Welcome to the 2nd Trimester!

Some books we've read say it starts at 12 weeks...some say 13 weeks...some say 14 weeks...but since we are in our 15th week of pregnancy it's official to say "Welcome to the 2nd Trimester!" There's no doubt about it anymore, we've passed that first trimester and are trucking along in the second. The books say the nausea should be gone and the energy level should be back and the books are exactly right! I don't "feel" pregnant anymore from a tired or upset stomach perspective, I'm able to function during the day without a nap, and my appetite has gone back to normal from its previous roller coaster. I can also officially say that I never once threw up of morning sickness, never once had to call into work feeling too ill to function. I've had many headaches and many grumpy Kelly days but not enough to hold me back. So far, so good and I'm considering myself a very lucky lady. Supposedly in the next few weeks the pregnancy brain & forgetfulness is supposed to start kicking in, hopefully I'll bypass that as well...

Other than continuing to progress through the week, no new developments here. We see the doctor again on March 6th for our next check up - we will make sure to tell them right when we walk in that we do not want to know the gender!  While I don't feel any different, I do feel like I look different in the mirror, especially my lady-lumps which are getting bigger and bigger!! To anyone that would see me and didn't know I was pregnant they would think I look heavy or overweight; for those that do know I'm pregnant they say I am starting to show. It was very cute last week Todd was staring at my belly as I was laying down and he said "I can see them! You have a bump!" I don't see the bump outside of my normal overweight stomach but he said he definitly sees a  bump under my belly button that carries differen than my normal weight. We also went to Disney with some good friends this weekend and they both said that I was looking "more pregnanter". So I guess we can also say it's official that the baby bump is starting to pop out. Makes me wish I had done better with weight loss pre-pregnancy, there would be less confusion on "fat" vs "pregnant" if I had taken care of that "fat" part.

According to the books, 15 weeks are about 4 inches long (inches now not centimeters anymore!) and their organs are fully developed and just need to grow more. In fruit terms, they would be the size of an orange :) Todd and I decided we'd find the fruit of the week and take pictures during our weekly grocery shopping. Last week they were limes.

We've also finalized on a baby nursery theme. I was thinking farm or colors and shapes and then the absolute perfect thought came to mind as an inspiraction from a picture hanging on the wall. A beach theme with a hint of Disney. This photo is the inspiration...a little beach, a little disney, and a lot of relaxation. I think this makes the room easier to decorate too - lots of Florida type decorations and colors should be good. A friend had a great idea too of adding in the accents from their beach umbrella by finding a fabric and making curtains or crib skirts out of the red/yellow striped fabric. Or getting extra long beach towels and making pillows or curtains out of that. So many great ideas - hopefully I'm motivated to do cute things.

Until next week when there's more exciting updates...we continue to be thankful and blessed for all of the excitement surrounding our arrivals. Thank you for your continued interest in our little miracles' developments. 

1st Trimester Screening

Today we did the first trimester screening - a non-invasive ultrasound that looks to check to see if the babies have nasal bones (if they don't it could be a sign of downs syndrowm), and to check the fat sacks on the back of their necks. Good news - both measured just fine, and they are measuring right along with the due date. It was nice to have an ultrasound today and not have to wait another 4 weeks!! Although I'm still unsure if my insurance will pick that up - I didn't have to pay a co-pay today with my visit which makes me nervous.

Here are the best pictures she could get.

Baby B measuring 12 weeks 3 days. "B" just means further away from the cervix, not less important or weaker. Unfortunately Baby A had the hiccups and was hiding so he/she didn't get a solo shot.

Both babies in one picture! I like how they are facing opposite directions, it's like they're saying "hey we are twins but we are totally different".



12 Weeks check up

We had our 12-week check up yesterday with our new doctor group at USF - just the general OB/GyN department. The plan is to rotate through the doctors since it's a doctor's group so unfortunately we won't see the same doctor every time. Both Todd and I walked out of the appointment a little disappointed yesterday and I realized why: through the IVF procedure we really created a 1 on 1 bond with our doctor and nurse coordinator. They knew us, they knew our history, they knew exactly what day and what was going on, they provided us a calendar and everything.. We saw them so frequently, looking back at my calendar we visited Dr Mayer/USF IVF over 20 times in a 5 month period. It was a huge peak in visits, started out slowly, then during the shots process we were going everyday for blood work and follow up, and then back down to ever 2 weeks. Now our visit schedule is every 4 weeks! How anticlimactic?! I know it will pick back up towards the end of the pregnancy but right now we were on such an excited high and we're slowing down.

We officially signed up for our first baby class - we are going to the "Preparing for Multiples" class on March 6th at TGH. I'm excited, I should be showing more by then but most importatnly we'll meet other couples who are having twins in the tampa area and make some relationships and get some ideas back and forth for how to deal with certain things. I'm also considering joining the local chapter of the Mothers of Twins Club to get more info and advice. People at work are hearing about it now and for those people I'm not comfortable giving the whole IVF story to i just tell them we're having twins. When they ask "do twins run in either of your families?" I smartly answer..."THEY DO NOW!!" Always gets a chuckle.

At this point I guess no news is good news for us - we heard both heartbeats again yesterday and this time it was through my belly! I didn't have to get undressed or anything, they were able to pick up the heartbeats just through the external doppler. Even the intern was able to pick up Baby #1's (on my right side) immediately. Baby #2 was hiding a little but still had a normal heart rate. She also said my uterus is up towards my belly button already (whatever that means) but i think it means my belly is growing even if you can't see it under my jelly rolls.

Happy 12 weeks! 24 more weeks to go for safe twin due date!