OB Scolding...

Today I'm 25w4d pregnant. I flew by the 24 week mark of viability, and yes we high fived one another and cheered to the 24th week. Of course, being born at 24 weeks is in no way ideal, but at least medical intervention is an option at this point. I thought things were going great until I had my OB appointment today...

The good news of the appointment first: Babies are measuring fine and are ranked in the 50th percentile. The babies are in that meaty part of the curve where they aren't showing off, but they're not falling behind. I think 50th percentile is fab. Baby girl weighed 1 lb 12 oz and boy weighed 1 lb 14 oz. Girl's heartbeat was ticking away at 158 and boy's was 164. My cervix is measuring 3.5 cm, which I have been told is perfect at this point. My BP remains on the low side. I drank the sugary red drink in order to complete my glucose challenge test. I've heard/read how awful this drink is, however, I found it to be a mundane activity. It tasted like super sweet punch and I slammed it down in less than 2 minutes. No big deal at all. Don't worry about the glucose challenge test; it was by far the easiest test I've had to do in this pregnancy game so far!!

Now on to the bad news: I was weighed and am up 18 lbs overall (3 lbs since my last OB visit 3 weeks ago). This is not good. I received a lengthy lecture about eating more; C received a lecture to make me eat more. (I honestly have been eating A LOT!!) The OB spat off all the negative stats regarding a lack of adequate weight gain (early labor, low birth weight, more likely to spend more time in the NICU etc.) She said the studies are all there to support weight gain in a multiples pregnancy (I've read them!! I understand the benefits and I'm trying lady!!) and referred me to a nutritionist at the MFM clinic. Crap....a nutritionist?! Ugh...

At my current weight gain, I should gain about 30 pounds by the end of pregnancy and my OB wants to see at least 40 pounds. I've been eating more food and a lot of my snacks consist of cheese and nuts (high calorie foods!). I'm honestly at a loss for what to do...We were in Nashville this past weekend and we ate out for every. single. meal. How could I not have gained weight from all those calories? I have a follow up appointment in 2 weeks and if I haven't gained more weight by then I'm going to be put on 'activity restrictions.' What the hell does that mean? I was too afraid to ask... After the appointment, while I stood waiting to schedule the next one with Collin, I teared up. I waited until I left the office before I cried. I feel like I'm a horrible mom already...

The thought of shoving my mouth full of processed and junk food just to pack on pounds makes me a tad nauseous. Yuck. When it comes to health and eating, overall, I think we're in the 50th percentile ourselves. We're not showing off, but we're not falling behind. Sure, I buy a lot of organic, natural and fresh foods, but I also like to splurge on a bowl of ice cream or extra cheese on pizza from time to time. I think we have a fine balance in our house of eating well, while not being health freaks, but still splurging on the good stuff. I'm just confused as to what to do now...ditch all the healthy food? Eat burgers and shakes every day? Shove my face full of calories even when I'm not hungry? This predicament has me stressed...I'm not enjoying it at all....

When I made my follow up appointment and my appt to see the nutritionist, I said I felt like I was being sent to the principals office. The nutritionist at the MFM office is apparently in high demand, because the only day I could get in was on the day we're moving out of our house. Sigh. C won't be able to attend the appt because he'll be dealing with the movers. I'm absolutely dreading this appointment and I hope I can make it through without crying.

I'll hear back about my glucose challenge test by tomorrow. I hope it turns out well. If I am diabetic and have to gain a substantial amount of weight, I may require a feeding tube.... I can't deal with activity restrictions; I tend to be fidgety and don't like to sit still for too long. I have to find a way to gain weight. Project Make Amber Gain Weight STAT has begun...

23 Week Update *Happy 6th Anniversary*

From this day forward, let us laugh together, and plan together,
let us find our favorite places and go together.
Let us enjoy the sunshine, and the rain,
being alone together, and in crowds together.
From this day forward, together,
let us love...

