16 weeks 5 days

Ok, so life has thrown us a curveball. Or should we say, another curveball!

We had a horrible experience on Friday at 16 weeks and 2 days when I started gushing amniotic fluid. Turned out that Baby B's sac has ruptured and he/she had lost most of its fluid.

Rest assured, at an ultrasound later in the day we saw two beautiful heartbeats. And though Baby b was squished due to lack of fluid, he/she was doing well.

The first course of action was administering antibiotics via an IV in the hopes of preventing any infection in baby b asap. Then, I had a 48 hour wait (following a full day in Emergency). So after 3 days in the hospital we're back at home.

For the record, bed rest isn't as fun as i thought it would be. It doesn't take long for the kinks and aches to set in.

The good news is everything seems to have settled down and theres no sign of the previous bleeding/spotting/leaking I've been having for the last 5+ weeks.

Still, we have a long way to go but we're optimistic that they're both little fighters and we'll pull through.

Thrusday is our next ultrasound to see how the little gaffers are doing and to determine if Baby B's sac continues to build up with fluid.

We're optimistic that everything will be well and that this little set back is more keeping mom uncomfortable for the next 20 so weeks (fingers crossed) than any cause for concern.

R & D

16 weeks 1 day

16 + weeks already.

Though if you think about it, we still have 24 weeks to go which in turn makes it feel like forever before we get to meet these little beans.

Life in our household continues along its chaotic trajectory with Dwayne playing the needy pregnant woman...opps, I meant Renee...did I just slip and say Dwayne?? Mmm, wierd.

Seriously though. Trips to the 7-11 in the middle of the night have become more frequent. Like that time Dwayne was thirsty and was desperate for orange juice and decided that since I needed milk it made sense for me to pick him up to orange juice at the same time. Yup, just another day, just another story.

As you can see from the above photo, I'm starting to look very much in the "family way". Now, imagine another 24 weeks of growth!! Yup, I'm not wanting to imagine either.

Still, I can't complain. I've been feeling great and have had lots of energy. Certainly not something I would have expected.

We have kicked it a notch slower. A bit of a scare last week and then again this week has me on 'slow mode' so now I'm just kicking my feet up as often as possible and trying to train Dwayne into being a father of twins. So far he's gotten good at the fathering part that we can expect to take place when they're about 6 yrs old (Renee, can you bring me the phone. Oh, there's someone at the door, can you get it...oh, and while your up, grab me a beer) that sort of thing. Still, we have 5 more months to get him trained for the first 6 years so I'm not sweating yet.

The good news continues with all the little things that we're both benefiting from . My hair looks wonderful and my complextion has been blemish free for several months now. Dwayne, well he's enjoying our frequent wonderful walks with the dogs, brushing up on his Dr. Seuss rhyming and reading skills and most importantly he's getting solid use out of my body pillow therefore waking up fresh well rested each morning.

So all in all, we're plugging along, growing big and round like we're supposed to and adjusting to the concept of our soon to be new status.

R & D

15 weeks 0 days

15 Weeks Already!!

(click photo to enlarge)

I can't say the time is flying by, but certainly as each week passes we get closer and closer to the midway mark and I continue to get bigger and bigger!

Recently I've been feeling the pain and aches from the second trimester. Now I know your thinking "wait, the second trimester is supposed to be the golden trimester" but one thing they don't tell you is that with twins, the rules are completely re-written.

In fact, so far, the first trimester has been a breeze. The second has come with ailments, aches, headaches and of course a growing waistline. I promise, we'll share the expanded belly pictures soon since that in itself is a laugh a minute.

Dwayne takes great pleasure in reminding me to "not eat too much, watch what I eat, and the fact that I'm 'not small to begin with'". Jeesh! I could probably get rid of the scale and measure my development by just the comments from Dwayne.

The ironic part is I haven't bought any junk food (nor eaten it for 98% of the time) but our cupboards and freezer are filled with chips and ice cream. In the rare event I have felt the need for some ice cream its always been empty. Yup, Dwayne's sympathy symptoms continue and he's been wolfing down the ice cream and chips.

Our ultra sound today was another 'surprise' ultrasound. We're already figuring that these two will be shoe ins for the movie industry as they'll be so used to preforming for the camera. At the very least we figure they'll have the Truman Show Complex...the feeling that someone's watching.

Both heartbeats are looking very strong: 153 and 155. We also got a quick glimsp of the genders. Now we're keeping it to ourselves and we're welcoming as many guesses as possible. Right now the gender guess is still VERY early so we're certainly not runnin out to buy anything pink or blue. We'll know more at the 18 week ultrasound (3 more weeks) and if more conclusive by then we'll share. Until then, we're continuing to have fun guessing and hope that anyone who reads this will guess as well.

That's about it for now. The giddyness continues and we seriously can't wait to meet these two.

R & D

14 weeks 3 day

Yesterday we had a bit of an unexpected surprise. Yes, we got to once again see our babies with an ultrasound. Click on the picture to make it bigger.

(Twin B is on left, Twin A is on right notice the nose on twin B is huge compared to Twin A...yup, he definitely has his daddy's nose....oh, did I say "HE"...mmm, must read on for an explanation).

At 14 weeks 2 days they're not much different then I remember them at 12 weeks, but certainly seeing them again continues to bring the realness to the whole experience.

Their heartbeats so far are Baby A = 156 and Baby B = 143. And though I didn't get to watch the ultrasound, at the end the technician showed me the babies and I truly believe I got the 'money' shot on Baby A. Yup, I think its a girl. Now by no means am I an expert and that is technically the "first money shot" I've actually seen in my whole portfolio of baby gender determination, but I'm going with my instincts here. Oh, and for a variety of less obvious reasons, I'm thinking Baby B is a boy.

So there you have it, in my mind we're having 1 boy and 1 girl. Now, for the record I'm about 90% sure of the girl status...and about 60% sure of the boy.

Secretly Dwayne and I are hoping for them to be both the same gender. Imagine how much less work we'll have to do if they get along really well ;)

Which ever way it pans out...we're pretty giddy about the whole thing. (for the record, I'm going to mark this statement so that in 6 months when we're sleep deprived, feeling completely helpless and out of our league, we can remember how absolutely naive we were).

Ahh, as they say, ignorance is bliss. May as well enjoy it while we can.