Family Tree

These scrapbook pages have been rolling around in my mind for a few weeks now and this morning, I saw a scrapbook kit that was just what I wanted for the squirts. We are going to try to get some photos to add for Mark's grandparents. I am taking it easy today - I was not feeling well at all from about 3:30 am till about 2. My stomach was going crazy and making me fear that there was something wrong with the squirts. But, so far, so good. Just have to get through the indigestion. We had bought a fetal doppler monitor so we could hear the squirts heartbeats. We had yet to hear it through Wednesday. I decided to try it again today to see if we found something it would make us feel better. We did! We heard one squirt's heartbeat and them moving around. Then, the battery died on the monitor before we could hear the other one. First day the stupid made-in-China machine works and the battery dies. Oy!

Sleep Disorders...

I fully recognize that having children is permanently going to alter my sleep schedule (oh, and babies, that is another sacrifice I will remind you of daily until I croak because your mom loves to sleep - a lot) until they are able to take care of themselves. However, I have had the assumption that I was a GOOD Sleeper as a young'un. I don't even remember watching too many Saturday cartoons (yes, babies, when you read this you will be shocked to learn that back in your parent's days we only had cartoons for a few hours every week - Saturday mornings. We didn't have 24x7 tv networks with cartoons. Talk about having OLD parents - but take solace in the fact that they were in color!!) because I wasn't up that early and I quite remember being able to pour cereal at a young age so I am assuming 5 years max of sleep deprivation. Yeah, family jewels getting clipped is so going to happen - any more kids would stretch out that deprivation.

Anywho, back to my current sleep disorder. I don't know that I was prepared for sleep issues this early. Starting at about week 6, I was up 3-4 times a night to go to the bathroom. Hello? I am a chic that only goes to the bathroom 3-4 times in a 24 hour period. Lately, I have been having problems falling asleep - can't get comfortable, can't fall asleep, etc. I have also been having a hard time staying asleep after the bathroom breaks. I have read that this is pretty normal - your body is preparing you for all those nightly feedings. (Sidenote, I am fully planning on breast feeding but bottles do have a HUGE advantage in the sense that I can slap Mark in the head and tell him it is his turn to feed them while I continue to sleep. When I am the food source, all I can do is slap him in the head and ask him to bring in the squirts. He would be back asleep before the babies even latched on.)

But, let's look at today. Up at 6:15 when I fully prepared to sleep in. Nap from 12-2. Nap from 5:30-7:30. Now, it is 1:16 and I am no where near sleep. Granted, nappies don't help the sleep patterns but I was literally exhausted - I couldn't have stayed awake if I tried. Being on vacation, I confess to not trying too hard. I don't fear bed rest during the pregnancy & I don't know that I want it - heck the office is already in bed! I do hope for a flex schedule where I can work any hours I want to get my 8 hours in. You know - work 2 hours, nappy 2 hours, work at midnight when I am wide awake, sleep at 3 in the afternoon when I am exhausted. I don't think that is going to be an issue with my manager but can I invoke it at 12+ weeks or do I have to wait until like 24 weeks? :)

Enough of the 1:25 am ramblings. Today went a little downhill - felt good from 6-12 am and the rest of the day tanked. Nauseous, tired, hurling. Normal day but have to be grateful for those glorious 6 hours!

Long Weekend

The posting time is right - 6:20 am on a day I planned to sleep in. These babies don't know it yet but I never see a sunrise. However, they are playing with my internal clock a bit. I am off work and don't have to show back up until Wednesday. I have a list of small, but doable, goals. Let's get them listed and see how many I can accomplish. Even 50% would be great progress.
1) Exercise - walk. I would like to do this multiple times but heck, even once would be an improvement since January. I will have to start at the track because I think I am too out of shape for any neighborhood hills. Friday morning - short walk. About 10 minutes. Me and pups went out. Gotta start somewhere. Maybe tomorrow it will be 15 minutes.
2) Get a hair cut. It has been a long time. Hygiene has taken a back seat to nausea and hurling. Well, this is the only one that didn't get done. I guess that this is what hats are made for.
3) Get my oil changed in my car. It has also been a long time. it is quite inconvenient when your mechanic is not a mile away. Well, maybe he is a mile away but being a mile away in spirit doesn't change the oil in my car. WOOHOO - got done at the last minute on Tuesday!
4) Go to costco WOOHOO - got done at the last minute on Tuesday!
5) Get all the recyclables out. Done Friday before I allowed myself a nappy!
6) Frame my Alaska collage. Done Friday morning.
7) Wash the slip covers Mark did this.*
9) Clean the upstairs living room. Mark did this.*
8) Clean the hardwood floor. Mark did this.*
10) Dependent on Mark: Clean the kitchen floor. I need him to clean first before I can do the floor. Mark did this.*
*I think I get partial credit for my leadership ability and motivating the troops or effective delegation abilities.
I am shooting for 10/10 - we will see how it goes. I think I am going to get that walk out of the way now while it is still cool outside!!

