38 Weeks

We are in the homestretch now! I'm still feeling pretty good and just trying to soak up as much rest and time with Lexi and Zara as possible. Even though "it's just one baby" I know she will make things more chaotic at least until we get into a new rhythm with three kids. The baby room is pretty much ready since we are reusing most of the twins' nursery furniture and decor. I bought a few new baby clothes because I can't resist baby girl clothes. Feeling like I'm forgetting something, I asked a few of my friends that each have three kids what else I need to do and the best advice was "put a bottle of wine in the fridge to chill for when you get home." Brilliant.

No signs of labor yet so we are wondering if this little girl is going to come sooner or later. I do have a backup c-section scheduled for May 16th, but I would love to do a vbac so hopefully I will go into labor before the 16th.

People keep asking me how this singleton pregnancy compares to my twin pregnancy and honestly it is still just so much easier and only slightly uncomfortable. I had a very easy twin pregnancy without bed rest and delivered by 36 weeks, but I had to stop working towards the end and was so swollen and just huge and sat on the couch for most of every day towards the end. This time I'm definitely slowing down a bit now and taking more naps, but still pretty much keeping up with the two three year olds, working, cleaning and cooking and doing all the normal life stuff.

Zara and Lexi are very excited and talk about their baby sister a lot. Yesterday when they got home from school I asked Lexi if she missed me and she said, "No, but I missed the baby!" Ha! Then earlier this week I heard them arguing in the playroom and Zara said to Lexi, "You are not my favorite sister anymore!" and Lexi retorted, "Well the new baby sister is going to be my favorite sister!" Let the threesome drama begin.

34 weeks

I am 34 weeks with baby #3 now. Its starting to get a little uncomfortable, but nothing too bad and still sleeping well most nights. 

A&Z are spending the weekend in Yakima with the grandparents so Mu and I have been enjoying a relaxing weekend at home - sleeping in, going out to dinner, running errands and shopping at Target for as long as I want. Of course last night we stopped at Home Depot and Target because we had a little bit of time after dinner before our movie started. Then M worked on installing the bathroom sinks after we got home from the movie. Such a glamorous life installing faucets at 10pm on a Saturday night! 

Here is the side by side comparison at 34 weeks (twins on the left, singleton on the right). I had the twins a week later so its a little crazy for me to think about going 6 more weeks to term with this one. Only time will tell. 

30 weeks

Hello third trimester! Everything is going well with this pregnancy and baby #3 so far. I was measuring a couple weeks ahead last month, but now am right on schedule again. We shall see how long that lasts. I ended up failing the standard one hour glucose screening so had to do the whole three hour glucose tolerance test ordeal. I was so annoyed and dreading it, but I made it through it fine and do not have gestational diabetes so that is great news.

24 weeks

The way it goes being pregnant with a third child is that I only have time to take pictures when I'm at my OB's office. They are always running very late and while its par for the course, it seems to be the only place that I have excess time on my hands. 

I'm 24 weeks and feeling a little bit big and uncomfortable, but for the most part doing great! I'm measuring a little big (26 weeks) thanks to having twins before, but hoping baby girl just hit a growth spurt and it levels out. 

Baby # 3 is a ....

Baby #3

Say hello to our #3! Its been a long road to get here and we are so excited to be having another baby. Due in May.

35 Weeks and Counting

The belly is measuring at 48 weeks! If you have seen me lately, you probably noticed that I am down to about 3 shirts that fit :)

34 Week Update

Well we are getting towards the end now.. yipee! We are excited to meet our girls and I am super excited to be done with being a prego marshmallow. Today was my last day of work and I am on orders from the doc to take it really easy and spend my time resting with my feet up. My blood pressure has been getting higher and I am swelling like crazy! Look at those sausage fingers!  No official complications but she said my body is saying to rest! Ok, I'll try :)

In other baby news we also had an ultrasound today. It might be the last one depending on whether we make it to 37 weeks. Baby A is 4 lbs and Baby B is still breech and is 4 lbs, 3 oz. It is pretty doubtful that B will turn so all signs point towards a c-section. If they don't decide to pick their own birthday between now and then, they will be evicted at 38 weeks. The short-term goal is 36 weeks for full lung development and to put some more meat on these little girls ( I have plenty of meat on me, thankyouverymuch). I have not had any signs of labor so making it past 36 weeks is realistic.

So I will be chillaxing at home for the next 2-4 weeks if you want to call and keep me company.

Babies Shower

Sara and Lydia hosted a great shower for the babies and I. It was so much fun! It was held at a cute little cafe in SE Portland. Here are some pics:



In the middle of the games. That was some yummy punch too!





Some of the Shook ladies :)

And that is all I'm posting because my double chin stole the show in the others :)

Thanks again to the best friends and family ever!

