20 weeks

This had been an eye opening week.

First, I knew my ribs had expanded. It was inevitable considering there is a baby in them, but wow!! My rib measurement went up 3 sizes!!! My bras have been getting tighter and tighter, and I just wasn't having any luck finding anything to fit me. I went to Motherhood Maternity and got measured, and it all made sense. They don't make bras in the actual size that I need. LOL! Only my ribs have expanded, nothing else, so far. So I got two inexpensive ones that are the proper rib size. It is so nice to not have my ribs crushed anymore.

I had no idea that your stomach muscles actually split during pregnancy!! I have no stomach muscle control at all any more. And I just simply can't bend. Trying to unload the dishwasher and pulling clothes out of the dryer made me so sore. I'm definitely going to need Craig to help me more with anything that involves a lot of bending.

We decided on names this week, as well. Just not the spelling of the names. We are planning on going with Alyson Cate and Emilee Sophia. Basically we took our top 4 names (Alyson, Emilee, Sophie and Katie) and rearranged them until we came up with first and middle names that we liked. I'm putting the spellings that I like here. Craig would like to go with Kate for Alyson's middle name and I think he's leaning more towards traditional spellings for their first names.

All in all, I think I'm very lucky. I was worried at first with all the research I had done that said all your symptoms and possible problems are doubled with twins. But really, I have felt pretty good. I don't think any of my normal pregnancy symptoms have been worse than a singleton pregnancy. I've definitely had to slow down sooner than I probably would've otherwise, but that really isn't a big deal.

We will take another picture this weekend. I still haven't posted my 18 week picture because we are having problems with our big computer. After taking the picture I'll try to put them on a portable device and upload them from the laptop.

19 weeks

WooHoo!! I'm officially 1/2 way to 38 weeks (full term for twins) and only 6 weeks away from being through the critical stage! I couldn't be more excited about that.

We still don't have names for these two precious girls, but we are working on it. Right now we have a list of 6 names we agree on. Now we just need to pick our favorites from there.

I am feeling them move around more and more. Usually I can tell which one I am feeling, too. Baby B is up in my ribs, and will likely stay there since her sister is blocking her from moving down. Baby A has moved up the the middle of my tummy. They are getting stronger, too. The insides of my lower ribs have been pretty sore the past few nights. Baby B must be practicing her dance moves or something.

Only a couple of new things this week. I noticed just how easy I can over do it. I was out of the house for a total of 3 hours running some errands. By the time I got home I was sore and exhausted beyond belief. So I definitely need to learn to take breaks even when I'm feeling okay. It is really easy to cross the line of over doing it in a short time period. The other odd thing that happened is that I noticed one day that my left foot started to swell just a little bit one day. I was sitting on the couch for a while and didn't get up and move or change positions. It went away as soon as I propped my feet up. So need to make sure I'm not in any certain position for too long.

I started having some back/hip issues a few weeks ago. I've even had to visit the chiropractor. Basically the joints where my hips attach to my back are moving out of place. Sometimes it hurts, sometimes it doesn't. Its just a little scary because when it happens, I have a hard time lifting my left leg. Just because it won't move. Apparently this is all completely normal. My joints are loosening up and the babies (or at least one of them, probably baby A) just happens to put just enough pressure in that area. I have noticed it more when I'm in a sitting position rather than a standing or laying down.

We do have an 18 week photo, I just haven't gotten a chance to load it to the big computer (I've been using Mom's laptop.) I will try to get to that in the next few days. Have a great Memorial Day everyone!!

18 weeks

I started to feel the babies move this past week!! It started last Friday, but I wasn't really sure until Saturday. Through out the week its gotten more frequent and stronger.

I seem to feel Baby A mostly in the evenings when we're are watching TV. Baby B seems to be our night owl. Last night I woke up a little after 3 to use the bathroom, and could feel her kicking up a storm. At first I though, how cute. Then I realized that in a couple of weeks when I can feel every move she makes, it won't be so cute to feel her moving around at 3 am.

We are still working on picking out names for these two. So far we've decided against all the names we had liked earlier in the pregnancy. And Craig really doesn't like my favorite name. So it might be a while before we can really decide.

All in all a very exciting week! We got to see them and find out they are both girls and I can feel them move!

Ultra Sound Results

We had a PERFECT ultra sound yesterday!

The pictures pretty much speak for themselves. The first one is Baby "A" which is a GIRL! You can see her nose and lips, then the little shadow below her belly is a little leg kicking.

The next picture is Baby "B." This is also a GIRL!! She was practicing her tummy time during the ultra sound and didn't want to roll over for us. So on her picture we have a good shot of her spinal cord. In the second picture, you can see her little bottom sticking up in the air so we could see if she was a girl.

Both girls measured about the same size. Baby "A" is about 7 oz, and Baby "B" is about 7.3 oz. Both hearts and both spinal cords look great.

