Saturday, September 21, 2013

16.5 weeks #2 and #3


16.5 weeks!

I had a doctor's appointment Wednesday. Everything went great. I got to hear both heartbeats which is the best part. My doctor said I'm growing like a weed! I've gained 11ish pounds.

It is definitely starting to hit me that we are having TWO babies! I've been feeling them move for awhile now. It isn't very often and it is more of a rolling around not kicks or flutters.

My belly button is already starting to stick out!

I'm in maternity pants and long stretchy tops or maternity tops.

Doing good. Looking forward to hearing from the perinatologist about scheduling our 20 week ultrasound!

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Click chicks is coming back!

Hey guys! I wanted to let you know that click chicks is coming back! My friend Krystal missed it so much she offered to take it over for me. I'm so glad that she offered. I miss taking pictures with my dslr but it is just such a chore for me to find time to come up with the themes and get the link to everyone. I thought it was a great idea to do a photography link up but it got to be too much for me to be the host. It reassures me that it was a good idea since Krystal missed it! I can't wait to participate and see it grow.

I hope you all join in too. Check in with Krystal's blog this Thursday 9/19 for details!

Monday, September 16, 2013

Gender Reveal Party Ideas

I'll be 16 weeks on Wednesday which means I will schedule my 20 week ultrasound for 4 weeks from Wednesday which means we have picked a date for the gender reveal party! I have been thinking about this party for a long time. I see a lot of people doing the cakes/cupcakes or the balloons in a box and I wanted to come up with some different ways for the gender of the babies to be revealed. Here are some of the ideas I have come up with:
  • Sparklers- I have no idea if they make sparklers in different colors but I thought that would be a neat idea.
  • Fire works- Again, totally don't know if this is possible but was an idea I got around 4th of July.
  • Snake in a can- You know those prank cans that pop stuff out. I thought it would be cool if they made those with different colors inside.
  • Confetti present- I made this list awhile ago. I guess I was thinking a box full of confetti?
  • Balloon drop- I thought it would be fun if the balloons dropped instead of were in a box.
  • Fortune cookie
  • First child's diaper- obviously a clean one but thought that might be a funny way to include the first kid.
  • PiƱata- with balloons or confetti or both or colored candy
  • Write it on the first child's diaper- Have the kid actually wearing the diaper with the gender on it and the parents have to pull their pants down or something.
  • Have the first child tell you
  • Ball drop
  • A present with gender specific clothes, toys, bibs, shoes, etc.
  • Silly string- Can you buy silly string in different colors? The parents and or first kid can spray each other with the colored silly string.
  • Have a big stork it's a boy or it's a girl balloon in box
  • First child's toy box filled with balloons
Those are a few of my ideas I haven't seen other people do. Do you have any creative ideas?

Sunday, September 15, 2013

The light of our life


It's Sunday morning and we just finished a lovely big breakfast made by my amazing husband. Before I start the dishes I just wanted to write down how much joy my big boy has been bringing me. A tweet or facebook status update just wouldn't do it justice.

While Hubby was making breakfast Chase said, "I'll help you." This is one of his favorite phrases and it just makes my heart smile every time he says it. He always wants to help and I try to encourage it as much as possible.

Yesterday afternoon Chase woke up from his nap and Hubby was outside and he kept saying, "See Daddy?". So I took him outside. He helped pull a few weeds, another favorite activity silly kid. Then he want to mow the lawn. Hubby needed to mow the lawn so they mowed together. Chase even puts his play shoes on for mowing. He followed right behind Hubby the whole time. The cute about killed me. In the moment when he stopped to spit in the grass I was overwhelmed by the amount he wants to be like his Daddy. The mowing, the spitting, the peeing standing up. Such a Daddy's boy.

I love our weekends together and Chase continues to bring us so much joy. Just trying to soak them all up before things get crazy when the twins arrive!

