Belly Shots

Ok, so I have this dress, I wear probably once or twice a year.

Here it is in 2007, without a baby bump

In 2008 at 19 weeks with Grace

Again at 27 weeks with Grace

And yesterday at 14 Weeks, with the twins.

And a side-by-side comparsion

Zoo Time

Saturday, last minute, Cole and I decided to take Grace to the Franklin Park Zoo. It was HOT out, so we packed LOTS of water and food and just walked VERY slowly.

Some bird, a condor maybe??

Grace looking at the large bird.

Grace looking at the flamigos.

Not quite sure what to think of them.

Grace telling me "No"

Grace looking at the Emu.

Grace and the gorilla.

Grace eating a freeze pop as big as her. All 3 of us split it, and we still couldn't finish it.

A sleepy Lion.

Grace and the lion.

The goat kept "talking" to Grace.

She wasn't to sure about it.

Grace looking at the peacock.

Grace's face once the peacock started making noises.

Overall we had a great day. I tried to be prepared and we stopped often to rest, eat, and drink lots of water, but at the end of the day, I was WIPED! Walking the zoo caused my sciatica pain to flair up. I literally couldn't move Saturday night, but after lots of rest, a heating pad, and a back massage from Cole, I'm finally able to move again. It's crazy, just how much energy these babies are taking from me.

12 Weeks

The view looking down these days. 11 weeks 6 days.

How far along? 12 Weeks, yes I know I missed last week. I've been a bad blogger lately.


Total weight gain/loss: I think I'm up a couple pound. I started reading a book on twin pregnancies and even if you're overweight, like me, it  says you really should try to gain at least 15 if not 20 pounds, by 20 weeks. I'm trying very hard to make sure I get all the nutrients these babies need.


Maternity clothes? Yup, but I have no idea what I wore while pregnant with Grace, because I seem to be lacking in the maternity clothes. I guess I will need to go shopping for more soon.


Sleep: So awful. I just can't seem to get comfortable at night. I wake up every couple hours with numb hips and have to get up to pee and switch hips.


Best moment this week: We got to see the twins again on Thursday. It was awesome. They were moving all around like little jumping beans. Baby A was the difficult, non-cooperative one, and Baby B was very easy going and cooperative. We shall see if they stay that way.

Baby A

Baby B

 

Food cravings: Green olives!

Gender: Still a mystery, but we have a date set to find out. June 3rd!

Movement: Ok, I know this sounds crazy, but I think I've felt a few flutters here and there. I know it's crazy early, but who knows.

What I am looking forward to: We have another Dr's appointment today, I look forward to hearing the babies heartbeats.


What I miss: I miss what it feels like to not be nauseous ALL DAY.


Milestones: I'm in the last week of my 1st trimester..yay! Almost a 1/3 of the way there!

10 Weeks

This picture was technically 9 weeks 6 days.

Pregnancy: 10 weeks 1 day...yay for double digits!

Weight Gain: still down, but trying very hard to gain weight for these babies.

Sleep: Same deal... I usually get a good 4 hour stretch, then after that I'm up every other hour to pee or get sick. I toss and turn A LOT! My back has been hurting me, which has made getting comfortable in bed difficult. I've been trying to nap whenever possible.



Gender: I'm still leaing towards either 2 girls or a boy and girl and Cole's still leaning towards 2 boys or a boy and a girl. I've now had 2 dreams it was a boy and a girl and 1 dream it was two girls...so who knows!


Name: Girl #1: Emily Katherine (we'll call her Emma) Girl #2: Abigail Leigh (we'll call her Abby) Boy #1: Coleman Carter (we'll call him Carter) Boy #2: Jamison Patrick, he'll just go by Jamison.


Feeling: Morning sickness is not my friend, but I'm hanging in there. All the books say that morning sickness is a good sign, so I guess that's good!


Health: Everybody is good!


Movement: Still none, but I keep getting phantom movements, like I did after Grace was born. I assume they are phantom because it's still early.


Belly: Still so bloated. I look forward to getting a real baby belly.



Next Appointment: We have an ultrasound next Thursday and a Dr.'s appointment in 2 weeks.

Dreams

Pregnancy dreams are always CRAZY for me. They're always so emotionally filled and when I wake I have a hard time believing it was merely just a dream. Well twice this week I've dreamt that the babies were a boy and a girl. Maybe it's a sign? I guess only time will tell!

