It's a...

BOY and a...GIRL! I was pretty certain (how or why, I'm not sure??) there was at least one little boy in my belly. But I was back and forth if there was one of each or two boys. Well that question was answered today, it's one of each! Matt and I were very excited to see both babies dancing around today! Baby Girl A weighed in at 11 ounces with a heart rate of 140. She's still measuring a little bit smaller then her big brother, Baby Boy B. Today he weighs in a 15 ounces with a heart rate of 135.

Today was exciting and a little overwhelming all at the same time. Due to my family history each baby had a fetal ECHO, which is an ultrasound of the heart. Both tickers looked great! With that we had an extensive ultrasound with lots of measuring and identifying each tiny little delicate part of each baby. The one speed bump we learned today was that Baby Girl A has 2 out of 7 markers for Downs Syndrome, one being a short femur bone and the second being a short humerus bone. This puts her with a 1 out of 120ish chance of having Downs Syndrome. Like I said, merely a speed bump nothing that's going to slow us down too long, regardless of the outcome. This equals less then a 1% chance and many babies are born having these "markers" with out the chromosomal defect. Now Matt and I just have to decide if we want to have an amniocentesis or not. The amnio would be conclusive and would either give us time to prepare our minds of give peace of mind. But with an amnio comes risks...so we just have to spend a little time weighing those risk and decide what's best for us.

We are excited and trilled to know these babies are looking healthy. I'm still feeling great and trying to hold my complaints until they are well deserved (achy back, swollen ankles, exhaustion...just to name a few:)) . We are headed to Cincinnati for my good friend's wedding this weekend and look forward to see old college friends!

God has trusted us to grow and raise these two tiny lives. We promise to do our best and bring these babies up in a loving home with a mommy and a daddy who have loved them even before they existed.

Half way....

So we are at the half way point...and it's going so fast, almost too fast! Because I'm carrying twins, I don't think my doctor would let me go to 40 weeks but I haven't officially asked that question yet. It's hard to imagine this process being halfway done. I'm still feeling great. Today the weather was in the low 60s, which is practically a heat wave around here! Yesterday I enjoyed my first pedicure of the season and have officially broke out the flip-flops for the past 2 days. They say we might see more snow this weekend....it's Indiana, what do you expect?

Last night as we were laying in bed, I was reading a book (not one of the many "mommy" books I should be reading to prepare) and Matt was seconds from drifting off to sleep. I started to feel one of the babies kicking. I've been feeling this a lot over the past week on the inside of my belly and on the outside with my hand too. Matt has been in Florida for the past 5 days and just got home last night so he had yet to feel this. He put his hand on my (well oiled and lotioned) belly and he felt the baby too!! Just one kick but it was a strong one! Pretty cool to share this experience with the man I love :)

So over the weekend, while I was working, a couple of the girls and I did a little experimenting/playing around with the ultrasound machine back in labor and delivery. I was nervous to see the babies without Matt but he had told me months ago it was ok by him if I ever got the opportunity. We saw 2 tiny, yet bigger then last time I saw them, babies moving around and entangled in each other! Two tiny hearts beating away. There were legs and arms everywhere. Now we are by no means professionals, but my co-worker Amie thought she saw girl parts on one of the babies. Now I'm pretty convienced there's at least one boy in there if not two (I've had some weird dreams). So I'm not getting myself excited about anything until I have a professional tell me official news...which will be in less then a week! The professional utlrasound tech told me at 11 weeks (which would be realllly early to see parts of either kind) she thought she saw boy parts on one of the babies so who knows??? Like I've said a hundred times we are just excited to see healthy, strong babies next week!

This week the babies weigh about 8 and 1/2 ounces each and measure 6 inches from head to bottom, about the size of a large heirloom tomato. The hair on their scalps is starting to sprout. Some research suggest the babies can start to hear our voices now. So....let the singing begin!

One week at a time

So a good friend at work, Nancy, suggested I wear the same top to better see the growing belly so sorry if the black tank is boring you! Still feeling great no real complaints yet, I'm trying to save those for later when I really have something to complain about! I've been eating a bit more but again I think it's just mental and a good excuse to have Lucky Charms for dinner. I may have had a few "hormonal" moments. Sometimes what comes out of my mouth seems rational at the time, it's looking back I think "wow, I might have lost it a little". Retelling the stories to friends helps me to realize what a great husband Matt is :)

So this week the babies are measuring about 5 and 1/2 inches long, about the length of a bell pepper. They each weigh about 7 ounces! I can feel them bumping/poking around in there maybe 3 to 5 times a day. It's only when I'm sitting still ,which some days isn't very often especially when I'm at work for 12 hours. Last week I got some "support hose" the doctor prescribed for me to wear when I am working...wow...they're a real treat! I am a sight for sore eyes trying to get those bad boys on at 5 in the morning, takes me about 10 minutes (was late to work twice this week!). But, it seems to have helped keep the cankles at bay.

Less then 2 weeks and we'll get another little peek at the babies during our 20 week ultrasound. Yes, we hope to find out the genders of each baby at that point but more importantly we look forward to knowing they are both healthy and growing big and strong.