Two babies, two doctors

These days we feel like we do a lot of doctor-hopping. We had an appointment with the perinatologist last Tuesday, and then one with the regular OB yesterday.

Last Tuesday's appointment was pretty long. They did an in-depth, long ultrasound to check each of the babies thoroughly. It was really neat to watch the tech measure each boys' head, their stomachs, their kidneys, etc. Granted, I didn't know what was what so I had to ask 4,000,000 questions (as usual). And of course, we received the great news that we're going to have two boys! Both boys are developing well, and everyone is healthy.

Yesterday's appointment was on the shorter side. We asked doc some questions, and he checked the HRs (154 and 146, I think) to make sure everything was ok. He had some humorous reading in my chart, as I had to call the emergency nurse on Friday morning because I fell out of bed (long story). Everything and everyone is fine! Doc told us that we need to do any traveling we may want to do now, and both docs agreed that I need to start preparing myself for probable bedrest at 28 weeks (Dec. 23, for those keeping score at home). It's difficult to think about being on bedrest and not going to work (and hence not getting paid) for so many weeks, but I'm much more OK with the idea now than I was last week.

While this post is rather boring (sorry), it's been an exciting couple of weeks!

20 weeks

Here's the much-anticipated 20 weeks belly shot. Updates from our appointments forthcoming...

The results are IN!

We had a very successful doctor's appointment this afternoon. We love the perinatologist, and it was a really nice visit. We're having BOYS! WOO! Well on our way to a football team!

We have conclusive evidence of this fact. Should you so desire, you could ask for it.

Vegetables, Registering, and... Snoogles?

One of our favorite things to do is checking babycenter.com at every week benchmark (i.e.--19 weeks pregnant, etc.) to see what new fruit/vegetable/food analogy they've come up with to help us know how big the babies are. Ryan's personal favorite was "jumbo shrimp," which I think was somewhere around the 8-week mark. Last week they were large sweet potatoes, and the week before that they were large onions. Currently, the babies are the size of small zucchinis, something that is a foreign concept in the Stone household. We grow zucchini in the summertime, but we usually don't remember to pick it until it's 18" or so long (no joke). And I don't usually think of small zucchini as being larger than a large sweet potato, but who am I? I don't even like sweet potatoes, much to my husband's chagrin.

We went to Babies 'R' Us (henceforth referred to as "BRU") on Tuesday night to begin the registry process. The process was excruiating...much worse than registering for anything for our wedding. Our "registry hostess" was awful! She kept repeating herself and speaking so slowly that I felt like I was 5 years old again. Later, Ryan and I both confessed to each other that at one point or another during her schpeel we each almost asked her if we could just have the scanner and get on with it. We were so tired by the time she finished her deal that we only scanned a few items. Granted, some of that is also due to the fact that we don't know genders yet, but that's beside the point. We were able to go back to BRU on Saturday evening and add a few more things. I think we may do our Target registry completely online...and avoid another "registry hostess" like the one at BRU.

One of the things they say about pregnant women is that we're really only supposed to sleep on our left side. This poses a bit of difficulty for me, as I'm usually a tummy sleeper. It doesn't quite feel like I'm sleeping on a watermelon yet (maybe small zucchinis?), but I don't want to squish the little guys any more than they already are. I'm not supposed to sleep on my right side because of the pressure the womb puts on the gallbladder, liver, kidney, inferior vena cava, etc. And I'm not supposed to sleep on my back because of the pressure the womb puts on my spine and aorta. This leaves the left side (who cares about the 2nd kidney, right?). Ryan woke me up 4 times on Friday night because I wound up on my back. He's been very good about making sure I'm sleeping on my left side, but I can't get comfortable!! And when I wake up on my back, I'm in pain and have a booger of a charleyhorse in my right calf. The point is this - on Saturday night when we went to BRU, Ryan let me splurge and buy the most glorious pillow I've ever had. It's called a Snoogle (yes, a Snoogle), and it's a C-shaped pillow designed for other preggers like me. Here we are thinking this would solve my sleeping problem, because the pillow wraps around my back, presumably keeping me from flipping over. Alas... my dear husband woke up a few times last night to the mother of his twin children sleeping....ON HER BACK. *sigh* I'm personally chalking it up to getting used to the Snoogle. We'll see how tonight pans out...

18 weeks

Guess it's been a while since we updated....I guess it's because there's not too much to report at this point. I had to go have an ultrasound done on my gallbladder and liver for some pain I was having. The tech said everything looked fine, but of course, doc has the final say.

Some friends of ours hosted the annual Oktoberfest soiree yester-evening. It was a great time, though I certainly missed my Spaten Oktoberfest this year. It's worth it!

Babies are now the size of large sweet potatoes (that's just for you, Em!). We get quite a kick (HA!) out of the size analogies that babycenter.com comes up with.

Headed to Babies 'R' Us most likely on Monday night to start registering for stuff. I think I've finally decided on a stroller, though of course I want R's input too.

T-minus 10 days and counting until the BIG ULTRASOUND!!!!

And the stubbornness begins!

We had our 16-week appointment on Monday morning, and both of us enjoyed the morning off from our respective jobs! I had blood taken (3 vials...eek!) to do some routine tests, and then we got to see the doc - and the kiddies! Both babies were active, and everyone looks great. They're growing well, measuring well, and their heartrates are strong (150 and 154, FYI).

We were hoping to find out the genders of our little guys, but they were already exhibiting some of their more endearing character traits - stubbornness! BOTH of them decided to keep their legs firmly crossed and together, leaving the 3 of us (Ryan, doc, and me) in suspense. Guess we'll just have to wait another 3 weeks until we go see the specialist. It's probably better, though, because the specialist has a much better, much cooler machine.

Ryan and I finished our morning together by enjoying a nice, not-very-healthy breakfast. We had Chick-Fil-A (I had the chicken minis, and Ryan had a sausage biscuit), Starbucks (decaf coffee for him, Peppermint Mocha for me), and a Maple-Glazed donut from Dunkin Donuts for dessert! YUMMY!! I was certainly spoiled my breakfast, my morning with my husband, and only a half-day of work. If only every day could be like that!

By the way, according to babycenter.com, our babies are roughly the size of avocados. :)

16 Weeks

Here's mom at 16 weeks.