Monday, November 19, 2007

First kicks

I felt the flutter today FOR SURE when I was putting Mr. Cubby down for his nap (which, incidentally has not resulted in a nap yet but only in a long crying jag which may or may not turn into sleep). I thought I felt it the other day during my shot but then John stabbed me with a needle and all plesant sensations disappeared.

I love the early flutter kicks. Totally the best. When they get older (and stronger) it can hurt sometimes. My husband actually broke his mother's rib while he was in utero. Crazy. It's early to feel kicking but I was reading that with twins often you can feel kicks earlier. Go team. It's go great to feel them moving around and know that they're still doing OK.

Sheesh. Why won't Mr. Cubby take a nap? He's just screaming and screaming. I should check on him. He was completely out of sorts this morning. He didn't want to be held or put down or rocked or fed or to feed himself or to drink a bottle or a sippy. All he wanted to do was feed the dog breath fresheners (for dogs) and Cheerios. We did have a cute moment where he sat inside a laundry basket and piled toys all over himself. He lasted for a while playing in there by himself until he remembered he was cranky.

To Rachel - I tried to publish this in the comments section but after three tries gave up.

I loved our visit too. Thanks for making the trip. :)

Now, on to belly size. First of all 4 1/2 weeks is a big head start, especially early on in pregnancy. Also, I carry way to the back and it takes a while for my belly to pop out. Does it help to know that my uterus is probably bigger than yours? *sigh* didn't think so. :):):)

Friday, November 16, 2007

11 Weeks

I got an email today from the nurse who is managing my meds. Break-through week. As of today, I can stop the Estrace completely and reduce my progesterone by half. The only down side is that I still have to do two shots a day but like I said before, the shots aren't too bad once you get over the initial muscle soreness.

I had a rough week of morning sickness because I wasn't taking naps everyday like I apparently need to. I was all like, "My morning sickness was pretty over by the end of 9 weeks with Mr. Cubby so it will be over this week." No. No way. And for the record, morning sickness is not, I repeat, NOT psychosomatic. I tried like heck to psych myself out of it this week. Told myself I didn't need a nap. Told myself I could be super mom and carry both boys on either hip and John on my back. Bad idea. What I should have done was nap and then, after the nap, watch E True Hollywood Story.

I feel like such a no account deadbeat wife when John comes home and everything is a mess, including me, and he says, "What happened today?" And I growl, "I didn't take a nap." Because how utterly stupid does that sound to a guy who has been slaving in the data mines all day? When I try to do too much, like empty the dishwasher and wipe the counters, and make myself sick I usually call my mom in tears. She's the best. Last time she said, "Honey, you have two babies growing inside of you. You've got to take a break. What have you eaten today? Did you eat?" She always asks me what I'm eating, even when I'm not pregnant. It's not that I don't eat well. I'm the queen of fruits and veggies - just not when I have morning sickness. But I eat lots of good stuff.

Can we talk cravings? Oh my gosh. So first, the babies wanted nothing but Taco Bell. I tried to practice that in moderation and only eat one meal a day there. Then I bought some of those microwave burritos, the spicy beef kind. The babies liked those but still preferred Taco Bell. Then, a few days ago baby A wanted olives so I ate a jar of olives. I wanted nothing but olives all day. I ate other things but kept coming back to the olives. The next day baby B wanted cheesecake. I ate two pieces, once for each of them. It's not fair to make them share.

On an unrelated note, Will announced today that I have three weeks to make him a sheep costume. I was excited. That is such a school mom project. I'm a school mom. That's just so cool.

Friday, November 9, 2007

10 Weeks

So I'm 10 weeks pregnant today. I'm exhausted. I didn't get my nap. Also very thirsty. I'm thirsty all the time. My morning sickness seems to be improving little by little. I'm still taking my two shots of progesterone a day and 1/2 estrace pill 2/x a day.

I went to the doctor today. My first visit with the new doc. She was excellent. First, she talked to me and asked me a lot of good questions. Always nice not to feel rushed through your first appointment. She spent at least 45 minutes with me. Never in my life have I talked to a doctor for so long.

She was also really great about Mr. Cubby having to come with me. And she was great about helping me out when Mr. Cubby peed through his onsie and blue jeans. Of course, I didn't have a change of clothes for him. It was just once of those days when we were constantly on the move and I didn't think to check the diaper bag for supplies. She was so nice about letting me change the baby in the middle of the appointment. Then when he got fussy, she entertained him with medical supplies.

The best part was that she let me have a sonogram. Every sonogram is like Christmas. Early on, you just want to know the babies are still alive. I saw both heartbeats again. Both babies were moving around, kicking and waving their arms. It was amazing to watch. And to think just 8 weeks ago, they were being reanimated as the antifreeze in their little embryo bodies was being replaced with water. In just 8 short weeks they've grown fingers and toes and hearts and heads. Such a miracle. I can't get over it.

We've started to tell everyone we're having twins. I feel a lot more confident after seeing them again today. So Rachel, you can start telling people... oh wait, you already did. ;)

Friday, November 2, 2007

9 weeks

I've got my first appointment with The New Doctor next Friday. She seems like a good doctor, a good person. We shall see. The webpage she keeps for her practice says she worked in Calcutta with orphans so how bad could she be?

