36 weeks Pregnant & The Birth of Weston and Wyatt

36 weeks Pregnant & The Birth of Weston and Wyatt.

This picture was taken Sunday the night before the babies were born.

 Sunday September 9th 2012:

Well I’m writing this while still pregnant. I thought it would be nice to have one last journal entry before I had the babies. So it’s Sunday at 10pm, I’m hoping that I will be able to go to sleep soon. I surprisingly feel really relaxed and mello. Billy seems a bit nervous and went to bed at 9:30pm to see if he could fall asleep. We have to be up at 4am-ish and ready to go by 5:10am. OKAY that just gave me butterflies eepp!!! I decided this morning that I would sleep in one last time and slept till 11am, which I realize might not have been the best idea. Ha!

So all I did today was research overnight bag checklists online and triple check my hospital bag since I will be there for 4 days. I did manage to hit up Yogurtland with my girlfriend Kelly one last time.  Buddy has such a doggy 6^th sense and totally is a bit freaked and knows something is up. The poor little guy, I’m sad to leave him for so long but hopefully he will be okay with some doggy play dates we set up for him.

Today I came to the realization that even after insurance this labor is going to cost us a fortune. I got super mad at myself that I just realized this now and have not saved any money to help pay for the upcoming hospital bills. I have great insurance but heard that it’s like 2K to have a baby at Kaiser and I freaking go to Good Sam which is WAY more expensive. Plus I have to stay extra days because it’s a C-Section. I’m Flippin so scared to see how much this is going to cost us. F-word!  Right now with disability pay I’m getting $800 less a month. On top of that my insurance is going from $164 a month to $725 a month just to add the babies. I hate the freaking health care system. It’s so ridiculous.

Today my legs got super swollen and one ankle swoll up. It’s such a weird feeling. My stomach is getting so huge and grew 1 inch this week. Also my stomach is getting sooooo heavy it’s crazy! I still can’t see any stretch marks but I will see tomorrow once my stomach starts deflating to see what kind of damage was done. Hehe.

So tonight the anesthesiologist called me and introduced himself and went over everything with me as far as what tomorrow is going to be like.  He asked if I had any questions and I said no you pretty much told me everything I see on those baby shows and confirmed everything I was expecting.  So yea! I saw my Mom tonight and called my Dad and am all set for tomorrow. I can’t wait. I’m super sad that this is the last day I will be pregnant cause I really love being pregnant but it’s gotten to a point where I’m so huge I’m about ready, my stomach can’t stretch any farther.

So I’m going to try and go to bed its 11pm and I’m hoping to at least be asleep by 12am and get a good 4 hours of sleep in.  Goodnight!

Monday September 10^th the BIG DAY!!!!!

Billy and I both managed to get about 3 hours of sleep. We got to the Hospital at 5:30am on the dot! We checked in and they got me all dressed in my grown. I was sooooo nervous that my stomach started cramping up. I think my nerves were affecting the babies. So I get my IV’s put in and Billy got dressed in his scrubs and we were all set.  At 7:45am the nurses come and grab me and we walk down in to the operating room. Which looked a lot different then I expected it to. Billy had to stay in the room while I got my epidural. The guy missed the first time so it took 2 tries to get it right. Once the Epidural was in almost instantly my lower half was numbed up. So they began prepping me and I got the sensation that my doctor warned me about. I felt like I couldn't breathe. It’s such a horrible feeling. I kept thinking mind over matter over and over. A nurse they rubbed my belly a few times and I felt as if I could breathe again. Fewwwwwwww THANK GOD.

Soooooo scared, waiting for the nurse to walk me down to the OR

Billy in his scrubs <3

I love this picture of Billy. It sums up how tired we both were and nervous.

Billy and I excited, scared and nervous getting ready to head to the OR

At this point they brought Billy in. I had free access of both hands and so I held Billy’s hand and at 8am we got started and the cutting began. I was so scared like OMFG this is happening I can’t believe it. All these people are here for me. There were probably about 10-12 surgeons and nurses in the room.  While I was lying down I looked up at the lights shining down on me and what I saw I couldn't believe.  I could  actually see in the reflection of the lights the entire surgery as it was happening. I thought it was soooooo cool. So I watched most of the surgery but got freaked out and had to look away right as the babies got pulled out. So at this point the doctor says okay it’s time lower that curtain.(in my last blog I wrote about my birth plan and that I wanted to see my babies as they got pulled out)

 Meet Weston Glen Young

At 8:07am Baby A aka Baby Weston Glen Young was born. He weighed in at 5 pounds 5 ounces and was 17.5 inches long. He cried instantly and the sound of his cry brought a tear to my eye. It was so surreal. They then lifted the baby up and showed him to us and I must say it was pretty indescribable the feelings and emotions that I had at the first site of our little boy. He was so cute and tiny I was just in shock.  I couldn't believe that within minutes he was in my stomach and now he was out. I began to cry and then remembered OMG I have more babies in my belly and started smiling and giggling to myself.

This was right after they pulled Weston out, I was so excited to see Wyatt I couldn't stop smiling. 

The light you see in this picture is where I could see the surgery in the reflection 

Meet Wyatt Thomas Young

At 8:09am Baby B was born aka Baby Wyatt Thomas Young. He weighed in at 5 pounds 6 ounces and was 18 inches long. Just like his brother he cried instantly. I was so happy to hear his little cry. They then held him up to show him to me and he was bigger than his brother.  I was soooo happy both babies were out and appeared to be okay. I had a huge smile on my face and was overwhelmed with happiness.

