28 weeks

Ok I know it's been forever since I posted but I've been just a little busy lately. :)

Update: I am 28 weeks but currently measuring 39-40 weeks. I feel as big as a house and am starting to have some issues with carrying all of this weight. I had actually gained 2 inches in my belly in 1 week so I can't imagine how much bigger I'm going to get. Makes me a little nervous but luckily I have Brandon taking really good care of me. I'm becoming very irritable and sleep deprived but still just trying to hang in there. What else can I do...right? The babies are doing very well. We had a stress test, which I will actually have every week now, and the results were perfect. Both babies are transverse which means they are laying horizontally. If they stay that way I will definitely have a c-section. I see the OB again in 2 weeks and we are going to schedule a c-section at that time. Of course I could go in to labor before then. The babies are constantly kicking all of the time and sometimes it feels as if they are going to pop right out of my belly. :)

Brandon and I finished the nursery which you can see in the picture above. It turned out just as I pictured it and it's so fun to sit in there from time to time and imagine how much our lives are about to change. I'm most nervous about how our little doggies will react to screaming and crying babies. Hopefully we can still make the dogs feel special as well.

Well, that's all there is to say right now but I'm hoping to update every week from here on out since I'm going to the doctor so much now. Hope everyone is well! Love you all!

18 Weeks

Today started out very frustrating. Brandon and I had been waiting for this day for a while because we were convinced we would find out the sexes of our babies. The doctor's office is literally about 5 minutes from my house and so I wanted to get there a bit early and left about 9:40 for my 10am appointment. I get on the highway and immediately thrust into bumper to bumper traffic because of construction and 1 lane being closed. The length from the time I get on the highway to the exit is about a mile but it took almost 15 minutes. So, I'm officially late by this point. THEN, I finally get off the highway on my exit and the traffic is as a hault again! I called Brandon and turns out there was a funeral procession for a firefighter happening right in front of my doctors office and they had all of the entrances blocked off and wouldn't let traffic through. So, now I'm almost 15 minutes late for my appointment. I called my doctor to let them know I was late and they put me on hold for what seemed like 10 minutes so I finally got so frustrated that I just hung up, turned off my car and waited. I finally get into the office about 10:20 and they had the nerve to give me a hard time about being late and "hope they can squeeze me in". :-0 I couldn't believe it. So, we patiently wait in the waiting room, get back to the ultrasound room and find out that I'm not having a traditional ultrasound but a cervical scan. OMG, at this point I was about to just go off. I asked the tech if she could tell me what the sexes were with that thing and she said no. I was just about to burst into tears when she offered to do both and try to figure out the sexes. So, almost right away after putting the little wand over my belly she saw A GIRL! I was so happy! Just a few short seconds later she told us that we also had A BOY! I have never felt so lucky and blessed in my whole life. I am now more excited than ever to get the ball rolling on buying stuff and picking out names. Tomorrow is our 5 year anniversary and we have decided to go out of town for the weekend and now that we know what our babies are, I'm sure we'll spend most of our time talking about names. :-)

Ok, off to bed. I'll post again when I have new information! Love you all!

15 weeks

Hello all. Well, I start this blog with sad news that my cousin who slipped into a coma after complications from child birth in March passed away this morning. She had been in a coma for a few weeks so we saw it coming but it definitely doesn't make it any easier. She had been trying for a baby for many years and it just seems so unfair that she will not get to raise him. Not sure how to feel except sad. Ironically my other cousin who is pregnant has been induced to give birth today so there are a flurry of emotions going through me and the rest of my family. Please keep us all in your prayers.

As for my pregnancy...everything is still going well and my belly sure is growing. I will be 16 weeks at the end of this week. I have an appointment with a high-risk doctor this Thursday so to check me over and give any and all recommendations to my doctor. Some say I am far enough with twins to find out what I am having so we'll see. If not, I have another ultrasound at the end of this month and we should know for sure by then. I have been having a lot of morbid dreams about doctors appointments and anything else my brain can come up with but I'm pretty convinced I'll either have 2 boys or 1 of each. Not sure why but that's what my dreams are telling me.

A lot of my nausea has gone away but I still have to run to the bathroom from time to time. I'm not sure which is worse. I also have my first baby shower coming up next month which I am so excited about. I can't believe I am having 3 showers but that's just how it worked out. I am having the first 2 a bit early since I have to travel and the doc says no traveling after 28 weeks so I'm going to Oklahoma in June, California in July and maybe having a shower here in Kansas later on in August or September. It's kind of nice though to get them all spaced out. That way I won't feel overwhelmed with all the stuff.

