I guess I grow boys...

and only boys... two of my own and now these two!!

They are both big for dates and weigh about 6 oz each.

but for some reason nothing can ever be "easy" for me and as such: Baby Boy A has a heart defect.

I am sad and shocked, but we don't know enough yet to panic... they won't be able to tell for sure what the defect is for another couple of weeks at least... possibly as many as four. Heart defects are the most common birth defects out there, and only about 50% require surgical correction after birth... and in the absence of any other anomalies the prognosis for intrauterine survival is about 98%. All of these things are good. The only symptom is that BBA's left ventricle is enlarged... WHY it is enlarged is the big question.

I'd appreciate any thoughts and prayers you might have to spare for the health of the little guy.

Today is the day!

Today is the ultrasound during which we could potentially learn the sexes of the babies!

Can you say "giddy with anticipation?"

I knew you could!

I have heard that males are more prevalent in IVF and also that females are more prevalent in IVF but I think what it works out to is that the odds don't really change:

25% of twins will be Boy/Boy
50% of twins will be Boy/Girl
25% of twins will be Girl/Girl.

Now the safe money is on Boy/Girl of course... and my intuition from the beginning has been that AT LEAST one of the babies is a girl... so unless you're betting against my intuition I'd go with Boy/Girl or Girl/Girl if I were you. (better payouts on girl/girl tho). If we get in there and I am COMPLETELY wrong... you will hear about it asap because the shocked shouting will be deafening!

SO! Wish us luck, and send "cooperative babies" vibes my way! I'll update as soon as I can!

Good to be Home

I'm glad to be home. Thanksgiving with the inlaws was good, tho exhausting. The boys traveled REALLY well which made me SO happy, but the trips were still long and arduous and I'm glad we don't do it more often. I insisted on brining the turkey for dinner, and everyone was impressed with the difference it made in the flavor and juicyness of the meat (yay!). Otherwise I kicked my feet up mostly and just ate, watched TV and kicked back with the hubby. We got out and had a lot of alone time together too which was really fabulous. I appreciate that time so much with our schedules being so completely screwed in the real world.

The pregnancy is still going well, the babies are growing and I am feeling flutters pretty consistantly now in the evenings. I'll be 16 weeks on Wednesday and as early as tomorrow we could find out the sexes. I'm still not being as active as I'd like... but every day is a new day, and there is no reason not to get my activity in today.

According to the scale this morning I am up 15lbs for the pregnancy... so I've officially caught up on weight gain. I think I need to pay more attention to what I'm eating so I'm doing a simple food log this week to see how its going.

Its gonna be a busy week - Christmas pix for the kids, two doc appts (tues/fri), financial adivsor appt (wed), gotta get the annual holiday cards/photos sent out by this weekend I think... is it January yet? Wish me luck!

Over the river and thru the woods...

to grandmother's house we go.

Wisconsin that is... dairy cows, packer fans... should be an interesting week.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday everyone!!!

dude... this pregnancy thing...

is teh biggity bomb.

I'm so old.

So I went for a fabulous 2.5 mile aerobic walk yesterday before lunch. It was a sunny, crisp, beautiful fall day and I just couldn't sit inside at my desk any longer. My HR was up for the entire walk and I felt fabulous. I'm gonna do it again today too!!! Aren't y'all proud of me? The weights have been lagging to the wayside, mostly due to lack of motivation, but the weight is piling on (as it is supposed to do with a twin pregnancy) and of course that makes me paranoid for my eventual fitness.

Not that it should, but it does... cause I'm a girl and I'm irrational like that. Irrationality is one of my strong points right now, actually... from there I spiral downward into moody, brooding, emotionally fragile and chaotic. I'm hoping the walking will help with the rest of that stuff too. ;)

We leave on Sunday morning for Wisconsin to visit the inlaws for the holidays. We'll be gone the whole week (YAY!) and somehow I'll have to figure out how to get my butt back to work when we return, but I'm certain a bill will come while we're gone that shocks me back into the reality that is earning a living. Ah well.

As for the parasites, they're doing well, the books say they're about 3 inches long crown to rump and each weighs around 1-2 ounces. The next four weeks should mark some incredible growth in them and in me, so we'll see. I am 14 weeks now... in 6 weeks I'll be half way done! CRAZY!!! And in two weeks we'll get to try to find out the genders. My money is on one of each (cause I'd be right about 50% of the time) but I'm definitely convinced that there is at least one girl, so if its two boys I'll be shocked!

Hope all are well and happy!

Massage...

I truly truly believe that massage is one of the most beneficial health-maintenance therapies readily available today. Other than proper diet and exercise, massage is probably my favorite recommendation to friends trying to get healthy and fit. Massage by a well educated and licensed MT can release tension, relieve muscle and joint soreness, gently move your body into better alignment, move fluid and toxins from interstitial spaces (between the cells) in your tissues and back into the blood stream where it can be processed and eliminated by the kidneys and liver.

Plus it feels fantastic.

