Friday, December 28, 2012

18 weeks, 2 days

Happy Holidays everyone!  I skipped week 17 because of the hustle and bustle of the holidays and here I am a tad late for 18 weeks.  Almost half way there!

How far along?  18 weeks

Size of Baby: TheBump says the baby is the size of a sweet potato! 5.6 inches long and about 6.7 ounces now.

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Haven't checked since the last appointment.

Maternity Clothes:
Yep, still loving them.

Gender:
January 9th is the big ultrasound!!  Can you believe in just a week and a half I will know whether there are girls, boys, or both growing?!
 
Belly Button In/Out: In still but it definitely feels different.

Stretch Marks: Nope.
Labor Signs: Nope.

Movement: Maybe? I have felt a few itty bitty flutters low in my belly.  I think it is the baby (babies?) but not sure yet.

Sleep: Depends on the night.  Some are good, some not so much. Last night was a good night's sleep!  The Snuggle pillow definitely helps.

Cravings/Aversions: Still not really craving anything but still can't eat chicken and a lot of my normal favorites don't taste good.

Symptoms: Still sick and belly is growing!  I actually think I am starting to feel a little better (knock on wood!)

Feeling: Over the moon excited that i am almost halfway done being pregnant!

Best Moment this Week: Finding out I passed my 1 hour glucose test!

What I Miss: A normal appetite, a good night's sleep

What I am Looking Forward To:  January 9th!  First appointment with the specialist and gender reveal.

Milestones: Well in to the 2nd trimester

Baby Milestones: Babies are now yawning, hiccuping, and swallowing! I really can't wait to get to feel them more often.

Next Appointment: January 9th, anatomy scan!

Thursday, December 13, 2012

16 weeks (and a day!)



Sorry, I'm a day late this week!

How far along?  16 weeks

Size of Baby: TheBump says "Avocado" 4.6 inches and 3.5 oz.  Getting bigger!

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Nada.  Dr. said I am still down 3lbs.

Maternity Clothes:
Yep, still loving them.

Gender:
January 9th is the big ultrasound!!
 
Belly Button In/Out: In still

Stretch Marks: Nope.
Labor Signs: Nope.

Movement: Maybe? I have felt a few itty bitty flutters low in my belly.  I think it is the baby (babies?) but not sure yet.

Sleep: Depends on the night.  Some are good, some not so much.

Cravings/Aversions: Shrimp.  Weird, right? 

Symptoms: Still sick.  Belly is growing, growing!

Feeling: Sick more than better, but so excited still!

Best Moment this Week: Getting a sneak peak at the doctor’s visit because I told them how much anxiety I have been having.  Heartbeats are still good!

What I Miss: A normal appetite

What I am Looking Forward To:  January 9th!  First appointment with the specialist and gender reveal.

Milestones: Well in to the 2nd trimester

Baby Milestones: Bones are forming in the babies’ ears so the babies can now pick up on my voice!

Next Appointment: Friday, December 21st for gestational diabetes test.  Hope I pass!!

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

15 weeks!

I'm going to try and keep people updated on how things are going so here we go!

How far along? 15 weeks

Size of Baby: TheBump says "Navel Orange" 4 inches and 2.5 oz.  Wow!  Make that TWO oranges in my belly.

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Nada.  I lost a few pounds the first few weeks as I have been very sick throughout this pregnancy.  Plus, it's not like I don't have extra room anyways!

Maternity Clothes:
Yes, yes, yes!!  Switched to maternity pants a few weeks ago.  These things are GLORIOUS!  I love them.  I have some tops and some of my pre-pregnancy shirts are still working. 

Gender:
January 7th is the big ultrasound!!
 
Belly Button In/Out: In still

Stretch Marks: Nope.
Labor Signs: Nope.

Movement: Maybe? I have felt a few itty bitty flutters low in my belly.  I think it is the baby (babies?) but not sure yet.

Sleep: Depends on the night.  Some are good, some not so much.  I think I need to invest in one of those fancy pregnancy pillows.  My birthday is coming up if anyone needs any ideas!!

Cravings/Aversions: Not really any cravings, all aversions.  Still feeling pretty sick regularly.  I have a really big aversion to meat.  No meat is good except for beef on occasion.  Lately I have been eating cereal for dinner. 

Symptoms: Still sick.  Belly is growing.

Feeling: Sick more than better.  I have an occasional good day or two each week.  But then of course i panic because at least I know the babies are still cooking if I'm sick!

Best Moment this Week: Letting the cat out of the bag.  Our immediate family has been dying to tell everyone.  Hubby also.  But then everyone's well wishes and congrats makes me feel soooo incredibly blessed!

What I Miss: Feeling good.  I didn't expect to feel so sick for so long.  Headaches, nausea, vomiting, fatigue.  I'm not used to being sick and it has been difficult to cope with.  I just keep reminding myself that in a few short months I will have two healthy babies and won't even care about how sick I was.

What I am Looking Forward To: January 7th to find out the genders and February 6th for viability day!!

Milestones: Telling the world we are expecting twins!  Oh and we are in the second trimester too!

