Esty

I absolutely adore Etsy. I like to think that I'm crafty, but I'm really not.  The men and women with Etsy shops are seriously crafty and talented.  I've purchased dog collars, jewelry, invitations, art work and much more from shops on Etsy. With two babies my Etsy addiction has gone into overdrive.  Every time I get on, I find something I want.  It fuels my creative side like Pinterest except there's a buy button.

Aside from everything being absolutely adorable it's also a great way to support small business. I would much rather purchase something from a small business and pay a few extra dollars than to pick up a similar item from Wal-Mart. Plus, every shop owner I've bought from has been willing to work with me on a custom order if I need it.  Here are a few of my favorite shops.

J & Paper

Her chalkboard prints are seriously adorable.

Jameson Monroe

Their new Disney line of headbands are too cute.  Brooke has at least 10 of their headbands and they are all very well made.

Three Little Miricales

I never thought I would get a shopping cart cover, but I decided that since we are moving into convertible car seats during flu season, we need one. Multiple trips to the store each week and no infant seat equals lots of time sitting in the cart. These ones are very well made and available in adorable designer fabrics.  I love the girly woodland print in the picture. We went with unisex grey giraffe print.

BabyEtte

I purchased two of her ring slings before the babies were born.  I absolutely love them, and so do H and B.  Beth, the owner of BabyEtte, is local here in Fort Wayne.  She makes very high quality wraps and slings.  I highly recommend her products.

ValentinKids

I wish I would have ordered these sooner.  I did a Google search for size dividers before the babies were born and couldn't find any I liked.  I sort of forgot about it until a couple weeks ago.There are so many styles available, you can get them to match any nursery theme.  She also makes really adorable month/year onesie stickers.

Bringing you up to speed

I obviously didn't keep up with my blog as I intended, but I am determined to do so this time.  I have a lot of downtime while lying in bed while the babies sleep.  I figure that equates to the perfect time to blog instead of just playing games on my phone.  I won't make this post too long, just long enough to get caught up on the last year.

At our 19 week ultrasound we found out we were having a boy and a girl.  Santiago was very obviously a boy and Dunbar gave us a nice shot of her lady bits.  My pregnancy was very uneventful until 32 weeks.  On Sunday afternoon at 32w4d I experienced a large gush of blood. I wound up staying in the hospital for two nights and they were never able to determine where the bleeding came from. I was placed on modified bed rest and made it until 36w5d. I had been experiencing major swelling and my blood pressure was slowly rising. At my doctors appointment I was told I had protein in my urine, had developed mild pre eclampsia and it was time to deliver.

Me at 35 weeks pregnant.

We arrived at the hospital the evening of May 15th. After a ton of blood work and monitoring of the babies, they told me I was already in the early stages of labor even though I wasn't feeling anything. They also determined that my hemoglobin levels were dangerously low and had to be monitored closely. The doctor ordered two units of blood just in case. I was started on prostin at 4am on the 16th to stimulate my cervix. My water broke shortly after 6am. There was a lot of blood mixed with the amniotic fluid. I labored on my own for an hour or so until they told me they needed to monitor the babies due to the bleeding. Once I was stuck in bed I wanted the epidural NOW! So much for my natural birth plan. The water for baby b broke while we were waiting for the anesthesiologist. More blood mixed with her fluid led the doctor to say a c-section was needed. Being that it looked like someone had been murdered in our room and towels had been used to clean up the mess, I didn't argue. I had the epidural placed, removed, then a spinal block placed and before I knew it the babies were here. I don't remember much from the delivery other than hearing the babies cry and throwing up. Baby Boy was born at 8:35 am 6lbs 8oz and 19.25" and Baby Girl at 8:36am 6lbs 11oz and 19". They stayed nameless for the first day and then we settled on Harrison Andrew and Brooke Alice. I wound up needing a blood transfusion due to the loss of blood during labor. Both babies were perfectly healthy and we were all discharged 3 days after delivery. With the exception on one nurse, we had a wonderful hospital stay. It was nothing like I planned, but it was a great experience none the less.

Harrison and Brooke on the day they came home from the hospital.

Harrison and Brooke are now crawling, climbing, have multiple teeth, are eating finger foods, still going strong with nursing and no where close to sleeping through the night. They are very happy eight and a half month olds and the only thing they love more than each other is mommy. They are at a very fun age and I am loving every minute of it.

Harrison and Brooke playing today.

