Viability Day!!

24 Weeks Pregnant with my twins!!!

Big milestone.   From here on out every week will give them more chance of survival if they were to be born.  Its a big thing because with twins you never know what could happen.  Hopefully I carry them to 36 weeks, but anything after 32 weeks I will be happy with.

At this point in pregnancy they also start packing on the pounds, adding fat to their little bodies.   Which means Momma is going to really start getting big.   I love it.   

I had my OB checkup Monday.   My Dr. looked over the report from my peri.   She said the babies are growing great, good heart beats and are nice and active.  Good job girls!   My placenta is now 1.5 cm away from my cervix, they want it to be 2 or 3 cm away, she told me I will have nothing to worry about.   I weighed in at 144 pounds, my blood pressure was slighly elevated but nothing that she was concerned about.  It must have just been from me rushing to get to my appointment because 3 days ago it was perfect.

I have all my appointments scheduled up until I would be induced.   Starting in May I will be going to my OB every Monday and my Peri every Friday.   Lots of appointments!!  In May they expect me to always be within an hour of the hospital.  

We put up both cribs last weekend.   It is so surreal to walk by and see 2.   It still doesn't seem real.   I can't beleive we are having 2 babies!!    We have 2 bouncers up, 2 cribs, see both babies on u/s but my brain is just having a hard time accepting it.  I don't think it will hit me until I am holding them in my arms.  

Cassie helping Daddy

All set up

So far this twin pregnancy has been great.    I feel great.  Nothing much different than a singleton pregnancy, except I am bigger.   So far so good!!   Grow babies, grow!!

23 Weeks and Perinatologist Appointment

I stepped on the scale today and am weighing in at 143.   I also had my Perinatologist appointment at 8am this morning.   The Perinatologist said both babies are looking good. They are both measuring a week behind but that is normal for twins, she said I am not going to have 10 lb twins.   They also are both the same size.  They would start to get concerned if there was a 20% difference in their sizes but both little sweeties are about the same.  We also have names for our girls, Baby A is Amanda but we will call her Mandy and Baby B is Emily.    Mandy is weighing in at 1 lb;1 oz.  She is head down.  Emily is at 1 lb and is butt down.  

23 Weeks - bare belly

23 weeks

My Placenta has moved some.   Its not covering my cervix, it is just near it but it does need to move more.    If I were to go into labor now I would still need a C-section but the perinatologist believes it will be moved out of the way by the time these girls are due.   

My cervix measured around 5.75, so close to 6 like last time so that is fantastic news. 

Emily (baby B)

So it was a good appointment, a relief to know both babies are doing great and my body is doing what it should do when it comes to carring twins. I'll have another Perinatologist appointment in 4 more weeks to check on the girls growth and the placenta.   My OB appointment is on Monday and then I will start going to see her every other week....yes!!!   This 4 week wait takes forever!

Zoo Day

It was 85 degrees today....March...in Wisconsin.   Matt took a vacation day since we are unsure of how longer I will be able to go to the zoo and walk around, I may not have many opportunites left.  Who knows if I will eventually be put on bed rest or be told to stick close to home, and once the twins come.....who knows.   While at the zoo we saw a couple who had twins and struck up a conversation.   The husband said the first 6 months were tough with the night time feedings, however it sounded like they did not have them on a schedule and would just feed them whenever during the night which means they were up constantly.   We plan on waking up the other baby once one wakes up to eat.   Everything I have read on twins is eat, play, sleep together....that is the key to surviving having twins.  A Schedule is KEY!

We had a beautiful day at the zoo and stayed close to 4 hours.   Needless to say I am pooped out.   I did alot of walking.

Riding the Dragon

Watching Elephants

In the Monkey house

Train Ride!

Waving to her fans!

After we left the zoo we stopped at Kohls and bought Cassie 2 nightgowns to sleep in.  She is all girl.  There are no jeans or shorts in her vocab.....just skirts and dresses.   At night time she would insist on wearing her normal skirts to bed so it was time to buy her some nightgowns.  

After some shopping we went for an early dinner, we had meatloaf, mashed potatoes and veggies while Cassie had her usual Chicken Strips with Ranch dip.   We then headed home and met with a broker to discuss selling our house.   We are growing out of it quickly!

It was a fun and exhausting day!

Homeschooling update

Cassie knows how to spell her name and write it all by herself.   We do need to work on her "S" but she has the idea, I think she is doing pretty good for a 3 year old, though I may be a bit biased :o)

Our homeschooling is going well.    I have moved on to Kindergarten aged work since preschool stuff was no challenge for her.   We usually only do an hour or so of work....I go off of her and if she wants to do more or not.  I don't want to push her to much...plus she is only 3.    The other day we set up a grocery store and I priced everything and gave her a bunch of pennies.  When she came to checkout she needed to count her pennies and give the amount written on the price tag.   I find that she does much better when I teach her that way than out of a workbook.   I try to make the learning fun so it doesn't even seem like she is learning.   Some times I teach her every day and some weeks go by where we skip a few days.   Today is Saturday and we did about an hour of teaching, we did adding, subtracting, reading and spelling. 

