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.