Try Not To Be Too Jealous...

I know it's going to be tempting to be incredibly envious as you read this blog post, but please remember that not everyone gets this fabulous opportunity.

As those of you who have been pregnant before know, the 28th week of pregnancy or so marks that wonderful time when you get to do the glucose test. For those of you who don't know, it consits of drinking a bottle of this foul, extra-sugary Kool Aid, sitting in boredom in a lab for one hour and then having blood drawn. For your drinking pleasure, they have flavored foul liquid! You can choose from lemon-lime, orange or cola flavored. Mind you, it's not carbonated or even cold, but you have to drink it. I also have to say here that the idea of flat, warm, cola-flavored liquid seriously sends a shiver up my spine. Ick!

Last Monday the 22nd I went to have this test done, still remembering the nastiness of my first go-round with it 4 years ago. The lady at the lab asks me which flavor. I must go on a tangent here and say that asking me which flavor of this stuff is like asking a condemned prisoner if she'd prefer to be executed via firing squad, hanging or being beaten over the head with rocks by angry monkeys. Really, does it matter? The end result is just as horrid no matter which choice one makes. I consider a moment before choosing lemon-lime. I chug it down as fast as I can because your hour waiting time doesn't start until you're finished. It leaves this weird, sugary residue in your mouth that is NOT a nice way to start the day.

After my hour of waiting, I do the blood draw and then leave, hoping that my ordeal is over forever.

No such luck. Two days later I get a call from my doctor's office that my blood glucose was too high. I have been selected to do the longer 3-hour test and they want me to do it ASAP to rule out gestational diabetes.

In case some of you don't know, the three hour test consists of the following:

1. You go to a lab while fasting and have blood drawn upon arrival.

2. You drink sugary stuff that's twice as sugary as the first batch they gave you. That's their way of throwing a bone at you...instead of making you drink twice as much, they make it twice as sugary (this time I chose the oh-so-delicious orange).

3. Have blood drawn every hour for three hours. I should also add here that they won't let you leave the lab during this period so you're stuck.

Again, I drank the nasty stuff and the lady at the lab warned me that the first hour was the worst. Immediately I got a headache, my hands got shaky, I starting feeling sick and wanted to pretty much die. All I could think about was throwing up. However, I had been forewarned that if I got sick I'd have to come back, fast again, drink more stuff and do it another day. That pretty much sent any thought of barfing right out of my head.

That was Friday and I had to wait through the weekend to get the results. Finally, Monday afternoon the doctor's office called to tell me I did NOT have gestational diabetes. I have to admit that my first thought wasn't relief. It was: "I drank more of that crap for nothing?"

I can see why some of you are envious. Really, just aspire to be the best you can be and maybe someday you'll get to pick the method of your execution like I did.

Oh, and attached is my 7 months pregnant photo. I know it's very timely considering I'm now 7 1/2 months pregnant. Sorry my head is almost cut off, but when a 4 year old takes your photo you sort of live with the results. All is well. Just had a checkup yesterday and they said everything looks a-ok. Seth is still breech, but I've pretty much resigned myself to the fact that that's how he is going to stay. The ultrasound tech said he looks awfully comfy in there.

The Kid Is 4, Doctor Visits, 20 And 24 Weeks And Other Random Welly Stuff...

So, I must confess I've not been the best at updating everyone on our lives lately. We've been busy! We've been preparing for the arrival of 2 babies by tearing our entire house apart, celebrating a very important 4th birthday, waiting at various doctors' offices, babysitting a nephew for a few days and all sorts of other fun things.

Brendan turned 4 on May 3rd. We celebrated with a family party as usual and he chose a Lightning McQueen theme (of course). It was a really fun day and we had great weather so the kids were able to play outside. That was wonderful because early May in Ohio is always an unknown. We realized afterwards that we didn't get many good photos of the party because we were too busy hosting the party. The one above is one of my favorites. It shows my nephew Carter, Brendan (making goofy face) and my cousin Michael's little boy Trent in their cool shades. After the party we took Brendan out for Mexican at his request and he got to wear the cool sombrero that 300 other people have had on their heads. In typical 4 year old fashion, that was the highlight of his day! After the party my mom left to help my sister move and I invited her to leave my nephew for a few days. It was so fun to have him here. I took both boys to the zoo. That was an adventure (a zoo, if you will) but it was great practice for twins!

It seems like we've been spending lots of time in various doctors' offices lately too. My family doctor sent me for an cardio consult/echo because my heart rate was a little faster than he'd like. Everything was normal so now they think it's a side effect of a med I take. Up to 10% of patients on this med have that side effect. The doctor's main concern was that I was pregnant with twins and he wanted to make sure everything was ok. The next appointment was the pediatric dentist, which Brendan did wonderfully at. The dentist complimented the good job he's been doing on his teeth. Appointment #3 was the pediatrician. Brendan at 4 years old: 43.5 inches tall and 37.5 lbs. He's almost off the charts for height!