31 Week Update

We had ANOTHER ultrasound a few days ago ... I sound like a broken record. There is a lot to monitor with ultrasounds for identical twins (discordant growth, placenta blood flow, amniotic fluid levels, etc). Our perinatologist increased the ultrasound frequency to every three weeks. It was four weeks until recently. We also now see our OB every week.

The great news is that everything is going well and there have not been any complications! Baby A is 3 pounds, 4 ounces and Baby B is 3 pounds, 6 ounces and both continue to look healthy. Baby B is still breech and is actually sitting right on her sister's head. Apparently this is nothing to worry about, but it will be interesting to see if Baby B ends up having a dominant personality.

Both the OB and the Peri were very impressed with the health of the girls and that I am still working full-time and doing well. Yay! My doctor said she is predicting we make it to 38 weeks (the "best-case scenario" time frame) with the babies reaching 6 pounds each. Great for the girls, yikes for me!

I am starting to experience some swelling, but I guess that is to be expected and its nothing too bad yet. Sara and Lydia threw me a great baby shower Saturday so I will post pictures as soon as I collect them from all the photographers that were there.

Take Your Watermelon To Work Day

29 Week Update

Look at that belly! I guess I can sort of understand the "you look like your going to pop" and "that is one big baby" comments I seem to hear every five minutes now that I see this picture. ha!

We had another ultrasound and appointment last week and the girls and I are still doing well. They each weighed in around 2 pounds, 5 ounces and are developing well. And no restrictions for me! Yay!

We took a two-day newborn twin class last weekend. It was really informative, hands-on and we loaded up on practical advice and tips. They even had a mom bring in her two newborn twins for part of the class so we could watch her diaper and feed them. All of us twin parents-to-be asked her LOTS of questions.  The whole process seems daunting and we learned that you definitely need a system and a schedule. I think that really made it hit home for us that this is happening and these girlies will be here very soon!

Other than that we hit up the local multiples group consignment sale and picked up two vibrating bouncy seats, a twin nursing pillow and a double stroller.

25 Week Update

Here is what we have been up to this week:

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How far along? 25 weeks

Total weight gain: +20

Maternity clothes? Yes, all the time and some of them are actually getting too short/small.. eep.

Sleep: sleeping great!

Best moment this week: Massage and facial last weekend at the spa - it was heaven!

Movement: Feeling tons of movement all day long and it already feels like each baby has their own personality because their movements are definitely different. I would like it if Baby B could manage to shimmy her hinney down out of my ribs :)

Food cravings: Lemonade!

Food aversions: None - I like food!

Gender: Girls

Labor Signs: No

What I miss: I miss having control over my body, but I am working on surrendering for these next few months. Then after that, cannot wait to bend over, go running and wear normal clothes!

Weekly Wisdom: Appreciating my husband and life in general and enjoying being pregnant for the most part.

Milestones: Reached the point of early viability this week, but they still need to be inside babies for a few more months.

23 week growth scan

We had our first growth scan ultrasound today. With twins we  have growth scans every month until they are born to monitor each baby's growth. They measure each one's stomach, head and femur on the ultrasound to come up with a weight. Today Baby A is 1 lb. 2 oz. (37th percentile) and Baby B is 1 lb. 3 oz. (45th percentile).  From here on out they should be growing quite fast.

Both babies are in position with their heads down, but there is still lots of time for them to move around and out of position. Knowing these two wiggly worms, they will probably move in and out of position over the next couple months. It was fun to see all four feet tangled up at the top - no surprise to us because we both felt them kicking all weekend long.

I'm thankful that both babies are doing great and we are all having a healthy pregnancy so far.  Thank you all for supporting us through this crazy adventure!

22 Week Update

How far along? 22 weeks

Total weight gain: +17... holy weight gain Batman! I swear those Girl Scout cookies had nothing to do with it. Or the bag of Kettle chips. whatever.

Maternity clothes? Yes and thanks to many borrowed clothes from friends and family, I have only had to buy a few things.

Sleep: I am still sleeping well most nights, but considering adding some pillows to the mix because my knees and hips are starting to ache from the side sleeping. I'm not sure if this is a result of my knee and IT band issue pre-pregnancy or not.

Best moment this week: Last weekend at the beach, enjoying the gorgeous sunny day was pretty awesome.

Movement: It seems like the girls are active one day and then barely move the next so I was kind of worried that something was wrong. Today is definitely an active day and I can tell they are still breech because all I feel is really low kicks.

Food cravings: I am still drinking lots of lemonade and eating lots of everything else. I am hungry all.the.time.

Food aversions: nothing really. I still have the same likes/dislikes as I did pre-pregnancy.

Gender: Girls

Labor Signs: none and lets keep it that way for a while

What I miss: bending over without having to pull my pants up :)

Weekly Wisdom: no wisdom from me, just enjoying things where they are right now and trying to take advantage of the energy I have.