We celebrated our 6th anniversary this week. It's astonishing to think that six years has passed by already...we did not do much the weekend of our anniversary. We shopped for the babies (UPS dumped half a garage full of boxes on us later that week), went shopping and out to eat. It was a lovely day spent together. We're officially celebrating our anniversary at a later date in Nashville; we're heading to The Hermitage Hotel for a weekend away. It's a luxury 5 star/5 diamond hotel and I'm looking forward to relaxing for a weekend!! I hope I know how to behave in this ritzy hotel ;) Wow, 6 years...we've moved states, changed jobs, bought 2 houses, and experienced a lot of ups and few downs. We are finally on our way to making our dream of a family come true...I must admit, this aspect has made this anniversary a very happy one! I would not want to experience all that life has to offer with anyone else. It's been a great journey so far...

In case you are wondering what these first two pictures are...the first year anniversary the traditional gift is paper. We both decided to adhere to this our first year of marriage. One of the items I bought C was an empty journal with the printed page above in it. Each year we take a few hours together (typically with a nice bottle of Pinot Noir) and answer each of these questions. **The questions, in case you cannot read them due to the poor pic I posted are: 1. Anniversary Trip 2. Anniversary gifts 3. Where we are living 4. Best memories of the past year 5. Worst memories of the past year 6. Current jobs and salaries 7. Current cars 8. pets 9. Miscellaneous 10. Hopes/dreams for the following year.** We also read over each of the previous years and share a lot of laughs, and sometimes tears, while reading through the previous entries. The past few years, the worst memories and hopes/dreams for the following year have always involved IF and desperately wanting children. It will be interesting to fill out this years because things have certainly changed in these areas! The purpose of this is to look how much we've grown over the years. I hope to share this with our children one day at our 50th wedding anniversary. I'm sure our jobs, salaries and cars will be quite entertaining to read 40+ years from now! We haven't filled out this years yet, but I'm looking forward to a lovely evening reminiscing!

Week 23 has flown by! I'm in the sixth month of pregnancy. Utter amazement. With all the house obligations on both ends there does not seem to be enough hours in the day (nor energy on my part) to get everything accomplished. I started to feel a tad bit uncomfortable at night. Aside from waking every two hours to pee, I now have to stretch my hips when I get up because they are getting sore. My belly seems to be expanding so quickly!! I read, in one of my many pregnancy books, that by the end of the month the babies will double their weight!! They start to gain fat this month and I think I can definitely tell they are growing.

Their kicks are getting a lot stronger. The day before our anniversary was the first day C was able to feel them kick. It was a beautiful moment. I'm excited he can now feel their movements!! It makes me feel like he is more connected to the pregnancy.

I'm definitely still more tired and can sleep anytime, anyplace. What happened to that second trimester energy spurt? It's dwindled...

As far as cravings, I'm still jonesing for in the shell peanuts, organic chocolate soy milk, fruit and sugar free pops. My only aversions include foods with too much spice and onions.

Overall, I hope things continue to sail smoothly. Yup, I'm uncomfortable, get short of breath easily and feel tired, but these are certainly nothing to complain about. They are all welcome. I think I'm one of those ladies that really thoroughly enjoys being pregnant. I keep telling C I want to do this again...you should see his face when I say that!

We had inspections on our house and the house we're buying this week as well. Both turned up unremarkable. We have one issue to get fixed on our roof; we got a new roof this past year and the roofers need to move a vent. We measured all the rooms in our new house while it was being inspected and formulated a game plan for painting and furniture placement. We had about 5 hours to spend in the house and it was great!! I am completely in love. I kept wondering what we would do with all the extra space (it's about twice the size of our current house), but then I thought about all the baby items taking over our garage and bonus room and realized I knew what would fill the space! Wandering around the new house for hours led me to have swollen sausage toes, but I came home, elevated my feet, and thankfully they went away. **Side note-having reclining furniture is a must if you are pregnant!! I'm most comfortable kicking back with my feet up** Everything is moving forward with both houses and we'll be in our new one in about 2 weeks....hard to believe!!

Our huge UPS shipment this week included all of baby girl's furniture, girl and boy's bedding, a double stroller, a play mat, breast feeding items and other odds and ends. We're shortly hitting viability and the overwhelming need I have to purchase these items has taken over. We have a lot more to purchase, but I'm holding off on most of it until we move. The first rooms to get set up in the new house will be the nurseries!!

Prayers for a continued smooth journey on the pregnancy and houses!!

22 Week Update

Since I already wrote an update about my OB appointment earlier this week there isn't a lot to update on for my weekly update.

I'm feeling a lot of movement from the babies and it seems to be getting stronger with every day that passes. It's quite reassuring!!

