A Poem to Share

Someone on my expecting board lost a set of twins today at 25 weeks - about the same time I'm due with Zoe and Bailey. After reading that sobering news, I found this little poem that really touched me.

It Will All Go So Quickly

There's two to wash
There's two to dry
There's two who argue
There's two who cry.

Some days seems endless
My patience grows thin,
Why was I chosen
To be a Mother of Twins?

The answer comes clear
At the end of each day,
As I tuck them in bed
And to myself I say.

There's two to kiss
There's two to hug
And best of all
There's two to love.

I just hope these two keep growing strong and healthy! Getting no sleep and pain off and on right now is a small price to pay...as long as they are snuggled inside.

Drum Roll Please.......

And the names have been picked! We're expecting....Zoe Renee and Bailey something-or-other. :o) We finally decided that we love Bailey for his name and that all the other names we were thinking about we were sticking them in as middle names for Bailey. We haven't picked a middle name for him yet, but it feels much better knowing he's got a first name.

Tristan is fine with the names we've picked - he's even kissing my belly now and says he's kissing Zoe or Bailey. As for Hunter....well, let's just say he's not happy with his brother's name. Hunter's had at least 2 full-blown temper tantrums over the name already and has told us that he's going to hate Bailey. Lovely. Well, he has a couple more months to get used to the name. (Not that he has much of a choice though!!) Hunter wanted us to name his brother Drake. We're thinking about using that for a middle name instead.

Otherwise, things seem to be going well. I finished packing up my classroom and shipped it home (thank goodness we had a van!). And I had my last day of school on Friday - I even met the new teacher taking over for me. That was a bit weird, but she seems really nice. It's her first full-time job as a teacher (it's her first year), but it's not her first career. And she's 6 feet tall - the kids will keep in line just from her sheer height!! :o)

And I had an ultra sound on Thursday to see how these two are doing. I actually got a scolding from the u/s tech because I didn't drink enough water. My belly is measuring almost full term, I didn't think they would have a problem seeing the babies, so I didn't bother drinking anything. Ooops. I guess they still need my bladder full. I'll be good next time.

But the babies look good (as far as I can tell). They were moving around, hearts beating nicely. Baby A is still the girl and will probably stay that way now that they are 25 weeks. Her head is on my left side and she's laying sideways with her head slanted down a bit. I'm hoping that means she'll move head down when I go into labour. Baby B is still the boy and is also laying sideways, but with his head on the right side.

I got a ton of pictures - one of the advantages of having twins I guess. And I also know who to blame for the lovely kicks to my cervix. Thanks a lot Zoe!! Causing trouble already. :o)

Finally - 24 Weeks!

I'm so excited, I'm finally 24 weeks with the twins. As of today, they are considered to be viabable...which means they have a chance of surviving if they are born now. Whew.

So to mark this day, I've taken another belly picture. In this picture I'm 24 weeks, but measuring almost 35 weeks. Yikes!



Wow - I wonder what I'll look like when I'm actually 35 weeks!

23 Week OB Appointment

My OB appt. went well. My blood pressure hasn't changed (still high, but not going up), I've gained a total of 12lbs now. And my belly is measuring 33 weeks!!! That's 10 weeks ahead. No wonder I'm in pain! Last visit I was only measuring 7 weeks ahead - so each visit, I've been doubling the growth in my belly.

He's sending me for my GD test, extra bloodwork and an u/s to check on the babies and my cervix.

And....he agrees that I should be off work. So, a week from Friday will be my last day of work! Wow....I have to pack my classroom and ship it home in less than 2 weeks. Yikes!

I can't wait until I can put my feet up a bit...well, as much as I can with two boys at home. :o)

Oh, and thanks mom for the Baby Name book - I guess she didn't like any of our suggestions below. LOL! Well, we've got to add one more name to both our lists tonight: Bailey. So far we actually agree on that one! How does that one sound to you?

The Name Debate

As of today, I'm just shy of 23 weeks - one more week until I can finally relax a bit. One more week until the twins are 24 weeks - they will be considered to be viable. Whew. For some reason, with this pregnancy, I've been much more focused on the 24 week mark. I'll just be glad to be past that point. Every day past 24 weeks is an extra day of growth for these two! We'll see how they are doing shortly - I've got an OB appt. on Tuesday, and I'll be scheduling another ultrasound right after it.