I know most of you aren't expecting to see this, but here is the video of the birth of our Twins Weston and Wyatt J

After she showed us the babies she handed them off to the nurses who took them out of the OR and in to a baby station area they had set up in the next room they came over and grabbed Billy and took him to go with the babies. I then hung out and got stitched back up and was like OMG I can’t wait to hold them and see their faces up close. Two nurses then ran in and they each had a baby and were so giddy and happy they said “OMG you have twins! They are prefect and everything looks good.  We are going to take them to recovery with Dad (Billy) to meet you.”  I then look over and there are about 5 nurses who put Billy in a wheel chair and then hand the babies over to him, one in each arm. I then watched them wheel him off to recovery.  It was such a funny, happy site. Everyone was so happy for us. It was such a great feeling.

Both babies looked great and did not have Jaundice, Woo Hoo! 

At 9am I’m all stitched up and they wheel me over to the recovery room. I arrive to see Billy holding one of our babies. I was soooo excited to get my hands on them.  First things first they gave me pain medication because the epidural was wearing off and the pain was setting in. They then placed the baby on my bare chest with his little naked body because his temperature was low and we needed to bring it up. Luckily the other baby was fine (the baby Billy was holding) I looked down at my little boy and was just in shock I couldn't believe he was mine.

Right away they had me try and breast feed the boys. Unfortunately because they are preemie and a month early they were not strong enough to latch and suck to get milk. So we then gave them formula. They both had low blood sugar and we needed to bring their blood sugar level up from where they were at in the 40’s to the 50’s in order for them to not have to be taken to the NICU. It took us a good hour or so to get their levels up but lucky for us we were able to.

They then put a baby in each arm and wheeled me over to the Mother Baby Unit where our hospital room was, we would be spending the next 4 days there. Over our stay we found that 2 babies was no joke!  Hahaha… Hospitals don’t have nurseries anymore so the babies stay with you in your room the whole time. Which I didn't mind and wanted anyway. Since they are preemies and so small they wanted us to feed them every 3 hours.  It was such a process because they wanted me to try and breastfeed first, if that didn't work then we had to formula feed them and then I would need to pump each time afterward and whatever colostrum I could get out we had to put in syringes and feed it to the babies that way. This took probably an hour and a half each feeding.  Not to mention the babies were so tired that we had to constantly try and keep them awake, this slowed down the process even more. So our game plan was to change their diapers first to wake them up, then feed them and try to keep them awake.  With nurses coming in and family and friends it did make things a lot harder, in that we never had any down time or had any time to rest.

Billy stayed with me the whole time. I felt so bad for him because he had to sleep on this tiny chair bed. We decided to really push for leaving on Thursday (they wanted us to stay till Friday). Each night they gave us the option to take the babies for the night so that we could rest. We took full advantage of this. They would take the babies at 11:30pm-12am and bring them back at 6:30am. While they had the babies over night they would feed them check their blood sugar levels, weigh them. They did the car seat test at night also. It was really nice getting rest. Even though I was getting woken up every 2 hours by nurses who were either checking my vitals, giving me pain meds, refilling my IV, or the IV alarm would go off if it was empty or if the line got pinched. It was very tiring.

These are the boys returning from the over night nursery. They would always sleep together, The nurses said they loved it and slept better together then when they had them sleeping apart. They also wrote a B on Wyatt's beanie so they could tell them apart :)

Thursday we got to leave Yay!

 We got discharged at 11:30am. We packed up the room and they told us we could take everything but the linens.  So we stalked up on Preemie Diapers, Breast pump bottles and accessories, Gauze, Vaseline and much more.  As they wheel chaired me out Billy carried both boys in their car seats. We found that people LOVE TWINS!!! We got stopped probably 3 times just trying to get to the front door. Billy put the babies down next to me while he went to get the car. Since we were at the front entrance of the hospital everyone coming and going stopped to take a look at the babies. At one point a small crowd began to gather around them. I thought Damn these kids are more popular than me and they've only been alive for 4 days, AWESOME!!!

Here are some photo's of our room :)

The white chair with the pillows on it is Billy's fold out bed. :(  Poor Guy!

These were the babies beds. The picture below is of them Hanging out together. 

It was the craziest feeling bringing the babies home and having them in the house.  We were all prepared for their arrival physically but nothing can prepare you mentally. I just starred at them for a long time and took it all in. They still didn't feel like they were ours, it was so surreal.  I thought to myself, Wow my house is now a home.  I have my Husband, my dog and now my beautiful babies J

The babies lost weight after they were born. This is totally normal, in the womb since babies have an umbilical cord they are constantly getting nutrition 24/7 and are gaining weight. Once born the cord is cut and it’s up to you to feed them and keep that weight up. Most babies lose 10% of their body weight at birth. Below is a list of how their weights have fluctuated so far. J

Weston Weight

Baby A

9/10: 5.5.

9/12: 4.12

9/13: 4.11

9/15: 4.14

9/20: 4.12

9/25: 5.0

Wyatt's Weight

Baby B

9/10: 5.6

9/12: 4.15

9/13: 4.14

9/15: 4.10

9/20: 5.1

9/25: 5.6

Well I will write more hopefully sooner than later. For now I will give you just the birth story J Thanks for reading!!!

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35 weeks with Twins! This is my Last blog post before the babies arrive.

35 weeks pregnant with the Twins

Billy and I on Saturday (35 weeks Preggo)

So I have big news. This will be my last pregnancy post before the babies arrive.  I know a lot of people have enjoyed following my pregnancy with the twins and I’m oh so very grateful for the love and support everyone has shown me. I can’t tell you how many times I have had people tell me when I’m out and about how much they love my blog and love following my pregnancy, it’s very flattering. Thank you all for the support you have shown me.

So I get a lot of comments from people saying I bet your ready to have them or you must be miserable at this point in your pregnancy. But to tell you the truth I really love being pregnant. I’ve had such an easy pregnancy with the twins. I know that’s very hard to believe but it’s been really great. I’ve enjoyed every second of it. I really am going to miss it. Although the last 2 weeks have been pretty difficult it’s still not that bad.

