them, because I'm not stupid enough to try and bring two girls to the doc/dentist with newborn twins. lol.

I'm a bit hesitant to have people come over, because I haven't been able to clean for the last 2 or 3 days (not well) so the house is kind of messy. It needs a good mop/vacuum but I can't do either of those things :-( So that kind of sucks.

Well, I think I'm going to take a nap.
Pray they stay!

44 days my arse!

So according to our ticker we have 44 days to go. WHATEVER! We are lucky to have 6 days left!
Went to the doc and she says I'll be lucky to last until the weekend. These girls are coming, and coming soon!
I had to go on in because I was having contractions again so she had me come in for an u/s and to check me.
The u/s looked good, I am 2 cent. dilated, but I am almost completely effaced and she could totally feel baby A's head!
She said lets try to hold out until the weekend! My OB is out of town until then, and she said it will be better if he is there to deliver as opposed to the guy who is backing her up currently. He's a good doc, but Plimpton is better. She gave me meds to slow down my contractions too.

So OMG we are about to have babies! Freaking A. Pray that they stay in until Friday!

Well...

here I am, stuck in bed. On husband imposed bed rest. haha.
I was having some serious contractions yesterday. All day. It didn't matter if I stood, sat, laid down, walked, I was having those contractions. So last night they started getting a bit more intense and closer together. That's when I decided to go lay down and start tracking them. Very irregular, and they didn't get more intense each time. Apparently when you are in real labor they become very regular and more intense as time goes on. After about two hours they had pretty much stopped. I had a few during the night, but none this morning though. I still plan on taking it EASY today. I don't think I'll be able to stay in bed ALL day because Chris has to go somewhere for school and obviously we have the girls. So, I'll have to get up a little bit but I'll be in bed most of the day.

I will tell you what, they are moving SO SO much. From what I've read they kind of stop moving as much the closer you get to delivering because they basically run out of room. These girls though--both of them--they don't seem to have that problem. They kick kick kick. Maybe they are saying they want out. I don't blame them. It's crowded in there:-) FYI my uterus is the size of a watermelon now. A WATERMELON! Gesum crow--pregnancy is crazy.

This part of the pregnancy is the hardest so far. Mainly because actually getting to meet my babies is SO close. The waiting is just killing me and I want them to be born! I can deal with the morning sickness and the stretch marks (UGH don't get me started on those!!!!!), but this anticipation is just killing me. I'm so excited!
I'm not worried about being tired, I'm not worried about being a good mother, I'm not worried about the birth (not a lot anyway), I'm just excited to meet my little ones. I want them to be born, and I want our new lives to start :-) This waiting is very hard.

I was talking with someone the other day, and they were basically commenting on how difficult things can/will be. Like the exhaustion and having two and all that. My thoughts however tend to steer the opposite way. Not to say that I think it will be easy, or that I won't be exhausted. However, when you have been faced with the reality of NEVER EVER having children, and having had to find a way to reconcile that in your mind, your perspective changes. I can honestly say that I have never had a single time during this pregnancy that I worried about how things would be for me once the babes are born. Like about how tired I would be or how hard it would be or blah blah blah. It's not that I don't realize it will be difficult, but I know how it feels to truly believe in your heart that you will never get to experience that. I don't give a crap how hard it will be, I am just THANKFUL I get to experience it. I am thankful for every thing about this pregnancy from the unbelievable morning sickness I had, to the amazing midwife I get to use. I will be thankful for every midnight feeding. I will be thankful for my labor experience--even the pain, because there was a time that I believed I would never get to experience it. I know it's going to be hard, I know it's going to suck sometimes, I know that I might not always remember to be thankful--but I'm not focusing on that. It's a miracle that we have these babes, a true blessing from God. I think unless you've been through what Chris and I have been through--it's difficult to understand the fact that we aren't focused on the hard stuff. We are focused on the unbelievable miracle that God has and is about to give us. How could we possibly be worried or feel negative about anything we are going to experience--good or bad. We almost didn't get to experience it all. I am thankful, just thankful.
So no worries! Be happy for us, pray for us, encourage us, and keep positive. This is the best thing that has and will ever happen to us. Praise God!

It isn't very often that I do this...

But I have put my foot down as the man of the house.  Heh, before you jump up in my grits let me explain myself.  Aimee is very, very close to the point where delivering the babies is a-ok but she isn't quite there.  Today she have been having lots of contractions and I'm very nervous that those babies are going to come out too soon!  She'll be 34 weeks on Wednesday and after that we'll be fine whenever they decide to come (New Years babies?).  On top of that, the girls are both sick and our house has been full of snotty noses (and snotty noses are awful when no one has taught you how to blow your nose) and pitiful little coughs.  Today the girls laid down and watched movies all day and Rosa (our oldest) is already feeling better.  Aimee went out to the mall just to get out of the house and I'm afraid that she just shouldn't even be walking around anymore because tonight she was freaking contracting like crazy.  So, I made an executive decision and we're not going to CITD tomorrow; I'm going to do everything I can to keep Aimee in bed all day.  I might take Rosa to one of the churches nearby but she and Ave are going to be stuck in bed all day again tomorrow if I have any say in it.  Keep us in your prayers, we're so close!

Chris

Christmas has

come and gone we had no babies. Part of me was hoping for a Christmas baby :-) I was way nervous on Christmas eve because in the last 4 years we've had two babies born on Christmas eve and I was like "oh no! I am next!" But I wasn't, obviously.

Christmas in the Wickersham house was quite nice. We had church on Christmas Eve, the kids sang some Christmas songs and helped with the service in general--so that was sort of stressful for me, but at the same time really enjoyable. Chris and I decided to stay and go to the next service so we could just enjoy a service rather than only going to the one we were helping to lead. Then we went to this Chinese restaurant (a tradition in our church) with a bunch of people and had a really good dinner. Rosa and Ave had a great time because there was another little girl there that is Rosa's age and they sat together. Rosa especially had a good time. Then we came home, went to bed, and of course Santa came :-) AKA my Mom sent a bunch of gifts that were way awesome. lol.

Christmas morning was cute cute cute. Obviously the girls had a great time opening all of their gifts. Then I decided to start a new tradition. I'm going to cook a pancake breakfast every Christmas morning. I did that this year and it was very nice to sit down with our whole family and eat some good ole pancakes :-) Then we all took naps, got up, and headed over to our friend's house for Christmas dinner. It's more like an open house kind of thing but they serve dinner and everyone brings something and it's almost always the same people every year. It's really nice to have a place to go on Christmas since we don't have any family out here. So thank you to the Brooks!!

So that was our Christmas. Probably one of our better ones since we've been here in AZ. In previous years we've been responsible for a lot that goes on at church on Christmas Eve, but this year it was very minimal for us. Purposefully.

Babywise there isn't much news. Just getting bigger and bigger and bigger haha. I think I might've dropped--if not it's just gotten really low. It's kind of weird feeling honestly. My stomach touches my legs now when I sit, I have to be sitting up straight though. Now that is a weird feeling I am not used to. lol. Otherwise not much happening. Just trying to take it easy and enjoy my last month(ish) without babies :-)

Well, that is all. Good day :-)

Dreams

Merry Christmas EVe! Hard to believe Christmas will be here and gone in just over a day. Looks like no Christmas babies for us. Which is OK :-)

Speaking of, I keep having these dreams about going into labor. Not being IN labor, but going into labor. Like things happening which make me realize that I am going into labor. I.E. lots of bleeding, or being at a store and my water breaking. I'm not a fan of those dreams because they really just make me nervous. I wake up all freaked out and all I think about is being in labor. No bueno friends.

It's hard to believe I am 33 weeks today. In one week having the babies will be completely safe. CRRRRRAAAAZY.
I am very excited. Obviously I am nervous and all, but man am I excited. I can't wait to see their little faces and hold them and their itsy bitsy bodies. We got newborn diapers and OMG they are so small. SO CUTE CUTE CUTE!! I am just so excited.

Well that is all. HAPPY EVE TO ALL.

I hate deductibles.

I also hate the insurance that we have. I hate that we basically have no choice but to have this crappy insurance with an unbelievably high deductible. With a deductible as high as ours, the doctors make you pay a ridiculous amount up front because they are worried they won't get paid. So now, by the time we have our babies we have to come up with $2000 JUST for the doctor. Not to mention what the hospital will want us to pay up front. I have a call into the hospital to see what we can work out with them.

