Busy weekend

Macey and I flew out early Thursday morning to Houston. Macey did really well on the plane. No crying. She did get a little restless (who doesn't), but not to the point of screaming. She talked to the people in our row and tried to talk to the other rows. People were really helpful with getting my stuff on the plane and helping me to get off.

Macey loved seeing all her cousins. She had to kiss the babies multiple times and didn't like when any of them were upset. She has a cousin that is about 17 months older than her and she LOVED playing with him. He would run in circles around her and she would just crack up. She had a rough time with staying on her schedule of napping. She was having so much fun with her cousins that she didn't want to lay down, regardless of how tired she may have been. She finally took a couple of great naps on Saturday and then slept almost the entire ride home on Sunday (Sean joined us on Saturday and we drove back on Sunday).

My brother's graduation was on Saturday evening. It is a small school, so it wasn't so long. Macey didn't like the fog horn noises or the loud screaming when it was a group close to us. We saw my brother graduate, then we headed out of the stands shortly thereafter. Macey finally went to sleep in my arms holding her up against me and one hand over her other ear, but it was incredibly hot and uncomfortable (we were in the football stands).

She and I are both battling something. She started with a runny nose yesterday and a little coughing. I woke up around 11pm last night with my eyes burning and watering and then today isn't any better. My head is foggy, eyes are puffy feeling, can't breathe, just general icky feeling. I had to force myself out of the bed around 8am this morning. Neither Macey or I slept well last night. She doesn't seem to have any other symptoms besides the runny nose.

Macey was really clingy yesterday, but I think it was because she was tired and ready to get home. She was a different baby yesterday evening and this morning. We are all glad to be back home.

Long weekend

We enjoyed a long 4 day weekend despite the scorching hot temperatures. Macey and I enjoyed shopping on Friday. She was really good even though she was suppose to be napping. She did go to sleep in her stroller, but only took a cat nap. She was funny in the store, talking to every kid or person she saw and yelling "hi/hey" to everyone to try to get their attention.

Saturday was not that relaxing as I spent most of the day washing clothes, mopping, cleaning, etc. Fun, fun. And Sean was doing yard work. We got several bushes to plant in the back yard as well as stones to lay down to extend the patio. We also got paint. All of this on top of Sean trying to complete the fence repairs. We also went to a kiddie birthday party Saturday evening. There was a petting zoo and a pony to ride. Macey started making dog noises when she saw the baby goats....they did look like dogs. She enjoyed the animals and even rode the pony twice. She kept saying "ooooo" when we'd get close to the pony. She sat on there like a pro (I, of course, walked along side them and held her on). Sean wasn't out there for the first one and I told them to tell me if he was coming so I could be prepared (he tends to be a little more protective when it comes to things like that). He was okay with her riding the pony as long as I walked beside her, he wasn't going to do it because he wasn't having any part of it. So basically if it was just him and Macey she wouldn't be riding the pony because "not on his watch" will anything happen to her. She enjoyed talking to another baby there and trying to play with some of the older kids. There was a kiddie tent inside the house that she loved playing in. She'd go in one side and crawl over to another entrance and just look out.

Sunday and Monday were much of the same...Sean in the yard, me finishing the house work, Macey being Macey. Macey got her first major "goose-egg" on Sunday morning. She's pretty tough and was fine within a few minutes. She was sitting on the floor drinking a bottle while I took a shower and she fell back and hit the edge of the base board. I heard the loud thud and knew it was going to be a biggie. We watched her for any signs of a concussion, and she didn't have any. This morning she was going nuts with walking. She's walking more and more each day. My guess is that she'll probably be more stable and proficient by the end of this week, but we shall see.

It's tougher and tougher for me to do anything (hence the 3 days of laundry, cleaning, etc.). I get tired quickly. Even walking through Home Depot this weekend I had to sit down. I was getting dizzy and tired. And the allergies/pregnancy related nose congestion, sneezing, irritated eyes thing is getting old. I'm trying to enjoy this pregnancy more than I did Macey's since I know that once I have the babies I'll miss being pregnant. I don't remember ever feeling this way with Macey, but maybe I blocked it all out. The major "complaint" I had when I was pregnant with Macey was the swelling...I may be stupidly hoping that I won't have swelling with this pregnancy. I was in the 3rd trimester with Macey when the swelling appeared and stayed until sometime after delivery. Other than that everything seems to be moving along and quite quickly. At the most I have about 4 1/2 months left...so I'm about midday through this incredible journey of carrying twins. When I think about it, it just feels like the other day that I found out I was having twins. I remember everything about that doctor's visit. And that first glance at the ultrasound screen showing the two of them is a picture I'll never forget. Their movements haven't become constant yet. I'm hoping that it stays that way since we all know that Macey was not so still and her personality and behavior go right along with that. Three kids with Macey's tenacity and personality would surely be a handful.

