Called urgent care...

They were really unhelpful. I really try to be a calm rational pregnant lady. I don't think I really freak out often, but a few hours ago I started having severe cramping in my uterus and lower back. It was bad, really really bad. I figured since it probably wasn't normal it would be best to talk to the on-call OBGYN to see if I needed to go in somewhere, and to do that you have to call urgent care and they page the on-call doctor who is suppose to call you back.

It took him 40 minutes to call me back and he basically just dismissed me. Apparently, at 18 weeks even if I was having contractions there's nothing they can do about it (according to him) and he told me to lay down and drink water (which I was already doing). Thanks.

The cramping lasted several hours and now I'm just trying to lay here and not doing much of anything. I wish the doctor wouldn't have made me feel like an idiot, but he did. Oh well. I suppose for now all is well.

Bedding...

In addition to Marcus' particularities about the babies names he also has specific ideas about what he imagines the babies bedding to look like. For some reason he seemed to think that the bedding must have some type of animal on it. Where as I liked simple, more modern bedding. A total clash. I found some very simple bedding on clearance that I loved but Marcus just couldn't imagine what it would look like in the big picture and by the time I had convinced him of my vision for the room the bedding was sold out.

So the search continued for something we both could live with. We finally settled on this:



Despite the lack of animals Marcus really likes it and I'm also a big fan. Although we haven't seen it in person yet so we may actually hate it and have to start the search all over again.

Movement (I think)

I'm 99.9% sure that I felt the baby boy last night and again this afternoon. It was a definitely something that I've never felt before like a little flick on the inside. I hope soon I can feel the girl and the movement becomes more frequent, and I get to a place where I'm 100% positive that it's movement.

18 Weeks

There's not much to report except that I'm in pain all the time. It's the same symptoms as my fibromyalgia just worse now and all the time. My back aches, the joints in my knees, and I'm worried that it's only going to get worse. I'm suppose to see my rheumatologist next friday but I have to re-schedule and he's impossible to get in to. I'm also at at a stage where the physical therapy exercises I was doing no longer work, because I can't lay on my back or my side without pain.

Sleeping is also painful because sleeping on my left side hurts my hips, back, and neck but it's unbearable to lay on my back or other side, but oh well. Such is life. Other than that all is well. I still haven't felt the babies which is sort of starting to make me sad. So many women on my pregnancy board who are behind me have felt them and still nothing here. Well that's not true I did feel a random flutter thing once a few days ago but I can't decide if that was a baby or not. I guess I don't really know what I'm expecting but I can't wait until something is undeniable.

My appetite continues to be insane and I find that I have to eat a snack a few hours after breakfast and a snack after lunch as well. I'm still drinking water like crazy which is particularly problematic with some of my longer classes I hate getting up in the middle of them.

I also went back to work this week and I haven't told anyone there that I'm pregnant although I'm sure they have to suspect something because it's been 6 weeks since they've seen me and I have a much larger belly. Everyone is too polite to say anything and I don't know how to bring it up. I'm an awkward person... Oh, and because I work with rare maps the door to the department is locked all the time so they can monitor who comes in and out, well since I have to use the bathroom every three minutes it's really obvious, because when I come back I have to ring the doorbell and someone has to let me in, so I'm probably also annoying everyone, haha they have to know something is up.

In other news, still no names. Marcus is surprisingly difficult (and he's easy going about most things in life) but we've been getting a lot of suggestions from people so I'm sure eventually we'll reach a decision. Marcus is also surprisingly difficult in the nursery bedding. For some reason he really thought that they needed to have animals of some sort on them, and I like a more modern design. We did finally agree on something (I think) but we've only seen it online and not sure how it'll look in person. He's anxious to start the nursery and really wants to just paint the walls in our apartment because according to him who's going to check, however I'm insistent that if we want to try and paint we get permission first and then of course we'll have to repaint when we move out. I have some other ideas of things we can do with the white walls so we'll see.

Finally, Marcus bought a scale. My therapist suggested it (for a variety of reasons that I don't want to get into) and according to our home scale I'm now up a total of 9 pounds since the beginning of the pregnancy. I wonder how our scale compares to the doctor. At least now I guess I can monitor my weight from week to week. We'll see if that's a good or a bad thing.

The belly pictures (I look awful I just had a four hour meeting for my internship which was preceded by 6 hours of work, again we need to try them in the morning when I don't look so horrible).