And now we've finally started talking about names for the twins. We've already got the girl's name: Zoe Renee. But as for a boy's name, well....this is going to get interesting! We had a tough time figuring out a name for Hunter, I can only imagine that it's going to be much harder this time. I just want a name picked out now - I hate calling the twins "Zoe and TBA"!

We've started creating our own "short lists" for names.
The names that I like so far include: Miles, Grayson, Reese, Deandre, Sawyer, Phoenix, Alexander and my favourite one...Malcolm.
On Randy's short list: Oscar, Julian, Liam, Quintin, Ben and August.

Hmmmm. We seem to have very different ideas for names. :o)

And of course when we ask the boys for their imput, they would like their brother to have one of these names: Zander, Ethan, Nick or Chip. They all happen to be the names of the Power Rangers. Not going to happen boys!

And the debate continues.....

19 Week OB Appointment

I had my 19 week OB appointment this week. I was anxious to find out how my blood pressure was doing - I was hoping it had come down a bit. My blood pressure was the same, so that wasn't too bad. At least it has stabilized.

I also found out that the twins are measuring a 'good size' according to the OB. And nothing came back abnormal from my 18 week u/s. My weight has returned to pre-pregnancy weight according to the scale in the OB's office (which is apparently on the "light" side). My scale at home registers me as gaining only 3lbs in total. Woo Hooo!

And for the biggest shock of all....my belly is measuring 26 WEEKS! Wow, that's 7 weeks bigger than a singleton pregnancy. I guess I 'grow' them big.

Here's a proud shot of my 19 week belly:


So everything is looking good so far for the twins. My next appointment isn't until December 12. Ahhhh, a whole month to wait!

Quick Ultrasound Update

I had my regular 2D ultrasound today. I wasn't expecting to learn much from this one - I have to wait to see the doctor next week to get all the results.

But I did get a chance to confirm the genders - baby A is still a girl (with 100% confirmation today) and baby B is still a boy. But they've flipped around now...both babies are lying sideways across my belly with their heads on the left side. No wonder I've been feeling them move around so much - they've been doing summersaults!

So I guess I finally believe the genders - we've got one boy and one girl on the way. I couldn't be happier!!!

Now on to the name debate........

3D Ultrasound

We had our 3D ultrasound appointment on Friday (Nov. 3) and it was really interesting to watch! I have never had a 3D u/s with my other pregnancies, so it was one of the things I wanted to do for my last pregnancy.

I was a bit nervous before the u/s...I usually am. I just wanted the twins to be ok and moving around - and I couldn't wait to see their heartbeats again. After all, it had been 6 weeks since my last u/s - a lot can happen in 6 weeks (good and bad).
But both babies were looking good.

I've been feeling one baby moving on my lower left side, and the other I've been feeling on the top right side. The one on the bottom has been more active, especially at night and I was guessing that one was a boy. The one on the top hasn't been as active, but has been giving me pretty hard kicks when it does move, right into my belly button. I was guessing that one was a girl. Also, from the last two u/s, one baby is bigger than the other...so I've always guessed that the twins are one boy and one girl.

Finally, the time I've been waiting for!! We went into the u/s room and got comfortable. The 3D u/s room had a huge screen TV for us to watch the whole time - I've never gotten to see my own u/s for more than 5 minutes, so this was so fun! The tech started with 2D regular u/s and would zoom in on specific areas of each baby to move into the 3D viewing.

We got to see Baby A first. Baby A had a heartrate of 143 and wasn't moving too much. It looked like the baby was sleeping - but we could see the heart beating really clearly. We also found out that the baby's bladder was empty...hmmm, great, we know were that went! The tech then started to look for the gender - she gave us a 90% confirmation of a girl!! I was THRILLED!! My dad was not so sure...he wasn't willing to take 90% as good enough. But the tech kept going back and forth, zooming in on the gender area and kept increasing the confirmation. Finally, I actually saw the '3 white lines' and the tech said it was girl, 99% sure. Good enough for me!! Baby A was the girl - and was located on the bottom left side.





Now on to Baby B. Baby B had a heartrate of 139 and was moving ALL OVER THE PLACE! Which was interesting, because I've been feeling baby A move more overall. We could see the heart beating as well and it was very clear to everyone in the room (except my dad, who had no clue what he was looking at) that Baby B was a boy!!! The tech gave us a 100% confirmation on that one - and we even have a 3D picture of the baby showing us that yes, indeed, it's a boy! Baby B was the boy - and was located on the top right side.


