Oh Boy, it's 2 Boys!!!

We had our anatomy ultrasound about 2 weeks ago and I am still in a bit of shock and disbelief that the twins are boys!  I thought for sure that it was a boy and girl, but apparently the good Lord wants me to be the mother of boys. My constant mental mantra has been "Boys! What do I know about boys! I know NOTHING about boy parts! What do I do??"  AHHHHHH!

  

Elliot and I each left school early  to get to the ultrasound at 3pm.  I was getting worried that Elliot would not make it in time and they had just called my name to come back to the ultrasound room when Elliot walked in the door to the waiting room. Talk about good timing.  This was my first abdominal ultrasound so I was a bit excited and nervous to see how it would go.  Overall, it was not bad, but there was a lot of prodding and pressure as the technician tried to maneuver and get the images she needed.  The ultrasound was an hour long, since it is 2 babies, so somewhat uncomfortable.  I asked the technician at the beginning if we could find out the genders right away, but she informed me that this was an anatomy ultrasound and not a gender confirmation ultrasound. While I understood her point, she could have shown a bit more compassion in knowing that many couples like to know, perhaps more so if it is twins.  I think she did her job well, but she and I did not mix well together, basically because she lacked a personality.  I much preferred the technician we had the previous two ultrasounds.  I know she had a job to do, but tone is everything when dealing with the public.

Anyway, the technician started with Baby A, who resides in the lower level, basically under my belly button.  Baby A measured and looked great for 19 weeks. He also was moving around quite a bit, no surprise there!, so it was hard for her to get all the pics and measurements she needed. The technician tried several times to see the gender, but the baby kept his legs closed the entire time. After 25 minutes, I was getting worried we would not be able to find out and have to leave not knowing one of the baby's gender.  The technician moved on to Baby B, who was a bit less active.  Baby B is in the upper level, above my belly button. When she went to measure his thigh bone, his legs were open, so the technician could definitely announce it was a boy!  Elliot's face just lit up!  I was excited to finally know what one of the baby's gender was. From the picture on the screen, if she had not said it was a boy, I would not have known what I was looking at. I mean you can tell something is there, but it could have been a finger for all I knew. Thankfully, Baby B is also measured and looked great for 19 weeks.

We had a couple minutes left before our allotted hour ultrasound so the technician went back to Baby A. I was hoping and praying that we would leave know the sex of Baby A.  I kept imagining having to come back weeks later to find out the sex. My family, friends and co workers were also anxious to hear the results of the ultrasound and I didn't want to report that we only knew the gender of one baby.  Additionally, we wanted to go crib shopping and start a registry that weekend, which would be hard, but not impossible to do not knowing the gender. So she moves the wand over to Baby A again, and says "oh look, he's smiling" and then his hand went up and waved at us!  She moved down lower on Baby A and announced that Baby A was also a boy and pointed out his boy parts.  I was relieved to know the genders of the babies, but I was truly shocked that Baby A was a boy.  Elliot asked if she was sure and the technician stated she would not have told us the sex of either baby if she wasn't absolutely sure.

After the ultrasound, we had our doctor's appointment.  Dr. Wright said that both babies look great and weigh right where they need to be at approximately 9 oz.  There is only a 3 gram weight difference in the the boys, which the Dr. said was excellent. He said that it's hard for twins to grow much closer together than they are right now. He was quite happy that they are growing so equally, which is a big concern in twin pregnancies.  If one baby is significantly bigger than the other, it puts stress on the other and you may have deliver early to help the smaller baby survive.  We also discussed my returning nausea.  Thankfully, it is limiting itself to the morning and I can eat soon after.  I think it could also be related to the congestion I've developed. He suggested I take some Vitamin B to help with the nausea.

I think this one shows how I am definitely growing more forward than wider, at least at this point in my pregnancy.

I've become a bit paranoid with how big my stomach actually is.  In this picture, I look pretty big.

Taken moments after the other picture, my belly is less pronounced.  I don't try to pooch out my stomach, but maybe I am? Or maybe it looks different from this side of my body.

After the calling everyone with the news of our babies's genders, we went to dinner at Cheddar's for my birthday.  After a yummy dinner, we went to Babies R Us to start our registry.  It was fairly simple to do, and we lasted about an hour.  It was about 8:30 and I was getting tired, so we headed home. 

Saturday morning we go up and headed to Greenville, SC to look for cribs. Elliot and I were hoping to buy a better quality crib of solid wood that can be converted to a toddler and later a full size bed.  After much research, the only place in the area that sells solid wood cribs is Baby Furniture Plus Kids in Greenville, SC.  They were having a Labor Day weekend sale and we got a pretty decent deal.  Interestingly, we found out through our own research that very few cribs are actually American made, other than buying from the Amish.  One brand is more "modern" looking and sells for around $5,000-$6,000. Yikes!  Baby's Dream, which is the brand we ended up choosing, is the only other one we could find that is at least partially American made. They harvest the pine in Chile because it's grown in harsher winter conditions and thus a bit stronger and the design is cut in Chile. Then it is shipped to Georgia where is it stained and packaged for sale.  This last year or so Elliot and I have tried to be a bit more conscious in where the stuff we are buying is coming from.  We think it is important to try to buy USA or at least try to find something USA made when making purchases.  We were saving up to buy a new dining room table that could seat at least 6 people and had a nice chunk saved until we found out that our table fund had to be turned into the crib fund.  We still hope to buy a dining room table soon, but just not as soon as we had hoped. 

Besides the 2 cribs of a medium brown stain, we also purchased a Baby's Dream brand matching dresser/changing table.  I did not want to buy the top pieces /hutch to the dresser, so it will be a changing table with drawers underneath.  We also purchases a swivel, reclining chair in a bright red fabric.  It will go nicely with the sky blue walls.  I like the color I painted the walls last year, and room being so large, I am certainly not painting it again. That sky blue will work beautifully for boys and would have worked for a girl too. Everything but the chair has arrived to the store, but we are holding off on delivery until the chair gets in so everything can be deliver together.  That and the guest room and office need to trade places and become the babies's rooms and guest room. Elliot and I have being sorting out and clearing out and realizing we have too much junk. Is this how it is when anyone has a baby or just us? HA!