Will Life Ever Be Normal Again?

So it's been a while since my last post and boy have things have been crazy around here! Between this pregnancy, work (that I just quit, again), moving, classes (pregnancy and photography), doctor appointments... I just want another vacation!

Appointments
Let's start with our appointment with Dr. Mann two weeks ago. So the check up was going well with the boys are weighing 3lb3oz and 3lb1oz each, "beautiful and healthy", but mom... not so much. My cervix measured almost half the size as it was two weeks prior! So of course Dr. Mann had us totally freaked out! She hooked me up to a monitor to see if I was having contractions and going into early labor... everything obviously checked out alright. But she told me to rest, rest, rest. So, I quit my job and am trying to do so. But it's been so hard with this move!

Our next appointment the next week was with Dr. Bennett. I have gained yet another 3.5 pounds! I guess that's not as bad as 4.5. So I think I'm now at 143ish? I can't remember. I believe I mentally blocked out the numbers. To my surprise I received quite the opposite reaction from Dr. Bennett about measurements from the prior week. She was happy with my appointment and thought that my cervix measurement was great to be 31 weeks pregnant with twins. She said most women with twins/more are around 1cm at 31 weeks or earlier. This news definitely made me feel better about things.

Yesterday, Monday, we had our latest appointment with Dr. Mann. I was definitely worried about this check up because of the pains I have been having and how my last check up ended. But low and behold, my measurement was longer!! What?! Really? Dr. Mann was definitely all smiles this time! She said my weight gain is great, the boys look "fabulous" and that my measurements are perfect. The boys are now at a whopping 3lb12oz and 3lb14oz! That's almost 8 pounds! And boy am I feeling their weight gain. Every jolt, stretch, karate chop to the other... I'm getting the short end of the stick here!

Some other good news is that I could possibly have a vaginal delivery instead of the dreaded C-section! I am extremely happy about this news! Baby A (I'm thinking that's Baylor) is still head down (YAY!) and has moved over to the left, creating some room for his brother to come on down! Baby B is still transverse BUT he's at an angle pointing head down.... so there is a HUGE possibility that he could move head down. And if Dr. Bennett would allow me to have a vag birth, Baby B could move in the right direction once he has the extra room. Dr. Mann thinks Bennett will be absolutely comfortable with this so we'll see next Thursday what she says!

Here's what the boys are looking like this week! Let's hope they both end up in this direction soon!!!


But not everything is turning out so "swell" for me these days... (key word being swell in that sentence). As soon as my third trimester hit, my hands and feet started to swell! My hands more so than my feet. My fingers hurt all day long, especially first thing in the morning, and there's nothing that I can do! I've tried wearing braces but they just don't seem to work and are very uncomfortable. I can't even get my wedding rings over my knuckles anymore. I told David that I feel like I'm his pregnant mistress when we go out because he has on his ring... I feel so naked without it!

I thought I'd share these photos of David putting our new stroller together. I can't wait until he can actually put our cribs together!

Dad striking a pose...

The stroller is a Baby Jogger ~ City Select... it's pretty awesome! The seats come out so we can put our car seats in, in any direction... I can't wait to take our little ones for a stroll in the park next to our new house!

I don't have a photo of my belly from two weeks ago to post. Like I said earlier, things have been so crazy around here and I think part of us was just too lazy and we forgot! But here's one for today at 32 weeks (8 months)...



Moving sucks...
We are out on our tails tomorrow ~ we close on our home and can't move into our new place until next Friday, June 4! So for the time being we are going to stay with Jane and Woody (my stepdad's sister and brother-in-law). Thank goodness they have a place here in Atlanta or we'd be moving into an Extended Stay and that costs $.

This move has been trying. Poor David ~ he has been working his tail off packing, loading and moving things between our house, the PODS and a second storage unit that we had to get!!! Needless to say we have lots of stuff. It may be time to go thru it all, again, and see what we really need... But, in our defense, the first storage unit is full of baby stuff! So we shouldn't feel too bad, right?

I am definitely ready for next Friday to get here though. This nesting bug in me has been dying to get out for two months now! Our cribs are still in boxes, clothes have to be washed, I don't have any decorations for the nursery because I don't know how the layout will be... ugh. I'm ready for this move to be over with!

Here are a couple of "before" photos of our move...






