Well, I am happy to report that we are past the halfway point--22 weeks! I had my 4th ultrasound today, and it is amazing how much the babies have grown. We were able to confirm that Baby B is officially a girl (they suspected it at 17 weeks, but couldn't say for sure). So a boy and a girl. They are kicking away and seem to be having a party in there sometimes! In church last week, we could both see my belly moving, first on one side, then the other--just little pops and pokes...maybe they're fighting already! But hopefully just playing nicely.... :)
My stats for 22 week appointment:
-gained 10 lbs since last appt at 17 weeks (at the previous appts, it was a 5 lb weight gain)
-Baby A (we'll call him Milton for fun) is 1 lb, 1 oz with a heart rate of 132 bpm
-Baby B (we'll call her Millicent) is 15 oz with a heart rate of 148 bpm
-fundal height: 8 1/2 inches
No strong cravings, but I have taken a liking to strawberry smoothies with vanilla yogurt and pine-orange-banana juice. Cottage cheese and egg salad sandwiches are also something that seems to appeal to me a lot more than it used to. Of course, I always had cravings for ice cream, so that doesn't count.
Well, that's about all for now!
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Pregnancy Thus Far
I guess I am a little behind, since I'm just starting a blog at 22 weeks along, but better late than never, right? Many friends and family have been wonderful about asking me how I'm feeling and how the babies are doing...not just once in a while, but on a regular basis! It's so nice to know there are so many caring people out there! I hope everyone has as many caring people in their lives.
Anyway, here's a bit about my pregnancy:
1. No, I have never had morning sickness or severe nausea. Tiredness, yes, and sometimes just that overall "yucky" feeling during the first trimester. I consider myself VERY blessed, since sickness can be especially awful in multiple pregnancies.
2. The second trimester started with a sudden burst of energy at week 13, and since then, I have been able to do some bike riding (even a 20 mi and 15 mi ride at the beginning of the 2nd trimester!), walking, and house projects. Although, I've been noticing that I huff and puff more and more even doing things like scrubbing the bathtub or walking up a flight of stairs lately.
3. So far, no one has made any rude comments to me about my size or pregnancy...so I'm thankful for that! This is not to say that the comments won't ever come...
4. I'm finding people are very curious when they find out I'm having twins, and they want to know every detail. And then they often proceed to tell me stories about their friend's cousin who had twins too. I don't find it annoying at all, because people are just excited and want to be a part of it.
5. Having an ultrasound every month has been nothing short of AMAZING. To see them go from a flicker of a beating heart at 7 weeks, to growing arm and leg buds at 13 weeks and finally fully functioning organs at 17 weeks has been a miracle! There is absolutely NO way that human life was an accident!
6. I began feeling the babies move at 17 weeks. The little girl (baby B) seems to be the busy body of the 2 of them. She is much more active, and she even had her butt in her brother's face at the last appointment! Talk about traditional role reversal!
Well, that's it for now. I'm going to try to post a few pictures of myself up to 22 weeks if I can figure it out.
Anyway, here's a bit about my pregnancy:
1. No, I have never had morning sickness or severe nausea. Tiredness, yes, and sometimes just that overall "yucky" feeling during the first trimester. I consider myself VERY blessed, since sickness can be especially awful in multiple pregnancies.
2. The second trimester started with a sudden burst of energy at week 13, and since then, I have been able to do some bike riding (even a 20 mi and 15 mi ride at the beginning of the 2nd trimester!), walking, and house projects. Although, I've been noticing that I huff and puff more and more even doing things like scrubbing the bathtub or walking up a flight of stairs lately.
3. So far, no one has made any rude comments to me about my size or pregnancy...so I'm thankful for that! This is not to say that the comments won't ever come...
4. I'm finding people are very curious when they find out I'm having twins, and they want to know every detail. And then they often proceed to tell me stories about their friend's cousin who had twins too. I don't find it annoying at all, because people are just excited and want to be a part of it.
5. Having an ultrasound every month has been nothing short of AMAZING. To see them go from a flicker of a beating heart at 7 weeks, to growing arm and leg buds at 13 weeks and finally fully functioning organs at 17 weeks has been a miracle! There is absolutely NO way that human life was an accident!
6. I began feeling the babies move at 17 weeks. The little girl (baby B) seems to be the busy body of the 2 of them. She is much more active, and she even had her butt in her brother's face at the last appointment! Talk about traditional role reversal!
