I can't believe my baby boy is growing up so fast. I look at him and see a little boy now...who I am so very proud of. This morning after he ate his breakfast he was playing with one of those wooden puzzles at the table, while I was packing our lunches. I couldn't help but smile as I listened to his babbles. Only he knows what he's saying, but oh how I love to listen to it. He has a lot to say, he's always talking! He has some words, actually probably a lot more than we realize but most of it still sounds like babbles to us. Some of his favorite words lately...Annabelle which sounds more like Ah-beh (this has been a staple of his vocabulary for months, he loves that cat), up, ice, bubbles which sounds more like bu-ba, Henry which sounds like Hee-y...those are the words of the week for now. He has a bunch more that he'll use randomly but not often. He likes to repeat words after you say something, which is sweet and also makes me realize now and then that I better be careful what I say!!
He also is very sure to let you know what he wants. He will shake his head yes or no (occasionally he'll actually say "yesh") if you ask him a question most of the time. He goes to the cabinet where we keep the snacks when he's hungry. He goes to the fridge when he wants his milk. Last night he was sitting with his daddy in the living room when I asked him if he wanted to take a bath...he started to protest until his daddy said "How about a bubble bath?" That boy jumped out of the chair and ran into the bathroom, started to pull back the shower curtain himself and show me where the bubbles are kept. Hmm...I think he wanted a bubble bath, what do you think??
Oh yes, and he knows where everything belongs. We have to push his chair back to the table when we're done with a meal. We have to put his hat on the chair in the kitchen when we come inside and if Momma or Daddy have hats on, he'll take our hats off for us and put them where they belong too. No hats in the house, you know! He brings everyone their shoes to go outside too. He LOVES the outside too. He finally has sand in his sandbox and he'll try to push the cover off of it himself so he can play. When we come inside, we have to bring the cat's water dish inside to fill it up, even if it already has water in it. He'll dump it out, carry it inside and bring it over to the sink to fill up. Then he'll carefully carry it back outside and set it down for her. Yes, we have to do this every single day. He takes VERY good care of his pets. Henry has eaten better in the last 2 months than he ever has in his 7 years of life, because as soon as he empties his dish...a certain little boy demands that you help him fill it back up :) As soon as he's big enough to do it himself, pretty sure the pets will be his "job"!
Oh, there are just so many fun things he's doing and learning everyday. He is my entertainment on a daily basis, for sure! The other night I was playing with him, watching him "cook" in his play kitchen, using all the right stuff for their actual uses and wondering how on earth he got so smart and figured all this stuff out. I realized how very lucky I am that I get to have two more of these! How cool is that!?!
Speaking of the little ones....they appear to be just as wigglie as their big brother was before he was born (wait...that never really changed, the child is still always on the move!) as the nurse had to chase them around with the doppler to try to get their heartbeats this morning. I had a few terrifying moments where there was nothing...couldn't hear a heartbeat at all and my heart sunk....but thankfully she found one and then a second. She had a hard time keeping the first baby in one place to get the rate, but finally came up with 148. The second wouldn't sit still enough to get his/her heartrate so I'm choosing to just believe all is well. We'll have our monthly ultrasound in about 2 weeks, so we can be reassured then. Oh, and for those I've talked to about the p17 shots, after research myself and from friends (thanks Jess!), talking it over with others and with the doctor, I decided to go ahead and do the shots. We don't know for sure that they'll help, but it doesn't seem they'll hurt anything (well, they might hurt me a bit, what shot doesn't?? but I can suck it up and deal if it means a better chance for my babies) and I'd hate to not do them, have the babies arrive too early and always wonder "what if". So starting in about a week, I'll have the joy of weekly progesterone shots. Fabulous. Hopefully they help keep these two in!!
All in all, we're all five doing well :) Harvest 2010 has begun and we're praying for a safe, fast and high yielding harvest this year. The outcome of harvest and the amounts on the grain checks this year will likely play a big part in the decision of whether or not to go back to work next summer. Fingers crossed for a good fall!!
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Friday, September 10, 2010
Pics as promised!
