Miss Layla and a Bump

Happy Hump Day!  I really stoked to skip out of work a little early today to go see Eclipse.  I feel like 90% of my friends already saw it last night at the midnight showing, but there is no way I could stay up until 2AM.  I go to be SO early these days. 

Tomorrow is another big day.  We have some follow up testing on Layla's chemo treatments to see how it went.  For those who do not know, several months ago, our dog Layla had to undergo emergency surgery to remove her spleen.  She had a large cancerous tumor on her spleen that had ruptured, and she was essentially bleeding internally.  Since the tumor had ruptured, she was at an increased risk of the cancer spreading quickly through the bloodstream, so Eric and I took a day to weigh our options and decided to proceed with the chemo.  The overall treatment was 10 weeks long, with treatments every other week (for a total of 5) and bloodwork/monitoring on the off-weeks.  Its been rough watching her go through it... about 2-3 days after treatment, she gets really down in the dumps, doesn't feel well, barely eats, and it last a couple days.  And as soon as she seems back to herself, its time for another treatment.  She also has been losing her hair, mostly on her face and back legs.  I feel so bad for her.  We really didn't want to ruin her quality of life, but the odds at the time of her surviving without the treatments was just a couple weeks to maybe a couple months.  If the treatment has worked, and she is in remission, she will hopefully be with us for another year or two. 

Alot of people think we are crazy for even proceeding with the treatments, and maybe we are, but we really couldn't sit back and do nothing.  I think, deep down, Eric just needed to know she would be around once the babies were born.  I think its because he feels like he will deal with  her death better if he has his children with him.  It was a huge cost to us, but we made the decision that it would be the last intervention we made.  If the cancer came back, or spread, we wouldn't do anything else but try to make her time with us happy and loving.

So everyone please keep your fingers crossed for our girl tomorrow.  She'll be getting an ultrasound and some other tests to check for residual cancer, and to see if it has spread.  We really hope she is in remission and will be with us for a while longer.  She really is our first child!

And on the baby front, this weeks bump shot for you.  Eric said I need to stop using my iPhone to take cheap mirror shots and just let him take them for me, so maybe they will improve going forward (but at least with the iPhone shots, I can cover my face... I feel like I am retaining tons of water there, my face feels swollen to me!).

Halfway There

Hey everyone!  This week is very exciting for me, lots going on... over the weekend, my dad brought up the furniture that we (well, I, since Eric hadn't actually seen it yet) purchased.  I had fun watching Eric and my dad put the cribs together while I sat on the sidelines giving advice, which I'm sure they appreciated.  The room we planned to use for the nursery is our old office, which is pretty small... 9 x 10.  It would be perfect for one baby, as there is plenty of room for a crib, dresser, and chair.  But with two cribs in the room, I have little to no room for a chair.  I keep trying to hint to Eric that maybe we should switch the nursery with the guest room, but he is not big on the idea, especially since we are hoping to move a few months after the babies are born. 

ANYWAY, other big items this week include Eclipse tomorrow (yup, I'm a Twilight dork), an engagement celebration on Thursday, long 4 day weekend, annnnnnd my 20 weeks ultrasound, which was yesterday, actually.  I really love getting ultrasounds, so I'm lucky that I get to have them every 4 weeks.  Its a silver lining that goes along with twins.

The ultrasound went really well.  It didn't take quite as long as my last one, at 16 weeks, where they measured every single bone in the body.  We did confirm that the twins are still boys (it was a little iffy, IMO, for Baby A at the last ultrasound, so I wanted to be sure before we started registering).  They are still measuring a little big, but only by a few days.  I realized after we left that they had me in the system as being 19w6d, when really, I was 19w1d.  I'm not sure if that's because the last ultrasound they measure ahead, or what, but I know my OB is still going with the due date of 11/21, whereas I guess the ultrasound place is going with 11/16.  In their defense though, both babies were measuring around 19w6d-20w0d anyway so I guess it isn't technically wrong.

Anyway, I digress, here are some updates and pics of each baby.

Baby A:

Such a cutie!  The little guy had the hiccups, which I thought was so much fun to watch as he bounced up and down.  His heart rate was about 145, which is the lowest its been ever (has been in the 160s).  He is head down right now, and was kicking his brother's head.

