Merry Christmas!

Baby's first Christmas is here. We hope that everyone got just what they wanted for Christmas this year, we sure did!

Last night we decided to have another adventure with our girls. Armed with a fully stocked diaper bag and a couple bottles we headed out the door to the Olive Garden. The restaurant was surprisingly busy, but we were seated right away and they gave us these little stands to put the car seats on. We ordered our food and broke out the bottles for a quick feeding while we waited. It was a conscious decision to hold off feeding them until we got to the restaurant because it would give us plenty of time to sit, relax and enjoy our meals. At least that was the plan... thankfully it worked. Maddie and Liz were satisfied and the general din of the restaurant was soothing to them.

Erica and I always get lots of attention from strangers when we go out. I think more than anything else people are simply amazed by twins, especially newborn ones. We usually don't mind at all and welcome the opportunity to talk about our little angels. I doubt the fascination ever really goes away as they get older. I can think of at least 3 current TV commercials that feature twins. Plus there was a special on the National Geographic channel (thanks to the folks who gave us a heads up on that). It will be so interesting to discover all the things that make our girls so special.

One Month... Already??

The girls are already a whole month old! Time really does fly!

We brought them to the pediatrician today for a quick checkup. Our last checkup, the day after Thanksgiving, Elizabeth weighed in at 5 pounds, 2.5 ounces - today she's up to a big 6 pounds, 8 ounces! Back in November, Madeline weighed in at 5 pounds, 14 ounces, and now she weighs a whopping 7 pounds, 9 ounces! It's getting harder and harder to tell who is who in pictures, but it's pretty obvious when you pick them up - even though the difference is only a pound, Maddie feels so much heavier than Liz!

Happy Birthday Mommy!

Elizabeth and Madeline are doing wonderfully. We all shared some birthday cake with Erica on Wednesday. Well, Lizzy and Maddie shared it indirectly, heh. Kathy watched the girls while we went out for a baby-free dinner. Delicious and peaceful, but we were missing them by the time we headed for home.

It's amazing how quickly they have become a part of our everyday life and we just can't get enough of the coos and the silly faces and the poopy diapers and the cranky fits.

O Christmas Tree

This weekend we came home with a perfect tree and had a visit from Pop Pop and Mema.

On Friday Erica and I went out in search of a Christmas Tree. After a couple stops we found ourselves at a local YMCA. A thorough search of the trees revealed a near flawless 6-footer in the back row. Since we were freezing our butts off we bought the tree and loaded in into the car. Best part was that the proceeds went to the local YMCA.

The next day Glenn (Pop Pop) and June (Mema) flew in for a whirlwind visit. They arrived on saturday morning and left late that night. Short, but sweet. They spent lots of quality time with the girls. The whole family spent the evening listening to Christmas music and decorating the tree. It turned out just perfect, go see for yourself.

Today we bravely ventured outside with Madeline and Elizabeth on a trip to Babies R Us. Despite the temperature outside, we thought it was time to try our hand at getting out of the house. It took us about 45 minutes to get on the road... we'll have to work on that a bit. The trip was fairly uneventful, although I did have ample opportunity to show off my beautiful girls to the other shoppers.

A Day for Giving Thanks

Thank you for our two beautiful, healthy babies.
Thank you for the opportunity to share our love with these precious little girls.
Thank you to the nurses and staff at Central DuPage Hospital for taking such wonderful care of Madeline and Elizabeth.
Thank you for the quick and successful recovery for Erica after her surgery.
Thank you to our neighbors and coworkers for their help and well wishes throughout the pregnancy and beyond.
Thank you to our family and friends for their unending support and love during this special time.
Among the things that we are most thankful for is to have our entire family home for the holiday.

Madeline was discharged from the NICU yesterday with a clean bill of health. We brought Elizabeth up to the hospital with us to pick her up. After gathering up all of the odds and ends from Maddie's room we dressed the girls up in cute matching outfits and headed off to take some pictures with the hospital photographer. Then we packed up everyone in the cars and headed for home. It was a great feeling to bring both our girls home and Cody was pretty excited too. He liked the one baby so much that we decided to get him another one.