12 weeks

Email to Family and Friends:
All is still well in Brigham Baby Land! We had our check up today and both squirts were fine. The doc said they are progressing just fine and are perfect. He said more than once that we have nothing to worry about. We will go back in 2 weeks and then 4 weeks then he is going to stretch out our appointments since we will be past the time that we had all of our issues. The babies are about 2 3/4" long now. We got to watch them for about 20 minutes as a student did an ultrasound, then the tech then the doctor. It was so fun because one baby was moving all around and flipped. Then, the baby got the hiccups! We were able to see its whole body rock each time it hiccupped. The other baby just kind of laid there and was more relaxed. Luckily, there are still only 2! I told the student that we are expecting to see 2 and she better not find any more! She said if she did, she would let the doctor tell me!

I am starting to feel a bit better - have a few periods of time per day where I remember "Hey, I am not nauseous!" I think we are in the downhill stretch.

Here are our latest photos. This tech was really nice and she printed them out for us with little notes.

Stacy

Clothes issues, hormone issues and scale issues....

Well, the jeans are fitting anymore. I have 3 sizes in the house. I have my cherished size 12 jeans. Oh sweet heaven those jeans brought me joy and tears of happiness. They were always a bit tight in the waist but no issues. They were the first to go. No big deal - I have several pairs of 14 that fit comfy - even a little loose in the waist. Yeah, those were painful to try to button. I had one standby pair of 16s. When dieting, I pretty much skipped 16s and only had one pair. Even those badboys are tight and snug. I knew this would happen. I wasn't scared of it happening. I just didn't think it would happen so soon. I thought I had about 10 more weeks. Naive! I went online and started shopping for *gasp* maternity clothes. Luckily, my favorite brand of gap jeans come in maternity so I ordered those. I also got a maternity swimsuit because I vow that I will be exercising when this nausea goes away. I can't be this out of shape when I go to deliver. The scale is up 7.5 lbs. I know some of it is baby weight but the other part is that the only food that goes down good and doesn't make me sick is JUNK food. So, hopefully, it will even out when the nausea goes away. Yes, I am also hormonal. I feel myself tearing up at things on TV, things at work are pissing me off more than normal. Poor Mark - watch out. At least it didn't start until now!

Email to family & friends -
As you guys may remember, our OB is going to see us every 2 weeks just to keep a close eye on us. I am so glad because I was getting some weird aches and cramps starting on Tuesday. I was pretty nervous. We went this morning and all looks well. 2 babies were there and we saw 4 hands, 4 feet and 2 heartbeats. They were VERY active on the ultrasound - moving their arms and feet, flipping around, etc. One was hamming it up (picture me in front of a camera) and one was quiet and shy - kind of hiding (picture Mark running away from the camera). Doc said all is good for another two weeks and they are right where they should be development wise. He also gave me some new anti-nausea meds and I am crossing my fingers that they work!
Stacy

Mark's night terrors....

I could write posts here everyday that I am sick. I am nauseous. I am puking. I am dry heaving. It would literally be the same post every single day. With my prior pregnancy, I was nauseous and tired but never to the extreme that this pregnancy is kicking my butt. I must have a lower tolerance for illness than I thought. I don't know that I could go through this again. Everyone tells you that you forget about being sick and forget about labor but I can't imagine how. Maybe you just gloss it over. Anyway, I told Mark that he will need to get clipped when these two babies are born. I didn't think it would be a big deal. He flipped out. It was so bad that he woke me up in the middle of the night (thru my ear plugs) screaming. He started screaming "urologist" and "strapping me to the table". I told him I wouldn't pick on him much more about it until 2009. I didn't realize how much he cherished the family jewels.

Sad Day

We had a sad day today. Bob died at home. He hadn't been feeling well. I know Mark is sad for a lot of reasons but he is sad that he won't get to meet the babies and they won't get to meet him. If there is a silver lining in any of it, it is that there is another angel looking out for our little ones. Now, they have grampa, Larry and Bob. The heartbreaker really came when Aunt Mary told us that Bob pulled her aside to talk about the babies. I guess he was really excited about them. He told Aunt Mary "Mary, I am going to leave soon to make plenty of room for those babies to make it into this world healthy." I know he is up there rooting for 2 healthy grandbabies to come in late February/early March.

Dream

Dreams told me that one is a girl! A healthy girl.

Responses

Between our family and friends and coworkers, we have gotten so many messages that it is unbelievable. We have so many people praying for us that we are just know it is helping to keep these babies safe. Some of the emails I put on here were some of my favorites.