Baby B:

Another cutie, of course!  He was getting back at his brother for kicking him in the head by kicking him in the stomach.  And when he got tired of kicking his brother in the stomach, he took a turn kicking my bladder (hello, thanks for that, now I know why I am peeing every 30 minutes to an hour!).  He is already taking up shop right under my ribs and his heartrate is about 150.

I got a little nervous at the end when the radiologist came in the look at the boys.  I guess she wanted a better shot of the nose and lips on each baby, but he was having a hard time... so she would just stare at them in silence for a very long time.  Which of course made me thinks that either, A, she is very stupid or, B, something is wrong.  She assured me once they were done that everything looked OK, so I'm going with option A right now.

And in other news, I'm FINALLY starting to feel movement.  Its so weird, like stomach rolls when a car goes over a hill too fast.  I love it, but its still taking me off guard.  I think I'm starting to be able to tell the difference between movement and the ever pleasant pregnancy gas... another joyful part of the package.  I hope it keeps up, but I understand that right now, they are just as happy beating each other up than me, so it may not happen as often as I would like.

Excitement and Nerves

I'm so excited about the coming days, I feel like I am going to boil over.  For starters, my dad is driving up this weekend and bringing the nursery furniture I bought last month.  I am so excited to not only have it, but to be able to take everything out of the box and joyfully give the hubby directions on where to put everything, while I judge from a distance.  I can't wait to start figuring out what the layout will be.  Maybe the arrival of the furniture will help me decide on some bedding I like, since I still am not having much luck.

I'm also reallly excited for our next ultrasound, which is scheduled for this coming Monday.  For every other ultrasound, I have been a ball of nerves the entire week beforehand, worried that something has gone wrong.  I'd be lying if I said I still wasn't a little nervous, but I'm surprised to find I'm more excited and anxious and happy than worried, which is a first.  Maybe I'm starting to relax a little now that I'm about halfway through the pregnancy. 

I always feel so guilty being as nervous as I am, because luckily (if that is the right word) I have never had to go through the heartbreak and sorrow of a miscarriage.  My heart goes out to everyone who has ever had to experience this.  I cannot begin to imagine.  I feel very fortunate and lucky that it hasn't happened to me.  But, it has been a huge concern for me the entire time I have been pregnant.  Maybe its because it took us almost a year and a half to get pregnant, or maybe its because I've seen some many women affected by miscarriages that I am in constant fear.  I remember when I told a close girlfriend that I was pregnant, very very early on (hey, I had to tell SOMEONE), her first words (after Congratulations of course) were basically to let me know it is very common to lose a pregnancy early on, especially your first.  I was in shock.  I knew the possibilities, but to hear it out loud just shocked me.  Granted, this woman was 8 months pregnant at the time, and had suffered a miscarriage before this pregnancy, so I tried to move past it, but its been in my head ever since. 

So why am I talking about miscarriages now?  Good question.  I guess my point is that for the first time, I feel like I'm not going into this ultrasound with a sure feeling something has gone wrong.  For once, there is excitement and joy and I just cannot wait to see my boys again.  I just have to get through the weekend!

18w3d BUMP

I usually try to take bump shots every Tuesday, but I've been lacking lately.  So this shot is from today.  I'm 18w3d.  At the last ultrasound, both boys were measuring about a week ahead, but my doctor decided not to change my due date (which is November 21st, 2010).  His reasoning essentially was that I wouldn't make it to the due date anyway, so the issue was moot.

Anyway, enjoy! 

Opinions Always Welcome

Hey everyone!  Sorry its been quiet post-wise since my appointment last week, but life has been super busy for me.  Plus, the hubby and I went out of town this weekend to visit his family, and I didn't have access to internet.

This weekend, for the most part, was fun.  We hiked to the Cascades in Blacksburg, which was one of my favorite things to do when I was in school.  Apparently, they have made that trail longer in the last couple years because it was a bit rough.  I was pretty good for the first 2 miles up, but was definitely struggling the last mile.  I definitely do not have the energy level I once did, especially now that I am 19 weeks pregnant.  But I did it!  And thankfully, we took the easy, straight trail back down the mountain.  I think for the duration of the pregnancy, I'm going to stick with our regular evening walks in the park as my exercise, because the higher impact things I used to be able to do are a little much for me, I hate to say. 