Baby Milestones: Baby is becoming more proportionate and developing taste buds.

Next Appointment: Friday, December 7th.

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

God is in control. I'm not.

Sorry I've been MIA for almost 3 months. I've had a secret and wasn't ready to share.  :)  This is a long post, but I promise you won't be disappointed!  I have learned 3 very important things these last few months.

1.God is in control.  I'm not. 
2. God's plan is far greater than any plan I could ever have imagined for myself. 
3. Trust God.

I have spent many moments, if not every moment, since February 20th questioning God.  Questioning his plan for Mike and I.  Wondering why he guided me to a career to help children yet I couldn't create my own.  Wondering what I did wrong.  Wondering why I deserved this.  I would even go so far as to say I was beginning to get really depressed.  But now I know, at least for now, God had different plans for me and I really should trust him.

Let's recap, shall we?  August 27th, I started my second round of clomid.  September 5th I went to the doctor, looked at my follicles, and was informed my follicles were still not ready and this cycle was a failure.  Or was it?  There was something different about this cycle.  I take clomid on days 5-9 of my cycle.  I also monitor my ovulation with Ovulation Predictor Kits (OPKs).  Well, I had a positive OPK on day 9 of my cycle.  Weird right?  Especially considering a "normal" cycle ovulates around day 14 and a "normal" cycle for me is ovulation around day 21ish.  I called the doctor on this day to move my appointment on the 5th up but I was pretty much dismissed.  I think we all thought there was no way this was accurate.  We were wrong.

September 24th was the due date of the baby we lost in February.  I took the day off because there was no way I wanted to be around people this day.  I just wanted to sit at home, mope, and be sad that I should be holding a baby by now but I would never hold this baby.  Of course, my period hadn't come yet either.  Figures, right?  I had already secretly told myself I was going to take a pregnancy test this morning.  I just wanted to see it flash "not pregnant" in my face so I could go on and mourn the loss of my baby.  Again, I was wrong.

I took a pregnancy test on September 24th.  But it flashed "PREGNANT" immediately!  WHAT?!?!  How could it be?!?!  This cycle was a failure, how did this happen??  I immediately woke Mike up and we were both shocked.  I called the doctor, we scheduled blood work, I started progesterone suppositories, and we waited for an ultrasound. 

October 10th, we went for an ultrasound.  And you know what?  We heard a heartbeat!!!  We never heard our little gummy bear's heartbeat in February, only saw it.  We were already headed in the right direction!

October 16th was a scary but even more exciting day.  I went to work, all was well, then I went to the bathroom and was bleeding.  I was CRUSHED.  I just kept saying over and over "No, this can't be happening, please God, no."  Then once I called the doctor I burst in to a hysterical, sobbing mess.  My boss didn't even want me to leave work and wanted a coworker/friend to drive me.  We finally agreed she would just follow me to hubby's work.  I cried the whole way to the doctor and everyone in the doctor's office just looked at me with pity on their face.

But God laughed.  Remember that plan He has?  The one greater than I could imagine? 

I went in to the ultrasound and the tech hugged me and was quiet.  She immediately found the baby and played the heartbeat.  There it was!  A strong, steady heartbeat!  My baby was still there!!  But wait, what's that in the corner????  The tech is moving the ultrasound around and really pushing it in my cervix to the point it is painful.  She told me to be still and several times asked me to hold my breath.  I started getting a little nervous because I was thinking she found something wrong, like the reason for the bleeding.  Nope. 

There was an extra baby in the corner!!  As soon as I saw it I thought I was mistaken and it was the same one.  But then she played the heartbeat, a DIFFERENT heartbeat.  THERE WERE TWO BABIES IN THERE!!!!  Y'all.  We are having TWINS!!!!!

I just started sobbing hysterically.  Hubby just kept asking questions.  I think he was shocked. :)  The doctor came in and high fived me!  Of course I had already called my grandma and mom crying so they had their bags packed and were about to head up here immediately. 

I called my mom back first.  She had been talking about buying the baby Christmas presents.  She said "What did the doctor say?"  After asking her if she was sitting down, I said "The doctor said you are going to need to buy TWO baby Christmas presents.  She was like ummm... "What do you mean?"  I said, "Mom, I'm having twins!"  She said, "WHAT?!?!?"  I thought she was going to go outside and start screaming.  My in laws pretty much had the same reaction!

Then I called my grandma.  I told her to sit down and told her everything was fine "but we are having twins!"  My grandma started crying hysterically.  I know where I get it from now!!!

Our entire family is extremely excited for us.  We have had 2 ultrasounds since finding out and both times the babies were doing great, strong heartbeats, and growing right on target.  We have a due date of 6/4/13 but will expect the babies some time in May.  I could be holding TWO babies by Mother's day!  My next appointment is Friday but it will just be checking heartbeats.  The big gender reveal ultrasound is scheduled for 1/7/13!!

Any continued thoughts and prayers are greatly appreciated.  We are over the moon excited but still a little anxious given our history.  I will breathe a sigh of relief when I hit viability.  9 weeks to go until I hit the magical 24 weeks!!  Thanks for the continued love and support!