18 weeks 2 days

A Great Day "Off"

Melissa and I have been busy, both with our jobs and with the baby preparation, so today we decided to have a nice day off together.  We started at 10 am going to get Melissa a haircut and then we grabbed a quick bite at Wendy's for lunch.  We then headed to Indy to get interviewed by Gene Cox of Fox 59 because we have a program on our phones that prevents us from textting while driving called zoomsafer.  The program is one that I think everyone should download as it is a safer way to drive while you have a phone with you.  We did the interview and then we headed downtown and had dinner at Ram Brewery where we had an appetizer of Calamari.  I have to mention this because when we lived in Indy my mom, aunt, and sister came in and we went there for lunch and ordered it while my sister was in the bathroom since she doesn't like calamari.  When it came to the table we told her it was chicken and she ate it and liked it.  We told her it was calamari and she said "Oh Gross." to try and cover up the fact that she liked it and didn't think it was gross anymore.  After that I took Melissa to the South Bend Chocolate Company, where we split a Hoosier Ice Cream Sundae.  We got a couple of gifts from there and then did some shopping in the mall downtown, Melissa likes that mall, and then we headed home. We got home and found out that my friend who used to live across the street from me had a baby with his wife, congrats.  Well, it's 11:30 and I am sleepy, time for bed!

18 week update

We are preparing for the 18 week doctor's appointment next week. It is time to come up with my littany of questions for the doctor. Overall I'm feeling better than I felt for the first trimester. I'm still tired but that is most likely a product of the ten hour days at work for the past three weeks. We are almost through the Go-Live and I think that will taper off here in the next couple of weeks. I took some advice from someone at work and I've started sleeping on the couch. It has helped me sleep through the night. The back of the couch provides more support than I can get no matter how many pillows I piled around the bed. I think Greg enjoys having more than the one third of the bed he'd been getting for the past month. I've been drinking TONS of water. The only real drawback is the number of trips I make the the bathroom daily and in the middle of the night.

Update from Baby Center:

Head to rump, your baby is about 5 1/2 inches long (about the length of a bell pepper) and he weighs almost 7 ounces. He's busy flexing his arms and legs — movements that you'll start noticing more and more in the weeks ahead. His blood vessels are visible through his thin skin, and his ears are now in their final position, although they're still standing out from his head a bit. A protective covering of myelin is beginning to form around his nerves, a process that will continue for a year after he's born. If you're having a girl, her uterus and fallopian tubes are formed and in place. If you're having a boy, his genitals are noticeable now, but he may hide them from you during an ultrasound.

A Tale Of Two Daycares

The past Monday, Melissa and I took a half day from work and went to visit 2 day cares in preparation for the 2nd coming in June (some might have referred to them as our babies but that's what I am calling them :-)) The first one we went to seemed pretty nice. They had a very clean establishment. It was near a school so it seems safe. We talked to the lady who ran the infant room and she showed us around. We then went down and spoke to the directory who gave us the total for the 2 bebes (which by the way, OUCH)! As we were talking about the place the director's daughter was there talking about a set of twins that were at the daycare. She couldn't remember their last names so she yells to another girl, "Julie, do you remember what Colin and Hayden's last name is, remember the dad is really hot!" Melissa and I laughed and I am sure the director was turning several shades of red!

So we decided to go to another day care and just show up, we read in a book and saw it several places online that it's best to just show up so that you can see how directors handle things without planning. The director at this second day care took everything in stride. She pitched in in the infant room because it was nap time and one of the babies didn't want to rest on the floor by herself so she picked her up and rocked her back and forth. Now we were talking about the day care when all of a sudden we hear this THUD. We all said, "What was that?" We turned and looked in the 1 year old part of the room and one of the boys must have wanted to come over and say hi because he took a running start and ran into the door, he must have been trying to get our attention. We are not sure which one we are going to go with but I figured you would like to hear about the process.

Could I be more hungry???

Or thirsty? Need I say more? Food is all I think about all day! I start every morning with a big hearty breakfast and sometimes I'm already hungry by the time I arrive at work. I wake up in the middle of the night every night to go to the bathroom and then by the time I lay back down I'm feeling too hungry to fall back to sleep. I can go from zero to ravenous in about 5 minutes flat. It is amazing how this pregnancy has impacted my eating habits, especially since I'd dropped 45 pounds in the nine months before we conceived. I've also been drinking incredible amounts of water everyday, easily 6-8 16 oz glasses and I still wake up thirsty in the middle of the night as well!

I feel the most for Greg because he has put on about 10 pounds since I got pregnant and he has been trying to lose it but I'm not helping his cause very much. He is starting to get the hang of just ignoring my eating and packing his own lunches but it's been an adventure. I'm excited that he is doing the weight loss contest at our apartment complex again this year because I know the enticement of the prize money is enough to encourage him to go above and beyond.

Busy Saturday

This Saturday Melissa & I did a lot. Melissa bought this book "Baby Bargains" which told her that there was a Gap/Old Navy/Banana Republic clearance center in Hebron, KY. This is where those 3 stores take stuff that is either last year's fashions, damaged, or returned and the blow it out for dirt cheap. Melissa got a ton of maternity clothes for not a lot of money :-). Then we had tickets to the ND vs. UC men's basketball game. I had a friend of mine and her fiancee coming in to go to the game with us. I was able to get everyone to try Terry's Turf Club. I had heard their burgers were great and boy were they. This was the kind of place that my dad would have loved, a hole in the wall place with good food.

