Fun in the Rain

Alexa was trying to grab the camera.
This one's just funny
He was loving running through the rain.

Taking a sip of water.

Look at me!

This one's my favorite cause her eyes look so pretty.
Yeah, Paul just took her outside without anything on. I had Keith go in and keep the sweatshirt, but didn't know where any pants where. We kept her all covered though.

She's got that windblown look.
He kept trying to get close to her.
She wanted none of that!
I think she looks like me in this one.
Paul finally grabbed them all to try to
get them both in a picture.

Um...wow?

I had my second real doctor appointment today, and got a lot of really good information. since I said I'd keep ya'll updated i thought maybe I should share the important stuff with everyone. I saw the NP this time, and first thing she told me is my due date has been moved to April 2nd. Yep, that's right, it's been moved back again. She said when there is a 5, or more, day discrepancy between due date based on last period and the due date the size of the baby indicates, they go with size of baby. One was only 4 days I think, but the other was 7, so, they've moved it back. This may mean nothing if I go into labor by myself at whatever point. However, if I don't go into labor and these babies decide to take as much time as their two predecessors, then they will schedule a c-section (if I have to have a c-section) for 39 weeks, and no earlier, which would basically put me at my original due date of March 26th.

Really, all these dates mean very little. I don't know if it's going to have to be a c-section or not, but even if it is that doesn't mean I won't go into labor at 36 weeks. Who knows! The whole L&D thing is just one big guessing game anyway!

Second important thing, NP says we can travel, though slowly and with lots of stopping, but still, so Lissa and Jen, we're coming for Christmas! Seriously, that is the plan so get ready. Unless something happens between now and then, we are coming for sure. Can't wait to see you guys and spend Christmas with you! Oh, and Ashlee you are also on my list of VIPs to visit! Can't wait to meet Parker.

Okay, next item of business, and it's a doozy. Because it's difficult to hear two distinct heartbeats on a doppler she said she either uses the ultrasound machine to check cardiac, or two dopplers at the same time. Ultrasound machine is probably easier, or at least sounds easier to me. Anyhoo, they're not side by side anymore. They're now horizontal, one on top of the other, head to toe. And, they are very close to one another. When I looked at other people's ultrasounds of fraternal twins you could almost always see a distinct line between sacs, and with my first photo you couldn't see anything between them, even though they were quite far apart, which leads me to: She said the doc had notated that the babies are sharing a sac. This means...wait for it...they'd be identical. Wait, what??

And now, I'm stumped! With the other two, I was sure of what they were by this time and I was right both times. I haven't gotten any feelings with these, and when I was told I was having twins was convinced the reason I had no ideas was because it was one of each. It just made sense. I'm just not sure what to think! Mom asked if we'd thought about more names then, and I said "oh shoot, i hadn't even thought of that." She just laughed. How do you tell them apart?? I think I'll have to make them wear bracelets or something if they're identical. Yikes. This totally changes things for me and adds a whole other layer of anxiety for me, yippee. haha

Anyway, this issue should be cleared up soon, as my appointment with the specialist is just two weeks from tomorrow. I'm counting down; can you tell?

Last, because I'm high risk, about halfway through this trimester (the second, that is) I will start having an ultrasound every month just to monitor the growth of the babies, and so forth, so I'll have lots of pictures of them as they grow! I got one today, but they're not very good, so unfortunately you'll have to wait two weeks to see more. Hopefully she gets a few good ones.

So, that's the news. I came out of this appointment with a very different attitude than when I went in. I thought the surprises were over. How wrong I was.

The Belly

15 weeks and 2 days with twins.
i will try to take and post a picture every couple of weeks or so.

Some pictures

These are from when Lissa, Nate, and Clark came to visit.

Good News!!

Do you know what this is? "Of course I do," you're saying. "It's just a camera card." But if you said that you would be wrong. This is no ordinary camera card, my friends. This is the camera card that was last used in my forever-lost (i.e. stolen) camera. Now, being that I don't have the camera, I can't just pop the card in and make sure, but it says 1 GB. We only bought a 1 GB card once because we decided it carried so many pictures it became more of a hassle than handy to have that many pictures on one card.

What does all this mean? Well, if I'm right and this is indeed the card I think (sincerely hope) that it is, this card contains pretty much every picture we ever took of our child/children since Keith's 1st b-day. Yep, that's right folks, 2 years worth of pictures right there, on a card I thought was long gone.

I found it inside a little metal container thing (a mini vase? i'm not sure) on my dresser. I am sure I had put it there intending to put it in the little plastic case containing the other cards, which was stored in my camera case, but apparently never got around to it (even though I thought I had). This is the best news I've had since. . .well, I guess last Monday, haha!

