9w6d

Wearing my first maternity outfit (as in shirt and pants) today. Hmph. SO much more comfortable though.

Feeling good today-nausea is low!

9w5d

Really good day! Got to see the babies again-they are still there and healthy!-and woohoo, I gained a pound!! Huge accomplishment since it's been a struggle so far, and we have a goal of 15-20 to reach by the 24 week mark.

Here are the babies! Measuring well (actually a little ahead of what we would have expected) and heartbeats were higher than last time-180 for A and 176 for B.

Baby A-this one you can see the best. You can see little fingers off to the left, his or her knee bent and little toes! Amazing!
Baby B-we actually got to see this one move around a little while getting ready for this shot! So sweet! I don't remember seeing Maya move around on ultrasound till her anatomy scan.
These next ones are mostly of Baby B, but you can see A off to the left.
Both of them together (sweet relief to see two! I was so worried (of course) that one would be gone!)

So there we have what was supposed to be my initial scan-it's funny to think that had I not bled we would have just found out today that we were having twins. I'm glad we know-and I'm glad we got to see them today, and that they are growing so well-now it's time for me to breathe a sigh of relief and start getting excited! Of course we won't be out of the scary first trimester woods for another 23 days yet (I have a countdown on my phone) but we're in a good place.

Next on the agenda is waiting for the referral for the Perinatologist in Savannah. Not sure when I will see them, probably not for a bit yet, for another couple of months or so, but I'll have my next scan with them, hopefully we will find out then what we are having! It's crazy to me because I feel like this is all going to start going SO fast...

9w4d

Ultrasound tomorrow! Woohoo!

Lately I've been sleeping horribly. 12-1 till 430-5 when Patrick's alarm goes off (with a bathroom break or two in between) and then I can't fall asleep till after he leaves-yesterday that wasn't until 7. After that I sleep for about an hour, toss and try to fall back asleep for another half hour, and the cycle repeats. I'm so thankful Maya is such an amazing sleeper!

Nausea is back full force, but at least I know that means pregnancy hormones are still raging. I'll eat again someday!

9w2d

Yesterday was a dream (the day before wasn't horrible either)... my constant nausea seems to have died down significantly. It made me super nervous at first, of course, but after doing a little Googling I've read that once the placenta starts taking over the hormones that cause the nausea die down a bit. So-here's hoping that's all it is! Thursday's scan can't come soon enough!


***

Spoke too soon about the nausea thing. Cereal for dinner tonight, just so I get something in my stomach... wish I didn't have to eat at all!

9w

I remember long before I even knew I was pregnant, figuring I was pregnant because of the bloating but before I tested, counting out the whole "how far along will I be when _____" and realizing that if I was pregnant, I would be 9 weeks on Christmas... 9 weeks is a good amount along, it would be a perfect time to start telling family, it would be a good chunk of the way through the first trimester.

Well, here we are-Merry Christmas! (And here's my convenient ploy to take our "in front of the tree" picture without anyone being able to see the least bit of my baby bump and make guesses!)

8w4d

Food. BLEEECH.

I'm having a REALLY hard time, still, getting enough down every day. I swear I sat in front of my grilled cheese for a good 5 minutes glaring at it before I managed to get it down at lunch... Something has to change, because I NEED to eat! Duh.

I've been reading this book by Dr. Luke focused on pregnancy with multiples that numerous girls suggested on one of the message boards I visit, and thankfully it covers a LOT of nutrition stuff. But it left me feeling like I REALLY am not doing a good job, and how crazy different this pregnancy is from a singleton. The goal is to gain one pound per week until week 24 and then after that two pounds per week until delivery-making you possibly plump but making the babies as big as they can, since the chances are increased of them coming early-with their statistics on how much bigger their babies are than the average, I think I'll stick to her plan, even if it means REALLY having to lose a lot of weight after they come. That's fine. I want healthy babies.

So tonight we went to Walmart and got $175 of just plain crap. We got into eating quite healthy over the past year, so it's really hard for me to throw caution to the wind and just go back to eating junk-even though it's the calories I need (and the incredible amounts of protein found in such things as Stouffer's Macaroni and Cheese). I somehow don't think it'll be hard to lose after they come because my body will be begging for something low fat. I just hope these things are some things I can get down-tonight for dinner I had a few bites of tortellini (just the white ones because the green ones tasted too spinach-y for me at the moment, even though I like spinach since I've been an adult) and a glass of milk.

