Joys In My Life

As promised, I looked through the pregnancy shots Leo has been taking of me, and here is a belly shot from 28 weeks, which was the first week of May. I know we need to work on some more recent photos. Especially since I'm sure it will show how the babies are lower than they used to be. The only unfortunate thing is I think they spread back out up top and starting yesterday, I'm not that interested in eating again. Oh well. I guess eating is over-rated.

It's official, I can tell the babies dropped sometime on Saturday. Since then I've had an easier time driving, eating in the evenings and I can breathe again!!! But it is hard to do dishes as I have to try to bend over the sink and walking is hysterical. My hips are hurting a lot more again and my lower belly is really sore if I stand for a few minutes. Lying down is really good these days. But I have some energy right now and I have a lot of things I need to get done today. I have some planting I want to do, thank you cards to write, laundry to get done and hopefully, I can find some shorts around here I can fit into. The weather has gotten warmer (into the 80s) and really sunny. It's a beautiful day for a Memorial Day off work. So I'm off to get some things done today and hopefully get some more photos I can upload today.

We had another Level II ultrasound today and everything is looking great. Stats are as follows: Baby 1 - not presenting first, head down, heart rate 142, estimated weight 3lbs, 5 oz Baby 2 - presenting first, head down, heart rate 138, estimated weight 3lbs, 8 oz Basically, I'm carrying almost 7 lbs of baby, confirming that I'm about as big as I was when Phoebe was delivered as she was a little over 7 lbs. I also had an OB appointment on Friday and things were going well there too. My blood pressure is starting to be elevated, so she wants to keep an eye on it. It was only 130/78, so not too high yet and to be expected. Both places want to see me in 2 weeks and then after that I have weekly appointments. So my next doctor's appointment is 5/29. I'll try to publish some more pics soon, but I've been so tired when I get home from work (or even when I work from home) that I don't get around to it. But I have some great pics from Phoebe's Commun...

So I have the Rita's Water Ice commercial (I think this is only a Philly area franchise) running through my head as we went there last night for a snack/craving. Mmmmmmm. Mango water ice. I was craving it before we left for Phoebe's ice skating class. I'm so proud of her too! She officially passed both the Delta levels during this session and is now officially in the Freestyle levels. In the big leagues now! So happy for her! She worked so hard in ice skating over the past few months. I talked to Leo about going to Rita's after her class and he was gratefully on board. I'm so uncomfortable and cranky this week, I think he just wants to make me happy. We didn't tell Phoebe until we pulled into the parking lot and I was in heaven eating my mango water ice. Phoebe even commented on how I went from totally cranky to "so happy I'm singing commercials and practically dancing". Phoebe was having commitment issues and kept going back and forth ...

I've been in tears several times today. I'm a happy crier and I could only be happier on the day our boys are born. My dear friend, Merlot , and her husband have now become parents. Merlot is my online friend, but she only lives 40 minutes away from us and we have met in real life a few times. We share a love of wine as well as our desire for children. Her and her husband have been through the wringer on this journey to parenthood. I'm not sure her current blog goes through all the issues they've had, but it's been long and painful. God definitely owes them some easier times. She's recently posted that they've been picked by as adoptive parents in their current domestic adoption pursuits. It sounds like it was very sudden, and she doesn't have all the details posted, but they are in Florida and have their daughter with them now. Please go and congratulate them on their new addition!!! On my status, I'm officially uncomfortable all the time....

I'm not really blue though, just so busy I don't have time to be blue. I could write a book on juggling First Communion Retreats and weekend implementations at work, husbands that go out of town, First Communion dress rehearsals, orthodontist appointments, 2nd grade homework, more implementation issues from the weekend spilling over into the week (and the previously mentioned orthodontist appointment), end of 1st Quarter reviews at work to give, documenting all the great work we've done in the 1st Quarter, etc. I can't wait for this week to be over, but there's so much going on it's going very quickly. The bright spot is that I'm getting my roots touched up at the hair salon tomorrow morning, as I can't fathom going to Phoebe's First Communion this weekend with my big dark roots. I also had my 26-week appointment with my OB on Friday and things are still going great. I got the official word that I did pass the glucose tolerance test! and my bloo...

Wow! Updates two days in a row! You guys will start expecting more updates soon! But I had to post today as I had another Level II ultrasounds checking out "the boys". I haven't been in for an ultrasound in four weeks, so it was very exciting. Their stats are as follows: Baby Boy 1: head down, presenting second, heart rate 129 bpm, estimated weight 1 lb. 15 oz. Baby Boy 2: head down, presenting first, heart rate 140, estimated weight 2 lbs, 2 oz. So for the first time, one of them had an estimated weight different from the other. They aren't concerned though, as they are still very close together. I have to admit what looked great was that they looked so much more hearty than the did at the last ultrasound. You could see how they were filling out very nicely with their weight. I was also happy that they were both head down. Let's all keep our fingers crossed they stay that way, as I'd really rather have a natural childbirth as we had with Phoebe. Bu...