Spoiled babies already...

Today we got two boxes in the mail and inside was all kinds of fun things for the babies from their grandma all so adorable. I can't wait until we get to meet our little babies and actually use some of this stuff, although it's hard to believe their going to be as small as these clothes. Marcus is convinced that he'll break the babies when trying to dress them (A feeling I often felt when changing my cousins when they were babies).

I've also been realizing how little I know about the day to day realties of babies. The other day Marcus asked me how often you have to bathe babies... I have no idea. Hopefully all this will become clearer or something once we have the babies.

The fun baby surprises...

4 years ago...

Our future daughter was named by her grandma during a game of cards. I kept the emails my MIL wrote about it dated 12/30/04 so that I could someday show her why her grandparents may refer to her as Ed (I save everything anyways but I was very intentional about saving these particular ones) but here's how she was named 4 years ago, written by her Grandma.

While playing cards the other night, I kindly suggested to Sadie that when she and Mark have a daughter, they can name her "Elaine Debbie" (both moms). Sadie began to laugh. I have never seen my daughter in law laugh so hard. so then I suggested initials (some people do that and it's quite cute) which would be E.D. She laughed harder. Rich said that would be Ed. He didn't want a granddaughter named Ed. No one was taking my suggestions seriously.

(can you believe it???)

And the follow up responses to the suggestion by some of Debbie's friends...

I sincerely hope that Sadie and Mark appreciate us naming their daughter! I know it is helpful to me. LOL

from Lisa:
Debbie, Ed is an interesting name. But, remember Ed was also a talking horse from a few years ago.....what if you turned it around and the name was Dee - then you would be first! Lisa

from Shelly:
Sorry, Debbie. But Ed could also be short for Edwina...but then I think how could you do that to a child? Hopefully we will have a few years to ponder this...

Shelly

me/debbie
but Sadie and Mark aren't going to tell us the name!!!! They are going to wait until she is born and then suprise me/us with little Elaine Deborah Stone. And we will call her Ed. I like Ed better than Dee. So Debbie Elaine is out.

from Kevin:
I do believe children these days don't want to name their children after their parents, so maybe that's why Sadie laughed. Or maybe her idea for children is down the road quite a bit.
Kev

me/debbie
I do know that children are down the road a bit for them. And that is good. I really only want them to have kids when they are ready to. but then....I want them to have 12. (cheaper by the dozen you know) LOL LOL

from Meghan:
Debbie Elaine...or better yet, Debbie Rich Elaine...Dre.

me/debbie
but we need to add Mike for Sadie's dad too.
so....Drem? or Emrd? I think she will always be Ed to me. :~) My little granddaugter Ed.

Since we currently can't agree on any names Ed is actually looking like a reasonable suggestion. Now our boy needs a name any suggestions haha.

We're having...

a boy and a girl! We're ecstatic about the news and just sort of delirious in our excitement. In some ways it almost doesn't seem real. I think back to all those months (well years really) when I would go to Marcus crying asking if he thought we would ever have babies, and now we're having one of each.

Our ultrasound yesterday was one of the longest ultrasounds ever. We were there for over 2.5 hours and they were doing the ultrasound the entire time. They checked and measured everything on both babies, looked at their brains, hearts, kidneys, measured their leg and arm bones, and counted their fingers and toes. It took forever. For the most part everything is great.

The only concerning news is we found out our girl has a single artery umbilical cord which is a common cord defect which can cause some problems and can be a marker for some chromosomal abnormalities and other issues with the heart, kidneys, etc. It's most common in white women, more common in multiple pregnancies and more often seen in girls (how's that for lining up with the statistics). It can also cause low birth weight, restricted fetal growth, pre-term labor (which I'm already at risk for because it's twins) and other more horrible things that I don't want to write.

Right now the doctor was very optimistic. He said that he never guarantees parents healthy children but said it's a good sign that they were able to see all the parts they needed to see on our girl. She is smaller than her brother though. Our boy weighs 7 oz. and measured at 17w3d which is a few days ahead while our little girl was only 6 oz and measured at 16w1d a full week behind where she should be.

I'm trying to remain calm. The doctors are going to monitor her growth throughout this pregnancy and I trust that I'm in good hands and feel very comfortable with the specialist we saw yesterday. I should also add that in over half the cases with a single artery umbilical the babies are just fine, (although I put little stock in statistics because they mean nothing to the individual).