Now, what did I mean about opinions.  Well its that same "issue" (for lack of a better word) I've been having for the past few weeks.  How to decorate the nursery.  I think I have said it before, but if not, I really want to go with a blue, green, brown, and white decor, but nothing too cheesy with lots of characters.  I have looked all over the internet, but still really haven't found anything I love (at least, that didn't cost more than $400 a set).  A lot of you gave me some great suggestions, like Etsy and Ebay and mix-and-matching sets, which are still viable options for me right now (and I had a GREAT time on Etsy), but I am actually thinking of just trying to piece something together on my own.  I really don't think I need a dust ruffle (or I can always get it later), so I was thinking about just finding a bumper and separate blanket that mostly match.

So here's something I am thinking for now:

Bumper:

Blanket:

What do you think?  Both of these are carried in store, so I am going to check them out to see how they really look together when we go register, but I'm always curious what people think.  There are tons of other bumpers and blankets too that are the colors I love too.  Here are some more:

Anyway, like I said, all suggestions on the matter are welcome... is it a good idea to try and do this from scratch, or should I just get over this "perfect nursery" vision I have in my head and buy a bedding set?  I hope to come up with something soon, as I am ready to move onto my next stressor, whatever it may be.

Trucking Along

I had this month's OB appointment this morning.  I got to meet a new doctor today (the policy at this office is to have one appointment with each doctor as any of them could be the one who delivers you... so far, I've liked them all).  Everything seems great.  I'm at 18 weeks now (well, 17w2d to be exact) and I've gained about 5 lbs so far, which the doctor says is pretty good (low even for twins, even if I feel like a fatty).  Funny enough, when I tell my hubby how much weight I have gained, he looks at me like I'm a crazy liar and exclaims how he doesn't know how that is possible.  Umm, thanks hunny!  Of course, he then back peddles that I don't look fat, just that I have a very obvious pregnant belly that one would assume weighs more than 5 lbs.  I'm trying to not take it personally. :-)

Both the heartbeats are still going strong, in the 160s.  I am always worried that they are just hearing the same heartbeat twice, but he swore that it was two different heartbeats and both babies were fine.  We talked about some of the things I learned at the last ultrasound, namely my low-lying/anterior placenta, and the effects that may or may not have on feeling movement and birth.  We also talked about what issues might play a role in whether or not a c-section is needed.  He said about half of twin births are c-sections, and usually depends on how the lower lying baby (Baby A) is presenting.  As long as he is not breech (which he is right now, but its still early), then a vaginal delivery is possible.  But he did also say that most moms of twins opt for the c-section because most likely distress in labor effects the second baby, and they prefer to avoid that if possible.  I'm still not sure where I weigh in on the subject... honestly, I just want my babies.  Where's the stork when you need him?

At the last u/s, both babies were measuring about a week ahead of time, but the doctor did not change my due date.  He said that they may have had a growth spurt, or they could just be tall kids.  Either way, he said I won't make it to my due date anyway, so there was no need to worry about the actual date.

That's about it for today's appointment.  I'm kinda happy that I have to go to both the OB and to get an ultrasound every 4 weeks because it really helps my sanity to both hear and see them so often.  Oh, and here's this week's belly shot! 

Random Stuff from the Weekend

So I'm excited to say we bought our stroller and car seats!  I was really stoked because I got a 20% off coupon from BRU for this weekend only, so Eric and I were very strategic in hitting up a couple BRUs in the area so we could use the coupon for each purchase (little did I know this deal comes around ALOT, so the amount of work we put into it was pretty moot, but still, its nice to have them purchased).  With the discount, we spent around $500 for all three, which Eric's dad and step-mom are taking care of.  We have been very lucky with how helpful our parents have been, first with my parents buying our nursery furniture, and now with this.  It really helps and I couldn't be more appreciative! 

Anyway, we ended up going with the Combi Twin Sport and the Chicco KeyFit 30.  I used the "box is banged up, better be on the safe side and open the stroller" excuse so I could play with at least one thing... and I total plan on pulling out the car seats sometime soon to see how they fit in my car (I have a Mazda6 and hubby has a Ford Escape, so I'm trying to determine if Eric's car is going to have to be our day to day car, at least while they are in the infant car seats).