Oy. Time for a bowl of ice cream. Cheers to you, babies.

8w3d

Helloooooooo hormones

8w1d

Bought my first maternity shirts today... I'm not "in need" of maternity clothes yet-I still fit very very comfortably in my jeans and actually have a bit of room in them-but I have ONE long sleeved shirt to wear out in public and it's just completely senseless to buy non-maternity and grow out of it in a few weeks. So, here we go. While we were there the cashier was talking to Maya, and while I was in the dressing room I heard this:

Cashier: What is your name?
Maya: Mr. T

8w

8 weeks! Hooray!

I need more fiber in my life. Way more. Between no gallbladder, iron supplements, and two babies feeding on me...

7w5d

Allllmost to 8 weeks... come on babies!

Had a little more bleeding today, thankfully I was going to Naval anyway... doc said it's just fine (I figured, I wasn't worried) and it's just kind of going to happen with me. There's a possible small blood pool in my ultrasound that might be leaking-they'll check it again at my next ultrasound in two weeks.

Today was my orientation-less of a cattle corral than at Lejeune, but still took forever. I think second time moms (in the system) should be exempt! I had seven vials of blood drawn, which was not as much apparently as usual, my guess is because they already have some things on file and because of the blood I had drawn last week. I have to go back to the lab next time I'm in and be screened for the Sickle Cell trait, because Patrick is a carrier (which we didn't know when I was pregnant with Maya so I wasn't even tested for it).

I feel huge today.

7w4d

Maya's such a little smartie. We were talking while eating breakfast this morning. Granted our conversations are a little choppy yet, as she's just barely two... but it's still fun, and I love that she can communicate what she's thinking about!

Maya: doctor?
Me: no sweetie, we don't need to go to the doctor today.
Maya: doctor, babies?
Me: no, we don't go back to the doctor to see the babies for two weeks.
Maya: Mommy lay down? (she was remembering me lying down on the exam table getting the ultrasound)
Me: yes, mommy laid down so we could see the babies.
Maya: two babies!
Me: yup, we're having two babies!

I love her, and am so excited for her to be a big sister-she's going to be SUCH a big help!



Also-extra iron supplements and Zofran make my life completely different!

7w2d

Babies babies! We got to see them again today... with pictures this time!

Baby A was measuring 6w5d (right on track, as both of them were measuring 6w3d Friday night) and had a heartbeat of 145bpm.

Baby B measured at 6w4d and had a heartbeat of almost 128bpm

This one shows both of the sacs together-you can't see the babies because of the angle, but you can see that there are indeed two in there and the ultrasound machine wasn't playing tricks on us!

We thought it was soooo hilarious when the doc checked for triplets (you can sense the sarcasm right?) ...it was a really good visit, a lot of our basic questions were answered. I was put on extra iron and extra folic acid, and put on Zofran for the nausea instead of the Benadryl. I'm still nervous, since having multiples puts us at higher risk for miscarriage. I'll be super glad when the first trimester is over. Only 40 days to go!

Next appointment is about 2 1/2 weeks from now-which was supposed to be my "initial visit". I'll get another ultrasound then! I'll be sent for Level 2 ultrasounds in Charleston or Savannah every so often to check growth and progress more thoroughly, not sure when they start or how often I'll go. I'm excited to be able to see these little babes more often!

7w1d

Today I ate more than I've been able to eat lately-a bowl of Special K, a bagel (and then since we get those thin healthy bagels I was still hungry and ended up eating a can of Spaghettios), a little jello and just now some plain ravioli. It's a start to my daily goal of 2700 calories a day! (Figures I'd need that many, since the past year we've made it a huge goal to try and eat healthier, and I said after I was pregnant with Maya that I would be VERY good in my food choices in my second pregnancy! Never thought I'd need the extra calories times TWO!)

7w

TWINS!!

WE'RE HAVING TWINS!!

Oh my land.

Last night was one of the most interesting nights in my life. It started a little after 7-I went to the bathroom and there was blood. A good amount of it. I freaked, called the ER and asked at what point should I come in, they said come in, and I had a little sobfest. We quickly got ready, dropped Maya off at our neighbor's, and off to Naval we went.

