25 Weeks!

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! We spent a few days with my family and now we're in Cleveland celebrating with the Psotas. I can't believe how warm it is in both places!

We had our 25-week ultrasound on Tuesday and everything is still looking very good. The twins are about 1.5 lbs each now. They're getting so big! Of course, the sexes are still a big secret. I think it's getting harder for the doctor to keep it from us now. Matt and I got another video tape of the ultrasound and watched it in slow motion when we got home. (We're so bad!!!) We couldn't see anything though. I don't think either of them were in position for seeing anything anyway.

I gained like 5 pounds in the past two weeks. I think a lot of it is water weight though. I ate a lot of salty food over the holidays with all the get-together's and stuff. I noticed that my face and hands are really swelling now. GREAT! I felt much better yesterday and I think a lot of it went down. Guess I'll just have to get used to no wedding ring and chubby cheeks from here on out though. :(

I'll try to put some pictures from our ultrasound on when we get back home. I don't think they can fit both babies on the screen anymore though. I might be able to get one shot with just their two heads or something. Matt's also planning on finishing up their bathroom this weekend when we get home. I hope I'll have a few shots of the finished product by next week!! Then we'll be ready to order carpet for the rest of the upstairs and start putting furniture in the nursery. Our cribs are in, and I can't wait to set them up!!

Merry Christmas!!!

Hello everyone! Matt, Baby A, Baby B & I just wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas! We'll be busy all weekend here in Indiana with my family, then we'll head to Cleveland on Tuesday to spend some time with the Psotas. We also have a doctor's appointment on Tuesday morning before we leave where we are scheduled to have another ultrasound. We'll keep you posted with any updates. I'm anxious to see how big they're measuring now!

My camera is at Best Buy being fixed, so no new pics this week. I'll try to put some Christmas ones on here soon though.

Enjoy your holiday!!!

Chrstmas time is almost here!

Busy, busy weekend! On Saturday I took my cousins to go paint pottery. We did this last year too for their Christmas present from me. They both did such a great job. I can't wait to see how it all turns out! Jeff, Michaela & Anna made it home this weekend too and it was so much fun hanging out with them. Anna is just so cute!! She was all dressed up in her Christmas dress for church this morning, and wanted to play basketball in it too when she got home.

Our church service today was mostly a song service put on by the choir. Instead of sitting and standing as usual, this time we sat most of the service and just listened. I guess it must have been what I ate before the service, or how I was sitting, or something...but the twins were having another "Party" in my tummy during the whole thing. I kept elbowing Matt and he'd look over and see the alien-like movements across my stomach. It was so weird to be able to see them move!! Mom got to feel them move this weekend too, which was cool. Everyone keeps telling me about the "Big Jabs" that I'll start feeling soon. I actually can't wait!

Matt started tiling upstairs bathroom this weekend. I think he thought that a small room would be easy, but it seems like the narrow workspace is making it more dificult than he thought. I think it will look great when it's done though. Then we can order carpet for the whole upstairs! Once that is all finished we'll be done with the nursery and everything...except that we have no nursery furniture yet. I guess I'll have to get on that soon too! As for a nursery theme (Since everyone is asking me) I decided that I didn't like any of the "Neutral" decor that's out there. I want either very "Boyish" or very "Girly-girly" stuff for my kids! I found some bedding at Babies R' Us that I like. I picked out one boy set and one girl set that, I think, go together well just in case we have one of each. I figure that we won't be using the nursery right away anyway, so I'll have plenty of time to wash all of the bedding and put it on their cribs after they're born. I'll take pictures of it all when it's finished!!

If you happened to notice, it's Matt's annual "Grow out the beard" time again. I hate to admit it, but I actually love it! Anna called him "Fuzzy face Matt" today. So cute!!

Another appointment update...