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

The details


You know I love to overshare. So here are the details:
- After the miscarriage we were told to wait 2 cycles. Several people told me they didn't listen to their doctors about that and got pregnant and everything was fine. You know how obsessed I am with this website http://pregnancyloss.info/. There is also a few facebook groups you can join that involve the creator of this website. She recommends waiting at least 1 cycle for your own peace of mind. From my fertility friend chart it doesn't look like we listened to either of their advice. I started temping and charting 10 days after the miscarriage.
- It took awhile for my body to get back to normal. I kind of talked about it here. I had 3 normal cycles and started to get frustrated. We got pregnant with the miscarriage the 1st or 2nd normal cycle after weaning Chase.
- So I once again turned to my favorite website. I decided instead of not temping and not paying attention I would try the sperm meets egg plan and see if that worked.
- My chart looked perfect and we did everything perfectly according to the plan. I was so convinced I was pregnant randomly in the middle of the day on 8 days past ovulation (June 18th) I took a pregnancy test. I was bummed that it was negative. Hubby couldn't believe I had taken a test so early and told me to wait until 10 days past like we agreed. So I listened to him and took a test the next day ;)
- At 9 days past I had a very faint line. I was relieved that I was pregnant after all our hard work! I called my doctor and made the first 3 appointments. I also asked if I could go in and have my hcg levels taken.
- At 10 days past I woke up with Hubby to take a test and couldn't wait the 3 minutes for it to turn positive I had to go downstairs and get food to calm my nausea. When I came back Hubby said it's positive and I said I know. So romantic right?
- At 11 days and 13 days past I had my hcg levels taken. At 11 days my levels were 58. Totally in the normal range. My dr told me my numbers, "were low but doubled appropriately". Not all that reassuring.
- So we tried to be excited. We facetimed our parents and told them. On July 4th we told Hubby's brother and his wife.
- I still wasn't having a ton of symptoms. That was one of the biggest clues that I was having a miscarriage. So I called my doctor and they scheduled me for an ultrasound at 6 weeks on July 22nd.
- One of my besties called me a few days before the 22nd to talk about this and that and she asked if we were still trying and she said she could tell from my voice that I was pregnant. I told her we were planning on telling our close friends after the ultrasound in a few days.
- The 22nd- the 6 week ultrasound- Hubby came with me to the ultrasound. The tech scared us half to death asking us if we had taken a pregnancy test. She looked all around my uterus and said she would come back. So finally she says something about two sacs and I was so nervous about what we would see that I didn't say a word. Hubby heard her but apparently thought there were always two sacs. So she starts with the first sac and I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw a little heart fluttering away. Then she said something about let's look at the other one. That's when Hubby realized there were two babies. He was all excited and said, "We got our 3!" I told him to hush and wait and see. And then we saw another beautiful little heart fluttering away. She printed out a picture of the two sacs to give us and then wanted to tell my dr about the twins.
- I immediately texted the picture to my sil. She was babysitting Chase. She had been babysitting him the day we found out I was having a miscarriage and she volunteered to watch him for this nerve wracking appointment. My dad had originally been booked to babysit but I couldn't stand the thought of him seeing me after hearing bad news. So I knew she was sitting at our house a nervous wreck waiting for news. She was obviously so shocked to hear there were two babies! I also texted my friend that knew we were going to the appointment. She was freaking out and dying for me to call her and tell her everything. I texted my mom who knew about the ultrasound and was in a training so she had told me to text her. I guess she gasped out loud in the training and someone next to her asked her if she was ok and she showed them the text.
- My nurse came over and just kind of congratulated us and said, "have you been having more symptoms?!" I had an appointment scheduled for the next week so we just agreed to keep that.
- Then we walked outside and called my father-in-law. He said, "Oh sh!t!" My dad said, "I was just thinking how you guys want 3 kids and having twins would get that out of the way."
- I continued to be nervous. Twins gave me two things to worry about. Hubby came with me to my 7 week appointment and we were definitely relieved that they had both gotten bigger.
- My mom came with me to my 12 week ultrasound and it was so amazing to see them looking like little babies and that they are still both doing amazing. Baby a measured at 12 weeks 4 days and baby b was 12 weeks 2 days.

Other frequently asked questions:
- Do twins run in your family? Were you on any fertility drugs? Are you over the age of 30? Yes, twins run in our families. But I have identical twin aunts and that doesn't run in families. My husband having twins on his side of the family doesn't affect my ovulation. I think it was just a fluke. Might have had something to do with the miscarriage and my body getting back to normal. My aunt also saw somewhere that tall women are more prone to hyper ovulation. I was not on any fertility drugs. I turn 30 February 1st.
- Are we going to find out the sex? When will we find out the sex? Yes, we want to find out what we are having so we can nail down name choices. My cousin is super excited to throw a gender reveal party. I don't really care what we are having. I don't know when we will find out the sex. I see my doctor again on the 18th and I'm going to discuss seeing a perinatoligist (a high risk doctor). I don't feel high risk but other twin moms have recommended it. I would be more closely monitored and have an ultrasound monthly. I'll keep you updated! My plan is to find out with Hubby, Chase, and our parents at the gender reveal party. I might ask my sil or cousin to come with me to the ultrasound so they can witness everything. With Chase my mom and I both closed our eyes and always had a tiny bit of doubt since we didn't see it in person which is silly.