Baby Shower - Hosted by Emily Bishman :)

A fun and funky baby shower hosted by Emily Bishman. The theme (if you couldn't tell) was Dr. Seuss!! The guests of honor.....Thing 1 and Thing 2! Genius! A great time was had by all and the boys made out like bandits! I cannot even tell you how special and amazing it is to have such caring and giving friends.

27 week photo

My oldest and dearest friend Brandi

My new colleagues Diane and Emmy....they've come to be very special to me

Christi and Sandy

Terri and Brianna

Me and the "hostess with the mostest" Emily

The "gang" from Siebens 9 (minus Terri) Sandy, Christi, Barb, and Jen - I am proud to say that the boys will get to know each of these ladies very well!

Terry Markham and I. Our husbands work together at McNeilus. She was due just days after this photo was taken. One more in our "group" Steph Barnes is also due in the Spring. Lots and lots of babies!

Me and my extra rounded face......

Party decor! Have I mentioned how creative and fabulous Emily is???

27 Week Appointment

How exciting! We had a GREAT appointment today. We not only got to see the boys and see how they are growing, but we were surprised with a 3D ultrasound. It was a bit emotional for both of us as we never expected to see the baby's features so distinctly defined. Such beautiful lips Baby A has!

A note to Baby B.....we LOVE you, but want you to know there are no pictures of you this week because you were shy! We would have loved to see your beautiful face as well, but you had your back to my belly. So, what did we learn today?

As usual, the boys are HUGE! Baby A is 80% (and for the first time, we were told he has a large head) and weighed in at 2 lbs. 7 oz. and is head down (yeah!). Baby B is 60% and weighed in at 2 lbs. 6 oz. He has his head up right now and is curled in a ball so that his feet (and Baby A's feet) are in my diaphragm. I thought I had lots of "baby parts" smushed up in there! All 4 feet! They are each measuring about a week ahead still and the doctor once again told us (for the 5th time) that they are "great size for a single baby". I made the customary joke (for the 5th time) that I'll have two 9 lb. babies and go to 40 weeks, and for the first time he said, "I'll tell you, we won't let you go past 38, and if you make it that far, you'll be begging me to take them earlier". I am assuming this is coming from their size and rapid development. So, with all that said, we can expect to welcome the newest members of the Fallon Family before or on April 11....where does the time go?!

We did talk a little bit about labor and delivery. He said that our options are as follows:

Best Case: easiest vaginal delivery, both babies head down
Second Best: complicated vaginal delivery
Third Best: Planned C-Section
Last : one vaginal delivery followed by C-Section for Baby B.

So......although I told doc I didn't necessarily feel the need to push out two babies, I know the recovery time is far less for a vaginal birth versus a C-Section. And then I just said, "eh....what's it matter anyway...they're going to come when and how they want anyway"!

So, headaches have really mellowed out over the last week and a half or so. It's REALLY nice not to get up every morning feeling like someone smashed my head in. You can tell that I'm feeling better.....I gained 8 lbs. over the last 4 weeks!!!! I guess that's what happens when you aren't puking your guts out all day every day! :) So, that takes my total weight gain up to 23 lbs. I hope to keep it under or at 40. The recommended 20 per baby.

Here are the photos we got today. Again, Baby B....we love you! Next time, if you want you picture posted too....you'd better be a little more cooperative!

Baby A

Week 26 Photos

Again.....what can I say? For 7 months and only 21 lbs....it sure seems like a LOT more! But, to be fair, I did promise to stop complaining about the small stuff. Grow Babies Grow!!

Week 26

We have.....between 11-14 weeks to go! We are NOT ready. It's all coming so fast. We have our first baby shower next Sunday (hosted by the lovely Emily Bishman :) There is so much stuff we have yet to get on our registry.....and if not for people to have shower gifts to buy for us, but just in order to be organized. What better way to know what we have vs. what we yet need. So, that will be the first thing we do Saturday morning. I've been feeling really good these days so my ambition level has risen. Although, I have to say, with my increasing size, while my ambition level has risen, my pace has lowered! LOL!

