Week 25 and today's echocardiogram appointment

25 weeks Pregnant with Twins

Time is just flying by, the twins will be here before we know it. The only thing that has changed in the last week is that my pants no longer fit and my thighs got huge with what seems like over night. It must be all the ice cream I've been eating :)  I really need to watch that and get back on my healthy regimen aka no ice cream, cookies and candy. I bought a ton of fruit today to help with my sugar cravings. And what did I do....make a banana split. haha... Oh brother! I've gained 20 pounds during my pregnancy so far. I hope to gain no more then 15 more pounds but I'm not really worried about it as long as the babies and I are healthy that's all that matters to me. 

So today was the last of our BIG ultrasound tests. Today the boys each got a Echocardiogram. Which is an  ultrasound to make sure all 4 chambers of the heart are functioning properly and that there are no holes in their hearts, since that is a risk with the type of identical twins that they are. The results are in and each baby has a strong healthy heart. I believe the doctor said, "Their hearts look FANTASTIC!". Woo Hoo.. Man these kids are winners. 

It's a huge relief knowing that up until this point we have had no problems and that with all their crazy in-depth ultrasounds we find that they are both healthy, the same size and weight and just all around doing great. It's really more then we could hope and ask for. 

The scary news we got today is that we are not out of the clear of the possibility of twin to twin transfusion which can be fatal. To keep an eye on this we will be getting ultrasounds every 2 weeks up until their born. What I mean is if they find there is twin to twin transfusion and they catch it in time before its fatal there is a way to surgically close the part of the placenta with lasers that is transferring infected blood from one baby to the other. Oh technology! 

I'm really pleased with the High Risk Pregnancy Facility we are going to. They are located in Campbell next to the Pruneyard. I feel like we are in really great hands and are being well taken care of. 

Baby B wasn't really working with us today to get a good profile shot. As normal he was super chill and sleeping soundly.He's got a cute little chin.

The picture below is a frontal shot of Baby A's face. which is really hard to make out besides the eye socket.   

Here's a fun twin fact: Baby A and Baby B can change at anytime. Baby A means that that baby is closest to the cervix and if I were to go in to labor today Baby A would be born first (if naturally) because he is head down and closest to the Vageeg!  Baby B is currently breached and his head is up near my ribs. At any time Baby B can flip and be head down as well. If Baby B flips and is closer to the cervix than Baby A. Then Baby B will then become Baby A and Baby A will then take the title of Baby B. They can switch titles multiple times through out the pregnancy. So far the boys have stayed put and have kept their titles of who is who. Kinda neat huh?

Below is a cute little picture of Baby A's profile. He totally has Billy's nose and my lips. I LOVE IT!!! I can't wait to meet the little guy. 

I was super excited because our last ultrasound was opposite in that Baby B was cooperating and Baby A was not. With the last ultrasound we had we could not get a profile shot of Baby A. I do think that they look different in that Baby A's lips are bigger then Baby B's, but who knows, it could be the angle in that the picture was taken.  

Below is another shot from today of Baby A. He's got his hand in his mouth. 

Here is a Picture of Baby B at 22 Weeks if you would like to compare :)

24 weeks aka 6 months Pregnant with twins

6 Months Pregnant with Twins

Oh my my... My stomach is getting bigger by the day Holy Cow. Lots of changes with in the last week. I no longer can fit in to my clothes :( All my shirts are to small and I can no longer fit in to my size 5-7 jeans (ha go figure). Boo. I can fit in to 9's the bad thing is I just got rid of all my 9's and gave them to the hope foundation. Time to bust out the maternity clothes my sister in law lent to me :) 

Other changes I have heart burn all the time now because my stomach is sitting high making room for the babies. Bending over is super hard. My balance is off and I find myself putting a lot of pressure on my heels. Which means my feet are in constant pain and a little swollen by the end of the day, not to bad though. Other things are that my lower back is always achy. It's getting really hard to drive turning to look to change lanes or looking back to back up my car is a pretty big challenge. A lot of it has to do with me being short and having a bigger car. 

Some exciting things are that the babies are always moving. They are so strong and kick the crap out of me. I will be working and all of a sudden my stomach starts moving like crazy and popping up all over the place and changing shapes. It's very cool and exciting. It's definitely a crazy feeling. Before I got pregnant I always wondered what it felt like to feel a baby move in your belly. Well I must say I never imagined it would feel like this. It's a lot of pressure and feels like I've got extra bones that don't allow my to move in the directions that come naturally. It's really hard to explain :)

(Happening Now)

Baby A trying to escape

And last but not least sleep... Recently I became a restless sleeper. I'd wake up on my back (which is bad) with leg cramps and a tweaked shoulder. It was definitly becoming a challenge to sleep and I'd wake up multiple times through out the night in a ton of pain. Sometimes the pain alone would wake me up. All Bad, until Saturday when Billy bought me this awesome Pregnancy pillow called the Snoogle. This thing is AMAZING! I've been sleeping through the night not waking up once. I don't know how I ever slept with out it. It's huge but works wonders. Best buy ever!  We got it at Buy Buy Baby this weekend while finishing our registry's. 

I found these ADORABLE baby hats at Babies R Us. LOVE!!!!

This week the babies are 6 months in Utero Woo Hoo. Their about 1.5 pounds a piece :) This is what they look like today :) It's crazy to think they will be here in 3 months....or less. It's really nerve racking for me. I feel unprepared mentally. But I ask myself is any new mother mentally prepared for a baby let alone 2? I think not! But the thought is terrifying to me. It's a reality check that I'm a parent now and soon I will be in charge of 2 little lives. I just don't want to fail or let anyone down. I know that wont be the case, I just want to be a good parent. I'm my own worst critic.  

