Maternity Pictures

I am so glad we decided to do pictures early. My awesome sister in law Cortney took them and I love them! She took them last Friday, 3 days before I was put on bedrest. If you need a photographer for anything she is your woman! She especially specializes in baby photography. Check out her blog at bouncinbabyphotography.com.

BED REST

Went to the doctor yesterday, as I have been doing every week for the past 6 weeks. Every week it's been "Good blood pressure, good weight, babies are sharing the water good, cervix is thick and closed." But yesterday the ultrasound showed that my cervix had changed and is now half open with our baby girl's head sitting right on top of it adding even more pressure especially when standing or walking. At that point the dr. said might as well get the betamethasone shots in me to help their lungs in case I do deliver early and to take it easy. He mentioned it's a significant enough change to get the steroid shots, but then again I could stay half open like this for a month and have nothing change. So I wasn't too concerned and he said he'd be more concerned if my fibronectin test came back positive. (Somehow this test, which we've been doing every week can give good percentages of your chances of going into labor within the next two weeks. Negative and I've got a 99.9% chance I will not go into labor, a positive and I've got a 30% chance I will). Since I have always been negative I wasn't too worried, but he did say to cut back on my hours at work and take it easy. I had also been having more contractions so he prescribed procardia and told me to take it when I felt like I was contracting more than normal.

So imagine my surprise when he calls me a few hours later while I'm at work to tell me the test is positive and that combined with the cervical change is concerning enough that I need to be done at work and go on bed rest!!! Also to take the procardia around the clock every 6 hours to stave off contractions and therefore potential labor. Basically he put it as my body is going to do what it's going to do, so we're going to do everything we can do to prevent labor. He also told me if I couldn't cooperate to let him know so he could put me in the hospital as he understood that some women just can't make themselves be on bed rest appropriately.

So here I am. On bed rest, trying to wrap things up at my job from home and wondering how in the world I'm going to train the new nurse that miraculously they found and hired today. But I'm sure everything will work out. It already is. The important thing obviously is to keep these babies in as long as we can!!! If we can just make it at least 3 weeks, then we'll move from there. I'm 28 weeks right now. I can handle a little bed rest! And I have such an awesome family who is already coming over every day to give us food and clean which of course helps me but also Justin as he's got so much on his plate with 4 more weeks of school till graduation. He has been so good to me as well. It has just made me love him even more. I am so blessed. I'm just glad we've saved money as I was planning on working till at least the end of the month and that I don't already have kids. This will be a piece of cake compared to what some people have to go through with bed rest. Just keep us in your prayers!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY (about 2 months too late!)

I am such a bad wife. Justin's birthday was September 4th!!!! And I am only now blogging about it. Better late than never I guess. This was his birthday present! A Glock! He loves it. I mostly love it. Guns can be scary, but growing up with my dad (the mighty hunter who owns like 13 guns) he taught me to respect guns and that a little fear helps you have that respect. He's wanted a handgun for a while but I think Justin's fatherly instincts to protect his soon to be little family pushed that decision even more so. I was a little nervous at first to have a gun in the house, but about a week after we got this Justin left for the weekend hunting and I was all alone in our new house. Needless to say, I locked my bedroom door and put the gun next to the loaded clip next to the bed. It definitely helped me feel safer! Nobody better try to come get me in my house! I won't hesitate to shoot! HAPPY BIRTHDAY HONEY!

My How I'VE Grown!!!

I can't believe how fast your belly grows once it starts popping out!!! Above is me at 17 weeks with the twins. Pregnancy was going SO slow until about this point. Then from then on it has gone by so quickly!!! I was so excited and couldn't wait till the next phase and now I'm kinda freaking out! Time needs to slow down just a bit. I'm not sure I'm ready for this!
The twins at 23 weeks. This shows the swelling well I think. My face is MUCH puffier! I haven't been able to feel the bottom of my heels since week 19 and that's when the ankle swelling started. My hands soon followed and now my right hand is constantly going numb and wakes me up at night. Only like 2 more months to go right? At least that's what I keep telling myself. These babies are coming in December! I don't think I'm going to make it to January.
I am currently 27 weeks. These were taken a week ago when I was 26 weeks. It got sooo much bigger in just 3 weeks!! This past week it has now hit my ribs! I can feel the boy moving against my ribs although it doesn't hurt or bother me....yet. It still just feels like little nudges.

Although I complain about the swelling and numbness, I really am enjoying being pregnant. It is amazing to me that there are two babies in there. I do have moments when I'm holding someone else's baby and I realize that they're not so little. Then it hits me "how in the world am I going to take care of two of these at the same time???" It's going to be crazy! But such a fun adventure!!! And I love that I have a husband who is so excited and loved that I have a pregnant belly! It makes life much easier.