On a different note, I don't think I shared these photos with you! I was surprised one day with beautiful flowers from my darling sweetpea! It definitely made my day because I was in need of a good pick me up...




I will try to keep up with these posts a little better. Hopefully next week will be a bit calmer and I can wrap my mind around what's going on!

Busy Little Bees...

I do not remember the last time I was this busy! Aren't you supposed to rest during your pregnancy?! Well, not this preggers!

Doctors and Tests and Babies, Oh My!
We are now in the stage of the pregnancy where there's a doctor's appointment every other week. And since there are two doctors, this means one appointment every week. Last week was week 28 and our check up with Dr. Mann. At this appointment I found out just where those extra pounds came from... the boys! They are each 2.8 and 2.3 pounds! They have doubled their weight in just a month. I am so happy that they are growing at a healthy pace and are not under weight! Things are still looking up for us!
I also had my second, and dreaded, glucose test Thursday (April 29) to see if I test positive for gestational diabetes. Well, I PASSED!!! I am extremely happy about this! But I was not too fond of that damn test. I would never wish this on anyone... So I arrive at the doctor's office at 8:30 AM and they take my blood before I drink this outrageously horrible, sugar loaded, syrup water of a drink! Then she takes my blood again one hour later. Another hour later, (I'm lying down at this point because I've crashed from the sugar meanwhile the boys are on a sugar high!), my blood is drawn, again. And after another hour of waiting I have my blood drawn yet again. All in all, I have my arm poked FOUR times, each time hurting worse than before. This was awful! I eventually made it out of there around 11:45ish. I was starving and could not wait to get food in my belly...
By this point I am 28 weeks... Let's see, can you tell there's an extra 10 pounds since the last time I posted a photo?

Here's a photo from Baby Center of what twins look like at 28 weeks. Looking a bit cramped. I can relate!

This past Thursday I had my latest doctor's appointment with Dr. Bennett. I have gained yet another 4 pounds!! What in the hell are these babies eating?! 4 pounds in 2 weeks? Really? I almost fell over. I understand that I'm carrying twins, but geez! So that photo above... add some extra belly to it! And after my loving post last time about how my wonderful husband goes with me to all of these appointments, he has decided to forgo the Dr. Bennett appointments. I don't blame him. Not much going on with these appointments and they are every other week now... a bit much to take on every week. But he'll definitely go to Dr. Mann's visits because we get to see our little ones every time!

Baby Showers!!!
We feel so blessed to have such wonderful family and friends in our lives! April 24 we had our very first baby shower! It was a couple's shower given to us by our moms and we had a great time! It was nice to just chat with everyone and hang out with friends. The food was great and the gifts from our moms were so amazing! We loved everything from everyone, but theirs were very special to us! Here are some photos from the shower...

My mom gave us my old bassinet as part of our gift! My little sister and brother used it as well and it's very special to me. Hopefully the boys will fit in there together for a little while...

And the next weekend (May 1) I had a great baby shower with just the girls. It was a great time! We did play a game, the "fertilization game". Pretty hilarious!! (See if you can guess why it's called this from the photos). Aubree and Luci were so wonderful and really did a great job hosting my shower! I loved everything! And the food was delicious! Here are some photos...

Playing the "Fertilization Game"

Ahhhh.... the Babymoon
This weekend David and I took a little trip down to Destin, FL to get away. With all of the baby and house planning that has been going on this was a much needed vacation . Not to mention the stress that David has been going through with work. So Destin was a life saver! Here's what our agenda looked like for the weekend..............



Nothing, absolutely nothing. And it was so wonderful! We sat on the beach all day Friday and Saturday. David read an entire book and I went through trash tabloids and baby magazines. I did bring back a scorching tan though! It was really nice to just talk and sit with David for hours on end. I feel like we really connected on a different level with one another, almost like a mini honeymoon. I guess that's why they call it a "babymoon"! Below are a few photos from our perfect, relaxing, and sunny babymoon.

The guys fishing caught a little Sting Ray. And of course my avid outdoorsman had to lend a helping hand!

Our amazing B&B! The staff was so wonderful, the room was great and the food really good!

Here's a photo that I took for my photography class. What do you think? I had to use the Aperture function for this assignment (focusing in on one particular object while the rest of the photo is "blurry").