Luxuries or Necessities?

A friend of mine gave me her old Boppy yesterday. Yeah, score. The colors washed out quite badly in this photo and it's actually quite pink. While the shock has mostly worn off now, the news still consumes my thoughts constantly, and I feel like time has slowed WAY down since Monday upon discovering what's waiting for me in less than 6 more months.

At my third pregnancy I felt like I should've been a pro, and basically educated about almost everything that I'm going through. Now, I find myself feeling like I'm starting all over. I've had to do research about nutrition and the number of calories I should be consuming and so forth. It's such a strange state to be in.

As I sit and ponder all that's going to happen when these little things come to our world, I think of all the stuff I'm going to need. Things that felt like luxuries with one baby feel almost like necessities with two coming at the same time, like an electric breast pump. So, thank you to people who are digging and finding things they don't need anymore to give me because I pretty much need it ALL!

Twins?? TWINS!!

Okay so while you can't see most of either baby you can clearly see the two different heads! And You can even see a hand of foot or two on the one on the right. They're really far apart, which is why I guess fraternal. We shall see!

Wow. This is completely surreal. Where to start? Okay, I guess I will start with the Dr. appointment where I found out.

First, let me start off by saying, Paul and I wanted to keep this secret for awhile. So, if you're just hearing about it and are feeling left out, don't! Pretty much everyone is knowing at about the same time except for a few family members. And if you found out about the twins on FB, don't take it personal that you weren't called because we called only each set of parents then announced to everyone else. When you have the number of siblings we both have with news this big it can get really time consuming to call everyone individually. So, since almost everyone is on FB, we considered it an equal opportunity announcement.

Okay, so, two weeks ago I had my first pre-natal exam. Basically that was the pregnancy confirmation appointment. They scheduled me another for 2 weeks when I would have my first ultrasound and make sure the baby was okay, and all that jazz. When they gave me the options 1:30 is as late as they would do. I picked the 1:30 hoping MAYBE if Paul really wanted to he could possibly finish his route if he wanted to be there for this ultrasound. Sometimes he finishes up that early, sometimes not until after 3:00 or 3:30. But, I figured I'd try to give him the chance.

I figured this would be standard first ultrasound "there's your baby, there's the heartbeat" kind of stuff so when Paul called yesterday and asked me if I wanted him to be there I said "it's up to you. I'd like you to be, but whatever." Cause we've both done this enough times now that it's almost like whatever. He told me he was done for the day and we'd meet over there. I always like it when he comes. I do not consider it a coincidence that he had a short schedule for the day. That could've only been God's hand!

At the office on the table the doc gets up the pictures of the baby on the abdominal device and says "yep, there's the baby." ...after looking around a little more she says "Let me just make sure there's only one." Which, I've heard before so I was like "yeah, like that would happen."

She Continues to look then says "Baby has a good heartbeat," to which I reply "Oh good, for some reason I've been more freaked out about this one." (I'd read stories about people who had gone in at 7 weeks and there was already no heartbeat) And the doc says "Could that be because there's two?"

I didn't really process this at first and I kept talking, and so she repeated herself. And then it started.

I said, "Nooo," thinking she's making a joke, and she says "No, seriously, there's two." And the back and forth starts.

"No way. You're not serious."

"Yeah, I'm serious about this. I was mostly joking at first, but I'm not anymore."

She shows me the monitor and says "Two babies, right? One here and one here? You're seeing this too right?" She wanted to make sure so she switched instruments while saying "Now wait, I'm not totally sure yet. It might not be. Let me just check with the wand."

Oh, it was totally twins. I turned to Paul and said "I'll bet you're glad you came now huh!" Which of course, he was! And let me tell you, I'm so glad he came. That would've been awful to have to tell him about that. He got to see it for himself, better than I for most of the time because I couldn't see the monitor most of the time.

We are both really excited. Maybe a touch overwhelmed, but very excited. Being that we have a hard time with twins and twins will require so much more stuff when they come in March, we have decided we will most likely find out the genders when we can. We would be very hard pressed to come up with 4 different names. My bet is, boy and a girl. I will have 4 kids 4 and younger, and 3 under 18 months. Oy vey!!

I will be seeing a specialist either later this week or next week I think who will be answering a lot of questions, so when I know those answers, I will share them with you! Also, I'm kind of needing maternity clothes. I never really bought them for the other two, minus a few things, but it was okay cause I never got really big, but I'm sure that will not be the case this time, so if you know anyone that has ones they're not using or are getting rid of please let me know! It would be most helpful!