14w3d

I'm officially (by every way of counting) in the 2nd trimester. :) I'm glad that we are past the scary miscarriage time, but I'm still a nervous nelly about every twinge. I don't usually think of myself as unable to tolerate pain and discomfort, but man I've been hurting lately. I wonder if it is usual pregnancy stuff or specifically twin pregnancy stuff that is going on and hurting. In any case, by the end of the day I'm usually wiped out and my back and abdomen are super sore and painful. Other than the random pain, I'm doing well. I'm still tired, but I think that is to be expected. The food issues are slowly going away and I'm able to eat more food than before. I am concerned that I didn't gain my 1 lb. a week last week (lost 2) but hopefully the 1 lb. a week is the average and I'll make up for it this week or the next.

Going public was really bizarre and is still hard for me on many levels. Everyone has been great. All of the responses have been supportive. I've had many intrusive questions asked (to be expected with twins I suppose) and have started figuring out how much to tell the general public and how to respond. I'm not planning on hiding the fact that we did IVF or donor sperm, but that is our children's story to tell and not ours. Those that are close to us will know and have been told, but as for the rest.... I don't think they need to know all of our details. I have had a couple of random freak-outs about telling people. For some reason my brain associates people knowing with something bad happening to the babies. I'm trying to work through it, but it's very hard to be public for that reason. I guess I'm just a private person and having the attention on me is harder than I anticipated.

The babies have been harder to find with the doppler lately. I will find a heartbeat only to have the baby move away and have to find it again. I swear my belly grew overnight last night. I went to bed and felt pretty normal sized and then noticed today after naptime that my belly seemed/felt HUGE. I guess those babies are growing and growing and pushing out my belly. The bad thing with them growing is that my pre-baby cushion (that was in my belly area) is now being pushed up on top of my belly, so I have 2 bumps! ARGH. Hopefully soon it will even out into a respectable baby bump instead of a baby bump with a muffin top.

Baby house preparations are moving along. Our contractor was scheduled to come tomorrow to install our new washer/dryer hook ups but has now moved the date to Friday. The office was decluttered (thanks to my sister) this past weekend and all that is left is to move the guest room furniture to her house. We have picked out our new washer and dryer and the paint for two of the rooms. I'm having a hard time picking paint for the baby room. Project wise- I've picked up fabric for the baby quilts. I'll post pictures soon. One quilt is green with white and the other is orange with brown.

NT U/S

Yeah! We still have 2 babies. The NT scan was great. Both were in the normal range. We did opt for the blood work and will find out about that in about a week and half. The ultrasound itself was VERY long approx. 1 1/2 hours. This was due to Baby A not cooperating and showing the nuchal fold that needed to be measured. Baby B was in a perfect position, and the sonographer even gave us a gender guess (boy) and we got a bunch of cute photos. (Photos posted are pictures of photos as our scanner is broken) To finally get Baby A in the correct position they had me roll around, walk around the room and do all sorts of contortions. They ended up brining in a new sonographer who was able to get the measurement after 1/2 an hour. She also did a 3-d scan from the top down with both babies in one shot. It didn’t really look like much. As my husband pointed out the babies looked like "Han Solo frozen in carbonite."

We also met with the twin program coordinator. She gave me weight gain guidelines, food guidelines and a ton of other twin pg info.

We meet back with our MFM people in 4 weeks. After the appointment I had my midwife appointment. We once again got an ultrasound and she answered my questions. Also, I passed the 1-hour gestational diabetes screening. Woo-hoo!

Now that all is looking well, we are going public with our news.... scary and exciting!!

NT Scan Tomorrow

Our appointment with the maternal fetal medicine group is tomorrow and includes our NT ultrasound.  I am excited to see the babies again and nervous.  I'm not nervous about something being genetically wrong with one or both of the babies, but more that somehow there will only be one baby.  Irrational, I know, but still, that is my fear.  Hubby and I were able to pick up both heartbeats (we think) on the home doppler Sunday night.  So... that is a good sign, right?

GD testing

I've been a bad blogger. There hasn't been much to report on. Up until this week my pregnancy symptoms have been the same as in the past.
This week I feel I have turned a corner with regards to nausea. It is much less and when it hits it lasts for shorter periods of time. Yippee! I still have food aversions and the super sniffer, but more types of food seem palatable now.

I have started wearing some maternity pieces. By the end of the day NOTHING seems to fit, even if it did in the morning. All of my pants are getting tighter. I've been able to mix in some elastic-waist skirts and some stretchy dresses with high waists to alleviate the no-pants-that-fit situation.

Hubby and I have been able to find one of our little one's heartbeats on the home doppler pretty consistently. Hopefully, we will be able to hear the other one soon.

Today I did my 1-hour gestational diabetes test. I feel it is pointless. I've had my midwife; the lab techs and the nurse at MFM tell me that most moms of multiples fail the 1-hour test. I'm prepared for that and the fact that I'll probably need to do the 3-hour fasting test in the near future.

In exactly one week I'll be having the NT scan and meeting with the MFM people for the first time. I'm excited to find out more twin info and hear about the twin program. I'm nervous about the scan and pray that all will look ok. We've decided not to have the blood screening that goes along with the ultrasound as once again it is fairly inaccurate with twin pregnancies.

The home renovations/improvements are slowly moving along. We have quote done for the relocation of our washer and dryer (which means we can buy new ones with a higher capacity!!) and have almost decided on the flooring for the house as well as the paint colors. My sister was kind enough to come to town last weekend and help clear out the guest room closet and bookshelf (soon to be nursery) as well as organize my pantry and clothes.  We don't have a clue on paint/decor for the nursery, but I think I've found cribs and possibly the dresser I want. I've also picked out the infant car seats we will register for. It still seems strange to be looking at these baby things and actually making it plans. It scares me to death that somehow by making decisions that will affect the future with babies I will jinx the whole thing.

Physically I am still exhausted all of the time. I am feeling more stretching, pulling and pain as the babies expand their home for the next 6 months. I also feel slow- as in I can't walk or do anything fast or even at a normal speed anymore. Despite the inconvenience I am so incredibly happy that we have babies on the way.