Hiccups

While some people seem to been prone to having hiccups from time to time, I have never been one one these people. I guess I am different but I usually only get a hiccup. Yes, one loud hiccup and I am done. I know it sounds strange, but that's just me. On the other hand, my twins living inside me get them all the time. The first time I noticed this was a few weeks back during an ultrasound. I could feel this little constant thump but I didn't put two and two together until the ultrasound tech. said Baby A (Abigail) has the hiccups. It was cute and fun to feel the movement and see it on the screen. Baby B (Chloe-our little twin) had not had the hiccups, but on Monday she got them! I was hooked up to the fetal heart rate monitor where they were monitoring both babies heart rates and testing for stress (they call it NST-non stress test); I have this done three times a week with the ultrasound. This time I was actually down in Labor and Delivery where I had been admitted for the afternoon for additional monitoring; Chloe was not behaving during my Monday morning appointment and the doctor was concerned (she's fine...just better safe than sorry). I was listening to Chloe's heartbeat because she is the hardest to find and keep on, when all of a sudden I heard another constant thump that wasn't her heart beat. After I inquired I was told it was Chloe having the hiccups. I was pretty excited about this. It felt like a little milestone had been met, since her sister has been doing it for a couple of weeks. After some research it was fun to find out that some scientists believe the brain releases a growth hormone when the baby hiccups, while others believe the baby is strengthening their diaphragm in preparation for breathing. With either theory, it meant that our smaller twin was growing! Sometimes it happens several times a day and sometimes not at all but I just love feeling the little thump, thump, thump of them getting the hiccups.

Busy but AWESOME Weekend!

This past Saturday my two older sisters, Sarah and Laura threw me an amazing shower. The shower was an afternoon tea party theme including this great spread of delicious food, all my favorites of course, and an adorable cake decorated with a tiny little tea set. Although I did not drink any tea, they made this lemonade punch that was a huge success...I think I probably had 6 glasses. The shower was just perfect. It was fun, girly, intimate and although I was exhausted by the end I had a wonderful time. I received tons of gifts, everyone is so generous, and to my amazement I only received a few clothing items (besides the 3 adorable handmade outfits from my mother-in-law which included matching little purses, bonnets and pink baseball caps). I guess with twins everyone is much more practical realizing we need the other stuff more than the clothing. After all, we have been so blessed with hand-me-downs! I have been given three bags from my friend Carey who has twin girls, a box from a coworker and two boxes from my cousins Mary and Kim (who even sent left over diapers from her son...thank you for those!) I also received gifts from my Aunt Pat and my two cousins, Mary and Kim who all live in Indiana.

On Sunday, our families were a wonderful help in getting some much needed things done around the house. My Mom worked hard on our laundry, which has become Joe's job since my bed rest and he obviously was slacking in that department...but I can't blame him who really likes doing laundry anyways, while the other girls helped put away all the new gifts and organize the twins nursery. The nursery was a mess because I kept piling all the new stuff in the cribs. They organized the clothes in the dresser, packed the bigger items in boxes to trade out in the future and organized the closet. Whew I was tired when they were done and all I did was sit in one of the gliders, help open some small items and of course put my opinion in. I can't thank them all enough! Clean laundry... and an organized nursery!

Yesterday at the doctors they measured the twins again. I am happy to report that Abigail now weighs 3 lbs. 12 oz. (she gained 10 oz. in two weeks) and Chloe weighs 2 lbs. 2 oz. (she gained 5 oz. in two weeks) . The doctors were very pleased with both of their progress, although Chloe is only growing at about half the rate of Abigail, she continues to grow, remains very active and is showing no more signs of distress. The doctors set a goal of carrying them until at least 32 weeks a few weeks ago but I am feeling much more confident about making it to 36 weeks! On Saturday I will be 31 weeks so that would only be 5 more weeks.

Friday's Better!