Honestly I feel like an idiot for not thinking about this whole situation months ago. We knew our deductible would start over again Jan. 1 and we didn't ask the doctor or hospital anything about it until now. And actually, they asked us about it--we didn't even ask them. We assumed, quite naively, that they would just continue to bill our insurance and we would pay that way. Duh, as of Jan 1 we will be back to owing our entire deductible again, why wouldn't they do the same thing the fertility clinic did? Stupid on our part. We could've paid little by little this entire time we've been pregnant if we had thought to arrange something earlier. Ugh. I feel like an idiot.

Chris came unglued when we found out about the money. He feels like the doctor just doesn't trust us so they have to charge us all this money up front. As if we wouldn't pay. They do have the choice about charging us up front, or just continuing to charge the insurance. It seems like it's most doctor's policy to charge up front. I don't have a problem with the doctor as much as I do with this RIDICULOUS deductible. And the way this 'insurance' isn't really insurance at all until you dish out $5000. I hate it.
Also, other than like regular yearly visits to the doctor or w/e, you are basically treated as if you are uninsured until you meet the deductible. Which I don't fault the doctor's office with, I fault the damn insurance company.

I will say however, that I am very thankful especially in 'these economically uncertain times' that we can find a way to pay it. Of course it's credit but we are lucky we aren't the situation that all of our credit cards are maxed out and everything, like so many other people. We've actually been able to pay down our credit cards/debt TONS these last 6 months. So, I'm not stressed about the money or anything really. It just really sucks and I feel like a complete moron for not handling this situation months ago.
Chris and I try to be as responsible as possible, but damn we were just really dumb for not thinking about this earlier. I feel that way anyway. He probably doesn't.

Oh well. Pray that we can work out some kind of payment plan with the hospital. So that way we only have to come up with $2000, instead of an entire $5000 (which is our deductible). That would suck.

It's so close!

Goodness sakes. I am going to have my babies so soon!
Today and yesterday were really awesome days in terms of accomplishing things I needed to accomplish.

Yesterday was our baby shower. It was really awesome. A lot of people came, and I got A LOT of gifts. Mostly clothes, very very cute clothes, some diapers, blankets, just lots and lots. So yesterday when we came home, I decided to go through everything I had and do a sort of inventory. I needed to see how much of what size I had in everything. I def don't have any worries in terms of clothing up through 6 months. I don't need to buy a thing until they are out growing 6 month clothes. Even then I have some stuff. Also, I have like 500 bibs. I still need some burp cloths. I only have like 6 of those.
So after all the inventory, I washed EVERYTHING. Every blanket, sheet, piece of clothing. Which meant I then had to fold and sort everything. It was a big job that I didn't finish until this afternoon.
In the mean time I went through everything else like toys, bathing stuff, diaper genie, etc. and unwrapped it all and set it up so I could actually use it. Now that was a job too! I can't even tell you how much garbage I have right now. It's craziness.
Word to the wise, unwrap/wash/set-up everything as you purchase/receive it. It will save you SO much time and hassle later on (like when you are 8 months pregnant and can barely move). As I was doing that I was trying to get the baby's room transformed from a storage room and an actual bedroom. Today I accomplished that!

Chris set up the crib, I got all the sheets and blankets set up on it. I put all the clothes away in the closet/drawers. I organized all my stuff into little organizer bins, I packed the diaper bag for the hospital, I organized the diaper changing areas, I just got the room all together. It's not painted yet, but there isn't much actual furniture in there right now so we can just kind of push it all to the center. Having the baby shower and putting the room together has got Chris super excited so I think he'll be in the mood to paint here pretty soon. He told me to go buy the paint tomorrow so he could get moving on it. I am purposefully not putting much in the room. I want it to just be a relaxing area. Not all cluttered with crap. We have two dressers, the crib, baby changing station, and soon we will have twin bed. I had originally planned to only have one dresser but I actually do need two dressers for all the clothes/blankets/sheets/etc we have now. I want to paint it a really pale yellow and possibly paint like clouds. We are also going to get wooden letters and hang their names up (after we have them). So right now, it's not necessarily 'cute' but it is usable and organized which honestly is what really matters at this point. It's also what I was super concerned with considering the possibility of my having these babies in just over a week. (They won't stop labor if I go at 34 weeks, this Wednesday I will be 33 weeks).

I decided that tomorrow I am going to go ahead and put the car seats in the van so that way they'll be there and we won't have to remember them. I am debating about just keeping my hospital bag and the diaper bag in the van too. I'm only debating that because I have like toiletries and what not in those bags and I don't want keeping them in the van to make them go bad or w/e. I think that tomorrow I am also going to set up the pack n play and basinet where I want it around the house. I want to be as prepared as possible.

I feel like I am going to have these girlies sooner than later. I am starting to have more contractions and today was just like one of those days where I was feeling lots of odd things, in places that might make you think you will have babies soon. haha. Hope that wasn't TMI. haha. Seriously though, I think it's coming up. It just feels like my body is getting ready for it.

Tomorrow I plan on getting the house cleaned up. Getting all this stuff has kind of wrecked my house. The last two days I've just had stuff strewn everywhere. I've got most of it put away now, but I need to mop and vacuum. My two favorite chores...ugh! Anyone want to be my maid for a day? I would probably pay you :-)

Well that is all in baby land. FYI I have an appointment with the midwife on Jan. 3rd and the OB on Jan 14. We will see what happens in the mean time :-)

Oh, and pray that our stupid insurance company gets it's act together. I've never seen an example of such stupidity in my life.
Good day :-)

I have to do this!

So this is in no way pregnancy related, but I care not.

Check out this video. Someone choreographed their Christmas lights to Mariah Carey's "All I want for Christmas"
At 59 seconds it really gets AWESOME!

I'm bored.

Here is a list of random things. I'm bored.


1. I can actually grab my belly button now. Which is weird and cool at the same time haha.

2. I have a baby shower tomorrow that I am mondo excited about!

3. I am so excited to have these babies.

4. I need to read some books on breastfeeding. STAT!

5. I watched 'The Business of Being Born' again yesterday. It takes on a whole new meaning now that I am possibly 4 weeks out.

6. Being 8 months pregnant is incredibly difficult. I can hardly move, I can't walk by anyone or anything w/o bumping into them, I am crazy uncomfortable.

7. At the same time it is wonderful. I love my big belly. I love feeling the babies move. I love anticipating having them. I love that I am in the home stretch.

8. I have a birth class with the midwife today.

9. I am going to ask questions about the placenta aka after birth. haha. Isn't that gross?

10. This is the end of this ridiculously pointless post.

11. Just kidding that wasn't the end, this is. Leave me COMMENTS!

FINALLY!!!

Here are some pics! This is me at 32 weeks :-)

This is my fav heheh

This one boggles the mind!

So, notice the stretch marks :-( 

It's been in the last two weeks that these beauties have come into my life. I looked at the last pics I posted and I have a beautiful ceramic skinned belly. And now, it's stretched out. lol. 

That's OK. I'm actually not that upset about it. As big as I am now, I don't see how it could've been avoided even with all the 'remedies' out there. I grew a lot in a short amount of time. What can you do about it? 

Today was my last day at the preschool. It was bitter sweet. I feel fine about taking this last month or so off though. I plan on lots of rest and relaxation. It's the last I'm going to get for quite a while. 

Well that's all I've got. I am sure you are as amazed by my largeness as I am. I can't tell how big I am until I look at these pics. Every time we take new pics my eyes bug out of my head. I only have a bird's eye view of this big ole belly. I don't get a profile view too often. 

Have a great night and leave me lots of comments :-)

OB appt.

So today I am officially 32 weeks, which is 8 months.

I AM 8 MONTHS PREGNANT!! Yes, I yelled that out loud when I typed it. heh.

