21 Weeks Belly Shot

Since I've had so many requests, I finally caved and posted a picture of my pregnant belly. It's not that I'm not proud of my pregnant belly, I love it! I just don't love the double chin and the super-size hips that go along with this pregnant belly.
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This is me at 21 weeks. Insane, huh?! We've got a long way to go!!!

Gettin' Jiggy Wit It

It was very hard to sleep last night! It felt like both babies were dancing the jig all night! I loved it - it's so amazing to feel them move. It does, however, make it very, VERY hard to sleep. :0) Imagine if there were 5 cats using your belly as a trampoline and jumping and flipping on you all night. It would make it hard to sleep, right?!

I'm Lovin' It though!

And . . . my husband actually felt them move on the outside for the first time last night. He was so excited! He's been wanting to feel them for weeks now. I love all these milestones!

Music to My Ears

Another day, another appointment. I always love good appointments though!

I think it's funny that every time I've had an appointment lately, there's been a student from the college there, too. I don't mind the extra bodies - the more the merrier, right? Plus, once you've had kids, nothing is sacred or embarrassing anymore. Although the medical/nursing students are always a little nervous, they are excited to be in the room with a twin mom and see how different it is. I'm all about education so I don't mind one bit. In fact, it makes me feel kind of special!

The babies heartbeats looked great again today. There isn't a sweeter sound in the world than hearing your child's heartbeat!

It's exciting to know that my twins are dichorionic diamniotic twins. In simpler terms, that means they each have their own sac and their own placenta. They are completely separate. The great thing about dichorionic diamniotic twins, is that they are the safest kind of twins to have. Yay! We like safe!

Below is an example of the different types of twins:


Another thing I learned today is that our baby boy is vertex (head-down) and our baby girl is transverse (laying sideways). I think I'd like to have them both vertex. Then maybe my belly won't be so wide!

Four weeks ago, the doctor said my uterus measured to be about 18 weeks along. I was excited because then it meant I wasn't too big. However, today my uterus measured in at a whopping 32 weeks! Holy Shmoly! That makes me a little nervous because what will my uterus do when I measure 40 weeks along? Will it try to start labor early? Scary stuff. The doctor said I'm measuring fine for a twin pregnancy, but it's still a little scary to me.

All in all, it was a great appointment. I'm trying to stay positive and hope that everything will continue to go well. The power of positive thinking, the power of positive thinking, the power of positive thinking . . .

Specialist Visit #1

Yesterday was our first visit with our specialist. The appointment was good. He didn't really tell me anything different than my normal doctor tells me, but it was still nice to see the kiddos again on the ultrasound. The ultrasound tech said she'd print us LOTS of pictures, but she only printed four. Apparently in St. George, four is a lot. ;0)

I was glad to see that we are still having a boy and a girl. The only thing that changed is now the boy is labeled Baby A and the girl is labeled Baby B. All that really means is that they think Baby A will come out first. Daniel was happy because he thinks it's pretty important that the boy be born first. Men are so silly!

It was a pretty in-depth ultrasound and everything looked wonderful on both babies. Yay! Now our biggest concern is preterm labor. I'm not having any symptoms of that, but I am very aware that it could happen at any moment. Scary stuff.

The doctor gave us different statistics as to what our babies chances would be if born at certain points. If the babies are born at 24 weeks, they have a 58% chance of survival and only an 8% chance of being physically and mentally normal. If the babies are born at 28 weeks, they have an 80% chance of survival and an 80% chance of being physically and mentally normal. If the babies are born at 32 weeks, then they have a 99% chance of survival and a 99% chance of being normal. No matter what, we are shooting for at least 32 weeks!

My main goal is to make it to 35-36 weeks. Let's pray!

I will post the pictures from the ultrasound soon. As for now, I'm just gonna keep on cooking these babies!

Hello, Belly

For those of you who don't know, I teach dance at a local dance studio. Today while I was teaching my cute little three-year-old class, I noticed that two little girls could NOT stop staring at my belly. It was hilarious. They weren't just looking at it with curiosity, they were looking at it with their eyes bulging out of their heads! They were hypnotized and couldn't look at anything except my belly. The look on their faces made me laugh. I'm sure they were expecting an enormous basketball or a huge beach ball (or quite possibly a killer whale) to pop out from under my shirt. It was classic!

I also teach a Mommy & Me class. Two of the moms in the class have actually had twins so it's fun to visit with them. Today while I was attempting to sit on the ground for one of our stretches, one of the other twin moms just busted out laughing. She was staring at me and just laughing. She said, "I'm sorry. I couldn't help it! I was just remembering what that was like!"

I'm sure it's very entertaining to watch me get up and down off the floor. It really is quite an event. And me trying to stretch is getting ridiculous. It's a good thing that I'm dropping two of my classes in the next two weeks. I'm sad to hand them over to another teacher, but it's just getting too hard (and I'm getting much too big) to teach anymore. Thankfully, I'll still be able to do my older classes for another month. The girls already know their dances so I can just sit on a chair and boss them around. I think I can manage that ;0)

Dear Pelvis,

I'm sorry. You tell me every day how mad at me you are. I'll make it up to you somehow. I promise. So please stop sending me signals about how much pressure you're under. I get it. Please help me through to the end. My babies need you!

Forever yours,
Jenny

Just Say NO!

I've always been the type of person to say YES whenever anyone needs me to do something or be somewhere. Being pregnant with twins, I'm learning that I have to start saying NO to things. It's difficult for me to do! I've always been able to help others out and keep up with life, but I'm just finding it too hard these days.

Do I want to help cook meals for three neighbors? Yes. But can I currently do that? No.

Do I want to help cover someone's teaching day at preschool? Yes. But can I quickly run errands and plan a lesson in a few hours? No.

Do I want to work through the end of the season? Yes! But can I realistically do that when I am so tired and sore? No, not even close.

Do I want to carry my daughter and take her to play at the park? Certainly! But is it in the best interest of these babies for me to do so? No.

Can I shop at Walmart for more than 20 minutes? No. Can I show my dancers how to do pirouettes and leaps? No. Can I fly my daughter around the room and listen to her giggle? No. Can I travel for three hours one-way to attend a family event? Probably not.

As you can see, I'm learning to say NO. I don't always like it and it's not always easy, but I'm going to do whatever it takes to get these babies here healthy. So if you are a recipient of one of my NOs, I'm sorry. I'll make it up to you one day!

Just try to remember that saying NO right now means saying YES to healthy babies later on!!!

The Results Are In . . .

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The doctor thinks we are having a girl and a boy. Yay! I don't think I could be more excited!
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Hayley and I made these cute little boxes and picked out the stuff to put inside. We gave the boxes to my parents to open in front of my family. They were all so excited! All the Rowleys were excited for us, too, but we couldn't wait two weekends to tell them so we just told them all over the phone. :0)
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This wasn't my official 20-week ultrasound. Apparently that has to be done with a specialist in St. George. So we should have some good pictures to post of that ultrasound in a couple weeks.