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! :)