Join us as we start the adventure of parenthood x 2!!
We are so excited for the twins we wanted to use our blog to share with all our Friends & Family!

Monday, April 25, 2011

WOW my belly is soo big!

I am feeling so huge today!  It is taking me so long to do anything, I'm moving so slowly!  I am trying to remember to add extra time in for walking and moving slow, but sometimes forget!  I am starting my 4 hr days and 15 hr work week this week, we will see if I succeed -

My lower back is hurting now.  I have an acupuncture apt. tomorrow and am so excited!  I haven't been in about 6 weeks or so.  I love it!  For those of you who don't know, I started seeing her last July after reading all the positive things that it does for you body including helping you conceive.  So I know for a fact it has helped regulate hormones, energy and fluids in my body! I can feel it working as I lay there in a treatment and then feel amazing the week or two after.  I was going to see her every week, a couple times a week before I got pregnant, then a few times in the first trimester.  Now I am starting again.  She says she can help relieve some back pain for me, as well as prepare my body for delivery and make it easier!  I think that is worth a try and I haven't had any of the treatments not work yet!

Marc is in Milwaukee for a conference this week - he will be home on Thursday.  The babies should stay put!  :)

My great friends here in Sheboygan are throwing me a baby shower this Saturday!  I am excited to see everyone and it sounds like a fun party!  I do not know anything about it as far as theme, food or anything!!  That part is fun for me!

Angela

Sunday, April 24, 2011

Belly Pics

 29 wks 31 wks

Week 33

Marc and I had a nice week this past week!  Finally a week of no moving - but it we both mentioned it still feels like we will be going  back home (sheboygan house).  Maybe because none of our stuff his here (furniture) or because we are still in the area working and all of our friends are here so nothing much feels different except where we are living?!??!  Maybe it is good to have this transition time so it's not such a shock and as hard when we do leave WI!  We have made great friends here and have enjoyed the last 4 yrs!

We had an ultrasound on Friday.  Lexi is weighing in at 3lb. 15 oz (almost 4lb!!!) and Oliver is weighing in at 3lbs. 5 oz. They are growing at the same pace as the last ultrasound 3 weeks ago so that is what the doctor wanted to see the most!!  They are practicing breathing with fluid at this time (im not exactly sure how this works, but they got a high score for doing it!).  I start to see the doctor 1x next week then 2x a week from then on.  At these next apts I will be doing what they call nonstress tests - they put a monitor on me and the babies and observe for about an hour.  I will know more about this after next Friday when I have my first one!!

We got more details on the last few weeks of the twin pregnancy.  32 weeks is a big benchmark in that if the babies are born today, they will have no major health issues and will be fine!  After 34 weeks (which is a scary 1.5 weeks away) they will not stop me if I go into labor!! At 35 weeks, May 12th, the babies would not have to spend anytime at the NICU.  (Which is my goal to get to - and we learned there is not a NICU at our local hospital, so if they do need to go there, they will need to be transported to Milwaukee, which would not be too convenient.) Also I don't want them to come earlier than that b/c they will be too small!  At 36 weeks both babies should be in the 5lbs so that is where I would like to be!!  We will see!  Both babies are head down, and should stay that way.  I will be able to deliver vaginally as long as there isn't an emergency of some kind.

I am feeling pretty good!  Sleeping is getting progressively harder as is getting up out of a chair and bending over!  I can simply not get enough air and feel as though each breath I am taking a deep breath!  I would like the babies to drop soon so I can have my diaphragm back! I measured to term for a singleton, or 40 weeks!  My belly grew 3 weeks of singleton growth in the last 1.5 weeks!!  So my doctor is happy with that as the goal now is to have the babies keep growing as much as they can!  Although with this my maternity clothes are getting tight in the belly b/c well usually women are done by this point!  I bought an XL shirt instead of L, but everything else except the belly is too big - i.e. the shoulders and neck, so that doesn't look too good!  The babies do move a lot - mostly you see every kick and arm movement b/c they are laying horizontal and all 4 feet are at the top of my belly!

Till next time -

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Week 32

Well the last two weeks were NUTS!!!  But we are here now in our condo (where we will be for the next 2 months!) and everything is put away.  We can now have a few relaxing weeks before our lives get crazy for a long long time!!  :) We are pretty much all settled in here at the condo - a few ??s pop up like where is this again?  But overall we love it here!

We have the babies room all set-up for the most part.  I'm waiting on a few more items, but we are almost ready!  I'll be taking some pics later this week - and posting them.

