20 Weeks and Fetal Analysis Sonogram

We went in today for our 20 week fetal analysis sonogram. The babies have definitely grown quite a bit over the past two weeks. The sonographer was able to confirm that Baby A is a girl, even though she was still being difficult. We were able to see our little boy's heart, kidneys, stomach, and brain. Everything looks great! Due to the position of our little girl, it was harder for the sonographer to analyze her vital organs. We did see her brain and her kidneys and were assured that she looked great as well. All of this information was very comforting and definitely an answer to many prayers. We did get a few more photos, but for some reason they are not as clear as the last ones.
Since finding out I was pregnant with twins my excitement has been stifled at times by my anxiety over delivering two healthy babies at or after 37 weeks. This anxiety became even more magnified after our emergency room visit back in September. Last night I started thinking about how I will finally be able to relax when the babies are born and no longer worry about their health and safety. Then it hit me - the worry I feel now is nothing compared to what's in store! Once they are here the real worrying will begin - are they still breathing? Do they have a fever? Where will they go to college? Will they find someone to love them and make them truly happy? I know this is really jumping the gun, and that each of these issues will be handled as they come, but I am finally starting to get a small glimpse of what it means to be a parent. My mom has always told me that she has never stopped worrying about us, even though we are no longer living at home and are all three adults now - there is not a switch you can flip or a magic age we can reach - she will worry about us and want the very best for us as long as she is on this earth. I thought she was being a tad dramatic, but now I realize that she was only being a parent. What an incredible responsibility!!!

One Boy and One Girl

We had our big doctor's appointment yesterday and things went really well. We went back for the sonogram and the sonographer spent some time locating each of the babies and then measured their heads, stomachs, and femurs. Suprisingly both babies are measuring the exact same which is wonderful because the are developing at an equal rate. She next went to Baby A to determine the gender, but the baby was not cooperating. At first a foot was in the way and then the umbilical cord, so she went over to Baby B to try. Very quickly she was able to identify the extra equipment and declared Baby B a boy. With this news Tim let go of my hand and started screaming and jumping up and down. Next he dropped to the ground for push-ups. I apologized to the sonographer but she said that she liked to see such excitement.

Once Tim regained his composure I was sent to the restroom in the hopes that walking would move Baby A. When I came back, the umbilical cord was still in the way, but she was able to get a pretty good look and declared Baby A a girl.

Baby A Yawning

As she was finishing up, the sonographer and I were talking when Tim said, "Is that someone waving?" We both turned to the screen and sure enough Baby B (boy) was looking directly into the "camera" and waving at us. I thought it was a joke the sonographer plays on all parents at the conclusion of the sonogram, but she convinced us that it was no joke. You can kind of see it in one of the pictures, but on the video she gave us it is super clear.

If you look closely you can see the face of the baby on the left and his arm above his head waving.

We are going back in two weeks for the fetal analysis sonogram where she will look at internal organs such as the heart and the brain, but she said at this point everything looks great.

For those 6 of you who voted correctly, don't worry you will all be given equal opportunity for the night shift. We wouldn't want anyone to feel left out :-).

Finding out the gender of the twins helped us to finalize names. Our son will be Tayden James - Tayden because Tim really wanted his son to have a "T" name, and James after my precious dad that passed away on September 9, 1998. Our daughter will be Brooklyn McCarty - Brooklyn for two reasons - 1)My grandmother (dad's mother) was named Brooksie and 2)My middle name and my mom's middle name is Lynn, and my great grandmother's first name was Lennie. McCarty was Tim's grandmother's maiden name. She meant the world to him and he wanted to honor her.

We greatly appreciate all of your prayers and encouragement! We are truly blessed and this year Thanksgiving will have a whole new meaning for us.

