Anatomy Scan - 17 weeks 3 days

I had my Level II Anatomy Scan today and everything looks wonderful with the baby.  I am technically 17 weeks 3 days today but once again the baby is measuring bigger.  It's measuring 18 weeks 5 days!  SO I'm thinking that the dates are off and even though they are not changing my due date I'm taking a guess that it will reach 40 weeks the first week of April.  I did find out the sex of the baby but I cannot say because my husband REALLY does not want to know.  If he changes his mind then I'll reveal it on here.  :-)  Since he's in Basic Training right now and I don't have much contact with him I'm going to send him a letter with the ultrasounds and put the "reveal" picture in an envelope and tell him to open it if he wants to know.  That way just in case he changes his mind he doesn't have to wait until he HOPEFULLY gets a phone call (he's supposed to get a call on Sundays but last Sunday was taken away because of some dumbbutts in his platoon).  Anyway :-)  Baby is doing great.  It weighs 9 oz right now.  Let me tell you it feels wierd saying IT when I know what it is!!  LOL  The DR is very happy with how the baby is looking and doesn't see any reason for concern.  He decided he'd still like me to come back at 22 weeks to get the fetal heart echo done just to make sure all is well since the nuchal fold was a little thicker than he likes.  BUT we saw all 4 chambers and ventricles and all that good stuff.  Blood flow and everything looked perfect.  This baby is still SUPER active.  I started feeling it move quite a bit last week and now feel definite kicks and jabs.  Loving every moment.  I didn't realize HOW active it was though until seeing it on the ultrasound.  So fun to watch it move all over the place.  They also checked my cervical length and it was 4.5 cm so that sounds pretty good.  Right now the head is right under my belly button and it's butt down.  Plenty of time to turn to try for a VBAC.  Here's the pictures:
http://family.webshots.com/album/575406900JhvYOz?vhost=family

Here's a picture of me today.  I really think I'm pretty close to the same size I was with the twins!!  Craziness.  Hopefully I won't get as big as I did with them!!  OK - I just went back and looked and I'm actually bigger than I was with the twins at 18 weeks!  Wowsers.  Well hopefully it's just the twin padding I have left.  ;-)  I don't feel very big at all though.  I feel really good.  Hmmm.  LOL  I guess we'll see how big I get!

11 Months Old and 16 Weeks Pregnant!

My little munchkins (who are not so little anymore!) turned 11 months old on Monday.  I also turned 16 weeks pregnant on Monday.  :-)  Everything is running much more smoother for both the babies and for my pregnancy.  The twins are on a pretty good schedule and SLEEP wonderful now thank goodness.  They're a little more predictable which definitely makes things easier.  As for my pregnancy I am enjoying the amazing 2nd trimester "honeymoon" phase.  My nausea went away sometime in the 14th week and if it wasn't for being sick (bad cold!) I think I'd have a decent amount of energy!  There are sometimes I feel so good I'd forget I was pregnant if it wasn't for the huge baby bump!!  ;-)  SO overall things are pretty good.  One big thing that has changed for the better or worse (whichever way you look at it) is Nick is now in Basic Training for the Army.  I miss him like crazy and I know the kids are missing him in their own way.  On the other hand we are FINALLY getting started on our new lives and are less than 4 months away from moving and getting our new home set up!!  :-)  Nick gets to come home for Christmas and we cannot wait!  It somehow seems like the time is going pretty fast.  He's been gone about 2 weeks and in some ways it seems like forever but mostly it seems like he hasn't been gone too long.  It probably has helped that the day he left Walker got sick and then Jocelyn and then me.  SO we've all been kind of caught up with this awful cold.

Walker and Jocelyn are both doing some serious walking!!  They prefer to walk over crawling now and are perfecting their moves.  They are both doing pretty good and standing and walking on their own from the middle of the floor (no help standing up).  They LOVE to chase each other and laugh.  Jocelyn literally fell over laughing the other day.  They just give me such joy and I can't help but laugh out loud throughout the day at their silly antics.  STILL no teeth!!  LOL  Although I "think" I can see some white pearlies trying to pop through on Jocelyn's bottom gums.  We'll see if they ever come through!  I'm trying to figure out a fun way to celebrate their birthday since it falls ON Thanksgiving this year.  I'm sad Nick won't be here but hoping he'll be able to be with us next year on their birthday (and the new one's!!).  Here's a picture of us the last time we saw him.  :-(

I had my 16 week OB appointment on Monday as well and everything went well.  I've gained 3 pounds and the DR was happy with that.  The baby's heartrate was 160 and I was measuring "where I should be".  She said about to my belly button but didn't give me a number although I read that you should be between your pubic bone and belly button at 16 weeks so I still think I am measuring bigger.  My ultrasound is next Thursday (Nov. 5th) so we'll see how big the baby is measuring this go around.  I am VERY big though any way I look at it.  I'll be brave and put a pic up but there is no laughing!!!!  LOL  I am freakishly huge and I'm attempting to just embrace it.  :-)

Here are some updated pictures for this month:  OCTOBER PICS

No Increased Risk!!!

