20 Weeks

Today I am 20 weeks pregnant with the twins!

We had an appointment today with our doctor and an ultrasound with the perinatal specialist, Dr. Drake. It was a LONG day! We had our detailed ultrasound of the babies which took about an hour and a half. Then we were supposed to meet with Dr. Drake right after that but she had been called over to the hospital so was running about an hour behind. Our appointment with the OB, Dr. Polzin, was coming up so we went there first and then back to see Dr. Drake. I was glad I took a snack!

So at our last ultrasound with Dr. Polzin, they noticed a "white spot" on Baby B's heart. Dr. Polzin said it was nothing to worry about and don't Google it, which I promptly went home and did. It can apparently be a "soft" marker for Down Syndrome which was pretty scary. They also thought that Baby B had a two vessel cord instead of the normal three vessel cord. We didn't really know much about what this might mean. So with those two findings they sent us to see Dr. Drake, the "high risk" OB. Apparantly high risk OB, perinatologist, and maternal-fetal medicine specialist are synonymous (at least from what I'm gathering).

The appointment with Dr. Polzin was uneventful. It was a quick in and out. We asked a couple questions, he went over all our information again, and that was pretty much it. He was pleased with the information we took him from the ultrasound today and is going to follow whatever recommendations for follow-up Dr. Drake gives.

So onto our meeting with Dr. Drake. First I have to say she was amazing! She was so kind and down-to-earth and made us feel at ease. She said Baby B (the boy) DOES have a two vessel cord. Usually babies have a three vessel cord which has two arteries and one vein. In our baby's cord there is only one artery. A two vessel cord means the baby is more likely to have heart and kidney defects. The GREAT news is that Baby B's heart echo was normal and his kidney's looked normal! She said that usually she sees that the one artery compensates and becomes larger than normal and there usually aren't any problems. However we will continue to follow up with her so she can monitor him and watch for any problems such as delayed growth. The white spot was still there but Dr. Drake COMPLETELY reassured us that it was nothing to worry about. It's technical name is an echogenic focus. The spot is on a ventricle which is a normal finding. It is basically a collection of calcium in that location and will go away over time. She said if it were somewhere else in the heart it could possibly be a marker for Down Syndrome. So basically Baby B looks healthy! Praise God!

Baby A (the girl) looks healthy as well. Her cardiac echo was incomplete because she was being uncooperative and wanted to lay on her tummy. Though everything they did see looked normal. They will try to get the rest of the pictures they need for her at our next ultrasound in four weeks.

Today Baby A was 11 ounces and Baby B was 13 ounces. Baby A's heart rate was 150 and Baby B's heart rate was 136. They are looking quite adorable if I do say so myself! Though they were both mildly uncooperative at times - guess they are just getting us ready for when they are here!

According to Baby Center they are about 10 inches from head to feet which is the size of a banana! I can definitely feel them moving around but I can't wait for Jeremy to be able to feel it too!

So I think that's it about the babies. Hopefully all that medical information made sense and I got it correct.

Completely unrelated Jeremy and I are trying out E-Mealz which is a website that gives you five weekly recipes and a shopping list for everything you need to make all of them. It is $1.25 per week. This week we just used the sample menu with three recipes to try it out but I really think I'm going to like it. I HATE coming up with ideas for supper and I HATE making three trips to the grocery store to get everything I need because I can never seem to remember everything at once. This seems like a good solution. They also have low-fat, low-carb, gluten free and other specific dietary needs. Check it out! I have to give credit to Gerry Thomas for this website - thanks for posting on Facebook Gerry!

So here is the first meal we made yesterday: Parmesan Chicken, Roasted Veggies, and Loaded Baked Potatoes

It was delicious!

I hope you all are having a GREAT week! Oh, and we WILL reveal names soon if you haven't already heard them - we are just trying to make sure we are settled on them!

19 Weeks

I'm 19 weeks pregnant with the twins! Woah!

So this week, according to Baby Center, the babies are 6 inches head to bottom and weigh about 8&1/2 ounces. Their hair is starting to sprout and they may be able to hear my voice now!

I am feeling really good. I am really eating a lot and get hungry (I mean REALLY hungry) quite often. I even get up in the night and eat something a few times a week. Physical therapy has really helped my back and I am up to TWENTY push ups! My biggest complaint right now is acne - ugh! It is really awful and I know its just temporary but it is so frustrating. I even had a little breakdown the other night because I just felt so ugly with all these pimples (I know, pathetic) but Jeremy made me feel better. I'm also starting to worry that not only is my belly growing but so are my thighs and my backside - better lay off the chocolate cake at 3am I guess!

