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!

Week 23

Well, here's its been a few weeks again since I posted any pictures. As I've told people, my photographer has been traveling and we just haven't gotten to it. In the meantime, I do have some photos (and one awesome video) to post from our appointment yesterday. The boys continue to grow at record speeds and the doctor gave me kudos for working full time while battling my headaches an growing these babies!
Some milestones over the past few weeks?
- At week 21 or so at 5 p.m. one night while I was working just a little bit late awaiting my handsome husbands arrival to pick me up, I felt movement for the first time. It was a very distinct feeling. Nothing on the outside but it was definitley more than a "fluttering" feeling. More like a twing, a muscle spasm that lasted a few seconds or more. Needless to say, this was VERY exciting!
- At almost week 23 (December 28th at 3 a.m.) I felt movement for the first time on the outside!! How would I know? Well, I had been extremely sick on Monday due to a nasty migraine, so I ended up in bed at 8 a.m......hello 2 a.m. WIDE awake. I laid around for a bit, and then it happened. "What was that"? I said to myself......"hum, that felt really weird". I waited a little longer, and it was still happening. So I put my hand down on the side of my belly, and I felt KICKS!!! Baby B was partying like a rockstar at 3 a.m.!!! So, what would a good, kind, patient, understanding wife do knowing her husband was exhausted and sound asleep? Wait to tell him in the morning. Well, have to say, I am not any of those things because I reached right over and was poking and prodding, "honey!! The baby's moving! It's kicking!!!" He whips off his mask (sexy I know) and all disoriented says, "What, where?!" And here comes this big heavy hand over my body and clamps on my belly. Then, nothing.....I thought, "Oh no....I woke him for this and now the baby is going to stop kicking and he'll fall asleep again before he can feel it". All of a sudden he goes, "I FELT IT!!" It was such an exciting moment for us and I am so thankful that we were together for it the first time. I could have been at work or in the shower and he could have missed it. As it turns out, he was very thankful I woke him.
- So, then at the doctor yesterday, we were telling Dr. Davies how we had just felt Baby B kicking a few nights before for the first time and I mentioned how now I was wondering when we would feel Baby A, we knew it would take longer due to his plaenta being in the front. Yesterday when we got home from the doctor.....Baby A started kicking up a storm!!! What? HOW AWESOME! He was a little more faint, but definitley there! And, I knew it was Baby A due to the fact we had just been at the doctor for an ultrasound so they told us exactly how and where each of the babies was laying.....now, they go all the time! They are going to be athletic!! So, without any more rambling, you do know how I can get....here are the latest on the boys! Enjoy!

Twin A was told to be coming in at 1 lb 4 oz. The lab tech measured his femur and said, "Whoa....either that's a tall baby or I have my measurements wrong.....nope, it's a tall baby"! We once again saw all four of his heart chambers and just as Baby B was doing last time, Baby A was drinking this time. They were so kind as to make us a video clip of it. It's only 3 seconds long or so, so you may need to view it a couple of times, but you can see his tounge moving and see him swallowing. Baby A came in at the 56% percentile for a single baby.




Twin B was just hanging out. He was said to be coming in at 1 lb 6 oz. And measuring in the 80% percentile for a single baby.....once again, when we met with the doc he said, "they are both excellent size for single babies". I told him that wasn't the first time he had told us that!! They did say, whatever I was doing, to continue doing it! So far, I have gained 15 lbs. I think that for being in my 7th month, that's not too bad, but I know there is a way to go!

The last picture is my favorite.....it's a picture of Baby B from the back with his arm up by his head. I'm not sure why it's so endearing to me, but it is. These boys are already so special to us and so loved, we feel so blessed to be able to see them so often. We are getting really excited to meet them, and for all of you to meet them as well! Pregnancy may not be the "blast" that I thought it would be, but the fact that we've had an uncomplicated pregnancy (although a sympomatic one) is also a blessing. I promise to post belly photos later.....trust me.....I've gotten HUGE!