18 weeks

I had my 18 week appointment on Thursday and the babies are looking good.  Definitely growing bigger and so is my belly.  Baby A and B are head down (not that it matters because I am having a c-section) and in an anterior/posterior position.  To paint a picture it's as if they are spooning and lying right in front of each other.  Baby A was hogging all of the room when the ultrasound tech was trying to take some pictures so the pictures this week more like two little monsters than babies growing.  But the most important thing they both looked healthy.  

The only slight concern was that Baby B's placenta is low lying, which might explain why I had some bleeding the other week.  Hopefully it moves upward as my uterus grows.  I really don't want to have to worry about another reason why I could lose these babies.  So for now per doctors orders Matt and I can no longer have "relations" as he calls it.  My doctor chuckled when he told us this and told Matt that he was going to have to take a lot of cold showers.  Oh well... What's another 5 months without it... Right? 

I'm starting to feel some growing pains and feel like my stomach is the size of Mars but am not quite looking that bug.  By the end of the night I have some pretty intense right sided pain but with my good ole heating pad I do get some relief.  If that's the only thing I have to deal with than I can handle that.  Here is my 18 week update....

How Far Along: 18 weeks

Cravings: loving milk, have I mentioned I've been drinking 1-1.5 gallons a week.  Red rope licorice (however I haven't caved into that... It's pure sugar and the babies don't need that) 

Total weight gained: 18 pounds

Stretch Marks: no

Sleep: pregnancy insomnia is starting to hit.  I wake up around 3-4 am quite often and have a hard time going back to sleep.  This makes it hard to get up for work

Nausea or Queasy: yes but very random if it happens!  Hallelujah !!

Wedding rings on or off: on

Signs of labor: no let's keep it that way for a long time

Gender: still unknown... Well kind of.  

Looking forward to: my next appt. when we can confirm the gender.... Boy or girl? 

Belly Button in or out: in

Movement: yes and last night one of them kicked so hard or flipped I'm not sure it made me puke in the middle of the night.  I nearly didn't make it to the bathroom it all happened so fast

Baby Dreams: none this week that I can remember

17 weeks

I had a pretty eventful week in my eyes.  I had a bit of a scare last week so for the past week I have been taking it easy, resting, and praying that this pregnancy will continue.  Last weekend after I got home from work I went to the bathroom and BAM just like that my heart sank... Pink!  Not red, but pink staring me in the eye after I had wiped.  Perhaps a little TMI but after losing a baby at 22 weeks where it all went downhill in the bathroom of a TJ Maxx I am constantly fearful of seeing bright red blood when I go to the bathroom.  Anything of color to me usually means doomsday.  So last week when I saw pink I panicked.  I called my doctor right away and he told me to take it easy and put my feet up and call him if it continued.  Thank god it did not.

In that moment after I hung up with him I prayed so hard and low and behold it stopped.  I'm not sure what it was but my two precious little babies lives flashed before my eyes.  It was a good reminder (if I want to look at the positive) that I need to take it easy and remind myself just how fragile I really a, when I'm pregnant.  For some reason My body is not physically as strong as I think It is when I'm pregnant.  

So this week I just kind of sat, and ate, and relaxed, and worked.  Kind of boring but in desperation I'll do anything to get these twins to term and to their due date.

  I was hoping to start my new medicine this week but still don't have it.  Insurance is great but sometimes it's so annoying when trying to get certain things.  I spent my fair share of time calling the nurse, pharmacy, and insurance company and after all that the medicine was DENIED. I thought I could just self pay for the medicine out of pocket, again I wil not put a limit on our babies lives, but the nurse told me it was going to be $3,500.00 a month out of pocket.  WHAT!  I passed on that so she was nice enough to work with a local pharmacy and find a generic equivalent for $165.00 a month.  Much better!  

So hopefully this week I'll get my medicine and start the oh so lovely progesterone shots again but only once a week verses two times per day.  Per my doctor this is to help "quiet" my uterus and hopefully prevent contractions and preterm labor.  Hopefully it works, I need all the help I can get.  Hopefully with my bionic like uterus being hold by a tight band and medicine these babies are not going to come too early or early at all.  I still don't have an actual official due date of when my c-section will be but I am thinking July 12 sounds nice!! 

Here's my "weekly" picture that I have been slacking on taking.  My stomach is really growing and so am I!  Eeek it is hard to "blossom" so fast but with my "twin pregnancy diet" plan I am following I'm growing and gaining weight just like I should

    

How Far Along: 17 weeks 1 day

Cravings: still  navel oranges and anything citrusy!  I can't get enough

Total weight gained: 16 pounds

Stretch Marks: no

Sleep: still so tired, naps are my best friend

Nausea or Queasy: still a yes, but it continues to improve.  If I do puke it's only about 1 time per day

Wedding rings on or off: on

Signs of labor: no let's keep it that way for a long time

Gender: still unknown

Looking forward to: my next doctor appointment on Thursday so we can see the twins via ultrasound again, and this time hubs is able to come!

Belly Button in or out: in

Movement: flutters becoming stronger and more frequent 

Baby Dreams: I had a dream that we had boy and girl twins .... Still not sure what they are. 

15/16 weeks

I had a busy week so I missed my Week 15 update.  Some of you were wondering if anything was wrong but everything has been fine, just busy.  So a week late and right in time for week 16 here is the latest twin baby update.  