Milestones: We got the twin baby books we ordered. It is called Twice Upon a Time and starts off as a childrens story and then transitions into a baby memory book. Each twin gets their own, but it will have some of the same info. We had a lot of fun reading thru them last night and imagining reading them to our little girls.

20 Week Update

How far along? 20 weeks

Total weight gain/loss: +12 I feel like my belly is getting so big already, but my OB told me earlier this week to keep eating more because I have lots more weight to gain. yikes! I keep thinking of my Yiayia saying "eat! eat!" because she always says that.

Maternity clothes? Oh yes. I am wearing my one cute pair of maternity jeans all weekend now.

Sleep: sleeping well for the most part.. hoping these two little girls are good sleepers after they are born!

Best moment this week: having a great anatomy scan and finding out that we are expecting two little girls.

Movement: yes, still feeling movement, but no strong kicks yet.

 Food cravings: Lemonade all the way! It all started at a Blazer game last week when I got a huge lemonade. It was the best and I have been drinking lots of the lemonade since then.

Food aversions: no strong aversions, I just still get full pretty fast.

Gender: Girls!!!

Labor Signs: none, these babies still have a lot of time left to bake.

Belly Button: in, but it is getting shallow for sure.

What I miss: moving quickly

What I am looking forward to: meeting these babies, but also looking forward to the next few months of couple time before they come.

Weekly Wisdom: everyone is full of advice! People keep telling me that they had two kids born close together and they were just like twins and then proceed to tell me exactly how to raise my twins. Its not the same people!

Milestones: Finding out the gender, passed the anatomy scan and over half-way done with this pregnancy!

The Twins are Girls!

We had the big anatomy scan ultrasound yesterday. We were excited to find out that we are having two girls! We would be happy whether they are boys or girls, but its exciting to know. I'm also anxious to finally get down to planning and shopping now.

The important news was that all the anatomy looked perfect. They took pictures of the brain, heart and other organs and we got to see all ten fingers and toes on each little girl. It was almost two hours of time spent on the ultrasound and the sonographer told us she took 172 pictures of the girls to capture all the anatomy!

Here are a couple of pictures from yesterday. Both babies were moving the entire time so the sonographer was working hard to keep up. You can see that they are facing each other with their  heads together.

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17 Week Update

How far along? 17 weeks

Total weight gain/loss: +6   Finally started gaining weight these last two weeks.

Maternity clothes? Yes, definitely wearing maternity pants/jeans now and just wearing the longer tops I already had.

Sleep: sleeping and napping, usually sleeping pretty well, but I am getting tired of lying on my side all the time.

Best moment this week: feeling better is definitely awesome

Movement: yes, feeling lots of movement after I eat

 Food cravings: orange juice and cheese

Food aversions: no aversions, except the smell of raw meat cooking. gross.

Gender: unknown, we will know in a couple weeks and can't wait to find out!

Labor Signs: still none and let's keep in that way

Belly Button: in

What I miss: sleeping on my back and stomach

What I am looking forward to: seeing the babies again tomorrow at our doctor appointment (they use a small ultrasound machine to check the heartbeats at each visit)

Weekly Wisdom: enjoying the peace and quiet while it lasts

Milestones: Nothing really, just another week of progress

15 Week Update

Well, I have been kind of lazy updating this, but hopefully I can keep with it a little more often now that I am feeling better.

How far along? 15 weeks
Total weight gain/loss: +2
Maternity clothes? not yet, but my options from my regular clothes are getting limited
Sleep: sleeping and napping, but starting to get more energy
Best moment this week: starting to have more of an appetite
Movement: yes, feeling little movements
Food cravings: still nothing really
Food aversions: no aversions
Gender: unknown, we will know in a month!
Labor Signs: none
Belly Button: in
What I miss: running
What I am looking forward to: finding out the gender
Weekly Wisdom: just trying to live in the moment
Milestones: starting to see a little prego belly this week

11 Week Update

How far along? 11 weeks
Total weight gain/loss: +1
Maternity clothes? not yet, but I'm happy about getting some hand-me-downs from Lydia and a friend at work for whenever I start needing them
Sleep: still tired all the time
Best moment this week: receiving flowers from my awesome in-laws!
Movement: not yet
 Food cravings: nothing in particular, just trying to eat healthy
Food aversions:  still not a fan of sweets
Gender: not sure yet, but I'm starting to think girls (identical = same gender)
Labor Signs: none
Belly Button: in
What I miss: still missing the energy, but at least I got my x-mas shopping done
What I am looking forward to: next ultrasound appointment on the 21st
Weekly Wisdom: I got nothing
Milestones: Shared the news with our family and some friends this week. First ultrasound last week: twins is definitely a big milestone!