26 weeks and Pennsylvania trip!

26 weeks

As of yesterday, I'm now officially 26 weeks along with the two newest members of our family!    My weekly pregnancy email describes the development at each week.  For this week, it says..."The network of nerves in your baby's ears is better developed and more sensitive than before. He may now be able to hear both your voice and your partner's as you chat with each other. He's inhaling and exhaling small amounts of amniotic fluid, which is essential for the development of his lungs. These so-called breathing movements are also good practice for when he's born and takes that first gulp of air. And he's continuing to put on baby fat. He now weighs about two pounds and measures 14 inches (an English hothouse cucumber) from head to heel. If you're having a boy, his testicles are beginning to descend into his scrotum — a trip that will take two to three days."  As for how I'm feeling, I'm doing pretty well.  I've discovered that I can keep my feet and ankles from swelling if I just stay indoors in the air-conditioning!  Otherwise they get huge.  I'm more tired lately and sleeping is becoming more uncomfortable--specifically, turning over in bed is difficult.  I get up about 3-4 times a night to use the bathroom and my hip joints always ache in pain.  I'm guessing this is from the hip-widening that takes place to accommodate the passage of the baby through the birth canal.  This is a cruel trick for those of us who have to have c-sections!!  I can feel tons of movement throughout the day.  This often makes for a funny (creepy?) sight as my stomach visibly moves around and you can actually see the kicks/punches.  It's crazy! 

As for gender predictions, all three of us are guessing that it's a boy and a girl.  Guess we'll have to wait and see....Lauren's excitement level continues to build.  At random times during the day, she'll suddenly exclaim "Mommy, the two babies are going to hatch out VERY soon!"  We've told her that we don't want them to come very soon.  I've read that most twins are delivered by 36 weeks, so I guess that puts us in the next 10 weeks and hopefully it'll be at the end of that.  Tonight, we start a three-week class for parents expecting multiples.  We'll learn about my nutrition and weight gain needs, body restrictions, signs of preterm labor, labor/delivery, the NICU and taking home/caring for multiple babies at once.  Should be interesting!

For the Fourth of July weekend, we drove to visit Chad's grandparents in central Pennsylvania.  Chad's parents as well as his aunts, uncles and three of his cousins were all there too.  We had a great time visiting with everyone.  Lauren loved being with her Great Mum-Mum and Pap and found a new friend with Chad's cousin Anna, who was the flower girl in our wedding.  All weekend, Lauren followed her around referring to her as "the flower girl".  Too cute!




Happy 75th birthday to both Mum-Mum and Pap!

Lauren and "The Flower Girl"

Meeting Sandy, Chad's Uncle Dave and Aunt Sally's Basset Hound.

Four generations.

Enjoying an ice cream with her Pap.

Pap is very proud of his flagpole, so I took a few pictures to send to him.  Looks so nice!

Have a great week!

Love,
M

24 Weeks!

Today I am officially 24 weeks along!  We visited the perinatologist yesterday and were thrilled to see and hear that the babies are both doing very well.  They are identical in size (1lb 9oz each) and are very active!  Baby A is on my left side and is head-down.  Baby B is on my right side and is breech.  In the ultrasound pictures, you can just barely see the thin membrane that separates them.  It's easier to see it in the bottom ultrasound picture--it's the thin line above both of their faces.  In the top picture, you see Baby A's side profile and the leg/foot of Baby B right at his or her face.  We still are not finding out their genders but I think I may have seen "girl parts" on Baby A.  So that's my guess.  Although Chad reminded me that when I was pregnant with Lauren, I thought I saw boy parts.  Obviously I was wrong back then, so don't take my current prediction too seriously :)   

I have begun the tedious but very fun task of going through our storage bins of newborn clothing.  I've been pulling out all the neutrals as well as the onesies, burpcloths, etc.  It is so fun to see all of Lauren's tiny pink outfits and to remember when she was small enough to wear them.  I hope I get at least one more girl this time around so we can reuse the adorable girl baby clothes!

24 week belly shot. 

Well, we knew it was going to happen eventually!  Chad has a new helper when it comes time to wash cars in the driveway :)

This lasted about two minutes before she was bored and gave up.  So maybe she didn't inherit that gene from her Daddy after all!

For our seventh wedding anniversary, we spent the day in Madison showing Lauren where we got married and where "Bucky Badger plays football."

Sitting in the famous "Terrace Chair" at the Memorial Union.

This is the church where we got married.  Still just as beautiful as we remember it to be :)

We were also excited to recently meet the newest member of the family!  My cousin Dedra and her husband Dan welcomed Hailey Bernice in May.  She's absolutely adorable and got Lauren even more excited to soon have babies in our house. 

To celebrate my birthday at the beginning of June, we spent the day in Chicago with my close friend Beth. 

 We had a blast at Shedd Aquarium!  Lauren was determined to find Nemo amidst the thousands of ocean animals there.  Lo and behold...

 there he is!  Can you see the tiny orange fish in this picture above?  He must be famous enough to warrant giving him his own small tank with a few starfish friends.  Lauren was very happy to see him!

 She also enjoyed going for a ride on a giant sea turtle.  He isn't real.  In case you were wondering.

 Gotta love the jellyfish.  I thought these two pictures were pretty cool.  They are both of jellyfish actually.  The picture below was taken while standing directly beneath a jellyfish tank.  All of those circles are individual jellyfish pushed up against the glass.  Pretty cool, huh?

Have a good rest of your weekend!

Love,

M

She wants to be an "animal doctor" when she's a grown-up!

At the end of my school year, my classroom was overrun with butterflies, Sally the Salamander and baby chicks!  Lauren loved them all just as much as my students did.  She also discovered one perk of being the teacher's daughter.  See below :)

 Examining the butterflies after they emerged from their cocoons.

 This girl is NOT squeamish!  She loves my salamander :)

Now for the perk that she got to enjoy...guess what I brought home for a weekend???

 Yep, I brought home 8 baby chicks for the long Memorial Day weekend.  Westin was completely enthralled!

Lauren LOVED having them here but I was more than happy to return them to the farmer at the end of the school year.  They get really big really quickly and I just didn't need to keep a bunch of chickens.

I'll update again in the next few days with more pictures including a recent belly shot.  Suffice it to say I'm getting huge!  I'm 23 weeks along and at times it feels like my uterus is playing host to a never-ending wrestling match.  I have the classic and frequent Braxton Hicks contractions, the heartburn, the acid reflux, the endless trips to the bathroom followed by running back to the bathroom because a baby shifted and made me realize I hadn't fully finished going like I thought I had.  Fun stuff!!!

G'nite!

~M

20 Weeks!

Here's my ever-growing belly at 20 weeks!

Goofing around with Uncle Matt and Boppa Lucas.



I love this picture of Daddy and his little girl.

 

Heading out to run the bases!



We spent Mother's Day at the zoo.  Lauren had a blast!

Have a good Memorial Day weekend!

Love,

M