13 weeks update

Today we had our second ultrasound and doctor appointment.  Thankfully this will be my last vaginal ultrasound; the rest will be abdominal. Yea! Overall, it was an exciting and informative day.

The first pic is a twin shot together. Since they are getting bigger, it is getting harder to get a pic together.  Both babies were moving some in and out of the "picture frame" so it was hard to get a good picture of them together.  Basically Baby A is on top and you can see the top of the head and bits of 2 hands.  Baby B is below with it's head towards the left side and tummy  on the right.  We heard the heartbeats of both babies and could actually see their little chests moving and beating. So neat! They are both at 150 bpm, which is exactly right on track. The tech also measured them and they are measuring at 12 weeks and 6 days each, so also right on track! We are so thankful and blessed that everything is measuring, beating and looking beautiful for our twins.

Baby A

Baby A was quite the mover and shaker in my tummy.  It was flipping and sliding around so much that it was hard for the tech to get a good picture.  This baby decided to give us a side profile.  The baby's head is on the right, facing up and you can see the baby's stomach and that little blob over the top of the stomach is a hand waving to us.  The baby has legs, you just can't see them in this picture. We saw all the parts as the baby was moving and grooving. Elliot thinks this baby will have my personality of "Look at ME!" and constantly on the go, go, go!

Baby B

Talk about night and day difference in the babies!  Baby B was relaxing and not moving much at all.  Baby B also gave the tech as hard time getting a picture because it would only move when she prodded and poked it with the wand so she could see the rest of the baby.  This goober looked directly at the camera the ENTIRE time, we never saw it's profile. It did like whenever I laughed; Baby B would move a bit more. After laughing another time, Baby B takes it's arm and 

ran it over it's face, like a "whew!" movement. It was so cute! In the picture below you can see the baby looking at us, the darker spots on the face are the eyes and you can see the shoulders and top of the torso. I think this baby has Elliot's personality of calmness and observing the world around you.



Momma
Below are some belly pictures.  Ginger had been playing around my feet during the several pictures Elliot took, so I finally picked her up so she could be in the photos too.  My nausea is starting to lessen, but to be replaced with indigestion!  I eat Tums like candy, but still feel like there is a lump in my throat, so I was told to take an over the counter heartburn medicine.  All the nausea and indigestion means I have actually LOST weight this first trimester!  I was worried that the babies weer not getting the nutrition they needed, but Dr. Wright assures me that the babies are healthy and growing right on schedule.  Even though I throw up frequently and a lot, the twins are getting what they need. I can tell my belly is moving outward and changing in dimensions.  I've also been instructed to eat like a bird, meaning no large meals and to nibble on food all day. I am still waiting to feel more energized and ready and able to do more.

Daddy

Elliot had really been wonderful.  He has had to pick up a lot of slack since I have been tired and nauseous.  He's done lots of chores, cooking, vacuuming, rockin' the litter box, cleaning the toilet and taking out the trash whenever I say "I'm gonna throw up, get that garbage out of here!".  I feel very blessed to have such a wonderful and caring husband. Last night he said to me that it felt like Christmas because we got to see the babies again the next day. Awwww! I think he has been more excited to see the ultrasounds than me.  Elliot was determined to try to get the tech to tell him the gender of the babies, even though I told him it's too early to definitely tell.  No, we or the tech do not know the gender of the babies; Elliot will have to wait a bit more!

Mid-August I go back for a Doctor's visit and a blood test.  The blood test is to determine the potential of any chromosomal abnormalities/Down's Syndrome via my blood, which may also show up in the babies.  If the test raises any red flags, an amniocentesis would be done on each twin to determine any problems.  On 8/31, my birthday!, we will have a anatomy ultrasound and doctor's appointment.  It's then we will find our the gender of the babies!  We can't wait!!

A Hiking We Will Go....

One of the many reasons I love living in the Asheville area is being surrounded by God's beauty.  This area of the Blue Ridge Mountains is covered in lush forests, beautiful waterfalls, many forms of wildlife and clean air.  On Friday, July 6, 2012 Elliot and I met up with our friends Pam, Mike and their 2 year old daughter Riley for a trip to Graveyard Fields, which is located along the Blue Ridge Parkway.  Supposedly Graveyard Fields gets its name from early settlers to the area noticing that some sort of windstorm wiped out the trees and vegetation leaving stumps, exposed roots and other plant life. This supposedly resembled gravestones.  I didn't really see much leavings of a long ago windstorm since forest is starting to reclaim the land.  You can find more information and pics here: http://www.romanticasheville.com/graveyard.htm.

