Here's a quick update...I had started a much more detailed one but then it got lost :-(
Pete, my parents and I spent all day Saturday doing tons of stuff to get the house ready for the girls! I found a great recliner on craigslist (to replace my sleeping in our lawn chair!), we got the closets moved, my dad and Pete started installing new doors on the bathroom and nursery.
After a long day, I set up camp on the recliner to relax and catch up on some "Dexter" and noticed my mid/lower back starting to ache. I tried going to bed and was up from 12-5 AM on and off. Finally, I decided to call the doc. After giving my symptoms, he said that I should come in! I thought for sure I was being over reactive but Pete said that he heard something in my voice that concerned him when I said "Something just doesn't feel right".
It sure is weird walking through Abbott at 5:30 in the morning on a Sunday..normally its such a busy village, like its own city, but that morning it was a ghost town! We arrived to the 6th floor labor and delivery unit and shortly the nurse discovered I was in labor...almost 3 cm dilated and having contractions. The perinatal on call dr. came in and explained I would start on magnesium sulfate "mag" for 48 hours. Whoa! I was shocked! The nurses gave me several different iv's to prep me one which made me feel uncontrollably shaky! Around 8 am I got moved to a different room on the same floor and got hooked up to monitors for several hours watching both babies heart rates and my contractions. The girls heart rates have stayed strong the whole time I've been here. I was having some contractions mainly in my back.
Around 3 PM on Sunday I moved down to the 5th floor (called the antepartum/preterm labor unit). What a refreshing place and I've gotten to stay here ever since. The room is way bigger with a beautiful view of downtown (versus the brick building I had before), supplied with a refrig, microwave, working tv remote (yay!) etc. Every nurse I've had since I've been on the 5th floor has been wonderful. I feel SO safe here and well taken care of. I've even got to have several of the same nurses twice which is great.
So since Sunday afternoon I was told that I'd be on bedrest for the remainder of my pregnancy...just not sure if it would always be in the hospital or if I'd get to go home at all...time would tell. Sunday night was a rough night of sleep...and I can't believe how much I was peeing! Monday I was kind of out of it all day...but I saw the on call doctor from the perinatal clinic (which is where I go and is also attached to this hospital!) and a nurse....they both told me that on Tuesday I would get to go off the iv and switch to an oral med, nifedipine and see how myself and the babies did on that. Nifedipine is a cardiac drug often used to lower blood pressure (which thankfully mine has stayed low so far) but often used to help stop labor. They told me that if all went well I'd possibly get to go home and be on bedrest by Wednesday.
Even though I was spent by the end of Wednesday, it was a fun night. Pete gathered my lengthy list of stuff from home and ran a few errands. Bless his heart...he is being SO patient and is already being SO good with the girls! Kendall and Derrick stopped by and we had a great visit with them-they brought Pete and I some goodies (magazines for me and a twins dad shirt for Pete). Then Ellen and Tom stopped by to visit with some gorgeous flowers (hydrangeas, my fav and roses) and yummy fruit! What nice visits we had with both of our visitors. Then, Pete then helped me take a shower (which felt AMAZING) and got me settled into bed. I hadn't slept more than about 6 hours since I'd been at the hospital so when the nurse offered a mild sleeping aid I accepted. What an AMAZING night of sleep I got! It felt SO good! I only got up twice to go pee (compared to the hourly visits the nights before, no joke) and slept from about 10:30-8:45!
Today (Tuesday) has been a fabulous day. I had a yummy breakfast and then was taken off the iv! Babies are moving more for sure now since they are off the mag (which was slowing them down). I got monitored around 11 am and haven't had any contractions yet! Dr. Fairbanks (who I saw yesterday as well) came in and was very hopeful saying all looked well and the plan will be for me to go home on Wednesday!
I spent the morning catching up on getting LOA stuff figured out for work, communicating, online browsing/shopping :-) (no purchases made, just for fun!), watching HGTV and chatting on the phone. Around 1 PM I got some surprise visitors...my Grandma Shirley and Grandpa Lloyd! What a huge smile that ran across my face when I saw them! My Grandpa is SO close to getting his prosthetic leg so the fact that they made the trip down here when it isn't very convenient meant the world to me! We just all had a great time chatting. I could have sat and talked with them for hours...they mean SO much to me and are such inspiring people!
