Pregnancy: Week 21

A little bit last week and increasingly so, I have a pain that is causing me a bit of grief. I think it is rib related and it hurts in the front and on my mid/upper back. I talked to a chiropractor family friend and he said that there's not a whole lot that can be done with ribs during pregnancy because you can't lay belly down on the table for an adjustment. I'm sure it will resolve on its own eventually but it's not very pleasant at the moment in certain positions. It really doesn't even bother me unless I am sitting in one spot for awhile, such as on an airplane or driving in the car. Guess I'll just have to keep moving all the time!

I still sleep pretty well and can make it through the night with minimal wake-ups. Every now and then I'll wake up with a leg cramp or just because my body panics and thinks I'm going to miss my alarm for work but I'm still loving that I don't have to get up and go to the bathroom every 10 minutes in the middle of the night. Yay Hurray for second trimester! 

Pregnancy is seriously FLYING by. I feel so busy with work that I don't think I have enough time to just enjoy being pregnant which makes me sad. I'm extremely grateful I'm still able to work for the time being but at the same time I'd love to be home making things for the boys and getting their room set up. I still have lots to prepare before these babies get here so I need to start making a little more time for crafting and cleaning because I KNOW I'm not going to have any time once they arrive!

Here is the pain in my rib.

Pregnancy: Week 20

This week the boys made their second journey on an airplane in their very short existence to welcome home Uncle Brad from Korea! They must like plane rides because they sure start to wiggle! Their movements are getting bigger and bigger which is so fun to feel! Sometimes I jump a little though when they start twisting, flipping, punching, or something great big. Jesse nearly has a heart attack every time I jump because he thinks something is wrong.

Gus and Budsy are starting to perform a little more and other people are able to feel them move around. While I was in St. George my family would sit around with their hands on my belly and wait for the boys to wiggle. It is seriously the best thing being able to share this pregnancy with Jesse and our families whenever we can. I love it when others can feel them moving around.

While we were in St. George we were lucky enough to go to a Piano Guys concert! (If you don't know who they are you need to check out their videos here: http://thepianoguys.com/) It was an amazing concert and I pretty much decided that our boys need to play the piano and cello so they can be awesome like these guys. I also think the babies love music because they were "dancing" the entire concert. (I guess they could hate it with similar wiggling results, but I'm going to assume it is love.)

I also had a chance to talk to my aunt who has identical twin boys and we discovered that her due date was April 24th and she delivered at 38 weeks on April 10th which are the exact dates I've been given for our babies! If we seriously have our babies on April 10th just like her boys that would be crazy! I guess it would sure make it easy to remember!

All in all I'm still feeling really good. Sometimes I wake up a little sore from sleeping weird I guess but I can't complain too much. I'm still absolutely loving this stage of pregnancy!

I look a little tired! haha I'm sure I probably was. We had some rather busy days in St. George.

Pregnancy: Week 19

Week 19 was spent with Jesse's parents in town which is always a treat. We had our big check-out-the-babies-and-make-sure-they-have-ten-fingers-and-toes-and-all-other-parts ultrasound which we of course had his parents come to. It was so much fun for all of us! The ultrasound tech did very in depth looks at the babies and we saw arms, legs, hands, feet, toes, fingers, upper lips, brains, four chambered hearts, all their little organs, and watched them wiggle around. It truly is amazing watching them on these ultrasounds. Their movements are getting more and more baby-like instead of just little twitches here and there. They stretch out their legs, put their hands behind their heads and just look like real live babies!!!

I don't believe I have mentioned on here yet, but they have nicknames: Budsy and Gus. (Jesse tried to nickname them Pooter and Donut but I put my foot down on that idea!) Gus seems to be a lot more wiggly than Budsy and he also loves to lay straight out and arch his back. Budsy likes to lay out as well but he at least seems to curl up once in awhile and he just seems a little more mellow. Guess we'll see how accurate that is when they come!

Everything is still going perfectly with no signs of twin-to-twin transfusion so we are feeling very blessed with that. We still can't believe we're going to have two little babies coming to our house!!!

Pregnancy: Week 18

I noticed this week that I haven't had to wake up in the night to go to the bathroom like I used to a few weeks ago. That is a wonderful thing that I will enjoy while it lasts. I have had the unfortunate encounter with leg cramps again though. They wake me up and are very painful. I have had sore calves for a couple of days thanks to those beauties at night! 

I am loving being pregnant! It has honestly been so much fun! This second trimester stuff is fabulous. I feel great, I have energy, no sickness, and am not uncomfortably huge yet. My belly does seem to be getting bigger on a daily basis though! Right now it is fun but I hope it slows down a little bit so I don't become as wide as I am tall! This week I really felt as though you can tell I'm pregnant from the front as well as the side. 

I feel the babies moving around a lot more now and have even felt movements in different spots in my belly at the same time so I know it's both boys moving! Jesse still has only felt them a couple of times. If he is nearby I try to run over and stick his hands on my belly where I can feel movement but these babies don't seem to like performing and always stop moving when Jesse touches my belly. We're going to have to work on that. It gets old quickly and I want him to get to share in the excitement! I'm sure as they get bigger and stronger it will get easier but we are getting a little impatient!

I did especially enjoy Thanksgiving this year and was able to eat a couple of platefuls of food. My dad would be proud! We weren't able to go home so instead we celebrated with some friends from our ward. They cooked the most delicious food and we tried to contribute a little bit with some sweet potatoes and snickers salad. It was pretty minor contributions so we were seriously grateful for their generosity. 

After dinner we were invited to another friend's house with a few couples for desserts and games which was a blast as well. Being with friends was definitely the next best thing to being with family. And the weather was absolutely perfect as well. I love having late November mean I need a light jacket and it is 60s-70s. We really haven't missed the snow yet. Maybe in December we will??? I won't hold my breath though.

