Bump Pictures! 22 weeks second set of twins!

This is the first bump picture I haven taken this pregnancy!


22 weeks with my second set of twins!

For Sale

So we did it. We put our house on the market... and what a task that was! Whoever thinks buying a house is stressful is wrong. Selling a house is WAY stressful.

Without going into all the personal details we decided that we wanted to tackle this process now versus later... on to bigger things!

So think of us and wish us luck during this process!

MFM Dr appointment 20 weeks

So my last reminder to myself to NOT schedule 2 doctor appointments in 1 day... was a fail. Because today I had two doctor appointments in one day!

However it wasn't so bad. I had my MFM appointment this morning then went to work and then after work had my regular OB appointment. I am trying not to waste all my paid sick leave to doctors appointments. But the MFM will not schedule appointments after 2pm and I have to go every 2 weeks. So that is a lost cause.

This week was a big appointment and per usual I was very anxious about it. This appointment was to check their hearts in addition to everything else. In identical twins they see a lot of heart problems due to the splitting of the zygote.... luckily both our of twins have normal 4 chamber hearts. They also most have 3 vessel cords, they weighted the same at 12 ounces (average is 10 oz), had equal normal levels of fluid, and my cervix is "nice, long, and closed."

When the doctor summed up everything above I almost busted into to tears I was so happy.

The appointment this afternoon was just to recap the ultrasound appointment and check my blood pressure, weight etc.

So two good appointments.

We are so blessed. I am so grateful this life and hope that I continue to be this luckily. I don't know what I did to deserve all of this.

MFM appointment

I had my second MFM appointment last Wednesday.  Two appointments in one day (the twins had one too) was way too much for me. This is my reminder to myself to never do that again!

This specialist office is the same place I went my first pregnancy. So I already knew that they had ridiculous wait times. Waiting for a long time really gets my anxiety going. I already have anxiety over the appointments because I know that during the appointment everything can change. So add waiting to the mix and it is not good for me.

At these appointments they check two crucial things: 1. the length of my cervix and 2. The size of the babies to indicated any signs of TTTS.

These appointments have me a nervous wreck because I know how fast everything seemed to go downhill with my first pregnancy. It was between the two week appointments where I was suddenly taken out of work and put on hospital bedrest.

At this appointment my cervix measured 3.6 from above. We did not do the internal measurement. The twins were 1 ounce different in size which made a 5% weight difference.

TTTS is an issue when there is uneven amounts of fluid around the babies and/or a size difference of 20% or more.

At my appointment two weeks ago the babies were measuring exactly the same. So now I am in worry wart mode. 

16 month Check-UP

The twins had their 16 month checkup last Wednesday.

I think I am ready to change pediatricians.  We live on the South Side and literally do everything in the West End. My OB and the hospital I delivered at and will deliver at are in the West End and the pediatrician is in the West End.  So, why do we drive 20 plus minutes everywhere when we have everything 5 minutes down the road? I don’t know!

I first went to the pediatrician because it came highly recommended by my OB and my Twin Mom group. Also they have an on-site lactation consultation.  I didn’t have the time I wished I had when picking a pediatrician because I was put on bedrest before I could go to the new parent meet and greets that many offices offer. So the decision was made based on recommendations that they are the BEST. It is a VERY popular office and that is part of my problem with it. I guess that comes with being the “best.”

The twins were supposed to have a 15 month check-up as their pediatrician sees them at 15 and 18 months. However I was careless and accidentally scheduled an ultrasound at the same exact time as their check-up. Now with hind sight, I should have rescheduled the ultrasound, but I didn’t. Mike called to cancel the appointment and the next available appointment for two (the life of twins) was freaking six weeks away. I was pissed at the time, but it was scheduled and then I kind of forgot about it.

Then the day before the appointment I got a phone call to remind us of the appointment… to find out that the appointment we had had to wait six weeks for was with the nurse practitioner. Nothing against the nurse practitioner but I find it ridiculous that the first appointment was six weeks away and that it wasn’t even with THEIR doctor.

The day we went in for their appointment they were beyond packed. They do NOT have a sick waiting area, as their policy is to put sick kids in a room immediately versus a waiting room.  On this day there was a woman with three kids, 1 was sick, and since she was bringing the sick kid in to see what was wrong, she decided it would be a perfect time to bring her other 2 kids along for a flu shot.

