squirmy pants

We had our weekly ultrasound today and our little raspberries are doing well. Their hearts are beating away, their little arm and leg buds are squirming, and we have names until we find out actual genders at 18 weeks. Everyone, meet Antonio and Beyonce...

So we promise, those won't be their actual names. But it's a lot more fun than Baby A and Baby B, don't you think? They are what we in the babymaking biz call "dichorionic twins", meaning they have two placentas and two sacs. That is the lowest risk kind of twin pregnancy, which is great news. It also means they will both likely be fraternal (don't look like each other).

We got a chance to meet with Dr. Coordination today...quick story about his name...the OB fellow that was in the room doing my ultrasound totally threw his pager half way across the room when he dropped it while trying to also hold the ultrasound wand. Dr. Coordination, who was standing beside my table, leans over and says "Don't worry, I'll be the one catching the babies." He will be our doctor through the whole pregnancy and actually deliver the babies (unless he decides to jet off to some fabulous vacation while I trial through labor).

Doctor, doctor give me the news
I've got a bad case of loving you
No pill's gonna cure my ill
I've got a bad case of loving you
~"Bad Case of Loving You" by Robert Palmer

hanging head in shame

I know, I know...life just got away from me last week. So let's just pretend that my little pregnancy counter says 7 weeks and 6 days as opposed to the actual 8 weeks and 1 day.

We had a good week filled with lots of tired evenings at home and a weekend on the couch. We're too cool for school, what can I say? Let me paint a picture for you: Lindsay is laying on the couch with the two dogs either wrestling around the living room or passed out on their backs, feet spread in the air. Brian is probably doing housework of some kind, cause he rocks like that. After eating dinner, Lindsay tries to stay awake through "So You Think You Can Dance?", only becoming coherent to see our friend Nick starring in his Subway commercial. At some point, Brian comes back in the living room (probably after washing all the dinner dishes...did I mention he's awesome?) and finds Lindsay passed out on the couch. He wakes her up (since it is 9:15pm and clearly past her bed time) so she can take approximately 72 pills, stagger upstairs, and pass out in bed. Man, pregnancy is sexy.

Anyways, we have a lot of busy weekends coming up with a Durham Bulls game and my best friend Emily's wedding, so hopefully we'll have something actually interesting to right about soon. In the meantime, look at our little blueberries at 7 weeks!

s'mores and crickets

This weekend we went camping at Jordan Lake and had an awesome time. Everytime I go camping, I have so much fun and think, why don't we do this more than once or twice a year? Even with the morning sickness and being sore from sleeping on an air mattress on the ground, it was way worth it. We spent Saturday playing and sunning at the lake, had a cookout and s'mores back at the campground, slept under the stars (well I was technically under them, the tent was just blocking my view), and had dirty eggs and bacon for breakfast followed by some more sun time.

We decided that regardless of how rugged we think we are, this will be our last camping trip for a while. Something about diapers and open trash bags just doesn't sound like a good time for anyone. I did however decide that my new cheap Walmart raft that I floated around the lake in, not sharing with any children (minus the 2 in utero) was always a good time and worth the trip.

We're going camping now
we're on our way!
We're gonna climb up a mountain
and run and jump and play.
And as we hike along, we're gonna sing
Hallelujah to the king!
~Psalty

very very sneaky

Yay for medicine! The Zofran came in and I am a normal person again. Or at least I am after I set my alarm at 5am so I can take the meds and go back to bed. Then I trick my body into thinking it feels better on its own when I wake up at 6 :-)

We have spent this week doing a lot of resting and cleaning around the house. I am usually too exhausted at night to do anything but lay on the couch and pass out around 9pm. However, we did get two exciting books about having twins in the mail from Amazon. We have loved reading "When You're Expecting Twins, Triplets, or Quads" which really details out how multiple pregnancies are different than single ones. Did you know that twin pregnancies cause you to look the same as a single pregnancy that is 6-8 weeks ahead of you? Or that by 24 weeks, my uterus will be as big as a basketball? While I find this fascinating, it did cause a little anxiety in Brian. That's a lot of tummy!