We had our ultrasound appt with the OB today. The kiddos are huge!! (compared to last time anyways :-)
They both weigh about 3.5 lbs which is good but Baby A is just a little bit bigger than baby B. Their little feet are about 2.5 inches.
They are still girls, very obviously haha. I was like yeah...def a girl. They are both head down, which is awesome. Of course they can still move, but considering the amount of room they have, from what I've read its about this time they kind of keep their position. Especially twins since they have much less room. The doc said everything looks fine, and in a month they want me to have the babies. I was like whoa. That is soon. She asked about my contractions and since I'm basically not having them anymore we don't have to be concerned about it. And I guess she didn't need to check my dilation since I'm not having contractions. I don't have to have another ultra sound for month, which is around when they want me to have the babies. Although my midwife said she might do one in the mean time just to do it. I have like 4 appointments with her in the next month or so, so even though I don't have to have an ultrasound I will still be going to the midwife. We also asked about the possibility of them not being able to be at our birth, like under what circumstances that would happen. They basically said barring any emergency there is no reason they won't be there. So that is very comforting. That was basically it. Not very eventful this time around, other than the comfort of knowing that all is well :-)

Tomorrow is my last day of work at the preschool. I'm both excited about it and sad. I am excited because obviously it's nice not to work but I love the women I work with. Honestly they've been a great support too, between the 3 of them they've had 14 kids! lol. So they are quite experienced. So any questions I had or worries I could just ask them about and they gave me lots of advice. Good advice. I plan on staying in touch, because they are wonderful people.

So, I am working on the pictures. I have taken several I just need to post them. My computer ran of room to download them so I have to get them on Chris' computer and then upload them. Sorry about that.

Well that is all I've got. Nothing very exciting going on what so ever. Just being large and getting stretch marks :-( blah.
I do have 7 lbs of baby inside me though so I have a good excuse :-)

Good day to all :-)

Well goodness...

things are getting so close. Today I bought and packed most everything I need for my hospital bag. I am most excited about these amazing pair of slippers that are SO comfortable. I am looking forward to wearing them haha. I still need some like cheap night gowns that can pretty much get ruined, I gotta get my music together, and this battery operated candle--that looks and smells exactly like a candle but doesn't actually burn. I need to get my diaper bag together too, I got some diapers and wipes but I need to have the clothes, hats, mittens, etc put together. Problem is that I haven't actually bought my diaper bag yet haha. I need to get on that huh? So I am getting ready for the big day.

We have yet to start on the baby room. I thought I had my paint color picked out, but it turns out it was entirely too bright of a yellow so I need to find a much more pale yellow. We did get our baby gate though, it's huge. This weekend I am going to get set up though. I might just not even paint at this point. I don't know that I care that much. Chris is so busy and he is the one that has to paint, plus this is just going to be a crazy busy weekend so w/e. Maybe I will just roll with it.

Well I am going to take a nap. I am wicked tired after work today. I barely worked 3 hours. lol.

For the record...

I tried to post some pictures tonight, but there are some technical difficulties.
Chris will figure it out tomorrow :-)

Whoa

I am 1 centimeter dilated! That is way crazy!
It doesn't necessarily mean anything honestly. Some women stay dilated at 3 for weeks and weeks. So I just have to keep my eyes open about a few things but everything is A-OK. I am excited to be dilated haha.

We talked a lot about labor in this class, breast feeding too. She basically said relaxation is the key, for both topics. You have to find a way during birth to focus on something besides the pain--especially if you are going naturally. I have some techniques I plan on using. I was also glad to hear that my hospital has a labor tub. So I am happy about that :-)

Hearing that I am dilated honestly just affirms for me the decision I made to slow down at work. Clearly my body is starting to get some stuff going on, so I am glad I made the decision that I did.

So that is all I've got going on. I plan to post some pictures after the Gator game is over. Chris going crazy right now watching.
GO GATORS!

Well Well

Wow, pregnancy is getting very difficult lately. I was talking with someone the other day, and she asked me how much the babies weighed last time I went in. They were about 2.3 each, which is at the very least by now 5 lbs of baby. 5 lbs is almost full term for most women. Which made me realize I am starting to feel the effects of being full term. The weight, the contractions (BH), the tiredness, the pressure. Just everything. I still have quite a while to go too. It's crazy.

This last week at work has just been hellish. I realized my body was just telling me I needed to slow down. So Friday I told them I couldn't work anymore. We actually came up with a really good solution though. I'm just going to cut down my hours--2.5 hours 4 days a week. Possibly a little bit more if I work on Wednesdays too, which is just the planning days. I sit almost the entire time on Wednesdays. We have to run it by the principal on Monday to be sure it's OK, but the teacher doesn't think it will be an issue what so ever. That way I still get to work a little bit, I can take it easier, and they still get the help they need at least to get them through to Christmas break. As of Christmas break I won't work at the preschool anymore though. Which was sort of the plan anyway. So I am happy about that. I actually feel very relieved and I know it's what my body needs. These 6.5 - 7 hour days were really starting to effect my body. If it were a job that I just sat the entire time, I would just get through it. Mainly because I would know I wasn't exerting my body, but working at the preschool I was moving the entire time. Standing up and sitting down, chasing kids, getting on the floor and getting up again, sitting in those little bitty chairs, it was just too much. So, it was a great compromise.

We have a class with the midwife today. I wouldn't be surprised if she does do an ultra sound just because of the whole hospital thing. I know at the very least we'll hear the heart beats which I always love:) I doubt we'll get a u/s though, she has a hard time reading them with twins lol. I'll make a doctor appointment though to see the OB I am sure.

I fully plan on posting pictures today. I really hope to. This week has been crazy. We have had meetings or plans every night this week. I am very glad it's Saturday.

Good day to all!

The unknown tribulations of pregnancy.

First of all, I am 30 weeks as of tomorrow. 30! Very very soon I will have two little bundles of joy to love and care for, VERY SOON!
I can't wait to see them, and their hair and eyes and cute little bottoms. Oh gosh. I am so excited, but at the same time I am getting somewhat wigged out about actually giving birth to them. I am about to give birth. That is truly mind boggling.

Speaking of birth, I have begun the not very fun stage of having Braxton Hicks (BH) contractions. Something that no one ever tells you is that BH hurt! I thought that you could just feel them, I didn't realize they were actually painful. So now, almost every time I get up from sitting or walk more than say--5 steps I get them. It is not fun. I am thankful I really only have two more weeks of work at the preschool and I am finished. I am seriously in pain working. It's getting to be very difficult. I actually only have 9 days left, of kids in the classroom. I can make it. It's a fair amount of money to be earned in the next two weeks so I will just suffer through. Barring anything of significance happening.

As I am typing, 'Big Bootie' is really moving! I can see her just moving right across my tummy. I think it might be a foot or something, I'm not entirely sure. She's just going crazy in there. lol.

Chris and I had a little date night tonight. It was actually very unexpected. We were supposed to go to a class on labor techniques but apparently all the classes at this particular place are 'on hold' for re-evaluation or something. Online they have a whole calendar of classes listed, but aren't actually offering any of them. Thankfully I called to see if I needed to do/bring anything specific, otherwise I would've shown up to an empty parking lot and locked doors. Which really would've pissed me off.
So instead we went to dinner and a movie--we saw Twilight. I liked it and Chris 'didn't hate it' lol.

So that is what is going on lately. We have a class with our midwife this Saturday where I am sure we will at least hear the heartbeats. I'm going to ask her about my hospital visit and these BH contractions.

Oh btw, Chris got his new camera today so we will probably post some pictures tomorrow. Some much higher quality pictures :-)
Good day to all!

The happenings of late.

So thanksgiving was nice. We got to have a nice dinner with one of my co-workers and her family. She has a HUGE family. There were seriously 30 people there, at least. Then we hung out and played some games with some friends. Ave and Rosa got to play with some kids and really enjoyed it. I ate too much and started feeling sick though. haha. Which isn't hard for me to do considering my stomach is full of baby. haha.

Yesterday I went to this used clothing shop called 'Other Mothers' someone at work told me about it so I decided to check it out.
I got some nice maternity pants and I got Ave and Rosa some pretty little dresses and some sweaters. I'm glad to know about that place because they have some very nice maternity clothes there for very reasonable prices. I almost prefer to wear used/borrowed pants especially because they are nice and stretched out haha. Makes it more comfortable. lol.

Today we got a new sectional off of Craigslist. It seems almost brand new but we didn't pay brand new price for it. We've needed new couches for a while now so it's so nice to have some cute furniture again. We plan on buying a nice recliner too, most likely off of craigslist. It's awesome the deals you can find on that website. It's great! I'm glad to have some nice furniture also because we will be having so many people in our house pretty soon.

In baby news I decided to change baby A's nick name. It was Ace, which I didn't really like to begin with, but her name is now 'Big bootie' haha. I decided this because she constantly sticking her big bootie out. So big bootie it is haha.

Today we are getting the paint for the baby room, I've decided on a bit of a darker yellow. Pretty though. It matches my decor so that main colors will be green and yellow. I know it's all neutral but I just don't like the idea of having all pink with girlie flowers and such. So that is that.

