Nursing anxiety/shopping fun!

So, I am WORRIED about breast feeding! I was just reading threads about nursing twins, and I read lots of good things and lots of worrisome things. I am worried about feeding two! There is just so much to get together when they are first born. Figuring out HOW to even nurse, hoping they latch the right way right away so you don't spend weeks trying to make it happen while dealing with crying hungry babies, night time feedings, do I really need a twin boppy pillow?, etc etc. I'm just worried about it. I need to do more reading and talk with some mothers of twins who did nurse successfully. Ugh. A wave of nervousness just came over me.

On a brighter note. I spent most of my day on Babies R Us online registering for my baby showers. It was fun actually. I couldn't register for anything nursery related, and I didn't register for any clothes. However, I did register for blankets, nursing stuff, receiving blankets, bibs, blankets, a sling, a bassinet, diapers, wipes, pacifiers, onesies, a glider, toys, a play place, a motion glider, lap pads, swaddle blankets, burp clothes, nursing covers, a boppy pillow, and a stationary entertainer.
I enjoyed it mucho! I am excited to get presents and put them in the nursery (when I figure out what I want to do). I am pretty sure whatever theme we pick it will be rather neutral. I am not into super girly stuff or super boyish stuff. I am in love with sage green and white. I think that just might be my choice, and do some cool stripes on the walls, and pick like an animal or sail boats or something. Sailboats don't really go with sage green, but you get my point. I do think I want to invest in a closet organizer. This will save tons of space and allow me to have a very simplistic look for the nursery, which is what I am all about. I would like to just have a glider, a crib, and twin bed, and a changing station in the room--in terms of furniture. With a wicker hamper and the diaper genie. I do plan on co-sleeping though. I registered for this pack n play, but it has sleepers on the top for twins--double bassinets with canopies over the top to keep out light. I'll keep this by the bed so I can just reach over and grab them to feed them at night, I won't even have to get out of the bed. Pretty cool. I want to have another bassinet out in the living room too so I can have several places for them to sleep.
Some of the stuff I registered for is kind of expensive--just a few things, but I thought what the heck. There are some people in our family that I could see buying some of the more expensive things. Mostly though I tried to make sure everything was reasonably priced--something I could afford if I were going to a baby shower. Up until now I didn't really understand how much you need for newborn babies--there is a lot.
I decided I am going to ask around to different mothers and see what they think is one 'must have' for newborns. Any suggestions would be highly appreciated.

Well--time for bed! Today was a much better day for me than
yesterday :-) Thank goodness!

Rough day

So today has been a rough one. I woke up to some serious nausea. Not the kind that your stomach is just upset and you know you won't throw up, but the kind that feels like you are on the verge of throwing up and you better run to the bathroom. I haven't actually thrown up, but I really wish I would. This just sucks. I also have some serious heartburn today. Tums didn't really help, and neither did drinking tons of water. All that led to was many trips to the restroom, probably about every 30 minutes.

So, I am having a bad day. Blerg.

WEDNESDAY!

Wednesday is my favorite day of the week now. That is the day that marks my next week into pregnancy. For example tomorrow, I will be 16 weeks. Woot woot! Every Tuesday I look online to see what the babies will look like and how they've progressed from the previous week. It's rather amazing. I remember looking at 8 weeks and thinking how it's just a blob...but now there are real people in there! Well, they look like real people now, they've always been real...lol. You know what I mean. Anyway--it's pretty cool and every Wednesday excites me!

Last night, I was laying in bed talking with my good friend Kim on the phone and I could've swore I felt them moving. I honestly have no way of knowing, and it was really quick but it felt kind of like butterflies in there. I wasn't sure if it was like wishful thinking or if I actually felt it. I didn't feel it at all today, but it was exciting none the less. I can't wait to start feeling them. What a surreal experience pregnancy is.

I kind of feel like it's going by so quickly. I can't believe I am already at 16 weeks! I'm darn close to being halfway through! I was looking online today for birthing classes. I found a class at the hospital we are using, so I emailed the lady to sign up. I haven't heard back yet, but I am excited about it. I really wanted to find an official Lamaze class, but I couldn't find one. I find that to be unbelievable because Phoenix is huge! How could there not be one single Lamaze class offered anywhere in the valley? I am going to keep looking.
When I go to the doctor in 2 weeks I am going to see if they offer any birthing classes as well, or have any good ones they recommend. I plan on taking more than one, because I want to be as prepared for birth as possible. I want to learn all the techniques and hear all the opinions out there so I can decide for myself what will be best for me to use. I want to hear lots of stories about birthing experiences so I can be as prepared as possible. I feel like I am running out of time, so I need to get on the ball!

Well, I am going to go to bed. I have some wicked heartburn though, so we'll see how that goes tonight. I've been getting that a lot lately regardless of what I eat, or even if I eat at all!

Night night :-) Happy 16 weeks!

Pictures!

So here are some pictures, one with my shirt down and another where you can actually see the belly. My face pretty much sums up how I've been feeling. I'm going to try to put the pics on the side bar as opposed to in an actual post. After a while it will show the progression of my growth in like a slide show kind of way. We need to add more pics though, in the mean time you can see how much I'm showing.

Get in my belly!