12 Weeks

How far along: 12 weeks 5 Days

Total Weight Gain: 12 pounds

Maternity clothes: Shirts for sure.  Still trying to figure out the pants side of things.

Stretch Marks: None yet

Sleep: Still very interrupted.  Mostly thanks to Tyson

Best Moment this week: It's a tie between seeing everyone on Thanksgiving and coming home to Robbie and the dogs.

Miss anything: Not feeling sick when I eat and beer.  I've been stealing a sip or two here and there and then spitting it out. 

Movement: Not that I can feel yet.  I'm ready to though.

Food cravings: Roast beef sandwiches and ice cream.

Anything making you queasy or sick: Everything is making me queasy.  No getting sick in over a week though. (I wrote this and then by time I was down to the end of the blog post I coughed and had to step outside to throw up.  Back to day 1.)

Gender: ??

Labor signs: none

Symptoms: Nausea, gas, fatigue, weight gain, and back pain

Belly button in or out: Still in.  I'm trying to decide how long I'm going to try and leave my belly button ring in.  The piercing is so shallow I think I'm going to have to let it close up.

Wedding rings on or off:  On.

Happy or moody: Happy!

Looking forward to: Not feeling sick anymore.

Thanksgiving in Chicago was great. I crashed at Matt and Michelle's and got some of the best sleep I've had in weeks.  Mostly because Tyson wasn't there to wake me up every two hours when he wanted back in bed.  Jeremy and Dave hosted Thanksgiving dinner at Dave's house.  Jeremy prepared the turkey.  They made stuffing, spinach dip, smashed potatoes(my favorite), cranberry sauce. gravy, and other delicious things I can't remember.  Other people made sweet potatoes, oriental salad, cheese ball, jalapeno corn bread and of course pie.  Everything was fantastic, but I wish I could have eaten more.  I have to eat so slow and get so full so easily that I didn't get to try everything.  What I did try was wonderful though.

Michelle and I did some shopping on Friday morning.  Nothing too crazy, just a little clothes shopping at Oakbrook.  I picked up a couple open front cardigans and Michelle got a ton of new work clothes and a cute red pea coat.  Everything was 40, 50, or 60% off, so we scored big time.  The only thing I was hopping to get but didn't find was a pair of comfy maternity pants that actually look good.  I tried on ones at Gap and wasn't crazy about them.  I think for the time being I'm just going to buy up a couple sizes in low rise non maternity pants and see how far that gets me.  

Friday night and Saturday morning we're all about chilling with family.  It was a perfect holiday and I was glad to be home with Robbie by Saturday night. Sunday we watched some football and spent some time with his family for his mom's birthday.  All in all it was a pretty awesome 4 day weekend.  Now it's back to the daily grind.

Dog Sense

Since about 5 weeks I have had a nonstop shadow by my side. Tyson has always been a mama's boy but lately he doesn't leave my side. Layla still sits on the couch staring out the window, but not Tyson. When they say your pets know, they aren't lying. I've even noticed some of the daycare dogs acting differently. They seem to listen to me more now.

This is Tyson's favorite spot. If I'm in bed, and I'm in bed a lot, he's right there with me. I'm never alone for more than a minute or two.

11 Weeks

I missed posting last week, but I'll try not to let that happen again.  We've had an exciting couple of weeks in baby land.  We had our final appointment with Dr. Bopp last week and as sad as I am to leave our RE's office, I'm glad we got the ok to move on.  Both babies looked great during the ultrasound and we're measuring 5 days ahead.  


I had our first appointment with Dr. Fouts this week and it went well.  I feel comfortable with her delivering the babies, at least for the time being.  If you know me you know I am all about natural birth with no interventions. I especially don't want a c-section.  I know sometimes it's necessary, but I'd like to avoid having one at all costs.  Twins kind of throw a wrench it that idea, but Dr. Fouts said she was willing to work with me if both babies, or at least baby A, are in the right position. Great heartbeats of 164 BPM and they're measuring 5cm and 4.5 cm. I've become spoiled with all of these ultrasounds.  We don't have another one until 19 weeks when we will hopefully find out if we're having boys, girls or one of each.


I was hoping to start doing belly pictures this week but it will have to wait until next week.  I'm definitely starting to show and I'm loving it.  Instead of looking like I drank too much I look like I'm pregnant.  I have purchased a few maternity things but am looking forward to picking up some more while in Chicago next weekend.  Oakbrook has Gap Maternity and A Pea In The Pod, so hopefully I'll get some good jeans there and maybe a sweater or two.  There's also an Old Navy only a few minutes from Dave that caries maternity clothes, so I will probably pick up a few more tees.  I think I'll be living in maternity tees and cardigans for the next few months.


