26 weeks

Yay, I have a few minutes to stop in and give an update on my appointment today. Britney didn't have any homework, Brady only had spelling/reading and Ben had reading. Brady was at the table doing his spelling while Riley ran up to the store. I told him, "I am going to go take a fast bath and then you can read to me." While I was soaking he knocked and asked if he could read to me while I soaked, he thought the babies would like to stay in the bath longer, lol. How could I say no to that, lol. So he read to me and then Ben came in and read his little book. I like multitasking like that!!

Today went really well at the specialist and I have entered the 3rd trimester! whoohoooo!!  I love seeing my babies wiggle around and snuggle. My weight was good (only 12 lbs in 26 weeks), no proteins, and the doctor was really happy with my blood pressure. I'm so happy it's staying steady and responding well to pregnancy safe medications! Baby A was measuring 25 weeks 6 days and Baby B was measuring 25 weeks 1 day. Even to be measuring different the estimated weight for each is 1 lb 15 oz's. Yay, they are so close to be 2 pounds apiece! Baby A is head down but Baby B is breech and face up. The specialist asked if I had talked to my ob about delivery. I told him that we had discussed a c-section and the reasons. He made my day when he said, "In my early days I would have said a vaginal birth was better but if Baby B isn't in the right position you do risk them not turning and following A. Asking a mom to delivery both vaginally and then c-section is just cruel and unusual punishment." I'm happy that he is on board with a possible c-section because he will be the one to tell my OB when we need to deliver. I don't have to go back until week 30 and then he will start seeing me every week. He was happy about my glucose test and wants me to do another one which I have scheduled for week 29. I hope I pass that one and avoid GD all together! I'll leave you with a belly picture. March 26, 2013 / 26 weeks

A little catch up

Let's see if I can catch up a little....

    Riley and I had a great time on our anniversary getaway! The first stop was to take the kids to Granny's. They were so excited we barely got a goodbye, lol. After that we stopped at Starbucks to get some sugar in hopes that the babies would be active for our ultrasound (they had told us to eat some sugar before hand). The ultrasound was super cool in that we got to see our babies but we couldn't get any face shots of them. Baby A had his face buried into Baby B and then Baby B was looking down. Since they weren't in the best positions we rescheduled for the following week to come back and try again. We continued onto our getaway by doing a little shopping and a nice lunch out until it was time to check into our hotel. Later that night we went to Bonnell's and had an amazing dinner. It was different from any anniversary dinner I've ever had. We enjoyed Elk tenderloin, Buffalo tenderloin, Quail, Andouille sausage, the best ever green chili cheese grits and grilled cactus. I was a little hesitant to try the cactus but glad I did because it was delicious!

The next day we went and saw The Great and Powerful Oz in 3D. Not sure I would have liked it as much if it wasn't in 3D. It really made the screen pop to life with all the colors. Later that night we went to Abuelos and had another very delicious dinner. It was so nice to have some quiet time together! The next day we ran some errands and had a nice big breakfast before heading home to get the kids. I was super happy to get back home. This pregnant mama needs her own bed!!! After getting home Brit and I took the afternoon to go shopping! We went to Sam Moons and found her some special earrings and bracelet for my baby shower to go with the dress I ordered her from Lolly Wolly! She's going to be so cute! We also went shopping and she picked some adorable little rompers for the twins to wear later in the summer. She absolutely LOVED that!

That night this little guy lasted all of thirty minutes in his bed before he was crawling in ours to snuggle. I think he missed us!

On the baby front.....

• 24 weeks 1 day pic!

• Thursday March 21, 2013 / 25 weeks 2 days : Since we had to reschedule the sonogram Riley couldn't go because he had a meeting. I invited my MIL to go with me and it was an amazing appointment! Baby A (Barrett) was showing off and Baby B (Brennen) kept putting his hand in front of his face or looking down. We did get some awesome pictures though and it made this whole pregnancy feel more real! We were able to get a CD, a DVD and several 4x6's. Riley and I enjoyed watching the DVD later that night. 