Everything continues to do well. My energy level has gone up lately. I think it has to do with eating more greens (iron), but then again, I could just have been having a good past week. Yesterday, I can't say we had a good day. I had the glucose tolerance test in the morning and it wiped me out for the rest of the day. First off, the concept of me fasting right now is a fate worse than death. I'm currently eating "2nd breakfast" at 9:30 AM. A raisin bagel and cream cheese. I have a bowl of banana nut cheerios every morning for breakfast as soon as I get up in the morning. So I didn't eat anything yesterday morning and then they had me drink that sugary drink. It didn't taste too bad - they gave me orange flavored. Within 5 minutes, the boys were all over the place jumping around. An hour later, they took my blood, Leo took me to get some real breakfast at Perkins, and then I called out sick for the rest of the day. I was so tired from coming down o...

So Sunday was the official twenty-four weeks mark (the four key still doesn't work - someday I'll get that fixed and I'm too tired to go find one to copy and paste). And yes, I said I'm tired and it's the morning. I just woke up about 15 minutes ago. I think I slept over 9 hours last night and I'm still tired. It does continue that some days are good and some are bad. Saturday was bad. I felt good during Phoebe's ice skating competition, but then when we went to run errands, I thought I was going to die (or go into labor). My lower back hurt, my lower stomach hurt, and I felt like I wanted to cry. I was able to get through Costco OK by holding onto the cart like a little old lady and then I felt fine. Sunday was a good day, but we just lied around and caught up on movies, which was great. I even got to see "The Good Shepard" which Leo has been saying is such a good movie, but it's 3 hours long, so watching without me falling asleep ha...

Sorry I've been off the radar again. It's been busy with work and home stuff and the 3rd trimester tiredness started early. But I just had to post my update today. I had an emergency visit with my regular family doctor this morning as last night one of the moles on my back half fell off and started to bleed all over the place. I knew this mole on my back was beginning to become a problem, but I've been too busy (or tired) to add another doctor's visit to my plate. Well last night I had the worst heartburn of my life and I was trying to get out of my work clothes and I realized that the mole on my back was bleeding and hanging 1/2 off. I had Leo put me back together with some Neosporin and a band aid. I went off to the doctor this morning and my mind is at ease now. First off, it's gone. She cut it off for me. Second of all, she said that it's a normal occurance in pregnant ladies to have a mole become more of a lesion that bleeds and falls off. They s...

One of my friends invited us at the last minute to come down to Dewey Beach, DE on Saturday and stay overnight to Sunday. I've never been there, so it was great fun even in the off season. It's also really close to Ocean City, MD and we have good friends there that had triplets a little over a year ago. Since these friends moved there right before the triplets were born, we hadn't seen the babies yet. So we visited with them Saturday afternoon and then met our other friends in Dewey at dinnertime. The next day, we went to the beach and took these pictures. I know I haven't posted any official "belly pics" yet, but these can give you an idea of how big I am these days. BTW, Phoebe took this pic. Isn't she a great photographer? Here's a some cute pics of Phoebe on the beach too! She loves the beach (just like her Daddy!). She had to put her feet into the freezing water and take long walks on the beach with her Dad and pick up rocks along the way...

I'm sorry I disappeared for so long again. I've been crazy busy at work and then when I'm not busy doing that, I've been very tired this week. To sum up the past few weeks: two weeks ago I felt horrible physically (big and pressure everywhere), last week I felt great, this week I'm tired and feel like I could keep sleeping for the rest of this pregnancy and still not have enough. My birthday was Monday the 16th! I turned 38. Birthday's don't really bother me, but I think it's because mentally I forget I've aged. Sometimes I look at Leo, Phoebe and my belly and think, "I'm married? I have an 8-year-old? I'm having two boys? When did this all happen?" Even though "this has been all happening" over the past 15 years, it feels funny to look back. Life moves so quickly that it's odd to stop and look at what you've been doing. I had a great birthday weekend though. Saturday we all cleaned the house, which was ...

I'm too tired to try to put together any belly pics tonight, but I'll tell you all about my 5 month OB visit. Everything is going great. My blood pressure was 110/64. We heard both the boys heartbeats with the handheld thingy. That was the first time that was used on me to monitor the boys. I talked to her about my aches and pains and she thinks everything is fine. She even said something I never thought of which was that height is at least on my side to be OK to have twins. She also talked to me about a patient she had that had triplets who was a little taller than me that went to 33 weeks. I felt good today, so I agreed with her. I think all the walking I've been doing lately has been helpful. I also got my hair color touched up today, my hair trimmed and my eyebrows waxed. I feel like a new woman!!! So tomorrow I'll work on pics, I promise!!!

As most pregnant women, I've been having very vivid dreams since early on. Funny thing is I've had very few dreams about babies. I don't think my brain can wrap itself around the fact that we will be bringing home two babies and not just one, so my brain isn't thinking much about babies yet. I only remember having two dreams about the babies. The first one was a direct result of the whole "octomom" thing. I dreamt I had to be knocked out for the delivery and when I came to, they told me I had 8 babies, I told them, "No. I was having two babies." They kept insisting that I had 8 babies in the NICU to go see. On the way to the NICU they changed their tune and said I had 4 babies (BTW, all even numbers! Even in my dreams I like even numbers!). I kept telling them, "No. I was having two babies." Then when I got to the NICU, they showed me my two boys and acted as if they never said there were any other babies. By the way, I didn...

