Half way there!





These are some 20 week belly pictures Ryan took for us on Monday. I'm wearing my PJ's, so don't laugh!

Things are going well here in Indianapolis. We are enjoying the last of our time as "just" a couple while we wait to become a family. Last weekend we went to dinner and this weekend we will do the same with the addition of a Pacers game. (According to some, going to a Pacers game is at your own risk but at least Conseco is nice!)

Final plans have been made for the furniture, well almost. It will be black, it seems that is one thing Ryan and I can agree on. We are ordering it from Costco but it's made by Childcraft, a great company headquarted right here in Indiana! Later this week I will head out yet again to look at rockers and try to find an extra crib as the set from costco only includes one crib, go figure!

We are looking forward to seeing everyone in Michigan over Thanksgiving.

Amanda

Lots of baby updates!

Today was my appointment with the perinatologist. Everything looks wonderful. It doesn't look like I will have to see the specialist again. Today they were laying one head down and one feet down. Baby B decided kicking baby A in the face would be a fun thing to do. Do they already not get along? I felt a lot of kicking during the ultrasound, apparently they aren't fond of getting their pictures taken, well they better get used to it.

After the ultrasound I went to Baby Gap and found a bumper pad and crib skirt for only $20.00 each. Yay! I was planning on being cheap and not getting either of these things but who can pass up something for $20.00 from Baby Gap? The print is called Safari in case anyone is interested.

Tonight Jenn and Katie are coming down to visit and stare at my stomach. :-) Can't wait.

Also there will be pictures soon we just had a little camera trouble, maybe we need a new one, that can't happen when the babies get here.

Eighteen Weeks and counting!

Today I had another doctors appointment. Everything looks good, and sounds good! The babies heartrates are 140 and 150 bpm which the doctor was happy with. I just love listening to them. Sometimes, despite the fact that I'm growing like crazy, I forget that I'm pregnant or I just can't believe it's real. It's nice to have it confirmed.

My biggest issue right now is acid reflux which is normal for pregnant women. Progesterone, which I have twice them amount of :-), works to relax a lot of your muscles including the the mechanism that keeps the acid in your stomach. I can't lay down, can't drink orange juice and really shouldn't have Mexican food but I can't help it! I'm going to try some different medicines and see what helps.

I gained six pounds since last month. That's almost as much as I gained in the first trimester. Yikes! The nurse said this is normal, they are growing a lot right now. In fact if they are on schedule then they should be about 5 1/2 inches long and 5 ounces each. Times that by two and it's starting to get up there.

I'm starting to have movement, or quickening. It's not consistent but if I'm laying down or sitting I feel what sometimes feels like a goldfish swimming around or like I ate a cell phone and it's ringing on vibrate. Can't wait for more.

This Friday I'm going to see the Perinatologist and have another ultrasound.

Happy Early Halloween!

Amanda

The Sydney Monster

Is Sydney ready to be a "Big Sis"? Sydney is our first baby, our four year old mutt we got while living in Bloomington. She is very spoiled right now and who knows if that will have time to continue once the babies get here! Hopefully Grandma and Grandpa will still pay attention to her.

Some people worry about how a dog will act around children. Ryan and I feel confident that she will be well behaved. Sydney doesn't seem to mind children, she really loves any one she can play with and will pet her. We've been training her since we got her and exposing her to as many different people as possible. The difference will be these babies will be here to stay.

The biggest problem I foresee is with toys. Sydneys favorite thing to do is ruin her own toys. What will she do with the babies toys. Lets hope they don't get really attached to anything...

I really think Sydney will fall in love with the babies once they start eating, and throwing solid food. Jackpot!

"How far along are you?"

"I'm due April 2nd...with twins." Apparently I'm starting to look a little more pregnant than that. (Anna says I look pregnant, she was here last week, she's an expert.) I'm getting smiles and nods at the belly at the grocery store and people seem to want to help me more by carrying things to my car. A girl can't complain about that. It does make it hard to be in denial about your growing size. How come everytime I see another pregnant woman I think how beautiful and cute she looks in her maternity clothes but I'm so hard on myself?

I should also mention that baby showers are starting to be planned. Tentative dates are December 16th in Grand Rapids and January 6th in Detroit. Whay so early? Well the doctor has already told me that I should not plan to travel out of town after 28 weeks which is January 8th. No problems so far but remember our bodies really aren't built to carry two babies. Hopefully I will never have to hear the doctor say those two horrible words "bed rest". One way to keep that from happening is to take it easy and that is what I intend to do. Nap time!