Double Trouble Watch 2009: Well we know that both our little sweet peas hearts are beating strong this week (since we heard them and all). Now that I have less nausea, I feel a lot better and can actually function more in the morning. My stomach is starting to swell a little bit (already switching over to the maternity pants!) and I am excited for all the fun changes as the babies get bigger.

Life is always a rich and steady time
when you are waiting for something
to happen or to hatch.
~E.B. White "Charlotte's Web"

twin spin

It was another morning of waking up extra early, convincing the dogs that yes, in fact it was time to eat their breakfast and get ready for the day, and make the fun drive to UNC following each other in our cars. But it was all worth it...

That, my friends, is two little babies. In their own little sacs. That look like cute little baby shrimps with a little spinal cord we could see. And little flickering heartbeats. THAT WE COULD ACTUALLY HEAR! We were so excited when they flipped that doppler over "just in case" we could hear the heartbeats. And there they were, 111 bpm and 109 bpm, just thumping away. No we did not cry, because we couldn't pick our jaws up off the floor.

I cannot tell you how exciting it was to know that both their hearts are beating and they are both growing and developing on schedule, in fact ahead of schedule, as you often cannot hear the heartbeats for another week or two.

Now that we have real life babies on their way, as opposed to just cute sweet peas (their size this week), I guess we better get organized!

You were born together,
and together you shall be forevermore.
But let there be spaces in your togetherness.
And let the winds of the heavens dance between you.
~Kahlil Gibran

watermelon crawl

Warning: morning sickness in full effect! If you happen to be driving down US-40 in the morning and see a woman on the side of the road getting sick by her shocked carpool, do not be alarmed.

And that is how I started my week. Classy. Other than the demon in my stomach, we had a great weekend. We went out on Friday night with my family (minus my sister Katelyn and her husband Peter- miss you guys) for a celebration dinner at the Chop House. We had an awesome time, got some cute new baby stuff from my parents, and had the waiter bring us creme brulee with two little candles in it. Saturday, Brian got in a round of golf while I went to the pool with my mom. And yesterday, we got some fresh watermelon, which my upset stomach has actually been loving.

We have been feeling really excited and blessed this last week. Brian loves talking to my tummy and telling them all about their mommy and daddy. We have also started talking about the nursery, which we are going to start working on right away. We had originally planned on our smaller bedroom upstairs being the nursery, but it won't fit two cribs. So now we are rearranging our upstairs and making our guest bedroom the nursery and moving the guest bedroom furniture into the little room. Which, since I am not allowed to pick up anything heavier than 5 pounds, means that I am standing around offering "helpful suggestions" while poor Brian has to move everything. He is such a trooper!

If my guests do not like it here,
I suggest they accompany you to the nursery
where I am sure you will all feel more at home.
~Bette Davis

share and share alike

So we are going to introduce a new segment to the blog (audience card reads "OOOH AAAH") for everyone who cares about all the minute changes going on in my body. Which is probably only Brian and I, but humor us.

Once a week, we will be featuring Double Trouble Watch 2009 to let you know how I am feeling and any cravings or fun symptoms. In the meantime, I will continue to post blogs about basically the same subject. On that note, let me pass along a humorous story from last night: Brian and I went out to dinner and stopped at Target, basically for no other reason then to gaze at baby items. We were wandering through the crib aisle, then the stroller aisle, then the bouncy seat aisle and Brian looks at me. "Babies need a lot of stuff." "That is true sweetie. And we will need it times 2." "But they need to learn to share!"

Double Trouble Watch 2009: This week has been interesting, in that I am not craving actual food, but everything seems to taste better. And when I need to eat, that means like 5 minutes ago. And I like pickles, but I think that was before the babies. Oh and dairy. I mean I loved cheese before, but I have a relationship with dairy now. As indicated by the cup of TCBY sitting on my desk right now. Who am I to deny our little appleseed sized babies calcium??