First, the babies:
And in 3-D! I love this picture. Baby A, on the top, is a little harder to see. I'm pretty sure he/she has their back to us, butt towards the bottom. Pretty much the view Baby A was giving us the whole time. In the 12 week ultrasound he/she was upside down. I'm thinking Baby A is going to be a little stinker!! ;) Baby B loves to pose just right for the ultrasound pictures, as you can see.
And of course, I have to include my big boy! Who just discovered his fleece slippers, given to him before he was born by my brother and sister in law. I found them the other day when I was cleaning out his closet and had him try them on. He loves these slippers. He wants to wear them all the time. The other night, he got out of the tub, I put a diaper on him and was looking for some pjs when he spotted his slippers and just HAD to have them on. He ran around like this for quite awhile, happy as can be.
Last weekend we made some yummy spaghetti sauce with the tomatoes from our garden. This is just half of them. And there's at least that many more still on the vines that are green. Except for the few green ones you see here. Guess which little helper picked those!! ;)
And last but not least, me and my Baby Bug in our first ever field of sunflowers. There's a school nearby that has a grant to grow sunflowers and turn the oil from them into biodiesel. Hubby planted and is custom harvesting the sunflowers for them this year. They don't look half bad for our first go at it, huh?
Happy Weekend everyone!
And in 3-D! I love this picture. Baby A, on the top, is a little harder to see. I'm pretty sure he/she has their back to us, butt towards the bottom. Pretty much the view Baby A was giving us the whole time. In the 12 week ultrasound he/she was upside down. I'm thinking Baby A is going to be a little stinker!! ;) Baby B loves to pose just right for the ultrasound pictures, as you can see.
And of course, I have to include my big boy! Who just discovered his fleece slippers, given to him before he was born by my brother and sister in law. I found them the other day when I was cleaning out his closet and had him try them on. He loves these slippers. He wants to wear them all the time. The other night, he got out of the tub, I put a diaper on him and was looking for some pjs when he spotted his slippers and just HAD to have them on. He ran around like this for quite awhile, happy as can be.
Last weekend we made some yummy spaghetti sauce with the tomatoes from our garden. This is just half of them. And there's at least that many more still on the vines that are green. Except for the few green ones you see here. Guess which little helper picked those!! ;)
And last but not least, me and my Baby Bug in our first ever field of sunflowers. There's a school nearby that has a grant to grow sunflowers and turn the oil from them into biodiesel. Hubby planted and is custom harvesting the sunflowers for them this year. They don't look half bad for our first go at it, huh?
Happy Weekend everyone!
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Love these little ones
I love these babies. Love them! I'm only 12 weeks pregnant, I only found out they were a "they" and not just a he or she a week ago, just started to move past the "completely overwhelmed and terrified and not so sure about this whole thing" to "kind of excited" and already...in love with them. How does that happen?? I guess its a mom thing.
They're so stinkin cute. We had a second ultrasound today. I PROMISE I will try to get pictures up tonight. Oh shoot, we're going to our little local independent fair tonight...scratch that...tomorrow night, PROMISE! Hold me to it!! Anyway...they look great. We met with the perinatologist, who practices in a city about 2 hours away but comes in to our small town practice once a month to see the high risk and multiples pregnancies. I'll see him once a month and get an ultrasound every month as well. So, bonus views of our babies! And I'm glad they'll be monitoring everything closely. Once I get to 32 weeks, they'll be weekly ultrasounds. Geez, good thing the doctor's office is not too far away...I'm going to practically live there!! Because, yep, these monthly appts with the perinatologist, are in addition to my still monthly appointments with the regular OB. Wow. But at least they'll be paying close attention to my little ones. Oh, and to answer your question Jess, my sister's twins were born at 35 weeks. As it seems to happen in my family, her water just broke with them and then since they were laying sideways in there, she then had a c-section. They were in the NICU for just a few days, if I remember correctly (it was 8 years ago and I was only 22, kind of oblivious to the world of pregnancy and babies at that time, so I can't remember exactly) but they were all in all good. They needed a little help breathing but nothing too bad and both good weights. 5 lbs something. They've had a few more respiratory issues than most kids, but other than that they've been GREAT. So that is probably a good sign for my twins, maybe?? Hope so!
