Starting to Fall Apart... Physically that is

I've been pretty lucky during my pregnancy.  Really, no issues, and not too much in the way of symptoms.  I had some morning sickness for all of 3 weeks during the first trimester, but that's really been it.  So apparently, I've been too lucky, because I feel like everything is coming in waves now.

(Disclaimer, none of what I am about to list would I consider to be "serious", just annoying).

It of course started last week with my new found emotional issues, but continued on Friday.  Eric and I packed up after work and headed to Lynchburg for my shower weekend (which was awesome, BTW).  We walk into my parent's house after the 3 hour drive, only to have my "cankles" pointed out... by my father no less (I would sooner expect something like this to come from my mother).  I looked down, and boy was he right.  Not only had I lost all definition in my ankles (I'm pretty sure there used to be bones there), but my feet themselves looked like hams.  They were so swollen even the pads of my feet were squishy.  It was disturbing to say the least, and they haven't gone back to normal.  Now the only shoes that fit are flip flops, so I guess I'll be hitting up DSW soon.

The swelling didn't stop there, though.  My hands had to join in the fun.  My wedding rings are officially stored for the duration of the pregnancy, which I HATE more than words can say.  Granted, my fingers were a size 5-5.5 pre-pregnancy, so pretty small.  And I am still probably smaller than a 7 right now, but since my hands overall are pretty small, I feel like I have sausages for fingers right now.  No fun.

Then the icing on the cake came this morning... I was brushing my teeth in my groggy stupor, when I looked in the mirror to see blood dripping down my face.  Yup, first bloody nose... EVER; I was lucky enough to miss out on this fun for the past 28 years.  I have never had a bloody nose before.  Not in my entire life.  I knew it was a common symptom in pregnancy, but I had yet to have to deal with it.  How did I react to this?  The only way a perfectly sane person could... start screaming and run back into the bedroom to frantically ask Eric how to make it stop (I admit, I'm a bit of a baby when it comes to blood).  It stopped pretty quickly, but has gone off and on all day. 

So I can only imagine what other annoying new symptoms I can expect to see in the next 10 to less weeks.  Good times!!

Zero Excuse

Literally, I have NO excuse for not blogging.  I've just been lazy... tired and lazy... and emotional.  This last week has just been weird for me.  For starters, I feel like I am back in the first trimester.  I am tired ALL.THE.TIME.  It never stops.  I'm too lazy to do anything but come home from work and sit on my butt watching Veronica Mars on Netflix streaming.  Its a sad, sad tale.

But that isn't all that's changed in me since hitting trimester numero tres.  Bring on the emotional roller coaster!!  Now, I know it was bound to happen eventually, because I've been pretty sane up until now.  But the high has died and I have become a ticking time bomb.  Case in point, on Tuesday this week, I was flying pretty high.  I was excited for my baby shower this weekend, and had gotten presents from three people that day (two at work, one in the mail) from people who weren't going to be able to make it.  I felt loved and on top of the world.  Thhhennn, I get a message from a friend who was planning to come to my shower from NC saying she would no longer be able to make it... I went from being really happy, to convincing myself I had no friends in the world.  I cried for 45 minutes that night, and for almost the whole next day, I would randomly burst into tears for no reason at all.  It was ridiculous.  And embarrassing.

Now, let me just say, I know I have friends.  I am lucky to have as many friends as I do.  BUT, the hardest thing for me is that they are all so spread out.  Most of my close friends I met in college (as is pretty normal).  Once we all graduated, it seemed like we all spread around the country, so I don't get to see them very often.  My shower this weekend is in Lynchburg, my hometown, which is several hours away from most of my friends. 

Prior to Tuesday, I had exactly two friends who were going to be able to make it; one from Richmond (who I see the most often) and one from NC.  I totally understood why people couldn't make the trip, as for many of them, Lynchburg is several hours away, so I really wasn't trying to be upset.  But the update that my friend from NC could no longer come just sent me over the edge. 

Ever since, I have just felt on edge.  Like I said, all Wednesday, I would just be sitting at my desk, and would randomly start crying.  No trigger or anything, just tears a-pouring.  I hate feeling like this!!!!  I want to go back to being happy all the time and excited about what's to come!  Ugh, I really hope this phases passes... and quickly! 

I am still really excited for this weekend, so I am trying to focus on that.  I'll miss all my friends, but I'll be able to see my family and family friends.  And in two weeks will hopefully be my Blacksburg shower with Eric's family (I say hopefully because the doctor does not want me to travel, and they said we would discuss at my next appoint, which is next Friday... fingers crossed!).  I have so much to be happy about, so I really need to work myself out of this funk!!

