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Hi, all! Well, it seems as though this whole "first-time-mom-taking-care-of-two-babies" thing has been a bit of a time suck. A good time suck, don't get me wrong. But time for blogging? My goodness; I rarely have time to shower. I bet you're anxious to hang out with me now! Covered in spit up and drool and not showering daily? Hot.
But today, I am sitting at a Starbucks, drinking my coffee while it's STILL WARM, and taking an hour to do some blogging! My sweet husband is watching the girls, and it's kind of crazy having this kind of free time right now. I almost don't know what to do with myself!
I certainly don't know where to start! Let's see, we left off when they were 3 months and now they're almost NINE months??? whoa.
How about we start here:
(Amelie L, Poppy R)
and here:
(Poppy L, Amelie R)
and also here:
(Poppy L, Amelie R)
I know what you're thinking. They're ridiculously cute. So cute, it's almost not fair! :) I might be biased, but I don't care.
These girls are the joy of my life. Every day I wake up very , very tired, and reluctant to get out of bed; but when I see their big smiles first thing, it makes everything easier. They are just the sweetest babies, especially in the morning or any time they wake up from a nap. All smiles and super excited about life.
I have so much I want to talk about! So much has happened in the last 6 months that I don't know where to begin. My life is so drastically different than it was 9 months ago, it's just unbelievable. My day is filled with baby smiles and cries, drools and diapers, fussing and giggling, exploring and learning and seeing things through brand new eyes. Even on the worst day (and there have been some pretty bad ones) I wouldn't trade it for the world. These girls are my heart and I love them more and more every single day.
So, I am going to make a commitment to doing a daily blog post again; even if it's just a picture or a few sentences. I started this blog as a place to vent and to let out my heartache about my fertility issues. Now I'd really like to keep it up to have a little virtual baby book to track all of the goings on of my cute girls. And to also possibly continue to vent from time to time, as I know every day isn't an easy one. Topics I plan on discussing in the upcoming posts; feeding, sleeping, crawling, teething, making time for myself, struggles with being a stay at home mom, trying to maintain a small portion of your normal life while parenting, tons and tons of cuteness, and much, much more. There will always be pictures because of course. The aforementioned adorableness.
like this:
(Poppy L, Amelie R)
More soon!
~ M
P.S. So, I list my blog on topbabyblogs.com, and I used to be in the top 20! I now am down around 400. Oops. Guess that's what taking a 6 month hiatus from blogging will do to ya. Would you mind clicking on the below link? You don't have to sign up for anything. Just click and vote for me. And you can do it once a day! So if you felt so inclined, you could do that! I know! So exciting, right?? I promise that if you vote for me, I will keep the posts coming. Thanks! :)
So, it seems as though blogger is having some issues today, and ERASED my blog post from yesterday. Supposedly they are working on fixing it as we speak. If you didn't get to read it; it was a GEM.
*UPDATE* it's fixed! You can now read the brilliant-ness that is Thursday's post.
Anyway, for now, let's see how big those little ones are getting! According to Baby Center, they each weigh as much as four naval oranges:
So, that means I'm carrying around the weight of eight oranges! That's a lotta vitamin C.
And according to "What to Expect.." each baby is the size of a head of lettuce:
They said it was estimated that they were up to 19" long at this point (!) though who knows if that's accurate. So, I chose Romaine for this photo, since it's a long lettuce. :)
Anyway, I've got the weight of 8 oranges and the volume of two heads of Romaine sitting up in my uterus right now. Crazy!
This weekend we have our second childbirth class, and also our breastfeeding class on Sunday. I'm most looking forward to the breastfeeding class, though we're also going to be covering epidurals and medication in our childbirth class, so that should be interesting. I'll report back on Monday!
Hope you all have a lovely weekend!
~M
*photos found here and here
So, first off; I apologize for the long hiatus. I could say “oh, yes, busy with holiday travel, shopping, caroling, wassailing, etc. and all of that” but, I’d be lying. See, since I’m all pregnant, my doctor said I should forego flying this holiday season, so we stayed home. And though we made a few treks out for movies and short little trips, we were generally quite lazy. It was lovely, actually. Lots of sleeping in, and relaxing and just cozying up on the couch. We had a blizzard here in NY the day after Christmas, so that made things even quieter. So, I have no good reason for not blogging this last 10 days or so. I just was feeling lazy and not wanting to do much of anything! :)
Anyway! So, on Monday we had what is called the Nuchal Translucency test. It apparently is a standard test in which they measure the back of the babies’ necks. Here’s how it’s defined:
This prenatal test (also called the NT or nuchal fold scan) can help your health care practitioner assess your baby's risk of having Down syndrome (DS) and some other chromosomal abnormalities as well as major congenital heart problems.
The NT test uses ultrasound to measure the clear (translucent) space in the tissue at the back of your developing baby's neck. Babies with abnormalities tend to accumulate more fluid at the back of their neck during the first trimester, causing this clear space to be larger than average.
So, that’s the deal with the test. They also took some blood and will combine the results for a “combined screening”. The doctor said that everything looked normal though, so that is good news. We’ll know a bit more when we get the blood results back, but so far all is normal! This was a huge relief.