Putting herself with her sick kid in the shot waiting room with my well kids… the whole thing probably wouldn’t have bothered me so much if the doctor had not have come into the room to explain to her that her son’s strep test was negative but he is defiantly contagious and he should not go to school. He also explained he would prescribe something for the blisters on his face. Then I noticed his whole mouth was covered in blisters. I then watched him touch his blisters and the toys. GAME OVER.

Now I hope that little boy is all better and I am sorry he was sick. But that was just too much for me. I know that the things I have talked about can happen anywhere. I know that if I hadn’t had seen that happen my kids would have been playing with those toys and I would have never known. But that’s not how it happened.

I think with having a second set of twins I need a less busy doctor closer to our house. So I have begun the search and I think I found one. I plan to attend one of their expecting parent’s classes next month.

So now for the fun stuff! Their 16 month stats!

Presley is 31 inches tall and 21 pounds. Noah is 29.5 inches tall and 23 pounds. Presley is the 25% for height and weight. Noah is in the 5% for height and 25% for weight.

So yes Presley is taller and thinner for now. We were pretty sure she was taller as you can tell when they are standing side by side. 

The twins also got some shots at this appointment and are almost done with their shots as I believe in vaccinating on schedule.

They got Pneumococcal and HIB shots as scheduled. Along with the 1^st half of the flu shot. At their next appointment they will get DTaP and Hepatitis A. Then they will be finished with shots until they are 5 years old.

I read a lot about the pros and cons to vaccinating. While I haven’t talked much about it on this blog, I am pro-vaccine.

I could go on and on about it. But I think this woman does much better than I could ever… so take a peak…

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jj-keith/vaccines_b_3829948.html

Language Development

Language Development

Watching the twins’ language development is one of the coolest things I have ever witnessed.  It is crazy how many things they understand and it is so surprising when they randomly say a new word or phrase…

We just started giving the kids chicken nuggets for dinner or lunch. Noah picked up a chicken nugget bit into it and said, “it’s good.”  Oh my gosh, I was like what? I tried to get him to say it again but no such luck.

I always tell Noah (my picky eater), “try it, it’s good.” So there should be no surprise where he got it from. But it was still surprising and so cute.

Presley’s new thing is to say, “poop poop”, and usually it means she has pooped! Which means we will probably be potty training sooner than I thought.

Last night, Mike came home from a huge grocery store trip. He was unloading tons of bags of food. And I said to, “Presley look at all this food, tell your daddy thank you, say thank you daddy.”

Presley walked over to Mike and said, “thank you daddy.” The thank you didn’t come out as a clear thank you, but you knew she was trying to say thank you! And she always says daddy very clear! It was too cute.  Mike smiled, laughed, and dropped down to his knees and said, “you welcome baby girl, everyone loves a polite girl” he then gave her a big kiss.

I have no idea how big their vocabulary is now because it is too hard to keep up with and it seems like every day they have a new word.

Some of their words include:

·         Mama

·         Dada

·         Daddy

·         GiGi

·         Doggy

·         Hot

·         Head

·         Hat

·         Socks

·         Shoes

·         Bath

·         Elmo

·         Baby

·         Ball

·         Book

·         Hi

·         Bye

·         Banana

·         Lacey – our dog

·         Dallas – our dog

·         Up and mine

These two sure are growing fast and are so much fun.

Headaches and Blood Pressure

So I am bummed to miss 5 on Friday but ah well.

I was going to post about headaches but little did I know that was going to take a crazy turn.

Friday morning when I got to work I did not feel right. I felt dizzy and out of it. It was day 3 of a headache/migraine. I turned to doctor google to find that I should check my blood pressure.

I went to the school nurse who checked my blood pressure and pulse 3 times over the next hour. Everytime is was a little high 144/90... this is pretty high for me as my blood pressure is always on the low side. My pulse readings were all over the place 117,126, 135.

I called my doctor and she told me to come in ASAP.

So I had to get in house coverage for all my classes. Which was stressful.

I arrived to the doctor and my blood pressure and pulse were both still reading high.

I had no other signs of blood pressure problems. So my doctor asked what else has been going on. I explained that I had a 3 day long migraine. She said I think that's it. A migraine can raise your blood pressure especially if it has been going on for a while.

So she sent me home with a prescription for oxyoconde, told me to take 2 and a nap, and check my blood pressure.

She said if my blood pressure didn't go down by the next day I needed to go to the ER.

Well my blood pressure went down but I had the headache the WHOLE weekend.

So now I am bloging from a semi - messy house with no groceries because my weekend duties didn't get done! (Mike's at the grocery store now.) I really wanted to take today off but didnt because I am trying to save some days for paid maternity leave.