On another note, enjoy this week's belly shot!  Based on this week's ultrasound, both boys are measuring ahead by a little less than a week (as has been the norm for most of the pregnancy), and both weigh about 2.7 lbs.  That's almost 5 1/2 lbs of baby!  No wonder I am having a hard time breathing, and its only going to get worse!  I'd share some u/s pics, but I had the world's worse technician and literally got nothing good to show!  Oh well, the important part is that they are OK.

Handsome Little Boy

Sorry!!  I know I said that I would post last night but we ended up getting back late, so I put it off until today.  As you know, we had our 3D/4D ultrasound yesterday.  It was a lot of fun!  For starters, the room was the most comfortable place in the world.  Eric is always complaining about where we go for our monthly ultrasounds because its cold in the room, and small, but this room was the perfect temp with a nice sofa for Eric and a WONDERFUL bed for me.  I was really comfortable.  And the girl performing the u/s, who I also believe owns the business, was sweet as can be.

Both babies are transverse right now, one on top of the other, both heads to my right, both butts to my left, and legs all over the place.

Unfortunately, Baby B didn't want to participate in the fun, so we literally got no pictures of him (unless you count random shots of his legs/hands in the Baby A shots).  He spent the whole time facing my back.  I was pretty disappointed, but she did say we could pay a small fee and come back again if we wanted to try to capture Baby B.  I'm working on convincing Eric now :)

We did however get LOTS of good Baby A shots.  He's so cute, and in my opinion, the single most handsome little man in the world!  So here are some of my favorite shots!  Enjoy!!

Lucas (aka Baby A) sucking on his cord (silly boy)

Lucas kneeing himself in the face

Tired boy!!

My FAVORITE SHOT - He has the cutest nose and lips.  LOVE HIM!

Lucas trying to block his face with his hand (and that is Lane's, aka Baby B's, leg to the right)

Stoked

Yup, I'm pretty stoked.  Just booked my 3D/4D ultrasound, and they were able to get us in this THURSDAY.  Much faster than I had anticipated.  My parents offered to pay for this as a gift to us, but I didn't realize how excited I was until the appointment was booked.  Can't wait to see what our boys look like, be on the look out for a post Thursday evening!!

Aliens in my belly

I have really enjoyed the increased fetal movement these past few weeks, but this weekend was just weird... AWESOME, but weird.

For starters, I don't think they ever stopped moving; morning, noon, and night.  They were all over the place, and strong, sometimes even hurting a little.  But the peak for me was last night, sitting on the sofa, when my belly started moving.  Not just the little pops that make the remote I'm balancing jump up and down, but random body parts starting in one area and moving... big lumps just moving all over the place.  It was so weird and mesmerizing to watch.  Eric and I could do nothing but laugh!

I have to admit, I love this part!

Catching Up

I know, I know, I've been a terrible blogger.  What can I say, work has really gotten into the way of my blogging life. :-D

I had my monthly OB appointment this week, on Wednesday 8/11, which also happened to be Eric and my 3 year wedding anniversary.  I can't believe its been 3 years, but even more so, I can't believe we have been together for the better part of a decade.  Time flies... ANYWAY, the appointment was good.  I am measuring a month a head of schedule, compared to a singleton pregnancy, and will be likely put on some restrictions in the next 3 weeks (aka, when September begins).  One of those restrictions will definitely be travel...

I have to admit, while I did expect this, it didn't stop me from being bummed out.  For starters, my MIL was planning a shower for Eric and me in Blacksburg on 9/12, since we were planning to be there for the football game.  I asked the doctor if it would be OK for me to at least go to that, and he definitely wanted to say no, but he said we would see how the next ultrasound looked.  I know missing a shower isn't the end of the world, but its still sad.  In addition, a close family friend of ours was going to plan a luncheon for my sister (who is also preggo, due in October) and I on 9/19, but it looks like that will turn into a "Welcome Babies" party later this year.  The biggest hit to me was that I would likely be missing most, if not all, of this season's Hokie games.  I know, I know, what's the big deal, right?  Except VT football season is my favorite part of the year.  I didn't expect to go to all of the games, but to find out that I likely will miss them all was sad, especially considering our season tickets showed up last week too.  But oh well, I'll get over it!!

