15 week belly shot.

Well, I definately feel rounder and look pretty round in the picture. What do you think?

14 weeks

15 weeks.

Yikes! I can tell a difference........guess I need to keep up with the weekly belly shot. Even with the scary stretch marks!

It's a good thing we are having babies......

someone is not too thrilled with having his picture taken......Well, not that he was ever too cooperative with the camera. Usually he tried to attack the camera cord of lens cover. makes for an interesting picture.

New OB.

Well....I've switched doctors. I hated to do it, but needed to to feel safe and comfortable with my decision on where to deliver. The hospital we originally planned to deliver at is located about 15 minutes from our home. It also does not have a nursery that can handle any sort of respiratory problems at birth....so they would be loaded into an ambulance and shipped to the local children's hospital downtown. Leaving Chad to decide if he stays with me or follows the baby/babies.......That's not a decision he needs to have to make. So, Thursday I called my doctor's office. I fully expected to leave a voice message for the nurse, but was surprised when she answered the phone. Even more surprising is that she had picked up my chart as she was answering the phone. How bizarre is that? Well, I discussed my concerns with her, and explained that the office did nothing to make me change my decision, rather the need to advocate for our babies and ensure they were save and have available all necessary services. I hope and pray that they do not need NICU services, but there is a 50/50 chance they will need services of some sort. Am I overreacting? Maybe. But I don't want to regret anything for a minute. Friday, my OB's nurse left a message for me to call. Once I called the office, she gave me the name of a different OB to treat us that delivers at the hospital I work at. Luckily, I have heard great things about this physician from both singleton and twin mommies. I will see her for my first appointment on April 16th. I was even able to get a late afternoon appointment, which is a rare occurence it seems. Of course, my coworkers think they will be able to visit me a random.....I might have to register at the hospital with "no info" so they can't find me! Ha! Just kidding.
Ok, enjoying the great, but rainy, weather. It was in the high 60's earlier today and is supposed to continue to be in the 60-70's the rest of the week! My daffodils are blooming, with many more bulbs ready to bloom in the next week or two!
Later, Jennie

Baby pictures.

I think I'm getting a hang of taking decent pictures of the ultrasound pictures. I scanned the first set of ultrasoun pictures, but they turned brown, almost sepia, in color. A fellow scrapbooker took a photo of her ultrasound pictures with good results, so I gave it a try. I was happy with the results! Baby A cooperated and was easy to see. It is so nice to see more of a baby shape and less of a tadpole shape. I can even convince myself that I see five toes on the babies left foot! Baby B did not cooperate as much. Not sure what orientation they each have in my uterus, but the best pictures shows just part of the head of Baby B, with a unidentifiable portion of Baby A to the right of Baby B.
Ok.....thought this would soften the blow of seeing my stretch mark riddled belly.....Ha!

Later, Jennie

High resolution cameras are overrated.

Really, they are. Is it really important to have a high megapixel camera to capture all the details? Do you really need to see every nook and cranny? I thought it was quite nice to have a camera that captures details. That is until I decided to take a picture of my growing belly. Now, I am not surprised to have stretch marks. I expect to be one big purple stretch mark by the time I'm at the end of my pregnancy. I am surprised to see how many stretch marks have already shown up. My dear hubby does not think I'm showing (understand, I was curvy prepregnancy). What do you think?

Please...be nice!
More pictures to post soon.

baby report.

I had another OB appointment today. Things are looking great. My cervix is measuring around 3.5cm (down from 5cm). As long as it stays longer than 2.5cm, I'm ok. Both babies look great! I heard both heart beats and was able to see them on the screen. They were not able to tell if there is one or two placentas, so they could be identical or fraternal.....My next appointment is in five week! Glad things are going well enough that I can take a break from the every two week appointments!
I'll try to share U/S pictures later this week.

Later, Jennie

Are you lucky or not?

A blog challenge was issued at 2jills, a scrapbook message board I visit.

Let's see, am I lucky?

Though life has given me lemons at times.....somehow I've been able to make sweet lemonade. So far this year we've sold our home out of state and found out we are having twins! I usually win at least one contest of some sort each year.....I've already won a Paul Mitchell hair care package in January. I guess I should play the lottery more......Oh well!

I've had a lucky life, blessed with a wonderful husband and a bright future!

later, Jennie

Premature celebration........

Somehow, I thought that by entering the 12th week, I had entered the second trimester......that is, until I was reading the daily baby growth flip calendar and realized that the second trimester doesn't start until the END of the 12th week! But.....this morning, I remembered that a twin full-term pregnancy is 38 weeks, rather than 40 weeks for a singleton pregnancy. So, I've decided to take a week off the first and second trimester! LOL! Do you think that will work? Do you think my slight burst of energy is psychologically induced by my thinking I had entered the second trimester? Who knows........