So I have a lot to write about. I have I huge announcement that I will get to later but first I will start off with new symptoms I’ve had this week. First off I will say I’ve had lots and lots of contractions and big ones at that.  They are a lot more painful and take my breath away. Sleeping and lying down is becoming painful and difficult, my stomach feels sooo heavy and turning from one side to the other while lying down has been really difficult.  Pillows are my best friend. As of Sunday my stomach has dropped a bit. So it makes it harder to sit and walk. I feel like I’m sitting on the babies or body parts, It’s a really weird feeling.  I officially walk and waddle like a pregnant lady with full on huffing and puffing and moans and groans. Hahaha…. I also can’t tell if I’ve just gained weight or what but I feel like overnight this week my thighs grew huge. I don’t know if they are swollen or if it’s because I stopped working out a month ago and all those trips to Yogurtland have gone straight to my thighs.  Also the twins are growing at a rapid rate and that has left me in a ton of pain.  In which the pain makes me super nauseous.

This is what my couch has looked like for the last 3 months. I LOVE PILLOWS!!!

During my pregnancy I've tried to take really good care of myself. I'm a vegetarian for one so I've tried pretty hard to make sure I get enough vitamins and protein. I take these expensive ass Vegan prenatal pills from whole foods to make sure I'm not missing out on the essentials. I have not eaten any fast food through out my entire pregnancy (nor do I ever eat fast food). I try to eat right and healthy and I'm pretty lucky I haven't had a huge appetite during my pregnancy. I was working out but not very much and pretty lightly since I'm high risk. My pre pregnancy weight was 134 my current weight is 167 for a total gain of 33 pounds. Not to bad if I say so myself.

So I wanted to show you what my body does when I have a contraction. Yes it's actually visual. 

So this is what my belly normally looks like, nice and round. 

When I have a contraction it feels like a huge cramp and my stomach (uterus) gets super tight and changes shape. Kinda like a Charley horse where you can see your leg muscle cramp up.

This is my stomach during a contraction

Crazy Huh!!!! 

So since I have so much to write about I will try to go in order by day. So last week I scheduled myself a pregnancy massage. This was the first “professional” massage I have ever had. Why you ask, because I hate them and I don’t like people touching me aka rubbing my shoulders.  If you try I will spazz out and ask you to stop. I freakin hate it. So I go to the prenatal massage and the lady that did my massage was in her mid 50’s and very chatty. She couldn’t believe I was carrying twins and said I look better then all of her singleton patents. Well this woman talked my ear off the whole time and did not talk about peaceful stress free things. She talked about labor and her pregnancy and whenever there was a quiet moment she would say hummm what else should we talk about. I left there feeling exactly the same as I did when I walked in and super confused like what the hell just happened. The massage was not good at all either. She was super nice but I would never ever go back to her or recommend her.  She was even drinking a togo’s soda and checked her cell phone. WTF????

I just got a few pictures back from my Maternity Photo shoot. I can’t wait to see the rest.  But here are a few shots. The photographer that did the photo shoots name is Kamram Zohoori, his website is www.picture2000.com . This photo shoot was a solo shoot with yours truly. Like I said, I can’t wait to see the other shots we got and I can’t wait to put a few of them in the nursery.

Here are a few photo's

This one came out really good you can actually see Baby B & A's little heads on their ultrasound pictures

So I’ve been thinking lately how the hell am I going to breast feed? I know its totally normal but as a new mother I’m like ehhhh.... It just seems so awkward and different.  The human body is an amazing thing. Not only can I make little humans but I can produce food for them and nurse them in to big babies. Sorry if I sound like a crazy person haha.. It’s just one of those things where I think WOW this is really about to happen. So this weekend I started researching on youtube and in my pregnancy books how to breast feed. I was so shocked at all the video’s I found of women totally topless and care free walking through all the steps of what works best for them for breast feeding and showing step by step what they do. I found one with a woman who demonstrated how she feeds her twins at the same time it was very cool.  I’ve also be researching how to care for circumcised babies. I mean there are just all these little things you have to think about and I totally want to be prepared. I hear parenting is a lot of trial and error and that lots of thing come naturally. I know Billy and I will make great parents, it’s just scary having such a huge new responsibility. 

Sooooooo I filmed a video. Ohhhh snap, yes I did. This video is of the babies heartbeats, I haven’t told a soul about this video till now haha… It’s gotten 63 hits since Sunday, woo hoo I’m famous…j/k. This video is of me using the fetal doppler that Billy’s parents got me for my birthday back in May. In May I was about 5 months pregnant I think and was still not feeling the babies move because my placenta has attached itself in the front of my uterus. Which means every time they would kick or move they were kicking placenta which cushioned the blow and left me feeling nothing most of the time. You would think with 2 babies I would be feeling lots of movement but really I was not. It wasn’t till about 5 ½ to 6 months where I felt them all the time.  So this video is pretty crazy in that I’m not wearing any makeup what so ever. I’m just chillin in shorts and a sports bra, yes that’s how you know I’m pregnant. My old self would NEVER be seen in person, a photo let alone a video with no makeup on.  My face is getting puffy from the pregnancy and the angles aren’t very flattering. But what the hell, I really don’t give a rip. Haha.. So here it is a video of the babies heartbeats on the fetal Doppler. They are both different tones, I figured someone would get a kick out of it. Enjoy!

So here is the HUGE news! If you’ve read this far, thanks! I know this is a really long blog. I just have so much to get out being my last pregnancy blog. Any who, like every Tuesday we have our Non Stress test for the babies. This time they were both pulling a Baby B from last week and there heart beats weren’t really fluctuating. The tech told me they like their heart rates to go up and down at least 4 times between 120-154 beats during the NST. So this time I made sure to shake my belly and drink cold water and sure enough that woke them up. Woo hoo. She said if I couldn’t get them to wake up she was going to buzz them. Which I guess is a giant vibrating buzzer that wakes them up. This week they monitored them for almost an hour, which was sooo boring.  But I’m glad everything went well.