6.5

yup, that's the number of pounds I've lost since Monday afternoon. Thanks to the lack of Zofran I haven't been able to keep a single thing down since Monday. After a 2 day fight with the insurance company we finally got them to approve more Zofran. Thank God! Cole's on his way to pick up my meds now. I'm really hoping after a few doses I'll start to feel better.

9 Weeks and Good News

We went back to the Dr.'s yesterday to check on the babies. Both babies look great! The blood clot is no longer there and both babies are growing. What a beautiful thing! Cole and I have never felt so relieved, as we did yesterday.

Pregnancy: 9 weeks 1 day

Weight Gain: Down another pound

Sleep: Same deal... I usually get a good 4 hour stretch, then after that I'm up every other hour to pee or get sick. I toss and turn A LOT! My back has been hurting me, which has made getting comfortable in bed difficult.


Gender: I'm still leaing towards either 2 girls or a boy and girl and Cole's still leaning towards 2 boys or a boy and a girl.


Name: Girl #1: Emily Katherine (we'll call her Emma) Girl #2: Abigail Leigh (we'll call her Abby) Boy #1: Coleman Carter (we'll call him Carter) Boy #2: Jamison Patrick, he'll just go by Jamison.


Feeling: AWFUL! I'm currently fighting my insurance company to get them to allow me to have a refill on the Zofran. It's now been a full 24hrs without any Zofran and I'm beyond miserable. I have yet to keep one meal down. I'm hoping my Dr. can pull some strings and get my insurance to give me my Zofran!

Health: Everybody is good!


Movement: Not yet.



Belly: Still so bloated. I look forward to getting a real baby belly.



Next Appointment: Monday, April 19th with my OB. I'll have a Level II ultrasound done at the hospital in the next few weeks. They're supposed to call me with the date and time in the next few days. My Dr. informed us yesterday that since we're having twins, I'm considered high risk, so every month we'll go to the hospital for an ultrasound to follow the twins growth. Yay for lots of ultrasounds!

8 Weeks

So I know I've been a bad blogger lately. I've just been hit big time by the morning-sickness-bus, so I haven't been able to focus on much of anything. So technically today I'm 8 weeks 3 days along.

Pregnancy: 8 weeks 3 days


Weight Gain: I was down 5 pounds as of Monday.

Sleep: I haven't been sleeping that well any more. I usually get a good 4 hour stretch, then after that I'm up every other hour to pee or get sick. I toss and turn A LOT! My back has been hurting me, which has made getting comfortable in bed difficult.

Gender: No idea, but we do think we finally settled on baby names, for now at least.

Name: Girl #1: Emily Katherine (we'll call her Emma) Girl #2: Abigail Leigh (we'll call her Abby) Boy #1: Coleman Carter (we'll call him Carter) Boy #2: Jamison Patrick, he'll just go by Jamison. I'm still leaning toward it either being 2 girls or a boy and a girl. Cole thinks it's 2 boys, I think that's just wishful thinking.

Feeling: AWFUL! I love having babies, but my body HATES being pregnant. These babies hate food! I have yet to find something that makes them happy. I spend most of my days sipping drinks to make sure I'm at least saying hydrated. I thought I was miserable with Grace, but this is 10 times worse. I'm so happy that I'm getting 2 babies, because I really want a large family, but man pregnancy is not as wonderful as I remember.


Health: I'm doing good, we're very nervous about the baby that seemed to have some bleeding around it. We're just hoping and praying that when we go back Monday both babies are still growing!

Movement: Not yet.

Belly: Oh my! I'm so bloated it's crazy!

This was me at 23 weeks with Grace:

And this was me at 7 weeks with the twins:

 Yikes! That's some serious bloat and I feel like it's gotten even more crazy this past week. I had to break out all my old maternity shirts already. I'm thinking at the end of this pregnancy I'll have to wear tents.

Next Appointment: Monday, March 29...Monday can't come fast enough!

7 Weeks

Pregnancy: 7 weeks


Weight Gain: None, thanks to the morning sickness!
Sleep: I've been taking 1/2 a unisom with b6 to help the nausea, so they make me sleep pretty well.

Gender: No idea, but hoping for at least 1 girl, to cut back on some of the things we'll need to buy.
Name: Names sort of get confusing now that there is 2. We definately like Emily Katherine, but don't have another girl's name and based on whether it's 1 boy or 2 the middle name might chance from Carter. We won't really know until we find out the sexes.