• Friday March 22, 2013 / 25 weeks 3 days: I woke up at 1am with a horrible migraine headache, starving and the driest mouth. I could only drink water since I had to be fasting for my glucose test. It was a long night! I took Ben to school and half way to his school I had to pull over and throw up. I was so glad I had a mini trashcan in the van! He was so upset and kept telling me I needed to go to the nurse when we got to his school :)  I seriously considered cancelling my glucose test but after I got sick that eased up the headache a little. I walked Ben to class, drove to my Dr's office, drank that glucola at 8:25 and prayed I wouldn't throw it up because if I did the test would be void. They got me back in the room and blood drawn at 9:25! My OB came in and we talked about my headache, how happy he was with my blood pressure, and listened to the heartbeats. Then we started discussing delivery and he said if Baby A was head down we could try for a natural birth or if they stayed transverse we would need to do a c-section. I told him I was really leaning towards the c-section regardless of position because I was fearful of delivering Baby A and then ending up with an emergency c-section because Baby B was in distress. That I felt better trying to schedule something because I felt like that would be better for making sure the older B's were all taken care of. That since I wanted my tubes tied I could get it all done at the same time. He said if a c-section was what I wanted that's what we would do. I've never had surgery before and that part scares me but I just want the "safest" scenario to get them here the best! SO we are discussing all of this and then in mid sentence I said, "I think I need a trashcan." He grabbed me one real quick and I threw up all that glucola. I was so happy I didn't throw up until AFTER my blood draw!!!! My head was pounding and he encouraged me to go home, call Riley to get the kids and take a phenergan for the nausea. He wrote me a script for Zofran too incase I couldn't take the phenergan. Here's the thing about phenergan..... it knocks me off my rocker!! Once I take that stuff I'm out for hours and then even when I wake up I have a hard time opening my eyes and functioning. Thankfully Riley was able to get the kids and I came home and went straight to bed. He rocks because he did two school pickups, brought Brit home, put her hair in a bun for ballet, got her across town for dance and then took the boys to Chick fil a to play. I woke up long enough to tell them to have fun and eat dinner with them. Then I slept from 8pm-9am the next morning. While the sleep was much needed I do know one thing I must put on my birth plan.... for them NOT to give me phenergan in an IV. I will miss the first 24 hours of their life if they do, lol. I was so afraid that my glucose numbers were bad since I threw up in the office. I was hoping it was headache related!

 My sweet boys playing with My Little Ponies....

• Monday March 25, 2013 / 25 weeks 6 days: My OB's office called with my glucose results. I needed them to be under 140. My result was 90!!!!!!! I passed!!!! WHoohooo!! I "think" I have to do another one at 28 weeks. I am so glad I didn't pass by one point or something. Hopefully I will pass the next one too and avoid a three hour GTT!!! 

• Tuesday March 26, 2013 / 26 weeks: I have my specialist appointment for a growth scan! Can't wait to see the babies again! 

 


    

So many positives this week!

This is just an awesome awesome week!!! Since I'm short on time I'll divide it up with bullets.

• Having my children home from school!!!! Getting to spend time with them all day makes me so happy!! On Monday we worked on their rooms organizing toys and trying to figure out what they need summer wise. When did they get so big?? Then Britney and I decided she needed a major haircut. She was tired of sleeping in a braid (if she didn't her hair would be a rats nest the next morning). So we talked about donating her hair to Locks of Love and she loved that idea. We cut off 7 1/2 inches. Locks of Love said the minimum was 10 inchs but we are going to mail it off and let them sell the hair to cover the costs of making hair pieces. We hope her hair helps another child get a hair piece!! 

•  Tuesday we spent the day doing what they wanted which was watching movies, having lasagna for lunch and then making HUGE M&M cookies together! 

• Today Ben had speech and OT so the old B's got to go spend time with Granny (since therapy is 2 hours I didn't think they would have fun sitting waiting on Ben). When we got done we headed to picked them up and then we all headed to the Burger Box! Of course we had to get ice cream afterwards because you can't go to the Burger Box and not get ice cream! After that we headed downtown to get several bundtlets from Nothing Bundt Cakes to celebrate (more on that in a minute) after dinner! We got to taste test the flavors and they LOVED that! We ended up getting Lemon, Red Velvet, White Chocolate Raspberry & Chocolate Chip. We will head to dinner with his family and then back to eat cake! I'm going to be sad next week when they go back but summer is around the corner! Riley took the cover off the pool (well the crazy wind we had helped that along) and started the salt filter going. The kids are ready to jump in and trying to explain that it's too cold right now is not being well received, lol. 