This is my view for all my Non Stress Tests, It's the corner of Hamilton and Bascom next to the Classic Car wash. 

We then head in to our ultrasound for their growth test. I’ve been looking forward to this ultrasound for a very long time because we got to find out how much the babies weigh.  So what they do during this type of ultrasound is measure all their body parts, head, belly, legs etc. and then come up with an estimated weigh of each baby. So the Babies have gotten really big in the last month Baby A is 5.6oz and Baby B is 5.15oz. Which means I have 11 pounds of full on baby weight in my belly. Last month the babies weighed 3.8 and 3.12.  

So I bet you can’t guess who my ultrasound tech was this time. My BFF, the broken English guy! UGH! He was really nice to us because we have seen him the last 3 weeks in a row, but man this guy is just a sloppy ultrasound tech. He sprays the gel out super high so that it splatters all over the place and gets on my clothes and even face. Like really bro?  He must be new because my last 3 ultrasounds have been horrible and painful with this guy. Anyway he managed to take a penis photo and a photo of Baby A’s head J which I was really happy about but as you can see his photo skills aren’t that great he took 3 of the same shots and its only half of the baby’s head.  But I will say their heads have gotten so big in the last month. So we finish the ultrasound and the Doctor comes in, this time we got the doctor I really like. She said everything looked good but didn’t want me going past my scheduled delivery date which is September 17^th.  So all seemed well and we leave the High Risk Facility.  

Baby A's big Ol Head hahah...

  

It's hard to believe how big the babies have gotten here is a picture of them cuddling at 12 weeks. You can see their little baby heads. 

HERE IS THE BIG NEWS!!!

This is where we get a phone call that changes everything. We drive over to Billy’s parent’s house and while I’m hanging out in the kitchen talking to His mom and sister Billy runs in and tells us all to be quiet.  We all were a little confused because we didn’t know why or who was on the phone. But then Billy says okay go on what do you have to tell us, I have Gina here (he was on speaker phone). The doctor then goes on to say that after we left she started to go over the ultrasounds and the measurements of each baby and found that Baby A is not developing at the same rate as Baby B. Baby B’s measurements right now are normal and on point for a 35 week old fetus. But Baby A’s belly measurements are 2 weeks behind and not growing at the rate it should be, his legs are 1 week behind and is head is on point and measuring just fine. She said that it looks as though the blood flow is being delivered to the brain just fine but it doesn’t look like his blood flow being distributed to all of his organs properly.

She said at this point she doesn’t think that it’s causing a huge threat to where we need to take them out right away but said she was going to suggest to my doctor that she take them out next week. This made me instantly start to cry. Billy’s sister and mom then hugged me while we listened to the doctor continue on.  Billy told her that we have an appointment with my doctor that will be delivering our babies Wednesday (TODAY) and that she should call her tonight and tell her the test results so that she can reschedule our C-Section ASAP and we can go over everything with her. She then says she’ll call her right away and hung up.

 Well I didn’t find out till 10pm Tuesday night that I had a missed call on my phone and had a voicemail. So I listened and to my surprise my doctor had rescheduled my C-Section within 15 minutes of that phone call. Sooooooooo my new delivery date has been rescheduled. The babies will be delivered at 36 weeks on Monday September 10^th at 7:30am. Which means I have 5 more days of being pregnant. Its so surreal I just can’t believe it.

I’ve had a lot of people ask me if I was going to keep my blog up after the babies are born. My answer is maybe but I don’t think I’ll have time. I will definitely do a delivery blog with how everything went and the whole experience through my eyes.  As for 1 blog a week, I don’t know if I will have time.  But I’m sure if I have a moment I will blog about life as a twin mom. I guess time will tell, I will be a walking zombie. Haha….

So I've decided that I wanted to write out a birth plan for my C-Section. I know most people don’t for C-sections but there are a few things that I want for my delivery and so below is what I will be requesting. I’m sure that all these things come with labor and delivery but I’ve never done this before and want to make sure these things are available to me.

Mother to be: Gina Young 

Partner (Husband): Billy Young

Practitioner: Dr. K….

Due Date: September 10^th 2012

Delivery:

Partner (Billy) present at all times while transferring mother and babies to and from surgery and during the surgery.

I would like a spinal/epidural for anesthesia. I would like the catheter to be placed after the anesthesia has taken effect.

I would like to see the birth of my babies, please lower curtain so I can view the babies emerging. We would like to take photographs of the baby immediately after the birth.

Free one hand for me to touch the babies if possible.

After Delivery:

I plan on breast feeding once the babies and I are reunited in the recovery room.  I would like assistance establishing a correct latch at the breast and establishing a breast feeding routine with a lactation nurse on staff.

I would like my babies to be circumcised prior to us being released from the hospital.

So yeah that’s it, short and sweet. Hopefully I will get all my requests especially the curtain. If I could I would request a mirror so I could see the operation taking place but Billy said No hahaha… He can’t hang with that. So I will just request them to lower the curtain so we can see the babies right after their pulled out.  

My belly measurements this week are in, since last week my belly has grown 3/4th's of an inch and measuring at 44 inches. As you can see my stomach is really red and irritated because I've gotten the dreaded pregnancy rash as of last night. F-Word!!!! It's soooooo itchy and painful. I don't know how I'm going to wear a shirt to go to the doctor. I might rap my stomach with saran wrap. 

Well I’d better rap things up. Again I’ve really appreciated everyone’s love and support throughout my whole pregnancy. I’m so lucky to have such a great response from everyone.  I really didn’t think I’d get the response that I’ve gotten. I mean I’ve gotten 1,300+ blog hits in the last 2 weeks alone. Never when I started this blog did I think that would ever happen. I figured I would write this blog and my close friends and family would read it. I didn't want to bore everyone who was uninterested with long Facebook posts of what's going on with my body. I’m so greatful, thank you all for coming along on this journey with me. The next time I  post here you will be seeing 2 identical twin baby boys. 