Pregnancy-wise things are awesome. This pregnancy has flown by and everything is as uncomplicated as it can possibly be. The weight gain has been a little slow and they've been a little on my case about it at the doctor, but the babies are right where they should be. At my 24 week checkup today they were 1 lb. 6 ozs. and 1 lb. 7 ozs., which she said is great for twins. We want to see them stay the same size to make sure one twin isn't getting more nutrition than the other. The 24 week photos are the top ultrasound pics. Unfortunately they were not very cooperative and the technician basically got one shot of each baby's face. Right now Nolan is head down and Seth is sideways (with his head and feet wedged oh-so-conveniently up under my ribs). So, there is still a possibility they could both do what they're supposed to before they're born and we may avoid a C-section. We're learning that Nolan (AKA Lefty) is constantly active and rarely sits still, while Seth (AKA Righty) is pretty comfy where he's at and doesn't really move if he doesn't have to. In other words, Nolan is like Eric and Seth is more like Sarah! It will be interesting to see how they actually are when they're born.

I did forget to update my blog after last month's visit (although pics are posted above on the very bottom). We got some interesting news last time. At my 20 week ultrasound they told us that they think the babies might be identical twins. They are seeing several indicators (including their almost identical sizes) that are telling them that is the case. Today at my 24 week ultrasound the technician said that she is pretty sure they are identical. Unfortunately, there is no way to know until they are born and a pathologist looks things over. I'm dying to know now, but I guess I'll have to wait.

Now I start going to the doctor every two weeks and at 32 weeks I will have to start going weekly. Should be an interesting ride. It's hard to believe that I'm already 6 months pregnant. I did post a pregnant pic of me because several people asked about one. It's almost a month old now, so I will need to get an updated one soon.

We're tearing our house apart in preparation for these babies. Moving rooms around, purging junk, starting a garage sale pile and just generally cursing the fact that we have way too much stuff. It's amazing that this house seemed immense when it was just the two of us, but growing into a family of 5 makes me imagine this house literally bursting at the seams.

We hope all of you have a safe and enjoyable summer. Oh, and GO WINGS! :)

Step Away From the Pink Dress With Kittens On It!

So, those of you who have known me for any length of time know that I'm not really keen on finding out the genders of babies before they're born. I love the surprise of it, and I love the suspense and guessing that comes with not knowing.

However...at 15 weeks I had an ultrasound today and the technician said she could tell us the genders of the babies. Something took over and I HAD to know. Truthfully, a lot of it was that we've been in panic mode since we found out we are having twins. Something about going from a family of 3 to a family of 5, I guess. Plus, I'd been feeling a little guilty because Eric wanted to know Brendan's sex before he was born but I convinced him not to find out.

So, anyway, the moment of truth arrived when she told us that we are having TWO BOYS! We are very excited, and it truthfully makes life a lot easier to know that we can use the same baby stuff we used for Brendan and that we already sorta know what we're doing with a baby boy.

The first words out of Brendan's mouth upon hearing the news: "Oh good. We won't have any Bawbies (Barbies) at our house and I won't have to play Bawbie. I hate Bawbie."

My mom's grandchild tally stands now at 6 boys and 0 girls, which is sort of funny in and of itself.

People were surprised that we found out the babies' genders, and frankly, I'm a little surprised too. I never thought we'd know beforehand. Oh, and before anyone asks, we will not be trying for baby #4 and/or a girl. The incubator will be closed permanently after this shift. :) Our family is complete at 5.

What A Difference A Month Makes!

One of the cool things about having twins is that I've been given an ultrasound every time. It's amazing to see how quickly the babies grow and change. I had my 2nd ultrasound on January 26th, and then another one on February 23rd. In the span of 4 weeks, they went from little blips on a screen to something that actually resembles human babies! We're quickly learning that Righty (as the ultrasound tech refers to him or her) is much more cooperative than Lefty is. It seems Lefty can't be bothered to turn or pose during an ultrasound. :) The ultrasound technician thinks the babies are a boy and a girl just from having done her job for so long. I'm still not sure. I think it's most likely. Based on the odds we've been given, 50% of fraternal twins are boy/girl, 25% are boy/boy and 25% girl/girl. So, I think it's most likely we've got a boy and a girl, but you know what? Whatever! We'll get what we're supposed to get. Since I found out we're having fraternal twins, I am amazed at the number of people who seem to think that your family is not complete without one child of each gender. I disagree that one MUST have a child of each gender to have a complete family. I think whatever we get is great, and I will not be disappointed no matter what the genders of the babies. Each family is wonderful and unique, whether it consists of all girls, two boys and a girl, or whatever.

Exactly at left are the 7 week ultrasound photos, and the rest are the 11 week ones.

It's hard to imagine that I will be 13 weeks pregnant in a few days. Time is flying by!

An Interesting Development...

Do not attempt to adjust your monitor. Your eyes do not deceive you. That is an ultrasound photo off to the left of your screen. Yes, it's mine. Look more carefully...Yes, there are two babies in there!

We were thrilled to find out we were expecting again after suffering a miscarriage in September. I was anticipating seeing a healthy baby on my ultrasound after all of that. The minute she turned the screen on, I immediately saw TWO!! Initially, she thought the one sac was empty, but quickly realized there was a little person in there moving around. Twin left looks a little squished in these photos but he or she is the same size as the other one. Unfortunately, it was hard to get good photos. I will have another ultrasound in two weeks, so I will hopefully have better shots then.

This is what we know:

1. There are two babies.

2. I am due in September, but a more accurate date would be the middle of August since I am having twins.

3. They are fraternal, so we could have two boys, two girls, or one of each.

4. We have outgrown our home, our lives, and our sanity, all in the span of an hour in an OB/GYN's office.

Brendan knows because he had to go with us. He is now running around screaming: "We're having twoooooo babies!"

So...wish us luck. 2009 will be a VERY interesting year for family Welly!