Still gagging when I try to brush my tongue with a mouth full of toothpaste foam. If I spit, rinse the toothbrush and scrub my tongue, I'm MUCH better.......Aren't you glad I told you???

We purchased paint for the nursery, entry way, upstairs hallway and living room. The nursery will be sage green, with chocolate brown accents. We are planning to move Chad's office out of the future nursery this weekend to start planning for the baby room. Chad is planning to paint the last weekend of April while I'm away for a long weekend visiting friends in LA.

I think I found a modern day mumu. Just without the gaudy floral print. I stopped by Old Navy yesterday while out running errands. I searched the clearance racks for potential late maternity clothes. As luck would have it, I came across a steal of a bargain......regular $32.50, currently price 97 cents......(c)ankle length, kimono sleeves, deep v-neck and best of all, stretchy! I'm going to be styling laying around during late pregnancy and early post partum. Oh, the joy......

Ok...latests update from me. September 21 (or sooner) seems so far away, yet I'm sure it will be here before we know it!

Later, Jennie

dry heaves......

Is it monumental when you have your first dry heave that sends you to the toilet in dread of your first morning sickness drool into the toilet? For some reason, morning teeth brushing still gives me a problem. This morning threw me over the edge......of the toilet. The OB nurse recommended using mouthwash prior to brushing my teeth....I'll give it a try tomorrow morning (since only my morning brushing bothers me).
OB appointment report:
Weight down 2 pounds.
One baby moving around, flapping arms and legs. Other baby pretty calm. Hearts puttering along. Huge heads in comparison to the rest of their peanut body.
Cervix length 5cm. Hopefully it remains around that length.
Next appointment, 2 weeks.
Looking forward to entering the second trimester soon. I'm still enjoying the small burst of extra energy. It's not profound, yet enough to not drive me to crawl into bed by 8pm. I even made a good, home cooked meal for the second night in a row. Mom's homemade reuben sandwiches! You just can't beat my mom's wonderful recipe.
Ok....it's 8:30. I'm going to head up to bed during a commercial break from American Idol. I'm not a huge fan of the show...but what can a family do when their normal programming (Bones) is interrupted!
Later, Jennie

High Risk?

I signed up with a case manager with my insurance company. She will follow up with me at least monthly and act as a liason between the insurance company and my OB. Well, today she called for the third time in three work days while I was at work. She notified me that she was closing my file since she was not able to get in touch with me....hello, I work full-time. Is this that odd of a concept? Luckily, she reopened my case and took note of my work hours so she can call me toward the end of her work day.

Her second joyful news was that she expected me to be taken off work duty soon.....like in the next week or so. Apparently, she considers me high risk because I am carrying twins and used fertility drugs to conceive. Of course, this is something I'll need to clarify with my OB tomorrow.....As for being taking off work duty.....work has been kicking my butt lately. The past three days of work have been non-stop and very busy days. I KNOW that I won't be able to continue at this pace for much longer.......luckily, I took out short term disability insurance that would kick in 14 days after disability sets in. Hopefully things would work out if I were to stop working due to pregnancy issues, I will be able to use the STD benefits......

I'm regained a slight amount of energy...enough that allowed me to make a semi-homemade meal tonight for supper. It was nice to eat a decent meal that was quick and easy. We are going to be enjoying more of those soon.

Ok, enough excitement from me. I've been heading to bed by 8pm or so lately....the extra wind down time at night has been wonderful! I'm such an exciting person.......

Later, Jennie

Update.

Tired. Backache. Tired. Not hungry. That sums it up.....

But, I am learning to not suck in my stomach anymore....not that it helped much before, but now it's pretty useless to even attempt! I'm still able to wear my normal jeans and shirts. But still occasionally wear the comfy maternity pants and shirts during fatter days.

It's getting easier to brush my teeth at night. For some reason, the gagging is worse in the morning. I'm just learning to not brush my tongue too much.....

We rearranged to living room today and plan to purchase a new couch. We are going to check out a few stores today and are ready to purchase with cash in hand. We need to move Chad's office into the bonus room off our master bathroom. His office will be the nursery. I picked up fabric yesterday. I finally found some sage colored fabric, so can get started on some items for the nursery. I'm hoping to convince Chad to head over to Babies R Us before our dinner date with friends tonight. It's next to the restaurant we are going to, so should be easy to convince him!

Tomorrow I'm declaring it a scrap day. I started a small 4x6 inch scrapbook for baby A's ultrasound pictures. I want to finish the covers for baby B's album, then start the inside pages. I'll share the progress as I complete them!

Later,
Jennie