I checked in at 8:15, and they got me back there relatively quick. They did a urine test first of all, and that came back fine. Then the doctor came in and talked to us, ordered blood to be run, took that (and it took an hour for the results)... they said the blood came back pretty good and then gave me an exam. That showed that yes indeed I had been bleeding but it had stopped, and it was old stuff now, thankfully. We had an awesome nurse named Kendra, and she said not to be too stressed about it, that sometimes it happens when the uterus is expanding and capillaries break. They called the OB on duty and he ordered an ultrasound to check that everything was ok, so after pleasantly getting a catheter, I got my very first ambulance ride over to the civilian hospital, who had the capabilities of doing that at almost midnight.

Kendra had warned us beforehand that it was the other hospital's policy to not allow anyone in the room when the ultrasound was going on, since it was purely diagnostic and in an "emergency" situation. Patrick was NOT happy about it but gracefully complied. After filling my bladder (ow) she gave me the external, then the internal, and it was taking a LONG time.

Then she turned to me, smiled, and said "there's something I want to show you, but I want to show your husband too" so she went out in the hall to get Patrick, and I just knew... she put the probe back in place, turned the screen, and sure enough-TWO little sacs with two little babies and two little heartbeats! Completely amazing-they just looked like little heads with heartbeats, but they were so precious and I love them. Sadly we couldn't get a picture because there wasn't a printer attatched to her machine, but now we know why I was bleeding... my uterus sure is expanding! (This also explains the unbelievable nausea, why I got a positive on a digital test at 9dpo, why I thought my belly was so bloated, why I could tell from so early on that I was pregnant...)

So-our world has just been completely shaken up! In a wonderful way, of course, but we thought we had things just so worked out and planned out... boy, were we wrong! Now we're looking at new car, new bed for us for sure (I had a horrible time getting in and out of bed toward the end with Maya, I can't imagine what it would be like with two in there) ...additional carseat, cloth diapers (oh thank GOODNESS for cloth, we'd spend a fortune on disposables), crib... Patrick's nervous but I know it'll be just fine.

So... really, surprise!

6w6d

Well that was a quick, stress free trip to Naval today!

Had an awesome doctor who put me on a tiny dose of Benadryl for now, and we'll see where that gets me through the weekend. Of course I was fine this morning, but I can feel it start to sneak up now, so I'm glad I ended up going. I'm sure tonight will be more of the usual-sitting there miserable. Thankful, but miserable nonetheless. The doc also mentioned that sick means a bit safer... ok!

Went to Food Lion to stock up on bagels (figured that was pretty bland), more pretzels as I've pretty much demolished the entire bag that was meant for Christmas candies, ginger ale, saltines, and food for Patrick tonight (my poor husband). Woohoo-today is the last day of the 6's!

6w5d

Have I mentioned that I am SO SO sick? It's horrible.

I got sick for the first time this morning when I was brushing my teeth. Brushing in the morning always makes me gag, but this time it went all the way. I have still been sleeping horribly. I've only had the nausea for a week now, but it's draining me already, and I'm not sure if I can do 7 more weeks of this, especially if Patrick will be in Hawaii and I'll be here by myself! I called this morning to see if I can take a megadose of B6 as some recommend, but they want to see me (and just give me a prescription) but after calling all over Naval this morning I have to call back early in the morning for an appointment tomorrow. Lets see if I can last that long... I'm still thankful because I know sick means safe, but I need to eat SOMETHING!

6w3d

Last night was awful. We fell asleep on the couch and when I woke up at 4 and dragged us to bed, I ended up being awake for at least an hour-completely nauseated. Then I had a bad dream, woke up again when Patrick got up, got a brand new wave of nausea from the horrid smell of his oatmeal, and then was in and out till I finally dragged myself out of bed. It was sooooo bad this morning though.

Last night (of COURSE) I forgot ginger candy at Walmart, so we got ginger root and Jolly Ranchers at Food Lion. I'm eating a Jolly Rancher right now and it's at least taking the edge off... it's going to be a long day! I really honestly don't remember it being this bad with Maya.

6w2d

This weekend (Friday started, Saturday was awful) the morning (all day for me) sickness has kicked in bad. Baaaad. I really am not sure how I will be able to cook for Patrick and Maya-thankfully Maya's breakfast consists of oatmeal and yogurt, and lunches are soups/sandwiches which all four are low on the odor/gag scale. Dinner however is a different story-I feel horrible making Patrick cook or refusing to let him eat certain things but jeez, this is bad. I remember it being horrible with Maya, but Patrick was gone to WTI from weeks 7-13 so it was really easy to try and control what I smelled. Not this time! I'm so hungry but NOTHING sounds good. I think tonight we'll have to head to the store and get the old faithfuls from first trimester with Maya-cereal, Spaghettios, Ramen, and waffles.