So um. I think my belly is getting a lot bigger this week. I keep looking down amazed at the bigness that is there. We took a picture yesterday, and compared to what my belly was like when I first got pregnant, I have definitely gotten big big big. I will try to post the pic tonight.

My clothing style kind of hides my belly, but it's def there. Speaking of clothes, the situation is getting bad. I feel like I look funny in everything and I don't really have the funds to go out and buy a bunch of stuff--which I would probably normally do in any other month. This one is just a tight one. 

I am excited to go to Florida in about a month. We will be there Oct. 1-7. My mom is actually throwing me a shower while I am there with all the Florida peeps. Honestly I don't really have that many Florida peeps anymore--but it was a very nice gesture on her part and I am excited!!! I happen to have a fair amount of family that will be in town during that time so we'll see what the turn out will be. Part of my excitement about going to Florida will be in my size. If I keep growing at this rate I will be rather large. 

Lastly, I am debating about what route to go with when it comes to diapers. Obviously there are the traditional, terrible for the environment, but amazingly easy to dispose of diapers. However there are cloth diapers that we could use, and I have a friend that owns her own business and she said I could get whatever I wanted from her at cost--and she happens to sell clothe diapers. Cloth diapers can be expensive, they aren't as easy to use, and of course the clean up factor is definitely an issue. There are diaper services though that pick up and wash your cloth diapers for you--if you choose. Cloth diapers these days are not like the typical clothe diaper one thinks of from way back when. They fit like a regular diaper, and there are several options in terms of inserts, or whole pieces that you wash with sort of covers over them. Check out www.peapiebaby.com for a much better understanding than I am able to give. lol. So, it's something Chris and I are talking about. 

My biggest reason to go with cloth would be environmental--especially with twins. Think of the impact all of the diapers we use would have on the environment. 

So that is that. Stay tuned for a pregnant belly pic. 

The Official Lamaze Guide

This book is blowing my mind. I am so glad I got it. 

When I first started reading it I was very annoyed. It's first like 3 or 4 chapters are basically trying to convince you to chose a natural birth. I even found it to be somewhat ridiculous in terms of what it deems 'dangerous' and 'excessive' concerning medical intervention. It repeated over and over the same statistics and advice. I almost stopped reading it. I looked at the table of contents though and saw that if you can just get through the first part the rest seemed like very useful information, and had the information I was looking for when I bought the book in the first place. 

So I decided just to keep reading and I am very glad I did. 

First of all, most of what it has to say makes me feel very affirmed in my beliefs. It affirms the fact that I CAN get through a natural birth. After reading this book I feel much more confident about my innate ability to get through childbirth. It affirms the fact that women's bodies were designed to give birth--without intervention/drugs. It offers many suggestions and advice on how to cope with the pain, and it even describes why the pain is necessary for the birthing process in the first place. I am now aware of exactly what my body will be doing at certain points in the birth process and how that helps myself and the baby. I've also read about many birth stories of natural child birth and have a better understanding of what it takes to get through it. Not only that but a better understanding of the sense of empowerment and confidence one can gain through natural child birth. It also describes the benefits the baby receives by choosing to go natural. That excites me as well.

 I am only about halfway through the book and already I am sort of excited about the birth. Not to say that I don't still have certain fears, but I feel much more confident about the fact that I really can do it (barring any major complications of course). 

So I will continue reading this book. I have suggestions for other books as well and I will forge through those. I have come up with tons of questions for my midwife about how the birth will take place and what my birthing options are in the specific hospital I will be at. 

Stay tuned.

1st official pregnancy blog!

So, I decided to create a blog dedicated to our pregnancy and it's developments. 

Currently, we are 15 weeks pregnant with twins. We do not know the sex(es) yet, but on Sept. 9th we find out! YAY! 

These are truly our miracle babies. After being contraception free (as well as baby free) for 5 years, Chris and I decided we needed more help to get pregnant. We enlisted the help of Dr. Gunnala and she worked her magic, unknowingly however. She gave us a 2% chance of conceiving with out any procedure. Taking that into consideration we decided to go forward with artificial insemination aka IUI. We ended up missing the time frame for the IUI but had already started the process of taking Clomid. Which apparently, was all we needed to conceive twin babies! 

Our pregnancy has gone swimmingly and we are unbelievably thankful for this opportunity. Even with the IUI procedure, we had only an 8% chance of conceiving. While we were going forward with the procedure, we never believed we would get pregnant. 

God gave us the biggest blessing of our lives and we absolutely can not wait to meet our two babies and begin our lives together!

So far pregnancy has been both wonderful and difficult. My first trimester was challenging. I had morning sickness all day every day for about a month. I was exhausted, and dare I say unbelievably moody. There were about two weeks that I stayed in bed every day, the entire day. I can't complain though, because around 10 weeks pregnant the morning sickness subsided and I was full of energy. 

The last week or so the energy has waned and insomnia plagues me. I know however, that soon I will be feeling the babies move and my tummy will begin to REALLY show. I can tell I am pregnant but other people can't yet. 

This week I will begin to take pictures of my belly on a weekly basis and post them here. At the end of the pregnancy you will be able to 'watch me grow' :-)

That is all for my first post! Looking forward to more :-)