Pregnancy: Week 14

Nothing too eventful happened this week. I of course started a new job soon after finding out I was pregnant so I have stayed busying working 3 days a week there and sometimes another day a week at my home health job as well as popping in to help Jesse at work occasionally. It's kept me busy but I can't complain. I've been feeling really good and feel blessed I'm able to be doing everything I need to be.

My belly didn't change any this week from what I noticed. Not like it happened last week where I woke up one morning and my belly was noticeably larger. 

I am really looking forward to being able to feel them moving around. So far no luck but I keep laying down and concentrating to see if I can feel something. Hopefully the day isn't too far away when I'll feel something! I'm already looking forward to when Jesse can feel them. I think that has to be the greatest thing to share with my sweet husband. Can't wait!

Pregnancy: Week 13 {Telling Family}

This is the week we spilled the beans. 

Thankfully! 

I don't think I could have held it in any longer.

Here's how we told my family I was pregnant.

And this is how we announced it was twins.

As soon as we shared the news with my family we went to town making phone calls and skype calls to Jesse's family, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and close friends. It was so much fun every single time we told someone!

My belly had been working on stretching ever so slightly but overnight while my family was here it all of the sudden poked out more noticeably! It is fun to start growing a belly, and a little strange. My mom, sister, and I went shopping one evening and we looked at some maternity clothes and ended up buying a few things so I made my first maternity clothes purchases. I totally started wearing them too. They are SO comfortable! Whoever thought they should try to get away with squeezing into their own clothes obviously has not put on comfy maternity pants and shirts! Plus I figure as I evolve into a whale there is no avoiding the maternity aisles so I might as well embrace it! 

We had loads of fun while my family was in town and went to the Dallas World Aquarium (once again, a personal favorite. If you come to Dallas you need to go there!)

 Kadin mentioned that the stork is what brings babies so we decided to tell him we need two!

We also went to 6 Flags and instead of doing all the wild and crazy rides I hung out with my parents on the sidelines. That was definitely the first time in my life I have skipped out on rollercoasters! It was kind of torturous but it's all for the sake of the babies. Luckily my dad bought me a pretzel so that helped make up for it!

I happened to be invited to a "Moms of Multiples" garage sale this week and scored all sorts of good things there! Our house started looking like we would actually be having babies coming to live with us! I got a swing, stroller, changing pad with covers, bath tub, high chairs, swaddle blankets, boppy with covers, a floor mat thing, and probably other things I can't remember. It is all in perfect condition and I got killer deals so that is awesome! We're realizing it's a little tricky to have two babies on a budget but we're trying our hardest! 

Pregnancy: Week 12

Week 12:

I started orientation this week for my new job at the hospital.... because everyone starts a new job and tries to grow twins at the same time, right?! I was in class all day long for most of the week. I started feeling a little more sickly at night for whatever reason. Once again living on tums and propping my pillows up in bed so when I go to bed my head is as high as I can get it. I had to get a flu shot and almost threw up a couple of times that day. I blame the flu shot. I still haven't actually thrown up and feel so awesome about that. We still hadn't told family members at this point and were getting so excited to spread the good news! Luckily my family was coming to town the next week so we wouldn't have to keep it in much longer!

Pregnancy: Oh Baby Baby

Week 11

We had our first ultrasound this week!!! We were so excited and a little nervous to see our little peanut on screen. The doctor said we'd be able to see our baby, the heartbeat, take some measurements, etc. As the doctor started the ultrasound, all I could see was her face, and she had an odd expression. I immediately wondered what was going on, and then she said "babies." Plain and simple. My response back was something to the effect of "BabIES? Babezzzzzzz? As in more than one?!?! Are you serious?!" I don't assume doctors often joked about that but at the time it seemed like a valid question.

She turned the screen so Jesse and I could get a better look and sure enough, plain as day, there were two babies in there. Twins. I couldn't believe it. (Sidenote: We always joked about starting our family with twins so we could catch up to our friends, but who would have guessed it would actually happen!? In fact just the morning of our appointment I was telling Jesse that I thought it seemed a little odd that my belly was already starting to show. I wondered a little right then if we might be having twins but just said it in passing and continued on with the day with no further mention.)  Jesse and I just looked at each other with wonder and excitement, and perhaps a tiny bit of terror in our eyes. Two babies. Two heartbeats fluttering away. Lots of tiny little movements. Our babies. They looked absolutely perfect. I almost started to cry. We instantly couldn't imagine one without the other. Jesse was absolutely beaming and of course was already thinking of many years worth of Halloween costumes to come.