I haven't yet gotten a picture for this week, but wanted to fill you in on the boys and their "tudes".....attitudes. We have definitely picked out names, and we are pretty sure we've assigned them to Baby A and Baby B, strictly for how we feel they are "behaving" and how we think each of them with the names we've chosen would behave. If that makes any sense? We will obviously look at them when they are born, but by that point, we may be too attached to swap their names at that point.

Baby A.....this guy is a strong, determined little bugger. Even though "A" has the placenta in the front and we were told to expect less movement from him, he is by far the most active of the two! He did have his busy time of right around 8:30 p.m. but now he really goes all the time.

Baby B.....he's going to be more like his Daddy. He's more laid back and doesn't get too excited about anything. He'll move a tiny bit after I eat and maybe a bit around 10:30 - 11:00 p.m. but everything seems to be on his schedule. He's gone a day or two without really giving me a good solid "punch"....I've gotten to the point where I've actually been worried about him, and then, all of a sudden he's like, "here I am Mom"!

Both babies may take after their Mommy as they aren't into "what's expected of them". For example, eating, sweets, orange juice....these tricks do NOT work on our boys if we want them to kick. Nor do they respond to the flashlight, cold water, or Daddy's voice. They already have their own minds and no one is going to tell them what they should or shouldn't be doing. :) So, either it's 1. Good for you guys! You be the best little individual babies you can be or 2. Oh my....what's going to happen in two years? Whichever it is, it's sooooo exciting that they are already forming their own unique personalities.

Milestone

I have to say, I'm quite proud of my husband. He knocked out both cribs this weekend!! He looked at the changing table, but I think he needs a little break before tackling that. We were very reassured to see that Baby Changing Instructions also came along with the changing table. I kid you not!! John said we'll have to post them on the wall so we can see them each time we use the table. LOL!

As you can see, John had his two trusty helpers for this very special project, never ones to be left out of anything. I'm sure if we let them, they'd take over the cribs. Now isn't THAT a picture?!! We've still got plenty of work to do with the nursery and other preparations (like attending baby classes!) but we are getting there.

Week 25

Power of positive thinking??

Perhaps there is much to be said about this "saying". I just stumbled across a blog written by a woman in California who recently had twins and it was a very thought provoking blog. I really enjoy reading other peoples blogs, not only because I am a curious and snoopy person, but because right now in my life, I have a lot of questions I want/need answered. Begining with our infertility struggles and "how long do we try this before moving on" to our IVF stage, "how many days did everyone else take their stimulating shots before their trigger and harvest" to now, "how did everyone else feel at this week and how soon did other people pregnant with twins give birth? What's the 'magic' number I need to count down to"? I've run across funny blogs - which promted the "top things to never say to a couple experiencing infertility" to normal day to day, "walked the dog, pee'd on a stick, guess I'm pregnant" blogs to incredibly bizarre blogs - in one case, a woman from the UK documented her own self attempt at IUI - apparently the pressure was too much for her husband and there was a turkey baster involved.....funny, but really borderline creepy! But I have to say, the website I found today was different. This woman (and her husband equally) wrote so beautifully on being pregnant - documenting not only day to day feelings, but also thoughts on how the babies made them feel about their own families and comfortable jokes of how big she was and even lots of home videos documenting the movements of their boys. From the time they found out they were expecting twins (after thinking they had suffered a miscarriage) they wrote about the boys - using their names and affectiontly dubbed them "baby ninjas". The tone of the entire blog was loving and glowing. The screen was glowing, and not because it was lit up, but because of the words that were coming across. I guess my point is, perhaps I should take a page from this couples book. It's not all about me and weather or not I'm sleeping, peeing, pooping, being sick, throwing up, having headaches, or getting fat. All of those things should now be null and void or at the very least, put on the back-burner. I think that since I've felt soooo terrible these last few months - that's what the entire pregnancy has become about. Maybe it's time I "step up my game" and put on a "positive face". Our boys are growing at rapid rates, they are healthy, and apparently are so in love with their home inside my tummy......that's what this pregnancy should be about, and in time, the positive thinking may just turn everything around for us. And if not, well then, there's a lot to be said for suffering in silence too.

Week 24

Well, I have to say, I was in quite a bit of denial about how big I've gotten until I saw this weeks photo.....um, I may just STOP taking them altogether! I look like this huge ball with a shrunken head!! Seriously, who cast the spell on me?? I have nothing more to say on the matter this week!