We had a great ultrasound today! Both babies are measuring exactly the same estimated weight of 9 oz right now, so there doesn't seem to be any issue of one of the babies growing more than the other. They both had all their parts and everything measured nicely. Hearts were beating nicely - one at 150 and the other at 141. Oh and there was an additional part to both of them. We have two boys. I'll admit we were hoping for one of each, but this is great too. We were worried if Phoebe would be disappointed as she did want a sister, but when we told her this afternoon, she was very happy as she said brothers like to wrestle around like she does. As I also told Leo, Phoebe gets to retain her title of the sole Princess of the house. I'm still fighting off this cold, so I didn't go back to work this afternoon and I did take a nap this afternoon. I still don't feel much better. I hope I feel better tomorrow. The good news is that I haven't had any fever of an...

Didn't mean to get some people excited thinking I'd be able to find out yesterday what the sex were of the babies we're having. We won't know until at least 2/23 when I have the 18-week Level II ultrasound. My OB doesn't do my ultrasounds, since I'm labeled "high-risk" with twins. I have my regular appointments with her and then I have appointments with MFM (Maternal Fetal Medicine) at the hospital, which is the building next to my OB's office. I had my regular OB appointment for my 4 month checkup yesterday and everything looks great. She did have me in a room with an old ultrasound machine (gosh, I'm spoiled!) to check the heartbeats of the babies. She said they do that in the beginning with twins to make sure they are seeing both heartbeats. She didn't tell us heartrate or anything. I don't think she calculated it. So all is well with the babies. They were head-to-head during her quick scan. She said they were already conspi...

Sorry I haven't been around much lately. I've been so swamped with work it's taken over my life. I think I've mentioned it before that my team at work has gone from managing two people to managing five, which started in the first week of January. My team also has a huge amount of work for this year to do. It's really good though, as it's a great opportunity for me, but as Leo travels for business sometimes lately, it's been rough. I could really use a little more time at the office or online with work until I get over this hump. Considering part of what I'm trying to preparing for is to have everyone up to speed by the end of March in case I end up on bedrest, I know this extra time at work is a short-time thing. Other than that, things are going well. I wasn't feeling the babies that much for the past week, but I think it was because they were moving up. Today they were very active and I could feel them, but it was higher on my stomach than ...

Nothing exciting to report. This is the first Monday since I was 6 weeks pregnant that I haven't had an ultrasound. I won't have another one until 2/23, so I'll be wondering until then what we're having. Thankfully, since I feel them move every now and then - it is still too early to be consistent - I feel that everything is OK. Everything else is completely busy though. I never really seem to have any time for any quiet time for me - unless I'm comatose sleeping. I'm busy at work - Friday was horrible I felt terrible at the end of the day it was so horrible. I'm busy at home - keeping up with laundry and bills. Thankfully Leo has been doing most of the cooking. I like to eat, but I'm too tired to cook. We bought Phoebe new ice skates on Saturday. They are a size 5. Yes, a women's size 5!!!! She's only 8 years old!!! She really measures as a size 4, but in order to keep her in her skates longer, they always let you go up a size. It ...

It's been official since about Tuesday of this week, not only do I definitely feel the babies moving, but I can tell which is which. Baby A is on my right side of my abdomen and he/she is the Kicker. Baby B is on my left side and he/she is the Roller. I confirmed this on Monday's last ultrasound before the 5 week withdrawl now commences. I don't have another ultrasound scheduled until 2/23/09, which is the 18 week appointment. Hopefully they will both cooperate and let us know if we'll get to reuse our girl clothes (and girl's figure skates!) and if we'll need to buy any boy's clothes. So it's been fun as I sit down in meetings or on the computer or as we watch TV at night to feel the little - kick kick kick - and then - roll, roll, roll. I'm off to get a snack before I have to take Phoebe to ice skating practice. Hopefully today she'll get her routine for the ice skating exhibition she agreed to do in March.

I know when I blogged about the maternity clothes I picked up, some people asked for pics. I don't have any yet, but I can explain exactly what I'm wearing today to work. It's really hard to figure out what to wear to work everyday. I picked up a two nice dresses and some tops until I desperately need maternity pants, but that time is pretty much here and I'm trying to hold out as long as I can for budget reasons. This is my last pregnancy, so this stuff will be going to consignment shops when I'm done. The two dresses I picked up are really for Spring, so today I figured out how to winterize them. Here is the one dress I picked up from Destination Maternity that I'm wearing today. /I'm kind of impressed with what I did to winterize it and feel fashionable at work. I put on an eggplant purple turtleneck (non-maternity), a pair of maternity black patterned tights, black low-heel suede boots, a costume set of three black bead bracelets and my good bla...