Well currently we are watching the Gators stomp the crap out of FSU. haha.
Good day to all.

Trauma.

The last like day and a half has been kind of scary.
I've been sick lately, and Monday and Tuesday were pretty bad. I was coughing all kinds of stuff up and my throat was just killing me. However, I never had a temperature. So I wasn't too worried, until yesterday. I realized I hadn't felt BB move all day. I tried to get her to move by eating, drinking, laying on my side (her side), all kinds of stuff. Very little movement. I could feel Ace move ALL OVER the place, but not BB. So, since I could feel her just a bit I wasn't that worried, although I was still concerned. So today, the same thing. She wasn't responding to anything I did. Just so happened that the doctor called to see how I was feeling (I called them on Monday to see what they wanted me to do about being sick). I told them I wasn't feeling BB too much, like a lot less, and they told me to go to the Emergency room for monitoring.
It really freaked me out. I've never had to go to the hospital (as far back as i can remember anyways). Plus, I thought they'd want me to have ultra sound at the office, I never expected them to send me to the hospital. I had to leave work, and I didn't want to go alone so I picked Chris up from work and headed down. My blood pressure was up from normal, but it wasn't considered 'high' and my pulse was elevated also. They sent me up to OB, strapped on the monitor--low and behold--two heartbeats. THANK GOD! After about 15 or 20 minutes they said that everything was OK but that my doc wanted to do an ultra sound just to be sure. So I got an ultra sound--lots of movement, 2 heart beats, healthy healthy healthy. WHEW!
The nurse told me that I probably have something called 'Maternal Anesthesia' Basically she said sometimes when your uterus starts to get bigger (like late in pregnancy bigger) the nerve endings start to feel less and less. Plus, it turns out that BB completely turned around. Her head was down, and now it's like up near my ribs. Which would explain why I wasn't feeling her kick, because her legs/feet were in the opposite direction. However, they were both moving all over on the ultrasound and I couldn't feel any of it so they chalked it up to the nerve endings. I am going to ask my midwife about it when I see her next.
They told me that anytime I go like a day w/o feeling them I need to come in. I got this long list of things to look out for and reasons to come into the hospital ASAP. I am glad to say both babies are completely healthy, and right now I don't have anything to worry about. WHEW!

On the bright side, I got to go to the hospital where I will have the babies. I got to see where I would be, and EVERYONE was really really nice/friendly/awesome. I feel very comfortable about having my baby girls there.

What-a-day!

ha ha

So, I've decided to come up with some nick names for the girls since I feel stupid calling them 'baby A' or 'baby B'
So A is nicknamed Ace, and B is nick named BB. haha. Currently BB is kicking the junk out of me. Oh I think Ace might've just woken up, cause now she is moving all around too. haha.

That is all.

Well this sucks.

I am still sick. They actually sent me home from work today. Which I am thankful for, because I got a lot worse as the day went on. I called the doctor, but my doc wasn't in today. So I told them all my stuff and they said the doc would call me in the morning. I don't have a fever (yet) so I'm not way worried. They told me some over the counter stuff I could take, but I am sticking with Tylenol and Halls cough drops. I am just worried that it won't go away, I've been battling this for like a week now. So, I'm just wanting to make sure I do what I need to do.
Last night was absolutely miserable. I woke up at like 230am and my throat was literally on fire. It was just terrible. However, when I woke up it wasn't so bad. So I don't know. I just want it to go away.

Pray for my health :-(

More pics!

Pictures!

Gosh

this pregnancy has gone by so fast. I can't believe that in just over a week I will be 30 weeks pregnant! Next Wednesday!
In some ways, I am very thankful that my road to actually getting pregnant was so difficult. I have savored every moment of this pregnancy. At the beginning I was afraid to admit that it was really happening, I kept thinking something bad would happen. This is mainly because I never believed I would ever have children. So the beginning was rough, but after the first trimester and seeing the ultra sound where they were actual living beings with arms and hands and toes moving all around inside of me, I couldn't deny it. Not to mention once you can start to feel them, and SEE them from the outside, it's amazing. Even though it's really difficult to be pregnant, especially with twins, I love it. I can't wait to be pregnant again! haha. Well I can, but you know what I mean.

Back to my point, it's gone by so fast! I don't have very long at all. My little ticker keeps getting closer and closer to the end.
I am excited though. I can't wait to hold my baby girls in my little arms and see their little faces. I can't wait to see the little bottoms that have been protruding out of my stomach at all times of the day and night in person! lol.
--Funny story--
This morning when I woke up, I tried to sit up but there was this weird feeling in my ribs. I put my hand there and baby B's butt was sticking up into my ribs and out of me just about as far as she possible could get her butt up and out. It felt like she was sleeping the way little kids do with her knees folded in and her butt kind of up in the air with her face down. It was just so far up into my ribs and really sticking out. I had to rub her little butt for like 2 or 3 minutes before she would move. I literally couldn't sit up the right way until she moved. haha. I can pretty much tell now which body parts I am feeling. Especially since I have so many ultra sounds, I always know their positions. They don't really push anything out of me except their butts. haha. They kick and stuff but I can tell the difference between a foot and a little bootie:-)

All of this to say, I love being pregnant and I am sad it's coming to the end. I almost can't imagine not being pregnant.
At the same time, lol, it will be nice to have my body back. I am so big, and heavy. It will be nice to get back to normal.
Speaking of being big. Crowded rooms are really hard for me to navigate these days. I can no longer just slip by people with a polite excuse me. My stomach sticks out so far I really have to think about how I am going to get from one area of the room to the other depending on where the people are and the space that is alloted haha. It's funny actually, but at the same time it makes for an uncomfortable situation sometimes. I feel very in the way at times. So, it will be nice not to have to worry so much about that. lol.

You know what I am going to eat once I have the babies? Tuna fish. I have been craving craving craving tuna for the past few weeks but I can't eat it. No seafood for me! I want a juicy tuna fish and miracle whip sandwich with fritos. Write that down and have it ready for me in the hospital. lol. MMMMMMMmmmmm. That sounds so good.

Also, I have decided that I will not be overwhelmed by having two newborns to take care of. My entire pregnancy SO many people have told me that I am going to be SOO tired and exhausted. They say things like, "I don't know if I could do that" and 'do you have help coming? You are going to need it' and a bunch of other things that in no way help me to feel confident about caring for my girls. Not to mention just knowing that I will be a new mom, just trying to figure things out.
I know it will be hard, and I know I will need help, I know I will be tired. But, I also KNOW I can do it. I know that this was God's plan for me and that He believes I can do it. Otherwise, I wouldn't be having twins. God gave me this blessing because He knows I can do it, and He wants me to do it! So I've decided instead of being scared and worried and nervous, I am going to put my energy into educating myself about caring for babies--twins especially--and just be confident that I can do it. I'm not going to get overwhelmed, I am just going to get through it knowing that God blessed me with my twin girls and He also blessed me with the ability to care for them.
Now, I just wish I could find a polite way to tell people to shut up when they start telling me all the negative opinions they have about having twins :-)

And to end on a happy note: The church is throwing us a baby shower Dec. 21st. hee hee :-)

Alright, I am out. I plan to post some pictures of myself later today :-)
Good day to all!

Umm...

I am 7 months pregnant! That is WAY pregnant! lol.
That is all.


p.s. LOL to Chris' post--pardon the cussing :-)

I have to add

That I am very impressed with our doctor. He is so patient and seems to be genuinely interested in our pregnancy. I don't know what I expected, but it seems like dealing with a pregnancy would get so routine if you were a doctor, even if they are multiples. He sat with us a LONG time just moving the ultrasound wand all over showing us the babies parts and wiggling Aimee's belly to make them move. He kept it on baby B's face for a long time and had the biggest smile on his face when she started chewing on her fingers. It was unreal watching her little mouth move. I am going to be absolutely whipped by these two little girls when they come out...I am going to be the biggest push over in the world. At least now my pops makes sense to me...he is the biggest hard ass in almost every aspect of life but when it comes to disciplining the kids, he always puts it on mom :)

On another note, I don't understand parents sometimes. Our kids don't eat anything unless we give it to them. If they get candy or junk at school, we come down on the people at school with the full fury of a Wickersham. The only time they eat crap is when they visit with their mom. So it amazes me when I'm out somewhere and I see a little kid (ok, especially fat kids) eating junk. I will admit that I'm a fat ass, and I have terrible eating habits but, seriously, who gives their 5 year old a coke? I was at Subway eating lunch with my co-workers the other day (grilled chicken breast - damn you heart disease) and this girls sits down in the booth with a GIGANTIC soda cup. I am talking about the UPSIZE cup from Subway, this must be 32 oz or more. I suppose it could have been water - but who upsizes a cup for water? Anyways I thought to myself at first that mom let her hold the drink (I give the girls a sip every now and again of soda, slap my wrist) while she carried the food. Nope. Mom sits down with her own drink. Dad sits down with his drink. Mom THROWS a bag of Doritos at the girl and givers her a 6 inch sub. Seriously, this kid was AT MOST 6 years old. I sat in amazement as the girl dug in. She killed the soda. She killed the Doritos. I wanted to kill myself.