If you didn't think it could get any crazier around here, you'd be very mistaken. Throw just one more baby into the mix and things get exponentially more complicated. Erica and I are trying to settle into a new routine and catch some sleep whenever we can. Grandma and Grandpa C are preparing a scrumptious Thanksgiving Day dinner as I write this. Maddie and Liz won't be able to have turkey and stuffing this year, but we'll enjoy having them here all the same.

Look Ma! No Tubes!

Grandma and I arrived at the NICU yesterday to a big surprise! Our feisty little Madeline had pulled out her own NG tube during the night. Since she had already started bottle feeding (and was doing pretty well with that), they decided to just leave it out and see what happened. This was pretty much the last hurdle for her to jump before she got to come home, and we got even better news when the nurses told us that as long as things continued to go well, she'd be coming home on Wednesday!

Everything is looking good, and provided things are still going well tomorrow, she'll be home with us! We're very excited to have everyone together at home - something to be thankful for this Thanksgiving!

Hectic Day

Visited Madeline a couple times in the NICU and she continues to do well. Erica even breastfed her briefly a couple times. (Breastfeeding is very hard work for babies and she tires out easily). We're always amazed to see how much bigger Maddie is than her sister. Even a half pound makes a huge difference. The NICU staff is feeding her a ton of food to make her healthy and she seems to be outpacing Liz.

Elizabeth had some tummy time today. I laid out a blanket to swaddle her and Cody wandered over and laid down right on top of it. He looked at me when I started to laugh as if to say, "What? This isn't for me?" Cody always seems very concerned for Liz when she begins to fuss or cry, it's so adorable.

Liz tried to eat my finger. I took a picture to prove it! We also broke out the tub and gave Elizabeth her very first bath time. Believe me, she was none too thrilled about it. She even got to try out one of the cute towels. Erica and I have a fondness for things with little ears on them. I'm sure you'll understand when you see the picture.

We have a pediatrician appointment tomorrow morning and then I am going in to work afterward for a half day. Best to ease back into these things. Work has been fantastic about time off since the girls were born and I am looking forward to showing off pictures and telling stories from the best week of our lives.

Keep in mind that I'll be uploading photos whenever I can, so be sure to check the Flickr album even if I haven't gotten around to a blog post. Pictures speak a thousand words anyway. I'm off to get some much needed sleep.

Life at Home

Life at home has been an adventure. While Erica and I wish that we had both of our girls here, we've been sharing wonderful new experiences with Elizabeth.

Our first priority once we had Liz home safe was to introduce Cody to the new member of our family. I've done a lot of research on bringing home a baby to a household with a dog so I had a plan ahead of time. Honestly, we were not too worried about how Cody would react and he really is great around Liz. (Don't worry he isn't secretly plotting to eat her). I'm trying to make sure I still spend some quality time with my baby boy.

Elizabeth was in for a treat while we ate dinner last night. She got to try out the swing and seemed to enjoy it quite a bit. Once we put Liz to bed upstairs in the nursery, she looked like a tiny little doll laying in the middle of her crib. Nighttime went fairly smooth once we established a bit of a rhythm.

Today, Erica and I set aside some time to drive up and see Madeline at the hospital. We were overjoyed to enter the NICU and discover Maddie in a big girl crib! To top it off, she even had her oxygen tubes removed. These are signs that she is regulating her own temperature and her oxygen levels are stabilized. Maddie does still have her feeding tube in, but the nurses say that they have been feeding her by mouth every other meal and she has been tolerating it fairly well. Although the doctors didn't offer a specific date, we have high hopes that Madeline will be home for Thanksgiving. Everyone keep your fingers crossed for us.

D(ischarge)-Day

Erica and I have made it through our stay at the hospital and are proud to say that we're pretty darn good at this parenting stuff. Apparently the nurses and doctors agree with us since they are letting us go home with one of our babies today! Yes, you read correctly, only Elizabeth is cleared to come home with us. Madeline is still down in the NICU for now.

Madeline's doctor says that they will be attempting to reach three major goals with her over the next few days. Breathing without additional oxygen, feeding from a bottle, and maintaining her own body temperature are all required to be stable before Maddie can come home to us. She's on the right track because they reduced her oxygen flow this morning. If she keeps progressing she'll be released by next week! In the meantime, we'll be shuttling back and forth to the hospital to visit our baby girl.

Grandma and Grandpa C arrived this morning for a week long visit (Grandma is staying for three). They were so happy to hold their granddaughters for the first time. More pictures up on Flickr as usual.