We all met up around 10:00 am, which was great because there were still several parking spots left.  When we left, about 2 hours later, all parking spots and empty grassy area were filled and people were parking along the road. It is a very popular area due the mix of easy and harder hiking and the beautiful waterfalls.  You descend down some stone steps and onto a paved path that is covered with rhododendron along the sides and above, so much so that it blocks out a good amount of sun.

Elliot and Amy along the rhododendron path

You descend several flights of wooden steps and reach the top of the Second Falls/Lower Falls.  There is a nice wooden bridge that spans the top of the Second Falls/Lower Falls. While Pam and I took off Riley's shoes so she could feel the water and splash around, Mike took pictures and Elliot played mountain goat and took off upstream to take some pictures.

View on right side of bridge, top of the Second/Lower Falls

View on left side of bridge; walk upstream to Upper/First Falls

 Cross over the bridge and you reach 2 hiking paths; one leads to the Upper Falls/First Falls and other other to the Second Falls/Lower Falls. We took the path to Second Falls/ Lower Falls which leads to a swimming hole and lots of places to wade around in the cool water.  Most of the trail is dirt and leads down some nice wooden stair when you get closer to the water.

 

 Second/Lower Falls; in the lower left corner you can see part of the swimming hole

Pam and Riley

 Amy, Pam, Riley and Mike enjoying the many water pools created by the water moving around the rocks. There were mini waterfalls among the rocks. Pretty neat!!

  

One of my favorite pics from the day. Pam and Mike wanted to walk around on the big rocks near the swimming hole.  Elliot and I offered to sit with Riley, partly since I was NOT taking my 11 week clumsy pregnant body over big rocks. Riley and I had fun counting things, finding colors, and waving to Mommy and Daddy.

We played in the water for about an hours before heading back the path we came to get back to our cars.  We then drove to Devil's Courthouse, named because the rock formation looks like a devil's face??  We had brought items to have a picnic lunch of chicken salad on croissants, Pringles, watermelon, grapes, strawberries, cheddar cheese cubes, soda and chocolate chip cookies.  Delicious!Since it was noon time and a pretty steep walk, we chose to not do the walk, but I hope to one day, when I'm not pregnant. :-)

Riley by the sign

 Beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains!

We had a wonderful day with some great friends.  A few years ago we went hiking in a different location on the Blue Ridge Parkway and had lunch at Devil's Courthouse with Pam and Mike. Although we did not know it at the time, Pam was pregnant with Riley!  Hopefully we can ALL go hiking again some summer day with 2 more kiddies in tow.



Pregnancy Questions Answered

Since announcing we are pregnant and expecting twins, I've had several questions:

When did you know/how did you know you were pregnant?

• We were trying to get pregnant so it was not unexpected to find out we were pregnant, but I did have some early signs before it was confirmed.
• Early signs- bloated feeling that did not go away after a few days, sensitive/tingly breasts, hungry ALL the time and slight nausea if I did not eat soon after feeling hungry, frequent trips to the restroom, clothes felt tighter and I did not want ANYTHING touching my stomach
• I am a side sleeper. Before I even took one of the tests, I knew I might be pregnant because it felt different when I slept on my side. Not painful, slightly uncomfortable and just plain different.
• I drink mostly water and a lot of water every day.  Kinda gross, but I noticed my urine color was consistenly dark. Usually it is very light due to all the water I drink.
• Complete confirmation came with taking 2 at home pregnancy tests, on different days.

   
Did you expect/suspect twins? Are you sure it's twins?

• I've always thought and hoped I might have twins. My mom is a twin and we have a family history of twins on my mom's side.  Family lore is that the oldest girl in the family has the twins. The first set of twins that I know of was my Great Grandmother Helen's twin sisters.  Rumor is that they died as young children in a hotel fire, but I've never heard confirmation one way or another, just that they existed. My grandmother, Norma, was the oldest girl in her family and her first pregnancy was twins-my Uncle John and my Mom, Janice. I am Janice's oldest girl, but the 2nd oldest girl and grandchild in the family. The oldest grandchild and girl is my cousin Angela, my Uncle John's daughter.  But technically, my Mom is the oldest girl in the family and I am her oldest girl, so the twins are happening again! I do think it would be kinda cool if my sister Megan or another one of my cousin's got the twin blessing too. It will be interesting to see if I have a girl and if she has twin's one day!

Looking back, I guess there were some potential signs that it was twins.