We got to watch them on the screen for over 40 minutes. And during that time, we saw the boy continue to kick, squirm, punch, stretch, etc...all over his sister. And she was just lying there quiet and content. He really did a number on her! His bum was even sitting on her head! Finally, she had enough and just started kicking him with powerful kicks straight up. LOL - he got what he deserved I guess.

I had a great time watching the two perform for us. And I was on cloud nine knowing that my twins were doing well and that we had one girl and one boy in here. Perfect.

And I have my next medical u/s on Tuesday, so we can confirm the genders again. I guess I can't believe that I'm finally getting a girl!

The Countdown is On!

We're counting down a couple of important dates - right now, the most important one is how many days to go until we find out the genders of these two!!

Here's a list of our important upcoming dates:
Friday, November 3rd - our 3D u/s to see our little ones, get some great pictures and to find out their gender(s).
Tuesday, November 14th - my next OB appointment. If my blood pressure is still high, I may be required to start medication or bedrest.
Sometime between November 5-14 I need to have my next medical ultrasound. I still need to book it.
Friday, February 2, 2007 - officially the last day I'm allowed to work! (Ok, so it's far off, but important.)

I had my first OB appointment this week (finally!) and it was a very informative appointment. First off, I love my OB and I'm so glad I got to go back to him for my last pregnancy. I had him as my OB with both boys and he ended up delivering both of them too - so I'm hoping that the trend continues with the twins!

The info I learned:
* The twins had great heartbeats. He had no problem finding both of them.
* I'm measuring about 20 weeks. I was only 16 weeks at my appointment.
* I've still not gained ANY weight with this pregnancy. I'm actually down 3lbs according to the doctor's scale.
* My due date was changed again - it's now back to April 8, 2007. Easter Sunday.
* My OB will not let me work past 32 weeks. So we've picked the start of February as a good cut-off time (I'll be just over 31 weeks). My last official day of work will be Feb. 2.
* My blood pressure is high. They checked it 6 times to be sure. 3 times before I saw the doctor, and 3 times after (he came out to check it himself even). From what I remember, the last check was around 128/92. Doesn't sound good.
* Because of my high blood pressure, my OB now wants me to see him every 2-3 weeks to keep an eye on it (at this point, I would usually see him every 4-5 weeks).
* I now have to have regular ultrasounds to keep checking on the twins (normal with a twin pregnancy). I'm scheduled to have them every 3 weeks from now on. Woo hoo!

I also went in to do the last blood work for the IPS screening and I got my forms to do my hospital pre-registration.

So that's all the news! Oh, and I can now feel these two moving every day. Usually more than once a day - and usually right before bed. I hope that doesn't mean they'll be bad sleepers. :o)

12 week ultrasound pictures and updates

It's been a busy month! I can't believe I haven't had a chance to update my blog with my ultrasound pictures until now. As of today, I'm 14 weeks, 5 days and waiting until my first OB appointment on Oct. 24. I feel like I'm in the "boring stage" of my pregnancy - just waiting until everything starts happening. Soon enough I'll be swamped with doctors appointments and wishing I could get a break...but until then, it's a long wait.

I'm also counting down until my 3D ultrasound on Friday, November 3. We get to see the twins in 3D...and also find out their genders!!! I'm guessing that there is one boy and one girl in here - what does everyone else think?

Now for the updates:
1. I ended up getting my job back. Whew. I'm still teaching Grade 1, in the same school, in the same class. After all that stress, nothing changed.

2. I had my 12 week ultrasound on Sept. 22 and it's still twins! Both babies were moving around, one more than the other (my bet is that one's the boy! :o)

3. I have the measurements from the ultrasound - I'm not sure of the heartrates (the tech didn't tell me), but I did get to see their hearts beating.

The short forms are: CRL - crown to rump; NT - nuchal translucency; BPD - biparietal diameter
Baby A: measured 54.8 mm CRL, 0.8 mm NT, 16.6 mm BPD
Baby B: measured 64.8 mm CRL, 1.4 mm NT, 18.3 mm BPD

Basically, Baby B is the bigger of the two (by one cm). And both have good sizes for the NT measurement - anything lower than 3 mm has a lower chance for Down's.