• This week we hit a major milestone in the pregnancy! 24 weeks which means viability! I thank God everyday for getting this far (with no complications) and letting us experience all of this together as a family. Britney always wants to know what size of fruit the babies are equivalent to. Brady always puts his ear to my belly and says he can hear them clapping and he will kiss it over my clothes. This morning he said, "Mommy, your looking big." Thanks buddy, lol. Ben just wants to count the months left. This morning I told the kids I was six months pregnant and Ben said, "You have April, May and June left." He is so smart! Tomorrow we have our 3D/4D sonogram. Getting a glimpse of them will be fun!!

• So what are we celebrating you ask? Last month Riley got a pretty nice raise! Then last week he came home and told me that his boss asked him to submit a resume in for a manager that is leaving and he needed to do it that day. Then he had an interview the next day. He got called in to the office and told that he pretty much had the job but HR needed to approve it. We found out yesterday they approved it and it should take effect in the next week or so! This is very good news for us because it is a major pay raise! When I first found out I was pregnant with twins I panicked inside because I knew it was going to mean we needed a new vehicle, the expenses that come with children, dr visits, etc. Riley is always the voice of reason and said, "God will take care of it and he didn't give us this to abandon us." God has provided like he always does. Thank you Lord for all your many blessings. Life is happy and life is good! 

• Lastly, tomorrow Riley and I are getting a little anniversary getaway turned babymoon! LOL! The kids are super excited to go spend a few days with Granny & Papa. MIL told me today that she has tilled up a section of her yard to let them plant a "secret garden". They are going to LOVE that! They are also looking forward to filling up all the bird feeders and feeding the birds (that's a huge spring/summer project they do with Granny because she has so many feeders).  

Well, I'm off to go finish packing my bag and stuff for the kids. :)

Perfectly Posh Review

Today, instead of talking about the pregnancy or my family, I'm going to do a few product reviews!! My friend was gracious enough to send me some samples of some Perfectly Posh products to pamper this mama. I've taken my time using each of the products and now I want to share my experience!!!

The first product I tried was Sugar Fix.

It's an all over body sugar scrub. I decided to use this before shaving my legs. In the past I've used a few sugar scrubs and the first thing that comes to mind is OIL! We all know what oil means....a slimy tub/shower to scrub afterwards. Being almost six months pregnant scrubbing an oil ring is not on my high list of want toos. I am happy to say this product IS NOT OILY! It's smelled sweet with hints of honey and almond. It felt great to the skin, just the perfect amount of "scrub" that didn't leave you feeling scraped or raw. It rinsed very clean and made my shave very smooth! I would give this product an A++++ (It got an extra plus since I didn't have to scrub my tub!!)

After shaving my legs I moved to the second product called Sassyooma Cocoa Butter.

The first thing I noticed was the smell. It smelled like a cross between fresh squeezed orange juice and dreamicles. It was a very rich cream that was very smooth BUT didn't leave you feeling greasy. It soaked in fast and the smell started out a little strong but then softened to a sweet citrus. I was very pleased with how it make my legs and hands feel afterwards. I loved how thick it was but didn't feel heavy. I've used Cocoa Butter before and it left me feeling waxy. This didn't do that at all! I really liked the smell too! I would give this product an A+.

 A few days later I decided to try the Hot Salt Sha Bang which is a deep muscle warming salt scrub.

 It lists that it has capsicum it in. I expected it to be warming in the shower but I didn't really notice the warmth until after I got out of the shower and settled into bed. My skin started to feel a slight warming and it was very relaxing. I slept pretty good that night which is crazy considering I don't sleep much getting up to pee so much. :) The scrub was similar to the the sugar scrub, in that it wasn't oily (YAY!!) and didn't leave my skin feeling stripped. I will say that out of both scrubs I really liked the Sugar Fix the best but I did like the warming effect of this product. It was the perfect warmth with no burning. Would definitely be great after a long day of walking or tired shoulders. I would give this product an A+

Afterwards I used a Shea Butter called Sister, I'm a Poet.