I couldn't pass up these cute little socks at Walgreens last week:

Yesterday we went to Ikea in Minnesota (more about that in a future post) and on the way home we stopped at the outlet mall in Medford and went to the Carter's store. We got TONS of really cute summer outfits on clearance there for them for next summer. It was really fun but I think Jeremy was having a slight anxiety attack about all the things I kept grabbing!

I'll try to take some pictures of all the cute loot we got there and post some!

I hope everyone is having a great week!

18 Weeks

I'm 18 weeks pregnant with the twins!

According to Baby Center they are about 5&1/2 inches crown to rump (about the size of a bell pepper) and weigh about 7 ounces. They are doing a lot of flexing their arms and legs which I'm starting to feel!

I am doing really well. I just get tired after standing or walking for long periods. I think physical therapy is helping my back but the therapist said that I WILL lose my "standing stamina" and there's no way around that. Luckily I've been able to take a stool to work and I can sit down periodically if I need to, which helps tons.

Today Jeremy and I went to Pella to check out a home decorating store because we are in the market for a new coffee table and end tables. We ordered a new sofa which should be here in about three weeks and I wanted new tables to go with it. We didn't find our tables there but we did get some Dutch Letters and Windmill Cookies, which I'm sure I enjoy more! We also stopped at a little store on the square and found these:

They are little peepee covers for diaper changes! They have golf clubs and golf balls on them and I thought they were adorable so we had to get them!

Back to the tables, we did end up finding some we liked that weren't outrageously priced at Homemaker's and we are putting those together tonight. Well, Jeremy is anyway. I will do a post of our living room makeover when we get our couch and everything is all set up in a few weeks.

I hope everyone is having a great week!

17 Weeks

I'm 17 weeks pregnant with the twins!

We had our first appointment with our new Dr's office today - The Iowa Clinic Women's Health Center and we LOVED it! The nurse was nice, the ultrasound technician was nice, and Dr. Polzin was amazing and really took the time to talk to us and answer questions and didn't make us feel rushed.

We were a little surprised they did an ultrasound since we thought we would just be having a consultation, but they did and we found out the baby's genders...

It's a BOY AND A GIRL!!!

We could not be more happy and of course since I thought it was a boy and a girl and Jeremy thought it was two girls I had to say "I told you so!"

We have "sort of" picked names but I'm having a hard time committing. It's such a BIG decision!

Otherwise everything is going well. We have another appointment June 28th for the "big" two hour ultrasound to check everything out so we are praying that goes well and they both look healthy.

16 Weeks

I'm 16 weeks pregnant with twins!

Apparently it is noticeable that I am pregnant because strangers ask me when I'm due. I try to dodge the question because the answer is November 15th and then I have to explain that it's twins and that's why I am so huge! The apparent follow up question to "When are you due?" is "Is it your first?" to which my standard reply is that it's our first and second. Some people get it, some need it explained. I keep hearing warnings that soon random strangers will begin touching my belly, not sure how I'll react to that!

I've been feeling pretty good. Just the usual pregnancy complaints of back pain, heartburn, headaches, and the like but nothing that isn't manageable. I am going to start some physical therapy for my back though so hopefully that helps.

I think I might be starting to feel a little movement but darn it's hard to differentiate between babies moving and your digestive tract working!

We did have an OB appointment this past Tuesday. The doctor used the doppler and found the heartbeats and lots of "wooshing" which was apparently the babies moving around. We did not have the ultrasound we were expecting and are actually going to see a new doctor next week. I hate to complain about my doctor but we really don't go together personality-wise. He is very laid back and nonchalant and I'm borderline neurotic. Basically he doesn't think the monitoring (i.e. ultrasounds) is as necessary as we do and we think we'll just be more comfortable somewhere else. Also, they aren't (in my opinion) the most organized office which doesn't sit well with me. For example, when your having multiples you are supposed to have a different chart and we didn't so after 10 minutes of printing off and filling out paperwork for a blood test to check for birth defects the nurse said "Oh, are you having twins? This won't be accurate then." Really?

So anywho, we will be switching so as not to cause any more hormonally induced nervous breakdowns after doctor's visits. We had a recommendation for the Iowa Clinic Women's Center and are hoping for more success there.

About the babies: They are the size of avacados this week! How cute! They are growing toenails and their hearts are pumping 25 quarts of blood each day!

We WILL have an ultrasound around 20 weeks and will hopefully find out their sexes then!