Now, I just finished lunch. I will say, the hospital food ain't so bad! I order it through room service and there are tons of options. I'm fallen in love with getting a side of cooked carrots and having vanilla pudding as dessert...both hit the spot!
My friend Anne and her mom, Sue are going to come visit in a little while. I'll get some great advice/stories I'm sure from Sue (the mom of my twin friends, Anne and Sarah) about being pregnant with twins. She went on bedrest too and I still can't believe carried twins. She is very petite and about half my height!
I'll try and keep you all updated via the blog. We appreciate everyone's thoughts, concerns, prayers, reaching out for help. We can't begin to thank our families for all they have done for us throughout this entire pregnancy. Both of our moms dropped everything they were doing on Sunday when we called them and went over to our house and cleaned/organized. How blessed are we that our families get along so well together.
If I don't get back to you right away, I apologize. My mom is a good person to contact and my friend Kendall has volunteered to answer any questions as well (Kristin, thanks for your offer too...sorry we haven't touched base yet!) Text me if you'd like their contact info.
I'm trying to relish in the opportunity to get stuff lined up and organized before the babes are here. My thoughts are often scattered so bear with me and all the grammar on these blogs. :-) Love you all so much!
Love,
Becky, Pete and the girls :-)
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Thursday, July 21, 2011
More pics from the Schroeder/Slabiak shower!
Amanda, my wonderful sister in law and me
The amazing table settings that looked like it came straight out of a castle in Europe somewhere!
From left to right: Sister in law Maria, me, cousin Kris Urman, Aunt Nancy Schroeder, cousins Allana and Karin Olson, Aunt Jane Olson, my mom
Starting at bottom left going clockwise: Cousin Katie Urman, Niece Laney, Aunt Pat Schroeder, Aunt Nancy Schroeder, Cousin Kris Urman, Cousin Cassidy Urman
Another fabulous table setting!
Thanks Ellen for getting these photos to me so quickly!
Monday, July 18, 2011
Pictures
Here are a bunch of pics in no particular order...Enjoy :-)
The first batch is from the Schroeder/Slabiak shower:
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Here are a few from Marcus' grad party in late June...I know there must be a family pic with Marcus in it but I couldn't find one at this time...
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Here are some pics from our great 4th of July spent at the generous hosts, Paul and Patti Madison's house.
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P.S. I don't have a few pics that I want to post...One is of Amanda and me from the Slabiak/Schroeder shower on my camera! I think it might be on Ellen's...so as soon as I can get my hands on that I will post it! There are some more pics from the Twins themed shower I'll post once I get my hands on them and also...the nursery is almost done...so once its complete I will post pics of that! :-)
The first batch is from the Schroeder/Slabiak shower:
Me, My amazing Mother-in-law Ellen and adorable niece Isla!
My pretty, saint of a Mommy and me!!
My sweet sister-in-law Maria and me!
I think this was 25.5 weeks
The AMAZING cake made by Pete's talented cousin, Allana Olson. Beautiful AND delicious!
My precious niece Laney with the gifts (car seat accessories!) she picked out for "Trampolina and Plomey" and me
Just one of the many GORGEOUS floral arrangements my amazing sister-in-law Amanda created for the shower! Funny, it's like twins!
Here are a few from Marcus' grad party in late June...I know there must be a family pic with Marcus in it but I couldn't find one at this time...
My handsome hubby with his first taste of getting generously inundated with baby clothes! Look how sweet and excited he looks. THANK YOU to my Auntie Ann who brought down TONS of amazing clothes she found! THANK YOU THANK YOU!
My awesome Grandpa Frank and me at my little bro Marcus' grad party. He and Pete were the pig roast carving masters all day :-)
Here are some randoms...
Daddy and Mommy to be at our little slice of heaven, Shell Lake, Wisconni!!! In the lake 24/7 to stay cool with temps getting over 100! When we weren't in the lake I was laying on the couch with an industrial grade fan Pete borrowed from work blowing on me. It sounded and looked like the kind from the cattle barns at the State Fair...I said I felt like livestock. Lazy, big and immobile. :-) I'm getting to that stage.