And of course these are the only pictures we have:

 The hand drawn Thanksgiving wishes on our Thai food take-out sometime last week.

And these delicious sweet potatoes we made. Honestly I was impressed with ourselves. These things turned out heavenly!

Pregnancy: Week 17

Time is seriously flying by! We of course had another ultrasound this week and the boys were absolutely adorable! Their mannerisms were so much more baby-like than some of the random twitching we've been seeing over the last few weeks and it was very endearing. They both liked to stretch straight out and arch their backs. I told them they better go ahead and enjoy it now while they still have room because there will be no stretching later!

The morning of the ultrasound I was feeling my belly and noticed that the left side of my abdomen was really soft while the right side was hard. I figured there was either a baby up that right side and one down low or both of them lined up along that side. It was fun to go to the ultrasound and find out that Baby B was laying up and down that right side so I was totally feeling where Baby B was! I've since noticed he likes that spot and have found him on multiple occasions on that side. It may have something to do with the fact that I tend to sleep on my left side though so maybe that's the only spot for him to go!? Baby A seems to run low across my belly and sometimes I can feel where he is too. It's rather strange actually but I love it! 

This week I've just continued to grow and have bought a few more maternity things over the last couple of weeks. They are so comfortable! I also love wearing Jesse's shirts. He thinks I look cute in them so it's a win-win. I find that maternity jeans make my belly look rounder and nicer instead of it being smashed by my regular jeans that I'm trying to keep below my belly. It's a little tricky though because these boys are sitting really low right now so it usually just ends up hurting. I'm sure eventually I'll get one in my ribs and one on my bladder and will get to feel the joys of feeling them high and low....

I've noticed my belly button getting stretched out if that makes any sense! haha. It's funny to look at and I have it feeling it may end up a slit of a belly button. I am also still a master belcher. Jesse wants to record it sometime because it is pretty impressive but I don't know if I want to remember that forever! Also notable this week is that I think I gained about 4 lbs in the last two weeks! haha. The perinatologist keeps telling me repeatedly that I need to gain 40-50 lbs (which I personally think is nuts but whatever) so I've been trying hard to eat lots of calories so I can please him. He hasn't seem overly impressed yet but I was excited. I think I've only put on about 7 lbs total (which is based on a combination of the doctor's scale and my scale at home so I'm not entirely sure how accurate it all is) thus far and this peri wants me to gain 24 lbs by week 24 so let's just say I'm not exactly turning down hamburgers and fries these days.

Pregnancy: Week 16

I seem to wake up with leg cramps all the time this week. It's getting old. I sleep great though unless of course I have to get up and use the bathroom in the middle of the night, so I really can't complain. This week my belly has definitely been growing. I was even asked if I was pregnant at Church just based on my protruding belly. It made me happy. 

People are still shocked when I tell them there is two in there because I'm not very big but I am convinced these babies are just taking up all the space they can internally before they start moving outward. I can only eat very small portions and if I don't sit up straight sometimes I have a hard time breathing already! 

I felt a baby (or both, who knows!) moving this week! There were a few times that I wondered about it but I was sitting in Church one day and definitely felt some wiggling or movement of some sort a few times in a row! It was awesome! I very much have to concentrate to feel them but it is so rewarding when i feel those little wiggles.

And then one night  later in the week Jesse and I were both up late and he put his hands on my belly for a little while and one of the babies kicked/punched pretty hard and Jesse was able to feel it! It was honestly the most exciting moment so far! 

I've been trying to think calm thoughts so I can get some sweet, calm little boys. Each time we go in for an ultrasound they wiggle but don't seem to be moving around in a "oh my goodness you'll have your hands full" type of way so I'm hoping the thoughts are working! haha. My two brothers are about as mellow, sweet, and funny as they come so let's hope they take after them!

Pregnancy: Week 15

We were back in the perinatologist's office this week for another ultrasound. We will start seeing him every two weeks for the foreseeable future so he can measure the babies and make sure they are growing at a similar rate. I know they are looking for signs of twin to twin transfusion and thankfully everything has looked perfect so far so I haven't explored what they even do if they find that one twin is stealing nutrients from the other. I figure I'll just plan on everything working out perfectly.

This week was exciting because we got a sneak peek at the gender of our babies! That is definitely a bonus to having an ultrasound every two weeks. We get to see them grow, change, wiggle, and of course important things like knowing if we should start buying some pink or blue!

At first the babies didn't want to cooperate but then they put on a show and we found out we'd be bringing home two little BOYS! It took me a couple of days to wrap my mind around having two little boys and all the things that come with it like sword fights, hitting, loud noises, etc. I was already seeing loudness, craziness, and things breaking in my house! haha.

But look how adorable they are!

Baby A

 Baby B

But then we started thinking of all the awesome things that come with little boys like capes, super heros, sound effects, Halloween costume duos, legos, cars, having two missionaries down the road.... and the list goes on and on. All the sudden I was having this overwhelming feeling of this amazing opportunity to teach two little boys about the Gospel so they can be valiant priesthood holders, extraordinary missionaries, and become fathers and leaders of our Church. It honestly brings me to tears thinking about this responsibility. I hope I am up for the challenge and pray that the Lord will give me the promptings I need to adequately teach our little boys. In the meantime I hope I can be laid back enough to let them play with each other without trying to protect them from every little scrape and turning them into sissies!

We seriously could not be more excited! And I am pretty sure I made my little brother Kadin's life. He was DYING for us to have little boys (because I don't think he knows that there are girl babies too) but he was elated when I told him our babies are boys. Now if we'd just name them Kadin and Kade after him, his life would be complete! haha. I've tried to tell him multiple times it will not work out that way but I think he's still holding out for a miracle.