My How You've Grown!

I can't believe I am over 5 months pregnant with these little nudgers! It is amazing to me what happens in just 5 months time. The body is an amazing thing!

7 weeks

9 weeks

13 weeks (the dr. guessed boy and girl at this ultrasound)

17 weeks
This was the best shot we got. Both are laying side by sideon their backs, top of their heads facing you with their knees pulled up. Notice on the right side there is a little white dot between the knees. That's the boy! But the Dr. was only 80% sure the other one was a girl because
the knees could have been hiding a boy part.

19 weeks
Sorry if you think the 3-D ultrasounds are creepy looking. Theykinda are. But so cool at the same time. These aren't as sharp as most othersbecause it was done so much earlier than with one babyand there's two so it's harder to get a good picture. The girl is on the right, face down and the boy is on the left, curled up facing more left.

Baby boy front shot. You can make out his little button nose and little mouth. He's looking down at his legs as if to say "Hey dad! Check this out!" (at least that's what our hilarious ultrasound tech said. Boys will be boys I guess. Already showing off his manhood for dad)

Baby girl curled up. It looks like she doesn't have a hand, but she really does.

Baby girl's face. I love this picture. I look at it all the time. It's the only one that turned out halfway decent that you can actually make out some features. I can't wait to go back to get another 3-D ultrasound at week 26!

Pregnancy update: Feeling much much better! I'm more energetic although in the mornings I wake up super nauseous still, but if I just get up, take a Zofran and eat, I'm good all day! Two weeks ago my belly decided to pop out a TON! I am definitely looking prego! I've been hating the mixed reviews I get from people though. Everyone seems to think I want to know exactly what they're thinking. I don't mind when they say nice things, but when they say not so nice things I wonder what exactly goes through people's heads. I'll have like 4 people tell me how little I am for over 5 months with twins, then there will be someone that tells me I look like I'm 6 or even 7 months pregnant! Thanks! Geez! I don't want to hear that. I'm also getting sick of everyone telling me how huge I'm going to get. Yes, two babies are bigger than one. Thanks for stating the obvious. Sorry for the negativity, but really people.

But I really am loving being pregnant, even with all the not so great things about it (bloating, nausea, gas, ligament pain, tiredness, sore feet, peeing in the middle of the night, constipation, swelling, nothing to wear...) I will take on all of this for these little babies! And I love my husband who is always telling me I look good and just wants me to keep getting bigger. I love feeling them move inside and I love going to the many many ultrasounds and seeing them move around in there. I hope everything continues to go well!

We're Having a BOY!!!
...And a.......







..........GIRL!!!!!!!!

At least we think so :) The Dr. is 80% sure.

DEFINITELY PREGO

We finally got some pictures of the pregnant belly! Justin did a mini photo shoot and I must say I'm impressed with some of the shots he got. I didn't know he had it in him! (Although he reminded me he DID take advance photo in High School:)

So here I am, 17 weeks pregnant with the little double decker. Hopefully we find out what we're having on Tuesday! I have been so giddy about it I can't even stand it anymore. They better be able to let us see or else I think I might die of anticipation. I have officially changed my vote
from 2 boys to a boy and a girl. Either way, I know it's not two girls (even though that would be lovely). There is at least one boy in there.

I have been thinking over the past few weeks of how blessed we are and have been counting all the many blessings. We both have good jobs, especially my job that is almost stress free and flexible allowing me to relax and not stress my body out during this pregnancy. I have plenty of time to sleep and take care of myself. Just has been doing well with Real Estate and continues to enjoy his job. We're able to pay for Justin's tuition semester after semester. He got a raise, I got a raise, we found an amazing deal on our townhouse, my brother is renting our condo so we're not forced to pay two mortgages till it sells, we keep finding deals on stuff we need. I have two humans growing inside of me and all is well. We have amazing friends and families. We're healthy, we're happy and so glad that we have prepared ourselves emotionally, financially and
spiritually to start a family so that this is truly a joyous occasion and not a stressful one. It's just so crazy how things work out in life.

I find it entertaining hearing people's reactions when we tell them we're having twins. Most are really excited, some say how jealous they are, but there have been a few that say things like "Oh, I would have cried if I found out I was having twins when I was pregnant" or "Oh my gosh, good luck!" and give me a pat on the shoulder. Now I'm sure it's because they're remembering how hard it was with their one baby, and maybe we really don't know what we're getting ourselves into, but we are truly so so so excited! It is such an adventure and blessing to be bringing two of Heavenly Father's children into our family. We couldn't be more stoked. I can't help but think with Justin by my side, how muchfun this is going to be!

Below are a couple of my favs Justin took. We'll keep you posted on what
we're having if we find out on Tuesday