6w

Patrick's about to learn: don't let the pregnant lady order the pizza.

Feeling sooooooo sick today.

5w6d

Preeeetty nauseous when I woke up this morning. Ick! Last night the only thing I could eat for dinner is cereal. So this phase of pregnancy begins.

5w4d

Headaches are still pretty bad-I think trips to the Chiropractor will finally have to resume, I've been putting it off too long. My arms are crampy today too which is strange and all I want to do is sleep!

5w3d

I feel horrible today, and unfortunately so does Maya-she is sprouting a case of the chickenpox. Thank goodness for the lifelong immunity I got when I was TEN and had them (yup, awful).

I've had a headache all day, which could be contributed to pregnancy or the off the wall barometric pressure. I've felt queasy, which could be pregnancy or me getting sick (it's going around). I ate ONE bite of my barbecue chicken sandwich and couldn't eat anymore (who AM I??), but feasted on sweet potatoes... I don't like sweet potatoes. Oh, and things hurt that never hurt when I was pregnant with Maya. Not complaining about it though-it simply means that things are changing in there!

4w6d

Appetite of a wild boar: check

Also, I'm so tired that I can't even finish blogging on the big blog. At 5 this evening I fell asleep for a half hour-it's just past 10 now. Oy!

4w4d

AF due date has arrived... and has NOT shown her ugly face! Temp was up this morning! I'm a happy girl. I may even download a cool pregnancy app for my new phone :)

4w3d

Feeling better today, thankfully.

Found out when my first appointments will be, and they seem like an eternity away. I remember it seeming like that with Maya too, but at least I know why they wait this time around. I hope we are just busy busy busy through the holidays-we see the little bean for the first time on December 30, I will be 9w5d-once we're at that point and see him or her on the ultrasound I'll start feeling a LOT more comfortable!

One day at a time.

But like with Maya, the not feeling anything makes me nervous. The bloating has gone away, though when my belly is full of food or water it pushes out. Only about a week and a half until the point where I started feeling completely nauseous with Maya-while I should be cherishing this last bit of time, I'd rather feel sick. The sicker you feel the safer you are.

4w2d

Scariest morning yet. Woke up to spotting-old spotting-so I decided to skip my walk and just rest. It's stopped, but I'm still freaked out. Didn't help that I had a dream this morning that I miscarried, that's the second one in a week. hCG is still looking good, I'm going to buy more tests today to monitor.

But on a positive dream note, Laci messaged me today telling me that she had a dream that I was pregnant! Strange. I can't wait to tell her she was right... I just hope by then she's still right!

4w1d

I'm super glad the holidays start this week. That way, by the time it's all done, I'll be 9 weeks along (on Christmas day) and I'll feel a LOT less nervous! I'll even feel a lot better after Wednesday, when AF is actually due. Blessing and a curse that charting and early detection tests can let you know so early...

Also, if I ever wonder in the future, this is when the 6 bathroom visits in an hour kicked in after a sole bottle of water with dinner.



Dear baby: please keep growing and keep cozy in there! I promise to eat lots of nutritious foods and take lots of cozy naps to give you everything you need. Please please please just stay in there!

3w6d

It's official now! Got the confirmation after an interesting trip to the Naval Hospital. I swear, pregnancy confirmations for me is NOT as simple as it is with everyone else-of course, because I am more nervous than most.

I called Naval this morning to ask if I needed an appointment with my PCM, but they said no, just come to the front desk and tell them you need a test. Patrick got out of work early today, so instead of having to take Patrick to work next week to have the car we decided to swing by when he got back-so we went, signed in, and waited. And waited. For an hour. Until everyone had gone home, including the lady who checked me in, and the night crew was there. Finally someone asked what was going on, some people probably will get in trouble tomorrow, they tried to send me to the lab and it was closed... so the nurse had me just take the test there and promised to call with the results before she left since we had a hassle getting it (and I would've had to wait until Monday had it gone to the lab anyway, so that's a huge plus! No waiting like a crazy woman over the weekend).

So now I'm getting excited. Scared since it's so early, but excited nonetheless. I'm afraid of Maya giving it away-she says "baby belly mommy" and if you ask her where the baby is she'll say "belly mommy" (aww!).

My belly is huge, I'm still massively bloated. If you want to know how bloated, go look at my 13 week picture from when I was pregnant with Maya. Can't wait till it goes down-I don't want to look like I got fat huge fast!