17 Weeks

I am officially in my 4th month of pregnancy and the 2nd trimester!! I am still feeling good and have a little more energy than I did the first few months. I am starting to show and for once in my life my stomach is very firm. People are wanting to rub my belly and find it so "cute" - again a first for me.
We rented a Doppler from storkradio.com so that we could listen to the twins' heartbeats at home. We spent every night for two weeks listening to the babies, marveling at how well we could hear them. When we went to the doctor for our October visit we took the Doppler just to make sure we were doing things right. Dr. White came in with his Doppler and the sound his picked up were totally different than what we had been listening to. We showed him what we had been doing, and he explained that for two weeks our nightly ritual was really listening to my heartbeat in my pelvis. We were so embarrassed!!!!
Next Tuesday, November 24th, is our BIG doctor's visit. We will be having the sonogram to check to make sure both babies are healthy and to find out what they are!!! I am so ready to know so that I can start buying stuff and setting up the nursery. We had pretty much decided that the theme of the nursery would be Dr. Seuss (reds, blues, greens), but now I am starting to wonder if we should go with the more traditional pink and brown or blue and brown. Decisions, decisions...
We officially cancelled our December trip to Pittsburgh last week. I was already a nervous wreck that something would go wrong and I didn't want to be far from home if it did. We figured we would wait until next year and try to take the babies to their first Steelers game. We did decide to go Austin instead. We are going to spend a day at the outlet mall shopping for baby goodies and then two days just relaxing. It will more than likely be our last trip for awhile.
Our nightly dinner conversations now focus on how different our lives are going to be in a few short months. I want us to be as mentally prepared as possible, but in reality I know that nothing can truly prepare us for the journey we are about to begin. I am so lucky to be married to such a calm, laid-back man. I know he will be my voice of reason, my calming force, and my equal partner in parenting. He is so very excited and I know that he will be an amazing dad!!! We are both blessed to have such supportive families that we know will help us keep our sanity. Please keep us in your prayers and tune in on Tuesday for the big announcement - boy/girl, boy/boy, or girl/girl.

11 Weeks

On Friday, October 2nd, we went to the doctor for a check-up. Dr. White did another sonogram and we got to see both babies and hear both heartbeats. It was the first time we saw them moving around like crazy and one even waved an arm (or stub) at us. The doctor said that both babies look great and are growing right on schedule. This news was such a blessing!!

For entertainment purposes we took the Intelligender test on Saturday morning. This test is supposedly 90% accurate at determining the gender of your baby as early as 10 weeks. The directions for twins stated that after 10 minutes if the test turned orange (which means girl), both babies are probably girls. If the test turned greenish/brown (which means boy), at least one baby is a boy. Some people using the test reported that when the test turned greenish/brown within the first 5 minutes that both of their babies were boys.

We got up bright and early to play scientist and within 2 minutes our results were very dark green, which means that supposedly we are having at least one boy. Now we must wait until November 24th for our 18 week sonogram that will confirm both genders.

8 Weeks

Yesterday we reached the 2 month mark! I went in Friday for a sonogram and everything looked great. I have been fighting off an upper respiratory infection for about a week and a half and on Sunday it got really bad. I was coughing so much that I started bleeding and ended up in the emergency room. We were terrified that it was a miscarriage and the 25 minute drive to the hospital seemed to take an eternity. They did a very extensive sonogram and confirmed that the babies were both fine. We got to hear the twins' heartbeats for the first time. One was 145 bpm and the other was 153 bpm. I never did get a definite answer for the bleeding, but my doctor thinks that I coughed so hard that I ruptured one or more blood vessels. It was quite a scare! I had to stay in bed for three days until the bleeding stopped and have started an antibiotic. I am finally starting to feel better! Here is the sonogram picture from my appointment on Friday, September 11th.

"OWL EYES"

Many of you know that we have wanted kids for a long time and officially started trying to have a family this summer. After two months with no success, my doctor did a blood test and determined that I had been preventative for so long that my body hadn't started ovulating again. He offered two options - keep trying and wait for my body to get in gear or take a round of Clomid and let that jumpstart the process. We researched the side effects of the medication and found that it only had a 10% chance of twins - what are the odds??? We were so ready for kids that we decided to go with the Clomid and I took one round while we were on our cruise to Alaska in July. A few short weeks later on Monday, August 17th, we found out that we are pregnant!! At our first doctor's appointment on August 26th, our doctor confirmed the pregnancy and did our first sonogram. He immediately said that he saw "owl eyes." We had no clue what he was talking about, but when he showed us the image, we were pretty sure he was pointing at two babies.

He asked us to come back a week later to be sure. We went to dinner after the visit and ate in almost total silence. The only words we spoke were "two babies, two cribs, two late night feedings." We were definitely overwhelmed but so grateful that God had blessed us with 1 baby, possibly 2. We spent the next week in prayer that God's will would be revealed and sure enough on September 3rd it was revealed LOUD AND CLEAR!!!

What appears to be a ghost is our two babies in two different sacks. Dr. White said that if I was only carrying one baby, my due date would be April 28th, but he estimates it will probably be about three weeks earlier. Our new prayer is that our twins will be healthy and stay inside until 36-37 weeks. I am almost 7 weeks now. It still seems completely unreal, but we are so very excited. We go back on October 2nd to hear the heartbeats!