So the things we found out today: They're dichorionic-diamniotic. Which means each one has their own amniotic sac and their own placenta. Which is a good thing. The best case scenario for fewer complications, so that's great! I was also told a couple things which I never expected to be told by a doctor in my life...one, that I'm underweight. But I already gained like 7 pounds!, I told the doctor. "Well, that's good but you need to gain more." Ok then. Apparently I'm supposed to be up like 14 or 15 pounds already. Um, wow. But he did all the math out for me, how much each baby should weigh, how much all the fluids, placenta, extra blood, etc weighs at the end...and all in all, I'm supposed to gain like 45 pounds. Or more. Because that didn't even count just extra fat/reserves/etc. Um, yikes. But, as he kept reiterating...the best way to have fewer complications for the babies is for them to be a good size...which is all dependent on my taking in enough calories. So I should be getting an additional 600 calories per day. I have no idea where I'm going to get an extra 600 calories every day. But I guess I'll do my best! I'm supposed to switch to whole milk and eat lots of beef, for the good protein. Whole milk, yuck. 2% I can do...guess I'll have to work my way up to whole. Beef, sign me up, love that good beef! So I'm thinking the ideal meal just might be milkshakes and burgers, what do ya think?? :)
Anyway, we learned all sorts of other things too, so it was a really good appointment. He did say that the progesterone shots my regular OB thinks I should take, probably wouldn't help me that much. He said it doesn't really help multiples and being that I didn't go into preterm labor, instead my water just broke prematurely...the progesterone wouldn't really help. Makes sense. So I'll have to ask about that at my next regular appointment. So much to keep track of. So much to learn.
I'm finally starting to get excited about these little ones. Up until about yesterday all I had felt was basically fear and a lot of wondering why. Wondering why on earth God would pick me, of all people, to be the mom to twins. Me, the unorganized, not exactly patient one. Maybe He got confused? Or maybe He's trying to teach me to be organized and learn to have some patience? Who knows. I'm glad to finally be seeing the bright side though. Realizing that while this will be scary and hard, it will also be wonderful and we have so much fun ahead of us with our THREE KIDS! :)
They're so stinkin cute. We had a second ultrasound today. I PROMISE I will try to get pictures up tonight. Oh shoot, we're going to our little local independent fair tonight...scratch that...tomorrow night, PROMISE! Hold me to it!! Anyway...they look great. We met with the perinatologist, who practices in a city about 2 hours away but comes in to our small town practice once a month to see the high risk and multiples pregnancies. I'll see him once a month and get an ultrasound every month as well. So, bonus views of our babies! And I'm glad they'll be monitoring everything closely. Once I get to 32 weeks, they'll be weekly ultrasounds. Geez, good thing the doctor's office is not too far away...I'm going to practically live there!! Because, yep, these monthly appts with the perinatologist, are in addition to my still monthly appointments with the regular OB. Wow. But at least they'll be paying close attention to my little ones. Oh, and to answer your question Jess, my sister's twins were born at 35 weeks. As it seems to happen in my family, her water just broke with them and then since they were laying sideways in there, she then had a c-section. They were in the NICU for just a few days, if I remember correctly (it was 8 years ago and I was only 22, kind of oblivious to the world of pregnancy and babies at that time, so I can't remember exactly) but they were all in all good. They needed a little help breathing but nothing too bad and both good weights. 5 lbs something. They've had a few more respiratory issues than most kids, but other than that they've been GREAT. So that is probably a good sign for my twins, maybe?? Hope so!
