Weeks 23-24 Contractions galore!

Twins at 24 weeks

Those two weeks just flew by!  My guess is because we had a holiday weekend to enjoy! We or rather I should say Paul, spent the first part of our holiday weekend finishing up our new front porch. Like all projects, he ended up having to do a little more work than just pulling up the old boards and laying new composite decking. With our new porch, front door and new screen door, I finally have the facade I have been wanting. My red door and red flowers in the pots and window boxes sure did look nice with all my mini flags out for Memorial Day :) That will be it for the projects on our house for now. We have a running list but won't probably do much else to improve things until winter rolls around. We like to enjoy the good months that Ohio offers and use the crappy months for projects!

The rest of the weekend consisted of a BBQ at my parents house with my family including my uncle who was home from the Netherlands. We enjoyed ribs, macaroni salad, baked beans and strawberry pie. We had fantastic weather and great ambiance on my parents deck and their paradise of a backyard. We spent the next day at the pool. Paul's mom has a pool complex near her condo. We often have the pool to ourselves but being opening weekend with great weather it was more packed than normal but not full, I have never seen it full! Paul's sister and her family and my parents joined us for the 85 degree pool day! My pregnancy brain is in full effect. I managed to accidentally leave my bathing suit in the pool bathroom the first time I used it!!! Luckily it was still there when Barb returned to get it....phew!

As for the pregnancy itself, I had my first contractions freak out moment! I had one night where for 3 hours I had loads of rather uncomfortable contractions. I was counting them to see if they exceeded 6 each hour and just when I was really getting worried they stopped completely and I got a good nights sleep. I have been instructed to report the the hospital if I have 6 contractions or more in an hour, for 2 straight hours. At which point they would do their best to stop them and check if I was actually progressing into labor! Please, please, please don't happen again until late August! I wasn't too worried about having these babies super early until now! I would really just like to make it until around August 15th. I think I have forgotten to mention in all these posts that my actual due date is September 21st. I think I found it irrelevant being that I will have these babies two weeks or more early no matter what! I am trying not to think about it but being discharged before my babies is making me want to cry! I hope they are a healthy size so we can all go home together!! Trying to shuffle Austin and babies still at the hospital seems like a total nightmare! (Breathe, relax!)

Now for the picture everyone wants to see, my huge, fast growing belly!

My Belly with Austin at 24 weeks!

My belly with Twins at 24 weeks! WAYYYYYY BIGGER!

My belly with Austin at 37 weeks...ENOUGH SAID, I will be HUGE with the twins!!

Up next is my glucose tolerance test,  Dr. Appointment and fourth ultrasound!

Weeks 21-22 Good Doctor Visits

Well, I am feeling rather plump these days! I know I am still small considering I will probably be double or triple the size that I am now. I am really doing good with weight, averaging about 1 pound a week now. I am up 13 pounds if you count the couple pounds I lost in the beginning. My doctor was thrilled to chart me at a 10 pound gain after my last appointment only being a 2 pound gain. I feel wonderful except for my lingering allergies which mostly consists of a hacking cough and needing to use my inhaler more often. Austin is in the same boat, poor kid has been off and on sneezing and coughing like me.

I have been more active during the day which is causing more exhaustion at night but it makes for a good nights sleep. I just started watching my friends son Hugh an additional day a week and the new baby 2 half days as well. It has been great to have a newborn around to give me my baby fix. Now that I am starting to get anxious to meet our babies, having a seven week old around to cuddle and love is keeping me at bay :)

The babies are off to the races moving at certain parts of the day and sleeping most of it. I have noticed a couple trends of wake and sleep time with them. Luckily they both sleep during the night and I am not awoken by kicks and flips. Speaking of flips, they both have lots of room to move. During our ultrasound they went from both being head down to both being transverse(sideways). They are weighing 1 lb 1oz and 1 lb 2 oz with heartbeats of 146 and 147. (So much for the old wives tale of differing heartbeats for different genders) which they are still confirmed one girl and one boy ;)

Baby boy profile with arm up by face

Baby Girl face frontal, on the left you can see her eyes, nose and mouth

Baby girl profile 

We now have two girls names that are battling it out for ultimate winner but the middle name is the same for either. We have come up with one boy name and possible middle name. There is a chance once we decide on the first names we may share them but might keep the middle names secret since they have more meaningful significance.
As for the differences with this pregnancy and Austin.

Austin- nighttime queeziness.      Twins- six weeks straight all day sickness
Austin- heartburn from hell.          Twins- mild rare occurances of heartburn
Austin- constant nose bleeds.      Twins- no nose bleeds
Austin- craved fruit.                      Twins- craving the norm, ice cream, pickles and fried foods
Austin- pure exhaustion.               Twins- daytime insomnia
Austin- braxton hicks 30 weeks.  Twins- braxton hicks at 15 weeks
Austin- 1 ultrasound.                      Twins- 3 ultrasounds already more to come

Next up...24 weeks belly shot and one wild and busy summer!

Weeks 19-20 Over the Hump!

Not a whole lot going on the last couple weeks. The halfway point has come and gone which is Awesome! With a singleton pregnancy, 20 weeks is considered halfway but 18 or 19 weeks usually qualifies for multiples. This pregnancy is going much faster than when I was pregnant with Austin. I cannot really tell if its because I have gone through it once before or if it's because I am growing much faster? Either way, I think all pregnant women want the day to come quicker but I am starting to panic as things move closer. I truly know that I am capable of handling them, it's really only the sleep deprivation that is scaring me stupid. I am not at all excited about the mommy zombie phase that comes the first 3-6 weeks and with twins, I know it will be much longer before I am sane again.

Paul requested a bare belly shot before I get "ALIEN-like"
20 weeks

Some positive tidbits going on, I feel the babies often, everyday now! I have been playing the, "who is kicking me game?" from our last ultrasound I have been able to somewhat decipher if its her kicking (down low) or him (up high near my belly button) They have both had their share of hiccups already and my mom got to feel HIM just this morning. I am finally gaining some weight due to my tasty chocolate protein drinks and I am a comfortable size for doing most tasks. My pelvic pain is now gone and I hope it stays that way but I doubt it. I sleep well other than my ridiculous allergies that have started this week causing me to sleep upright but on my side in order to keep my nose clear! I celebrated my 33rd birthday, one which I consider to be a lucky birthday since I was born on the 3rd :)

Going out for my birthday dinner- make-up, hair and heels!!

Life is about to get more busy for me this next week. From January until now I have only really been working once or twice a week. Starting next week I have a new baby girl, she will be 6 weeks old coming to my house for 2 mornings a week. In addition, I will be watching Austin's best friend Hugh those same two days a week for May, June and July. Then in June I will be traveling back to Huron on Thursdays and Fridays to be with my best buddies Drake and Ellee! I am very excited to be able to have a full( money earning) summer. I will not be working from the time the twins come until about January so it will be nice to build a small savings. I only hope that my body stays happy and the babies stay content so that I am able to function this summer and not be put on bed rest. I do expect August to be a very different story and will probably cut back on most activity.

As for names, we still have only a girls first and middle name in mind but have not decided how public we will make the names. Male name picking does not come very easy to Paul. In fact, he is rather picky and difficult. I have spouted off just about every name I can possibly think of and we have no contenders even! He wants a name that is not ultra common yet not too different. So, once again it appears I will most likely fold and agree to the first name he actually suggests but hey, I guess we came up with the girls name quick so maybe he will let me have the final say on the spelling!

Next up will be another doctors appointment at the end of 21 weeks and another ultrasound at 22 weeks.

Babies at 20 weeks except our twins heads are next to each other.