This is a 25 week shot
The cake from the dancing mom's shower! It says "Twice as "Nice"! How cute!
A few from the Twins themed shower in June...
These adorable outfits were given to me by my friend, Kaia-she found them on Etsy! Matching onsie's are behind the bibs. Once I held them up like this my mother in law Ellen got us all laughing hysterically when she referenced that they are to catch drips from nursing! HAHA!
Look how adorable this sign is! How creative!
Yummy desserts and you can see the "concessions" like peanuts and popcorn in the background.
Lissa, me, Dexter and Lissa's dad Paul
Paul, me, Ryan, Lissa, Pete and Patti (Lissa's mom)
Paul and my Dad in the background admiring Pete's 31-32+ inch northern that Pete caught! What a fisherman!
Me and Lissa and Ryan's adorable pup who is turning 1 tomorrow, Dexter!
Slabiak Sluggers
Slabiak Sluggers...that's what my girlfriends who threw me my baby shower in the end of June called the babes and I thought it was catchy! They threw an adorable MN Twins themed party and decorated it all in baseball related decor. It was so much fun and I appreciated everything they did to make it a great time!
I myself feel like a "Sluggish Slabiak". This makes sense as I am only 1 week away from the grand finale...the THIRD trimester! YAY! I can't wait for them to get here but know it's not time for the girls to meet us yet. Patience! Anyway, since about a week and a half ago I really have popped (it seems like I keep saying that but then I get even bigger) and has made doing simple things like putting on pants, bending over and getting up out of the car or sofa very difficult. Plus around that time, I've begun to experience the joys of heartburn. Now, I must say all these slightly irritating symptoms are NOTHING compared to the nausea I had first trimester so I try to remind myself how much better this is.
However, one downfall to all these current symptoms that I don't think I realized was affecting me so much was how terrible I've been sleeping. I'm so used to being a champion sleeper my whole life (like how I can sleep anywhere, can always sleep in and let's not forget how I could sleep through industrial fire alarms my freshman year of college). Well Becky, I think my 26+ year run of fantastic sleep is going to be just about over for a LONG time. Now, I can't fall asleep because my chest burns so bad, I get up at least 3-4 times a night to pee and usually always at some point have a small snack accompanied my bizarre preggo craving of a glass of milk. Not to mention all the tossing and turning I do trying to find a comfy position on my side with the thousand pillows that have overtaken our bed. Pete has been a great sport and I think is still sleeping OK from what he tells me. :-) I have witnessed some pretty funny Pete sleep talking moments in the last few months. One night he just started blurting the word "taco" out over and over again probably 20 times at least. The other night he was talking about someone named "Crawl"...it proves to be pretty entertaining!
Anyway, last week after 2 particular really rough nights of sleep and feeling really crummy, I saw the doc and she gave me the go ahead to start taking a low dose of pepcid before bedtime...this has really helped and all weekend I was able to get some great shut eye in with a little less tossing and turning. We spent a few days this week at Shell Lake with our great friends Ryan and Lissa and their adorable pooch, Dexter (how cool that they chose to spend their one year anniversary with us!). We had a great time however the last day the heat got really bad. With humidity it felt like 103. Lis, Dexter and I were planning on staying one more night but we decided the heat was too much. We still had a fabulous time though!
Moving on, I'm badly overdue for a blog and part of the reason I procrastinate is because I elaborate so much on each detail. So, I've decided to give a quick timeline of what's happened over the last month instead of writing a novel (which I already have done I notice, 5 paragraphs in...)
June:
-Friends threw me the MN Twins shower! It was such a great time. Lots of my friend's mom's were even able to attend which was wonderful being able to catch up with them and it also reconnected me to some old friends I hadn't seen in forever! The girls did a great job with everything...the food, decorating, desserts, games...everything was perfect!
-Got together with the dancing mom's and those nice ladies collaborated and generously threw me a surprise shower at the gathering! It was so much fun and so nice of everyone. They had a diaper bag theme which was so cute and got me off to a good start on all the necessary supplies! The cake was adorable...it said "Twice as Nice" on it. I think there is a picture of it floating on someone's camera that I must get to put in the girl's baby book!
-Had several ultrasounds at Abbott proving to all be very encouraging...the girls have been measuring/weighing almost exactly the same and the risk of TTTS is very low at this point.