Side by Side

Our beautiful daughters Madeline and Elizabeth at only about 2 days old. A lot has happened in even a short amount of time. I'll try and fill you in as best I can.

We had been down many times to see our babies in the NICU yesterday. Even Grandma White, PopPop Munson and Uncle Troy came for visits. Our girls got all kinds of lovin'.

At some point yesterday the NICU doctors decided that Madeline was working too hard to regulate her own body temperature and was using up all that energy that would be put to better use in helping her tiny lungs develop. She was then placed in an isolette, an enclosed incubator that keeps babies toasty warm. Her oxygen was increased again since her levels would still occasionally drop below what the nurses would like.

The biggest news of the day was that Elizabeth was cleared to come up to the room with us! We were obviously elated and surprised because they didn't let on at all throughout the day how well she was doing. Better to be happily surprised than disappointed I guess. As you can imagine, most of my time not spent taking care of Erica and Liz have been spent sleeping. We're all taking it an hour at a time and doing the best we can.

Uploaded a bunch more pictures for you all to enjoy!

On the Topic of Nicknames

It became apparent to Erica and I that we had never really thought about how we would handle nicknames for the girls. Part of the reason we picked Madeline and Elizabeth we did was because they would have nicknames, a thing Erica and I never had in our lives.

So, in the interest of consistency, we decided on Maddie and Liz. Maddy and Lizzy are also good alternates.

Updates tonight, I promise. Everyone is still doing well. I even uploaded a few more pictures to flickr.

The Morning After...

Not a whole lot of sleep to speak of last night for either of us. Despite the fact that our girls were down in the NICU, the nurses here are still closely monitoring Erica after surgery so there were many visits throughout the night for drugs and blood draws and rolling Erica around in bed. She even started working with the breast pump.

Early this morning I got restless and was eager to see how Madeline and Elizabeth were doing. No news from the NICU is good news and I made my way down there to discover them comfortable and resting peacefully. There was a new shift coming on so I got to meet their daytime nurses. The nurse for Elizabeth invited me to try out bottle feeding and I excitedly agreed. We both did really well and she ate about 17cc of formula. It's going to be a learning process but we hit the ground running. Liz got dressed up in big girl clothes and was placed into a big girl crib! She might even be able to come upstairs into the room with us tonight if everything goes well.

Madeline is still on the CPAP and has had the feeding tube put in. The doctors are still keeping an eye on her elevated rate of breathing, but some more time "making bubbles" should do the trick. The respiratory nurses seem confident that she will continue to improve. Maddie occasionally makes these little grunting noises that are an effect of her condition. She seems to have become accustomed to the tubes and is usually laying in her trademark spread eagle position in the warmer.

Erica is looking forward to visiting our babies in the NICU and it sounds like that might happen very soon. We'll have more pictures and updates soon. Go check out the new pictures in our album.

Welcome to the World!

Madeline Grace (left)
Born: November 17, 2008
Time: 7:06 pm
Weight: 5 lbs 13 oz
Height: 17 1/4 inches

Elizabeth Claire (Right)
Born: November 17, 2008
Time: 7:07 pm
Weight: 5 lbs 3 oz
Height: 17 3/4 inches

Finally getting a minute to sit down and get everyone updated. Mommy and babies are doing well. Erica delivered at 35 weeks and 3 days into the pregnancy (by official count). Erica and I are resting comfortably in the Mother and Baby Unit. Our precious little girls are spending at least tonight in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). It sounds worse than it is so don't worry. Because of their gestational age it is very common for babies to visit the NICU for a period of time. Madeline is showing some signs of respiratory distress, so they have put her on a CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) to help her lungs mature and assist her in breathing. While right next to her, Elizabeth is doing well and even took her first feeding from one of the NICU nurses with a bottle of formula. A whole ounce!

Words will never be able to explain the overwhelming joy that we feel every time we look at our beautiful daughters. Madeline and Elizabeth, we love you with all our hearts!

P.S. Bunch more pictures over in our Flickr Album.

Hurry Up and Wait!

Here we are sitting in one of the Labor and Delivery rooms anxiously awaiting a spot to open up in surgery so our babies can be delivered.



But let's take a step back in time and begin with this morning...