14 Weeks

Today we had our third ultrasound. We've reached a milestone, the babies are too big to have their pictures taken together anymore. They both weigh about 3 ounces and are measuring a little bigger than 14 weeks. Baby A is 14 weeks 3 days and Baby B is 14 weeks 1 day. They measure this by measuring the head, stomach and femur bones and putting it in the computer. Baby A's heartrate is about 154bpm and Baby B came in at 148 bpm. Baby B did not feel like holding still for pictures or getting the heart rate. B was squirming around kicking legs and stretching his head back. Unfortunately this meant we only got two good pictures of Baby B while we have 8 of Baby A, I hope the jealousy can't begin this soon!

Everything else is also going well. I've gained the right amount of weight for my first trimester-7 pounds. Babies are obviously measuring well. The doctor said still no strenuous exercise but it's okay to walk and do yoga and things of that nature. Next month we will see a perinatologist, a doctor who specializes in higher risk pregnancies and does ever more detailed ultrasounds to look at brain, heart and other organ development. I should only have to see her once unless they see anything they want to keep an eye on.

It's so amazing to see pictures of our babies and watch them move. I love them already! Thanks for all your prayers and support!

Making a House a Home

Well now that we finally have a house it was time to buy some "real" furniture. The only item Ryan and I had purchased for our home since being married over three years ago was a mattress. Three apartments in three years just made it seem silly to put any money into furniture we would have to keep moving around.
We were lucky to have the help of a real life designer, Karen, Ryan's mom came down with Richard to help us shop several times in August. Even with the help there were lots of arguements between Ryan and I but we finally were able to make decisions and orders and everything is here now.
Hopefully we will start to get some visitors now. We can't afford to go anywhere because we spent all our money on furniture! Indiana is really pretty in the fall...
Anyways luckily we knew going into the furniture stores that we would have children soon, real soon. We don't have any sharp corners to cover and we got the extra warranty on the sofa fabric. Baby spit up beware!
The next stop will be the nursery and then we are done. Ryan has already painted the room, the color is called aloe vera. Can't wait to start decorating! Any good advice on where to get baby furniture will be appreciated!

Thirteen Weeks!

We are officially done with the first trimester! Yay! Things are still going well. This past weekend we started telling more people and now pretty much everyone knows or will soon with the way the grapevine works.

People didn't believe me that I have a bump already so here is some proof. In my defense remember there are two babies and two placentas. What's a girl to do?

Sydney is getting excited to be a big sis! Okay really I think she is in denial.

Our second ultrasound was at about 9 weeks. The babies still look good. Both had a heartrate of 174 bpm. They are cathing up to each other in size. They are now measuring only one day apart which is good. I keep having nightmares that the doctor makes me deliver them on different days, pregnancy dreams are REALLY real too! The most exciting part was seeing them move. They still kind of look like blobs but the blobs have little arms and legs and we can see them move. We also got to see their little hearts beating, awww.

I had my first ultrasound at six weeks. Going in we knew there was a chance it would be twins as my HCG levels were higher than average. It was still quite a shock though when two little blobs showed up on the screen. Oh dear!
We heard both of their heartrates, one was 104 and the other 112. Both over 100 bpm so that was good news. They measured about three days apart at the time.

Moved In

Well Goodbye Lansing hello Indianapolis! We have our new house and it's quite exciting. It will be the first home for our children. We love the neighborhood and have already met several of the neighbors. It will be a great city to raise a family in!

On July 26th, 2006 we found out we're pregnant. Yay! This has been a long time coming. I have several health issues including Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome and endometreosis. After dealing with doctors and not knowing what was wrong for over two years we finally got to the point of trying for a baby and guess what...it happened on the first try. I just feel so blessed to have found the right doctor and not need to go to more extreme measures like IVF. The world of infertility is not fun but part of me feels like if we got through that we can get through anything!
I went to the hospital for blood tests on the Wednesday after visiting my doctor. Could I wait for them to call me later? Of course not! On my way home I stopped at Target and bought a test. It was immediately positive. I didn't believe it. I called Ryan, he did believe it. While I was on the phone with him the nurse from my doctor office called and said "Congratualtions!". I will never forget that call. I called everyone who knew what was going on-the grandparents to be, aunts and uncles to be and a couple special friends. Ryan and I went to lunch. That was all we had time for, we were moving in two days! Ahhhh!