Feeling: Still feeling pretty crumby, but now have a million anti-nausea things that seem to help alittle. I've been taking the 1/2 unisom with b6 twice a day, plus the Dr. gave me a prescription for Zofran yesterday, plus I picked up some Sea-Bands, and some anti-nausea louzengers from behind the pharmacy counter. I've also found that sucking on sour ice breakers helps. So with all that together my morning sickness seems a little better. I'm probably only throwing up 5 times now, instead of 8. Every little bit helps!


Health: I'm doing good, we're very nervous about the baby that seemed to have some bleeding around it. We're just hoping and praying that when we go back in 2 weeks both babies are still growing!


Movement: Still way too early.
Belly: Sooo bloated. I' so embarrassed that I've secretly been having to wear my maternity pants already...yikes. I'm hoping when the bloat goes down I'll be able to wear my regular pants with a belly band.

Next Appointment: Monday, March 29...these may be the longest 2 weeks of my life...please keep growing babies!

Big News!

We went to our first doctor's appointment to see the baby and we saw TWO babies! I'd say I'm shocked, but I had a funny feeling we'd be seeing two. I kept telling Cole I thought I was having twins, I don't know why, it just felt so different from Grace. The Doctor was like "Um..I'm seeing 2 sacs." Cole jumped up and kissed me and I said "I told you!"

There is what looks like some bleeding around one of the babies, but right now they are both measuring right on track and both have heartbeats. So we're just hoping for the best. We go back in 2 weeks to check and make sure both babies are still growing. Life is good!

6 Weeks

Pregnancy: 6 weeks




Weight Gain: ?? Still no idea. I have been going to the gym and having to stop in the middle of my workouts to get sick, because....morning sickness is in full swing!


Sleep: I got a new pillow and have been sleeping much better.


Gender: Still don't know, but still thinking girl.


Name: Girl: Emily Katherine, but we'll call her Emma and Boy: Coleman Carter, but we'll call him Carter.



Feeling: AWFUL! Morning sickness is kicking my butt! I forgot just how awful it is to feel nauseous ALL day long. I now eat, throw it up, eat, throw it up...it's a vicous cycle. Yesterday alone I got sick 5 times, and dry heavied a million. In fact before I went into the gym yesterday I was in the parking lot dry heaving in the bushes. I can only imagine what people must think! Saturday after only 15 minutes on the treadmill I had to jump off and run to the bathroom to get sick. I can only imagine that people think I'm such a baby if I get sick after only 15 minutes on the treadmill, I want to be like "I'm pregnant not a baby, I swear!" On a good note I did manage to swim 27 laps (54 lengths) yesterday without having to get out and get sick, which I was very excited about! I have found that eating something sour (like sour tic tacs) or bitter (like salt & vinegar chips) will help cut the nausea a little. So while in the car I keep eating tic tacs to hold off the vomit until I can find a bathroom.

Health: Okay, I'm still taking antibiotics for my bladder infection, although I won't really be shocked if it's not cleared up my the time we go back to the doctor's because I usually throw up at least a dose or two a day.


Movement: Still way too early, although I do look forward to this very much!



Belly: Nothing yet, aside from some serious bloat. I look forward to this as well. I'm hoping I'll "pop" a lot earlier this time then I did with Grace.


Next Appointment: Monday, March 15...only 1 more week.

5 Weeks

Pregnancy: 5 weeks

Weight Gain: ?? No idea, I haven't stepped on a scale in a few weeks, but I did start back up at the gym after a week off.

Sleep: I had been sleeping well, but last night I just could not get comfortable. I am a stomach sleeper and am so bloated, which makes sleeping on my belly uncomfortable, yet I just can't find another way to fall sleep. Guess I should figure something out soon, seeing as sleeping on my belly will only get harder over the next few months. I guess I'll be purchasing another Snoogle sometime soon.

Gender: Won't know for a long time. I imagine we'll probably find out sometime in July, which seems so far away! We definately will be finding out the gender. Right now I feel like it's a girl, but I think that's only because we have a girl.

Name: I think if it's a girl we're leaning towards Emily Katherine or Emma Kate for short. Emily was my Great Grandmother's name and Katherine was Cole's Grandmother's name (although she spelt her's with a C.) If it's a boy it will probably be Coleman Carter, but I think we'll call him Carter and not Coleman, but we're not really set in stone with the boy's name yet.