 It wasn't as thick as the Sassyooma but it was whipped, went on pretty light (non greasy) and soaked in fast. This was a light floral scent that wasn't too overpowering. I really like that Perfectly Posh doesn't have any cheap fillers and is paraben/paraffin and sulfate free! I also like that they are soy and gluten free! They are also cruelty free which is a plus! I would give this Shea Butter an A. I think I would like to try it in a different scent. The website lists several different scents to choose from!

If you would like to try some Perfectly Posh my friend Lindsay would love to help you!! Visit her website HERE
I would love to know if you order and what you think of the products! LOVE LOVE LOVE Sugar Fix and the Cocoa Butter! Those will be my next purchase in getting ready for baby! Love how it made shaving easier and made this mama feel great!  Thanks for reading my review! Thanks Lindsay for sending me some awesome products!!

22 weeks 5 days!

The kids are tucked in, Riley's taking a shower and maybe just maybe I will have a few minutes to write out a blog post :) So much to tell!!!

On Tuesday I had my check up with the specialist (exactly 22 weeks along). I took my MIL along because I thought she might enjoy seeing the babies on the big screen! My blood pressure was staying low, no proteins, and my fluid was good. Baby A was measuring 22 wks 4 days and is 1 lb 4oz. Baby B was measuring 22 wks 1 day and is 1 lb. Both have four chamber hearts which the doctor said we wanted. It was hard to see on Baby A how it was flowing out so they will check that again when I go at the end of this month. Baby A is already head down and Baby B is transverse, which explains were I am feeling little feet kick me :)  Can I just stop and say that is the most amazing feeling and Riley got to finally feel them this last week!! Back to my appointment, I'm always happy when they don't find any obvious problems!! I get really nervous when I go to these appointments because I don't want them to pop my happy bubble!! As my doctor (I actually saw a different Dr that day in the same practice) is doing the scan I mentioned that I had a gender scan for Baby A and it showed a girl. So she went up to Baby B (who is transverse) and confirmed once again he is a BOY. Then she went down to Baby A. I knew the minute I saw the screen that Baby A was NOT a girl. I said out loud, "That is a penis isn't it?" The Dr said, "Uh huh, are you sure they said girl?" I said, "I have the picture at home that is pointing and says, "It's a girl." So my Dr would scan some things on Baby B and then go back down to Baby A. Every time she would get the "goods" I would say, "Yep that's still a penis." Poor Dr checked five times to make sure and then checked to make sure there wasn't a third baby hiding that was our mystery girl. My MIL had an ear infection and couldn't wear her hearing aids so she couldn't hear what we were saying but she could tell my face was a little sad. So I left there with the realization that the girl we thought we were having for almost five weeks was really a boy. I won't lie it was a little sad because we were attached to the name, the thought, the excitement of buying girly things (and lets be honest, there are a ton more cute baby girl things than boy things) and the realization that I had a little girl at home to break the news too that she wasn't getting a sister. :( Not to mention that meant I had a few girly things at home that would need to be returned to the store. I let myself be "sad" for that day, to grieve I guess is the best way to put it and tell my husband/our kids. The next day though I got excited for the extra son I will get to have. We came up with a new name, returned some items this last week, made new duplicate purchases that we had already bought for Brennen and called baby shower hostesses to tell them to halt the pink, lol. Now we are all set to bring home Brennen Levi and Barrett Rylen. They just need to grow grow grow!!! 

I'm still a little shocked our she is a he but I feel so blessed to be pregnant and got over it pretty quickly! I was reminded that this isn't the first time I've had to change my heart for something else (adoption versus pregnancy). Brit and the boys took it really well. They were initially disappointed but when they saw we were excited about another boy they went with the flow! I saw a sign on Pinterest that sums everything up perfectly. 

They weren't able to get a profile picture of Brennen that day because he was moving around so much. This is a profile picture (with his knee up to his chin) of Barrett. 

This my bump at 22 weeks 1 day

I've had several people/online friends ask for my registry information so I thought I would put it here too.
Amazon
Babies R Us 

This week is our 15th wedding anniversary!!! Who would have thought we would be 23 weeks pregnant!! Can't wait for our little anniversary getaway coming up (turned baby moon, lol!!).