Like I've said... I/we have been busy, busy, busy! May is a non-stop month for us so hopefully June will be the calm after the storm! Monday we have another appointment with Dr. Mann so there's more to come!

27 weeks... and still going!

So far so good I suppose. I'm still able to stand on my own, my feet haven't swollen to the size of blimps and no contractions... What has changed though is my weight! We had our monthly doc appointment today and I'm up to 136 pounds! Say what?! As I stood on the scale and watched the nurse put the bar on the 100 marker and then slowly move the smaller one towards the right, I couldn't help but think "No, no, no, noooooo!!". I've gained almost 10 pounds in one month! Can you believe that? But I had to remind myself that I'm carrying two little guys in there and they're going to gain weight. So long as it's them and not me!
No real updates though. Just listened to their heartbeats at this appointment, again. 140 and 145 which is really good. The "normal" range is anywhere between 120 and 170. And so long as they're close to one another, I'm not stressing as much! Next week is our favorite appointment, with Dr. Mann, because we get to see them! And we'll get to see them more often now. We are now into the part of my pregnancy where we visit the doctor every two weeks. This means a doctor appointment every week for us and we get to see our little ones twice a week! Can you say spoiled?? I also had my second gestational diabetes test today. Fingers crossed that I passed again because if I fail, I have to sit there for THREE hours, drink more of that nasty, sugary paste of a drink and give them blood every hour on the hour... Sounds like fun, huh?
As you may have noticed, throughout my pregnancy blogging I use words like 'us', 'our', 'we', etc. when I talk about "my" pregnancy and appointments. That is because David has been to every single appointment with me thus far! Even Dr. Bennett today gave him kudos because no other husband/fiance/boyfriend would consider it. It was brought up because he was joking around about not hanging out for a 3 hour adventure at the doctor's office with me if I had to for our next appointment. I don't blame him! It would be torture (and I don't just mean them poking me with that damn needle!). But it has been so nice to share these appointments with him, even if it is just listening to their heartbeats and measuring my belly... he still gets to feel as though he's really a part of this whole process. :) *Love ya babe!*

On a different note, I start taking photography classes next Tuesday. They will be every Tuesday for six weeks. I'm pretty excited! I have always wanted to take classes like this. And now that we have babies on the way I really want to learn how to use my nice camera. I know that I will be taking 100's of photos of our boys and I want some of them to be frame/gift worthy!!! (Side note ~ old faithful broke on me this past weekend! My amazing camera that I've had for 3 years, carry everywhere with me and have used to take 1000's of photos has just died. I will take her to Best Buy to be fixed, but I think it's time for a replacement.) With these classes come assignments and require you to actually use your camera. So, hopefully with my new training in the photography world there will be post worthy pics here soon! :) I'll keep ya posted on my progress.

We have our first baby shower this weekend and then our next doc appointment Monday so there will be plenty to talk about next week!

"Rubber Ducky, You're the One..." ~ Ernie

Festivals, food and perfect weather...
So this past weekend Atlanta was full of action packed fun! There was a plethora of choices: Sweetwater 420 Festival; Dogwood Festival; Atlanta Hawks playoff game; some sort of Geek conventions; and Atlanta's all time favorite ~ FREAKNIK! :) David and I of course chose the safest of them all, the annual Dogwood Festival! It's always a great time walking around Piedmont Park and looking at all of the vendors beautiful art work from metal workings to paintings to pottery.

Here's a beautiful photo of my love stuffing his face with a crab cake sandwich

And on the serious side

One reason I wanted to troll through all of the booths was to find something unique for our little ones on the way. We did not find a thing until our last leg of the festival. How cute is this picture!?! We are going to put it in their bathroom. New bathroom should I say... (see later)