Updizzle

So, doctor appointment today. It went well. He used the word perfect even. To quote: "Everything is perfect" Can you ask for anything more? Let me see if I can remember everything, seems like we saw/learned a lot.

So we had an ultrasound. Still two girls. lol. They are both head down, which is good. Baby 'A' has been head down the entire time.
Our due date is back to Feb. 14. They both weigh 2.3lbs, but he said that up to week thirty every baby pretty much weighs the same. After week 30 is when genetics and everything kick in to see how big the babies will get. Keeping in mind of course that they are twins :-) Their feet are about an inch long. Baby 'B' definitely found some more room. She is kicking all over the place and she actually has some room to move now. Baby B has a fat little face :-) We saw her sucking on her fingers too. It was precious! They both have hair too! We saw it. Baby A's head is like down in my pelvis, kind of stuck but not in a bad way. That is just where she is. I don't have diabetes which is AWESOME. And I don't have to worry about the RH Factor stuff. It's hard to explain but you can google it and find out all about it. It has to do with your blood type, but my blood type is all good. My blood is A positive. I had to have some blood work done today, and I found out about some blood work I had done back in March with the fertility clinic. I need to get the German measles shot, and the MMR shot when I am no longer pregnant. I am 'at risk' if I were to be exposed. He didn't seem too worried about it though. He talked to me a lot about contractions and stuff. He said I am definitely at risk to go into pre-term labor because it is twins, so he wanted to make sure I knew what to look for. Which I really don't considering I've never felt a contraction before, so how do I know if I am having contractions?
So all in all, everything is wonderful. He said I am looking really great too. In terms of my size and my comfort level.
I have gained 28lbs so far.

We really got some good views of them. Especially their little faces! I love looking at their faces. It's really quite surreal.
I love the ultrasounds. I probably won't have another one for a month when I go back to see the actual OB. It's hard to believe that some women don't have ultrasounds at all, or maybe only one. I've had so many. I am glad too, it's really helped me to not be so worried all the time.
The doc asked us if we had names picked out, and we told him we weren't going to decide until we see them. He said "That is a good idea, you have 30 days after they are born to name them" lol. He said you don't get the birth certificate at the hospital any more, you just fill out the paper work and send it to the state (with a fee) and then they send you the certificate. I said, "Well I hope it doesn't take us that long!"

So I guess that is the update. It's getting so close I can't believe it!

Oh my

GAWD!! I am so big. And I am so heavy. At the end of every day I just want to sit somewhere and never move again, because the sheer weight and energy it takes to get myself up and going is ridiculous. I feel like my stomach weighs a thousand pounds!
I don't know how people can do like quadruplets or sextuplets. Seriously, I would be laying down the entire pregnancy, which I am sure at some point is exactly what has to happen. OH my good Lord. Help me.

Tomorrow I am officially in my third trimester! I'm not sure that I ever really thought this day would come. It's one of those things that seems so far away that it will never actually happen. But here I am, probably about 8 weeks (I will be 36 weeks) from delivery and wow is that sobering. I am thankful that my excitement to meet my beautiful little baby girls supercedes my nervousness about giving birth. Actually, once I got pregnant I stopped worrying about the birth, the actual pain and stuff I mean and privacy issues and what not. Anyway, third trimester. Wow.

I wish my family could be here to see my bigness in person. The pictures really don't do it justice. Hopefully for my next pregnancy (hee hee) I will be closer to my family and we can share the experience more closely.

Well I guess that is all I've got for now. Tomorrow is my doc appointment and I will update afterwords.
peace.

Writing.

So this will be a random post about a bunch of random stuff. FYI.

First, I have some serious pregnant lady legs. Meaning they are kind of swollen in general--as are my ankles. Not too bad, but noticeable to me at least. I remember my cousin's wife was like a stick before she got pregnant, she had two kids and all of a sudden she had an actual body. Her legs were like mine are now. lol. Not that there is anything wrong with it, just a part of pregnancy I suppose.

Today someone asked me when I was due. I said Feb and their eyes like bugged out of their head, and they commented about how big I am. lol. I was like, yeah...I've got a few months yet. lol.
i am pretty big now actually. I have got the waddle walk going on. I am so front heavy it makes me walk funny.
At work we have these little kids chairs, and I have a hard time sitting in them now. My belly is so big I kind of have to lean back a good bit any time I sit so the little kid chairs don't work too well for me. haha.

Oh, in news not necessarily related to pregnancy, I quit my job at church. I committed until Jan 1 but after that I am no longer working at church. There were a lot of reasons but basically I didn't feel like I had the time once I have the babies. They are going to throw me a baby shower and have like a recognition type of thing for me. Which is nice :-) I am kind of excited to just be a Mom. I probably won't work at the preschool after Christmas either. I am kind of struggling already, I'm way tired and honestly I am just getting to be so big it's getting hard to do anything. Bending over, lifting, walking a lot. It's just getting more and more difficult. I only have about a month left before Christmas break, so I am going to hold out.

On Wednesday we have another doc appt. We'll have an ultrasound with the OB. Basically just checking up making sure they are growing properly and the sizes are good. I expect to find out about my diabetes test. I imagine I will hear about it tomorrow if not at the appointment.

I guess I don't have much more to say.
We are just working on the house getting ready for the babies, trying to get organized and prepared. I'll let you know how the doc appt goes.

good day to all :-)

I guess...

you could say that I am nesting. Meaning that I am getting my house ready for the babies.
Over the last 2 weeks Chris and I have been trying to make some major progress on our house. We have a lot of unfinished projects going on, and we have a few rooms that are in need of some...polishing. At any given time we have at least 2 rooms in our house that we wouldn't want anyone to go into. Most of the time the rooms we have issues with are: the laundry room, his office, and a back bedroom, and honestly usually our bedroom/bathroom. However, today I cleaned up the laundry room a lot! It's not perfect but it's not terribly embarrassing now. Also Chris put together the back bedroom and cleaned it all out which is very nice. Our bedroom is relatively put together at the moment, but his office has a lot of work to be done. I'm not too worried about that room though because no one has any reason to go in there period, plus I want Chris to finish some of the projects he has unfinished. Mainly he is in the process of building a storage area on the carport--a project that has been ongoing for many many months. Hopefully in the next couple of weeks he will finish that up. I will be SO SO happy to have that finished.
We basically want to get our house to the point that every room is put together and organized.
I know when we have the babies people will be here all the time and I don't want to worry about the state of our home for any reason be it the inside or out.
So we are nesting :-)

I will say that we have yet to start on the baby room. I am still kind of up in the air about what color I want to paint it, plus I would rather Chris work on the outside stuff. We have time for the baby room yet. I am not too worried about that room right now, although I will be excited to have it done :-) That will probably be our big project for December. After we get our house in order.

This Wednesday I have another Dr. appointment with the OBGYN. He'll do another ultrasound to make sure all is well. I love the ultrasounds. I love watching them move, and seeing their little bodies. I really can't wait to meet them. I think baby B has finally found some extra room because she is kicking a lot more lately. I don't usually feel anything on my left side (which is where B is) in terms of movement but lately she has been moving all around. I think she might've finally decided baby A had more than enough room and claimed some of it for herself. On my last ultrasound B was sitting on A's head, and A had tons of room but B was all squished. Her head and her feet were literally touching. So I think we have some issues already going on. haha.

Oh goodness, I am so excited to meet them :-)

Not the greatest...

These aren't the greatest photos ever but they will do. Enjoy the fatness.
27.5 weeks.








I have been craving pumpkin pie like no other :-)

You should all leave nasty comments on Chris' blog.

He just called me fat. Seriously, he wasn't joking. I said,"do you think I am gaining a lot of weight?" He says, "well honey, you are pregnant...you are getting fat." He called me a heifer not 5 minutes earlier and I told him to never say that to me again. Can you believe that??