It was a day like any other day. I went off to work and Erica went off to one of her many doctor appointments. We were aware of the growing concerns about Erica's blood pressure and the other signs of pre-eclampsia. However, as recently as friday we were told that the pregnancy could potentially go through Thanksgiving. So, it was with little hesitation that we went about our normal routines.

While at work (around 10am) I commented to my cubemate that I had this nagging feeling that I was supposed to do something today. Naturally I assumed it was something job related, but after reviewing my files I just couldn't put my finger on it. Not 15 minutes later Erica calls me on my cell phone at work. Immediately I'm on high alert! To put this in perspective, Erica never calls me at work (we just chat online). Turns out the OBGYN made the call to deliver the babies today. Not an emergency, but they would like us into the hospital by noon.... YIKES!

I said a couple quick good-byes to my coworkers and they shouted congratulations at my back. I calmly drove home and made all the family phone calls on the way.

"I'm going to be a daddy!" My hands are shaking.

Erica and I get to the hospital a little after noon. We're directed to the Labor and Delivery floor where we are shown to a comfortable room. Our nurse explains everything to us as she hooks up Erica and the babies to the monitors. Since we are an unscheduled delivery, the next spot they can fit us in will not be until 3:30pm. Naturally, we break out the laptops to help pass the time. At around 3:15 our doctor comes in to give us an update on the situation. It seems that things are a bit behind schedule and we're now looking to prep for surgery at around 5pm. Talk about hurry up and wait!

Our girls will be arriving in the world very soon.

In the Home Stretch!

So I am now 35 weeks! Yesterday, we had what will likely be our last ultrasound. Right now, the girls are both head down (finally!), which is very good news. They're also getting SO big. Baby on the right (they keep switching positions so the A and B gets confusing - I always think of the right baby as Elizabeth) is 5 lbs and 13 oz! Baby on the left (Madeline) is 6 pounds and 2 ounces! At this rate, they're both going to be bigger than I was at birth! I don't think they'll make Gary's birth weight though! (If they do, I'm in trouble - Gary was over 8 pounds!)

So, if the estimated weights are correct, just about everybody is under in our poll! I've locked the game at this point, so no trying to update your answers!

I have the full timeline, plus the 33 week pictures in the Flickr Album

Things are going pretty well. My diabetes is under control with diet, but now my blood pressure is getting a bit high. It's not pre-eclampsia, fortunately, and not high enough to need to do anything yet, but if it gets much higher than it is right now, and they'll want to deliver the girls right away! We're shooting for after Thanksgiving at this point - probably that next Monday. Despite our plans, the girls could arrive at any time, so we're spending these next few weeks getting everything ready - well, Gary is doing the work, I'm sitting on the couch to keep my blood pressure down!

Almost there...

Happy Halloween!

We had alot of fun decorating for Halloween this year. Even the babies joined in!

Pregnant women can't explode, right?

Because sometimes it seems like it's inevitable!

I'm 31 weeks now. We had another ultrasound last week (pictures will be uploaded soon, we have to scan them in!), and the babies are growing perfectly! Baby on the right has moved to transverse across the top, and is 4 pounds, 2 oz, and baby on the left has turned breech and is 4 pounds, 6 oz!

I'm feeling pretty well overall, but I'm definitely getting tired. I'm measuring 41 weeks (if I were having just one), so I'm already bigger than I would be at the very end with just one. I'm planning on stopping work this week (sitting at a desk doesn't SOUND very hard, but it exhausts me by the end of the day), so hopefully that will encourage the girls to stay put!

I was also diagnosed with gestational diabetes a few weeks ago. What that means is basically hormones from the placenta interfere with the insulin my body produces to break down sugars that I eat. If it's uncontrolled, the extra sugar that my body doesn't process gets to the babies, which can cause them to grow overly large, and could also cause them to have low blood sugar after they're born. The growing too much isn't really a big concern with twins, but we don't want the blood sugar issues! Fortunately, I'm managing to control it with diet so far - I just have to watch what I eat (no sweets, and I have to go light on carbs), and prick my fingers 4 times a day to make sure all my numbers are staying in line! Fortunately, this goes away right after the babies are born!

Almost Ready...

