My New Love -- Pinterest

My new love is Pinterest -- thank you to my facebook friends who got me intrigued with this new tool! I've found some fun, new recipes, used it to completely design the way I'll decorate the kids' bedroom when they move in together (I was really struggling with that one), and found a lot of great inspiration there.

Its kind of a social media tool like facebook, but oh so much better, I think, because you can be so productive with it and its just a much more positive and inspiring place! Think of it as a virtual bookmark center. You have "pin boards" and you add the pictures you like (those pictures will usually link to the website they come from) so you don't forget about this recipe you want to try or that decorating idea or the hairstyle you want to try.

If you're already on Pinterest, come on over & follow me!

Ultrasound results; Its A . . . .

What a fun appointment we had for the ultrasound today. The tech and the doctor that we saw are both twins. And we had about an hour & 15 minutes or so of watching the babies on the screen while they got all the measurements, laughing at silly things & having a great time. And without any doubt at all, clear as day . . . Baby A is a BOY and Baby B is a GIRL!

Of course we would've been happy with whatever we got, but I really wanted one of each -- it will make a lot of things simpler for us, including that we'll be able to double up on rooms in a couple of years instead of putting 3 kids in 1 room and 1 kid in their own room.

But the best part for me was in the first 60 seconds when we saw the heartbeats & saw them moving around to know that everyone is healthy & doing well, which means I can put my worrying to rest for a little while. Both babies have strong heartbeats in the 150's (154 & 158, I believe) and the doctor was amazed that they weigh the exact same amount (about 1/2 pound each), which he said he's never seen with twins before - usually one is a little larger than the other. And all the measurements they took looked great -- no problems so far! Baby A gave us a big huge grin that we got on a 3D picture -- it looks pretty creepy & we all had a good laugh at it! Seriously, he looked like the Joker!

Now to come up with names . . . . .

I wonder if I'll get a "basketball" belly

I've never had one before, with either of my two single pregnancies. While most pregnant women get that cute basketball out in front, my babies sit very differently. They sit inside of me, widening everything and just making me look fat. Even just a few weeks ago, I had several people tell me that I didn't even look pregnant. But, I was much larger & couldn't fit into any of the clothes I was wearing pre-pregnancy . . . yup, fat!

With 2 babies, I can't imagine that they could both fit like my singles have done, so I am hoping to actually get that basketball belly this time so that I really look pregnant instead of just fat. Well, besides the fact, that its really uncomfortable to have them sit inside, crushing everything, making breathing so difficult as early as 20 weeks (which started much earlier this time).

Wish me luck!!!

Paranoid in Pregnancy

I've wondered if its just because of my personal life experiences or if all pregnant women go through a difficult time with this. The last few nights, I've had dreams of something going wrong with the pregnancy leading up to last night's dream that was about losing both babies and left me emotionally drained this morning.

But it doesn't stop with dreaming. I think the dreams are a symptom of the way I feel all the time. Its like I have this constant fear within me that something will go wrong. And I wonder if it is magnified by the fact that its so difficult for me to get pregnant in the first place, costing thousands of dollars and lots of preparation with Invitro. Or is it due to the fact that I had a lot of problems in my first pregnancy, including 2 hospitalizations of several days each and a month of bed rest after a scare that could have resulted in a miscarriage at week 20.

So, I wonder . . . do those who get pregnant easily & those who have had no "scares" during pregnancy go through this same emotional roller coaster?

P.S. I can't wait until my ultrasound on Tuesday so that I can see these babies moving around & hear that everything is okay. It brings such comfort to actually see them alive & doing well on the screen in front of me. If I had my wish, I would have an ultrasound machine at home that I could use on a daily basis!

To find out or Not to find out . . . the sex of the babies

Our ultrasound is coming up in about 2 weeks. With both of my previous pregnancies, we've found out what we were going to have, but I think it would be kind of fun to be surprised this time, especially with twins! I haven't told Jeff yet, and I think he's pretty set on finding out, but I'm really waffling on this.

The other problem is that I'm a real planner, by nature. It would be very hard not to have everything completely ready when these babies come home, especially considering I'll have 2 babies to take care of when I come home on top of our 2 toddlers. And then there's the name dilemma! We'd need to come up with 2 boy names & 2 girl names if we don't know what we're having.

I'd love to hear your thoughts! Should we find out at the ultrasound or be surprised?