We found a new home!!!
That's right, we have a new home! We are so excited about this place. It is up GA400, about 20 minutes from our home now. It is closer to David's office and is at the end of a beautiful neighborhood. The home backs up to an 11 acre lake in the middle of Dunwoody! Who knew?! It's a 3-4br/3ba, full basement, two car garage home with a dock in the lake. And did I mention perfect? Some rooms are a bit dated, but there is the possibility of a purchase for us in a couple of years, so we could always renovate. For now we are going to rent because we felt like we shouldn't rush into anything with such a short time find the house for our future family. Hopefully things work out for us because this home is perfect for our two little boys and their daddy! Fishing at the lake, chasing the geese in the back yard and finding frogs (HUGE frogs) in the coy pond... Hopefully dad will not partake the last two! ;) There's also plenty of room for another baby if we decide it's the time in a few years. In the coming weeks I may be able to post some pics of the home if we get to go back before our move in date of June 1... Which is soooo upsetting. I will be 8 months preggers with two cribs in boxes, an empty nursery let alone an empty home and no decorations for their nursery because I am not able to set anything up/know the lay of the land just yet! We may get lucky and the present tenants will move out sooner so we can move in when this house closes. Fingers crossed!


And now, for your viewing pleasure... Ernie from Sesame Street ~

"Well we're movin' on up...." ~ The Jeffersons theme song

Home Sweet Home ~ Mötley Crüe
Well, our home sweet home is finally under contract!!!!! Woo hoo! We are so ecstatic! The only hurdle left is our inspection that was done today. After that, we should be good to go. David and I hit the pavement this past weekend looking online, in the papers and talking to tons of realtors about properties to rent. Since we're just now getting into the moving process we have not had the time to look at school districts and homes within those 'zones'... so why not rent for a few years? And if we love the house and the schools end up being great, we may have the possibility of buying. Oh the possibilities... and things to think of! Geesh! Once we have a place and sign a contract I'll post photos of the NEW "Home Sweet Home". Fingers crossed!

Baby, Baby, Baby ~ TLC
These little ones are getting big! I am now 26 weeks (6.5 months) and just don't know how much more room these two can take up. Tuesday night (exactly 26 weeks) I was feeling so much movement and in places that I had never felt before! I am wondering if they moved positions because I am not as big across anymore as I am out! This would be a GREAT thing. I am agonizing over the thought of having a C-Section. This is the last thing I want. I have always had it in my mind that I would give a natural birth ~ no drugs; no stress; just me, David, the doc and a peaceful delivery.... Well, Dr Bennett doesn't seem to think is possible since I'm having twins. We'll see as we get closer to D-Day.

Here I am at 26 weeks ~ Big huh?

Take Me Out to the Ball Game ~ Jack Norworth
Last week David and I were invited to see the Braves play. It was a great night! Perfect weather, Braves beat the Cubs (3-2), saw Chipper hit a homer, and our seats were awesome! Here's a photo of us. I'm not loving it because I think I just look like a beached whale... but what can ya do? At least I know I'm pregnant in this one...



Can't wait to share our doc appt with you next week!

6 MONTHS!

It is now 6 months (and 1 week to be exact) and I'm feeling really blessed to have made it this far without any complications! The third trimester is right around the corner! If we can make it just 10 more weeks we'll be golden!! Dr Bennett said early on that every week after 32 is a blessing. And after running into so many women with their horror stories of literally moving into the hospital at 20 weeks or giving birth 3 months early... I've now decided that I'm doing so much better than I thought! :)

Here I am at week 24 (month 6) and not loving the photos these days...

Front view ~ I look like I swallowed a basketball!

And our latest ultrasound photos

We think baby B has mommy's nose...

And baby A definitely has daddy's toes...

Weighing in at a whopping 1lb 6oz and 1lb 7oz, they have already doubled in weight since our last checkup! Dr Mann was very happy with their development and weight. As usual, she kept saying how beautiful they were and that they are just perfect! (We think so too.) I have been feeling them move around so much these past couple of weeks! Luckily it has not been keeping me up at night... yet. I hate to say it, but I can't wait until I can actually see a tiny foot or hand poking out. I can see them move my belly though, which is amazing in itself!
So far I'm loving being pregnant... :)

And I was so surprised last week when my sweet hubby, wonderful daddy-to-be brought these home just for me! He said they were for making it to 6 months! Aren't they beautiful! They remind me of my wedding bouquet...

Boy does time continue to fly by!? We are already into our 23rd week and I am freaking out! Our house is still up for sale so I can't start the nursery and who knows when Baylor and Hunter will decide they want to grace us with their presence! I met a woman at the mall today with twin girls. They were cute but little terrors! She said that they were born 3 months early, but are very healthy now at 18 months and 25+ pounds. It was nice to hear how the girls are healthy, but very scary at the same time to think that I could give birth so early! I have always known that it's a possibility, but I really just don't see myself going into preterm labor. And plus, our boys are going to be angels! Positive thoughts all around, right!?!