After a gloomy, rainy Thursday I am finally feeling much more like myself again. Although, it is still rainy today. But I do usually enjoy a good rainy day now and again. Vivian, our cat seems to like it...she is currently dead to the world sleeping on our guest bed as I am typing. What a hard life she lives. We had a nice evening last night, our friends Todd and Kerry came up from St. Augustine for a visit and brought dinner. We enjoyed spending the evening hanging out with them and this also helped lift my spirits. My appointment this morning went well. They are even talking of moving me back to 2 appointments a week again. I will wait and see what they say next week.

This is me last Sunday at 29 weeks. The picture is not very good but it's all I've got.

Third Trimester Blues

This week has definitely been a tough one as far as my pregnancy has gone. Friday Joe and I went to what we thought would be a pretty routine doctor's visit, and oh how I was wrong. Our smaller baby, Chloe, was showing signs of distress which prompted my doctor to put me on bed rest. Hard words to fathom when you are used to working, currently four days a week, doing tons around the house and etc. This past weekend was hard for me. Just letting the news sink in and the reality of it. My parents were returning from their vacation in NC, so they stayed with us on Saturday evening and left Sunday afternoon. It was nice to have some company with the recent news.

Just as I was getting used to the idea of being at home all day long (sounds like great fun but take my word it's not), Monday sent me on a trip to the hospital. The babies were fine, it was a "mommy-to-be" issue. I woke up Monday morning at 2am unable to sleep due to much discomfort in my chest. By 5:30am I was unable to sit or lay in one place for more than about 15 minutes, and by 7am the pain was just about unbearable and Joe took me to the hospital. Once I was admitted to Labor and Delivery, they hooked up the fetal monitors and determined I was not having any contractions and the twins were just fine. It was later determined I had a GI issue of some kind (either I ate something bad or severe heartburn....acid blocking up into my esophagus). An IV and two medications later I was feeling well enough to let them wheel me upstairs to visit the ultrasound doctors, I had an appointment with them that morning anyways. All was well with the girls...Chloe was no longer showing signs of distress! This made it all worth while, the bed rest I mean. I was discharged from the hospital about 1:00pm and we arrived home around 1:30pm. I promptly went straight to bed and slept until around 5:30pm waking up feeling better, but still not great.

Tuesday was uneventful, until around 8:30pm....the chest pain was creeping back. I immediately took a Zantac per my doctor and prayed the pain would go away. I slept on and off through the night having a lot of upper back discomfort and minor chest pain. Wednesday morning back to the doctors for the 2nd of my 3 times a week appointments. The twins were still looking great. The bed rest is really doing it's job. Now if they could just make my chest and back stop hurting. Picture constant upper back pain no matter how you sit or lay and every time you breath, chest pain. Definitely not anything like Monday's experience but still miserable. One of the joys of being pregnant is severe heartburn. As the stomach acid backs up into the esophagus it irritates the lining creating the burning sensation. Luckily the Zantac seems to keep the pain at a reasonable level.

So far today has been pretty good. Chest pain seems to be gone for now and minimal back pain too. I even seem to have a bit of my appetite back. I had been forcing myself to eat the past three days but today I enjoyed my breakfast. Hoping this will last at least over the weekend. My sisters are throwing me a baby shower on Saturday (the beginning of my 30th week) which I am super excited about and I want to be able to fully enjoy it.

28 Week Update!

On Wednesday, I resumed what I thought would start my weekly appointments at the ultrasound doctors...oh how I was wrong. I now get to go twice a week to the ultrasound doctors.

Well let me start from the beginning. After having a week off from appointments I went yesterday at 8:00am to the ultrasound doctors then at 8:50am to my OB doctors. I was super excited about going to the ultrasound doctors yesterday. I missed seeing the girls...I am really spoiled having an ultrasound every week! I was also excited because I knew they would be measuring the girls this week and I was looking forward to seeing how much they had grown (they hadn't been measured in 3 weeks). Baby A (Abigail) now weighs 3lbs 2oz and Baby B (Chloe) now weighs 1lb 13oz. This was a bit of a shock...Chloe is much smaller than Abigail. They have definitely ruled out Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome (TTTS). This is where one twin grows significantly large for her age and one remains small for her age. Two leading factors in this syndrome include fluid levels in the amniotic sacs being quite different (one having a lot and the other having very little) and one baby growing much faster than the normal rate and one remaining small. We do not have either of these factors. While Abigail is larger than Chloe she is still in her normal growth size but Chloe is just too small and both girls have about the same fluid levels in their sacs. We were glad to rule this syndrome out for now! A small discordance is very normal in twins, but my girls have a significant discordance in their weight that the doctors are concerned with. So my twice weekly appointments now stem from them wanting to monitor Chloe's growth very closely. They assured us not to worry or lose sleep, both girls look very good besides the weight difference. Chloe did grow about 8oz since her last measuring which is also a good sign!