Their Nursery

34 weeks with Twins

34 Weeks Pregnant with Twins!!!

Holy Crap I’m still pregnant! WOO HOO! Well that’s a really good thing. I’m super stoked on that because as of Sunday night I didn’t think I was going to be pregnant for much longer. I was having serious sharp pains and lots of aches and big contractions (but not back to back).  This morning (Tuesday) I woke up feeling great. I think it’s because all I did was lay down on Monday.

It's pretty frustrating when my Maternity shirts are to small to cover my belly.

So new symptoms this week include (like I said earlier) lots of aches and sharp pains. I’ve come to realize that the pulled hamstring feeling I’ve been having in my upper inner thighs could very well be my hips spreading. We found last week and again today that Baby A has moved downward and his head is super low resting right above my pelvis. Baby B is still high up and hanging out all mellow as always. It’s finally official that my lower back totally hurts, as to where last week it was just barely bothering me. I’ve been having lots of contractions, they are pretty strong and at times take my breath away. But since I’ve been placed on UTI medication they are a lot less frequent.  Tomorrow is my last day of medication so I’m hoping the medication killed the UTI.

So first things first, last Wednesday we went to see my OBGYN for my prenatal appointment and to go over last Tuesday’s crazy events.  She informed us that at week 34 and beyond if I go in to labor she’s not going to try to stop it and will perform an emergency C-Section (we are doing a C-Section because one baby is head down and one is breech).  She said generally twins are born at 34 or 35 weeks. Full term for twins is 37 weeks but not all women make it to that point. She told Billy and I last week that she thinks I’ll have them within the next week or so (meaning this week or next week).  That comment alone just about gave Billy and I a panic attack. Yikes! I’m totally mentally not ready to have twins. Luckily we are fully prepared for them when it comes to everything else.  We should be hearing from the doctor soon with a scheduled date for the delivery. Sooo Exciting! 

Last Friday I had a maternity photo shoot. Big thanks to my girlfriend Maryann for giving that to us as a baby shower gift. The one thing I found is I'm a HORRIBLE model. hahaha... I looked so awkward in soooo many pictures. I think I was just really nervous and out of my element. The picture above is a test shot I took with my iPhone the day before the shoot. I got a few really good shots that I really liked. I can't wait to see the pictures once they're edited. The photographer I did the photo shoot with is our friend Kamran his website is http://www.picture2000.com.

My Mom was SUPER sweet and came over on Monday on her day off and spent all day cleaning my house. What a doll. On top of that she then made us dinner. She is so great. I felt bad because I was lying down all day Monday but I really needed to listen to my body because I was not feeling well.

Today (Tuesday) we had our weekly Non Stress Test. Billy came home from work early to take me to my appointment just in case we had a repeat of last week and had to be sent to the hospital. I packed my hospital bag and so we threw it in the trunk and headed to the appointment.

My hospital bag is all packed and ready to go by the door :)

So this was our 3^rd non stress test and just like last week it didn’t go as planned.  So we go in to our normal room and they hook the babies up. One heartbeat doppler for each baby and one contraction doppler for me. So right away the nurse finds Baby A and Baby B’s heart beats. Then she says that Baby B’s heart beat keeps falling off the radar and so she sat there for 30 minutes holding on to the doppler trying to see if she could get a stronger heart beat. Baby A was moving around all crazy and had a good heart rate that was fluxuating (I guess this is what they look for every time). While Baby B’s heart rate stayed at a steady 135. They said this could be because Baby B was sleeping. We tried waking up Baby B by poking and shaking my belly but didn’t have much luck.  She brought the 30 min test results to the Doctor and he said Baby A looks good but we will need to monitor Baby B for another 30 minutes to see if we can get his heart beat to rise. So we disconnect Baby A and monitored Baby B for another 30 minutes with no luck. She brought the next 30 minute results to the doctor who then says that he would like to pull us in for an ultrasound to get a better look at Baby B.

So we go in to the ultrasound room where we get the same ultrasound tech as last week. This stressed me out even more because if you read my blog last week I mentioned that he doesn’t speak very good English. So I ask him what he’s looking for and when he responds I have know freakin clue what the heck he said.  So he focuses in on Baby B and finds his heat beat. Everything looked good so he monitored the baby for about 20 minutes and kept telling us what he was doing but I still didn't really understand anything he was saying except  “I’m just looking…”  haha… So then all of a sudden Baby B wakes up and starts moving around and he say’s “okay we are done, I’ll bring the results to the Doctor please wait here.”  Then says to me sorry I got gel all over your shirt.  Grrrrrrrrrrrrr……….. Not again!!!!!!

So the Doctor came in and this time we got a Doctor that I really like. He then explained to us what had happened and what they were looking for. He explained that Baby B’s heart beat was at a steady rate of 135 and this could mean one of many things. When they do the NST's they want their heart rates to fluctuate anywhere from 130-154. Since it wasn’t fluxuating they decided to do a last minute ultrasound to take a closer look. They took a look at his heart, blood flow through the umbilical cord and movement. He said it looked as though Baby B was just sleeping and there was nothing that was wrong.  He said they wanted to make sure Baby B was okay and wanted to take a closer look because there are other things that could have been wrong, luckily he didn’t say what those other things were because I’d totally freak out over it.  It really puts me at ease knowing that the babies are getting the very best care possible. Next week we have another ultrasound, this is the fun one where we find out their growth, length and weight. I can’t wait to find out how much they weigh.

So since I’ve been in so much pain these last few days I’ve scheduled myself a prenatal massage. My dad and step mom bought it for me for my birthday back in May and I’ve been saving it for a time when I thought I could really use it. I’m a little nervous because I’ve never had a massage before. I know that sounds crazy but I don’t like people touching me on my neck because I’m afraid they’re going to tweak my muscles and put me in a world of pain. If you can’t tell I’ve had a really bad massage experience. Haha… But I’m a little excited to see if it helps with the pain I am having. 

