23 weeks

I keep starting this post. At least 3 or 4 times this week I have sat down on the couch and wanted to write something about week 23. Each time I get a few lines down and get tired or I have something I need to do.

Not this time. Its Sunday night and Jake and I are watching netflix on the wii and I am playing on facebook. While I am sitting here I get to feel the best feeling in the world...kicking. I am not sure if it is Baby "A" or Baby "B" but I absolutely love it. They are getting big enough that I feel them moving all the time. They are getting better at not stopping when I touch my belly. They have even started pushing back once in a while. It makes me the happiest woman in the world. I absolutely love feeling them move. Absolutely love it. I can't wait until I can tell what is what, a head, a butt, a foot, or a knee. :O)

On another note, we (and really I mean Jake) put together both of the cribs. And both of the cribs are in the Girls' room. I got measurements to my mom for the crib sheets, the blinds for the window, and the crib skirts. <> We have gotten everything not baby related out of the front room. Jake has taken several trips to the Goodwill and we have ordered several new items for the house.

I love these cribs! Can't wait to get everything put together :O)

We have also got the dates picked and planning started for the baby showers we are going to have for these two little girls. One in Spokane at my parents house, one in Burlington at our house, and one in Bellevue at my Aunt Chris' house. I know, I know, 3 showers? Apparently people like going to baby showers :O) I know they will be lots of fun! I cant wait to see everyone! There will even be a few fun games thrown in. Maybe even a craft project or two.

Lets see, what else has happened this week? I am sure a lot of things. Even though I still don't have any energy what so ever we still try to get out and do something. Let me tell you, that is easier said then done. I swear these two are sucking me of all my energy. Falling asleep on the couch by 8 or 8:30pm is not an uncommon occurrence in our house. Good thing Jake doesn't mind.

Jake has been absolutely amazing these last 6 months. He is great about helping, or really doing all of the cleaning around the house. Doing the laundry. And doing most of the grocery shopping and cooking. We usually have have something from a box, but I am not complaining. I am thankful he is being such an amazing husband and helping with so much without complaining. He even gets me ice cream when I want it. I love him with all my heart. I know he is going to be an amazing father to our little girls!!

On that note, the laundry needs to be rotated and it is almost 10pm. I better get to bed. 7am is going to be here way to soon.

Shopping adventure

I guess it wasn't really shopping we were doing at Babies 'R Us, more registering. But either way it was an adventure. The freeway was backed up because of pieces of tire on the road, really not a reason to slow down but oh well. And then the store was crazy busy. But we had fun none the less.

On our way around the store we found these...personalized binkies for each of them. Jake is so excited for one more way to keep the two girls apart. I think he is really worried about calling them by the wrong name :O)
I am pretty sure it is going to happen no matter what. I am not worried. But these are pretty cute. And even spelled the way we are going to spell their names.

Love it!

22 week pictures

Yesterday, August 20th, an amazing photographer took the first of two sessions of pregnant belly pictures of me. Here is her facebook site. She is amazing and I can't wait to see how the rest of them turned out.

I think its funny that we used a belly band for this picture. More than one use for the belly bands I guess :O)
I have to say, I absolutely love this picture. I was a little worried about how the belly would show up in a dress. But being at 22 weeks, actually almost 23 weeks, the belly
doesn't really hide any more.

I am so pleased with how these pictures turned out. Jennifer is an amazing photographer! Thanks Jennifer, they are beautiful!!

Weeks 21 and 22

I have no idea where the last two weeks have gone. I feel like I woke up one morning and I had slept through weeks. Of course that is not what happened but time sure feels like it got away from me. We haven't even been keeping up on our weekly pictures. And this time it is not even Jake's fault :O)

Last week we were able to spend at my parents house on Coeur d'Alene Lake. I can't even tell you how much I love spending time there. It is beautiful and extremely relaxing. But most important of all...we are always surrounded by family and friends. It is my favorite place in the whole wide world. I would much rather go there for a vacation then to Mexico, or Hawaii, or any where else in the world.

Saturday August 6th, we celebrated Jake's 30th birthday a little early with family and our friends. Sitting around. Catching up. And soaking up the sun. Jon, one of Jake's friends, even got on the jet ski despite the fact that he is scared to death of water. Trena made a carrot cake, Jake's very favorite. We just had fun. My parents gave Jake a video camera that evening for his birthday! I think it is more so they can see the twins when my parents are not here visiting :O) It was such a great surprise, I think I said thank you as much if not more than Jake did. I am so excited to be able to send video of the girls to all our family on the other side of the state. Thanks mom and dad!!