July:
-Spent the 4th over at Lissa's parents, Paul and Patti Madison's house. It was the girl's first time in the lake and they loved every minute! I sported my one and only maternity swimsuit all day and it sure felt awesome being in the water.
-My sister in law Amanda (with the help of my mother and law and sister in law Maria) threw me a shower for the Schroeder/Slabiaks at Ellen's house. It was beautiful! Amanda spent the week's at her mom's house that week and put so much effort into the shower along with Ellen and Maria...everything from the flowers, table settings, food, gift giveaways...looked like it came from a fancy magazine. Thanks everyone for making it so special! Pete's cousin Allana made us a GORGEOUS cake as well...I'll post a pic. She does this on the side and is SO very talented. It was so special!
-Pete and I had our first of three "childbirth for multiples" class at Abbott. It was very informative but also a bit tiring learning all kinds of new information. We are thrilled we signed up for this specific class because of the approximate dozen other parents in the class, everyone is having twins with the exception of one couple that is expecting triplets!
-Had another ultrasound at Abbott (finally, at this like 7th trip to Abbott I learned the best place to park!) Both baby a and b are doing great. However, just as we had suspected...baby b decided to change positions. (We had felt a very odd, slow and hard movement a few mornings prior and were wondering if that's what had happened). So...baby b is breech and baby a is vertex (head down). The doc said that my chances of a natural delivery are probably low if they stay in this position...however, the girls can move several more times until about 32 weeks so nothing is set in stone. For first time mom's it's difficult to try and deliver a breech baby when she's a twin because the risk of complications goes up with all the cords and there are other factors as well. I'm just not going to lament over anything yet, because the plan is up to the girls and God! I'm just the incubator :-) The doc mentioned that often times the breech/vertex position is how twins will end up. It just seems to help them "fit". They're kinda like a ying yang! So I can call them the "ying yang twins" for fun (which is a rap group, ha!) Which reminds me, I'm going to write about some nick names we've developed...
-Nicknames:
"Cute little potatoes" or "sweet potatoes"...this is what Pete likes to call them and I think it's adorable! We play this song for them that my parents used to play for me called "Little Potato". It's so sweet and often gets them dancing. Sometimes when they are moving and Pete's talking to them, he will call them "you little STINKERS!" which I love :-) I tend to call my nieces and nephew this a lot. Hopefully they don't take it to heart because it's my way of expressing my love for how "stinking cute" they are!
"Sassy and Trixy"....My friend Kirsten at work thought of this one. I love it because we've kind of associated baby a as being a bit of the womb hog and she was who I felt move first...so we've kind of given her the rap as being "sassy". Trixy is baby b...because she for so long was curled up in the little room that baby a left her with and now how perfect that she, the little trickster, "Trixy"...switched on us!
"The Jefferson's" (or Georgina and Weezy)...this is because one day my friend Michael at work asked me what size they were that current week and I said, "eggplant...they're movin on up!" He instantly thought of the Jeffersons! LOL. Michael has come up with some great nicknames along the way...and often times has kindly brought in fruit/candy corresponding to the girls' current size of the week! He even got me a delicious fresh squeezed lemonade from the Good Earth last week just because! He also came up with "Pete's angels" since there are three of us for Pete like "Charlie's angels" and before we knew they were twins, since Michael knows I'm an avid office fan, was calling them "Jim and Dwight". Mike, another friend from work suggested "Jimessa and Dwightina" once we found out they were both girls! Haha!
I'm sure I've forgotten dozens of nicknames...so let me know if I did. But perhaps my favorite nicknames thus far was determined by my 3.5 year old niece, Laney. When she first found out there were two girls in my belly she thought of "Plomey and Clomey" or "Isla and Isla" (Isla is my niece/Laney's 1 year old sister). Right before the Slabiak/Schroeder shower, she decided upon "Trampolina and Plomey" as their current names. How adorable is this??! I must mention that when Laney saw me for the first time in about a month last week I said, "Does my belly look bigger"? She said, in this silly little voice, "IT LOOKS LIKE YOU HAVE A BIG WATERMELON IN YOUR BELLY!" Haha! Kids say the darndest things. Another cute quote was when she was showing my friends Tiff, Lissa and Ryan that she knew how to do yoga, Lissa said, "Do you know downward dog" and Laney started to do the post and then corrected her and said "Downward FACING dog!".