Another great thing about this ultrasound was that we got to hear both babies’ heartbeats! They are both in the normal range (I believe both were around 165-170 bpm). It was super cool to hear their little hearts. Then we got really good looks at both of them, and we saw their arms and legs! And unlike at my last ultrasound, when they looked like little nubs, they look like regular arms and legs now! One of the babies even did a little dance move looking thing; it was really cool.
I go in next week for a regular check up with my OB. I think it will just be standard; blood pressure, weight, short ultrasound, just a general checking in. This week’s ultrasound was done at the hospital where I'll be delivering (Mount Sinai) since they have the super fancy machines there. I’ll have another ultrasound there in 5 weeks. It’s called the anatomy scan, and it’s POSSIBLE I could know the sexes of the babies then. Though, I’ve heard too many stories about how sometimes the babies won’t cooperate and show their stuff, so I’m not getting my hopes up. I hadn’t planned on knowing until about 20 weeks, so if I know earlier, that’d be great- but if not, no big deal. I honestly just want them to be healthy. I know people say that all the time, but it’s honestly all I care about. :)
I’d post pictures of the ultrasound, but the pictures aren’t that great. I’m sure I’ll get better ones at my next ultrasound. The images were pretty clear on the screen, but once she did a screen capture and printed them off; it wasn’t as clear. Probably would be less clear once I scanned them, or took a picture of them. So, you'll just have to trust me; it was really cool.
I think I’m starting to really believe that things are going to be ok this time. I think there will always be that element of fear that something will go wrong. But as the days go by, I feel more and more confident. I mean, I’m less than two weeks away from my the start of my 2nd trimester!! That’s very exciting.
I promise to be much better about updates from now on. Now that I’m no longer hiding a big secret, or celebrating holidays, I’ll update like crazy! : )
Hope you all had a healthy, safe, happy holiday!
~M
Well, the ultrasound was a success! It wasn’t as exciting as the last ultrasound, only b/c it was with my regular OBGYN, and my other ultrasound was with an ultrasound tech who spends a lot more time showing you what’s happening in there. But, since I just had an ultrasound a little over a week ago, I was happy with the quick look. Everything is measuring on schedule and I saw plenty of heartbeating. :)
Usually at 7 weeks (almost 8), if you start with a reproductive endocrinologist (Dr. David) you aren’t seeing your regular OB until like week 9 or 10. But, I had to go see her for a separate issue, and therefore had to tell her I was pregnant. SO, I’m currently seeing two doctors, which is just fine with me, because at least for the next couple of weeks, I get to have extra ultrasounds. :) And since I’m constantly worrying that something is wrong in there, it’s nice to have that reassurance.
I have to go in and meet with my hematologist again about my Factor V clotting thing, to make sure that my dosage of Lovenox (blood thinner) is high enough. I’ve been giving myself injections again since I found out I was pregnant, and my stomach is back to looking like someone punched me all over with tiny fists. It’s real purty. Oh well; it’s for a good cause. :)
My nausea is a lot better, though this morning a guy was sitting next to me on the subway eating some sort of hot turkey and egg sandwich and I almost had to get off the train. It smelled SO bad. I think it wouldn’t have been pleasant even if I wasn’t pregnant, but MAN. I had to breathe through my mouth until he finished his gross breakfast. He also chewed with his mouth open and smacked his lips which didn’t help.
I realize I’ve been slacking a bit on updating lately, but it seems as though there aren’t as many things to update recently! I’m going to make an effort to post at least 5 times a week again though, like I was doing at first. I think most of it is; I’m really trying not to get too ahead of myself. It’s really hard, because I’m excited, but I’m quite aware that something could still go wrong. I’m hoping and praying that it won’t, but you never know. So, I hold myself back from looking at strollers, and cribs and reading too many books, because well; you just never know. I’m thinking positively though, just trying to protect myself a bit.
Have a lovely weekend, all! We had company all last week, so this weekend I plan on doing laundry, and a lot of lounging. :)
~M
Happy anniversary to me? Today marks the 10th month of trying and trying and not yet succeeding in the game of baby makin'. Sometimes it's a fun game, (wink wink) and sometimes it's a heartbreaking, gut punching, soul crushing game. I guess not much of a fun game when it's those latter 3. But, we keep playing because hopefully, eventually, we'll win. A tiny little Ian, and tiny little me. This is what I keep my hopes up for. A tiny little person to love unconditionally.
So, I keep my head up (most of the time), and I keep pushing forward. I stumble often, but get back up. My hopes get dashed frequently, but, every new cycle is like a new beginning. Because we really want this. I want this more than I've ever wanted anything in my entire life. And my desire for it never wanes; only grows stronger.
So, happy 10th months of trying to me. It's not a sad anniversary, because I'm so happy that we decided to start a family! However, It's not an anniversary I hope to continue to celebrate for long. Oh, you know what else? It also marks the one month anniversary of this little blog!! The little blog that probably two people read, but oh well! I started it for myself- to vent, to complain, to give myself hope. Thanks to all who read it though! And best of luck to all of you out there that are also on this journey!
~M
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