Twin Pregnancy: is it really a "2 for 1" deal?

When the news spread through the family that we were expecting twins, I can only imagine the booming laughter that came from my brother . . . who has twins of his own! When his wife called to congratulate me, she said that my brother had told her not to be too "doom & gloom" when she talked to me! My sister-in-law is a very positive person & wasn't "doom & gloom" at all. She gave me some great advice & then told me that the thing that bothered her when she was pregnant was that everyone said it was so great because she got to get 2 babies while going through only 1 pregnancy. She said she was so glad that someone in the family would finally understand that the pregnancy with twins was double as difficult as a single pregnancy so the "2 for 1" comment wasn't very valid.

I'm definitely finding her to be right, so far. This first trimester has made me twice as nauseous and at least twice as tired (probably more) than with my other pregnancies. I've also never experienced the feeling of always being hot with my pregnancies that I hear from so many others, but this time I am definitely feeling it. I think I am also twice as emotional. Pretty funny how all of that works! I guess 2 babies, means 2 times the hormones & 2 times the effects!

Another appointment today & an ultrasound are showing that everything is going well at this point. The babies are now one on top of the other instead of side by side like they were before they shifted the uterus back into place. At 10 1/2 weeks, you can see a definite baby outline with legs, arms, body & head and they were wiggling around quite a bit today -- it was fun to see!

Meanwhile, my poor kids are spending most of their time in front of the tv these days as I struggle with the nausea and energy so much that its tough to do much of anything. Today, I did get them out in the backyard into the little playpool for a bit, but I'm paying for it tonight as the sickness seems worse. I'm so grateful to my worn out husband who comes home from work & then takes over for the evening so that I can relax. And I'm also getting excited to get closer to that 12 week mark & hopefully feeling better once that time comes!

Twin Pregnancy: 10 weeks

Today, I feel better than I have all week. I'm still far from 100% & still nauseous, but I was able to get my kids dressed, Evie's hair done and even wash a load of dishes which is a lot more than I have done any other day this week. My head seems clearer today & I feel more motivated to not just sit or lay around. However, I've started having some similar symptoms to when I ended up with the incarcerated uterus problem. I have a regular scheduled doctor's appointment tomorrow & an ultrasound so I am hopeful that they will find that everything is still in its correct position and that the pregnancy is going as it should be at this point.

A friend brought in dinner for us on Monday (thank you, De Anne!) and Jeff has done a great job of taking care of everything & everyone, including me (this includes late-night errands to get slurpees and whatever else I NEED at the store). He even, unexpectedly, showed up at home earlier than expected yesterday which was a huge blessing since I was pretty much done. Wow, definitely so grateful for everyone taking care of me!

Incarcerated Uterus . . . yet another "rare" medical condition for me!

Well, my rare medical experiences struck again yesterday! Since I've been married it seems like whenever a doctor says, "its very rare & only happens in 1 out of every ..... people", that I am that ONE!

It began a week ago when I went into my OBGYN with what I thought was a urinary tract infection. After 24 hours of antibiotics, the pain got so horrible and was constant (unlike a UTI). The on call doctor (it was Saturday) prescribed a stronger antibiotic and they thought that it could possibly a kidney stone. The pain started subsiding Sunday night and was much better all week long. But I still couldn't lay down (horrible abdominal pain) so I was sleeping sitting up & eventually bought a recliner, resigning myself to sleeping that way for the rest of the pregnancy. Other pregnancy symptoms seemed to multiply this week & my stomach was growing so quickly that I was half expecting to see 3 babies instead of just 2 when we went in for a scheduled ultrasound yesterday.

Before they even started looking at babies on the ultrasound, they noted that my bladder was hugely distended. When the doctor saw me, she drained 1 1/2 liters from my bladder (thus, the 3rd baby effect that I was having) and found that my uterus was in the wrong position. I've always been told that my uterus was tipped back but it has never caused any problems before. I guess that with the rapid growth with a twin pregnancy, it had tipped way back & and had lodged itself into the cavity that holds the bladder, bowels, etc. so it was pinching everything off. It needed to be moved, not only to stop pinching everything off, but so that it would continue to have room to grow & avoid some very serious complications later on.

The doctor tried to move it in the office. And let me tell you that having your organs repositioned inside of you is a miserable experience! When it got to the point that I couldn't stand the pain any longer, the doctor left the room. She came back about 30 minutes later after talking with several doctors & they decided to admit me to the hospital to have it done. At the hospital, the doctor who saw me admitted that no one there (including the at-risk OB specialist) had ever dealt with or even seen this condition before because it is so rare, so they were "reading up on it" to determine the best course of action. They had a full plan mapped out . . . try this, then this, then this & if none of those work, then finally surgery.