I uploaded some more pictures of our nursery for everyone now that we have a bit more assembled in there. Still a few things in boxes, if you can believe it, but most of the big stuff is ready for our girls. Not that we are in any hurry for them to arrive... Maddy, Liz, you stay in that belly for now!

Thanks to the grandparents for the fabulous cribs and bedding sets. We're not quite sure how the cribs will ultimately be situated, but the twins will be sleeping together in one crib for at least a few months so it's no big hurry. Having the cribs on the same wall leaves plenty of space in the room for a comfortable glider and changing table at least. Plus, having them both set up and ready to go is strategic planning...

Imagine, it's the middle of the night and there has been a tragic leaky diaper all over the sheets and mattress. No worries! Switch them over to the nice, dry crib and worry about it in the morning. Who wants to wrestle with a mattress pad semi-conscious at 2am? Seriously, I think even parents of singletons should consider this.

Okay, How ADORABLE are those pink Baby Pooh blankets? We picked up one for each of our little girls. If either or both of them get attached to the blankets we'll obviously have to stock up on more for the eventuality of one getting lost or irreversibly icky.

I freely admit that I have become a huge sucker for really cute baby things (toys, clothes, you name it) and must be constantly supervised in any baby store or department. It is becoming ever so clear how much these girls are going to be spoiled by us, but me especially. I just can't help myself. Can you blame me?

What's in a Name?

Sometimes, being pregnant with twins is scary. There are a lot of scary stories out there on what could happen, and you have to just do what you can and hope for the best. A few weeks ago, a couple in our twins class - due just AFTER us - gave birth to their sons. They're tiny, but doing as well as can be expected. They'll be spending a while in the NICU, but will hopefully do well!

Today, we reached our next big milestone (the first one was 24 weeks - the age of viability)! We are now 28 weeks!

The second milestone is 28 weeks, when viability skyrockets. Ninety percent of babies who make it to this stage of gestation survive. Long-term complications — including cerebral palsy, vision and breathing problems — are still a possibility, however.

So along with everything else, we've been trying to get everything ready for the girls - clothes, rooms, names...

Oh did I say names?

Yep! We've picked names for our girls, so we can stop calling them A and B!

Gary and I spent the weekend making some decorations for their room. Once we finally decide how exactly we're going to arrange their room, we're going to hang these on the walls over their cribs!

Elizabeth Claire


Madeline Grace

27 Week Update

I can't believe I'm already in the THIRD trimester - my how time flies! (Or, I'm almost there, depending on which count you go by!)

So much has happened since my last update (I'm a terrible updater, sorry about that!) First things first - the babies! Everything is going wonderfully so far. I had my latest appointments and ultrasound yesterday, and everybody is continuing to grow on schedule - a bit ahead of schedule actually. Baby A and B have switched places, and now baby B is lower down. She weighs 2 lbs 9 oz already! Baby A is a bit higher up (and breech, the stinker!) and weighs in at 2 lbs 7 oz! So I've officially got 5 pounds of babies in me! I'm also measuring, size wise, about 37 weeks - 10 full weeks ahead!! I'm definitely starting to feel it - it's becoming increasingly difficult to move around (especially getting up!) I try not to complain though, because all in all, I've had a fairly easy pregnancy so far!

(Click for a bigger version!)

Also in the last month was my baby shower! 24 Weeks was about the latest my doctors will let me travel, so the shower was a bit early - it was also my last chance to visit home before the babies come. Grandma Carlson and Grandma White planned it, and it was really nice to see everyone! Thanks everyone for everything!

This is What Happens...

...when Erica tells me that it's OK to draw on her belly!

We were making cheese fondue for our wedding anniversary last night and I just couldn't resist an opportunity to have some fun. Don't worry, I used washable markers :)

Head of the Class

We had our first official parenting class this weekend which was held at the local hospital. This particular class was designed for expectant parents of multiples and was taught by a nurse. The focus was on topics that pertained to the unique challenges involved in the pregnancy and birth of twins.

To be honest, there was not a whole lot of new information that we haven't read in books or online already. I believe the the real benefit of attending that class was to meet and interact with other couples having twins. There were 2 other couples there and a woman who came without her husband. One couple about our age was expecting twin boys about the same time as our girls, so it was fun to share stories, hopes and fears with people going through the same thing we are.