Dr. appt

The appointment went well this morning. The babies both had strong heartbeats. I still have a low lying placenta, but still hoping that it will correct itself. If it does not, then there are levels of "rest" that I'll have to be on and the babies will also be born sooner than expected since it is dangerous to have such a low lying placenta (placenta previa). My doctor said that he will schedule a c-section by 37 or 38 weeks (assuming placenta previa corrects itself) if the babies haven't decided to come on their own by then. I'll be 37 weeks on October 8 and 38 weeks on October 15. I'm guessing that if I go into labor before then it'll be an "emergency" c-section. I'm measuring at 21 weeks even though I'm 17 weeks. He said that is normal to be a month ahead in fundal height when carrying twins. I can only imagine myself at 37-38 weeks...and measuring a month ahead. Starting June 9 I'll have appointments every week.

On Macey's end, she took more steps yesterday. She's on her way to being a walker. She also had a blast playing outside on the back patio. She found the dogs' water bowl and had a blast splashing herself. She was completely drenched and muddy from head to toe. She loved it. She's pretty independent when it comes to eating. We've pretty much given up on trying to give her any cereal in the morning because she refuses to eat it when we give it to her. So we're having to be creative for breakfast (cereal bars for babies, fruit, etc.). She does pretty good for lunch and dinner (as long as you give her the food to shovel in her mouth on her own). She loves spinach and pretty much anything else you give her. That is unless it is from a can (there are exceptions to her non-can eating). She mostly will only eat "fresh" vegetables (frozen kind works as well). I don't blame her, that can stuff isn't good compared to the fresh/frozen vegetables. She's picked up saying "hot" (her version is really just making the "ha" sound). She's also adapted that to mean she wants some of what you have. Who wouldn't associate that with "hot"? Mom comes to your high chair with your food saying "hot, hot" and then you get food, so therefore hot means give me some of that. Her pretend talking on the phone game has expanded. She loves to walk around with a phone at her ear and just talk and talk and talk and laugh. She's not lacking in imagination. She'll say something to me in a tone of voice that seems to indicate that I'm suppose to be understanding what she's saying. I respond as though I do and we carry on.

That's it for now. Gotta get some work done.

How I'm feeling

I'm happy to say that the nausea has passed, but most of the other pregnancy "side-effects" are still around and more have joined the "party". I still get headaches and almost daily. I'm still really tired, which I'm sure that having another child to take care of is the main reason this side effect has lingered (and maybe the fact that I have double the load to carry). I've also developed breathlessness and heavy breathing. I didn't ever get these symptoms with Macey. I never had a hard time going up and down the stairs when I was pregnant with Macey. I can still do that now, but I just get breathless. I also have heavy breathing when I'm just sitting. My best description would be when you are at the movie theater and all you can hear is the guy behind you breathing heavily. I'm that person. I guess I'll avoid packed movie theaters to avoid annoying the people around me. I have the typical pregnant stuffy nose. This is another side-effect that wasn't as prevalent with Macey. I had a lot of round ligament pain at the beginning of this pregnancy, but this has since subsided and only occurs occasionally. And itching, wow, I know for a fact I didn't have any of that with Macey. It has gotten better, but every night and morning my legs would be so itchy. Now it is only occasionally. I thought at some point I was going to scratch the skin off my legs. Carrying twins is definitely different than carrying one baby. I feel very honored to have been chosen to take on this task, even if it does mean our house will be hectic for while after they arrive.

I have been feeling for a few weeks a few movements here and there, but only on the left side. I don't know if that means we'll have another girl like Macey (she was quite the mover) since the girl is on the left side or if the left side is just more sensitive because that was the side Macey was on so she already "broke" that side in. We shall see as the weeks progress. It would be quite interesting if both of the girls had the same boisterous personality and the boy was laid back.

Stormy day

We had quite the evening last night, but I'll start out with some Macey stories.