Anyhoo, that's about all I have to update you on right now. I'll try to post another blog after my appointment this week. Take Care!

13 weeks and counting

Ok ok, I know it's been a while since I've posted but we've had a lot of visitors and other things going on in our lives recently. For the past few weeks we've had just about every member of each family visit and it's been great! I also had to make a trip out to Oklahoma City recently so it's just been go go go! Here is the latest on the pregnancy......

I am 13 weeks as of yesterday and on the morning of April 1st (literally) my belly popped out. I actually went from just a bump to a very noticeable bulge. My morning sickness has gotten better but I still have my days where I just feel like I'm going to die. We had our last ultrasound on April 2nd and the babies were movin like crazy. It was so weird to see that going on inside of me. It was like I was watching a movie or something since I couldn't actually feel it. Right now they tell me that the babies are the size of limes so today at the grocery store I held 2 limes up to my stomach to get an idea. Seems so weird. I just still can't believe it.

I had a little bit of a scare last week when I was lazily walking around home depot and began feeling my heart race and the feeling like someone was sitting on my chest. Luckily, Brandon was meeting me up there and was able to make sure I was ok. I called the doctor and was told to take an antacid and some ibuprofen and to lay on my left side for 2 hours. Apparently twins take a lot of my blood and put a lot of pressure on my heart so every now and then I just have to rest no matter what. Luckily it all went away and I didn't have to go to the hospital but it was scary all the same. Every since then I have felt pretty good minus some morning sickness and fatigue.

My parenting instincts, or something like it, kicked in for sure yesterday. I caught 3 neighborhood boys in my backyard and one had kicked or trampled on one of the dogs. I heard the dogs barking like crazy and went to check it out and immediately yelled at the boys to get out of my yard unless they wanted to get bit. LOL I don't think I've ever been so mother like. It was pretty humerous but also upsetting. UGH!

I have a job interview next Tuesday with Kohl's and I'm so hoping for the discount to my favorite store!!! Wish me luck!

I hope everyone is well and I'll try to post a little more often now that I'm feeling better. Keep checking my facebook for new pics of the belly. I'm gonna start posting one every couple of weeks.

Love you all!!!

Almost 9 weeks along

So....WOW it's been a while since I've posted but to be honest with you the thought of looking at a computer screen the past few days has made me feel sick. Interesting!

Well, we had our last ultrasound with the IVF doctor yesterday and all is going well. The babies are growing and we could see little hands and feet. Sort of weird but very exciting. I still don't think it's hit me that there are 2 people growing inside me. I don't think it will really hit until I feel them move or something.

I have been having a ton of morning sickness.....let me re-phrase that....morning, noon AND night sickness. It doesn't ever seem to go away. I don't know if it's more than normal because there are 2 babies in there but all I know is that it's awful. So far I'm not enjoying it so much but just remind myself everyday how lucky I am to be so blessed with 2 children at the same time. Although I have broke down to Brandon a couple of times about my fears of taking care of 2 infants as a first time mom. I know he will be home for a while but I am dreading that first day he goes off to work and I'm home alone with them. Anyone want to move in to help?! We have a finished basement! :-) Anyway, I know my instincts will kick in but for now I worry. I wish I had a job to keep my mind off of it a bit but the thought of working with the way I feel scares me even more. I would hate to be working somewhere and have to run to the bathroom all the time. Not a good impression!

Today my friend down the street came over with her 1 year old. He is just starting to walk and wants to walk everywhere! I started thinking about when my babies start to walk. What if they wander off to different places? THEN WHAT!?!?! OMG that scares me to death. Which one do you go after first. Is it child abuse to put them in a pen? lol Just kidding. I feel like I want to wrap my house in bubble wrap when that time comes. Sometimes I forget to feed my dogs until like an hour after their dinner time and think, "OMG, what if I forget to feed my kid....OR the dogs because I'm so focused on the kids?" You can probably tell that I am scared to death and really want to move in every mom I know into my house until the kids get to school age. This may be a little dramatic but for those of you who know me well this shouldn't come at a surprise. My normal personality + double hormones = DRAMA!!

My in-laws are coming in town this weekend and I am so excited for that. My MIL can take me out to do some girlie stuff, which I need so bad, and the boys can do whatever. This weekend is also my birthday but I have noticed that this year I keep forgetting about it. My mind is definitely on the belly and not on myself. Weird how that happens. I just hope that I feel well enough to really enjoy the time that they are here and I'm not laid up in bed or something. Hopefully them being here will be just the distraction I need.....although I'm sure my MIL will want to do some baby shopping. :-)

The last thing I want to mention are the cravings. I haven't had any weird ones yet but I have had the overwhelming urge to eat lots of Wendy's fries and for some random reason I decided to have spaghettio's for dinner tonight. Probably haven't eaten them since I was a teenager. They tasted so good!