We have a few more classes lined up later on and even a Daddy Boot Camp sponsored by the hospital that looked like fun. Hopefully, we'll be able to build relationships with people we meet along the way.

Behold! The Nursery.

Some people might say that we've got plenty of time to prepare for the arrival of our baby girls. Well, those people probably don't know us too well, lol. I am one of the biggest procrastinators ever! So, when it came time to start working on the nursery I made a conscious effort to get it done in a timely fashion.

Erica and I pored over design ideas for the room once we found out the gender. Some inspiration came from the bedding we picked out previously at Babies'R'Us. We finally decided on a color scheme of half beige and half light pink (I insisted on pink... hey, I might as well embrace my feminine side). Then there was the task of picking out a border to surround the room and there were just so many options. Some with colors that didn't quite match, some too wide, some too baby-ish, some TOO pink. We finally find the perfect border and ordered it off the internet. (You see where this is going, right?) It gets delivered and is completely different than advertised on the website. Blah! We return it and go to the local store and decided upon one that we both really liked.

Edit from Erica: THIS is the border we originally picked - the background of that, to our surprise, was blue.

Credit has to be given to my dad who really helped out with painting and moldings during a recent visit. There was plenty of stuff to clear out of the girls' closet to make room for baby things and new shelves to put up. We even bought a cute little light switch plate and brand new shades for the windows. Check out the pictures over in our Flickr Album and tell us what you think.

21 Weeks and Getting Big!

Hard to imagine that this is only halfway!

At my last appointment, my doctor said I was measuring 27 weeks. My uterus is about up to my ribcage now (or close) so there's nowhere else to go but out!

Gary should have progress pictures on the nursery later today!

20 Week Anatomy Scan

We had our official "big" ultrasound this past friday - "big" because it's typically when most people find out their baby's gender - but since we're having two, we get more ultrasounds than single babies!

During the big ultrasound, they take lots of measurements to make sure everything is growing correctly and there are no visible abnormalities (they look for things like open spinal tube defects, cleft palate, and organ development, probably more stuff that the tech didn't even mention during the scan!)

Just in case, we asked the technician to verify the gender:

Baby A is still a girl!



So is Baby B! (what you see between Baby B's legs is the umbilical cord - they're quite positive we've got girls!)

(In both pictures, you're looking up, with each baby's butt on the left side, with the thighs sticking out to the right)



Here's a couple profile shots - Baby A is on the left, and Baby B is on the right. Bigger versions are in the flicker album (along with a few other pictures)!

I'm feeling faint movement more often now - but no big KICKS yet. I'm feeling great lately - what little morning sickness I had (more the "I don't feel like eating" sickness) is gone, and I'm finally getting some of my energy back, which is nice. I'm officially halfway through now (even though it's a bit more likely that the babies will be born before the 'standard' 40 weeks - so I'm probably MORE than halfway!)

It's ...

I guess we've made you wait long enough! So our ultrasound was Monday, and while it's not the usual "find out the gender ultrasound" we asked the technician to take a peek, and we found out...

It's GIRLS!!

Which means: Gary, Grandma Carlson, Aunt Joanne, Troy, Great-Grandma Gempp, Tara, Christine and Bryan, Aunt Lori and Aunt Gail (from FL) were right! And Jamie was half right (splitting the odds there, huh? Pssst - you cant have identical boy/girl twins!)

This came as a big surprise to me, since I was 100% convinced we were having boys, but we're thrilled with our girls! (And now I'm off to buy frilly little things!)

Just for fun!

Just as a note, this thing will calculate a 'winner' for each baby, based on how close you are to date, time, and size - the gender doesn't count, so go ahead and guess now!

Growing Babies

I knew I was getting bigger, but I didn't realize how much of a difference it was until I put these pictures together!

1st Appointment with Specialist!

Sorry for the delay in updating!

We had our first appointment with the Maternal Fetal Medicine specialists at our hospital on Monday. We were going to have the Nuchal Transluncency screen done (which checks risk for Downs Syndrome, Trisomy 13 and Trisomy 18.) They also wanted to check to make sure everything looked good, and to see how many amniotic sacs and placentas we have.