We then headed for the basketball game. We got there right before the tip and found out that they were going to honor the UC Football team at halftime (of the ND game humm, coincidence)? Luke Harangody had a uncharacteristic game and the Irish lost at the buzzer but all in all we had a great day. I will say this for the UC head coach, his players started a chant half way through the 1^st half "Irish Suck" and he looked up and them and gave them a motion to knock it off. Tomorrow, it is supposed to be warm enough that I might go running outside at Lunken Airport while Melissa walks April. Lastly, they are doing the weight loss competition at our apartment complex again this year. I am going to enter it and hopefully win it again, wish me luck!

Twins at 16 weeks

Get ready for a growth spurt. In the next few weeks, your baby will double his weight and add inches to his length. Right now, he's about the size of an avocado: 4 1/2 inches long (head to rump) and 3 1/2 ounces. His legs are much more developed, his head is more erect than it has been, and his eyes have moved closer to the front of his head. His ears are close to their final position, too. The patterning of his scalp has begun, though his locks aren't recognizable yet. He's even started growing toenails. And there's a lot happening inside as well. For example, his heart is now pumping about 25 quarts of blood each day, and this amount will continue to increase as your baby continues to develop. (from BabyCenter.com)

15 week OB appt

Today we went to my 15 week OB appt. Greg came along for this one after much debate. We are trying to save his PTO so that he can spend as much time at home after the babies are born as possible, but he wanted to be there and I wanted him to come along for the visit.

As usual I went prepared with my list of 10 questions regarding how I'm feeling, sleeping, eating, etc. and the doctor once again patiently answered all of them. I'd gained 8 pounds since my last visit which he said was normal because I'd been so sick in the first trimester that my body had to make up for the weight I hadn't gained earlier. He measured my uterus and it measured at about 18 weeks for a woman pregnant with a singleton, which is normal for twins. It will grow dramatically in the coming weeks.

Lastly, we got to hear the babies' heartbeats! At first the doctor had a hard time finding the second one but they were located in two different positions in my uterus. One baby was higher up and the second was lower.

We go back for an ultrasound in three weeks for growth & cervical length. We are looking forward to possibly finding out what the sexes are but it might not be possible given their position at the time of the visit. We will keep you updated.

Pregnancy and Winter!

Well being that Melissa is pregnant, I am trying to pick up the slack and take over responsibilities of keeping the house clean and together. I definitely have have a new found appreciation for her work around here. It is a tough job and it seems like a never ending cycle of loading, unloading dishwashers, cleaning the kitchen, living room, etc. Anyways, Melissa I just wanted to say I appreciate you :-). 

Now you may be wondering what the picture to the right has to do with this post. Well, we went shopping and I left a 12 pack of Diet Pepsi in Melissa's car. She said to me before we got out of the car last time, "You better bring that in otherwise it might explode, something I learned in my 20's. I, as the picture can show you, didn't listen and forgot about the 12 pack until we went to the store the next day and I opened up the back hatch of the CRV and realized that a can in the pack had exploded. So, to sum up, it only took me an additional 10 years to learn the lesson that Melissa learned in her 20's.

I also have started to exercise and run again.  My waistline has started to grow again so it's time to start running nightly and watching my diet.  I have "hopefully" topped out at 229 lbs.  I hope to run in the 2010 Kentucky Derby Mini Marathon.  I will keep you up to date on my training via my twitter feed:  Http://www.twitter.com/RunningGreg.

Adapting to a Twin Pregnancy

Well, today I'm about 14.5 weeks pregnant. We've known we are having twins for 9 weeks now and it's taken this long to completely absorb the shock. That's not to say we haven't been excited, it's just been a little overwhelming to think about everything that is going to change in the coming year.

I'm currently reading two books on twin pregnancy:

Twin Sense: This is a guide for purchasing and preparing for twins. Additionally it has an entire chapter devoted to how to respond to probing questions about a twin pregnancy - a lot of the answers cracked me up!

When You're Expecting Twins, Triplets & Quads: This book initially scared the heck out of me because it goes into detail about everything that can go wrong in a multiples pregnancy. I put it down for 4 weeks and recently picked it up again. I'm feeling better about reading it so that I can be prepared and do everything I can to nurture 2 healthy babies over the next 6 months.

I've also had to quickly adapt to my expanding belly. When we were at the doctor 3 weeks ago he said that I would be the same size as a regular term pregnancy at 28 weeks and I will still have 10 weeks to go!!! Since I will be growing so fast & we currently have a PTO restriction in effect at work until the end of February, Greg and I really won't be able to travel much this coming year. The nurse at my doctor's office said I shouldn't really travel after late February.

I'm still dealing with some fatigue that is associated with early pregnancy but the nausea has started to fade significantly.

Some info on fetal growth at 14 weeks (from one of the 5 weekly updates we get from various websites):

By the end of this week, your baby will be 4 ¾ inches long and weigh a whole 2 ounces.

Your baby’s skin is very thin, and his/her blood vessels can actually be seen through the skin. Your baby’s ears are continuing to develop externally and continue to look more like normal ears. Your baby’s eyes are continuing to move towards the nose from the sides of his/her head. The baby’s bones are beginning to ossify, which means that if an x-ray was taken the skeleton would be visible. Babies at this age have also been caught sucking their thumbs on ultrasound pictures.

14 weeks pregnant

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everyone! We hope everyone has a fabulous & prosperous 2010!