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.