I'd like to give a shout out to Robbie for proving why he's Husband of the Year.  Ice cream in bed, making me cheese toasties, trips to the store, neck massages.  I can't imagine having a better man to be with.  I know he's going to make a great dad.


How far along? 11 Weeks 2 days
Total weight gain:  We'll keep track of this from our pre IVF weight, so 8 pounds
Maternity clothes? Yes please! I love my maternity tees from Old Navy and can't wait to find some maternity jeans that are flattering on my butt. Fort Wayne doesn't have a great selection.
Stretch marks? Nope.  
Sleep: Sleepy all the time but having problems actually sleeping at night.
Best moment this week: Seeing two healthy babies on the ultrasound.
Miss Anything? Being able to eat what I want and especially beer.  A Black Velvet from JK's sounds so yummy.  At least I have my girls to drink for me.
Movement: I've seen it, but can't feel it yet. They were both moving like crazy during my ultrasounds both this week and last.
Food cravings: Arby's roast beef sandwiches. They're the only fast food that sounds good.  Also toast with grape jelly.
Anything making you queasy or sick: Pizza.  As delicious as those two slices of pizza were, it was a bad idea.  I think I'll avoid anything with red sauce for another few weeks.
Gender: Not sure yet.  We're both think two boys, but who knows.
Labor Signs: None.
Symptoms: Nausea, fatigue, acne, big boobs, and an expanding belly.
Belly Button in or out? In.
Wedding rings on or off? On, although not this week.  My ring is getting re-dipped.
Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy, although I'm sure Robbie might tell you otherwise.
Looking forward to: Thanksgiving.  Food, family and shopping.  I'm sad Robbie won't be there, but I can't wait to see everyone else.  I haven't seen Dave and Jeremy in over a month and it's been even longer since I've seen Chris and JT.

9 Weeks

In case you haven't noticed, our pregnancy falls in line with the NFL schedule which is totally awesome and super convenient for all of our guy friends and relatives.  As much NFL Network as I watch these babies are going to come out and have their fantasy teams all planned for next year.

Halloween was this week and we went out to Columbia Street, a local bar downtown, on Saturday.We all had a great time, some of us more than others, and I didn't mind drinking ginger ale all night.  There were a lot of really great costumes and of course a lot of drunk crazies.

On Halloween I went to Mom and Dad's to share our big news.  They were both excited and I was glad to have it off my chest.  All the siblings know now as well as my closest girl friends and the in-laws.  

8 Weeks

Yesterday was our first ultrasound.  Robbie and I both got to be there which was great.  Plus we got to see Dr. Bopp yesterday which is always nice.  It was the first ultrasound Robbie was there for and I think he was a little surprised by "Rocky."  They pulled up the image on the screen and sure enough there were two yolk sacs and two embryos.  That's right, we're having TWINS!!!  Upon further inspection they told us we almost had triplets. One of the embryos tried to split but thank goodness it didn't.  Twins I'm ready for, triplets not so much.  I remember growing up that I had friends that were triplets.  Two identical twins and one fraternal, same situation we were almost in. Glad we don't have that.  Both babies had heart rates of 165bpm.  Santiago (baby a) was measuring 8w3d and Dunbar (baby b) was measuring 8w2d so they're both a few days ahead which is great.

We go back in for another ultrasound on November 8th.  As long as everything still looks good then I think we will be released to an OB.  Dr. Bopp said he's heard that Dr. Fouts, my current OB/GYN, is very holistic in her approach to birth.  Since a home birth is now out of the question it'd be nice to have an OB that is on board with a non managed natural twin delivery.  Hopefully she's the right OB for us and we won't have to interview a bunch of OBs to find the right one.  I am still going to check around to see if there are any midwives that handle twin births.  I'll also probably look into hiring a doula.

So far 7 people know that we're pregnant and expecting twins.  My parents will find out Monday.  After that the rest of my siblings will find out shortly after. I think Matt and Michelle are coming into town this weekend, so they may know before mom and dad.  If they're staying with us it might be a little hard to hide the constant trips to the bathroom and frequent vomiting.  I'm leaving it up to Robbie on when we tell his family.  Now it's time to start planning for two of everything.

These are our embryos at 5 days after conception.

Here are the babies at 7w6d.