Baby "A" was moving around quite a bit. Even when we were looking at Baby "B" we could see her little foot coming on the screen like she was trying to kick her sister's head.

Baby "B" wasn't quite as active. I think that has more to do with her being on her belly than anything else. You could see her little legs moving around like she was riding a bike.

They will be keeping a close eye on these two little girls. I will be having these higher tech ultra sounds every 4 to 6 weeks. Then closer to the end I will get one every week.

17 weeks

I guess my belly is growing a little faster than Craig expected. He's been all out shocked a few times this past week by how big it is. I told him he's beginning to make me think there is something wrong with the way I look. He said, there's nothing wrong, its just weird to him. I'm only 17 weeks, if the thinks this is big, just wait another 10 weeks.

This past week I also started experiencing indigestion. So far its generally starts around midnight. A couple of Tums before bed has been pretty helpful. But twice this week, I had it during the day, and wasn't really able to eat much for dinner. Both of those days I woke up a couple of times a night to take more Tums.

I had a doctor appointment yesterday. They are pretty boring. I had my weight, blood pressure and urine checked. Then a quick ultra sound to see the heart beats. I guess the Doppler doesn't work to well for them with two. The doctor said this is probably the last time he will be able to get them on the same screen during an ultra sound, so he gave us a picture.

We also have our big ultra sound on Monday. This is the one where they will look at the babies' hearts and spinal cords. And if they both cooperate, we will get to find out their sexes. Which is very exciting to me!! I was hoping Craig would discuss names with me so we can start calling them by their names after the ultra sound, but he won't. I guess a few more days won't hurt too much. We do have a couple we discussed right before the IVF, but I have a feeling we're going to need a new one, too.

I will update again after our ultra sound on Monday.

HAVE A HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

Piper is at it again...

This puppy cracks us up on almost a daily basis.

Usually in the mornings when I let her out of her kennel she says good morning by rubbing up to my legs and getting all kinds of scratches and pets. Then she runs to the back door so she can tackle Shadow as they go outside.

This morning was a different story. Instead of saying hi to me or Shadow, she immediately ran into the closet and came out carrying Craig's socks in her mouth. The only thing I could figure is that she saw Craig throw his socks at the hamper the night before, but he missed because the lid was closed. My guess is that she remembered that and went to see if he had picked them up or not. She got lucky.

I couldn't get her to give up the socks for anything. She slipped past me at the back door, so I couldn't get them then. She didn't even let go of them for her morning "potty" break.

Once she came back in the house she tried everything she could to get me to chase her to try and get the socks, which I simply won't do. I just went about my regular routine. When I walked into the family room to turn on the morning news, she came up to me and put the socks right in my hand, then ran off.

New Slide Show

Since the old one seemed to stop working, I went in and created a new one. The captions don't show up, but the pictures are in order: 5, 6, 8, 10, 14 & 16 weeks. Enjoy!

16 weeks

Considering the babies will more than likely be born around 36 weeks, we only have 20 weeks left!

They say (you know who "they" are, right?) that the second trimester goes by faster than the first, and by the time you are half way through it, you won't even remember the first trimester. Well, I'm only 3 weeks in and I would have to agree, time is flying by. And, I have to think really hard to remember those early days of morning sickness and overall aches and pains.

We were able to sell Craig's Dad's Blazer this week. They came and picked it up on Wednesday. Very nice people, it's always a good feeling to sell something to people who you know will appreciate it. Now we have room in the garage to finish cleaning out the babies' room.

I've spent most of the week looking into strollers, infant car seats and cribs. I've decided on a stroller and carrier style, but not on the print. Cribs have been a little more difficult. We have one that we got while we had the store, and we'd never be able to get another one, or one that will match it. So I'm trying to find one that is traditional in style, but not a sleigh, and in white.

I've given up on being able to sleep comfortably for the time being. Other than that I am feeling pretty good. I still get sleepy early in the evening, but I suppose that will stick with me and probably get worse towards the end of my pregnancy.

My belly is still growing. I've even started to out grow some of my smaller maternity clothes. Craig even commented on how round my belly looks when I'm sitting on the couch. It's funny to me, because I see other pregnant women who have these tiny little bellies yet they are obviously pregnant. That never really applied to me. I started to get my belly at 6 weeks and looked like I was merely gaining weight then boom I had an obvious pregnant belly. I haven't decided yet if that is just the way my body responded or if that is all part of having twins.

I still haven't felt them move yet, but I do feel pressure and bumps when they are in certain positions. Especially at night, they put a lot of pressure on my lower abdomen.

I seem to be gaining back all the weight I lost at a pretty fast rate. I'll probably have gained back all the weight by next week. Which means it took 12 weeks to loose, but only 4 weeks to come back.