Peas in a Pod

13 weeks seemed like so far away just a couple of months ago. Yet, here we are. The end of May and I’m sporting a hefty “is she pregnant, or just getting fat?” bump, I can’t keep dinner (or breakfast!) down and I have yet to purchase or obtain any baby items.

I had a marvelous weekend visiting my brother and sister-in-law. She made me the cutest necklace from her store. She told me she thought of it as soon as she found out I was pregnant. So thoughtful! I love it. I’m wearing it today and I have a special hanging hook in my bathroom to keep it when I’m not wearing it.

I think my cat knows something is up. She stands at the bathroom door and meows incessantly when I’m throwing up. She doesn’t do this normally, only when I’m sick. And this morning? When she heard me “get sick” in the shower, she came running up to the side and pawed at the door like she wanted me to let her in. It was odd. And speaking of getting sick, I believe I am now undergoing the first trimester hormone peak. This could be a myth for all I know, but I read it can happen between weeks 11 and 14. UGH.

I wore my first maternity shirt to work today. I was finally brave enough to tell my boss about the pregnancy last Friday. I think she took the news ok, but she definitely seems worried. I’m glad I don’t have to try to hide it anymore, though.

We talked a lot about names this weekend. We found out one of our girl names was THE top name on my sister-in-laws list, so we took it off. But we still have a pretty good list; plenty to choose from. Now we just need to figure out the sex’s so we can proceed with the planning. We only have two weeks from tomorrow before the next appointment!

Bunk Beds!

We went to our 12 week appointment last night. The doctor did another ultrasound and we got to see the little aliens MOVE! It was so crazy. The one on top, or “twin B”, was a wiggly worm. He was jumping all flipping all over the place. Twin A was more sedated, but a few minutes into the ultrasound he was pretty active himself.

Twin A is on bottom, Twin B is on top

Although he tried to peek at genders, no such luck just yet. But he seemed pretty confident that he’ll be able to tell at our next appointment in 3 weeks. Kevin is convinced they are both girls because he couldn’t see any tiny penis’s yesterday. I suppose it’s possible, but I’m still convinced there is at least one boy in there.

My belly is poke poke poking out now. I’ve had to start creatively wearing my pants so I don’t muffin top over the sides. So far, I’ve gained about 4 or 5 pounds since I found out I was prego. I guess that’s a lot, considering I haven’t been able to keep much of my food down the last few weeks. My sister in law sent me two boxes of maternity clothes last week. I started looking through them last night. My eyes got really big as I realized, omg, these are going to FIT ME in just a couple of months. Scary thought! And then, my eyes got even BIGGER when I realized, omg, these clothes AREN’T going to fit me by the end of October!! The doctor said the babies are positioned in “bunk bed” style right now, which means one is in back, closer to my back and the other is directly in front of him so they are stacked horizontally. That means my belly is going to me enoorrrrmmmmooooouuuuuusssss.

By the way, I did some additional research and found out the babies are the size of limes THIS week, not last. That’s pretty big if you consider they were the size of a blueberry just 5 weeks ago. Here is a picture I took this morning while I was getting ready for work. Compare it to the one I took last week and you can already see some growth there. I have a feeling it’s going to balloon in the next month. Excellent.



Sorry I am not verticle. Apparently Picasa does not want to
load this pic upright. Don't hurt your neck.



Fruit Basket

I am truly an Idaho Spud. Mashed potatoes have been my very best friend for the past few weeks. I eat them in the evening when I get home from work and they are the one constant food I have not yet thrown up! They even help settle my stomach when it starts to get antsy.

Although the evenings are still unpleasant, most of my barfies and sickies are just about gone. This is great great wonderful super news because I was very afraid I would be one of those unfortunate pregnant women who are sick during their entire pregnancy. I’ve finally started to be able to drink water again. I have to be careful not to drink too much at once, but I have been able to get about 50-60 ounces in a day. Still not enough, but SO MUCH better than the 10 ounces I was drinking before. Honestly, how does one even survive with so little hydration?

Lime?



...or fig?



I googled “11 week fetus” on Google images yesterday. I don’t recommend doing this unless you want to see lots of anti-abortion pictures that are quite graphic. I did find two contradicting tales, though. Some articles claim the baby is the size of a fig, or just about 2 inches long. Others said it was the size of a lime, about 2 and a half inches.

Maybe the lime stories also include the size of the sack? I don’t know. Either way, I know they are growing because my belly is getting bigger.