•  When I took the at home pregnancy tests, both times it turned positive immediately.  I mean I didn't even have time to lay the stick on the counter and it was already a plus sign. I thought I did it wrong since the box says to wait X amount of time. Nope! Same thing when I took the second test 2 days later.
• At 8 weeks, I needed bigger pants and skirts. Everything felt tight!  I do have some of those pregnancy bands that you can wear your regular clothes unbuttoned or unzipped, put the band on to hide the zips and buttons and look somewhat normal in your clothes.  Pregnancy belly bands have really helped me wear my regular clothes a bit longer. 
• My breasts were also tingly and felt heavy. I have a large chest and most days just ignore and deal with them. This felt different so I knew something was up.
• I was hungry about every 2 hours
• Of course, nausea, nausea, nausea

The main reason we found out/knew it was twins was an early vaginal ultrasound at 7 weeks.  Most people do not have an ultrasound this early, but they did mine because of  bleeding. On a Saturday night, I started having some major scary bleeding. It was not just spotting; I had already spotted a couple times before, a little scary, but it stopped. This bleeding was bright red, had clumps/clots from dime sized to the length of your finger, and went on for 5+ minutes. BUT no pain or cramping.  Every time I tried to wipe to see if it was stopping, it just got worse and worse.  I alternated between trying not to cry because I was losing my baby, freaking out because I couldn't get the blood to stop and wondering why if I was losing this baby, why wasn't it painful. At one point, I just stopped wiping, as I listened to the blood do a steady dripping pour out of my body into the toilet bowl (I'll never forget that sound) and thought "ok God, if this is your will, thank you for not making it painful and please let this end soon".

During this time, Elliot is on the phone with the emergency line to our doctor. He gets thru quickly to the on call nurse, tells her the issue and she says she's going to page the on call Dr. and have them call us back.  Fifteen minutes later, the Dr. calls back and Elliot and her discuss what's been going on. My bleeding has finally ended and I'm resting on the bed. The Dr. says since there was no pain, I'm probably ok, just put on a pad, monitor to see if I bleed more and rest all day on Sunday.  Monday we call our Dr. and after hearing about the bleeding, they want us in for an ultrasound.  I am hopeful at this point that I still have the baby, since there was no pain, and are praying that the baby and I are ok and healthy and nothing is too damaged from all this bleeding.

Elliot and I nervously go into the ultrasound room and get ready for the tech.  She comes in, gets me and the machine ready and begins. We had explained to her about the bleeding and were worried about the status of our baby. She turned the machine's screen away from our view and Elliot and I wait. I'm watching Elliot and he's watching the tech.  I can't look at the tech; I'm awaiting the news that the baby is gone and there's damage. There's a long, long pause as I hear her turning dials and moving around the ultrasound wand.  She announces "everything is ok, and its twins!".  Elliot's eyebrows hit the roof!  The tech turns the screen and I see 2 sacs and 2 blobs floating around.  Elliot asks "are you sure?"  We are both in shock-amazed that our baby(ies!) is(are) alive and it's twins!  She starts zooming in to look at each and do all the necessary measurements.  She tells us that they are measuring for 8 weeks (yea! I gained a week!) and they look great and healthy.  I start quietly crying because I can't believe they are healthy after all that bleeding and it's twins. What an amazing blessing!  The tech prints out a ton of pics for the Dr. and gives us the three you see below. 

We spent a joyful afternoon and evening call our family and friends to share the happy news. Please pray for us and our babies in the coming months.

Our first picture of the babies!

Baby A!

Baby B!

Now Blogging...

I've always been a journal writer, but its been harder and harder to find the time to put pen to paper.  With technology, I can still be a journal writer and keep my thoughts for posterity. HAHA!  I've always been fascinated when reading people's journals/diaries and hope one day my children will find my musings interesting and perhaps amusing. 

Several years ago I obtained  some of my grandmother's journals and from time to time I curl up with them to see what my grandmother was thinking and feeling on a particular day.  My sister and I have/had a different relationship with our grandmother than the rest of our cousins, due to living out of state and only seeing Grandma Broomfield 1-2 times a year, if that. Other than pictures and mental memories, I only, fortunately, have several pieces of jewelry and other items that belonged to my Grandma.  I wore her wedding ring set on my right hand the day I got married.  Now pregnant with my own twins, I realized I have some of the journals from when she was pregnant with her twins (my mom and Uncle John) and the early months of her twins lives.  I think it will be fascinating to see what she was thinking during that time. I do wish she was here to meet her great grandchildren, but Grandma passed away while I was in high school. 

The other reason for this blog, is that the majority of Elliot and I's family and friends live out of state, including my parents and sister.  Hopefully, this can be a source of keeping up with our lives and our babies progress. Happy Reading!