4 months!!! Holy Hell - how freakin amazing!
I CANNOT believe it is 4 months already...so wonderful! For some reason 4 months sounds so much further along than 16 weeks. Either way - I WILL be keeping these bambinos cooking until at least August 11th.
I am over eager to get this month moving by quickly as we are settling on our new house April 5th - YAY! I cannot wait to get in there and organize/clean/re-organize in plenty of time before the bambinos or bed rest arrive. Luckily, packing is moving along swiftly now it just needs to be the 5th already!!!
I cannot wait to get the babies room set up...We know what we are doing - Grey walls....grey and white bedding...with BRIGHT accent colors...orange...aqua...green..and once we know the genders perhaps throw in some bright pink and bright blues...so eager to get in our house!!!
We have been listening to our bambinos heartbeats daily...so amazing. I should add that we think we are hearing both heartbeats...it definitely is a challenge to know when you are locating two heartbeats..There have been a few times where we got them both at the same time and other times we locate 1 and move around a bit then hear another. Either way - it is reassuring to hear them. The doppler may be the best $50 investment I have ever made. I'll be sure to pass it onto the next prego lady in our group of fam/friends ;)
oh and we always find 1 heartbeat around 160 and the other 1 around 140...old wives tales, I know but maybe it is 1 boy and 1 girl!?!? We will find out soon enough :))
In my usual fashion, I am late to the game of posting this weeks pic. However, it is well worth the wait as this week we have a special guest appearance in the pic.
Our lil man, Tyson, aka soon to be dethroned king of the castle, wanted to be in this weeks pic. Granted I am biased, but that lil pup face melts my heart every time. And that bump sure is growing - yay!
All is going great with the twins! Countdown is on til our next u/s 3/29. HOWEVER, I did order a doppler so that we can listen to our bambinos heartbeats. It should arrive this week...I am freaking psyched!
I had to sneak behind Erin's back surprise Erin with ordering it as she was not the most enthusiastic to buy one. She knows me all to well and what if I cannot find the heartbeat then I'll freak and be on the phone w/ the doc in a panic BUT I know these things are not full proof but at least we can try. (and I figured if the dumbass orthopedic/OB nurse can find at least 1 heartbeat then my odds are decent.)
What is the over/under on how long it takes me to be sent into panic if I cannot find 2 separate heartbeats? I give myself about a week.
Yesterday, we had out monthly check-up w/ our OB. We are lucky that I have been going to this amazing OBGYN practice since I was a teenager. They are the best in the biz - particularly when it comes to babies. One of the perks of having a Mom as an RN in the same hospital who I am pretty sure scouts out each doc she crosses paths with and then gives recommendations/bad reviews accordingly. Every doc in the practice has extensive experience w/ multiples and high-risk pregnancies (not that we are in that category, yet - and hopefully never)
One downside of being a patient of the "best" in the biz - is their client list. Everyone wants to see the best of the best, understandably. So day in and out, its a revolving door in that office. My main OB was kind enough to give me advice on how to always be bumped to the head of the line whether its an appointment needed or a call back requested. He advised me to drop the T word. Twins. and it has rang true! After a few times of not receiving a call back after messages have been left, I start dropping the T words and miraculously within minutes, my call is returned! Imagine that! Makes me wonder how many other patients prego w/ singletons are still waiting for their call back??
Anywho, yesterday started off normal with a friendly, smiling nurse calling us back to our exam room. I followed the routine of popping on the scale (gained 2 pounds - yay!), pee in a cup and unavoidably pee on your hand, and a quick BP check. All was great.
The nurse as reading my chart gave us an, "OMG twins! How exciting!" Erin and I both gave our sheepish smirks and let out an, "oh yes - so great!" She continued that she had just transferred to OB from orthopedics and commented what a different world it is. She then continued to tell us that she was unsure how to find two heartbeats using the sonogram machine. This convo included her laughing/saying that she just has no idea how she will be able to tell the difference between the two heartbeats. I nervously gave a chuckle and an, "oh yea - I am sure its hard." All the while thinking, "okay..this is your job. I want to see/hear BOTH heartbeats...learn your shiz." She begins the sonogram (all the while giggling and chuckling) and we hear 1 babies heartbeat....she continues moving around and we hear another heartbeat and she asks me, "now how do we know if that is the same one or the other one?" Listen Chippy, I don't effin know. I am not on their payroll for a reason. Get the doc already!