Here is my little cuddle Buddy <3

So I was in for a bit of a shock today when I went to measure my belly. I've been in a hell of a lot of pain this last week. I kept thinking to myself "Okay your either going to go in to labor soon or the babies are rapidly growing and it's growing pains."  Well today I found it was growing pains because in one week my stomachs grown almost a full inch. This week my Belly measures in at 43 1/4 (last week was 42 1/2) Sooo crazy! Their only going to get bigger and bigger from here on out. Below I did a picture comparison from last week and this week. I don't know about you but I can definitely see a difference. 

33 weeks pregnant and our trip to Labor and Delivery

33 weeks pregnant with Twins!!!!

Wow this week has been CRAZY!!! Lots and lots of changes, for instance last week I learned what a contraction felt like. Since then I’ve realized I get them quite often and then Tuesday began having strong back to back contractions three minutes apart that put me in the hospital. CRAZY! More on that later. I’ve felt that over the last week I feel more like I did before I got pregnant, my skin is more under control, my appetite has disappeared. Other things are I’m getting tired a lot faster when out and about, I get super out of breath very easy due to lack of lung space, also lower back pain, not too much but some and my nose is less stuffy. Oh but I have been super emotional I’ve noticed.

So Billy and I have been in full swing trying to get prepared for the twins. Sunday Billy put together all the baby equipment we have received, such as strollers, bouncers and rockers.  I organized the diapers by baby weight. Billy cleaned the carpets and I wiped down all the walls. Tuesday I headed to Buy Buy Baby and Babies R Us and got everything we needed that we didn’t get from the baby shower and then some.  As of right now we are fully prepared and ready for the Twins. I’ve also gotten what I needed for my hospital overnight bag. I just need to actually pack the bag and put it all together. I even bought preemie clothes just in case they are super tiny and newborn outfits are too big to bring them home in.

So Tuesday (yesterday) was a crazy day. I’ve heard pregnant woman say you should really listen to your body because it will tell you what you really need to do. Me I’m super stubborn and didn’t really do that. Tuesday I wake up feeling absolutely horrible. I had horrible chest pain and horrible unbearable cramping and pain in my stomach. My first thought was, Shit!!!!!!!!!! This is so not good or right. This is not normal and the thought crossed my mind, could this be the day? Then I talked myself out of it and tried to “walk it off” Literally and began walking around the house seeing if I felt any better. Which I did after a while, I ate breakfast and decided to then get ready and get out to Buy Buy Baby and Babies R Us to gather the last few things we needed to get before the babies arrive. Something told me you need to do this ASAP.

So I get to Buy Buy Baby and feel fine, then get to Babies R Us and begin to not feel so hot. I began getting really bad hot flashes and began to get super irritable. At one point I wanted to cry because I was super frustrated and only had 1 hour to shop before my appointment and was so scatterbrained that I didn’t know how I was going to get it all done and there were 5 screaming kids running amuck in the store. I calmed myself and made sure to ask for help whenever I saw an employee.  

So once I was done there I head straight to my doctor’s appointment to meet Billy. We had a Non Stress test and an Ultrasound scheduled. So they hook my belly up and I guess I was having contractions but I was so out of it thinking, OMG did I get everything I needed. (I was so concerned because you can only use the registry completion coupon once to get a big discount and right now every penny counts since I’m not working) The nurse was like your having an awful lot of contractions. And I see Billy’s eyes light up cause the contraction I was having went up to 80+ on the scale. I didn’t even know what he was looking at and the nurse explained what was going on and where on the screen was the heart beats and contraction meter.

So then all of a sudden they start coming sooner and sooner and begin getting stronger and stronger. The nurse took the paper print out of the twin’s heart beats and the contractions to a Doctor at the high risk facility. There are about 5 Doctors on staff and every time you go there you get whatever doctor is available at that time. So we got the doctor that I really like. She came in and was like I need to get you in to your ultrasound and I then need you to go in to Labor and Delivery because your contractions are 3 minutes apart and I need to make sure that you are not in labor. She told me that I looked so mellow and relaxed that it made her feel a whole lot better because she expected to see me a little disheveled.  My first thought was, “No, this is not right, this is way too soon.” I felt as if I was going to start crying but I held back the tears.

So we go in to the ultrasound and the ultrasound tech was a guy we have never had before. He barely spoke any English which was a bit frustrating because I didn’t know what he was doing or looking for this week. I asked him but could only understand him say Brain. I thought nooo I hope you didn't take bath salts, jk!!! I asked him to please take pictures of their faces for me because this could very well be their last ultrasound and I really wanted to have one last picture. He was only able to get a shot of Baby A’s face and unfortunately couldn’t get Baby B’s face because it was being covered with body parts since they are so crowded in there. He speeds through the ultrasound and gets gel all over my shirt Grrrr… it was literally a 5 minute ultrasound. I was totally bummed because I was really looking forward to seeing them and how much they have grown. But he said you need to get to the hospital. He then rips off the pictures and I hear him say I couldn’t get his face but I got his Mer..mer..mer I couldn’t understand him. I then look at the pictures and it was 2 shots of baby A’s face and one picture of Baby B’s junk. I was like, figures haha…  Like I’ve said before Tech’s love takingpictures of babies junk. Haha…

I edited these pictures but for some reason there not transferring over. Sorry for the background :-P

Over the last 2 weeks I can totally see a difference in the face it looks like Baby A put on some weight.

And of course Baby B's Junk

So the Doctor comes in and says things look good and sent us off to the hospital. Lucky for us I scheduled a tour of the Labor and Delivery center and NICU on Friday for next Monday so I had all the information in my phone. So we were all prepared and knew where to go. GO US!!!