I am really glad the headache/blood pressure thing didnt end up being a big deal... it for sure had me scared!

Airplane Nursery

Nursery Planning is so much fun!

The inspiration/theme came from a toy I bought for Noah a couple of weeks ago.  It’s a toy airplane.

Some the theme is going to be airplanes.

The colors are going to be red, blues, mainly navy, and whites. Maybe this bedding... but thinking I will piece some things together with PBK Harper navy sheets.

I just love the air plane mobiles!

 

The room we are making the nursery is on the small size. We live in a 4 bedroom house but the 4^th bedroom is downstairs. We want to all be all the same floor. This room was used as our office. About a month ago we moved the office in to the 4^th bedroom “guestroom,” this works out pretty well because that room was easily big enough to be both.

The new nursery still has a closet full on bins with random stuff in that we need to clear out and organize. We started to do this and now the room is full of clutter.

The main problem with this room is it is on the small side, but it is our only choice. So that plan is to clear out everything this coming weekend, steam clean the carpet, and start furniture planning.  I took all the measurements of the room when I first found out I was pregnant and knew if it was twins again that room who be challenging. I can’t remember exactly but I think the room is a 10X11 and the lay out of the window that comes off the wall with a marble edge and the opening of the entry door, and closet door really cut down on available space.

I took a few interior design classes in college and they were a real life safer when picking out furniture and the room layout of P an N’s nursery.

P and N’s cribs were purchased based on their size alone. My crib purchase will be based on size only again this time. P and N’s cribs are on the small size of a regular size crib. If I have found a smaller crib it’s only by an inch or two. So to get some perspective we are going to pull P and N’s cribs in the room and see what room we have left. I would ideally like two regular cribs, a double dresser similar to the other in P and N’s room that can be used as a changing table as well, and some type of book shelving.   

I think we are going to have to go with mini cribs. Just so that space is more functional.

I am eager to get in there and plan! 

MFM appointment

I have not been so great about blogging about this pregnancy. I am trying to get better about this! It seems like the whole thing is going by so fast!

Last Wednesday was my first appointment with the MFM doctor.  I was really nervous about this first appointment because it is always way more in depth than a regular OB appointment. I was also nervous because this was the first appointment where they would look for signs of TTTS.

Well everything panned out normal with the appointment. They are measuring exactly the same and are weighting in at 5 ounces each.  They are boys.

My cervix is doing great measuring over 4 cm? (can’t remember what the appropriate units for this measurement is right now).  I will be visiting the MFM every 2 weeks to check the twins’ growth and my cervical length.

The only troublesome information I found out was my placenta is on the front wall. Since I had a c-section with P and N this is not such a great thing. Chances are the placenta can be on the scar and the placenta can start to attach outside of the uterus… like to the bladder and other organs. If this happens during the c-section it will not detach, causing blood lost, and an emergency Hysterectomy. Okay so that really freaks me out so let’s hope this doesn't happen.

Other than that the appointment was great. 

5 on Friday

Linking up with 5 on Friday for the first time! I wanted to many times and just never have.

1. BOYS. BOYS.BOYS! This has been constantly on mind! Names, clothing, nursery. Really the Nursery. AHHH so exciting.

2. Moving. We are thinking about moving. Like sooner than later. Like for real thinking about moving. Like we met with a loaner office fell in love with a house type of talking about moving. The whole idea has me in a whirl wind and I don’t know if I can take one more major life change at the moment. If it doesn’t work out then it wasn’t meant to me. The full wrap around porch is to die for. I could grow old on that porch.

3.  Walking. Noah is finally back to walking! Even though he still drops down to crawling, he is doing much more walking then a week ago. I have a trick I pulled… and well it worked to motivate him. Everyone I have told what I did said I was mean. So I won’t talk about it here.

4. Preschool. Presley wants to be the teacher’s pet.  This is so funny to me and my husband said… “well we know she didn’t get that from me!” Yes Presley got that from her mama. When I was younger ... preschool to 5th grade I was always the teacher’s pet, then I grew out of it. Anyways the teacher said P is glued to her leg and always wants to be with her.

5. Christmas outfits. I picked out and ordered Presley’s dress and  am currently looking for the perfect bow. I’m in the process of piecing together Noah’s outfit. I know exactly what I want him to wear… it is a vision in my head. So I have to get the pieces from several different places! They are going to be so cute together. I can’t wait for pictures…and hope they actually cooperate this time!