I've been more uncomfortable this week and I think this is a trend that will intensify and stick around the next few months! I worked an 8 hour day shift yesterday and my back was not happy with me last night. I have a new urination schedule at night. I get up every 2 hours to pee. It doesn't fail...if we go to bed at 10 I'm up at 12, 2, 4 and 6. I've gotten to the point that I wake up within 15 minutes of the 2 hour mark. It's a nice little routine I have going on.

I've been craving in the shell peanuts this week. This is a food I'd never have unless I was at a MLB or NFL game, but I've had to purchase and consume peanuts. Yes, had to. I had no choice. I'm also craving popsicles, but since I have glucose testing coming up I opted for the sugar free pops.

For those of you expecting twins, you must read this to avoid sudden confusion in situations that will happen to you: I have concluded being pregnant with twins makes you a minor celebrity. Something comes over people when they see a pregnancy bump; they instantly want to ask you questions about the baby and become happy about your new addition. It's a lovely thing; I get doors opened for me all the time, smiles thrown my way for no apparent reason and notice people going out of their way to assist me.
However, once I say there are two babies, watch out!! Something comes over people when they hear 'twin's and they turn delirious!! Honestly, people will shout congratulatory remarks, feel the need to hug you, ask an onslaught of questions and simply be overjoyed to the point of hysteria by your news.
It's a strange phenomenon I have noticed. Once they inquire about the sex of the babies, I try to step back and/or take cover when I tell them we're having a boy and a girl because this news brings their delirium to an entirely new level. Just when you thought more shouting for joy could not be possible, it happens. The excitement mysteriously becomes multiplied! People lose their minds!! I don't know what to do amidst all the chaos, so I just smile and let the derangement run it's course. Eventually they will calm down to a manageable baseline level of jubilation and I can continue on my merry way.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy it. It's just very odd to see just how much happiness a stranger can bestow upon you when you tell them you're not only having twins, but having boy girl twins. Maybe I get an extra dose of it because I work in hospitals and interact with a lot of people throughout the day. Once you're spending 5-10 minutes with a patient it's inevitable they inquire about the pregnancy bump.
Yesterday a patient had myself and a pregnant RN in his room at the same time; all three of us were chatting casually about pregnancy. Once the patient heard I was having twins he focused solely on me and the excitement level reached insanity; the poor RN got left in the dust.

I have reached the conclusion that according to the public, apparently everyone gets pregnant and has one baby. Sure, it's an exciting, but everyone does it. Not many people have twins so it's something to celebrate. I don't know what else could explain this phenomenon.

I was surrounded by twins yesterday at work (people had twins, were a twin or knew twins). Everyone kept telling me how wonderful twins were!! I met one patient's twin daughters and they shared a lot of wonderful twins stories. I may have become a bit delirious with happiness yesterday myself...but I'm allowed right?! Everyone else was doing it!

OB Appointment and House Update

It has been a busy 48 hours in our house. I know, busy seems to be the theme for us lately and it's certainly not going away any time soon...

I had a routine appointment with my OB yesterday. I had the option to schedule it with the MFM office, but since everything has been fine I opted to go to the OB. She told me if anything looks remotely concerning she'd refer me to the MFM office stat. Collin was able to attend with me; that sweet man hasn't missed an appointment! We had an ultrasound and everything looks great. It was hard to differentiate between the babies on the screen..it was just a mash of baby parts everywhere!! They sure have grown and are very active!! Baby girl is head down and kept kicking baby boy in the head (baby boy is feet down). Baby girl has a heartbeat of 152 and is weighting 1 lb 2 oz and baby boy has a heartbeat of 153 and also weighs 1 lb 2 oz. These babes are very similar! I also gave a urine sample, had BP taken, was checked for swelling (I have none) and had my cervix measured (4.9 cm). Once again, everything is fine. I seem to be good at being pregnant, but I stink at getting pregnant. Who would have thought?

My OB informed me she is also expecting twins. What are the chances of that?! C speculated last time whether or not she was pregnant; she's tiny and looked a bit round in her midsection, but of course we couldn't ask. Wow...TWINS! She said all the advice she has been giving me is what she is herself is doing for her twins/pregnancy. I'm going to follow it all because if she is doing everything for herself that she recommends for me, it must be sound advice.