Sunday, we went sailing with my parents and brother for most of the morning. It was Jake's 2nd time on the sail boat and it made me feel better that he got a little nervous when the boat tipped. It has always scared the crap out of me but I am getting better and starting to like it a little. The rest of the day my mom and I spent at JoAnns picking out material for the nursery. We found the most perfect, light pink fabric with little white butterflies on it. It is exactly what I wanted. We got material for the black out blinds, the bed skirts, the bumpers, and a ton of other things. I can't wait for my mom to get it all sewn together and get it in the room. It is going to look sooo good! I will totally post pictures!!

The rest of the week was really full of cousins getting to the lake, trips in to town for the surprise party supplies, and just hanging out at the dock. We really had a blast. It was so good to see cousins I haven't seen in a really long time, and to meet their little girls. Isabella is 3 months and Emma is a little over a year. It was great to have some little ones around. Jake even got involved the last few days. He gave Isabella a bottle and burped her! He is going to be such a great daddy!!

That brings us to Saturday and the surprise party for my parents 40th wedding anniversary. It was a little stressful to say the least. But we did it. We got them both out of the house in time. Got the house decorated. And was able to pull of the surprise. They were completely surprised! It was awesome! And the best part...they had absolutely no idea what we were doing. I have very amazing parents and they more then deserved this party! More on the surprise party in another post. Pictures included.

This afternoon, at 22 weeks and 1 day, we had another doctors appointment. We got to see the babies with the ultra sound for a very brief moment. No where near as long as I would have liked. But something is better than nothing. They both look great. Healthy and developing as they should. I have even gained some weight and started to catch up on the weight I didn't gain the first half of this pregnancy. The doctor was really happy about that. Especially with there being two babies, I really have to be careful to get enough to feed their growing bodies and to keep me healthy. (I think eating mom's cooking for a week helped a little bit.) My belly is also measuring in at 28 weeks, not surprising with the two babies.

We have another appointment, and the last one with this doctor, in 4 weeks. Our doctor is also pregnant and as much as I love her, she is going to be out the last 6-10 weeks of our pregnancy. She thinks, and I agree, that it is time we start seeing one of the other doctors in the practice. One of the things we need to talk about with the new doctor is natural birth vs. a c-section. I am honestly leaning more towards a c-section, don't judge, with these two. There is a high risk of having to have a c-section with the 2nd baby. It just doesn't sound like fun to push one out, be recovering from that, and then have to have a c-section anyway. Hurt whoha and a cut open tummy...no thank you. One or the other please.

I also have to do the diabetes testing in 2 weeks. So not looking forward to that. I have heard how "wonderful" that stuff is. What makes it worse is our office that does the blood draw makes you stay in the office. Cant do anything but sit in very uncomfortable chairs for 1 whole hour before they draw blood. Ugh. That should be interesting. Fingers crossed I pass. I don't want to have to watch what I eat. I would probably not survive following the rules. Double ugh.

Oooh, as I am sitting here getting kicked, it reminds me. On Saturday night, after the party Jake and I are laying in bed and the babies are moving like crazy. Jake got to feel them move for the first time. It was so great to have him experience that. He looked so happy and so at ease. I think it made it a little more real to him.

Well, being that is after 10pm, I better go and get ready for bed. I will try very hard to stay up on posting about our progress. Especially considering our little girls are now the size of spaghetti squash this week and will only get bigger and bigger. I don't want to forget a thing. I want to be able to remember everything about this adventure, both the ups and downs. That and I have a ton of pictures I need to post :O)

Good night all and thanks for reading.

First craft project for the girls room

This weekend I decided I wanted to make something to hang in their room. These pictures do not do the colors justice. Our walls are a beautiful green and the letters baby pink with chocolate brown ribbon. These are just hung up really quick on clear tacks so I could take a picture. They are going to look amazing when we hang them above the cribs in a few months.

When we get back from our vacation I am going to put on a few white butterflies onto each name. We have decided we are going to do pinks, browns, and white with butterflies all over the room. I can't wait. It is going to be a perfect little girls room! And I promise I will post pictures :O)

20 weeks!

This week we hit 20 weeks! Technically half way to meeting our little ones. For those customers that are just now noticing that there is something under the shirt go from not knowing to "Oh my, only have a month or so left don't you?" Really, I know I am big but I didn't think I was that big! It is only going to get worse, especially with the twins being bigger then average babies at 20 weeks. I think I get to blame Jake for that one :O)


At our last ultrasound at 19 weeks we were told that both girls are weighting in at a little over 11oz each. In the several books I now own that follow the pregnancy and growth of the little baby say that at 19 weeks, babies usually weigh about 6oz. So the babies are good and healthy, gaining weight like they should and then some.