At my OB appointment, I found out I PASSED my three hour glucose tolerance test! Yeah! We also went over the information from the ultrasound doctors and answered some questions I had. They assured me the best place for our babies is in "my oven" so no other plans to be made just yet. While all of this information may seem overwhelming Joe and I remain calm and positive. They assured me there is nothing I can do at this time but what I have already been doing, taking care of myself and the babies. I have still not been put on any other restrictions so I feel good about that as well! Right now we just wait and pray for our little Chloe to grow baby grow and to catch up to her sister!

28 weeks!

Wow, it seems like time really does fly. Yesterday marked the beginning of my 28Th week of pregnancy. I am officially in my 3rd trimester! Some days it feels like I have been pregnant forever, but saying I'm finally 28 weeks just sounds weird. 36 weeks is the magic number according to my OB doctors for twins so I could potentially have these girls in 8 weeks! But of course it could be more or less. Most often if you are carrying twins and you go into labor anywhere after 32 weeks they will do nothing to stop it.

Joe and I went to our first of five Childbirth Classes on Wednesday evening. The class was quite full with about 15 other couples in attendance. So far so good; at our first class we talked a lot about anatomy and the changes our bodies are going through, as well as did deep breathing and relaxation techniques. The deep breathing and relaxation reminded me of the end of yoga. Some interesting pieces of information we learned... the blood flows at a speed of 4 miles per hour through the umbilical cord, the average baby now weighs 7 lbs 6 ounces to 8 lbs (not for twins of course) and most of the time Mom's of multiples who are not having a c-section still deliver in an operating room (this is just in case a c-section has to be done quickly).

Yearly Dose of Fireworks...

Joe and I definitely got our yearly dose of fireworks this year. On Thursday, July 3rd after work we went down to St. Augustine. Our friends Todd and Kerry invited us to come over for dinner followed by watching the World Golf Village's fireworks display. The weather was perfect! We got there in plenty of time to get a great spot on the grass where we could see both displays.
On Friday, July 4Th, Joe and I slept in and leisurely went to the pool about 11am. We ate hamburgers and hot dogs, hung out with our neighbors Jay and Jan and went swimming. In the evening, they invited us to have dinner and watch the downtown Jacksonville fireworks on their boat. We anchored the boat, had dinner and enjoyed the evening until the fireworks started at 9:45pm. We had a great spot in between two of the three barges set up in the St. John's River. The display was awesome like every year. The only downfall was getting home late. Joe and I both had to get up and work today...what a drag that was. So far the day has gone by relatively fast with only 4 more hours of work to go! If the rain hasn't come in yet, we plan on going back to the pool this afternoon and later finishing watching the movie "American Gangster".
Hope your Fourth of July weekend is fun and safe!

Cravings

Throughout my pregnancy so far, one of the number one questions I get is "What are you craving?". Up to this point my answer is usually just food period. I seem to eat something every few hours and it really doesn't matter what. But now I think I have a real craving...donuts. It seems like every time I drive by Krispy Kreme the hot sign is on. It's like a huge bright red stop sign yelling to me, "TURN HERE, WE'RE HOT & DELICIOUS!" Twice in the past week I have driven by and that darn sign was on. And it's not just Krispy Kreme, it's any place with donuts. I find myself looking twice as I drive by one of those Dunkin Donuts/ Baskin Robins combos. I think, "Do I need anything in Publix...because while I'm in there I could get a chocolate frosted donut." I've given in once but I am trying to hold out:)