We check in and get registered with the hospital and they give us a huge Labor and delivery room it was seriously awesome.  So we get our nurse who was super cool and friendly. She then hooks me up to the monitors and sees that I’m still having contractions 3 minutes apart. So they monitor me for an hour. Then give me a test called a Fetal Fibronectin that informs them if I am going in to pre-term labor and will let them know as far as 2 weeks out. Oh technology you are so freakin awesome. I also gave a urine sample and they hooked me back up to the monitors.  We then had to wait 1 hour for the test results to come back. During that hour the contractions slowed down a lot and spread themselves out.

Billy looking a little nervous 

 Getting my bed prepped 

All connected and ready to be monitored I kept staring at the infant station across from me. It was a trip.

Me a little scared but trying to relax

Waiting on the test results

A panoramic view of our big room

Next thing I know my Favorite Dr. arrives.  She is my Dr that will be delivering my babies. She then takes a look at everything and has the test results and informs us that they came back negative for pre-term labor. THANK GOD!  She said the urine test came back positive for a Urinary Tract Infection (UTI). She said UTI’s can inflame the bladder which will irritate the uterus and cause you to have contractions.  Who knew? I was shocked but it does scare me a little because I have one Kidney (if you haven’t noticed the giant scar in all my belly pictures) and it makes me wonder if everything is okay with my kidney.  

She told me drink more water and cranberry juice. I think are you kidding me, how can I drink more water then I already do. Do they really want me to live on the toilet? I already pee every 20 minutes as it is. She then gets the paper work together and releases us from the hospital. The good thing is we now know exactly what to do and where to go once I really go in to labor and I’m now pre-registered with the hospital. Yay!

As soon as I got out of the hospital bed I realized I was in a lot of pain due to all the contractions.  The best way to explain it is it feels like menstrual cramps or for boys really bad stomach lower cramps (maybe like getting kicked in the groin, but I wouldn't know the feeling). Plus my hamstrings were super cramped up also. It was super weird and made me think, wow it’s almost time, this baby stuff is no joke.

While in the hospital I was contacted by our friend Kamran who is suppose to be doing my maternity shoot. So we locked down a date for this Friday just in case the babies come sooner then expected. I thought that was funny because that was one of the first things I thought of when I was laying in the hospital bed. I was like I can’t have them yet I haven’t had my Maternity Photo Shoot and I haven’t gotten a video of them moving around in my belly (which I would like to share with everyone). So I’m glad to be home. Although I’m still having contractions it’s good to know that there not serious yet and my doctor told us that we will use the contractions that I had as something to base future contractions off of.  If they become more serious than the ones I had and become frequent again then we need to come in to the hospital. Sounds like a good game plan to me.

Today we have a Dr. appointment with my OBGYN for my prenatal appointment and to go over what happened yesterday and possibly plan out my C-Section, we will soon see. This is all getting so real. I can’t believe how fast my pregnancy has gone by and can believe the babies will be here so soon. 

And last but not least I have my weekly Belly measurement.

Yet again my stomach has grown another half inch. Last week I measured in at an even 42 inches. It's so crazy because I feel like I'm getting bigger, but to actually see it on measuring tape is pretty nuts. As of right now the twins are putting on a half a pound a week each. So that's one full pound of baby growth a week. Wowzer! My stomach is getting pretty heavy.

8 Months Pregnant with Twins

32 weeks aka 8 Months Pregnant with Twins

So I’ve hit the 8 month mark. Wow it’s gone by so flippin fast its mind blowing. Since I’m having twins, full term is 37 weeks. So I have 5 more weeks (or less) to go. I can’t believe it. New things this week hummmm lets see. Well I feel a lot more sluggish. I think a lot has to do with me sleeping more which means I stay up later. I feel like a bum, but I might as well enjoy it because sleep will soon become a thing of the past. I think I may have pulled a muscle in my stomach from lifting stuff that was way too heavy. My mistake and yes I learned my lesson, it won’t happen again. I’m really starting to feel super pregnant. I’m starting to waddle when I walk, it’s super attractive ;) The heat wave is finally starting to get to me. Being super pregnant in 90 degree weather is no fun. This weekend I went to the grocery store and people were laughing when they saw how pregnant I was and gave me comments like Good luck with the heat, I don’t miss being pregnant in the summer and I’m so glad I’m not you. Hahahaha... You’re sooooo funny, NOT!

This is what the babies look like at week 32

This week I’ve come to the realization that I’m not as prepared for the twins as I should be. So I made an inventory list of everything we got from the baby shower. Then I when through the Babies R Us and Buy Buy Baby check lists and made a list of everything we need to get. Billy and I headed out in to the heat on Saturday and knocked a bunch of stuff off our list. It’s great because we had a bunch of gift cards from the baby shower and my work so we got everything for free dollars and still have more Visa gift cards to use.

Billy also wanted to pick up the book The Happiest Baby on the Block. We got the DVD from my work but he really wanted to read the book.  So Saturday we went to Barnes and Noble and got it.  Billy sat down and read about the entire book within a few hours. He's a super fast reader, must be from all the SSR (sustained silent reading) from when he was a kid haha... He said it’s a really great book and expects me to read it by the end of the week. He was kidding but really wants me to read it soon probably so we can talk about it together and so I can get prepared for what’s to come.

Also this weekend we did our first loads of baby laundry. It really melted my heart. It's still so strange to me that we will soon have 2 little babies within the next month. Our lives are about to change in a very big way. 

So if you are my facebook friend and saw my post from earlier today you may be curious as to what blew my mind today at my doctor appointment. So I’ll start from the beginning. Billy and I arrive at the High Risk Facility for the twins 1^st of many Non Stress Tests. Again like last time the place was packed with pregnant ladies. It took us almost an hour to be seen. So we go in to the room which was bright and looked over Hamilton Ave, it was very nice. They then strapped a fetal heart monitor on my stomach for each baby. The babies were bouncing around like crazy because I had just had Ice Cream with my Sister in Law Jen and my 2 nieces. So every time the nurse would find their heart beats the babies would move and she’d have to adjust them to find them again. They then strapped a contraction monitor on me to see if I had any contractions during the test. 