I also asked the doctor about the any possible complications related to the surgery I had to remove the septum. He told me that for the most part it shouldn't be an issue but that depends on how big the septum was. (I honestly couldn't remember) but he's good friends with my doctor who did the surgery so I think he'll check with her. If it was a certain size they'll recommend that I don't attempt a vaginal birth and just have a c-section (which there's a 50% chance of me needing anyways due twins) so that was a relief that the septum stuff for the most part is a non-issue.

One last piece we also found out that with the girl I have an anterior placenta which is kind of a bummer since it makes feeling fetal movement more difficult (but there's not really any extra risks with an anterior placenta). To date I haven't felt anything (the doctor asked) and now it might be even longer before I feel her move, although I wonder if I'll feel the boy soon, since his placenta is different. It's all so weird. Hopefully soon I'll feel something.

Now that we're done with the potential problems back to the happy news. They also measured my cervical length (which they will continue to do throughout the pregnancy as well). It was 3.7 cm and as the doctor put it was long and closed, good news. We also wanted to tell surprise our moms with the news about the sex of the babies (because I've had years to plan how I would share all of this kind of stuff).

We enlisted the help of my sister and Marcus' brother and ordered one pink flower and one blue flower. On the card I had the woman at the flower shop write, "Hi grandma I'm a boy and I'm a girl" Love, the S---- Babies. The lady at the flower shop was hysterical she was so excited to be assisting in this event and you would think she had some personal stake in all of it. It was fun and I'm glad we had willing siblings to help deliver the flowers so they could tell us the reaction of the moms. All in all it was a great day and we're just going to pray that our little girl grows big and strong and that her cord defect will be a non-issue. We go back in four weeks for another growth scan so hopefully she'll grow a lot in 4 weeks.

I had my MIL take a picture of the flowers for me (since I obviously didn't get to see what I was ordering). They turned out cute I think. I'll post pictures of the ultrasound once I have them scanned.

17 Weeks

Newest development this week is my back is killing me. It hurts to sit and move and wear my backpack. Earlier in the pregnancy I joked with Marcus that I would have to get a backpack with wheels on it (which are primarily used by the older second career students) that joke may become a reality soon.

I'm also thirsty all the time. I can't seem to drink enough water. I have no idea if this extreme thirst is normal or not but it's somewhat problematic because drinking leads to even more excess bathroom use, and sneezing is also a dangerous occurrence these days... it's all just a very dangerous combination. I also have a larger appetite than I'm used to. Marcus and I went out to lunch and I finished all of it and had dessert, Marcus was really amused because pre-pregnancy I never finished a meal when we went out to eat.

I'm still struggling a little to accept the getting bigger part of all of this. I'm self conscious of my stomach which I know is the opposite of how most pregnant women feel I hate that I feel that way and hope with more time I'll get used to it. Marcus' Grandma also asked if I was fat yet? Probably not the best way to frame the question. I'm working on this aspect of it. It helps that Marcus loves my belly and he has conversations with our babies (that are whispered) so I can't hear, but I think that's my favorite part of all of this.

Also at this point it's a real possibility that our children won't have names. Marcus and I don't agree on anything. I'll suggest something and he can always come up with some random negative connotation. Good thing we still have time.




(I'm also beginning to think we should take these pictures in the morning when I don't look so tired and awful eek).

16 Weeks

I'm late in posting this (but only by a week and I'm pretending I'm not late by changing the date). Week 16 was fairly uneventful. We signed up for our child birth classes, my only concern is they didn't offer one until the end of April so they'll start when I'm 30 weeks and end when I'm 35 weeks. My concern is that with twins who knows where I'll be at that point. When I spoke to the lady she seemed totally unconcerned, so for now we're signed up lets hope everything goes smoothly and we can actually attend.

Sleeping is also becoming a chore. I'm a stomach sleeper and can't really do that anymore, and laying on my side hurts my hip and neck. I'm working on finding the right position. I also caved and bought some maternity jeans. I still think they're kind of frumpy looking and I'm still at an awkward stage where my pre-pregnancy pants with the bella band were too tight, but the maternity pants are still a little too big, I'm sure soon enough I'll grow into them.

