Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Second Trimester...Here We Come!

Week 12 is here! The four week wait until today's appointment was a long one. Make that excruciating! It was all well worth it when we finally saw our little babies again today.

As usual, I have been worrying myself into a frenzy waiting to see that everything is still progressing along as well as it has been. Let's just say I am on cloud nine after today's appointment.

First of all, our babies now look like little BABIES. We saw their fingers, toes, noses and mouths. In the weeks leading up to the appointment, we had researched ultrasounds of babies at 12 weeks, and we could not believe it but they were moving and jumping all around. Whenever I would worry, T.J. would say, just picture the twins having jumping contests in there. Baby A was our active baby today and was jumping all over the place! Baby B was posing nicely for the pictures so we were able to get some great profile shots. We again heard the magical sounds of their heartbeats which are right on target and at the same pace. They had the same amount of fluid in their sacs, which is exactly what you want to see. Their bodies measure the same size as one another, and they are even measuring 5 days ahead today. Their umbilical cords are right in the center of the placenta, which the doctor said is ideal and when that's the case they basically behave like fraternal twins. That can change, but it's a great thing to see at this stage.

The doctor said that everything looked awesome and that he had NO CONCERNS. I don't think I've ever heard those words from a doctor's mouth! We feel SO blessed and are beyond excited to wrap up our first trimester and move into the second. Thank you all so much for your thoughts and prayers. Please keep them coming for a healthy pregnancy that continues to be as anti-climactic and positive as it has been so far. We are thankful every second of every day for our babies, families and friends and all of your incredible support.


Baby B~ profile pic!
You can see baby B's hand near its mouth. :)
There's Baby A's close up...also getting to know that hand!

Baby A, when not dancing, was faced down while Baby B was on its back. Here's a snapshot of baby A's tiny arm and hand..waving to mom and dad!

Since both were so active, it was tough to get a great shot with both of them in it. Don't worry, baby A is not Pinnochio! We think there is a hand in front of its face. :)

Our next appointments are on May 26th, and if all goes well, we'll leave knowing if we're having baby girls or baby boys! So exciting! We'll update with some more recent belly pictures soon. Mommy is growing by the minute!


Sunday, April 10, 2011

Honey, I doubled the kids | CharlotteObserver.com & The Charlotte Observer Newspaper

Honey, I doubled the kids CharlotteObserver.com & The Charlotte Observer Newspaper

We stumbled upon this article in today's Sunday paper, and I just had to share it. It is about a local couple who went through IVF at the REACH clinic and ended up with TWO sets of identical twins. It is an incredible story and is so encouraging. The maternal fetal specialist mentioned in the article is the same doctor we are seeing, as well. The doctor at REACH said that they only see about two cases of embryos splitting per year (identicals, like ours) and they couldn't even guess how rare it is to have two embryos split, like the family featured in the article. We are thankful to be carrying our ONE set of identicals, but it's amazing to see how technology, medicine and faith can help create such happy endings.

 We are in our ninth week, approaching week 10 in a couple of days. The wait for the ultrasound on April 26th is a difficult one, as I know we will both feel more relaxed once we see our growing babies on the ultrasound again at 12 weeks. In the meantime, we're staying busy (trying to!) and looking forward to an exciting April. Spring Break for school will be welcomed the week after next, and my birthday falls right in the middle of that week.Lots of family visits scattered in between! I can hardly think about my birthday, though, because I want so badly for April 26th to be here! :) If you watch a pot of water, it will take forever to boil!

Thank you for your continued thoughts, prayers and support for the babies and us. Please keep them coming!