So I’m reclined in a recliner and the nurse goes OMG do you feel that I’m like “huh what? The babies moving? Yes this one’s trying to climb over to his brothers side” and she’s like, “No you’re having a contraction.”  I was like WHAT!  I told her I’ve been wondering when my Braxton hicks contractions would start but don’t really know what they were or what they felt like. So she explained it to me and I was like WHAT! I have those all the time, I just thought that the babies where moving or turning or trying to climb on top of each other.  It really blew my mind!!!!

So during our appointment Baby B’s heart rate was 149 and Baby A’s heart beat was 128. Within their 30 minute test I had 2 contractions. Since I’ve gotten home I’ve had 7 contractions and I’m actually having one right now as I type. Sooo weird. On the upside I now know what they are and feel like and what to look out for. They had a doctor take a look at the results and he came in and told me that I need to watch out for contractions and if I have 8 to 10 back to back I need to call my doctor because there is a high possibility that the twins will come at any time. It’s so crazy and exciting. I still can’t believe it. Billy and my Mom both think the babies will arrive in the next 2-3 weeks. Me ummm I really don’t know and hope they stay in there as long as possible, because I’m not ready for them yet hehe… 

And last but not least I almost forgot to measure my belly. So last week my belly measured in at 41 1/2 inches. In the last week my belly has grown half an inch and is now measuring in at about 42 inches even. As of today I woke up and my stomach was super itchy meaning that the babies are growing and my skin is stretching. Also the veins in my stomach look a lot bigger and darker then normal meaning that there pumping a ton of blood down to the babies (hence why my stomach looks blue in the picture above). I'm super happy that they are growing and getting bigger but the one thing that continues to run through my brain is Please no stretch marks, please god please!!! I know they are un-avoidable with twins but I'm just so afraid of them, I just can't help it. 

That's all for now, thanks for reading!!!

31 weeks Pregnant with Twin Boys!!!

31 weeks with twins!

So this week has been great. With being on maternity leave I’ve been pretty stress free. Things that are new this week are that I’m feeling extremely dehydrated more than ever. All I do all day is chug water, which means I have to pee about every 20 minutes. I’ve found that it’s getting super hard to get off the couch or out of bed. I literally look like a turtle stuck on its back Haha… Also other new things are that my stomach now sits on my legs when I sit down.  It’s such a weird feeling. I’ve also been having weird pregnancy dreams that I’m in high school and late for class. Or that I still work at the radio station and I get to my event to find I forgot to pack the van full of our gear. It seems like every night I dream about work or school. So weird and annoying. 

I just wanted to thank everyone for reading my blog. Within the last week I've gotten well over 5,000 blog hits :) You guys Rock!!!

So I’ve heard from a lot of mothers that before the baby arrives it’s a really good idea to rough up your nipples if you are going to be breast feeding. When I was told this I was like Wha wha whaaaaa… really? But yes it does make a lot of sense, I’ve been told to use a toothbrush in the shower or rub them roughly with a towel when you get out of the shower. I guess this is one of those Mommy secrets that only mothers talk about, because I’ve never in my life heard of mothers doing this.

I’m quite surprised that I have been so in to the Olympics this year. It’s great it’s all I/we watch and has been awesome because there is always something to watch on TV no matter what time it is.  I’ve also found myself watching a baby story crying on the couch. Hahaha… They also have a show called Make room for Multiples that I’m super excited to watch. I’ve been DVRing them and can’t wait to watch them. I’ve only seen one so far and this chic had 4 babies, freakin nuts!  

After watching Bringing home baby Friday I realized that I don’t know much about child birth. As in signs of labor and the process your body goes through when delivering a baby. So Saturday night after my 10 year high school reunion I decided to do some research and watch some videos. HOLY CRAP!!! I totally scared myself silly. I was soooo freaked out and posted something on facebook stating so. It was a bit of a relief that all my mommy friends reassured me that it’s not as bad as it sounds on paper and that everything will be fine. 

I decided since there is a good chance that I will be having a C-Section (because one baby is head down and the other is Breach) that I should research that as well.  Which doesn’t seem as bad, the only crappy thing is that I wouldn’t get to see the babies during the delivery or get to hold the babies right away. I guess time will tell what my little Baby B will do. I don’t think there is any room in my belly for him to flip. But the ultrasounds show that it’s still a possibility. 

On Tuesday we had an Ultrasound with the high risk facility. They measured the babies and we found that one baby is 3 pounds 12 oz. and the other baby is 3 pounds 8oz. Which means I have a whole lot of baby up in my belly and I’m totally feeling it.  We got their brains checked out again and I’m happy to announce that their brain fluid levels have totally leveled out and are measuring at 1cm or less. Woo Hoo! I’m so excited about that!  From this point forward I will be going to the High Risk facility once a week. 

This is a picture of Baby B. It’s not the clearest shot but we couldn’t get very clear shots of both of their faces. There were lots of shadows which means body parts blocking the ultrasounds view. It’s getting super crowded up in my belly.

I decided that I'm going to start measuring my stomach with a tape measure to see just how much my stomach will start growing during this third trimester. I have a feeling my stomach is about to get HUGE during the next few weeks. So at 31 weeks my stomach is measuring at 41 ½ inches. I look full term right now. People have been asking and are curious to if I have received any stretch marks yet. I’m happy to say No! No stretch marks as of yet (knocks on wood). I have been using Vitamin E oil for the last month and a half. It’s been working great. Other things I use are the Mama Mio line (the oil and the Belly butter). Along with other random coco butter lotions. I think the fact I've been drinking so much water has really helped considering I've read drinking water is #1 in stretch mark prevention. I'm sure that wont last for long though, my babies will almost double in size soon and I will soon get my tiger stripes.