Other info about the appointment: I've had a few dizzy spells where my peripheral vision starts getting dark, my hearing diminishes, I get sweaty and feel like I may pass out. I had one during a meeting yesterday at work; the lady sitting next to me was very concerned and kept asking me if I was okay, so I must look as bad as I feel during these dizzy spells. The OB said it was most likely from dehydration. My baseline BP is low (I usually run at 110/70 or lower) and the dizzy spells happen in the morning. Based on this evidence, the slightest bit of dehydration can easily cause my BP to drop and for me to get dizzy. She told me to drink more water throughout the night and first thing in the morning to help prevent this situation.

I'm up 15 pounds overall. She was pleased with my weight gain. Obviously, I haven't reached the goal of 25-30 pounds, but she said I am gaining weight and did not see a problem with it. She herself said she is not able to gain the recommended weight gain for twins pregnancies. I have taken a more lax attitude about gaining weight as well. I eat when I'm hungry. I'm not weighing myself daily and getting frustrated by the lack of weight gain; I've taken to weighing myself only once a week. I figure my body will tell me when I need to eat. I'm going to trust my body is telling me what it needs. It's too frustrating to constantly be eating and stuffing myself full of calories. I don't need any additional stress in my life.

I'm done with the appointments every 4 weeks. I'm now moving up to every 2-3 week appointments. Our next appointment will cover delivery (we spoke briefly about my expectations) and I'll have another ultrasound. Having a singleton after twins would be difficult; I'm spoiled by all these ultrasounds!

Now on to the house news!! You all must have sent me the right vibes after my last post because we've gotten a whirlwind of good news this week. Our house has been listed for a little over 2 months. We had showings initially, but they quickly dwindled to one or less a week. We dropped the price $5k two weeks ago and had 3-6 showings a week suddenly! We never though $5k would cause such drastic changes...

We had three showings on Monday (one repeat customer and two new customers). By Monday night we had 2 offers come in!! Once both of the parties knew there were other offers on the table, they both sent in new offers not once, but twice! We got 6 offers from the 2 interested parties within 24 hours. I now have a new love- bidding wars!! Needless to say, we ended up getting great offers on the house and we are now under contract! I love things that come in two's...I think 2 should be my new lucky number!

I was stressed about the thought of carrying 2 mortgages after having 2 babies and being on maternity leave, but I am completely relieved with how things worked out. I know it's not a final deal until the paperwork is signed, but I'm hopeful we'll make it there! We have an inspection next week and an appraisal to get through. The couple who's offer won wants to close in early July so we bumped up our closing on our new house to the end of June. We'll have a week to paint, clean and set up nurseries before we entirely move in. We'll definitely be hiring movers to pack and move us...this pregnant lady won't be lifting a cankle or sausage finger in the steamy July weather.

I also emailed HGTV to inquire about being on an episode of House Hunters. HGTV is based out of Knoxville so I figured I'd give it a shot! I know they tape the shows only after you have purchased a house (yup, the show is not what it seems) so we fit that criteria. We have a good story...twins and moving. I highly doubt we will hear from them, but you never know. Stranger things have happened...

We're incredibly blessed and lucky. Everything seems to be working out for us lately. I can't help but wonder if this is partly because we started going to church again? It certainly can't hurt. Neither one of us are uber religious, but we started going in January and everything has fallen into place since then....makes me wonder. I'm keeping the prayers of gratitude flowing because I am thankful for all these blessings.

Let's hope and pray the positive news continues!!

20/21 Week Update

I have been a horrible blogger... Life has gotten incredibly busy and I have not had the energy to keep up with all of life's demands the past few weeks. I'll try to fill you in without boring you too much...there's a lot to update on!

Here's what I've been up to:
Week 20 passed by without much excitement. I worked full time hours and was completely exhausted. We went out house hunting (again) with our realtor; our purpose was to view 4-5 homes in order to decide if we should lower the price on our home. We hadn't been able to find anything we like in the right location and the showings on our house had dried up. We were leaning toward staying put in our house for a few years because we don't want to move to a house we don't LOVE. Well, the last appt of the day was a house we absolutely fell in love with! It's everything we've been looking for and completely move in ready (we are not into fixer uppers). This sparked a lot of chaos in our house for the week...what do we do?! We ended up lowering our price in hopes to get the showings moving. Between the work and the stress of the house situation it was a long week. Pregnancy wise I felt great!