Feeling: The typical nausea everyday, still not actually throwing up a whole lot, which is nice, but with Grace the vomitting didn't start until 6 weeks, so I guess we shall see. The heartburn already is crazy. I know with Grace I had a lot in the 3rd trimester, but I don't remember having any this early with her. I've already starting eating Tums multiple times a day. I know everyone says every pregnancy is different and this one already feels different, but I don't know if the meds have anything to do with it, or if the fact that this is my 2nd pregnancy has anything to do with it.

Health:  So far so good. Although the Doctor did call today to tell me I have a bladder infection, so I'll have to pick up meds for that tonight.

Movement: Still way too early, although I do look forward to this very much!

Belly: Nothing yet, aside from some serious bloat. I look forward to this as well. I'm hoping I'll "pop" a lot earlier this time then I did with Grace. I don't think I really started looking pregnant until almost the 3rd trimester with Grace.

Next Appointment: Monday, March  15...only 2 more weeks. Hopefully we'll be able to see the heartbeat, although it still maybe a little to early.

It's Not That

I want to be sick everyday, but it always a nice reassurance that there's still a baby growing in there. I felt great all day Monday and it had me freaked out. Monday night right before bed I stood up and got so nauseous and instead on being like "oh no" I was like "thank god! It's funny how with Grace I dreaded waking up being nauseous but with baby #2 I love feeling nauseous, it's a little piece of mind until we're able to see the baby's heartbeat, hopefully in 3 weeks!

I went to the Dr.'s yesterday and had my blood work done and filled out some paperwork. It was so surreal to have everyone talking about having another baby and about having ultrasounds done. It felt like it took forever to get to this point, I was so convinced that we'd never get here, yet here we are and I'm ecstatic! I love this little bean already. Keep growing bean!

So...

So I've been feeling pretty crumby all week. I was nauseous and vomitting. I was convinced I was pregnant and that it had to be twins if at 3 weeks along I was already throwing up and that didn't happen with Grace until 6 weeks. I made Cole go out Wednesday morning and get a pregnancy test, this was day 25 of my cycle, so still to early to really test, but I was convinced that if I had enough hormones to make me sick, then I would have enough to test positive...nope negative.

I tried not to get too upset, since it was still early. I tested again on Thursday and Friday, both negative. Saturday I spent all day crying about not being pregnant, about how I felt so stupid for even thinking I could be pregnant. I realized that it must just be side effects of the Progestrone. I felt like such an idiot for not even considering that fact. Poor Cole I kept just breaking down all day Saturday.

Sunday morning I woke up @ 6am and decided to test again. (I'm a pee-aholic, if we have pregnancy tests in the house I have to pee on them.) I peed on the stick and went to put it on the counter, while I went in the other room to try to pass the time. As I went to put it down I realized there was already 2 lines!

I ran into Grace's room where Cole was sleeping with Grace and with the stick still dripping with pee I was waving it in Cole's face without saying anything. "I can't see anything, are there 2 lines? Get my glasses!" Cole shouted at me.

I ran to get his glasses, but before I got them he shouted "I see it!"

Oh my god! We're pregnant! We couldn't go back to sleep and wanted to go tell everyone, so we got Grace dressed in the shirt I've been waiting a year to put on her, in fact she's out grown 2 shirts, since we started trying.

"What do you mean you're having a baby?!"

So we rushed out of the house and I made up some excuse about needing to borrow my Dad's moving dollie so we could stop by and tell them. I asked my Mom if she liked Grace's new shirt and she said "I told you!" After we left there we went to tell the Brennans' and then we tried to get together with Cole's family, but his parents we're both busy, so we had to tell them over the phone. But we did get to tell Cassie and Andy in person. Cassie had by far the best reaction and was very excited! We tried to call everyone, but they all weren't around, so not everyone knows yet. But I figured not a lot of our family really reads our blog, so I figured I'd tell you few people who read this blog!

We couldn't decide what to do last night after no one was around, so we went to Borders and picked out a Big Sister book for Grace and a book for the new baby! Grace is already so sweet and Cole taught her to kiss the baby, so before bed last night her and Daddy gave the Baby kisses!

We are so excited! I go to the Doctor's tomorrow for blood work. I'll need to continue to take the Progestrone probably through the 1st trimester, but I'm okay with that. Anything to keep this baby safe.