And of course, they posed for pictures! I got two pictures of both babies on the screen:









The tech said that it was good she got pictures of both babies together - it would be the last time they would both fit on the screen at the same time, they are getting too big now.

I also have a picture of each baby. Baby A I'm having trouble loading the picture in...I'll have to post it later. And Baby B:



Aren't they cute already?! So now we're just playing the waiting game...until my OB appointment. It will be interesting to see how much weight I've gained then (down 1 lbs overall at my 12 week appt.).

What a day...

This has been quite a roller coaster of a day. First, I end up getting reorganized (AKA - I lost my job). The school board has to find me a new position, and I'll hopefully know by tomorrow at noon. Then I have one day to pack up my room and move to my new school. I really feel bad for my new principal - I get to walk in, say hi and tell them I'm pregnant with twins and who knows when I'll be leaving. I'm sure they'll just love me.

Then tonight, I finally found a heartbeat on my home doppler! I was actually getting worried that something was wrong - I had been trying to find a heartbeat for over a week now and hadn't been able to find one; and my morning sickness is pretty much gone now (TG!); and I'm not quite as big as I was (I think I'm not as bloated any more). Needless to say, it all added up to me starting to worry. So hearing a heartbeat tonight was just what I needed.

I actually think I found two different heartbeats....or the same one, just after he/she moved. The first heartbeat was around 144 bpm, the other around 156 bpm, but we didn't have a watch so we just 'guestimated' how long 10 seconds was. Not very scientific for a chemist in the family. Either way, it was nice and strong.

I also thought I've been feeling some flutters. At 9 weeks, 4 days I started feeling something while I was driving to work, right along the seatbelt line. I felt it again for the next two days and then nothing until tonight coming home from work. Pretty exciting!

Ahhh, only one more week to go before my next ultra sound. And this time I better not forget to ask for a picture!

Ultra sound results!

I had a doctor's appointment yesterday and I finally got the results from my ultra sound 2 weeks earlier (at 6 weeks, 3 days). The opening line on the u/s report was "Live twin pregnancy" - that was so wonderful to read!

I found out that we're having fraternal twins and some specifics about each twin:
Baby A - was measuring 6 weeks, 4 days and had a heartbeat of 119
Baby B - was measuring 6 weeks, 1 day and had a heartbeat of 116.

The doctor also measured me and I'm measuring about a month ahead - 12 weeks. Pretty typical for a twin pregnancy. My blood pressure was perfect, and I'm still down a couple of pounds according to his scale (which I love! My scale says I've gained 2 lbs).

Also, my due date was moved up two days. I'm now due on April 6, 2007 - Good Friday! So I'll be 9 weeks tomorrow, only 3 weeks left of the 1st trimester.

I have to make another u/s appointment for 2 weeks from now - it's the nuchal translucency u/s (to check for downs and spina bifida). I can't wait to see them on the screen again. And this time, I'm going to remember to ask for a picture!!!

What a huge waist!

Today I'm 7 weeks and 4 days and feel like about 8 months! My waist is rapidly expanding and I can't believe I'm showing already!!! If I didn't already know I was having twins, I would be wondering if it could be twins.

I popped in quickly to school this afternoon, just to get started on the room. I was able to see many of my friends and got to share the news with them - most of them already knew we were pregnant, they just didn't know about the twins. Pretty much everyone was shocked, but happy for us.

Ahhh...it's a good thing I can go in next week wearing shorts!! I'll be officially in maternity clothes for my first week of school for sure. Not bad, I'll only be 9 weeks then. Wow, just imagine how big I'll be at 30 weeks. I'll have to start putting up some belly pics soon....we'll see if I get enough courage to do that.

Twins - Oh my!

I decided to start up this blog to record the journey of our last pregnancy. We already have 2 wonderful boys, and as of yesterday, found out that we will be adding twins to our family.

I had an ultrasound on Wednesday because my pregnancy symptoms had disappeared - only to start my morning sickness the day before I was to go in. But who's going to cancel an extra ultrasound?! Well it was a good thing I went, because I got to see that we're having twins. Baby B is on top and Baby A is on the bottom - and both had heartbeats.

I can't wait to go into the doctor's office to hear the rest of the ultrasound results.

Wow - 4 kids. We're going to need a minivan!