Well, that's it for now. I'm going to try to post a few pictures of myself up to 22 weeks if I can figure it out.
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Many Prayers Answered
Well, I have to start somewhere, right? After much prompting from my mother, I have decided to start a blog for our new babies, scheduled to arrive sometime around Thanksgiving 2009. I'd like to start from the beginning of it all, which is in 2007. A testimony I read in church pretty much sums up the first part of my story. Here it is:
“Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be whole and complete, lacking nothing.” These words, taken from James 1:2-4, have taken on a very special and personal meaning in my life over the past year.
My story actually begins about two years ago in early 2007. I remember feeling like I wanted more compassion in a number of ways, and so I prayed that God would make me a more compassionate person. Although I never could have imagined it, a series of sad and terrible events in my life have been a perpetual answer to that prayer.
After trying for what seemed like ages to get pregnant, we were just ecstatic to find out that we would be having a baby in May! We sat at our first doctor’s appointment, just giddy to see our miraculous little bundle of joy appear on the ultrasound monitor. When the doctor started to say things like “hmmm”, and “I’m not sure what this means”, time seemed to slow down, until we heard her say, “I’m sorry, there is something wrong here. There is no baby.” “It appears you have a rare condition called a molar pregnancy. We will need to monitor you very closely for the next 6 months.” She slowly reached out to hold my hand while the reality tried to sink in. The next moments, my thoughts vascillated between, “Well, maybe I can handle this. After all, I never really knew this child.” And the opposite extreme “6 months? But we’re ready NOW! How are we going to pass the time? We already were eager to meet this child!”
The ride home was completely numb. No feeling. Nothing. Just a surreal out-of-body emptiness. Sure, there were tears, but even then, I thought, it’ll be a couple of weeks, and we’ll be over it.
The next weeks and months, my feelings stampeded to catch up with me. I finally felt like I began to understood what had happened and what it meant. Although it would take a full 8 or 10 months for me to hit bottom, I was beginning to realize that I was NOT in control of my life, and that it would take a lot of trusting in God to get me through everything. I decided then that my prayer to God would be that He would make unmistakably clear to me what He wanted me to learn through everything. I particularly like the words of a song I know: “May the treasures of the trial form within me as I go.”
As the first weeks went by, the news was all good—my body was rapidly returning to normal. Until one afternoon, when the doctor called and mentioned that this crazy thing had decided to come back in the form of a cancerous growth. I would require a mild form of chemo until the growth was gone, and then we would be required to wait an additional 12 months before we could even begin to think about having a baby. Of course, the growth was entirely treatable, but someone might as well have told me it wasn’t. It was all the same to me, I had no control of my life, and suddenly everything was completely uncertain. The realization that I was not in control seemed at first a curse, but eventually turned out to be one of the greatest blessings God could have ever given me.
In the coming weeks and months, resentment crept into my life. Despite my prayers for God to take away my bitterness, I began to be inwardly angry at teenage mothers, and basically anyone who complained about their kids, ignored their kids, refused to care for or discipline their kids, or took them for granted in any way, shape, or form. Over and over again, I prayed that the Lord would remove these feelings of animosity, and He did! One day, they were just altogether gone. My persistence paid off! As He always is, God was faithful.
Looking back at this past year, I now know that Lord’s plan is far greater than my own—He has taught me patience, empathy, and compassion—all virtues that I honestly needed a lot more of. And in teaching me these, he was answering past prayers, although not in a way I had ever hoped for or imagined. The blessings that have come out of such a sad situation have far outweighed the inconveniences, and I would not change anything even if there were a way I could go back. I have been able to enjoy one of the best summers I have ever had, go on the church mission trip to Louisiana, become closer to my husband, and BEST of all, drawn nearer to the Lord through prayer, scripture, Bible study, and the kindness of so many people.
I also believe that He will use this story—my story—to bring himself glory. If and when the time ever comes that we have a healthy baby, the joy we will experience will be unlike anything we’ve experienced before. We will be so thrilled at what the Lord has done. These thoughts are what have kept me going every day. (compiled over 2007 and 2008)
The story continues in 2009. Well, as you can see from the title of this blog, we are now pregnant with TWINS! Due on Thanksgiving Day 2009! Many people have gone so far as to ask whether this was the result of fertility drugs or treatments. Although I do not think that anyone should have to answer that question, I feel compelled to share that we did not...it was purely the hand of God...a special answer to many persistent prayers! We feel so thankful to Him and overwhelmed by this special gift that it would be difficult to convey in words.