We closed on our sheboygan house on last Friday so we are officially 100% done with that and homeownership!  We could not be more excited!  We did not want to be messing around with that any further in to my pregnancy!

I am feeling far better than I thought I would at week 32!  I am happy about that! It is getting a little crazy trying to move around and rolling over in bed to get a comfy position, but other than that, I am doing well!  My energy level has stayed pretty high, I am not overly tired as I thought I might be.  I started swimming here at the resort indoor pool and love it!  I swim for about 45 min. at a time and am able to stretch and use my legs and it feels good.  Walking was getting too hard, b/c my back would hurt and I would get some Braxton Hicks in my lower stomach during the walk, so swimming has been a relief!  I wear my support stockings everyday and get 0 swelling, which is amazing!  So I am not dealing with that at all.
        I am also carrying a little wide as opposed to out so I am measuring about 38 singleton weeks.  Originally my doctor thought I would measure 40 weeks at my week 28-29, so I am thankful of my size!  I just hit the 30 lbs. gained last week and have maintained that this week and that is super exciting to me!  This is pretty much all baby and fluids.  I should deliver 12lbs of baby, 18-20 lbs of other baby fluids, so that is pretty much all of it!  I will probably gain about 5 more lbs or so before I deliver.  The babies are growing well!  We have an ultrasound on Friday to see exactly who is weighing how much and to see how the rest of this pregnancy will go.  I should start seeing the doctor every week after Friday as well.
    The goal is to get to 34 weeks with no problems.  At that point if I go into labor, they will not stop it my doctor said.  The babies will be big enough to be ok and the risks out weigh the pros of stopping labor!  That is in 16 days!!  OMG - But 34 weeks will be a little early - a better delivery goal is 35-37 weeks.  I have a feeling it will be in the 36the week - sometime between May 16-21 or so!!  We shall see!

I cannot believe I will be a Mommy of 2 babies in about 3-4 weeks.  That seems sooooo crazy! All this waiting and trying and planning and the time is here!!  How amazing! My mom and step-dad is coming to stay with us from May 16-28th and Marcs mom is then staying from May 25-June 16th ish, then I will head to my dads from June 17th - July 7th.  I am thankful I will have help for the first 2 months solid!  That is going to be a life saver!

28 weeks!

Monday, April 18, 2011

Pictures from our Valpo Shower (Indiana) -

Isn't this a Fabulous Picture!!  Thank you Susan, Melissa & Michelle for a wonderful day!

 
 
The venue was the cutest place in the world for a baby shower!

  
Thank you everyone for coming to celebrate the babies with us!!  It was so wonderful to see you all!


Thank you Ryann for the 

amazing letters!  


I cannot wait until we get to Maine to hang them above the cribs!



 

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Recent Weeks

      Weekend before last I went home to Valpo and had a wonderful visit!  Susan, Melissa and Michelle threw a shower for me and it was perfect!  It was at Designer Desserts and everyone had a great time!  It was so nice to see friends and family I haven't seen in awhile all while celebrating our twins!  I got to stay for 5 days and hang out with Melissa and Finn and Michelle and my mom.  It was a nice time - and the last family hang out time before our twins.  That part is hard to believe - that the next time we see them we will be a family of 4 with 2 new babies!!  I cannot believe we are so close!
     This is my week 30 - with Thursday being 30 full weeks and entering week 31.  My doctor and I are shooting for me to get to 35 weeks, maybe 36!  Up until about 2 weeks ago, I would have said "No problem"  but in the last 1.5 weeks, I have taken a turn down a different road.  I am officially in the "uncomfortable stage".  I feel as though I could not grow anymore if I wanted to, but I know I have much more growing to do!! I am trying to rest when I can and that is helping!  I also got my compression stockings in and wear them daily - I love them!!  They help so much - my legs hurt a lot less!
    Marc and I are moving to the condo at Victorian Village Resort, the resort where I work, where we will be until mid June.  We are doing that over the whole week, taking a little at a time. We are trying to take only essentials, the babies seem to have a lot of these said "essentials".  The movers come next Monday - Wednesday to our Sheboygan house and get everything else packed up and taken to where they store it until we need it in July.  We officially close on our house next Friday, April and cannot wait to NOT be homeowners! So these two weeks are crazy!!  But as soon as next week is over, it will be easy does it for me anyways!!  I am so (Marc is too) looking forward to a little down time these last few weeks before our babies come.  Well - thats it for now - I'm heading to put a few more boxes together!