We are now waiting for Daddy to get home from taking a test and then we are heading out for the day to enjoy this weather....its supposed to be 76 degrees!!    I have to head to Motherhood Maternity, the shorts I used when pregnant with Cassie are not going to cut it for this twin pregnancy.   

22 Weeks Pregnant and kisses to heaven

Not much new, still feeling good.  Today we had beautiful weather so we went for a walk.  It was very slow going for me and I feel like I am waddling.   I sleep with numerous pillows, one behind my back so I don't roll over and stay on my back, one under my belly and one between my legs.   Last night Matt asked how many pillows I had in bed with me...then he asked me if I wanted a pregnancy pillow. Those things are $60 and these pillows work fine for now....but we will see. Getting up from a laying down position is pretty tough also....takes me awhile to shift into position and then it almost feels like I have to adjust my belly and get those babies into a better position before I stand up. 

We had a busy day today, we went to story time, then a park, home for lunch, a walk and another park, then met friends for dinner at Culvers.   It was a great day and I love this beautiful weather we had.  It really is so nice to get outside after being cooped up all winter!

She told me she was pregnant...and was measuring her belly

I quess I must do this alot

On the way home from the park I had the windows in the car open. Cassie was blowing kisses out the window.  I asked her why she was doing that and she said they were for Monkey Papa and they would make him happy.  So sweet.   Blowing kisses to heaven.

Surgery #5

Cassie had surgery yesterday morning to fix her curly toe.   Her third toe on her left foot was bent and curling under the other toes.  It didn't bother her but it had the potential to cause problems down the road.  They basically just make an incision behind her toe and cut the tendon.

Curly Toe - her middle one

Matt and I were up bright and early at 5am.   Cassie heard us getting ready and woke up at 5:19.

5:20 in the morning - she looks sleepy

We have talked about surgery for weeks now so she knew her curly toe was being fixed.   We got to the surgical clinic at 6:30 am.   She did SO good.   The nurse said she was the perfect patient.....I suppose after so many surgeries you tend to be a pro at it.   She had her vitals taken, bands put on her wrist, hospital PJ's put on and took her sleepy medicine.   We watched Mickey Mouse Clubhouse until the nurse came to take her away.   She couldn't walk because of the medicine she took and she was totally fine with the nurse picking her up and taking her away.   Such a big girl.

Given her sleepy medicine

Watching Mikey Mouse

My  big brave girl

The surgery itself only took 30 min.  When she was in recovery we were able to go back there with her.  She didn't like her IV and wanted that out of her hand right away, the nurse did take it out because Cassie drank a whole cup of juice and ate a whole Popsicle right away so the IV wasn't needed.  I was thankful she wasn't nauseous after the anesthesia. 

Waking up...doesn't she look sad?

Her "Cast"

Put her PJ's on and drank her juice

We had to elevate her foot

She ate her whole Popsicle and loved it

We got home and she rested on the couch and watched moves for a good couple of hours.   She then got her burst of energy and you would never have known she had foot surgery, she was running and jumping around with her foot all bandaged up.

Huge Hello Balloon from Grandma

We take the bandage off on Sunday and go back in 2 weeks for her post up appointment.  

21 Weeks Pregnant

I have gained my usual pound a week, I'm now at 140 pounds.  Besides Sciatic pain at night and some back pain if I don't wear my support belt I feel really good.   I love being pregnant and I'm still in awe that I am not only pregnant again but carrying 2 babies.  What a blessing.   Here we thought we may never have a family and now we are going to have 3 girls.   I'm so thankful.   These babies are growing,   Today I saw my right side of my stomach push out and in from Baby A kicking.  I'm feeling movment very high today also, half way between my ribs and belly button.

Last night we took a tour of the birthing center at our hospital.   I gave birth to Cassie there but since she was born they have built a whole new birthing center.  It is really nice.   Even if the babies placenta moves away from my cervix and the first baby is head down so that I can do a normal delivery I will still be deliving in the rooms they do C-sections in.   The reason being is so many people are needed for twins.  The following people will be in the room: Matt, my OB, a pediatrician, 2 nurses for Baby A and 2 nurses for Baby B.  And also of course if an emergency C-section is needed. 

This morning we went to story time and Cassie had a meltdown.  Those are always so lovely to have in public....anyone agree?   She took 2 shakers and was told only 1, when told to put one back by Miss Betsy the tears started along with the high pitched scheech.   So I picked her up and carried her screaming and crying out of storytime and into the bathroom. We were sitting in the front so I had to walk through a sea of people....again lovely.  She was put in the corner and I told her that was unacceptable behavior, she was to listen to the rules and thats all it took.   I cleaned her up (that girl can produce the tears) and out we went.  She found her spot for the puppet show and acted like nothing happen.   After story time she told Miss Betsy sorry for crying as well.   Thankfully the temper tantrums and the public tantrums are few and far between.  KNOCK ON WOOD!!!

Picture dump - painting, sledding, snowman building!!

Getting ready to paint the twins room

Watching Daddy stir the paint

Such a big helper!

Taken the day of Monkey Papa's burial

Cassie and Valery

I've fallen and I can't get up!

Help me up Mommy!!

Kissing the snowman

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