Mother Nature at Work

This weekend, Kevin and I worked on revamping our yard. We have 5 gardens, all of which needed some serious TLC including lots of weeding, fertilizing, watering and tilling. You can imagine how much fun that could possibly be when you’re sick, your clothes are starting not to fit, you have paper-white skin which burns at the thought of sunshine and you aren’t supposed to strain yourself.

However, the two of us made a great team and really got the place looking nice. The grass is still in rough shape, but I think it will come around eventually. Kevin also tore out two huge (and dare I say hideous) rose bushes from one of the garden’s in the backyard. As he was doing this, I thought to myself, “I will definitely not name one of the children Rose.” Then my mind started wandering on a name tangent. When we watch movies, I like to watch the credits and scan the first names of everyone to see if anything sticks out for me. Last night, we watched “Little Fockers” (my critique? PASS). I was disappointed that almost all the names were normal, boring and lame. Although we still don’t know what combination of genders we have, I seem to feel pretty confident that there’s at least one boy in there.

My belly is getting more and more prominent. I did take a picture last week and have been meaning to post it. When I actually do it, I will post it here:

Until then, though, you can look at this picture of a 10 week old fetus. Hopefully you’re not grossed out. I think it’s so cool. By the way, I’ll be 11 weeks on Wednesday. Woohoo! First trimester is almost over!

10 Weeks

The babies are the size of kumquats today. I have never purchased nor eaten a kumquat, but I know what they are. However, I just happen to bring some large green grapes with me to work today. They are about the same size as a kumquat. So here’s how big the babies are this week:

My little grape babies

How’s the morning sickness? Oh, I’m glad you asked. TERRIBLE! I don’t understand why I try fooling myself into thinking it can’t get any worse every day, but it does and it has. The good news though? I stopped taking my progesterone shots and estrogen pills last Saturday. I think maybe that’s why my morning sickness has escalated like it has. These have been the worst three days with the exception of a grocery shopping trip Kevin and I took last Tuesday.

It’s getting harder to keep the secret at work. My bump is starting to show and I only have so many “flowy” tops. I’m also in the bathroom at least 2 or 3 times a day throwing up. It’s just a matter of time before someone finds out.

I read the babies have started kicking this week. They have defined fingers and toes now. I won’t be able to feel their kicks for another 8-10 weeks or so, but it’s pretty cool to hear, nonetheless. My next pre-natal appointment is scheduled for the 25^th; two weeks from today. The doctor said he will look for gender, but it will probably still be difficult to tell. That’s ok. We’ve waited this long, what’s another four weeks?

I have been having a lot of unsettling dreams during the last week. The night before last, I dreamt there was a boy and a girl. The boy was developing quicker than the girl and the doctor didn’t think the girl would make it because he was taking over. Typical boys. Then last night, I dreamt it was two girls. Their names were Sophia and Lily originally, but then after seeing them I changed my mind and called them Sophie and Chloe. Also in said dream, Kevin didn’t know where one of them was, he thought maybe she was still at the hospital. Sophie was chubby and squatty and Chloe was tall and skinny with lots of dark hair. They both looked like they were a year old. Weird.

Anyway, I know these kinds of dreams are pretty common during pregnancy. I’m sure they will just get worse as my maternal instincts kick in and I become deathly afraid of everything that could potentially go wrong and/or hurt the babies.

Mother's Day

Sunday was Mother’s Day. I celebrated by sleeping in until 9:30. Mmmm, sleep. Once I finally managed to drag myself out of bed, my youngest step daughter volunteered to make me breakfast. I asked for my daily special, cold oatmeal. It was delicious. Probably the best Mother’s Day oatmeal I’ve ever had.

Later in the day, Kevin and the kids surprised me with a cute card which they had all signed and a pretty plant with bright orange flowers. Kevin also gave me an awesome bouquet of flowers, complete with pink sparklies. The kids left around 11 to spend the rest of the day with their moms. Kevin made me some salmon and – my now nightly ritual – plain mashed potatoes. Such a good day. I called my mom before dinner and we chatted for a bit.

My mom has taught me a lot of things that have helped shape me into a responsible, well-adjusted adult. I remember waking up EVERY Saturday morning to the sound of pots and pans clanking in the sink. I’m pretty sure this was intentional. Saturday was chore day and, teenager or not, I had a list waiting for me when I went downstairs. Because I knew this, I would postpone the inevitable as long as possible. Sometimes I wasn’t “feeling well”, other times I’d just pretend to keep sleeping. But, eventually, I would go downstairs and there stood my mother – er, actually, she was never just standing: She was usually doing some sort of hustle-your-bustle cleaning movement, wiping dishes with one hand, opening drawers with her foot and wiping a spot off the floor with the other foot.