She leaves and says that the doc will do it to be sure to we hear both heartbeats.
Doc enters (sans sonogram machine) and says that it can be hard to find 2 heartbeats at 14.5 weeks since they are still small (little lemons!) which I can totally understand BUT when we were in the office 2 weeks ago (at 12ish weeks prego) due to bleeding, the nurse easily found both. He asks me to lay down and continues to explain that in the days before u/s and sonograms, docs would feel the patients stomach to see if they were prego with multiples. He starts pressing all around my stomach and comments that I am measuring 16-18 weeks for a singleton but he can tell I am prego w/ multiples, as I am only 14.5 weeks.
Alright old man....It is 2013. We have u/s machines and sonograms at our disposal (and damn good insurance to pay for these services none the less.) While I appreciate the history lesson of pregnancies during the Renaissance era, I would appreciate even more hearing my babies heartbeats. He reassured us that my ultrasound from 3/1 looks great so he has no concerns and feels all is great. Shakes hands and peaces out.
Granted, I know 10000% we are spoiled by our RE. Weekly visits with u/s, blood work, a one on one meetings with the doc, and hugs from the nurses as we leave..and not to forget enjoying a butterscotch candy from the front desk candy dish...I know we are not going to get that type of treatment here as we are now in a different fertility ballpark BUT it would have been nice to hear their heartbeats - or at least have the doc try and locate both heartbeats and be able to distinguish between the two.
Luckily, we have another u/s in 3 weeks (f/u to our first tri screening) and another 2 weeks later (20 week u/s - full body bone scan for both bambinos) so we will see them soon but in my over-worrying mind, not soon enough.
Outside of that, all is great. I feel great..still sleepy all the time but energy is definitely creeping back. I am noticing that when @ work w/ my little charge that I am slowing down in the playing on the floor get up, sit down, up again lol Could be a combo of laziness and my bod working hard to nourish these bambinos.
Never a dull moment :) I'll update soon w/ our 15 week pic...Can't believe we are almost 4 months prego...so amazingly crazy :)
Seeing as how Erin and I are beyond lucky in the fact that we get to name not only 1 baby BUT 2 babies at the same time, there have been many a convos about the potential baby names. We have a solid list going on the iPad with about 5 girl names and 10 boy names but we are still holding out for the gender reveal to narrow the list down even further.
With that being said, we have told friends and fam some of the names we are thinking of and at times, we get the crinkled nose/forced smile reaction. Granted none of our names are THAT out there - no La-a (pronounced La Dash Ah) or ManMeet (BOTH real names that friends have come across) however, some of our names are unique but I love that!
The name Jack has always been a fav of mine but go into a kindergarten classroom today and you will have at least 2 Jacks. I want to pick names that will not be the 'norms' of the year 2013...and I think we are well on our way to successfully selecting these names!
I am not going to post our potential names so I can leave at least some element of surprise but I know me, and once we know the genders I am sure this blog will be blown up with talking about our babies by their first names paired with embroidered onesies to boot.
Bambino bump is here to stay - yay! and the love handles are definitely beefin up and I am sure will be a bitch to get rid of someday post-prego but nothing a good pair of spanx can't help.
Some have said that I look teensy for twins - some say I look huge. Whichever way I look - I am lovin it :)
Week 14 bump pic - sans creeper smile (make-up was already off for the the night and hair was a wreck so we just went for the bump this week...thank you, zoom lens)
It is always such a flippin fantastic day when we get to see our healthy, strong bambinos. They are growing like crazzzy and dancing around nonstop.
Erin did have me drink choke down a vat of orange juice as it helps gets the babies moving and it sure did work. They both were waving at us and baby b spent the morning sucking his thumb and baby a was the stubborn one who would not turn over so the u/s tech could get accurate measurements. After some poking and prodding by the tech, she got him to scoot around. Both babes are perfect!
The u/s tech did say that it was too early to tell us the genders with 100% confidence so even though I am referring to them as "him"...the genders are still unknown! A few more weeks of suspenseful wondering is okay by me :)
Once again, I am amazed by the ultrasound pics...so freaking amazing.
Excessive ultrasound photo bomb below:
