32 weeks

Well everyone we have made it to 32 weeks. This week marks the start of our weekly fetal monitoring visits. The bottom picture shows me all wired up and the girls heartrates being monitored. Basically the girls heartrate has to be monitored for a full 20 minutes a week. They have to have 2 spikes of the their heartrate; 15 bpm higher than their resting. Morgan ( baby B) passed the test right away while Mackinzie lingered and took her time. Whenever the nurse would try and stimulate them to move and get their heartrates up Mackinzie would move and be off the monitor. Needless to say I will have my hands full with her. :) We will have their weight checked via ultrasound every other week so next Monday we will find out the their weight ( roughly).

The summer heat has really taken a toll on my feet, hands, face and legs. As you can see in the pics I have really retained alot of fluid.... EVERYWHERE! I am really trying to keep my feet elevated above my heart and drink lots of fluids! Other than that I have some indigestion and have been dealing with alot of tingling and pain in my hands, wrists and finger joints. I have read that this is normal and my Dr. does not seeme to be alarmed. My blood pressure is good and my weight gain is steady. All checked out good with Dr. Stanzyck except the fact that he got onto me about having a strawberry lemonade.... he only likes me to drink water. :)

As we approach the girls arrival I am starting to get more anxious and excited. Sometimes I feel as though I will not make it another week but suprisingly I do.... I am still working on getting the room put together but that should be done by next week. I find that the weeks seem to fly by now and I cannot believe we are almost finished. I cannot wait to see their little faces and touch their hands and feet and see their eyes for the first time. Even though this is the hardest part of the pregnancy I still feel sooooo blessed to be having these two miracles. I am very fortunate to be having a relatively calm pregnancy. I hear horror stories of mothers of twins and how I really have not experienced any real hardships. I continuely pray that the Lord keeps them safe and that we make it another week so that they can grow and be able to come into this world with no problems.

We Love Our Family!

We just want to say "thank you" to all of family who came and planned the shower. We are sooo blessed to have you apart of our life. The shower was wonderful and having the entire family together was amazing! The support we have received has been overwhelming. We love each and every one of you.

Kilene's suprise shower visit!

Originally my sister had told me she would not be able to make it for the shower. With 2 toddlers and her busy schedule I could understand her not being able to make it. This video is her and my mom suprising me with her arrival. As you can tell I had NO idea. I have not seen my sister in a year and it was WONDERFUL to have her here and help me with everything. Being that she just had 2 kids of her own recently she was an incredible help. If only we lived closer..... I know could use her expertise when the girls get here but skype is always an option. My niece, Caddie also was able to come which was great for Justin since he had yet to meet the Bug. Uncle Justin and Caddie bug got bound this past weekend and watching him take care of her really shows me more and more each day how wonderful of a Dad he will be. :)

I am so blessed to have such an amazing relationship with my sister and my mom and I cannot wait for the girls to meet them. We have had sooooo much support during this pregnancy I am so overwhelmed and grateful.

31 weeks.......

31 weeks and we made it to the babies shower. The theme had the same colors as the girls room and was absolutely gorgeous. Justin's mom, sister, aunt, step sister, cousin and my mom helped plan the shower. We had a pretty good turn out and everyone seemed to have a lot of fun. The cakes were made by Amy Cakes in Springfield MO and were soooooo good! I feel so blessed to have so much support and love from each and every one of you that came. It means alot to me!

30 weeks.....

At 30 weeks with twins ( or any pregnancy) I guess you have to have some humor....... Being that my hormones are nutts at this point I thought it would be funny to find some cartoons that describe how I am feeling these days. I have "3 H's" to describe myself.......Hot, Huge and Hormonal. I keep marking off my calender each day and keep telling myself that it won't be long. Luckily my mom and sister have been giving me daily pep talks to get me thru these last couple of months. I am finally done with work and my days are filled with swimming at the YMCA, cleaning and doing little projects around the house( in between naps of course) . Next week is our shower and I cannot wait to visit with all my friends and family who are attending! After that it will be the final countdown. Now that we will be seeing our fetal medicine doctor weekly it should make these last weeks go by quicker and hopefully make it a little more bearable knowing that the girls will be almost here!

Mackinzie and Morgan are still very active at this point.. I am feeling lots of turns and kicks everyday. It doesn't matter what side I sleep on because one of them has to move and adjust :) . The bed at this point is me and my 6 pillows taking up about 95% and Justin has about 5% of the bed. I am making a bet that I will be taking over that last 5% soon.

I passed my Glucose tolerance test with flying colors which is GREAT! No gestational diabetes!!!! However my hemoglobin was 10.5 (normal range is between 12-16) so with that said I am now taking iron pills. If anyone of you know what iron does to your stomach you know it is NOT fun to take these pills. But hopefully taking them will make me have more energy than I do now and will help me with the last part of the pregnancy.

29 weeks....

29weeks and counting..... We had our 2 dr appointments this week and everything is GREAT! Mackinzie ( baby A) is measuring at 2 lbs 80z with a heartbeat of 166 while Morgan is at 2 lbs 10oz with a heartbeat of 145. Mackinzie and Morgan love to snuggle in the same spot and are both facing my spine so unfortantely we could not get any pics to post. That would explain all the pressure and pain in my lower back I have been feeling. Dr Fraser says everything looks great and everyone, including mommy have an appropriate weight gain. So far I have gained about 28lbs and feel pretty good. I have had some sleeping problems these last couple of weeks and so he gave me some medicine to help me relax and get some shut eye.

Our second appointment of the day was with our OB Dr Stanzyck. We had to first do the Glucose tolerance test ( which by the way I have been dreading for months). Dr Stanzyck measured me and checked both heartrates and again everything was good. He seems to think that I will go into labor by myself by the 36th week. I am praying that is how it is and it gives me hope to know that this will be over soon and we will get to meet these two little girls. However, I know this is just a guess. That guess will be stuck in my mind to help me mentally get thru these last couple of months. Our next appointments are in 3 weeks were we are going to have an ultrasound to see their position and also have fetal monitoring for 20 minutes. We will continue to have these done every week till they arrive. Currently Mackinzie is breech and Morgan is head down. We are hoping Mackinzie will do a flip before they come so that way we will not have to do a C section.

I keep thinking about how it was when we first found out we were pregnant and how so much has changed in the last 6 months. How it seemed to go by sooooo slow in the begining and now the weeks are flying by. I am really trying to take my sister's advice and just enjoy the time they are inside my tummy because it just amazes me how active they are and how fun it is to feel their turns and love kicks :) It is funny how much you can love someone without even meeting them face to face and how much they change your life and how you think and do things. I continually thank God for keeping me and the girls safe during this time and that the pregancy continues to go smoothly and we will get to see two beautiful, healthy baby girls soon. :)

28 weeks!

This week marks our 28th week and the start of our 3rd and FINAL trimester! The twins are measuring a little over 2 lbs this week and I can tell because my belly has seemed to grow overnight. I have had a lot of movement in these last 2 weeks. Usually they get busy moving and grooving around early evenings and into the late nights. I guess they just can't get off the night shift. :) Their kicks are so big that sometimes I will have my hand on my belly and my hand will jump a little from the movement. ( which by the way is so cool and amazing)

We have our next Dr appointment on the 28th of this month and I will be getting another ultrasound and be doing my Glucose tolerance test. ( the one test I have dreaded from the start)

No real cravings except ice and ice pops and a cold glass of root beer! The weather is getting hotter as I get bigger and anything to keep me cool is keeping me happy. I just signed up for a 2 month pass to our local YMCA where I will be swimming and feeling a lot lighter.

I keep looking at my calender wishing it was mid to end of August so that I could finally have these girls in my arms instead of my belly but as many of you know patience has never been my virtue. :) Going to try and post more as they are ever changing and the time is getting closer.