Twenty Seven Weeks, Two Days

I missed a two-week picture, so you get a whole month's worth of updates in one post. :)

So after I told Steve that I didn't want to bet on the NCAA tourney to name the kids...I won the NCAA tournament! I also won the NIT. Which means, had I not been a huge wimp, I could have won the right to name the babies outright and shut him up. Oh well....at least I won.

I had a small baby shower with people from work. They wanted to have one with just them, at my house, on a weekend night so they could drink. Crazy girls. It was very nice and the babies got some cute clothes and other necessities. We should be having another shower in June that will be a baby shower/housewarming/party at our house. Hopefully I'll at least have the painting done!

We went to Branson, MO for Spring Break. Besides the van breaking down, the wet, rainy weather, Steve recovering from Gall Bladder surgery and me having to go to the ER for wheezing, the week was great! Since I'm pregnant with twins, they immediately sent me to labor and delivery where I got yet another ultrasound. Baby A is now head down and everything else looked fine. After watching for contractions for an hour or so, they sent me on my way. The other fun part of the vacation was having Daddy push me in the wheelchair up and down the steep hills at Silver Dollar City. Elias usually rode along too. And the doctors told him he was supposed to be resting. Psht. Not our soldier.

I had my follow-up Doctor's appointment. The baby has moved off of my cervix. Yay! No more previa and all of my restrictions have been lifted. She also told me that the babies could now survive, but of course, to keep taking it as easy as possible to keep them in there. I also drank my glucose drink which wasn't as bad as I remembered. And my fundal height is now measuring as large as a full term woman for single baby. Fantastic. :)

I guess that could explain why work is getting harder and harder. My back hurts all the time, especially when I'm sitting. But if I stand too long, the pressure is insane. I got a belly band to help hold those babies up. It doesn't help my back all that much, but it does make me potty less, which is worth every penny. I'm still working on painting the kitchen (6 weeks after I started) and the babies' room and playroom are next. I hope I make it!

The babies are kicking like crazy ALL the time. Elias got to feel them finally. He was so excited. He wanted to walk around with his hand on my belly all day. :) Steve says he feels them at night when I'm sleeping too. Maybe they'll tire themselves out now and sleep through the night when they get here. It's possible....right?

Twenty Two Weeks, Four Days

Daddy finally felt the babies move. I won't tell you what he said because it included a cuss word, but he was very excited!

I also had another ultrasound. The babies were head to head and Baby A (Ryne?) is taking up most of the space. The tech said not to worry though because Baby B (Brax) is kicking him in the head. :) Nice to know they're already fighting.

We also got to see Baby A pee. The tech said she's never seen a baby do that. Later we noticed he was drinking it. Both babies are measuring right on time with B 23wks 4 days at 1 lb 5oz and A 23 wks 2 days at 1 lb 3 oz.

Twenty Weeks, Six Days

I went back to the doctor today for my normal visit. Everything was good...heart rates were 160 and 140. I gained ANOTHER three pounds this week. Seriously...if I keep going at this rate, I'll gain another 50 pounds before the babies are born. I did talk to her about feeling dizzy and light headed in the past few days. She just told me to make sure I eat every two hours or so and not to get up too fast. She also said blood sugars can do crazy things when you're pregnant. Don't have to worry about me eating...I think we've figured out that I do plenty of that!

I started feeling the babies move around 15 weeks, but just last night, I finally felt Brax kick on the outside too! I was so excited. However, Steve was already in bed, so he still hasn't felt anything.

On another note, Steve has been complaining lately that he didn't get a chance to pick a name even though he okayed the ones that I picked out. He even tried to bet that the winner of the NCAA bracket tourney got to pick the names. No way. However, if you ask, he'll say he doesn't know what he would want to name the babies...it's only 20 weeks. I can't figure out if he's just trying to cause trouble or if he's really going to put an effort into being a pain in the neck. :)

Final thought: the picture of me is in front of our new fireplace in our new house!

Doctor's Visit

I called the doctor today because I was feeling a ton of extra pressure after moving into the new house (yay!) all weekend. Good news: everything was fine. She said I have a case of the twins. Bad news: I gained 8 pounds in 3 weeks!

Eighteen Weeks, Four Days

Wow...the difference a month makes! I'm officially due in 5 months. The babies are kicking around in there a lot now. Still not strong enough for Steve or Elias to feel, but I love it! Sometimes I forget that I'm pregnant, and it takes me a minute to figure out what I'm feeling when they kick. Crazy, I know.

I finally gave my maternity leave notice at work. I'm hoping to work until the end of April which would put me around 29 weeks and come back in September. They kept hounding me about submitting my letter, so I just guessed. I can't figure out if they're worried about getting a good replacement or anxious to get me out of there. :)

We also went ahead a bought the cribs. I didn't really want to buy anything until at least 20 weeks, but I found such a good deal on them. I got two of the same, since we're gonna try the share a room thing, for less than the cost of one normally. Oh, and I ordered the valance for the bedding set so I could pick out a paint color. Just the valance though!

Sixteen Weeks, Six Days

Today was a big day with our ultrasound and doctor's appointment. After the ultrasound, I headed in to the doctor's office. Nothing too much...just weighed and measured me. My fundal height was 20 cm which is the normal size of a 20 weeker, so not too bad for having two in there. The smaller I can healthily stay, the longer I can work and stay off of bed rest, or so I hope. I do eat all the time...about every 2 hours. And I've been feeling little pokes and such since about 15 weeks. Other than that, I feel great, sleep terribly, but still seem to have a good amount of energy. Now if we could just talk that baby into moving off of my cervix...

Oh yeah...Elias insisted being in on the picture this time. Watch out...he's lasering you!

Telling the World

So after the ultrasound, I went shopping for outfits. I wanted a fun way to tell the world that we were having two boys. So I bought the outfits after tons of looking...cute boys' clothes are so hard to find...we invited Steve's parents (mine couldn't make it) out to dinner. I had Elias pull out the outfits one at a time and tell them the names we (I) picked out.
Later that night, I sent out a four part text to everyone else. First one said something about the fact that we had the ultrasound and I went shopping after. The next one was a picture of the outfit and Brant Douglas' name. The third one was the second outfit and Brax Robert's name. The last one pretty much just wrapped up that there we saw two healthy boys!

I've had lots of questions about the names. Brant just sorta came to me as Elias, Steve and I were driving down to Bloomington one day for a football game and we were discussing names. Douglas is the name of Steve's older brother who died when Doug was five. Braxton is a name I see a lot floating around on the baby boards, but I didn't think it sounded good with our last name, so I dumped the end of it. Robert is Steve and his dad's middle name and Steve's grandpa's name. Of course, now Steve likes to tease me about the names. He wants to name one Ryne and the other Sandberg. Jokingly, I hope. Well, either way, it doesn't matter...