The babies are acquiring a few funny nicknames.  A co-worker nicknamed them Ethan and Alan.  My brother nicknamed them porkchop # 1 and #2.  I still call them Twin A and Twin B but hopefully one day we can name these little miracles.  

Week 15 was pretty uneventful but I did reach a big milestone and had way less nausea and vomiting. When you go from puking so much to having days of absolutely none it's a beautiful thing.  

I had my 16 week ultrasound on Thursday and shared the experience with my mom since hubs was out of town on a business trip.  I had a good clean report which is always a sigh of relief but every time I walk into the doctors office I just fear bad news.  

I had my ultrasound first and then doctors appointment right after.  Since I'm high risk I have an ultrasound with every appointment but there is a plus... You get to see your cute little babies grow.  

Twin A is on my right side and Twin B is on my left.  They both are measuring and looking great.  I was with my mom and didn't want to find the sex out with her (I do love her dearly but come on, there are just some things that you do with your husband and not your mom) so we turned our head and closed our eyes when she looked between the babies legs.  Soooo it's still a mystery as to what they are.  Baby A I thought was a boy last time because "he" was moving around so much but Twin B was the wild one this time so I am really not sure if it's a boy/girl, boy/boy, or girl/girl combination.  

After my ultrasound appointment I met with my ob and the PA and had a nice appointment.  He has decided to switch my back to progesterone shots to help keep my uterus quite and hopefully prevent any early contractions and I get to stop the progesterone vaginal suppositories.  I'm really not sure which one is worse.  My butt thanks me for not poking it twice a day but my little lady part is not since I have to give her a pill the size of a horse and let it melt... you can only imagine.  So now whenever I get the medicine, it's called Makena, I will have hubs give me a nice gigantic butt shot again BUT this time it's just once a week.  

He was going to have me come again in 4 weeks since everything was good but before he settled on that he asked me how I felt.  I told him I was super anxious and freaking out because last time after my 16 week appointment was when everything spiraled out of control and my life changed forever.  After I told him I had a normal ob appointment at 16 weeks, a normal anatomy scan at 19 weeks, and went into labor at 20, it was enough to change his mind.  He said he wanted me to come back in two weeks rather than 4 to check my cervical length, fluid levels, and to just make sure everything was still ok.  

I really felt much better after that.  So back I go in two weeks.  Other than that I keep growing and so do these little babies.  Here are some ultrasound pictures. 

14 weeks

14 weeks marks 3.5 months and things feel like they are flying by.  It's funny how fast this pregnancy seems to be going when I compare it to my last pregnancy.  In 6 short weeks I will be as far as I got with my furthest pregnancy and quite frankly that really scares the shit out of me.  I wouldn't say I like to be pregnant, puking is nasty, but there is something beautiful about having a living being grow  ( or in my case now, two living beings) and develop inside of you.  

I told Matt this week that I feel like we are making and meeting great milestones this time around and I hope and pray so hard it continues down this path.  When your pregnant with twins they say it is as if you are 6-8 weeks larger than a singleton pregnancy so if this is the case that means my body is 20-22 weeks pregnant, which means that I've successfully gotten over my ( in theory of course) 20 week mark that I am so fearful of and that my surgery placing my TAC to hold these sweet little babes in is totally working!!!  Praise God for that because I just cannot fathom losing another baby.  

I finished my last progesterone shot on Saturday and realized my poor little biscuits had endured 190 butt shots in total.  Yes you read that 190 buttock shots that my dearest husband had to give me everyday.  I suppose I can look at the positive side of it, and think and laugh about all the funny conversations we had while he squeezed a cheek, inserted the shot, gave the medication, and held pressure so I didn't bleed all over the bed, but I'm happy and so are my cheeks that I no longer have to do those.  Although I do not have to do shots I'm still taking progesterone via a wonderful vaginal suppository until I am 20 weeks pregnant.  Yes it's totally gross but if it keeps these babies in for a while longer I'll take it.  

I just thought I would share that I'm so happy I started writing is blog.  I intentionally started writing this blog so I could help myself get over a tragic loss but to also help others struggling.  But I also started my blog so everyone friends, family, etc. can know what's going on.  I can track how many times my blog has been viewed and I am up to about 18,500 views!! Which is amazing!!!!  It's fun to see how many people around the world view it.  So in case you read my blog and feel like, "oh I'm not sure if I should be reading this" or have shared with another friend or family member or someone else I'm so happy you have!!!  Keep reading and following our journey because the best is yet to come.  

Here's my weekly picture ... And that's about it...

How Far Along: 14 weeks 4 days

Cravings: navel oranges, milk, and today lemon poppyseed muffins sounded amazing

Total weight gained: 13 pounds, eek!  I can barely look at the scale but it's for the babies right 

Stretch Marks: no

Sleep: still so tired and wanting to sleep all the time.  I do wake up frequently to pee or to get a nightly snack so I'm up quite a few times in the night 

Nausea or Queasy: still a yes, but last week I had 3 days in a row with no vomiting!  It was amazing!  And so you can all humor me, sometimes in the evening I puke so hard that I pee my pants... Talk about embarrassing.  

Wedding rings on or off: on

Signs of labor: no let's keep it that way for a long time

Gender: still unknown

Looking forward to: feeling more baby flutters 

Belly Button in or out: in

Movement: kind of just the same, little flutters here and there