The doctor said everything looked great. They each have their own sac which is good for their health and they were very active. She then proceeded to tell me this does change a few things, such as needing to gain more weight (I had actually lost a pound from my initial weigh-in which happened to be lower than my usual weight so I have my work cut out for me), needing extra calcium and iron, I'll probably have to quit working earlier, we are now shooting for 38 weeks gestation instead of 40, symptoms will happen sooner, I'll look like an ant who swallowed a watermelon, etc. etc. 

We were really surprised but totally excited for the adventure ahead. I always said it would be best to start with twins because after that everything would seem easy! haha. But honestly I have no illusions that anything with this will be easy, that we'll even remember the first year, or that we won't need all the help we can get! (I may or may not need to talk one set of our parents into moving to Texas) So I guess ready or not, we're becoming a family of 4 sometime in April! Or perhaps March. I'm going to try to hold these babies in as long as possible, cross my legs and hope to die.

{11 weeks 1 day}

Due partially to the fact that there are two babies growing inside me, and also for standard genetic testing, we were referred to the perinatologist later this week for a visit. We were blessed to get another ultrasound of our babies and have them measured and looked at by the specialist. It was at this appointment we were told our babies are monozygotic, or identical, as they share a placenta. 

I am still not quite sure why, but this news surprised us once again. I suppose it was because it completely eliminated the chance of having babies of opposite gender and of course made me concerned about how I was going to tell them apart! I have been repeatedly reassured that I will be able to tell but I'm still a little worried! We very well may be writing the name of one on the bottom of their feet in permanent marker!

This doctor told us that everything looked perfect with our babies. That is always a relief to hear since having two in there automatically makes things more risky. He said they will keep a close eye on me though to make sure the babies are growing equally and one is not stealing from the other. This becomes the fun part for us because we get to see our babies every time I have an appointment! 

{11 weeks 5 days}

I have been repeatedly asked if twins run in my family and I have to explain to people that while yes this will technically be the third set of twins on my side of the family in the last 14 years (my siblings are twins as well as my cousins) but they do not in fact run in the family. We always say my siblings were prayed here and my cousins are identical. Now just a little education if you care, fraternal twins can be genetic. You may in fact be genetically predisposed to release more than one egg each month that can then be fertilized. That is obviously passed through the mother's side. Identical twins however are not genetic. They are simply a random occurrence during the egg's division and development that results in two babies. Identical twins make up only about 30% of twins so they are definitely less common than fraternal. So apparently I must have sneezed pretty violently during the first week and split that little egg!

And of course we celebrated by purchasing awesome shirts!

Pregnancy: Weeks 9 & 10

Week 9

I felt really good this week. No nausea all week which is so nice. I don't seem to crave specific foods as much either. We used to only be able to eat what sounded good to me but now I can go to a restaurant and find something on the menu that I can tolerate.

I really have not been in the mood to cook since finding out I'm pregnant. I tried one night and the food just didn't taste nearly as delicious after making it. Now I seem to make Jesse cook or we eat out. Oops! Hopefully I can start cooking again soon.

I seem to have a sensitive nose when it comes to jewelry. I feel like all my cheaper pieces smell so badly of metal I can hardly wear them! It's awful. 

This week I worked 3 night shifts in a row and was worried about this tired body! I tried to at least stay up until midnight a couple days before my stretch and I was falling asleep around 10:30pm! That's not a good sign! Luckily I was able to make it through!

Week 10

We were in Provo and St. George for the duration of this week but did not break down and tell our families still! I'm sure they'll be coming after us when we finally do! We just really wanted to wait to hear a heartbeat before spreading our news.

My belly started poking out just a smidgen this week. Probably not enough for anyone else to even notice but Jesse and i can tell there is a little difference. It made it a little more tricky being around family when I was self conscious of my belly. I did pack a little bigger shirts, just in case! 

I felt pretty good the entire week (thankfully) it would have been really hard to hide being sickly from our families.

I was able to eat pretty much everything offered me which is a big deal too since it's been hard to eat food unless it really sounds good to me. 