I'll save you the gory details, but luckily, the first attempted method worked and when I left the hospital, I was 4 lbs lighter & my maternity clothes that were getting quite filled out were actually loose (thanks to my emptied bladder). I was also able to lay on my back & side without pain & suddenly felt a huge decrease in the pregnancy symptoms that had been increased in the last couple of weeks.

I am in bed for the weekend, laying on my stomach to keep gravity from pulling the uterus back down to that other position. They hope that after a few days of that, the uterus will have grown enough that it will be too big to get lodged in that position again. Wow! What an experience and I am so grateful that it was found now instead of later in the pregnancy when it could've caused some serious problems. I'm also grateful for all the prayers in my behalf (I know they worked) and the comfort of a priesthood blessing from my husband right before we headed to the hospital that promised me that everything would be okay.

Comfortable sleep during pregnancy??? Is that even possible?

With my first 2 pregnancies, about the time I get to 7 months pregnant, I have such a hard time getting comfortable to sleep at night. I always wish that I had a recliner to sleep in, but no such luck & 2 months of pregnancy hardly seems worth the expense of a recliner, so I just suffer.

This time its going to be different! I'm just 2 months into this pregnancy & I am growing larger by the day. When I got sick last Friday (we think it might've been a kidney stone), laying down in any position became extremely painful & I've been sleeping sitting up in bed ever since. So, today I got to go & purchase my very own "congratulations/condolences on your twin pregnancy" gift - LOL!

I found the perfect chair. When I sat down in it, all of a sudden I felt a huge relief of pressure in my lower back - I hadn't even realized it was hurting! It will also make for great "putting my feet up" time as the pregnancy progresses. We also figured that it will be good to have around when the babies come & we need a 2nd rocking chair for when there are 2 of us taking care of fussy babies.

What are your suggestions for more comfortable sleep during pregnancy? Is there anything that works?

Help! 3 year old Perfectionism???

After spending the weekend in bed with horrible pain (they're thinking I have/had a kidney stone), I went ahead and sent Jeff off to work today & told him I could handle things even though I'm far from 100%. Dealing with that kind of pain without the wonders of pain medications (because of being pregnant) was just plain rotten, but compared to that, I am feeling much better today.

So, I decided that in the middle of all the tv & movie time for the kids today that I would get out some big pieces of butcher paper for them to color on. Evie (my 18 month old) scribbled all over her paper, then wadded it up & wanted to throw it in the garbage! Chase (3 years old) couldn't even begin anything because he wanted to draw this or that but kept saying that he didn't know how. Its the same thing when using coloring book pages. He doesn't ever color much because he's afraid of doing it wrong.

I know that some of that attitude must be genetic (coming from ME), but I don't think that I was doing that at his age because I have all sorts of paintings, etc. that my mom saved from when I was a kid.

So, how do I get him past this perfectionism idea? I keep telling him to just try and that however he does it will be great, but it doesn't seem to work.

Expecting Twins

Its amazing how 5 years can change everything! 5 years ago, we had been married for 8 years and were deep in the process of fertility treatments, seeing no success & getting those dreaded calls from the clinic that "no" it didn't work . . . again. At that time, there was not even a glimmer of what would be, that we would soon have 2 children & 2 more on the way . . .

It was a couple of weeks ago that we made a very nervous drive to a radiologist for an ultrasound. We had done invitro and had 2 embryos transferred . . . the same as we had done with our previous SINGLE pregnancy. We were hoping for the same results but when our first blood test results came back, the hcg number was reading twice as high as it had for the last pregnancy & the 2nd test not only doubled (which is what they want it to do) but it went from 1100 to 2900, showing a pretty big chance of twins.

So, here we were, across the country from our fertility clinic & going to a radiologist with strict provisions that they don't tell you anything . . . they report to your doctor & the doctor then gives you the results. Jeff insisted on standing where he could see the screen & when he saw the labels "A" and "B", he held up 2 fingers so I could see what was going on.

Excitement, overwhelm, and amazement! Yep, we're feeling all of those things, but mostly overwhelm and definitely gratitude that we went ahead and bought the mini van 3 years ago when we only had 1 child! At the beginning of next year, we'll have 4 children UNDER the age of 4 since our 2 new additions will most likely be born in January and our oldest won't turn 4 until February! Crazy stuff!!!

Recipe: Banana Shakes

We enjoyed Banana Shakes along with our lunch yesterday. They were a favorite from when I was a kid, so I got this recipe from my mom. I made a 1/2 batch which gave the perfect portion size to share between the 2 kids & myself, and I used a little less sugar than called for (wasn't brave enough to do it without any sugar!).

Banana Shakes

2 bananas, sliced (or broken into pieces)
2 tsp vanilla
14 ice cubes
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup milk

Mix in blender until well blended.