Share everything.
Don't take things that aren't yours.
Put things back where you found them.
~Robert Fulghum

count von count

So we had our first ultrasound today! It was so excited to get up super early and head over to our doctor's office for an appointment before work. Just to clarify- the going to the ultrasound part is actual excitement...the getting up early is sarcastic excitement. We will have an appointment every Tuesday until I am released to an OB at 10 weeks (August 11). Now everyone needs to not get too excited because this is a very early ultrasound, but they did see that two little Hege Eggies had implanted! All that means is that both embryos implanted and formed a sac about 2 weeks ago. We do not know that both of them are still growing at the point. At next week's ultrasound we will start to see more and in the next 3 weeks, we should know for sure how many we are having!

In the meantime, we are having a great time resting and trying not to overload ourselves. This weekend, we had a great time at Matt & Elizabeth's wedding on Friday, fireworks at the Fairground on Saturday, and a bridal shower for my friend Emily on Sunday! Okay, so you might be saying, how is that not a busy, overbooked weekend when you are trying to rest Lindsay? I won't break it down for you, but suffice to say that it is approximately 5 less events per weekend than before I got pregnant. So lay off yo, and let us go back to resting and counting babies.

You know I am called the Count
Because I really love to count
I could sit and count all day
Sometimes I get carried away
1! 2! 3! 4!
1-2-3-4, 1-2-3-4
~"The Song of the Count" Sesame Street

over the river and through the woods, to grandmother's house we go

We wanted to backtrack to last weekend when we got to tell our parents about the pregnancy. What an awesome moment for both of us! This will be the first grandchild on both sides of our family, so needless to say, they will be wonderfully spoiled.

We waited until we got our blood test back before we shared it with either of them. We told my parents on Friday night after they got back from a night at church. We snuck into the house and decorated the kitchen so they would be surprised when they got back. And surprised they were! Aren't the balloons cute? I got so excited when I bought them and gave the unintrested teenage employee a whole explanation of our surprise. I could tell it was the highlight of her day. Maybe I should go buy some more balloons so I could tell her a daily story to brighten her day.

On Saturday, we drove down to Gastonia to tell Brian's family. Since we weren't exactely sure where they would be, we had a little bit of a diffcult time getting everyone together to tell them. We ended up surprising Brian's brother and dad at his grandma's house with the good news. We waited for Brian's mom to come home and then suprised her with a wrapped up onesie that said "what happens at Grandma's stays at Grandma's." Patti had saved Brian's baby quilt to give us, which was so adorable and got me real excited for nursery decorating!

Welcome to the family

We're glad that you have come

to share your life with us

As we grow in love and may we always be to you

What God would have us be a family always there

To be strong and to lean on

~Psalty "Welcome to the Family"

snakes on a plane

Well maybe there weren't actual snakes on the plane, but yesterday was by far the worst travel day of my life. First off, yesterday's doctors appointment went great. I got to fill up some vials for blood work (not the exciting part) but I also got to see our doctor and have her congratulate us on the pregnancy. I got a call back today and my hCG level is 706, so double from Sunday. Yeah! I keep singing the doublemint song to encourage them...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KhsZzduLJ8.

And yes, I promise to dress my awesomely retro twins in these very outfits.

Speaking of twins, we have a very high progesterone level, which my nurse says is a good indication of multiples! We have our first ultrasound on Tuesday morning, so pray for beautiful, textbook little sacs. We should be able to see how many sacs there are, but that doesn't necessarily mean that all of them are still developing. In the next month, we will know for sure how many we are having. I will have an ultrasound every Tuesday until I am released to an OB at 10 weeks.

Back to the plane, let's just say after an hour delay for the flight to Chicago, 2 long train rides (with delays due to construction), 2 taxi rides, running between 3 terminals in 1 airport, missed flight to Raleigh, rerouted flight to Newark, and a 3 hour delay, I finally made it back in home. Only 6 hours late.

So kiss me and smile for me

Tell me that you'll wait for me

Hold me like you'll never let me go

Cause I'm leaving on a jet plane

Don't know when I'll be back again

Oh babe I hate to go

~John Denver "Leaving On a Jet Plane"