Well, not much news this time around. My appointments are still being scheduled every-other week. This one was pretty uneventful, as usual. I guess that's a good thing though! They basically took my weight, bp, and had me go in a cup. Ho hum! Then they said that at this stage they couldn't easily get two heartbeats with the doppler anymore, so from now on they'll be using the ultrasound machine at each appointment to get them. Awesome!! I'm getting so spoiled with all these ultrasounds. Most moms get 1 or 2 throughout their entire pregnancies and I think I've already had 7 or 8!

The babies both looked good and their heartbeats were nice and strong--149 and 163, I think. One of them is still breech, but that could change several times before they're born. Dr. Davis said that if either or both of them are breech towards the end of my pregnancy then they would have to schedule a c-section. I can't say for sure, but I'm getting the impression that he's leaning towards that anyway. In the end I just want whatever is best and safest for the babies.

We put two teeny-tiny stockings up on our chimney this year. I keep imagining what Christmas will be like next year with two, probably crawling, little babies around. I'll definitely send out Christmas cards next year. We were going to this year, but we figured that you guys have had enough mail from us for one year already! Hope you all enjoy the holidays. As always, thanks for visiting!!

22 1/2 weeks. Quick pic!

Ok, this will be quick because I gotta get back to work. I'm wearing the same outfit today that I did a few weeks ago, so I thought I'd take another comparison shot of my tummy. Sorry it's a little blurry. Our camera battery charger is missing and our camera is on very, very low battery. It takes blurry pictures when it's like that.

No other news this week. I'm starting to feel both of them kick me a lot more now. Matt even got to feel them a few times this weekend too! Some days they're very active, and others they're not. I think it all depends on which way they're facing at the time.

Enjoy!

Level II Ultrasound today

Well, after our "Great" appointment last week we got a call from our Doctor's office. Apparently the blood test results weren't totally "Fine" as they had originally told us. The Quad Screen/AFP results were slightly higher than the normal range for twins, so they sent us to a perinatologist today for a second look. They told us over the phone that these things commonly come back abnormal--especially with twins--and there's really not much to worry about. They were sending us for a Level II just as a precaution. Of course it was a long weekend of waiting and a little worrying for both of us though. Basically the elevated levels meant that there was a slight increased risk that one or both of the babies might have a Neural Tube defect or something like Spina Bifida. The good news though, was that the elevated level meant that the chance of Down's Syndrome drastically decreased from like 1:650 chance to 1:50,000. We went to the Peri in Indianapolis today though, just to make sure everything checked out ok.

We had a really in-depth ultrasound first, which went very well. Everything checked out absolutely normal for both babies. They were even able to tell us that they, for sure, each had their own sac and placenta. This isn't definite, but it means that they're more than likely fraternal twins! She did say that identical twins can have this too though, so we're still not 100% sure on that. They also said that they knew what their sexes were by the end of the ultrasound. They kept it a secret though!!!! Matt and I still have no clue, but we love guessing!!

In all actuality, it was nice seeing a Perinatologist. Many moms of twins will see one at least once during their pregnancies. They are there more for the babies, while regular OB's are primarily concerned about the mother carrying the babies. We shouldn't have to go back to them again though, unless something else unexpectedly arises. We were just glad to have yet one more thorough ultrasound to reassure us that everything looked good! Of course, they always have to say that nothing is 100% certain, so there could always be a surprise when they're delivered, but according to everything they looked at today, things were OK. In fact, they said we could still get an amniocentesis done if we wanted, but they weren't recommending it at this point since everything else looks fine. What a relief!!

Here are some cute pictures from the scan today. Click on them to enlarge and you can see things much better. They gave us like 5, but I'll just post the good ones. The one of the baby's face shows us that he/she is smiling at us!!!

One other thing they told us was that one placenta was Anterior, meaning towards the front and to the right side of my belly, while the other was Posterior or near my back and to my left. This explains why I can feel the baby on the left kicking & moving WAY more than the one on the right because the right's placenta is padding things pretty well. Actually, they were both VERY active today during the ultrasound & moving/kicking all over the place!