Time for Bed! Ni Night!!! Thanks for reading <3

23 Weeks & Our 1st High Risk Pregnancy Appointment

23 Weeks!!! 

My babies are moving like crazy. Right now one is head up and one is head down. So I'm getting kicked from all angles. I went from never feeling them move to strong rapid movements all the time. Very cool!  It's crazy how much can change in a week. It all started last Friday. 

Things are beginning to get really uncomfortable. Sleeping is hard, walking has gotten harder when walking the trail, my feet constantly hurt. 3 nights this week I've woken up out of a dead sleep in a ton of pain. This is only the beginning. Today I woke up with chest pain, an throbbing boob, a jacked arm and an achy side (all on the same side). I looked at my stomach to find a bunch of popped blood vessels. I thought WTF happened while I was sleeping. I really need to invest in an awesome sleeping pillow. 

As some of you know on Wednesday we had our 1st appointment with the Obstetrix high risk pregnancy facility. We learned that the babies are Monochorionic-Diamniotic twins, they share a sac that is separated by a membrane, this is great because their cords can not get tangled. They also share a placenta, which comes with risks of twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome and heart problems. Because of these risks we will need to have ultrasounds every two weeks. 

So Wednesday they did full measurements of the babies, 40 min scans per baby. Although it was really cool seeing all there organs and such it was really uncomfortable. After their 40 minute ultrasounds a piece, a doctor looked over the pictures and they came in and gave us the results. 

Both babies look great. There are no signs of twin-to-twin transfusion, (the risk of  twin-to-twin transfusion is 15%) so I think we are in the clear. They did find that Baby A has a enlarged kidney, so we are going to keep an eye on it. Other then that they look great. They are both 1 lb 2 oz. which is pretty impressive considering they are sharing a placenta. 

Our next appointment is going to be another long one. They are going to do a full heart inspection on each twin to make sure they have healthy hearts because that is another risk of  Monochorionic-Diamniotic twins. We also got the visual confirmation that they are definitely boys. :)  

So while looking at one baby he started to smile, I freakin melted and shouted at the ultrasound tech to take a picture. And this is what we have below :)

The ultrasounds they use are so high tech and awesome. They zoom in and out and are way better then the one at my doctors office. They also have a big flat screen on the wall so that we could see what was going on while the ultrasound tech did his work.Very cool. Kevin the ultrasound teach at the other office  always yells at me for trying to watch what he's doing while he's working. So I was very excited to have a big screen of my own :)

Below is a picture of a babies spine. Lookin Good!!! Nice and straight :)

The picture below is a shot from behind: Spine and head. Such a crazy looking picture.

Woo Hoo! I'm so grateful the babies are doing well. Today I began planning the baby shower. It brings back memories of planning my wedding :) I'm super excited! My girl friend Kelly and I headed to Target this afternoon and started on the baby registry and Billy picked out and ordered the invites. All this baby stuff just melts my heart :) 

Time for bed, Thanks for reading :)

22 weeks and 2 kiddo's practicing karate in my belly

22 Weeks

So a lot has changed in the last week. The babies have grown a lot and have become so much stronger. Friday was the first time I felt big kicks. Big as in startling, it scared me at first. There so big that my skin pops up it's so cool. After Friday they have been moving and kicking like crazy. At night when I'm watching TV my stomach changes shapes right before my eyes. It feels crazy, I can't help but wonder what the heck they are doing in there. Perhaps Karate :)  It's very exciting stuff I tell ya! 

Right now I'm 5 1/2 months and I feel like my skin is at the point to where it can't stretch much farther. I've been lubing up my stomach in hopes to help with stretchmark prevention. Along with drinking lots and lots of water. I know with twins there is no avoiding them but I would like to try and avoid them as much as I possibly can. As of this week I've switched over to the good stuff, Mama Mio Tummy Rub and Stretch Mark Oil. It's supposed to be the best of the best, every review I've ever read on there products are positive and given 5 stars. I'd like to test it out on my big ol twin belly :) I've read some twin reviews with their products and they said they got some stretchmarks but not many using the oil and tummy rub together. 

According to Baby Center this is what the twins looked like 2 weeks ago. I'm sure they are much bigger now. On Wednesday we will be heading to the high risk facility where I will begin to have many appointments to keep a close eye on the boys :)   Hopefully they to will give them a clean bill of health. I'm pretty excited to see how much they have grown in 3 weeks. 

I've finally got my appetite back. I'm hungry a lot now, as to where before nothing sounded good and I had to force myself to eat. I think everyday to myself that one should not crave this much sugar. I always have sweets on my mind. I try sooooo hard not to give in. I do love the weight watchers ice cream bars though. I keep telling myself, "before you were pregnant you knew this was way to much sugar for you, how is it okay for two babies."  That usually crosses my mind after I've given in :)  I'm sure this is normal, sometimes I wonder if it is. I then wonder what my other pregnant friends crave. With me it's always Sushi, Fruit, Rice, Frozen Yogurt and Chocolate. People always tell me you can't eat sushi when your pregnant and are always telling me don't eat raw fish. To that I say yes, I know that, I've very aware and I do not eat anything raw. I've never been a huge fan of raw sushi. But I do love me some California Rolls. That's all I ever order, pregnant or not. Yummo! 

On Friday night I came home after having dinner with all my girl friends and plopped on the coach to be lazy.  Buddy hoped up and put his hands on my belly and cuddled with me for a while. It was sooo cute I had to take a picture. Even though it looks like he's copping a feel in this picture. haha... He's such a sweet heart and cuddles with me every night. I love him to pieces. I always feel so guilty leaving him at home. I keep thinking how am I going to leave two babies at home when I feel so guilty leaving my dog? It will definitely be a challenge.