The doctor also said they are about 95% sure I'll be getting a c-section.  Right now, both babies are breech, and I still have marginal placenta previa... both of these things could correct themselves, but they seemed to think its unlikely both will.  So we are scheduling the c-section for the first week of November, unless they come early... I hope I can bake them that long!

I'm really excited about all the deliveries I have gotten this week!  First, my uncle ordered and shipped the two high chairs we registered for.  I didn't expect anyone to buy these, but I was so excited for them to come!  Then yesterday, our crib mattresses came, and today, the bedding should be arriving (yes, I actually broke down and picked out some bedding, shocking, I know!!).  We decided to go with the Kasey bedding from Pottery Barn because it was simple with all the colors we liked.  This weekend, Eric and our close friend Brad are going to work on switching the furniture in our guestroom with the nursery so that the nursery has more space, and then I can start setting everything up!  I cannot wait!!!

So that is pretty much everything going on with me.  As it goes now, even though I am 26 weeks, I have about 2.5 months left in this pregnancy if they make it to my scheduled c-section (fingers crossed).  I can't believe how fast it is going!!  I'll leave you all with this week's belly shot, which is actually from Tuesday at 25w2d, but like I said, I'm a bit behind!  Have a good weekend everyone!!

I think we have made our decision...

FINALLY... I think we have picked out bedding (I know, this is a tired subject!).  I've looked at hundreds of sets and haven't fell in love with any of them.  Then I decided to check out Pottery Barn Kids, and found this bedding set:

Its simple, very basic... and Eric LOVES it.  I can actually see this in our nursery.  My only concern is that our furniture is very dark, and this bedding looks amazing in the all white nursery.  The set includes the bumper, crib sheet, and skirt, so we would probably hold off on the quilt for a while. 

There is another set I like as well, but the set includes the quilt, sheet, and bumper (no skirt). 

I'm going to try and stop by a Pottery Barn Kids tomorrow and check them out before saying 100% that this is the bedding for us.  I may even mix and match pieces from both sets.  We'll see.  So, what do you guys think?

On a side note, my employer has upgraded the firewall and, unfortunately, Blogger is now blocked at worked.  I typically blog on my lunch breaks, so now I am going to have to remember to blog once I get home.  I just wanted to let you all know in case you see my post rate diminishing.

25 Weeks

How Far Along: 25 weeks.... (24w1d by LMP, measuring 24w6d)

Total Weight Gained/Loss: ~15-17 lbs, depending on the day

Maternity Clothes: I don't think I will ever go back to regular pants again :-D

Sleep: At best, 2 hours at a time... between having to pee all the time, and finding a comfortable position, it's been hard.

Best Moment of the Week: Eric FINALLY was able to feel some kicks!  I loved seeing the look on his face.

Movement: Oh yeah, there is an octopus in there... the funny thing is, I wish I could feel them even more.  I hate when they stop!

Food Craving: Still big on the watermelon, and ice cream.  I had a major craving for donuts last week, but after eating 4, I never want to see a donut again.  All my cravings have been sweets or fruit.

Food aversions: Still eggs (scrambled or fried), although I did eat an omelet at the beach, but it was LOADED with cheese.  I'm getting better with chicken but it still isn't my favorite.

Morning sickness: I had one random spell of throwing up while at the beach in July.  I have no idea what caused it and it was over before I knew it, but its the only M/S I have had since the first trimester.

Gender: TWO BOYS!  Big healthy boys!

Labor Signs: None, thank GOD, I would freak out.

Belly Button: Reaching maximum capacity.  Some days, its totally stretched out, some days not so much, but no outtie yet.

Stretch Marks: So far, so dodging the bullet *knock on wood*

Wedding rings: Rough... I had to give up on wearing my diamond, but my wedding ring itself is also getting tight, especially with the heat.  My fingers are not a size 5.5 anymore, I guess!

Exercise: Only if sitting on my butt counts... or trying to clean the house.

What I miss: Alcohol...

What I'm looking forward to: Besides meeting the boys, right now I am super excited to switch the guest bedroom with the nursery.  We decided we needed more space for the nursery, so my parents are coming up the first weekend of Sept and we are gonna switch the rooms.  The guestroom will be tight, but oh well!!

Other NEW news this week: Nothing really...

Weekly Wisdom: I think I am too sleepy to have any wisdom.

Favorite item bought this week: Nothing bought, but I have added some fun things to my registry... I found it is 100% more fun to do online than in the store.


And of course, this week's bump shot, from this morning!