Sometimes I save my lunch money (tho less so now cause MAN am I hungry all the friggin time these days) for a week and get a massage on Friday. It starts the weekend off right and REALLY helps me let go of the prior weeks stress.

When I had migraines thru college one of the only things that seemed to really help keep them at bay was regular massage (stress is a nasty thing, my friends). I couldn't afford it often, but there were a few students in the area who would let me be a practice dummy for them every now and then.

I still wish I could justify massage more often... and I probably will later on in this pregnancy... but for now, I take it where I can get it, and tell everyone I know to do the same!

Its been a GOOD week, other than the yeast infection that cropped up due to the antibiotics last week... but I had expected it, so I didn't suffer long. Eating is fun, water is on track for the week and energy is slowly ramping back up to more normal levels...

must be nearing the second trimester eh?

Ok... I'm gonna beg...

This is shameless begging... so feel free to skip.

I've had a very small link to an iPod Referral site on my left column for a while now... and while a LOT of folks have "signed up" only one has completed an offer (THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!).

Here's the thing... I have an iPod Mini and I love it... but my husband keeps stealing it and its making me insane. I love him dearly and I'd love to get him his own iPod, but as is so common in this country these days the spare cash just isn't there, (we're sellin my car... so yeah... there's that) and we agreed to spend what we have on the kid's Christmas...

SO... if you haven't done one of these things before... and you don't mind signing up... I'd really appreciate any sign ups y'all are willing to give me so I can get my sweetie an iPod for Christmas.

I love y'all, and I hate to do stuff like this, but damnit if he isn't just the best husband I've got... ;) and I know he'd be just stoked.

Ok... enough of that!

Fitness update - I get to exercise again today as there has been no further bleeding for a week so I am STOKED to get my workout on this afternoon!

Hang tight everyone... this fitness girl WILL have a fit pregnancy... its inevitable!!!

Dried Apricots

I am munching on dried apricots right now. I freakin love these things. In addition to their colon happy effects, they taste GREAT, have a cool texture, and are high in vitamin A and Iron. I have been trying to avoid all of the Haloween candy that is still (for some reason) lingering around my house (ARGH!)... and the apricots make for a nice sweet snack that has at least SOME nutritional value.

My challenge lately has been in the water drinking arena. I need to be drinking at least 4-5 litres a day and I'm getting 2.5-3. My blood volume is expanding by up to 100% so I need the fluids to support that, but dangit all if I can suck it down fast enough. I think I may start having a pint immediately uppon waking... that will help a bit I'm sure.

I'm loving how big my uterus is already - usually around week 20 the fundus reaches the belly-button but mine (at 13 weeks) is already there. I was able to hear both babies with the dopler last night - Baby A was at 153bpm and Baby B was at 144. I'm doing well, they're doing well and hopefully things will be uneventful from here on out (I know I know... but I don't believe in jynxes)

:)

Pictures!!!

My Ninja and my Batman are HERE.

The rest of my weekend was very productive if uneventful. No further blood after Saturday, cleaned out about half of my clothes and sent them off to Good Will... made a cake, watched football, ate good food... it was a good weekend. I even got to go maternity clothes shopping with one of the babies parents and a friend AND they rented a dopler so we can listen to heart-tones when ever we want.

This Saturday my house will fill with people who are somehow involved with surrogate parenting. There will be infertile couples who are hoping to start their families with the help of a surrogate... there will be surrogate moms who have helped families and those still waiting to find the right people to help. Its blown my mind the sheer number of people who have had infertility issues so severe that their options for creating families have been narrowed to surrogacy or adoption and sometimes even adoption is removed due to age or other issues.

I'm excited to meet all of these people and to see how their lives have been impacted by their family building choices.

Howdy Folks...

Life is chugging away over here. Workouts are on hold (again) due to a small bleed that happened yesterday. Ultrasound revealed two happy babies and a small "sub-chorionic hemorage" behind the placenta of Twin A. Its pretty common I guess, and the Dr. said that based on its size its not somthing to worry about, but to take it easy for a week. So that's what I'm doing.

I've gained 3 more lbs for a grand total of 6.5 for the pregnancy. We're 12w 2d today, and I'm feeling really good - FINALLY!!!

Kids had a FUN Haloween and I'll get some pictures up soon I promise... they went trick-or-treating TWICE (not to the same houses) and got way too much candy... so tonight I'm letting them have a candy-fest (eat as much as they like) and after that the rest goes away (ie... Daddy's takin it to work for his co-workers to eat). I'm not anti-candy... but I think they just got WAY more than necessary this year and I'm happy to have it disapear so I don't end up eating a bunch of it too.

Hope everyone is having a GOOD solid start to their holidays. Its so fun to be in weight-gain mode rather than weight-loss mode for the holidays I can't even tell you. Honestly, I almost feel guilty, but I know the kiddos need the expansion and I think I've mentioned before that I'm actually really excited about getting to do a post-pregnancy transformation again, so I'm really enjoying being active and yet eating to gain... its a dichotomy I've not encountered before, and its really kinda fun!