Now for the awkward 16 week pictures. Forgive my appearance. I was exhausted after a late night training with my internship.

This is just going to be a quick vent...

We didn't tell people about the pregnancy IRL for a while for several reasons. The first we wanted to make sure everything was okay before we told the world, we also wanted to tell our families in person so that gave us our timeline, and finally I really didn't want people to treat me differently.

The third thing has come to light recently with some friends and it's annoying. I know it comes from her caring and she doesn't mean anything by it but her new thing is to refuse to allow me to walk any where. Seriously. Yesterday, she was at my apartment before we went to a lecture and since she was driving we needed to go to her car. She looked alarmed and told me I should wait here, and she would pull around to pick me up. Umm... no. I can still walk.

I recognize that there may come a time when walking is uncomfortable and I'll more than likely take people up on such offers but at this point all is well, I'm still mobile, I can walk, I can put my jacket on without any assistance, and I can even carry a book or two. Everything is okay. (And just so it's clear I know that there may come a point when these things are difficult, but that's not now).

That's all for now (even though there are more examples).

Baby stuff...

Yesterday, for the first time Marcus and I ventured out to intentionally look at cribs and strollers and all that fun stuff. We mostly just wanted to get an idea of how much money we would need to get the basics. Holy crap there are a lot of options. We went to Ikea first because their cribs are cheap and in the Baby Bargains book they have a good rating and we found a crib that would work. That is until we went to Babies R us to compare and liked all of those cribs much better even though they cost a lot more.

I'm sure we'll end up going with Ikea just because we're practical people and really can't spend all our money buying two cribs when there are other things we need. We also reached the conclusion that having twins complicates things. There was hardly anything designed for twins out of all the strollers they had three for twins, but now we have an idea and slowly over the next few months we'll probably start buying things.

To date we haven't purchased a single baby related item with the exception of two books. I'm feeling a little bit
overwhelmed at the moment.

Really Prompt...

haha it took them four weeks to get me the blood test results from the NT scan and today they sent an email with the AFP results after only two days. I like the promptness better. Everything looks good so far!

Sadie:

The AFP test was normal- no increased risk of spinal birth defect.

First trimester blood test results

Maybe the doctor sensed my annoyance this morning, she sent me this email this afternoon:

Sadie:

The result of the first trimester test has been scanned. The risk for Downs syndrome in at least one twin is 1:1900; the risk for trisomy 18 is 1: 10,000. These are very low risks-normal results. I will write again when I have the result of today's test. Let me know if you have any questions.

Sounds good enough for me I guess although I wonder what the "in at least one twin" means.

New Pants?

I'm a stubborn person by nature and I don't want to spend money on maternity clothes until I absolutely have to. For the most part I can get by fine with my pre-pregnancy pants and the bella band. However, today has been posing sort of a problem. I haven't had the time or energy to do laundry from my Florida trip and so all my pants that are reasonably comfortable are dirty, so I pulled out an older pair that I haven't worn in years. They don't button or zip at all, and even with the bella band they're well... um not so cute, but we were late, I was desperate, and the bella band holds them up alright so they'll work until I can do laundry.

Marcus on the other hand who is excited for all things pregnancy related (and loves the book which suggested that by this stage I may need maternity clothes) has been bugging me to buy new clothes for a while now and seeing my latest pants dilemma today suggested that we, as he put it, "At least buy some stretchy pants."

Which just confused me because I have no idea what "stretchy pants" are but they sound like something from the 80's that I wouldn't actually want to wear. Turns out he just meant some maternity pants, but I think he doesn't fully grasp what maternity pants are like and will probably be surprised that you can buy fairly normal looking jeans that aren't "stretchy pants" He's funny, but I think I'll keep holding off on the new clothes for as long as possible.

Dr. Appointment news...

Overall it was a fairly boring appointment but they did manage to annoy me on several different occasions. At my doctor they make you arrive 15 minutes early so you can go in the back and get weighed, blood pressure, and tell them why you're at the appointment. This is all fine but for once I would really love if they would at least glance at my chart.

When the nurse asked me why I was there I just said for a routine pregnancy appointment. Her next question to me, "Have you done a urine test with the lab and was it positive?" I was a little confused as to what they were testing for, then it dawned on me she wanted to know if I had my pregnancy confirmed. Good lord. I'm over 15 weeks pregnant, I've seen this doctor at least 3 times, and I've had 6 ultrasounds. Open the chart and have a little look.

