Sunday, April 25, 2010

Such an exciting time

So I'm definitely, without a doubt, feeling this baby move.  Not only do I feel the little rolls and tumbles inside my belly, but I'm starting to feel them from the outside as well.  I loved this part of my pregnancy with the girls.  The rolls and kicks and jabs were just enough to feel them if I was paying attention, but they weren't so strong to be keeping me up at night!  Hopefully I won't be kept awake as much this time since there's only one baby.

I'm 18 weeks today and the baby should be measuring about 5 1/2 inches (just from crown to rump) and weighing in at a little shy of 7 ounces.  We have our fetal anatomy ultrasound scheduled in 2 1/2 weeks, so we'll get to find out how big the baby is then.  Yay!  I'm so excited!  I'm not used to not seeing the baby all the time.  With the girls, I had an ultrasound at every single appointment.  So I got to see them grow bigger and bigger every couple weeks.  I've only gotten to see this baby once so far, so I'm definitely looking forward to our ultrasound in mid-May.

We're slowly working on converting the guest bedroom into the new nursery.  Since the girls have never been great sleepers, we've decided not to rock the boat by moving them to a new room.  So the girls will stay in the comfort of their own room.  I can just imagine the sleepless nights everyone in the house would have if we chose to move them into the guest bedroom!  No.thank.you.  So anyway, we still have some furniture we need to move downstairs, then we need to repaint the walls (first prime, then repaint).  And then we need to get some baby furniture in the room!  Seems like a lot to do yet.  But I remember panicking at about this time when I was pregnant with the girls, and their room was all set and ready to go by the time I was put on bedrest just 8 weeks later.  So I just need to breathe...it'll all get done!

Now we're off to go get the girls' 18 month pictures taken.  I seriously can't believe they're a year and a half already!  I feel like we just hung their 12 month pictures on the wall.  Time's sure a flyin'!

Thursday, April 22, 2010

In my whole life...

I've never had a tick.  And I'm about to be 28 years old in just over a week.  Nate's never had a tick either.  But leave it to our 18 month old daughter to end up with a deer tick on her head!!  We were at Buffalo Wild Wings over the weekend and Adalyn was getting a bit antsy waiting for the food to arrive.  So I was stroking her head when I felt a little lump.  At first I thought it was an Oreo crumb (long story), but when I looked closer, I realized that she had a tick trying to burrow into her head!

We took her outside to get a little bit more light.  Luckily it wasn't really attached yet.  So my cousin Jordan easily removed it and then identified that it was a deer tick.  How strange.  Nate had given them a bath that day before I got home from work and said that he hadn't noticed anything.  Shortly after baths were done, I got home and we loaded the girls up to meet several of my family members at BWW.  So we're not sure if it flew into her hair on our walk into the restaurant or what.  She couldn't have had it very long because like I said, it really wasn't attached to her yet.  Hmmm.

The girls like to stand on their chairs to look outside.

And why sit in the wagon when you can stomp on it?

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Appointment day

So both the girls and I had appointments yesterday.

I had another OB appointment in the morning.  So far things are going really well.  My blood pressure was good and I'm currently up 3 pounds.  Dr L had to track down little Baby J.  She found him for a brief moment but then he escaped.  So she had to hunt him down again.  The heartbeat was sitting in the mid 150's.  I'm 90% positive that I've started to feel Baby J roll around in there.  I'm shocked that I'm feeling movement this early, but maybe it's because I know what it feels like from before!

And the best news of all...I'm not crazy.  You see, at 16 weeks, I feel like I'm as big as I was at 20 weeks or so with the girls.  Turns out, I AM measuring ahead.  I'm measuring more like I'm 20-21 weeks pregnant versus just 16.  Of course it brings back memories of how I always measured several weeks ahead when I was pregnant with the girls.  Dr L assured me that the girls just stretched me out so well last time that I might measure ahead for most of this pregnancy.  That's fine.  Just so long as they don't find a surprise extra baby in there at my next ultrasound in four weeks!!

Oh yes, we've decided that I will NOT be getting the progesterone shots.  They're really only indicated for women who've had a premature delivery...and I didn't.  I had a ton of preterm labor, but not a preterm delivery (yay!).  And there's really no research stating that the progesterone will prevent me from experiencing preterm labor again.  So we've decided not to go that route.

Anyway, the girls had their appointments in the afternoon.  They did so well.  We had to wait for an hour before we were seen by Dr K.  But they were content playing with the toys in the waiting room and then "exploring" what the office had to offer...a seat that spins, stirrups (haha), blood pressure cuff, etc.  And there weren't any shots, so that was awesome!  They're developing just fine.  My only concern was their picky eating and I questioned whether I should be giving them Pediasure.  But Dr K thinks that they're getting plenty of the things they need.

As for stats:

Adalyn:
23 pounds 1 ounce and 32 1/4 inches

Alivia:
23 pounds 8 ounces and 32 3/4 inches

We know for a fact that their heights aren't accurate.  There's no way that Alivia's taller than Adalyn.  At most, they're the same height though I think Addi's probably about 1/4" taller than Livi.  But it's such an inexact science in how they're measured at this age.  So we'll just roll with it.

Bathtime fun with bubbles!

Saturday, April 10, 2010

Twins, twins, everywhere!!

I've known some news for quite a while now that I've been meaning to share...

So although Nate and I may not be expecting twins, my brother and sister-in-law are!!  My new nieces or nephews are due just two weeks after our new baby is due.  It came as quite the shock to them and when my brother shared the news with me, I must've said "no you're not" at least five times.  I thought for sure he was just trying to be funny.  Never in a million years did I think that both of us would have a set of twins.  So far my sister-in-law is doing well and only had one day of morning sickness!  I won't even begin to tell you how jealous I am!

Anyway, my parents just have the two of us, my brother and me.  And in under two years, they will go from 0 to 5 grandkids!  That's just crazy.  Family get togethers are going to be insane.

To wrap it up:
My mom is an identical twin.
My husband is an identical twin.
I have my own set of fraternal twins.
And I'm going to be the proud auntie of a set of identical nieces or nephews!

That's a lot of twins.

Saturday, April 3, 2010

All is well with Baby J

I had an OB appointment on Wednesday.  And well, it didn't exactly go as planned.  After almost an hour of sitting in the waiting room, I was finally taken back to an exam room.  I saw Dr L walking around with a medical student, so I knew she would be running behind.  Anyway, ten minutes later the medical assistant came back and said "ummm, yeah, so a lot has changed since I was in here last."  Apparently Dr L got called away to surgery and had to leave right away.  Bummer.  So instead of seeing her, I got to see one of the nurse practitioners.

I'm still measuring right on track.  Which is still a little weird for me since I'm so used to measuring several weeks ahead.  Little Baby J had a nice heartbeat running in the 160's to 170's.  And although I can't quite feel any movement yet, we could definitely hear him or her tapping the doppler several times.  So we know that there's a wiggly one in there!  It's just a matter of time before I start feeling Baby J move on a regular basis.

I'll actually be going back for another OB visit in just two weeks instead of four to see Dr L.  We'll be discussing whether or not I'll be starting weekly progesterone shots to help prevent the preterm labor I had last time.  And if we decide to go that route, we would start those at about 18 weeks, which is why I can't wait 4 weeks until I was supposed to see her next.

So although things didn't go exactly how I was planning them to go that day, everything is great with the new baby...and that's all that really matters!!  But I'll definitely be looking forward to my visit with Dr L so that we can hammer out a few more details as to how we'll be monitoring this pregnancy.