-This isn't a nickname but another sweet comment that daddy to be said about the girls last night that almost brought a tear to my eye was, "They are the most beautiful things I never seen". Awww...
Time to wrap it up...I'll keep ya posted if anything with the babies changes. I'm going to upload some belly photos, etc. It's hard to post ultrasound photos because they are getting so big that they aren't taking lot of pics of the girls together and they show up kinda fuzzy on screen. Love to you all and thanks for everything everyone has done to help/support us along the way!
OH, and yes...on SIX different occasions we encountered double yolk eggs. 5 out of 6 were hard boiled and the last was when I was baking cake pops. How crazy is that?!?!?! We swear to God this is for real too...I know it seems unreal!
I myself feel like a "Sluggish Slabiak". This makes sense as I am only 1 week away from the grand finale...the THIRD trimester! YAY! I can't wait for them to get here but know it's not time for the girls to meet us yet. Patience! Anyway, since about a week and a half ago I really have popped (it seems like I keep saying that but then I get even bigger) and has made doing simple things like putting on pants, bending over and getting up out of the car or sofa very difficult. Plus around that time, I've begun to experience the joys of heartburn. Now, I must say all these slightly irritating symptoms are NOTHING compared to the nausea I had first trimester so I try to remind myself how much better this is.
However, one downfall to all these current symptoms that I don't think I realized was affecting me so much was how terrible I've been sleeping. I'm so used to being a champion sleeper my whole life (like how I can sleep anywhere, can always sleep in and let's not forget how I could sleep through industrial fire alarms my freshman year of college). Well Becky, I think my 26+ year run of fantastic sleep is going to be just about over for a LONG time. Now, I can't fall asleep because my chest burns so bad, I get up at least 3-4 times a night to pee and usually always at some point have a small snack accompanied my bizarre preggo craving of a glass of milk. Not to mention all the tossing and turning I do trying to find a comfy position on my side with the thousand pillows that have overtaken our bed. Pete has been a great sport and I think is still sleeping OK from what he tells me. :-) I have witnessed some pretty funny Pete sleep talking moments in the last few months. One night he just started blurting the word "taco" out over and over again probably 20 times at least. The other night he was talking about someone named "Crawl"...it proves to be pretty entertaining!
Anyway, last week after 2 particular really rough nights of sleep and feeling really crummy, I saw the doc and she gave me the go ahead to start taking a low dose of pepcid before bedtime...this has really helped and all weekend I was able to get some great shut eye in with a little less tossing and turning. We spent a few days this week at Shell Lake with our great friends Ryan and Lissa and their adorable pooch, Dexter (how cool that they chose to spend their one year anniversary with us!). We had a great time however the last day the heat got really bad. With humidity it felt like 103. Lis, Dexter and I were planning on staying one more night but we decided the heat was too much. We still had a fabulous time though!
Moving on, I'm badly overdue for a blog and part of the reason I procrastinate is because I elaborate so much on each detail. So, I've decided to give a quick timeline of what's happened over the last month instead of writing a novel (which I already have done I notice, 5 paragraphs in...)
June:
-Friends threw me the MN Twins shower! It was such a great time. Lots of my friend's mom's were even able to attend which was wonderful being able to catch up with them and it also reconnected me to some old friends I hadn't seen in forever! The girls did a great job with everything...the food, decorating, desserts, games...everything was perfect!
-Got together with the dancing mom's and those nice ladies collaborated and generously threw me a surprise shower at the gathering! It was so much fun and so nice of everyone. They had a diaper bag theme which was so cute and got me off to a good start on all the necessary supplies! The cake was adorable...it said "Twice as Nice" on it. I think there is a picture of it floating on someone's camera that I must get to put in the girl's baby book!
-Had several ultrasounds at Abbott proving to all be very encouraging...the girls have been measuring/weighing almost exactly the same and the risk of TTTS is very low at this point.
July:
-Spent the 4th over at Lissa's parents, Paul and Patti Madison's house. It was the girl's first time in the lake and they loved every minute! I sported my one and only maternity swimsuit all day and it sure felt awesome being in the water.