So the things we found out today: They're dichorionic-diamniotic. Which means each one has their own amniotic sac and their own placenta. Which is a good thing. The best case scenario for fewer complications, so that's great! I was also told a couple things which I never expected to be told by a doctor in my life...one, that I'm underweight. But I already gained like 7 pounds!, I told the doctor. "Well, that's good but you need to gain more." Ok then. Apparently I'm supposed to be up like 14 or 15 pounds already. Um, wow. But he did all the math out for me, how much each baby should weigh, how much all the fluids, placenta, extra blood, etc weighs at the end...and all in all, I'm supposed to gain like 45 pounds. Or more. Because that didn't even count just extra fat/reserves/etc. Um, yikes. But, as he kept reiterating...the best way to have fewer complications for the babies is for them to be a good size...which is all dependent on my taking in enough calories. So I should be getting an additional 600 calories per day. I have no idea where I'm going to get an extra 600 calories every day. But I guess I'll do my best! I'm supposed to switch to whole milk and eat lots of beef, for the good protein. Whole milk, yuck. 2% I can do...guess I'll have to work my way up to whole. Beef, sign me up, love that good beef! So I'm thinking the ideal meal just might be milkshakes and burgers, what do ya think?? :)
Anyway, we learned all sorts of other things too, so it was a really good appointment. He did say that the progesterone shots my regular OB thinks I should take, probably wouldn't help me that much. He said it doesn't really help multiples and being that I didn't go into preterm labor, instead my water just broke prematurely...the progesterone wouldn't really help. Makes sense. So I'll have to ask about that at my next regular appointment. So much to keep track of. So much to learn.
I'm finally starting to get excited about these little ones. Up until about yesterday all I had felt was basically fear and a lot of wondering why. Wondering why on earth God would pick me, of all people, to be the mom to twins. Me, the unorganized, not exactly patient one. Maybe He got confused? Or maybe He's trying to teach me to be organized and learn to have some patience? Who knows. I'm glad to finally be seeing the bright side though. Realizing that while this will be scary and hard, it will also be wonderful and we have so much fun ahead of us with our THREE KIDS! :)
Thursday, September 2, 2010
So, um...yep.
We had our ultrasound this morning. Of course I was excited, and a little nervous. Excited to see our newest little one and nervous of course because you just never know...especially this early when the only sign that you're still pregnant is the nausea and tiredness you have everyday. So we got there right on time, got sent right back and taken into the ultrasound room pretty quickly. It was a tech we'd never had before, but she was really nice. Smeared that gel stuff on there and put the ultrasound wand on. Picture popped up right away! Yay! Now, I'm really bad at seeing stuff on ultrasounds. I never see what they say I'm supposed to be seeing. But this was really clear! I looked at it....blinked....and said..."Um, is that what I think? Um, no...it can't be? Is it? Is that TWO??" U/S tech: "Yep it is!" Me: "Holy.....wow...um...wow...holy crap...um....oh wow. Holy crap...wow." And so on... Then I just started laughing, and couldn't stop. Because, really...what else can you do? I mean...yes...I could cry...there are things that make me want to cry....I have so many fears and worries and what ifs and how will we's and everything else running through my mind...but crying's sure not going to change anything or make it any easier to deal with and well...I tend to laugh when I'm nervous anyway. I giggled through my entire wedding vows, if that tells you anything. So...yep...I'm just laughing. And a big ole ball of nerves. I feel like I drank two cups of coffee this morning. And I'm nauseous. And its not the pregnant type of nauseous...its the nervous type of nauseous.
Kelly's reaction was not much. He's quiet in these types of situations anyway...the u/s tech said he just looked at the screen and then looked at me...I sort of wish I could have seen his face when he first realized but I was too much in shock myself. I think he's pretty much the same as me...excited but also very very nervous about everything. I asked him "How are we going to do this?" And he said, "We just will." Which is true. We'll just make it work.
The important things....both babies look great. Measurements are all right on track, we saw Baby A bouncing and saw Baby B waving his/her little hand. Of course they look just precious. They each have their own amniotic sac, which I'm told is a really good thing...less chance for complications. The doctor can't be sure yet whether or not they share a placenta. She thinks they probably do, but we have another, more in-depth ultrasound scheduled for a week from today to find out for sure. Baby A's heartbeat is 162 and Baby B's heartbeat is 150. I get the impression they're going to be monitoring me pretty closely between the combination of it being a twin pregnancy-which I'm pretty sure is an automatic high risk designation, and my history of pre-term rupture of membranes (pretty sure that's what its called) which already had put me at slightly high risk. I'm terrified...terrified that they're going to put me on bedrest. Bedrest with no kids would be one thing...bedrest with an almost 2 year old? Not a good thing. I'd imagine we could continue to send him to the sitter's during the day...but still...would not be ideal. But of course, getting these two to bake as long as possible is of the utmost importance. Because I'm also terrified of the probability (yes, probability not possibility...I'm not going to be naive about this) that my babies will be in the NICU. We were so amazingly lucky that Bug didn't need any NICU time so I suppose there is the possibility that these two will be that lucky as well....but I don't think we should bet on it. Our closest NICU is 2 hours away. That's a whole other thing to worry about. In addition to the fact that we have the Bug to worry about too. All things that we can't worry about too much right now because, well, there's just nothing we can do. Its all just a wait and see and pray and hope that all goes well.