Momentarily I will be posting pictures so you can all tell me how fat I am too.


:-(

I am sick today. I called into work even. Mostly just to make sure I don't get even more sick, but I still don't feel very good.

I think the babies like me staying in bed, they are kicking all over the place :-)

Disgusting!

So today, as in just now I had to take an oral glucose test to test for gestational diabetes. This involves drinking the most disgusting drink ever and then waiting an hour for a blood test. It tests how well your body deals with sugar. You have to fast for 8 hours and then you can't drink any water while you are waiting because it will dilute the sugar crap you just drank.

So I am sitting here waiting for my hour to pass while my throat burns of orange tasting sugar. Ew. Isn't pregnancy awesome?

Target = ehhhhh.

So, if you have tried recently to look at our Target gift registry you should've noticed that there were two. Also, you might've noticed I still had tons of boy clothes and stuff on the registry. However, after trying to figure out how to delete things, and then calling and getting hung up on and then finally being able to combine the two registries, all is well.

I went through and deleted all the boy clothes and some of the things I already bought or just plain didn't want anymore. So, the registry is good to go. Feel free to visit and purchase (lol I am so kidding).

Target kind of sucks though, I have to say. At least as far as their online services go. They definitely need to catch up with the times and improve their website user ability. It is not user friendly and extremely difficult to navigate. It is not efficient by any means. I am unimpressed to say the least. Not to mention their shipping rates are ridiculous. Thankfully gift cards work wonderfully.

Well that is my rant for the day.
Good day to all.

Crap of a day!

Oh man. I feel like crap today. I am crazy nauseous. Every time I eat my stomach starts to hurt and then I get all nauseous. I can almost feel it in my throat. Honestly, if I really thought about how nauseous I am, I would throw up. Easily. It sucked even more because I had to work today. I tried not to complain, and I decided I wasn't going to go home because that is lame. They all knew I felt like crap though.

Then I came home and laid down thinking that would help. When I laid down I felt good, but as soon as I sat up. No bueno.
So. Today sucked. Luckily I have tomorrow off of work for veterans day, and Wednesday I have to go in but we don't have any kids. It's a planning/prep day so I can just sit down all day. If I feel crappy I can call in too and it won't matter except in my hours.

So yeah. Poop of a day.
I am all bundled up too. It's in the 60's outside and for us desert folk that is coooold. I wouldn't be surprised if a great many fire places were lit up tonight.

In other news, we have just about everything we need, and few things we don't need for the babies. As you can see we now have a stroller, two car seats, a play mat, a crib, a pack n play, a bassinet, lots of clothes, a swing, boppies, a bathing thing, a wipe warmer, lots of bottles, a crib set, a diaper genie II elite, and some other stuff I can't remember. Really all we still need is diapers and wipes. I could still use some clothes. I'd like to get stocked up through the first year if at all possible. I need some warmer clothes too actually. I mainly have like sleepers and onesies and few outfits but they aren't really warm. I need socks too. I don't have any baby socks. I could probably use some little hats too. I need a diaper bag too actually but I am waiting to buy that with Chris because he'll have to carry it around too. I don't want to get a super girly one, even though it's appropriate lol, because that would suck for him to carry around. I know there are other little things I could use but if I had the babies today, other than the diapers and wipes, I would be just fine. Actually, I still need to get a good chair. I am debating on what kind I want. I registered for a typical glider but I'm not sure if I want to go that route anymore. I am thinking a big ole over sized chair now. Possibly a recliner because we don't have one. And I want to buy a gate for the living room. I decided I am not going to let the dogs in the living room once the babies come because Daisy rubs her butt across the floor 400 times a day, and I don't want my babies laying on that. Ew. So I am getting all the carpets cleaned in Jan and no more dogs in the living room.

**This is just me thinking out loud btw, not trying to get people to buy stuff for us**

Well I guess that is all I've got for now. Good day all. Pics to come soon.

Unreal!

From the Daily Mail in the UK, an incredible story involving both fertility AND twins! I figured it was worth cross-posting here since ... you know, it's about someone who was infertile having twins!

An infertile woman is about to become the first to give birth following a full ovary transplant.

The 38-year-old Londoner was declared sterile at 15 and went through the menopause while still a teenager.

But in a revolutionary procedure she received a new ovary transplanted from her identical twin sister and, after getting pregnant, she is due to give birth this week.

She became pregnant, and is due to give birth this week.

Perhaps the best part, however, is the picture of the doctor who performed the transplant!!




I'm not sure why I think that pictures is so funny, but I do :)

Baby Stuff!

Edit by Aimee: Yet another post from Chris. He is on a roll :-)

So today we finally started getting some of our baby stuff in order. Aimee went and bought a stroller at target and we unboxed some of the stuff that Grandma sent us. Seriously, I have a degree in Physics and I almost threw this stuff through the television. Why is it so hard to put it together? They can't just make the boxes a little bigger and charge us like 2 dollars extra?

Here are some pics!

From Blogger Pictures

From Blogger Pictures

From Blogger Pictures

From Blogger Pictures

The Doula Situation

Edit by Aimee: This is Chris posting his first post in the pregnancy blog. Read and enjoy :-)

So today we went to our second pregnancy class. I still find it interesting that we take classes for pregnancy, the most natural thing that can ever happen to you. I guess it's more of a, "Here is what will happen to you in the next few months" class. Really, it goes a lot like this. "Can we do this/take this/eat this while we're pregnant?" "Yes, your body was made to do this, your baby is well protected, your baby will take what it needs from you." It's interesting. Anyways, one of the things that we asked our midwife about was hiring a doula. From what I can understand, the doula is sort of the equivalent of your attorney. Not from a legal perspective, but in the sense that it is someone you hire to represent you during the delivery. You hire them (there is a licensing association) and sit down and form a contract for you birth. You get to know them and talk to them about what you want your delivery to be like. This is most important for people that are really concerned about having a 'natural' birth. Natural in this sense means no epidural, no episiotomy, no drugs to induce labor, and certainly no c-section. Really, if that was all there was to it you wouldn't need the doula. Of course, there are certain circumstances where these procedures are necessary (of course, that is why they have them). This is where the parents run into problems. We want to deliver naturally, but what if the doctor says we need a c-section (or need to induce, or need to medicate for the pain)? I am positive that I am not going to be in the frame of mind where I want to be making that call. Also, I know jack squat about delivering babies and the complications that can arise. So a doula attends the delivery with you, knowing your desires, and helps make those calls with you. They have presumably attended quite a few births and know an awful lot about what goes on during a delivery. More than anything else, they help translate what the doctor (or midwife) is telling you in these situations. So anyways, we're thinking about it. Aimee has researched the cost and it seems low all things being considered. $300 -$600 I think was what she was seeing.

Anyways, we are thinking about it and we brought it up in our class today. We are in sort of a unique situation because we are using a midwife and are having twins. Because of the twins, our doctor will be at the delivery even though the midwife will do the delivery. Everything will be run by him and he will ensure that the babies are safe. We are lucky enough that our doctor has a great relationship with our midwife (they have a practice together). He is also a big proponent of natural deliver so we are not concerned that he will force us into something that we are not comfortable with (like a c-section because it's 5pm and dinner is ready :) ). This sort of alleviates the concerns we have about hiring a doula. We flat out asked our midwife what she thinks and she said she probably wouldn't do it if she was us. We're still thinking about it though!

Aimee just got home with a stroller from Target, thanks Grandma!!!!!! Talk to you again soon!

Chris

Doctor update!

So, we had our birthing class/OB appointment today. We didn't have an ultra sound but she did listen to the heartbeats and measure my tummy. The heartbeats were right on, and I measured 28 centimeters. Usually you measure as many centimeters as you are weeks pregnant, but since I have twins I measure bigger than 'normal'. I've never had my tummy measured before so that was cool. Also, I've only gained 4 lbs in the last month which is good. I've gained about 24 lbs so far. She said I would probably gain about 40. So I am doing well. I read that a good rule of thumb is 10 lbs for the first 20 weeks, and then a pound for every week after that. So 26 weeks = 26 pounds. I'm at 24 lbs so I am doing well. In two weeks I have an ultra sound with Dr. Plimpton, and this week I have a blood test for gestational diabetes. I am somewhat nervous about that though, I just don't want to have diabetes :-( I'll know the results about a week after I take the blood test. So that is the update. Things are looking good good good.