The Perinatologist office just called and my bloodwork came back from the Nuchal Test.  It came back good and I am at NO increased risk!!  WOO HOO!!!  Even with the higher nuchal number.  Thank heavens.  I have to go in for one more blood test on the 19th to finish off the test but this is a very good sign!  The DR also wants me to still come in for the ultrasound on the 30th but that is A-OK with me!  Another chance to see my little muffin is wonderful.  Such wonderful news.  Have to run for now but wanted to put in the happy update.  Hopefully the good news will keep on coming!!!  :-)

I would like the boring doctor appointments back please....

Well yesterday was the much anticipated Nuchal Translucency Scan.  We were mostly excited because it was one more ultrasound that Nick would get to see (and really his last unless we get a late pregnancy one for some reason).  We got to see the baby and it was still as active as ever!!  Just all over the place.  What a wonderful sight to see.  One neat thing is I've been pretty sure that I've been able to feel it moving already.  It started about a week ago here and there and has gotten more regular and stronger.  The ultrasound today confirmed it.  :-)  We also found out I may be further along than the first DR thought....hmm.  One measurement was 14 weeks 3 days (I'm 12 weeks 3 days today according to the last 2 ultrasounds).  She averaged it out to 13 weeks and 6 days which is what they went with.  That put me at the VERY last day that they could even do the Nuchal scan.  So now I'm totally confused as to how far along I really am.  They decided in the end not to change my due date but it does sound like they're going to go with the 13 weeks 6 days for their office.  She said the baby may just be a big baby but almost a 2 week difference seems pretty big.  Who knows!  LOL  Hopefully it will stay put until we can move and get settled in.

We saw it's wonderful little body, perfect little spine.  It was just beautiful.  Because it was so active the ultrasound tech had a hard time getting a good measurement but she got a few and the Perinatologist ok'd these pictures and measurements.  He came in to talk to us about the results.  Here's where the fun part started to not get so fun.  Our baby's nuchal fold measured 2.6 and he wanted to see under 2.5.  It doesn't sound like he's concerned about Downs Syndrome.  From what I've researched that becomes more of a possibility if it's over 3.  He is going to be keeping a close eye on us to watch for heart defects though.  He said research has shown that a nuchal fold of 2.5 and above gives a higher risk for a heart problem.  Definitely not what I wanted to hear.  He said I should get my blood results back on Monday and he'll call me with my risk factor with all of that combined.  One good thing in my favor is that I'll still be 35 when the baby is born.  He said that helps.  Basically he said that IF the bloodwork comes back positive combined with the 2.6 number my risk is still only 3% chance of anything being "wrong".  They do a second test I think in 4 weeks and if that comes back positive than it's like 1/3 chance.  Something like that.  When you hear there may be a problem with your baby's heart it's hard to remember all the details.  Anyway, because of the possibility of the heart problem I will now be going to the Perinatologist for ultrasounds until we rule anything out.  I go back on October 30th (which according to them I'll be 18 weeks).  He'll be able to check the heart better at that point.  HOPEFULLY everything will be just fine.  I know this is a risk factor thing - not a definite thing and there are many babies out there (from my research) that had measurements of 3.5 and are perfectly normal.  SO I'm in great hopes that all is well and I'll just be able to enjoy a couple more ultrasounds to see my little munchkin growing.  Knowing all this doesn't really stop me from worrying but I do know we are in a good area to be if the baby should need any surgeries for it's heart.  We'll see where we end up getting stationed and IF there is a problem I may end up staying here to have the baby if the duty station does not have a good NICU nearby.  We have one of the best hospitals in the region for babies and children so I do feel better about that.

For now, I am going to try and get past worrying and just enjoy feeling my little baby moving around.  I'm going to enjoy my last week or so with my husband and have fun with my kiddos.  They definitely keep me busy!  We only got one ultrasound picture this time around and it's a face shot which I'm sure she thought we'd love.  Which we do.  LOL  But I really like the profile pictures because they look more baby like than alien.  LOL  In any case we'll treasure this one till our next ultrasound.  Oh and if you're interested I found an article on the Nuchal measurement and heart problems.  Maybe it will make more sense to someone other than me.  LOL  Here is the LINK.  All in all I'd like to go back to the "boring" Doctor appointments and I want to beat myself for ever saying that!!!  Enjoy the picture and please put our baby in your prayers that all is well.  Thanks!!