-My sister in law Amanda (with the help of my mother and law and sister in law Maria) threw me a shower for the Schroeder/Slabiaks at Ellen's house. It was beautiful! Amanda spent the week's at her mom's house that week and put so much effort into the shower along with Ellen and Maria...everything from the flowers, table settings, food, gift giveaways...looked like it came from a fancy magazine. Thanks everyone for making it so special! Pete's cousin Allana made us a GORGEOUS cake as well...I'll post a pic. She does this on the side and is SO very talented. It was so special!
-Pete and I had our first of three "childbirth for multiples" class at Abbott. It was very informative but also a bit tiring learning all kinds of new information. We are thrilled we signed up for this specific class because of the approximate dozen other parents in the class, everyone is having twins with the exception of one couple that is expecting triplets!
-Had another ultrasound at Abbott (finally, at this like 7th trip to Abbott I learned the best place to park!) Both baby a and b are doing great. However, just as we had suspected...baby b decided to change positions. (We had felt a very odd, slow and hard movement a few mornings prior and were wondering if that's what had happened). So...baby b is breech and baby a is vertex (head down). The doc said that my chances of a natural delivery are probably low if they stay in this position...however, the girls can move several more times until about 32 weeks so nothing is set in stone. For first time mom's it's difficult to try and deliver a breech baby when she's a twin because the risk of complications goes up with all the cords and there are other factors as well. I'm just not going to lament over anything yet, because the plan is up to the girls and God! I'm just the incubator :-) The doc mentioned that often times the breech/vertex position is how twins will end up. It just seems to help them "fit". They're kinda like a ying yang! So I can call them the "ying yang twins" for fun (which is a rap group, ha!) Which reminds me, I'm going to write about some nick names we've developed...
-Nicknames:
"Cute little potatoes" or "sweet potatoes"...this is what Pete likes to call them and I think it's adorable! We play this song for them that my parents used to play for me called "Little Potato". It's so sweet and often gets them dancing. Sometimes when they are moving and Pete's talking to them, he will call them "you little STINKERS!" which I love :-) I tend to call my nieces and nephew this a lot. Hopefully they don't take it to heart because it's my way of expressing my love for how "stinking cute" they are!
"Sassy and Trixy"....My friend Kirsten at work thought of this one. I love it because we've kind of associated baby a as being a bit of the womb hog and she was who I felt move first...so we've kind of given her the rap as being "sassy". Trixy is baby b...because she for so long was curled up in the little room that baby a left her with and now how perfect that she, the little trickster, "Trixy"...switched on us!
"The Jefferson's" (or Georgina and Weezy)...this is because one day my friend Michael at work asked me what size they were that current week and I said, "eggplant...they're movin on up!" He instantly thought of the Jeffersons! LOL. Michael has come up with some great nicknames along the way...and often times has kindly brought in fruit/candy corresponding to the girls' current size of the week! He even got me a delicious fresh squeezed lemonade from the Good Earth last week just because! He also came up with "Pete's angels" since there are three of us for Pete like "Charlie's angels" and before we knew they were twins, since Michael knows I'm an avid office fan, was calling them "Jim and Dwight". Mike, another friend from work suggested "Jimessa and Dwightina" once we found out they were both girls! Haha!
I'm sure I've forgotten dozens of nicknames...so let me know if I did. But perhaps my favorite nicknames thus far was determined by my 3.5 year old niece, Laney. When she first found out there were two girls in my belly she thought of "Plomey and Clomey" or "Isla and Isla" (Isla is my niece/Laney's 1 year old sister). Right before the Slabiak/Schroeder shower, she decided upon "Trampolina and Plomey" as their current names. How adorable is this??! I must mention that when Laney saw me for the first time in about a month last week I said, "Does my belly look bigger"? She said, in this silly little voice, "IT LOOKS LIKE YOU HAVE A BIG WATERMELON IN YOUR BELLY!" Haha! Kids say the darndest things. Another cute quote was when she was showing my friends Tiff, Lissa and Ryan that she knew how to do yoga, Lissa said, "Do you know downward dog" and Laney started to do the post and then corrected her and said "Downward FACING dog!".