This is not to say that any babies born with the help of fertility drugs are not the work of God's hand. We just feel especially amazed, given our unique situation.
I think that's about it for now. I'll have to post some belly pics soon!
“Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be whole and complete, lacking nothing.” These words, taken from James 1:2-4, have taken on a very special and personal meaning in my life over the past year.
My story actually begins about two years ago in early 2007. I remember feeling like I wanted more compassion in a number of ways, and so I prayed that God would make me a more compassionate person. Although I never could have imagined it, a series of sad and terrible events in my life have been a perpetual answer to that prayer.
After trying for what seemed like ages to get pregnant, we were just ecstatic to find out that we would be having a baby in May! We sat at our first doctor’s appointment, just giddy to see our miraculous little bundle of joy appear on the ultrasound monitor. When the doctor started to say things like “hmmm”, and “I’m not sure what this means”, time seemed to slow down, until we heard her say, “I’m sorry, there is something wrong here. There is no baby.” “It appears you have a rare condition called a molar pregnancy. We will need to monitor you very closely for the next 6 months.” She slowly reached out to hold my hand while the reality tried to sink in. The next moments, my thoughts vascillated between, “Well, maybe I can handle this. After all, I never really knew this child.” And the opposite extreme “6 months? But we’re ready NOW! How are we going to pass the time? We already were eager to meet this child!”
The ride home was completely numb. No feeling. Nothing. Just a surreal out-of-body emptiness. Sure, there were tears, but even then, I thought, it’ll be a couple of weeks, and we’ll be over it.
The next weeks and months, my feelings stampeded to catch up with me. I finally felt like I began to understood what had happened and what it meant. Although it would take a full 8 or 10 months for me to hit bottom, I was beginning to realize that I was NOT in control of my life, and that it would take a lot of trusting in God to get me through everything. I decided then that my prayer to God would be that He would make unmistakably clear to me what He wanted me to learn through everything. I particularly like the words of a song I know: “May the treasures of the trial form within me as I go.”
As the first weeks went by, the news was all good—my body was rapidly returning to normal. Until one afternoon, when the doctor called and mentioned that this crazy thing had decided to come back in the form of a cancerous growth. I would require a mild form of chemo until the growth was gone, and then we would be required to wait an additional 12 months before we could even begin to think about having a baby. Of course, the growth was entirely treatable, but someone might as well have told me it wasn’t. It was all the same to me, I had no control of my life, and suddenly everything was completely uncertain. The realization that I was not in control seemed at first a curse, but eventually turned out to be one of the greatest blessings God could have ever given me.
In the coming weeks and months, resentment crept into my life. Despite my prayers for God to take away my bitterness, I began to be inwardly angry at teenage mothers, and basically anyone who complained about their kids, ignored their kids, refused to care for or discipline their kids, or took them for granted in any way, shape, or form. Over and over again, I prayed that the Lord would remove these feelings of animosity, and He did! One day, they were just altogether gone. My persistence paid off! As He always is, God was faithful.
Looking back at this past year, I now know that Lord’s plan is far greater than my own—He has taught me patience, empathy, and compassion—all virtues that I honestly needed a lot more of. And in teaching me these, he was answering past prayers, although not in a way I had ever hoped for or imagined. The blessings that have come out of such a sad situation have far outweighed the inconveniences, and I would not change anything even if there were a way I could go back. I have been able to enjoy one of the best summers I have ever had, go on the church mission trip to Louisiana, become closer to my husband, and BEST of all, drawn nearer to the Lord through prayer, scripture, Bible study, and the kindness of so many people.
I also believe that He will use this story—my story—to bring himself glory. If and when the time ever comes that we have a healthy baby, the joy we will experience will be unlike anything we’ve experienced before. We will be so thrilled at what the Lord has done. These thoughts are what have kept me going every day. (compiled over 2007 and 2008)
The story continues in 2009. Well, as you can see from the title of this blog, we are now pregnant with TWINS! Due on Thanksgiving Day 2009! Many people have gone so far as to ask whether this was the result of fertility drugs or treatments. Although I do not think that anyone should have to answer that question, I feel compelled to share that we did not...it was purely the hand of God...a special answer to many persistent prayers! We feel so thankful to Him and overwhelmed by this special gift that it would be difficult to convey in words.
This is not to say that any babies born with the help of fertility drugs are not the work of God's hand. We just feel especially amazed, given our unique situation.
I think that's about it for now. I'll have to post some belly pics soon!
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