On to week 21! I wrapped up my full time work schedule in week 20; no more full time hours for this girl! It's too exhausting... I'm trying to keep between 25-30 hours for the time being. We'll see how I'm feeling and adjust again if necessary. My number one priority is a healthy pregnancy; that's my full time job right now.

I seem to have really popped this week don't you think? Everyone seems to say this and I agree.

My parents and grandma came to visit from Wisconsin from Thur-Mon. We took in the sights of our lovely town despite the 95 degree weather. We did a lot of shopping for the babies (thanks for all the great stuff!!) My Gma's birthday was on Sat and we had a wonderful day celebrating with her! She's a very special lady!! On Sun my family shocked me with a surprise baby shower!! It was wonderful to walk through a door and see lots of smiling faces looking at me. What a surprise!!! We played a few games, shared a lot of laughs and indulged on tasty food. The babies got spoiled by all the wonderful gifts people brought. My family spent weeks organizing the shower from Wisco and I am thrilled they took the time to make this special day for me. It was incredibly thoughtful and generous. What a fabulous day!! I adore my family!!

Aside from visiting with the fam, we also had 3 showings on the house in 2 days so we had to juggle that chaos with them. We're perfectionists when it comes to showings so we make the house look spotless every time. When you have 3 animals, shedding in spring, it's no easy task!! We did a lot of running back and forth from the house to my family's hotel shuffling the dog and cats around. Needless to say, by the time Monday rolled around and my fam hit the road for Wisco, I was beyond exhausted from all the weekend festivities. It was a perfect weekend and I am very thankful for all they did, but I needed sleep!! I slept on and off all day after they left!

The rest of the week consisted of work, showings and house stress. We visited the house we love again with my family over the weekend and decided we do indeed LOVE it and wanted it. Only problem, ours isn't sold yet. We had a lot to ponder: We have one couple who has looked at our house twice and is interested. We've had a lot of showings since the price drop. A relocation company has our new house listed so a contingent offer isn't acceptable. The couple living in the house we want were moving out this week and we figured this gave us good leverage. SO, after spread sheets on budget, we decided to take the risk and put in an offer. The offer process went fast; they countered, we countered and they accepted. As of Aug we will be in possession of not one, but TWO houses. While we made sure we could carry two mortgages, obviously this is not ideal (especially with TWO babies on the way). We're hopeful that our house will sell before then. Our new house is amazing and has TONS of space for the babies; it's about twice the size of our current house! Fingers crossed our house sells...and fast!!

I told you I've been busy!! As far as the pregnancy goes, I'm starting to get uncomfortable. I can't stand or sit for a long time without my feet and back aching. I'm most comfortable reclining on the couch or in a chair, but unfortunately I can't always sit like that! I started feeling the babies move around a lot in the past two weeks. This week they seem to move every time I sit still. I feel mostly baby girl on my right side because baby boy has an anterior placenta on my left. It's such a reassuring feeling. I'm constantly paranoid something wrong is going on, so to be able to feel movement makes me feel a lot more calm. I've had an increase in my appetite the past 2 weeks as well; I have to pack a snack when I go out or I'm bound to be left dizzy and lightheaded. I'm still up 3-5 times a night to pee. I've started to get mildly sore hips from sleeping as well; every time I get up to pee I have to stretch a little because they have cramps. I have no swelling, which is amazing, considered the sweltering temps I was out walking around in. When I get tired I get very grumpy; I found that out while my fam was visiting. I need a lot of sleep to stay happy! The baby shower was surreal....to open gifts and see tons of baby items was dreamlike. I now look at all these items and have an enormous sense of needing/wanting to get a nursery together. I can't stop thinking about how badly I want to prepare for the babies. Is this nesting? Of course, because of the house situation, I am unable to do this and it makes me frustrated.

Our next OB appt is on Tue. We get an ultrasound and I cannot wait to see how much the babies have grown in 4 weeks!! I can certainly see their growth from the outside!!
In the meantime...we have more showings scheduled for this week already. I'm sick of cleaning this house!! Send some good vibes our way to get this house sold!!!
Until next time...and I promise it won't be two weeks :)