10 Months Old!!

Walker and Jocelyn turned 10 months old this past Saturday. How the time is flying by! This has certainly been a life changing and eventful year. We've had so many changes, so many curve balls thrown our way, and through it all we have remained so thankful and so happy for what we have been been given. They truly are Thanksgiving babies and this new baby being due in April definitely represents a new beginning. We'll be starting our new lives in the Army by then and not only will it be a fresh start, it will be a real new beginning for our family. We are very excited and really looking forward to it. The one downfall is that my oldest son, Nate, will probably not be joining us when we move. He is a senior in high school this year and very much wants to stay here to finish at his current school (understandably) and then he wants to join the military. He was wanting to join the Marines but he's considering the Army now. We've been through a lot with him and he's really turned his life around the past 6 months or so and I'm very proud of him. I wish he could move with us but if we can work it out so he can finish out school here I know it would mean a lot to him. Apparently these pregnancy hormones are getting the best of me because I'm VERY sentimental today. LOL It doesn't help that we are down to under 20 days until Nick ships out. It is very bittersweet. I hate to see him leave. I will miss him terribly and I am sad he will miss the twins first Birthday but I know the sooner he leaves the sooner he gets back and we can really start our lives. He does get to come home for Christmas for 2 weeks so we're looking forward to that. Anyway .... :-) Here's the updates :-)

Walker is just a goofball. He goes from being completely serious to cracking himself up laughing. He loves to lounge (you'll see that in a few pictures! LOL) and tease Jocelyn. He absolutely loves Chance (our dog) and Chance amazingly lets him do pretty much anything. He gets a little nervous around Jocelyn (she was rougher on him earlier on). Walker is getting VERY close to walking. He stands on his own all the time now and can pretty much go to a standing position on his own from sitting down. He's taken a step here and there but he's still a little nervous. We got them each a little car that turns into a walking toy they can push and they both LOVE these! Walker's also turning into quite the little Daddy's boy.

Jocelyn is turning into a Momma's girl all of a sudden and has been very cuddly. She's usually our rough and tumble kiddo but it seems they are switching roles again. She took 4 steps this morning all by herself but then realized what she was doing and fell down. It looks like MAYBE Daddy will get to see them walk before he leaves. We're hoping anyway. She is still a little firecracker and I don't expect that to go away. LOL We're going to have to keep an eye on her when she hits those teen years!! ;-)

They are both sleeping wonderfully now. They take two solid naps and sleep 11-12 hours at night. I'm LOVING it - especially now that I really need rest and sleep. They're drinking more formula at a time now (great timing since we'll be going off that soon LOL). We're doing better at finger foods although I still get nervous about giving them too much. They don't have any teeth yet and I think that is part of my fear. I know they can "gum" things but I still get nervous. I think Jocelyn may be truly teething because she's been awfully whiny the last couple days and Tylenol and teething gel seems to help her. Maybe we'll see one pop through before Dad leaves. I'm so wanting him to be a part of as many "firsts" as we can get in. I look back at the earlier months and realize how many things we actually have accomplished and I do feel like things are a lot easier. We can go out to eat and they do great. They love shopping and being around people so it's easier to get out and about. They are very loving, cuddly little babies and I just feel very blessed. :-)

I had my 12 week appointment yesterday for our new little one and I've discovered that having a "normal" pregnancy gets you kind of boring DR appointments. LOL We went in, she asked how everything was going. I'm still very nauseaus and very tired. She made sure I could eat (I've gained 2 pounds so she was happy with that). I think I eat plenty throughout the day. I just tend to usually stop half way through eating things because it makes me sick after awhile. Thankfully no throwing up. We got to listen to the heartbeat on the doppler. She found that pretty fast and it sounded very loud and strong. :-) She said everything looks great so she set me up for my flu shot and scheduled me for my next appointment at 16 weeks. I did schedule my Nuchal Transclucency Scan for this Thursday so I'm excited we get to see the baby then. Nick will be gone for the 20 week ultrasound so I'm excited he'll get to see one more ultrasound. I'm sure I'll post about that on Thursday. :-)

Here's our picture updates for this month. Enjoy! Their personalities are really coming out now.

September 2009 - Twins 9-10 months, Nate Homecoming  (I haven't gotten a chance to "label" the photos yet but I'm guessing you can figure them out)

10 Month Old Portraits