Now me on the there hand. I have only gained 14lbs in the last 20 weeks. I should be closer to 17 to 20 pounds according to the doctor at this point. I am not that far behind but I feel like I am eating everything I can but still only gaining a little bit. I guess it could be worse...I could have gained 30+ lbs at this point. I am still trying to get in a balanced diet but that has turned out to be harder then I ever would have thought. Especially now that I am not taking any vitamins. The vitamins have not made my stomach up until a few weeks ago. The doctor says that as long as I am getting in a balanced diet she is not worried about taking the vitamins. At least not now. In the 3rd trimester she will for sure want me to take them again. As for now, we try to take 1/2 at a time and try to deal with the upset tummy.


I have been feeling the little girls move all over the place. I think Baby "A" is closer to the surface, if you will. I feel her moving ALL the time. She is the lower one, aka the one who likes to sit on my bladder all day every day. Baby "B" is the one who likes to push on my right rib with either her foot, butt, or head. Needles to say, this mommy is starting to get a little uncomfortable. I know it is only going to get worse as the babies grow bigger and run out of room.


On Sunday afternoon, after I took Jake to the Bellingham airport for a week in California for work, I got to see the coolest thing yet! Baby "B" actually moved my belly! It was the craziest thing to see. It almost looked like I had something from another planet inside me. It was the weirdest and coolest thing ever! I absolutely can not wait until Jake gets to see and feel them move. Soooo can't wait!



So this is what our little ones look like this week. This picture is of course of a set of fraternal twins. You can see the two separate membranes between the babies and the two separate placentas. At our last ultrasound the tech could only find one placenta and one membrane separating the babies. Now it is still possible for that to happen with fraternal twins but more common for identical twins. At this point we have no way of knowing if ours are fraternal (two eggs get fertilized) or identical (one egg splits completely very early on) without doing an amnio. I am not willing to risk the pregnancy in any way shape or form so I will absolutely not doing an amnio. We can however find out if the girls are identical or fraternal twins when they are born with a simple blood test. Although I don't really care one way or the other, it would be fun to know.

This week they are continuing to practice swallowing getting ready for birth. That was one of the things we got to see during the ultrasound last week. It was really cool being able to watch the girls moving around. I do need to post those pictures soon. Baby "A" didn't like having her pictures taken and kept turning over so we couldn't get good pictures of her face. But Baby "B" on the other hand was all sorts of ok with the pictures. I wonder what they will be like when they are born. I am very excited to meet them and see their personalities.

We are going to spend the next week in Coeur d'Alene with family and friends. It will be great to see everyone. I also hope to do some registering for baby showers. This past weekend I was able to get a little, a very little, done getting the two rooms moved around. We have to put the girls in the front room rather then the middle one. So that means moving all the scrapbook things in to the closet. Along with selling the bed and desk from the front room. Getting all the storage boxes out of the middle room. Moving my old trundle bed from my parents house in Spokane over for our guest bed. Moving Jake's huge t-shirt quilt my mom made from one room to the other. And so on and so on. The only part of this I have gotten done is moving the scrapbook things. It fits perfect in the the closet. But, nothing else will fit. It is a huge project and I really need to get it going as soon as possible. Wish me luck!

TTC

One of my best friends little sister and her husband are going through the same thing Jake and I did. Only they have been trying without success for, I believe, almost 5 years. This afternoon she posted on facebook about getting more disappointing news. This last month didn't work for them. Under her post, a lot of friends posting what I'm sure they thought were words of encouragement.

They said things like "Everything happens for a reason" "God has a plan" "Be patient" and someone even said not to cry about it.

I know from experience that none of those things, and I mean NONE OF THEM, help at all. When people say these things, I know they mean the best. But it doesn't help. If this was something you had experienced you would know this and never ever ever say anything like that to a woman not being able to conceive.

One of the "words of encouragement" that I hate the most is the whole "everything happens for a reason" Seriously?? Why would you tell someone that? I actually hated that one. And it seems that is the only thing that people know what to say. If you don't know what to say...then say that. Tell the person suffering, no matter why they are hurting, that you don't know what to say. That you are there for that person. DON'T use any of the above statements. Please. It doesn't help.

Hang in there honey. You are going to be a great mother!