The MS is pretty constant at night. I've been really good about not throwing up. So happy about that. There is nothing - hear me - NOTHING worse than throwing up. Twice daily shots in the bum are easy in comparison. Speaking of, we're running out of real estate on my bum for the shots, if you can believe that. But all in all, the shots really haven't been that bad. I think we only have two more weeks left of shots. Keeping my fingers crossed. Note to future Suzanne, shots on the hip hurt way less than on the bum proper

So I was looking around on my computer last night and I turned on my TCOYF software (Taking Charge of Your Fertility). It's a computer program to do Natural Family Planning and it's great b/c you don't have to order new charts and stuff. Anyway, I made notes in it when I first found out I was pregnant with Mr. Cubby. My bHCG levels are also recorded. Mr. Cubby's first beta was 334 at 13 days past transfer. The second beta was 1070 at 15 days post transfer. The numbers were high then and I wrote (this just makes me laugh) that "John is sure we're having triplets." This time around our first bHCG was (gulp) 3800 at 15 days past transfer. Our second was 8902 at 17 days past transfer. John was sure we were having triplets this time too - so was I, with numbers that high who could blame us. But it turns out we're having twins. Hooray!

For those two or three of you who read this blog, please don't spread the news to anyone else just yet. We made the announcement to John's family a few days before Halloween but we're still a little nervous about the possibility losing one of the babies. Admittedly the beta levels were so high that we're fairly confident they'll both be OK but we'd still like to have another ultrasound confirmation.

And finally, Will's latest contribution to the list of names is Shaggy and Scoob. He's emphatic that it not be Scooby for some reason.

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Getting Ready for Halloween

Will is going to be Luke STYwalker, Jedi Knight. He estimates that he will be getting "more than 100 candies, maybe even a billion." (Here's hoping not). Mr. Cubby is going to be a pudgy spider. We've got spider lights hanging off of our breakfront and cobwebs on our bushes outside. Very spooky house this year - especially with the window clings from Walmart that say "Beware of candy munching ghosts."

Names have been the talk of our family lately. John and I have told Will that we're having some number of kids in seven or so months and have told him that we'd love to hear name suggestions. Will was happy to give us a lot of good suggestions. I will post the top 5 here, now.

1. Star Wars (This was the very first name he thought of and likes it quite a bit. I asked him if he liked the name "Luke" thinking he'd say yes, but he said no, he prefers we name the baby Star Wars)
2. Crunchy (he honestly believes this is a contender)
3. Squishy (he was just being silly here)
4. Dairio (as in "Hi ho the dairy-o the farmer in the dell - a keeper!)
5. Tom and Jerry (if it's twins)

Will, as you might guess, is not going to be allowed to influence the baby naming process though we are keeping a list of all the name suggestions just in case he ever has kids.

Further updates include heartburn is getting worse but I'm very happy because this means my consumption of Rolaids soft chews increases. Yum! Morning sickness is bad but I've only thrown up once so far. (knock on wood) It shouldn't have happened. I took my prenatal with oj on an empty stomach. Note to future pregnant Suzanne, don't drink oj on empty stomach during first trimester. Also, my jeans don't button comfortably anymore - bring on the Bella Band! (I'm only 8 weeks!!!!!) And I'm still tired. I didn't get my nap today because I had recess duty (so fun seeing Will play with his friends) and I'm testy. However my bad mood from lack of nap is balanced by my good mood from a Packer win against the Broncos last night so it's not as bad as it could be.

Still looking for an OB. After a long heart to heart with John, I think I'm finally at peace but will see how I feel tomorrow. If I could, I would go back to Tepeyac (sp?). Unfortunately, our insurance doesn't cover neonatology at Fair Oaks. And since there is a chance we might need intervention of some sort at birth we'd like to not have to pay through the teeth for it.

So that's the long and the short of it. Have a spooook-tac-u-lar Halloween.

Thursday, October 18, 2007

Ultrasound

We had our ultrasound today. I'm forbidden from revealing the number of babies but I can say that what we saw was amazing, a miracle, and super cool. I love, love, love seeing the tiny heartbeat so early on. It's so incredible that at just 6 weeks (4 actual weeks of gestation for the baby) we could see that little heart beating away.

The good news is that the ultrasound indicated a healthy pregnancy. The sad news is that I have to leave The Midwives. Our new insurance doesn't cover them. Please say a prayer that I'll be able to find a good doctor. They're very hard to find these days. One of the OB's recommended to me spent time working with Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity in India so I have some hope for her. We'll see how it goes.

Tuesday, October 9, 2007

5 weeks and 3 days Pregnant

They way they calculate pregnancy is so confusing but according to the pregnancy calculator I found online I'm 5 weeks and 3 days pregnant. The morning sickness started early this time. With Mr. Cubby, it started at about 6 weeks, got worse through 9 weeks and then started getting better. This time it started up all of a sudden on Saturday - so at exactly 4 weeks and 6 days. The tiredness has been pronounced. I nap everyday when Mr. Cubby naps. I'll sleep as long as the kid will let me.

My new best friend is the Relief Band (tm). It looks like a watch but it delivers little shocks to the nerves in the wrist and hand. It's quite miraculous in the way that it reduces my morning sickness from imminent trip to the bathroom to feeling slightly car sick.

Pregnancy predictions:
After concenratating his thoughts on my belly, Will announced that I'm having two babies, a boy and a girl. He said that it's a pattern and he's confident in his prediction. Not sure about the pattern but happy that he's confident.
John predicts three girls.
I predict three girls. (My Aunt Joan has been praying for triplets on her side of the family since my mom announced her pregnancy with me).
My mom predicts three girls.