Can you say roller coaster ride?

These past few weeks have been turned upside down and flipped inside out! First, David was sick with the flu and then passed it on to me. So for almost two weeks we were both feeling crappy and so sick! Ugh. Being pregnant AND sick is really awful. Especially when you can only take certain medications. But poor David had to work and travel to Houston while getting over the flu... I felt so bad for him. At least I got to stay home! Second, finding maternity clothes that FIT and for a reasonable price has been deemed IMPOSSIBLE in my book! I have looked everywhere in Atlanta and online. No such luck thus far. And third, our house is just not selling. Although we have high hopes, a positive outlook and a great agent, we are just not having much luck. We did have an engineer come out today for a potential buyer so we have our fingers crossed that this kid wants to put the house under contract and BUY already. He's been here 3 times, is a first year student at Emory and single... this house is perfect! :) So keep your fingers crossed as well! Our boys need some room to live too!

Doctor's appointment and Growth

We had another doctor's appointment Wednesday. Just another routine check up and had my gestational diabetes test as well. Of course, with my luck, I have to take this test again because the doctor (not my normal doc) gave me the juice to drink umm.... a MONTH early! Well, my test came back normal/no GD! So this means I have to take this test again and hope that it comes back normal as well. If you like oober sweet drinks/food then this drink is for you! I thought I was going to vomit the whole time I was downing this thing. Dr Bennett listened to the heart beats and she's happy with how things are coming along! I gained 2 pounds so that puts me at 128lb and I'm feeling pretty good. Another great checkup! Yay! David and I can't wait for out next appointment on Monday with our perinatal doctor. Those are the exciting appointments because we get to have an ultrasound every time! We are so spoiled! What will we do if our next pregnancy is a singleton?! We won't have the luxury of all of these peeks at our baby!

5 months exactly! Half way there...

22/23 weeks ~ you can really see a difference in my belly size! But only a 2 pound difference...

People are really starting asking me how far along I am and when I tell them almost 6 months with twins, I think I lose them with "twins". I guess I'm pretty small to be carrying twins ~ but I'm not complaining! So long as it's my belly that's growing and my butt stops! :) One girl thought I was only 3 months just yesterday! I am definitely feeling a bit cramped these days though. My ribs feel like they are resting on top of my tummy when I sit down and my lungs just have no where else to go! At least I can still eat!!! And boy do these kids love it when I do! After I eat bigger meals (breakfast/lunch/dinner) they just move around and kick all over the place! It's so funny as if they're doing the happy dance... David said "Sound like a Preston.... well, maybe not. Moving after a big meal doesn't ever really happen!". :)

Nursery

I'm still having trouble with finding bedding. I'm driving myself crazy trying to find something that I love, will grow with two little boys and is at a reasonable price! If I can find fabric at a great price then we are going to have our bedding made! This is an exciting possibility...
We do have our cribs! It's so exciting to picture what their nursery will look like! I am already itching to get this nesting process rolling! We don't have a changing table/dresser just yet. We're waiting to find that IT piece. And by "IT" I mean matches the rest of the furniture, works as a regular dresser and is cheap!
But we did find an incredible furniture piece at the Pottery Barn outlet! It's an armoire that is multi-functional for clothes or as an entertainment center. So once the boys are no long in need of this it would work for a living room/bed room as an entertainment center! We love, love, love this piece! Mainly, I think, because we bought it for $1600 cheaper than the regular price tag! So far every thing that we have purchased has been on sale... Or we're just being careful and thrifty!

Please excuse the clutter/storage...

I think I am actually most excited about my new diaper bag! I decided that instead of spending $150-200 (and up) on a diaper bag that I am only going to use for a year or two, why not pay that for a large, well made purse that I can use later in life. I ended up getting a great deal on this purse and paid less for it than any other diaper bag that I've seen! So, it's really David/furniture and Sarah/purse... What else is new?!

Look at how big it is on the inside! Plenty of room for bottles, diapers, wipes, etc, etc, etc....

I'll post again next week with more photos from our doc appointment of our beautiful baby boys!