One more little tidbit. I went to Chipotle after our class to get some tacos. (Yummm). The girl behind the counter says to me "Wow, you look you are about to pop!" I laughed a little bit and said "You think so huh?, I'm due in February haha" she looked kind of like.."oh why did I say that?" Then Chris told her we were expecting twins. haha.

Pics to come.

It's possible

that my my morning sickness is coming back. God I hope not. I was absolutely miserable. I have been kind of nauseous lately, and tonight is no exception. I feel like crap. I am just sitting here in my pajamas and what was once an over-sized sweat shirt (haha) waiting for Chris to get home with dinner. I felt kind of sick last night too but I had to go get my CPR certification so I just had to get over it. Luckily I don't have anything to do tonight, or tomorrow until 2 so I can just chill and feel better hopefully.


This sucks :-(

Today...

I am officially 26 weeks along. I am shocked with every passing week how soon the babies will be here! It's crazy and exciting!
As you can see by the pictures, I am huge. I am huge and I am only going to get bigger! I am really really starting to feel all of the extra weight too. I am walking slower and with a bit of a wobble these days because of the weight. Sometimes it's sort of painful too. It's all just concentrated in one general area, so it's not like my whole body is helping carry the weight, which is where the pain comes in I think.

This weekend I have another birth class/doctor appointment. I'm not sure if I'll be getting an ultra sound or not though. This will be our second class and I am excited for it. I think I am going to try to sign up for classes at the hospital too, and I had hoped to take a Lamaze or Bradley class. I'm not sure if I will be able too though. I am also going to start some actual decorating of the nursery very soon. I have a lot of the stuff I want to use, but I haven't started. Maybe on Sunday? We will see how Chris and I are feeling.

I guess that is all that we've got going on. We are basically just trying to get through the next few months as we prepare our home and ourselves both emotionally and financially for the babies. Personally I am starting to get really excited, I can't wait to meet them. In two weeks I will be in my third trimester which is really quite surreal.

Go vote!

Pictures.

Ok, so here are some pics. We had to take these with our little point and shoot and the previous pics were with Chris' really good camera so these pictures are not really as good. You can still get the idea though :-) Enjoy.

edit: 25wks 4 days.

My back hurts.

So, my weight has officially started to effect my back. Every morning I wake up and my upper back muscles are just killing me.
This is not fun at all.

:-)

The camera has arrived!

Fedex even called to make sure it was OK to just leave the package since it required a signature.
Now that is customer service!!!

Grr...

No camera today. That is sad. We should definitely be getting it tomorrow though (Friday). So this weekend w/o a doubt we should have some pictures up.
I am excited for Halloween. Our foster kids have never carved a pumpkin or dressed up or gone trick or treating or anything so tomorrow should be a fun day. We carved a pumpkin tonight, and I got them small little pumpkins to draw on and stuff. They spent a good hour drawing on their pumpkins. It was very cute.

I am much excited about next halloween! I will have 9 month olds to dress up and take pictures of :-)

I need to get to bed, so that is all for tonight. Stay tuned for pics!

Fun times.

So as a result of my mini panic attack about not being prepared, I decided to go to Target and spend some of my gift cards. I bought a car seat, a diaper genie II elite, a baby changing/diaper organizer thing, bedding, diaper genie refills, and curtains that match the bedding. I spent about $230.00 and it felt good. Haha. I have about $200 ish left which I will hold onto for diapers and such if I don't get them for my next baby shower. Now all I really NEED is a stroller, which if need be I will buy with the $200 I have left.

Also, we have a break through with the names. Sort of. What do you think of:

Daphne Rose & Olivia Mae

??? They sound beautiful to me :-)

What?

Um....so I just realized that it is entirely possible that I could be having these babies in 9 weeks. 9! That is unbelievable!! In 9 weeks I will be 34 weeks, which for twins is OK. My midwife just told me at our last appointment that if I go into labor at 34 weeks she wouldn't try to stop it. Of course the further along you are the better, but seriously. 9 weeks! I am not prepared in any way what so ever. The baby room is more or less a storage room. I don't have any diapers (except for one pack of 30 which are too big for newborns), I only have one of the car seats. I don't have a stroller. I don't have anything I need for nursing. I haven't taken any birthing classes. Oh gosh. I need to get my butt in gear. I have all of this money from my baby shower but I'm waiting on my next baby shower to buy anything, which I don't think is a good idea. I need to be more prepared. I could potentially have these babies this year. My baby shower isn't until January. Gadzooks! I also need to call the hospital and talk about how much it costs and stuff. I need to try to get a payment plan in place. I need to do a lot more reading too! Gesum crow, now I feel unbelievably overwhelmed.

9 weeks!

Desperate.

Ok. So I have been searching and searching for names that I like. Here are some Chris and I can agree on.

Daphne
Lorelei
Olivia
Addison
Erin (sort of agree on that one)


and here are some I've seen that I like but haven't asked Chris about yet:

Kacey
Aileen
Ava
Cameron or Camryn (?)
Claudia (although my cousin named her little girl that already)
Elaine
Hannah
Chloe

Again, I am not really in love with any of them. Olivia is actually my favorite so far.
This is kind of frustrating. I wish I could just find something I love love.

Oh well.

I look weird.

So. I saw my reflection in the window just now. I realized that, other than my stomach, I look completely normal. As a matter of fact from behind I do not look pregnant in the least. And while I might look completely normal, I also look like I have a huge basketball in my stomach. It's really weird looking. I turn to the side and all you see is ginormous belly sticking out. It's not proportional to the rest of my body in any way.

I knew this lady at Grace (my old church) that looked the same way. She was really skinny though. She just looked regular except for having a huge pregnant belly. I never thought I would have that problem though.

Oh well, it's one of those things that is a good problem to have I suppose. lol.

YAY!!!

So, we ordered a new camera and it will be here on Thursday (hopefully). I am very glad because I have really disliked not being able to post pictures and what not. It's depressing, part of the purpose is so we can have something to look back on, and we've missed some pictures so that is sad. What is not sad is having a new camera though :-)

Pregnancy news is sort of boring lately. As in there is no news. Nothing new, other than finding out it's two girls instead of one of each haha. They are kicking so so much, and I am actually kind of enjoying that. I feel very close to the girls (awe) and I am starting to actually talk to them. I'm not sure why I never really talked to them before, I guess now it's just getting to be so real.

We are having a really difficult time with baby names. So far we like Olivia and Addison the best, but no other names that I've seen have really sparked my interest. Chris and I both want to be totally in love with the name, not just like it, so I think that is our problem. We are very picky! haha. It's not even that we can't agree, it's just that neither of us really like any names. I've decided to put more time into looking at names. I've looked but not a lot a lot.

Otherwise there is nothing going on. Just same ole same ole. I've started working so I am blogging less now. I actually have a life haha. Well that is all. Good day :-)

So...

So I figured out why pregnant women are always touching their belly. It's the constant kicking. Every time you feel a kick your automatic instinct is to put your hand there. It's like when you feel a pain somewhere your first instinct is to touch it and put pressure on it or something.

Never thought about that before.

A list...

1. hopefully we will be getting a camera this weekend. HOPEFULLY.

2. Our due date has changed to like Feb. 6 now. They are growing nicely :-)

3. I am having a wonderfulicious day.

4. I am officially excited about having girls.

5. I've decided I definately want a big family.

6. I've also decided I am really enjoying pregnancy. It's amazing to have a little life, eeerrr, two little lives inside of me!

7. This is a silly post. :-)

Good day!

Recent events!

So last night was cool. The girlies were kicking me lots and lots, and since I can see it now I was watching my belly move. Then all of the sudden there was this HUGE BULGE on the right side. It was kind of firm feeling and so I rubbed it a little bit and it kind of went away. I think it was her butt. haha.

Also we got a bunch of pictures when we had the ultra sound. I have a photo album that I keep all of our pictures in and I put the face pictures side by side. There is a profile picture and kind of a frontal picture and I just kept starting them. One has a kind of a chubby face, and the other has a long face with a long chin. They are quite cute (but I am probably biased:-)

Well that is all. I have to go pic up my foster kiddos from school now :-)

p.s. I am in a REALLY good mood today. Good things are happening!

Poor Chris...lol.