I have a million, bazillion other thoughts and worries and wonders in my brain. But its giving me a headache. And I'm still processing :) But I had to share with you all. Support? Resources? Experiences? I'll take it all, thanks!!
Oh yes, did I mention my sister has twins? 20 months younger than her oldest son. And no, they don't run in our family. We are the only ones we have ever heard of in our family having twins. But I guess the "history of twins" in a family has to start somewhere right? Apparently its starting with our generation. What are the chances?? I mean...really?!? Craziness I tell you. Just craziness!!!!!!!!!!!
But, most importantly...we have two beautiful little babies growing strong. Wow. They really are adorable too. I'll try to get the pictures up (my camera's still broken and I learned last time scanning ultrasound pictures doesn't work) when I get a chance.
Kelly's reaction was not much. He's quiet in these types of situations anyway...the u/s tech said he just looked at the screen and then looked at me...I sort of wish I could have seen his face when he first realized but I was too much in shock myself. I think he's pretty much the same as me...excited but also very very nervous about everything. I asked him "How are we going to do this?" And he said, "We just will." Which is true. We'll just make it work.
The important things....both babies look great. Measurements are all right on track, we saw Baby A bouncing and saw Baby B waving his/her little hand. Of course they look just precious. They each have their own amniotic sac, which I'm told is a really good thing...less chance for complications. The doctor can't be sure yet whether or not they share a placenta. She thinks they probably do, but we have another, more in-depth ultrasound scheduled for a week from today to find out for sure. Baby A's heartbeat is 162 and Baby B's heartbeat is 150. I get the impression they're going to be monitoring me pretty closely between the combination of it being a twin pregnancy-which I'm pretty sure is an automatic high risk designation, and my history of pre-term rupture of membranes (pretty sure that's what its called) which already had put me at slightly high risk. I'm terrified...terrified that they're going to put me on bedrest. Bedrest with no kids would be one thing...bedrest with an almost 2 year old? Not a good thing. I'd imagine we could continue to send him to the sitter's during the day...but still...would not be ideal. But of course, getting these two to bake as long as possible is of the utmost importance. Because I'm also terrified of the probability (yes, probability not possibility...I'm not going to be naive about this) that my babies will be in the NICU. We were so amazingly lucky that Bug didn't need any NICU time so I suppose there is the possibility that these two will be that lucky as well....but I don't think we should bet on it. Our closest NICU is 2 hours away. That's a whole other thing to worry about. In addition to the fact that we have the Bug to worry about too. All things that we can't worry about too much right now because, well, there's just nothing we can do. Its all just a wait and see and pray and hope that all goes well.
I have a million, bazillion other thoughts and worries and wonders in my brain. But its giving me a headache. And I'm still processing :) But I had to share with you all. Support? Resources? Experiences? I'll take it all, thanks!!
Oh yes, did I mention my sister has twins? 20 months younger than her oldest son. And no, they don't run in our family. We are the only ones we have ever heard of in our family having twins. But I guess the "history of twins" in a family has to start somewhere right? Apparently its starting with our generation. What are the chances?? I mean...really?!? Craziness I tell you. Just craziness!!!!!!!!!!!
But, most importantly...we have two beautiful little babies growing strong. Wow. They really are adorable too. I'll try to get the pictures up (my camera's still broken and I learned last time scanning ultrasound pictures doesn't work) when I get a chance.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)