All I said was yes several months ago we're a little beyond that now. Then the doctor I usually see wasn't there today, which is fine, but nobody told me that. I saw a random mid-wife I've never met before, which again is fine I guess, but I prefer my regular doctor and I hope they don't think they can just switch me.

The final annoying piece is we're still waiting on the blood test results from our NT scan. We had the scan almost 4 weeks ago and still no blood test results (apparently they have them somewhere and they're normal) thanks that's helpful, but I want the actual numbers.

So I was annoyed for most of it. As far as weight gain I've gained a total of 5 pounds, 3 pounds since my last appointment five weeks ago, which doesn't seem like enough for me. In everything I've read they say that in twin pregnancies the gain should be more. However, the midwife seemed unconcerned. She also said my uterus was growing appropriately so I guess whatever. I'll keep attempting to eat and hope for the best.

We had a quick ultrasound to check on the babies and they're both doing well, jumping and moving all over. It's so weird how much they're moving and I can't feel any of it yet. Sometimes I pay extra attention just to see if I'm missing anything but so far nothing, hopefully in the next few weeks I'll be able to feel something. I also had my blood drawn today to check for Spina Bifida and other such problems. Wonder if we'll ever get those results. And then it was over. Marcus seemed kind of disappointed. I'm not sure what he expects at these things (and frankly I have no idea what to expect either), but he just looked at me and said, "That's all?"

We go to the a maternal medicine specialist person in about 2 weeks to check my cervical length and also to have the anatomy scan. So if they cooperate we'll know what we're having soon, and I'll see my doctor again in another 4. Very random appointment (and I missed my first class of the semester).

15 weeks Immokalee, Florida

This week was by far one of my most challenging. We arrived back in Connecticut at 1 in the morning on Saturday Jan 3rd, and I had to leave Monday morning for a required trip to Florida for my internship. I also managed to get sick on the return flight and spent all day Sunday laying on the couch with a sinus infection and a headache unable to take any medication because of the babies.

Between feeling sick and my exhaustion from traveling going to Florida was 6 of my classmates who I don't know very well did not seem appealing. The flight to Florida was painful. Because my sinus were clogged my ears wouldn't adapt to the altitude change of flying and my ears hurt and I couldn't hear out of them.

Although I tried to resist taking anything it just wasn't possible and I did end up using a nasal spray during the week. It was the only way I was able to function during our 12 hour long days full of meetings and other activities. It was also interesting for me because the weather was really nice in the 70's and 80's and I was unable to hide behind sweatshirts and sweaters. None of my classmates know that I'm pregnant but to me it's becoming more obvious everyday, particularly in "summer" clothes. As far as I know nobody suspects a thing and if they do they all obviously know the rule that you should never make the assumption that someone is pregnant (until they're glaringly, obviously, pregnant). I'm still at the stage where I could have just eaten to much during the holidays.

Aside from my sinus issues, I felt fine. No issues related to the pregnancy at all. Had I not had the cold/sinus problems the trip would have been no big deal at all, even with the 12 hour days.

I finally have another doctor's appointment tomorrow which I'm eager for. It's been a long time since we've seen/heard our babies and I'm intersted to know where I'm at with the weight gain. I'm also still sick a week later and hopefully my doctor can give me some suggestions on how to make it go away so I can be prepared for the start of the new semester.

With just the tank on I think I look pregnant, it's less obvious with the bare belly.

14 Weeks New Years Day

14 weeks was uneventful overall. I started having to wear the bella band full time as my pants no longer button and Marcus and I particularly notice a change in my appearance. We were still home in Nevada this week and earlier on I was experiencing some cramping and spotting which was enough of a concern that I emailed my doctor. The on-call doctor called me almost immediately based on what I shared with him he didn't think it was enough of a concern to warrant a visit to the ER, which was enough reassurance for me.

Marcus on the other hand was freaking out (again). He wanted to me to just lay in bed all day and not move. He's so cute but really he needs to relax just a little bit. We're still earlier enough in this pregnancy that if something was wrong more than likely there's nothing anyone could do about it anyways. Other than that nothing exciting to report for week 14.

Oh and this week I decided to also take a covered belly picture because it's becoming a little more obvious than it was before and I image that at some point I'll no longer be comfortable with people seeing my bare belly.