Twins at 24 weeks

Your baby's growing steadily, having gained about 4 ounces since last week. That puts her at just over a pound. Since she's almost a foot long, she cuts a pretty lean figure at this point, but her body is filling out proportionally and she'll soon start to plump up. Her brain is also growing quickly now, and her taste buds are continuing to develop. Her lungs are developing "branches" of the respiratory "tree" as well as cells that produce surfactant, a substance that will help her air sacs inflate once she hits she outside world. Her skin is still thin and translucent, but that will start to change soon.

Multiples Class Shocks All!

Last night Melissa and I had a multiples class which was designed to prepare new parents of pending multiples for the potential that they could be born premature, they may be breach, and that they will need a lot more work than 1 baby.  It was a very informative class and did definitely give me something to think about and made me realize just how small babies could be born and still be healthy, happy, and perfectly normal.  To give you something to think about the picture to the right shows 2 items the item to the right is a premature baby's diaper and the black item to the left is my blackberry case!  I hope that our babies are born: healthy, happy, and they will definitely be well loved!

Moving babies

Over the past 3 weeks I've really started to feel these girls move around in there. It's not the flutterly movements everyone describes so much as kicks and punches. One of the babies has an anterior placenta, which means that her placenta is on the front of my uterus. This makes it a little more difficult to feel movement earlier on.

Greg has been able to feel kicks and punches as well! This happened about two weeks ago and went something like this (we were in the car on our way out to dinner):

Greg (with his hand on my belly): Oh, someone just kicked me!
Me (I didn't feel a thing): No, she didn't!
Greg: Yes, she did.
Me: I don't believe you!
Greg: Put your hand right here.
Me (after about 20 seconds): Oh my goodness! She did kick you!!!
Greg (hand back on my belly): I told you!
Me: Why didn't I feel it on the inside? (anterior placenta)
Greg: I don't know, but she just did it again!
Me (hand back on my belly again): Do it again! Do it again!

We found out based on their positions Tuesday that it was most likely little baby girl B doing the kicking.

As for little baby girl A. I feel her most frequently when she kicks my bladder. I feel a consistent bam, bam, bam right on the bladder!

22 weeks 6 days

22 week OB appt

Today I had my 22 week OB appointment and ultrasound. Here are the stats:

Baby A -

• Heartbeat: 151
• Weight: 1 lb 4 oz
• She is still breech and a possible culprit for my bladder issues because she is positioned perfectly to kick at it.

Baby B -

• Heartbeat: 155
• Weight: 1 lb 3 oz
• She is vertex and the other possible culprit for my bladder issues as she is in position to punch it!

They only had 3% growth discordence, which made the doctor very happy since it was 17% last time. Also, they already have some sibling rivalry going. First, we saw Baby B take a swipe at Baby A. A few minutes later we saw Baby A get even by kicking her sister!!! It was pretty funny to watch.

Starting this week I will have weekly ultrasounds to check my cervical length to make sure it will stay there and hold these girls in. All they will be looking at is my cervix and in 4 weeks I will have another growth scan to check out their growth to make sure they are still on target. So it seems from here on out I will be spending a lot of time getting to know my doctor's office even better.

Childbirth Classes

We are signed up for two childbirth classes as of this evening. We are taking a basic 5 week course at St. Elizabeth's, the hospital I'm delivering the babies at. We are also taking a class for multiples at another local hospital because these classes do not occur as often as the regular childbirth classes. We will keep you updated on our progress.

Look what came today!

The crib sets I ordered! Greg helped me pick them out.

Even April wants to check them out:

Action packed weekend

Since I've been sick for the past two weeks we decided it was time to get something done this weekend and we have been busy. We started Friday night by heading up to the office at the apartment complex and picking up the garage door opener for our new garage. Then we headed out to the Wilder city building for the first of six weekly fish fries. We are hooked on the local church and community fish fries and the money goes to a good cause. From there we headed to the mall to pick up a maternity support belt for me. I've developed quite a bit of pelvic discomfort in the past week or so and I called the nurse at my doctor's office and she said there was not much I could do but to get a maternity belt and it may help support the extra weight. I'd been planning on getting one since someone at work who has two sets of twins highly recommended it, I just didn't think I would need it so soon. After that we went over to Babies R Us and picked up my Valentine's Day gift from Greg. He got me a scrapbook that already had the pages ready for me to document my pregnancy! He knew I wanted to put one together but I really don't have the time (or patience - the wedding one was enough for me!!) to do the pages, all I have to do with this one is add pictures. I love it!

Saturday morning we headed out early to pick up a baby swing I found on Craigslist for $50. Now we have two, I know this is a good purchase because I remember how much we used the swings when Nick & Alex were born. We had a nice breakfast at Bob Evans and then rushed home because Directv was coming out to fix our dish FINALLY. While the technician was fixing the dish Greg went ahead and moved all of the stuff we were putting into storage in the garage. I'm glad to not have to look at all of those boxes of Christmas stuff & baseball cards anymore. After he'd finished this we headed over to Babies R Us to create our registry. I let Greg scan the stuff because it keeps him interested. This always means some interesting stuff was scanned. We had a good time because I went with a very specific list and we whipped right through the store.

Today we started the day off with the first Sunday mass of Lent and the priest gave the EXACT same homily as he did last year. I know most people wouldn't remember this but I remember that it really made me think about what I gave up for Lent last year and how it impacts me spiritually. Afterwards, we had a nice lunch at Benihana to celebrate Valentine's Day. It was pretty cool because we were the only people at our table so it was nice and quiet.

When we got back from Benihana I got back on Craigslist and I found a glider rocker that was available for $60. I was so excited I e-mailed right away and it was still available. I was so psyched we went right out and picked it up. Greg promised me a glider rocker when we got married but told me I couldn't get one until we got pregnant. When I saw how much they actually cost new I was disappointed because I didn't want to pay so much money. I'd been trolling Craigslist for the right one for a couple weeks and it worked out perfectly.

Now, I need to go to bed because I need to rest up for a busy week at work. Our next doctor's appointment is a week from Tuesday and I can't wait!