-This isn't a nickname but another sweet comment that daddy to be said about the girls last night that almost brought a tear to my eye was, "They are the most beautiful things I never seen". Awww...
Time to wrap it up...I'll keep ya posted if anything with the babies changes. I'm going to upload some belly photos, etc. It's hard to post ultrasound photos because they are getting so big that they aren't taking lot of pics of the girls together and they show up kinda fuzzy on screen. Love to you all and thanks for everything everyone has done to help/support us along the way!
OH, and yes...on SIX different occasions we encountered double yolk eggs. 5 out of 6 were hard boiled and the last was when I was baking cake pops. How crazy is that?!?!?! We swear to God this is for real too...I know it seems unreal!
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Some overdue belly shots
These are in order from earliest to most present...even though I feel I look huge in some and not as much in others!)
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Tickled pink!!!
So today was our big day...our 20 week level 2 ultrasound! It was amazing. We had it at Abbott Northwestern and boy is that place incredible! It is like its own little city. Our tech was very knowledgeable and has been doing ultrasounds for almost 30 years-we could certainly tell! It lasted about an hour and a half and she took measurements of just about everything you could think of! We feel blessed and happy to report that both babies are healthy! 4 heart chambers, good brain sizes, fluid in their tummies (which means they can swallow), strong heartbeats (Baby A-155 and Baby B-153) and each had perfect little arms and legs that we got to experience moving all over the place! They looked like little chicken legs! We could also see feet, toes, hands, fingers, their mouthes moving, eye sockets...even some internal parts like their kidneys and liver! Medical technology is absolutley amazing.
Its amazing how much they were moving around! I have felt lots of movement especially within the last week...I feel tons of flutters inside and Pete and I got to experience the first definite kicks externally last Tuesday after I came home from...how perfect is this...the Twins game (on a night we actually won!). Then this weekend Pete put his head up to my belly and in his words "was punched in the ear!" So seeing the little rascals move inside of me today made sense but we were still amazed at just how much they are moving.
If you haven't figured it out already...the most exciting news we learned today was the sexes! It turns out there is only 1 placenta which means they are identical (occurs in about 25% of pregnancies) so as soon as she told us the sex of baby b we knew what baby a was (but she double checked to make sure)....
We are having identical GIRLS!!!!
The best news is that although this means there is a risk for TTTS (Twin Twin Tranfusion Syndrome-basically where one baby gets more nutrients than the other and can result in early delivery) our Dr. said things couldn't be going any better! They measure almost identically and weigh the same...12 oz...which is a great sign that the gals are on the right track. Our Dr. said that if TTTS will develop it usually doesn't appear any later than 24-26 weeks...so only a few more weeks left. To be on the safe side I will be seen every 2 weeks for the next 6 weeks for a quick ultrasound to ensure the growth is progressing healthfully.
We just couldn't be any happier...it's really neat that I have great girlfriends Anne and Sarah that are twins...so I know all the secrets already (haha). Sarah's reaction was great...my parents guessed that she would squeal in delight when I told her and she sure did! So cute. I wore my dad's late twin sister Becky's ring on my necklace to the appointment today and my dad and I both were thinking that this is kind of a indirect way that she is being honored being that they are both girls :-) It just seems extra special.
Muahaha...Pete is outnumbered and has said that he will just start living in the garage now and might as well have a door with a little slot under it where we will push his food through to him. Lol. Nah, he is so excited and we all know the girls will have him wrapped around their fingers. He is going to be a GREAT Daddy. Being a girl myself I do know that these little ones will be pricier down the line than boys...shopping, hair, makeup, weddings, etc. Oh the good times to be had :-)
It was so fun calling and telling our parents the news. They all will be fantastic grandparents! Poor Gabriel (our nephew on Pete's side) is outnumbered now 4 to 1!!! He will be a great cousin to them we know for sure! I got to talk to my niece Laney today and when I told her there were girls in my belly she said, "maybe we can come over right now and see them!" So cute...and she also later said that we should name them either "Plomey and Clomey" OR "Isla and Isla" (which is her sister's name). I wonder where Plomey and Clomey came from?! She is adorable.