So I went to the doctor today. Found out we are having two girls, instead of one of each. I am kind of still processing it a little bit. On one hand I am sad because I really wanted a boy and a girl, but on the other hand I am excited about having two of the same sex--things will be much easier. I can like girl-ify everything (if I want) plus we are already so well equipped for girls it's craziness.
There is a sadness though. Not like, OH GOD NOT TWO GIRLS kind of sad, just like...a bit of a loss or something. I don't know.
In the end I honestly don't really care that much, I am just thankful for two healthy babies and I can not wait to meet them.
Today I am officially six months pregnant. I've gained approximately 20 pounds since I first got pregnant, and they say I will probably gain 40 total. Wow. 40 freakin' pounds. Although if I am lucky and they go to full term they could be about 7lbs each, which is 14 lbs of baby, not including all the other crap that is in there. Awe, that just reminded me we saw one of them yawn today. And 'baby B' was sitting on "Baby A's" head. lmao. I find that hilarious. They both weigh just over 1 lb, like 1.1 lbs and 1.2 lbs. Perfectly healthy baby GIRLS! lol. You know what else, I could see them kicking and actually feel it at the same time. I was like...ooooooh I feel that one, and that one. We saw their little feet and toes. Actually we saw all of their organs too--kidneys, liver, heart, lungs, etc. Both of their blatters were full. haha. It's pretty amazing what you can see in an ultrasound.
Today's ultrasound was much better than any of my previous ones because the doc really knew what was what. We saw the OBGYN and the midwife today, normally we see the midwife only. I have to have ultrasounds by him more regularly now since I am getting further along. And in a month I get tested for gestational diabetes. I am kind of worried about that. I don't really have a reason to be nervous necessarily, but I am. I don't want to have diabetes.
Oh I was also really happy to hear that I can totally have the type of birth I want, if everything goes normally that is. He said most of the time the first twin is head first, and if it is and there is no distress or anything bad going on there is no reason I can't have the exact kind of birth I want. Also, they aren't going to keep me on a monitor 24/7 while I am birthing, so I'll be able to walk around and stuff while I'm in labor. That is really important to me. They do monitor, but I don't have to be strapped to a monitor the whole time. I really like my actual doctor, he was gentle and very much made you feel secure. He knew exactly what he was talking about and answered all of my questions, and was very open to whatever I wanted to do at the same time assuring me that mine and the babies health were most important to him. So. It was a good appointment.
Twin girls. That is crazy. Poor Chris, hopefully he will get lucky and one of them will be really into sports like he is. Go Gators!

!!!

So now I can see the kicks! I just thought that since I could feel it so well that maybe now I could see when they kick and I totally can! Crazy!!!

Kicking kicking and more kicking

So. These babies are really moving!! ALOT!! All night long, all day long, with only a few minutes in between. It doesn't hurt (yet) but man it's just non-stop! You can totally feel it from the outside too, although Chris doesn't have the patience to rest his hand and wait to feel it :-)

I have yet to discover foods/drink that make them move all around. I ate some seriously spicy chili the other day and they didn't seem to react lol.

Yesterday was a tough day. I just felt really tired and sluggish I guess. I didn't have any energy really. It was not fun.
We had a couple different people come by, the lady to consult on our alarm system and also the AC guys came out for a tune up.
That sucked because I had to make sure everything was straightened up, which actually wasn't a big deal or anything but I just wasn't feeling like doing much of anything. Soooooo tiiiiirrrrrreeeeeeddddd.

I think working for the next few months is going to be more difficult than I thought. However, I really need the money so I am just going to have to rough through it. I think it will be good for me to be more active in these last months anyways, even if I am tired.

Even though i was crazy tired yesterday I made it up to Babies R Us and bought the things I really wanted from there. They had some pretty cool closet organization things that were in the colors I wanted so I went ahead and bought those up. There is really only one other thing I really wanted from that store in particular, but it's $200 and definitely not a 'necessity' so I'll wait on that! haha.

Well i guess that is all I've got. Good day!

:-(

So. Our house got broken into yesterday. Everyone is safe, and we were not home when it happened but unfortunately they took all of our cameras! We don't have a single camera now. So I'm not sure when we will post pictures again :-( I think we will probably buy another camera pretty soon, but I'm not sure when. So that is sad.

They also took a bunch of my jewelry, most of it was stuff I don't wear so I wasn't too upset about that. However, it was a really scary experience coming home and finding my stuff all riffled through. I wasn't sure if someone was still in the house so I bolted out and called the police. We filed a report and tomorrow we are having an alarm system installed. I feel really good about that too. We are getting every window and door covered plus motion sensors. We aren't skimping. I think we kind of lucked out with the deal we got. With the economy the way it is, I doubt too many people are getting alarm systems right now. They had a good deal going and we don't have to pay for installation or the system at all. So I feel much better about our security now.

So that is all that is going on with us. I hope we are able to get a get another camera soon.

Promised pics!

The verdict is in...

and we are having a boy and a girl!!! YAY! I am so happy. That is exactly what I wanted :-) I knew it too, everyone tried to tell me two girls (before we knew about the boy) or two boys but I just had a feeling it was a boy and girl :-) I almost didn't even question it. I just felt like it was a boy and girl :-)

Now, today she couldn't see the bottom of the boy so she couldn't double check, but at our last appointment she was almost 100% positive it was a boy. Today she said she definitely saw a girl. I have an appointment with the actual doctor on the 22nd and he can really differentiate between the two bodies (our midwife has a harder time with twins). She didn't question the sexes, but she has a harder time because she doesn't see too many twins--just because not too many people with twins use midwives and there are so many midwives in the valley the chances of her getting a lot of twins is low. So I am excited about that appointment because I have yet to meet the doctor, and he is going to do an ultra sound and double check to make sure everything is good to go. There is no reason to think otherwise, it's just a policy for him to see us because we have twins. So yay :-) I'm so happy. Everyone is happy and healthy too, good weights and sizes and heartbeats. :-)

My appointment today was pretty cool. It was a group of 3 women all due around the same time. We went over nutrition and myths of pregnancy. We talked about what was normal and abnormal. It was also cool because we got to do all of our own vitals. Like I got to check my proteins and stuff in my urine (sounds weird I know but it's actually kind of cool to play a part in your own prenatal care), and weigh myself, and do my own blood pressure. Then we chart it all visit by visit to compare and make sure everything is looking good.

Chris got to feel the babies for the first time today. They finally kicked hard enough for him to feel. He cried :-) Isn't that cute!
I did too though, I was so happy for him to feel them finally. I love that he really wants to be involved. He comes to every visit, and asks questions and helps me ask my questions and stuff. I really appreciate that about him :-)

Pics to come!

Today!

Sooooo I (hopefully) find out the sex of the other baby today. HOPE HOPE HOPE! I am excited, obviously :-)
Everyone keeps asking me when/if we are finding out. Hopefully after today I will know. Encompassed in my appointment is a birthing class with other people who are due around the same time as I am. I am excited about that also. I am really anxious to find out about what to expect at the hospital and everything. I just found out that this lady I work with has had like 4 of her kids at the same hospital as I am going to use and she used a midwife too. She told me what she was able to do, and it made me feel good. She and I are very alike in our wishes in terms of how we want to birth our children.

In other pregnant lady news. I have grown a lot this week. (I promise to post pictures today or tomorrow). There are clothes that I could wear last week that I can no longer even button. So I am down to one pair of shorts, and one pair of pants that fit. Oy. This lady at the maternity clothing store was saying that it's much better to buy just a few things at a time as you grow, and that way you haven't spent tons of money on clothes you will (unknowingly) outgrow. I am happy to say that is basically what I've been doing. So I guess I have a little bit of shopping to do.

Well that is all. I have to get ready for my appointment but I will post the results!

p.s. Florida was awesome! Had a wonderful baby shower and it was great to reconnect with a lot of people. Thank you to everyone who came and my mommy for putting it on for me :-)

Oh pregnancy.

So, I am unbelievably hungry lately. ALL THE TIME!
Here is what I ate today:

3 pieces of toast
a bowl of cereal
PB&J sammich
chips
3 oranges (yes three I've been craving them lately)
2 tacos
and 3 or 4 mini doughnuts
Not to mention like 500 glasses of water and two glasses of milk.

Now I am sitting here at 930 at night hungry again and with nothing to eat really. At 830 I tried to get Chris to go get me a Bigmac lol. He said no, which I am glad about because I really shouldn't eat Bigmacs and crap like that but man--I am just SO hungry!

I am kind of worried about flying all day on Wednesday. I am going to have to pack lots of snacks so I don't starve to death. lol.

Well that is all.