In other weekend news, I had a total meltdown on Saturday about child care.  I'm not sure if I have ever talked about it here (although I know I have on WTE), but childcare in the Northern VA area is ridiculous.  To use an actual "school-type" day care costs $350-400 per week PER CHILD.  They do sometimes give a discount for multiple children, but its mostly on the order of about 5% off.  And to top it off, these places have HUGE waiting lists.  I mean, apparently you have to put your name on a list the second you start thinking about trying for a baby, and you're screwed if you wait until 3-4 months.  So, obviously, these places are out for us for these two reasons (although, its mostly due to the cost).

For the past couple weeks, I've taken up a mission to look up in-home day cares.  The Fairfax County web page has tons of listings for licensed people, and I even took some advice and looked at CraigsList (which made me cringe at first, but there have actually been some great people on there).  I've seen a pretty large range in the total costs, which is basically about $250-300 per child per week, again with many of these places offering discounts for multiple children.

So I decided this weekend, Eric and I would sit down, go through all our bills and monthly costs, and determine how much money we have available for child care.  And the results made me have a mental breakdown.  I mean, I knew money would be tight as long as we were in this area, but it's coming down to penny pinching.  We decided we really can only spend a maximum of $500 per week on childcare.  The place in the lead right now will be $450 a week, so at least we are still in budget, but all I could think was how we will not be able to give our children everything they need if we are living paycheck to paycheck.  I mean, I feel my husband and I are pretty well established, and I know we do have some extra expenses, but I am still baffled that people in the area have multiple kids all the time.  I can not see how they do it!  This utter panic coupled with raging hormones turned me into a balling crying crazy lady unable to listen to reason, and left Eric utterly bewildered on how to proceed without making it worse.  After about an hour of crying, I calmed down.  I'm still worried, but I guess that's only natural. 

Anyway, this basically re-established that we need to get out of NOVA.  So operation "Lindsay find a new job in Richmond" continues to be the plan for the Fall.  Everyone please keep their fingers crossed this works out.

Those are the big notes for the weekend.  Tomorrow is another OB appointment, so I'm very excited to hear some heartbeats!

My Funny Hubby

I have absolutely loved seeing Eric react to my being pregnant (for the most part).  He is so adorable, talking to my belly, especially because I can tell he thinks he looks silly doing it.  He is so happy about having two boys, but I know he would have been great with girls as well (we already have a 2 year old niece and she adores him).

He has been so good trying to meet all my needs (even though I don't feel all that needy quite yet).  He is always willing to help satisfy any food cravings and help with any chores I might have.  He hardly lets me do or carry anything that might have the slightest possibility of putting strain on me or the babies (even if I know it won't).  He goes on walks with me (and he hates to go on walks, he's a runner).  He even offered to rub my back this weekend, and although it felt wonderful, I am going to forgo this favor for a little while in the future, because I woke up the next day bruised all over... still not really sure how that happened.

He even puts up with my pregnancy brain issues... the biggest one being forgetting to flush the toilet.  I have no idea where my head is while I'm in the bathroom, but this has happened WAY more than once.

My only wish is that I hadn't told him about not sleeping on my back.  I am a back sleeper, its just how I am the most comfortable. And since I knew that, I started trying to sleep on my side early on, around 12 weeks.  After almost 5 weeks, I am still having a hard time staying on my side.  I am pretty sure the second I fall asleep, I just roll back over, but I'm hoping I at least last a little while on my side.  I'm back to waking up every 2-3 hours to pee, so I know that, worst case, that's the longest I am on my back.  Once I come back from the bathroom, I try to fall asleep back on my side again, and the cycle starts all over.

Well, now Eric knows I should not be on my back, and he has made it a point to wake me up and make me roll over.... in the middle of the night... when I am completely asleep... It happens two or three times a night.  It even happens in the morning when I have hit the snooze button and I am trying to just get 10 more minutes of sleep.  I know he means well, but I swear I want to punch him every time he does it; in a loving way, I swear!

But sleep interruptions aside, he has been great!  I am so lucky to have such a great hubby!

I swear, I think this grew overnight!