Macey took 3 steps by herself yesterday. She's been cruising around for at least 3 or more months. As soon as she started crawling she also started pulling up. She has become a pro at basically running along the furniture and going between them. She'd been standing alone as well and will slowly sit down from there. I had a feeling she would be taking her first steps soon, but she's a little strong willed, so it also wouldn't have surprised me if she was stubborn and kept on her current path. We had tried to help her out with walking before, but she wants to do it her way and on her timeline. If we give her our fingers and go walking around with her she's fine, but the second you take your fingers away and try to encourage her, that's it, the games over and Macey is not a happy camper. Also, if Sean and I sit on the floor facing each other and one of us tries to get her to stand up (again, trying to help her along), she will refuse to put her feet down. Only on her timeline and only by her choosing. Why would I expect anything else from her?

Last night was one big adventure. We had a series of thunderstorms come through this area. The first one was the worst one. We had gone to bed, but were watching the 9pm news. I told Sean that he needed to bring the dogs in. He looked at me, then put his head back down on the pillow and dozed back to sleep. The storm that was headed our way had some tornadic activity and the part of the storm that was indicating that type of activity was headed right to us. I finally told Sean that the storm was a pretty big storm and that I was headed downstairs and told him that I thought he should do the same (as well as get the dogs). He got up then. The hail started first then a few minutes later the wind and pouring rain were outrageous. The rain was going in circles and wind hitting the house was unbelievable. Once it had passed we went outside to assess the damage. One side of our fence is completely down. We have what is known as a "friendly" fence (friendly in the sense that both neighbors lose the same amount of land due to the way it is put up). We've had storms come through and knock one panel down randomly. This storm snapped the posts holding the fence and all of the panels are laying in the same direction. The across the street neighbors have a trampoline in their back yard (our house looks into their back yard). It was picked up and over their fence (our fences are at least 6 feet tall, if not taller) and thrown to our side of the street and ended up 3 houses down from us. One of the poles from that trampoline embedded into another neighbors house and went completely through the wall, into the interior room. Fences are down everywhere, trees are on top of houses, toys are in yards that they weren't before., general chaos. Two more storms came through after this one, but were not as bad. They were still severe thunderstorms, but nothing close to the first one. Macey was asleep before the first one came through, but once the loud lightning started, she was up. She finally went back to sleep around 10:30 or 11. We're happy to only be dealing with a broken fence.

Today is my brother's 18th birthday. Happy Birthday Micah! You're still my favorite brother. :-) He'll also be graduating high school at the end of this month.

16 week ultrasound pics

Just a few pictures from yesterday. The one marked "RT" and looking to the right is the boy and the one marked "LT" and looking to the left is the girl. The boy has his hand up by his mouth. The last one just shows both babies together (just in case there was any doubt that I am in fact carrying 2 babies).

New news...

We went to the perinatal specialist appointment this morning. They did ultrasound evaluations on both babies and both appear to be doing well. It is still a little early to evaluate all of the anatomy, but they did measure quite a bit (the heart, femur, head, belly, blood flow and probably more that I couldn't tell).

The ultrasound tech as well as the doctor (both performed an ultrasound) said that the baby on the right is a boy and the baby on the left is a girl. I'm only 16 weeks along, so it is an early prediction, but you could definitely tell the contrast having 2 babies to compare to. So we'll see.

The doctor also noted that one placenta is laying really low (on top of the cervix), which could develop into placenta previa if it doesn't correct itself. I had the exact same thing with Macey, which was accompanied with spotting. It did correct itself with Macey. I haven't had any spotting with this pregnancy, but was told that if I do to contact the doctor immediately. Hopefully this will correct itself as it did with Macey.

I go back to the perinatal group in a month for another ultrasound. Then the twin program starts a few weeks after that. With the twin program I'll go to the perinatal specialist every week. So it looks like after 22 weeks I'll be going for appointments quite often.

Macey was really good at the doctor's appointment. She's turned into a little mama's girl, but just recently (I'd say within the last week). She had a minor meltdown when we got to the appointment and I needed to go to the bathroom. She didn't like that I left her, but she did well in the ultrasound room while Sean held her. They have lots of pictures of babies up on their wall where you make appointments and she kept saying "baby" over and over again. She likes to give kisses to the pictures of babies. While we were waiting for all the appointments to be scheduled, Macey started acting silly and was making faces at one of the nurses and blowing raspberries. She's an entertainer. She's really become a little mimic. While we were getting ready this morning, she picked up a phone and held it at her ear with her shoulder up and was talking and talking. It's fun just to listen to her combine sounds and talk in her own language.