Well, my evening meds are kicking in and I'm getting sleepy. I will try to post more often when I feel up to it. Thank you all for wanting to keep up with our baby progress and as always you can see our most recent ultrasound pics on facebook. I can also email them to you if you'd like. Just let me know!

Love you all! Goodnight

Rough Night

Ok folks....so I had a very rough night. I was feeling pretty sick and had a hard time falling asleep in a comfortable position. I finally fell asleep and then was ripped back out of sleep at midnight by my dog Dottie who jumped on my chest.....and by chest I mean boob, just so that I had a very sharp electric type feeling go through my entire body. Poor Brandon was also ripped from him sleep by my loud scream. Anyway, then I was woke up again at 6am due to the round robin of alarms Brandon has set to wake him up. I think the alarms go off for like an hour before he actually gets up. Anyway, when I first wake up I have to eat something, so.....at 6am Brandon had to go get me some crackers and chocolate milk so that my stomach would settle and I could go back to sleep. UGH! What a way to start the day I tell ya.

Today I am exactly 7 weeks along. I was starting to worry that I was showing too soon but last night we looked up pictures of other women pregnant with twins to see how their bellies look. To my surprise I looked very similar to other women at around 7-8 weeks so it really made me feel better. The problem is that we also looked at the pics of the women 30+ weeks and it really freaked me out. I just hope I don't become one that waddles. :-( As of today I will start taking a pic of my belly every week and posting it on my facebook. I will also email it to anyone who wants to see but is not on facebook. Anyway, we are getting very excited! Our next ultrasound is on March 22nd so hopefully we will have new ultrasound pics to share as well.

Well, it's about that time to start unwinding for the day and trying to get some rest. Have a good rest of the day!

First Ultrasound

Hello all! It's been a while since my last posting but I've been feeling pretty awful lately. Well, we had our first ultrasound yesterday and it said that we're having twins. When the doctor said that.....I was speechless. I just looked over at Brandon with wide eyes and my hand over my mouth. It's still a little hard to let sink in. I keep thinking about bringing 2 babies home rather than 1 and wondering what our lives are going to be like. I also started worrying about how big I would get and how I would feel throughout the process. I see my friends who have just 1 and how hard it is to work and take care but I will have 2! How crazy is that? I guess we'll figure it out as we go along. We're not the first people in the world to do it so we'll just make it work. I have to say though that if anyone wants to move in to help......you got it! Just kidding! Brandon is very excited as well but I think he is also a little nervous about complications and just having 2 newborns at the same time. I see a lot of working from home in his future! :-)

I am actually feeling good today. Nausea has been minnimal which is a far cry from what it's been the last few days. The good news is that the doctor took me off of my shots which made yesterday the best day ever! I just couldn't take it anymore. My back side was raw as can be and so painful.

We have another ultrasound in 2 weeks to just make sure everything is progressing well and then I will be released to an OBGYN. Which means.....I need to find one ASAP. I am still not allowed to exercise which really stinks because everything is getting mushy and I will have a long road ahead of me to build muscle again. You'd think it would be fun being told not to workout but it's not all it's cracked up to be.

Anyway, I'll keep you all posted on everything. I'm still trying to figure out if I can post pics on here. If you'd like to see our first ultrasound pics, you can see them on facebook or just email me and I'll send them to you.

Kathi

5 Weeks and 4 days

Hello all! It's been a few days since my last posting but I've not been feeling the best. I really don't have much to share today other than I'm so excited that I only have to take my shots every other night this week. WAHOO!! It really is such a relief. We have our first ultrasound coming up in 1 week and I can't wait to see what's going on inside. It will really hit me that I am pregnant once they tell me that everything looks good and there is nothing to worry about. I have not had any morning sickness but have had a lot of nausea. I'm having this very weird relationship with food right now. Everything tastes bland and nothing EVER sounds good. I don't even really get hungry. I don't know if that's normal or not but my appetite is seriously different and very frustrating. It was very hard going to the grocery store today because NOTHING looked good. I was in there so long and I just ended up buying things that I hoped I would like at the time of consumption. UGH! Anyway, I hope you're all doing well and until next time.....