Trust me, I've had a bit of a baby bump since right around the 10-12 week mark (which I tell myself is totally normal considering I am having two babies), but I woke up this morning and was like, "Wow, that just grew overnight"... so here is today's bump pic at 16w3d:

As far as how I am feeling... I'm FINE, bordering on great, even.  I swear, besides the growing belly and still feeling pretty tired, I feel totally normal.  My morning (...noon and night) sickness is gone (actually, its been gone for a while now, thankfully, I lucked out in that department) and the headaches have stopped.  Sometimes I even start to worry that I'm not feeling like crap, because at least when I felt like crap, I knew everything was OK. 

I thought by now I would be able to feel the babies, but not yet.  I did find out at my last ultrasound that I have an anterior placenta, which will delay my feeling them (as it acts like a cushion for the kicks and nudges), and I was also told that with twins, alot of the time they are just kicking each other (*shakes head* BOYS!), so I wouldn't feel them in these cases either.  I have felt what I can only imagine is gas bubbles or tummy rumblings that I something think may be them, but really its probably just wishful thinking!  I hope that by the end of the month, I'll feel my first undeniable baby movement.

Know the Sex, Start the Nursery, Part II

Wouldn't you know it, as soon as I get the big things like the stroller, car seats, and nursery furniture out of the way, I just move on to new items to stress over.  This week's stress du jour is the nursery decor, specifically baby bedding.  Somewhere along the lines, I got this perfect vision of a nursery in my mind.  It was simple, no over the top themes, just basic colors and patterns.  And it was blue, and green, and brown, and white, and ADORABLE.  I even found lots of color examples at Lowe's for when we are finally able to paint said nursery.

But now that I have this awesome nursery in my mind, I can't find anything to put it together.  None of the bedding I look at fits what I want, and anything that is close or workable costs $400+ a set, which is just out of the question (because I can't imagine someone, especially me, spending $800 on baby bedding)... I also tried to find a place that will sell individual pieces where I could "build my own" baby bedding set, but the selection is slim and not really what I am looking for.

So I'm kinda at a loss... anyone have any ideas out there??  Here are a couple pictures of nurseries I found online (mostly through Google images) that I like:

This is pretty much as close to perfect as I could find.  I love the colors and the simplicity of it, the brown bumper, the green skirt, the blue blanket... and the RUG, love it!  I would probably do a solid shag rug since this one is probably expensive, but I do love it!

Another example of the colors that I love.  I was able to find these wall decals, so that may be on our list of purchases in the future.  We are probably going with a solid brown chair, but isn't this one fun??

So anyway, there's an idea of what I am looking for, and now I am calling out to anyone who might have a clue where to look... I've tried all the basic places like BRU, Target, Buy Buy Baby, etc, but I'm still not having any luck!!  Suggestions welcomed and encouraged!!

Know the Sex, Start the Nursery

With all the excitement of the ultrasound on Tuesday, I forgot to mention that, while home visiting my parents this past weekend, I found and purchased some nursery furniture (two cribs and a combo dresser).  It was just one of those situations where everything aligned and I decided to go with it.  Now, I must admit, I'm a little picky about things (OK, a-lotta-picky), especially when it comes to home decor and furniture.  A few weeks ago, I visited USA Baby in Richmond and loved basically all the furniture there... but of course, that's because most were solid wood and cost ALOT.  Everything I have looked at since has just seemed cheap.  I've been to BRU, Target, and finally Baby Depot (aka Burlington Coat Factory).  Walking around Baby Depot, I had that same feeling (i.e. the feeling of "This is all crap that will not stand up to a baby, let alone the test of time to be able to use the convertible crib for its full purpose").  Then, I turned the corner, and there is was...

The Suite BeBe Hampshire collection.  I fell in love.  It has darker wood like I love, but it also has a very slight cherry color to it, which made it different.  It was made pretty solid, and I couldn't get enough of it.  Plus, I got a 20% off discount on one of the cribs for having twins, and I had a coupon for 15% off the dresser, so I saved about $200 total... AND it was in stock.  Granted, we were 3 hours away from my home and my hubby wasn't there (though I did send him pics and links so he would see and approve), but my dad picked it up in his truck and will be bringing it to us the last week of June.  I. CANNOT. WAIT.