So we started off with the ultrasound tech, who found Baby A low on my left and Baby B higher up on my right. (The babies are referred to as A and B, depending on how close to the 'exit' they are). Baby B was cooperating by laying down on its back so the U/S tech could get the Nuchal measurements, while Baby A just wanted to lay down with its back to us. We found out the twins are very likely identical - they found a VERY thin membrane, and just one placenta (it's impossible to say for sure, since two placentas can grow together and LOOK like one - we'd only know for sure if they are boy/girl or with DNA testing after birth) Finding that membrane was good news though, since having monoamniotic twins is VERY risky. There are still some possible problems with having "mono/di" (that would be monochorionic - meaning one placenta, and Diamniotic - meaning two amniotic sacs), but since they know, our doctors will be watching for them. Both babies had nice strong heartbeats, with Baby A at 147, and Baby B at 171. We'll continue seeing the regular doctor every month, and the specialist every month, so doctors every two weeks (approximately).

Our best profile of Baby A


Cooperative Baby B

More pictures are in the Flickr album!

So, I think I actually felt at least ONE baby last night. Baby A is hanging out low, down near my bladder, and last night, after I had to get up to use the bathroom (as usual), I felt movement after I was done! (Haha, sorry for the TMI!) I've been off and on feeling those "could be gas, could be baby" feelings, but this time, I was pretty sure it was baby! So THAT was pretty exciting!

11 Week Checkup

We had our latest doctors appointment last Friday. It was a quick one, but the doctor did do a quick sonogram just to make sure everybody still looked good. They both looked about the same size, and had good strong heartbeats, so everything is looking good so far!

This is one of the babies, with the top of the other head on the left.

This is the other baby (I think with an extra foot just under its head)
(You can see bigger copies of the pictures in the Flicker album!)

I've been feeling good. I've heard I have my Grandmother (Dad's mom) to thank for my lack of morning sickness. Every once in a while I get a bit nauseated, but nothing too bad. My biggest problem is I'm so incredibly tired - I think I could sleep 20 hours a day, if I could only find the time! Building babies is hard work!

I go for yet another ultrasound June 16th, so look for more pictures then!

Changes Around the House

We've made some early changes around the house in preparation for the babies. Our office, where we spend alot of our time, has been moved to the first floor. This is to make way for the nursery right next to the master bedroom upstairs. For the time being though, I just primed the walls and
put my exercise equipment in there until we get closer to our delivery date.

Erica and I really like the new setup actually. It stays much cooler downstairs especially now that the weather is getting warmer. Check out a couple pictures of the new rooms on our Flickr site.

Shocking News

Friday morning was my first OB appointment. I assumed we'd go in, get some general info, and I was hoping we'd have an early ultrasound to date the pregnancy (although my last period was the beginning of March, I was fairly confident that we conceived closer to the end of March - a difference of about two weeks.)

We went into the ultrasound room, and Dr. Heimburger paused for a moment before turning the screen towards us. "There's the baby," he said. "And there's the other baby!" The OTHER WHAT? There they were, plain as day - both with little flickering heartbeats. Needless to say, we were both pretty surprised. A bit of measuring put us right about 7 weeks, with an official due date of December 19th. Of course, twin pregnancies tend to be shorter than singletons, our goal will be to go as long as we can.

After the ultrasound (with me still in shock!), the doctor explained that with early ultrasounds, they're finding more pregnancies start as twins than originally thought (some statistics I've read suggests one in eight start out as twins!), but that for one reason or another, in the first few months, one twin disappears - it's called vanishing twin syndrome. It's the kind of thing that wouldn't even be detected at a later ultrasound. The early stages of twin pregnancy are pretty similar to a normal pregnancy, so for now, we'll just wait and see (and hope the babies play nice!).

The Future is Here

It's been a year to the day since we created this blog in anticipation of when it was our time to have children. We're overjoyed to finally have a reason to update it. We have only been trying to get pregnant since February of this year. Who knew it would only take a month?

We've also created our own Flickr album, which you can view by clicking here or by using the link to the right.

Come back to see more blog entries and pictures throughout the entire pregnancy and beyond.

We're Pregnant!

The pregnancy test came up positive.

I was working at the Chicago White Sox season home opener today. When I got home Erica coaxed me upstairs where I found the pregnancy test on our bed, along with an "I Love Daddy" bib and the book My Boys Can Swim by Ian Davis. Needless to say I was surprised, scared to death and then happier than I've ever felt in my life (all within a span of about 10 seconds).