5 weeks as of today

So, I found out yesterday that I am 5 weeks exactly as of today. That would mean that my due date is on October 28th but my doctor has not said that firmly yet. Again, I will know for sure at my March 8th ultrasound. I am still having a rough time with shots and have little aches and pains but still no morning sickness. Maybe that's the reason it really hasn't hit me yet that I am pregnant. As for the shots, luckily I've met someone who is going through the same thing as I am right now and is actually only 6 days behind me in this process. Anyway, she told me that I should ice down my backside for 30 minutes before my shot and it would really help. Well, we tried that last night, and although I bled a lot more, it was a lot more manageable.....I'll be doing that way from now on. I just really pray that as of my ultrasound, I won't have to do these shots anymore. :-)

No really weird cravings today although I've noticed my appetite changing in the sense that I don't really get hungry. I mean, a bagel for breakfast and 2 pieces of bruchetta for lunch isn't a lot of food but I'm completely content.....and in fact I had to force myself to eat the bruchetta. My husband has decided to go on the Atkins diet for a few days so that makes it even harder. Especially when I get in the mood to cook and he can't eat what I make. It's hard to cook for one person. I highly doubt I'm going to have the type of husband who puts on pregnancy pounds with me. OY! I'll be a cow and he'll be doing Atkins.....FUN!! Anyways, I feel going to bed early tonight is in my agenda as I'm sick of watching TV and it's too cold to do anything outside. I've been looking for some temp jobs but it's slim pickens here in KC. I'm bored to death and can't wait until March when family visits and I have my first ultrasound. Looking so forward to March!

Until next time......

Pregnancy day 16.....I think

So, I still don't know exactly how far I am and won't know until my March 8th ultrasound. I am feeling pretty good, no morning sickness yet. I am more tired than anything. Brandon usually gives me my shot at 7pm and I'm asleep by 8:30 or 9. For some reason the shot makes me extremely tired....so much that I have more or less given up my bed time TV watching that I've always done. I don't even seem to care about it anymore. Food has become somewhat of a challenge. I've eaten 2 large pickles today already. For some reason it sounded good to have a pickle, or 2, with my blueberry bagle I had this morning washed down with apple juice. It sounds so gross to list it on this blog but man it tasted good. For the first few days I craved a lot of sweets, however, they don't seem as appealing for the first time in my life. Weird.

2 nights ago was the roughest night yet. I had been very cranky all day and Brandon really caught the wrath when he got home. I wasn't upset with him in any way but just frustrated to the 10th degree. I tried to take a bath but I can't have the water too hot so it turned cold fast and I began to shiver......not so relaxing. I can't sleep on my back or stomach and hate to sleep on my sides....oy! I'm also so tired in the late afternoon and don't feel much like cooking but would like a hot meal. I told Brandon that he needs to learn to cook a bit because I know he can live on cereal but I cannot. These are just a few of my frustrations over the past couple of days. The shots I take every night are becoming more and more painful each day. I can't even describe how awful it is but I know it's for the baby.

Anyway, thank you all for keeping up with us. I know some of you have told me you are unable to post comments and I'm not exactly sure why. I am working on it.

Love Kathi

Finding out we're pregnant

Ok, so this is a few days late but we wanted to make sure we were ACTUALLY pregnant before starting a blog.

Back in December, Brandon and I decided that we were going to try IVF (in vitro fertilization) to get pregnant after 4 long years of trying. We went through rounds of fertility testing, chromosome testing and found out that we were good candidates for this approach. I began with hormone shots which led to stimulation shots. My ovaries were taken from the size of halzelnuts to the size of softballs. Not the most comfortable thing to do but luckily I haven't had to work yet so I have been able to practically live in sweat pants. :-) On February 4th, I had an egg retrieval surgery which left me in some pain but manageable. My eggs were then fertilized on the same day and checked in a lab daily for viability. When it was all said and done, we had 3 embryos survive. On February 9th, I had another procedure to implant 2 embryos and freeze the last one for future use. I had to wait a LONG 8 days to find out if it had all worked.

On February 17th I went in for the first of 3 blood tests. I had to wait 2.5 hours for the results and it was the longest 2.5 hours of my life. Finally, the doctor called to congratulate me that I was pregnant and that my HCG level was at 54. Although elated, I was still worried about the other 2 tests since I have miscarried before. I had the 2nd blood test on February 19th and got the call that my HCG was now 107. This news was great because the levels are supposed to double every 2 days. Today I had my final blood test. I couldn't believe that my HCG level was 452!!!! WOW! I am so excited! I will have my first ultrasound on March 8th where we will find out if there are 1 or 2 babies inside me.

I am feeling pretty good so far, although very tired most of the time. It hasn't really hit me yet that I am pregnant but I am hoping that will change at the first ultrasound........stay tuned!