My parents had us over for a delicious dinner tonight and it was very special spending some time talking everything over with them. They even picked up some adorable pink and white booties and little pink onsies :-)
Sorry we didn't contact everyone personally...we sure were wiped out after the appointment! There was a lot of information and after digesting all that info, grabbing a bite to eat, starting our registry and imagining all the possibilities...we took a little nap! Figured we better get it in now!
Thanks to EVERYONE for all of your thoughts and prayers. They mean SO much to us and we couldn't do this without your support. We love you!
Love,
Pete, Becky and the bambinas :-)
Its amazing how much they were moving around! I have felt lots of movement especially within the last week...I feel tons of flutters inside and Pete and I got to experience the first definite kicks externally last Tuesday after I came home from...how perfect is this...the Twins game (on a night we actually won!). Then this weekend Pete put his head up to my belly and in his words "was punched in the ear!" So seeing the little rascals move inside of me today made sense but we were still amazed at just how much they are moving.
If you haven't figured it out already...the most exciting news we learned today was the sexes! It turns out there is only 1 placenta which means they are identical (occurs in about 25% of pregnancies) so as soon as she told us the sex of baby b we knew what baby a was (but she double checked to make sure)....
We are having identical GIRLS!!!!
The best news is that although this means there is a risk for TTTS (Twin Twin Tranfusion Syndrome-basically where one baby gets more nutrients than the other and can result in early delivery) our Dr. said things couldn't be going any better! They measure almost identically and weigh the same...12 oz...which is a great sign that the gals are on the right track. Our Dr. said that if TTTS will develop it usually doesn't appear any later than 24-26 weeks...so only a few more weeks left. To be on the safe side I will be seen every 2 weeks for the next 6 weeks for a quick ultrasound to ensure the growth is progressing healthfully.
We just couldn't be any happier...it's really neat that I have great girlfriends Anne and Sarah that are twins...so I know all the secrets already (haha). Sarah's reaction was great...my parents guessed that she would squeal in delight when I told her and she sure did! So cute. I wore my dad's late twin sister Becky's ring on my necklace to the appointment today and my dad and I both were thinking that this is kind of a indirect way that she is being honored being that they are both girls :-) It just seems extra special.
Muahaha...Pete is outnumbered and has said that he will just start living in the garage now and might as well have a door with a little slot under it where we will push his food through to him. Lol. Nah, he is so excited and we all know the girls will have him wrapped around their fingers. He is going to be a GREAT Daddy. Being a girl myself I do know that these little ones will be pricier down the line than boys...shopping, hair, makeup, weddings, etc. Oh the good times to be had :-)
It was so fun calling and telling our parents the news. They all will be fantastic grandparents! Poor Gabriel (our nephew on Pete's side) is outnumbered now 4 to 1!!! He will be a great cousin to them we know for sure! I got to talk to my niece Laney today and when I told her there were girls in my belly she said, "maybe we can come over right now and see them!" So cute...and she also later said that we should name them either "Plomey and Clomey" OR "Isla and Isla" (which is her sister's name). I wonder where Plomey and Clomey came from?! She is adorable.
My parents had us over for a delicious dinner tonight and it was very special spending some time talking everything over with them. They even picked up some adorable pink and white booties and little pink onsies :-)
Sorry we didn't contact everyone personally...we sure were wiped out after the appointment! There was a lot of information and after digesting all that info, grabbing a bite to eat, starting our registry and imagining all the possibilities...we took a little nap! Figured we better get it in now!
Thanks to EVERYONE for all of your thoughts and prayers. They mean SO much to us and we couldn't do this without your support. We love you!
Love,
Pete, Becky and the bambinas :-)
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
God is good!
I've been feeling SO much better. Had a small set back this weekend with what I like to call "the ghost of first trimester past" and was up in the middle of the night throwing up. My back is starting to bug me a bit but doc has me wearing a support belt and its really helping. Also, my iron is a bit low so I'm working on making sure that in addition to my prenatal I am getting enough through my food. Total cereal has 100%!
We're getting anxious for our 20 week ultrasound. It's scheduled for May 31st and we'll get to find out the sexes! :-) We've also decided we will deliver at Abbott Northwestern in Minneapolis...they have a level 2 nursery and they've got great neonatoligists on hand.
I've met 3 different moms of new twins at Pottery Barn. It's really exciting to see their babes and awesome having them as resources...they've all been so helpful!
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