I did feel like I was full all week long. My intestinal track has taken a beating and moves soooo ssssslllllllooooooowwwww these days which is bad since it normally isn't the fastest moving system in my body so pregnancy only compounds the problem. I hate feeling full/almost sick all the time. Not fun. 

I also seemed to fall asleep on the couch every night in St. George around 9pm (which I tried to justify by reminding them it was usually 10pm my time!). Luckily I don't think they suspected anything! 

Pregnancy: Weeks 6, 7, & 8

Let the pregnancy journal begin! 

Week 6: 

I started feeling a little more tired this week and had some food aversions and cravings but not much nausea to complain of thankfully. I did find that I was starving all the time and if my stomach started to get empty I started to feel a wave of nausea but that was easy to fix. I felt like I was eating ALL THE TIME.

This will be the photo to remind myself how amazing the human body is, that it can go from this to a beached whale in just 9 short months!

And probably the last time I ever see that body ever again! But that is AOK with me.

Week 7:

Well the whole "eating all the time" thing quickly went out the window and I had more and more food aversions this week. I could hardly look in our fridge or even in our kitchen in general some days without being a little grossed out. I wasn't nearly as hungry this week and 7up and saltines became my new best friends. Still no major nausea and no vomiting but I just felt a little off. I also became super lazy. I don't feel like moving when I'm at home and our apartment is definitely starting to show it. It's driving me nuts but my bed still sounds better than cleaning. :) 

I found that macaroni and cheese has sounded awful, and thankfully I have a fabulous husband who eats whatever sounds good to me that night. We've had KFC, french toast sticks from Sonic, cheetos, and tomato sandwiches just to name a few. The funny thing is that leftovers of any of these semi-cravings sound awful, and that contributes to the problem with looking in the fridge. :)

I had my first Dr. appointment this week. We heard our first "Congratulations, you're pregnant!" from my Dr. since we hadn't told a soul that I was pregnant yet. It was exciting to be congratulated. She gave me a due date of April 24, 2013. Happy (almost) Anniversary to us. Jesse says due dates are dumb and since only 5% of people actually deliver on their due date that we shouldn't really even have one. I keep trying to explain that it is just a goal to shoot towards. He would just rather say we're having a baby in April. We ended up agreeing we would just tell people we have a baby coming at the end of April. Sounds good enough to me.

I've noticed on facebook a crop of people have announced pregnancies lately. A few due in March, and one even due in May. It gets me all excited knowing that our kids will be born so close together and I get all giddy even though no one else knows I'm pregnant. 

Week 8

I was feeling a lot better this week. I was less nauseated than the last two weeks and honestly have quite a bit of energy, I just start crashing earlier in the evenings and enjoy a 8pm or 9pm bedtime. 

I was able to eat more and began to have an appetite again this week. So nice! Towards the end of this week I was starving all the time! I still have a hard time looking in the fridge though without gagging.

I am burping ALL THE TIME. Does that happen to other people? 

I feel really bloated at night as well and tums have become one of my friends of the week. 

Yeah the pictures aren't the greatest thing ever, but there's also not much to see therefore it doesn't matter, right?!

I guess we have plenty of time to work on Jesse's picture taking skills and my modeling skills!

Oh Baby!

It all began when I decided to take a home pregnancy test. I was a few days late but I'm never on time so I honestly didn't think anything of it. I was absolutely expecting to see one lone line so you can imagine the surprise when I glanced at it and I saw TWO! 

I turned to Jesse and said, "I think that's a second line. Come look, is that a second line? It can't be a second line." 

I had begun to believe that these tests only showed one line, but there were definitely two lines there this time. 

I didn't even know what to do except dance around, hug my hubs, and keep saying over and over again, "I'm pregnant." 

Skeptical Jesse didn't want to believe it until he saw a second test, so the next morning he was sure to wake me up bright and early before he left for work so I could take another test. 

Low and behold, there were two lines again! I know the home tests are very reliable but you still start to wonder if it was just a fluke, but no, I was pregnant!! 

A few more days passed and I felt that I should be exhausted to the point of no return and puking my guts out as that is how everyone else seems to do it when they are pregnant, but I was feeling great! No different in fact, so I had to take another test, JUST to be sure. 

I got home from work one day and took another test that evening. Sure enough, there still two lines and even darker than before. 

It was really happening. 

We were going to have a baby!

And of course I had to celebrate by getting a cute little outfit for our little peanut!
So exciting!!!