The list was not your run of the mill chore list, either. I’ve compared “chore lists” with my peers many times over the years. Most had the usual: Take out the trash, do the dishes, feed the cat, etc. Mine looked more like this:

1.       Clean the Kitchen. This wasn’t just “Do the dishes”. This meant do the dishes, clean the microwave, clean the stove and burners, sweep the floor, mop the floor, shake the rugs, use a toothbrush to clean around the sink after the dishes are done, wipe down counter tops and table, etc. Also, we were NEVER allowed to use the dishwasher. All dishes had to be washed by hand to avoid the “rainbow” in the bottom of the pots and pans.

2.       Wash the Walls. Seriously? Who washes their walls on a regular basis? I thought ammonia was made specifically for this purpose until about 5 years ago.

3.       Clean the Bathroom. Again, this doesn’t just mean wipe off the counters and clean off the dried toothpaste from the mirror. No, no, no. Have your old toothbrush and toothpicks ready! Cleaning the toilet was more than spreading some Lysol around the edges of the bowl and giving it a quick sweep with the 10-year-old toilet brush. Nope, it meant you also cleaned the front, sides, top and all crevices of said pot. My mom’s philosophy was if it wasn’t clean enough to eat off of, it wasn’t clean. We also had to scrub the sides of the tub and walls until they were sparkling. Washing the counters, sink and mirror were just “common sense”.

Those are a few examples. Bless my mother’s heart, though, she was right there with me doing all and more of these chores herself. She made sure I knew “the right way” to do them and if I slacked off or tried to pull a fast one on her, she was there with the white glove test, telling me to do it again. The funny thing is, to some parents these days, this sounds really harsh. Or maybe some parents would rather just do it themselves to make sure it’s done right. Maybe I didn’t do it as well as my mom would have, but I still learned how to clean. That’s not to say I clean my walls on a weekly basis, but I know how to do it if I feel the need.

The nice thing about being taught these principles is I believe it works in other aspects of life. I learned hard work pays off. I learned to do it right the first time. I learned to appreciate it when someone else does something for you which you would normally have to do yourself. I learned procrastinating just drags out the misery of what needs to be done. I learned about patience and acceptance. And now, in retrospect, I learned how much my mom loves me.

So, thanks mom. I owe a lot to you. You’re a real super lady and your grandbabies will be lucky to have you for a grandma!

Missing Hydration

I spoke too soon. Although last Wednesday was a very pleasant and welcomed break, the nausea and overall “icky” feeling are back with a vengeance. I discussed my sickness with the doctor last Friday and he prescribed Zofran.

Zofran is normally used for patients undergoing chemo-therapy or other treatments/conditions that cause severe nausea. When I picked up the prescription at the pharmacy, the pharmacist told me it was a very potent drug and I should only take one to two tablets per day as needed. These cute little dandies taste like strawberries and dissolve right on your tongue in a matter of seconds. Unfortunately, they apparently don’t work for everyone. L Although they do cease the queasiness for a few minutes, it abruptly returns within about ten minutes.

My poor husband has had to endure a weekend of me curled up in the fetal position on the couch wanting nothing more than to try and sleep through the constant sickness and dry heaving.

In other news, my baby bump is starting to show…a tiny tiny bit. It actually looks more like I’m bloated, which could be the case I suppose, but I’m going to blame it on the babies and say it is them instead.

It’s been extremely difficult to stay hydrated. Water is one of the worst vomit-triggers for me so I’ve been trying to suck on ice chips instead. I was doing popsicles, too, but that didn’t go too well last week so I’ve given up on that. Orange juice has seemed to be ok, but I ran out so I try to just sip on water throughout the day. I am so thirsty! I want to chug an entire bottle of ice cold water but I know once it goes in, it will only come right back out. It’s so frustrating.

I know every mom probably goes through this at least to some extent. My condolences!

I’ve started thinking about ideas for decorating the nursery. I really have no idea where to start and so much of it, I think, will depend on the genders of the babies, but there are some really cute ideas out there. In some ways, it seems very far away but in others, I’m feeling so anxious to get things done before my third trimester.

By the way, Kevin is still convinced we will be naming one of them “The Fonz”. Someone help me. Please.