3w5d

I'm pregnant!!

It's been a long year. Loooong year. It took us 7 months to get pregnant with Maya, and I never in my wildest dreams thought it would take 13 months with this one. Granted, I'm so fortunate I'm pregnant at all-some it takes years, some never get there-so I'm counting my blessings and am praying this baby sticks with us.

In Jacksonville, there were four different doctors who said I was fine, fine, fine. This is after a summer from hell medically (after I had Maya)-just a lot of problems. When we moved down here every doctor we've dealt with has been amazing, super helpful, and proactive. So in the past 6 months, between Patrick and I we have had a (horribly painful) test, a surgery, and a laparoscopy. I'm downing the Geritol every day while he snacks on Brazil nuts. I lost about 10 pounds over the summer too, to rule out weight, and so I'm happy to be at a healthier starting point than I would have been.

All this combined has made each month increasingly difficult, stressful, and emotional for me. I'm not sure that I would have lasted much longer, honestly! But, those six tests (hahaha) go to show that combined infertility is not the end all-even though it sure feels like it with every big nasty negative test.

***

So this month, probably a week or two ago, Patrick tells me that he just feels differently about this month, really positive about it. Fast forward to Saturday-I took the most massive nap ever, and was still exhausted and fell right to sleep that night. Same thing happened on Monday and Tuesday too-I can't tell you the last time I napped before that. Usually when I do I can't sleep at night.

A few days ago I had a shirt on that just made me look massive. I looked like I've gained about 5 pounds-my belly just stuck out all gross-like. I stepped on the scale, scared to see the number-and not a pound had been gained. I knew then it was bloat, which I've never experienced other than right at the beginning of my pregnancy with Maya (if you look back at old pictures of us getting ready for the Sweetheart Banquet at church in 2008 you can see my belly sticking out the same way it is now-that's before I found out I was pregnant with her, I remember crying about it because I thought I had gained weight and I had "NOTHING to wear!"). I told Patrick a few days ago that I wouldn't be surprised if I was pregnant.

Since I'm obsessed, I started testing at 6DPO (I knew I wouldn't find out either way, but like I said, I'm obsessed). Nothing at 7DPO, nothing at 8 either. So last night I was rummaging around to find my fourth test for this morning but realized I had used it last month after a very strange cycle. All I had was a digital test, and I know that takes quite a bit more hormone than my cheapie dollar tests to register, so I said forget it, I'll test at 10DPO (tomorrow-Friday.)

This morning I got up and used the bathroom when Patrick was getting ready for work. Usually that makes me not waste a test unnecessarily. I went back to sleep for about an hour, and when I got up I just felt a little queasy-so I figured ah, whatever. I'm obsessed. Obsessed people waste tests, especially expensive digital ones. So I took the test, and stood there brushing my teeth while it was waiting... and it seemed to "wait" forever... and my jaw DROPPED when the "pregnant" word popped up! Total denial, I'm NOT used to seeing that (obviously).

I flipped, didn't really know what to do, so I woke Maya up-I happened to have the car today, so I triiiiied my hardest to get her to hurry and get up so we could run to Food Lion and get more tests (obsessive) but she really wanted some oatmeal. Fine, I made the oatmeal, but of course she was horsing around with it, taking her sweet time. I was going to make a cute shirt for Maya to wear for Patrick to find out that just said "big sister" on it, but it was a ridiculously busy morning anyway, so I knew I wouldn't have time. I had been telling Maya there was a baby in my belly (so she's the first person I told... awww) so she was saying "baby, belly" (I hope she doesn't spill the beans to anyone else before we tell them!) so I called Patrick and said "hey, you've GOT to hear what your daughter is saying" and she wouldn't say anything at first... I thought it was going to be a bust... and then she said it. Patrick just laughed, and said "haha, baby belly" ...and then I was quiet... and then he said "wait WHAT?!" I just think both of us were so shocked after it's taken SO long. We're so so so beyond thrilled!

So now we start this. We're taking our time, I'll call Naval next week to get a test to confirm, and start my doctor's appointments then-I'm so BARELY pregnant it's absurd-I won't even be 4 weeks until Saturday (which is fun because Maya's "new week" started on Saturdays too). I'm due July 30, so thankfully I won't spend the ENTIRE summer hugely pregnant!

Now. Is it all in my head, or can I feel things moving around down there?