The room we will be using as the nursery is pretty small (9x10, currently our office), so I'm thinking we will start with one crib and wait to set up the second one.  Right now, we live in a townhouse that we rent.  Even though we have been in Northern VA for 5 years now, and have looked into purchasing a home about 3 times over those 5 years, it really just wasn't possible (and boy am I glad we didn't buy, since I'm seeing how much housing costs dropped for my friend's who did buy during the housing peak... some are losing hundreds of thousands of dollars and are essentially stuck). 

While we knew we could afford to buy, we didn't want to be "house poor", plus we have been discussing (for the better part of 3 years) leaving Nova to be closer to friends and family, by moving to the Ric.  The trouble is finding a new job, but we have decided, we are making the move... the "plan" (in quotes because plans never seem to work for us) is to spend the last month or so of pregnancy and hopefully my maternity leave looking for jobs (I'm probably not being realistic, but oh well).  I'll return to work around January (assuming they do not come too early) and keep up the search.  Our lease ends in February or March, and hopefully, by then, I'll have found another job and we can get outta here.  Luckily hubby doesn't have to find another job as he can work remotely from home.  Its me holding us up at this point, so fingers crossed it will work.  I'm hoping that even if I don't find something before our lease ends, we could still make the move due to the lower cost of living based off my husband's pay, but that isn't ideal and I would like to avoid that.  Two paychecks is better than one!

Sooo why am I tell you all this?  Well, basically because my dream nursery is gonna have to wait.  Since we hopefully won't be in the townhouse for very long after the babies are born, I'm going to hold off on painting and hanging things.  I will plan to have it all purchased and ready, but I will just have to wait on completing the final project for a little while.  It makes me a little down, since I feel like I'll be itching to do stuff during the nesting period, but I just don't want to have to deal with painting everything back to white before we leave.

Anyway, this post ended up longer than I had anticipated, so I'm going to forego my discussion of nursery themes and colors for right now.

16 Weeks Ultrasound Pics

OK here are a select few pictures from yesterdays's appointment.  I have to admit, the ones of their faces are a little scary to me.  I can't wait for my next u/s at 20 weeks!!

BabyA Waving Hello:

BabyA Face:

BabyA Body:

BabyA&B Heads:

BabyB Face:

BabyB Boy Parts (pretty clear):

BabyA Boy Parts (not to clear to me, but I'm taking their word for it):

And the Turpin Twins are...

...BOYS!!

Today, we went in for an ultrasound (that lasted almost 2 hours, but believe me, I am not complaining, I could have sat there all day) and I am happy to say they were able to determine the sex of both babies. At first Baby A didn't want to cooperate. In fact, he even had his hands down there covering himself, like she was shy. So they moved onto Baby B, who displayed proudly that he was in fact a boy. Both the u/s tech and the radiologist said they had no doubt it was a boy. They were still a little unsure about Baby A, but after a lot of moving around, they both seemed confident to say Baby A was also a boy.

I was able to see Baby B's boy parts easily. There was no mistaking it in my opinion. Baby A I'm still not too sure of; I am taking the word of the professionals, but even with the picture they took, it isn't that clear to me. But they were both confident, so I am going with two boys.

I am very excited for this news. I am only 15w2d today, so I didn't really think we'd be able to tell (although I was reallllllly hoping they would). I really thought they would be one boy and one girl, or both girls, so I was a little shocked to hear two boys, but I am happy. Really, I would have been happy either way, but I cannot lie, there is a tiny part of me that’s a little sad that I don't get to dress someone up in frilly clothes (at least, not when my husband is around). But I know that feeling will pass and I will be 100% excited for the boys about to enter my life. I'm completely outnumbered now, but that’s OK, they will be momma's boys if I have anything to do with it!

Everything else with the u/s went well. Both babies are measuring a little ahead of schedule. I believe Baby A is at 16w0d (suggested moving EDD to 11/18) and Baby B is at 16w2d (suggested moving EDD to 11/16). They both had great heartbeats at 163 and 160 bpm respectively, and they were both very active. I got lots of pictures, but will have to post them later, since I came straight to work after the appointment.

Also, as it is Tuesday, here is this weeks bump shot... sorry, still using the camera phone, but it’s just the easiest thing to grab in the morning. I need a digital camera with the ability to send emails, then I'd be set.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!!