19 Week Appointment

Today marked the first day we braved taking the kids to the doctor with me. I know some people do this all the time and it's no big deal but I prefer not having to be concerned about them the whole time I'm there and being able to concentrate on what the doctor and I are talking about. Fortunately Petey was able to come along as well so there was an extra set of hands. I packed a bunch of their favorite books, Elliot's mini magna-doodle, Hadley's kitty and some snacks. The novelty of the office and the snacks kept them occupied pretty much the whole time.

I've finally gained a few pounds. Typically I would NOT be excited about that but it seems that all the extra hunger has been adding up to a whopping 4ish extra pounds since finding out I was pregnant. Since I'm a fluffier gal to begin with I won't need to gain as much weight as a skinny minnie but I do still need to gain SOME & I was beginning to wonder if it was ever going to happen. My blood pressure was 132/80 which is a bit high for me but that's pretty much exactly where it's been since my first appointment so I guess it's my new normal for this pregnancy.

Elliot and Hadley got to see their baby sister's for the first time on the little portable ultrasound machine they use to check the babies heartbeats. Both babies were head down (YAY babies ;) which gives me a glimmer of hope that they might have the correct idea about how to exit. Elliot was head down at our 20 week ultrasound & never deviated from that. Hadley was never head down and spent the entire pregnancy in every other position imaginable. I would love, love, love to have a vaginal delivery with these two new little bundles. A c-section scares the ba-jeezus out of me & the thought of not being mostly out of commission with 4 little ones is even scarier. Actually just the thought of 4 little ones is a little scary! ;) Anyway, they were both moving and grooving and had great heartbeats. Elliot was a little disappointed the 'movie' wasn't any more exciting than that - haha.

So, next week (Tuesday) we go in for our 20 week anatomy/anomaly ultrasound. I'm so excited to get a good long look at both of them and get some new pictures. A week after that I meet another one of the doctors and two weeks after that is another ultrasound & another doctor visit. I think we are all going to know each other well by the end of this pregnancy!

Um, yes, I feel ginormous already. I was HUGE when Hadley was born at 38 weeks, 5 days. I can only imagine (it hurts me to do so) how large I will be by the time these little ones make their appearance!

Meow

Seriously, how adorable is this? Hadley has been hauling this kitty around the house for the past week or so. She gets upset when her brother takes things from her but this is one thing that she will absolutely not tolerate him having. The epic tantrums when he lays a hand on it are evidence of that. I always know where she is when she's carrying kitty because I can hear her 'meowing' over and over. She's also on my side in trying to convince Daddy we need to get a real kitty for our house. So far I've had no luck......

I do it!

"I do it! I do it! I do it myself!" Yep, folks we definitely have a 2 year old resident in our house and he likes to let us know how independent he is - or how independent he thinks he is ;) I do like to help him foster this independence while still reminding him who is in charge (MOM!). This morning he wanted to get dressed so I sent him to his room to pick out a shirt to wear and told him to bring me a diaper as well. He returned a couple minutes later with an entire sleeve of diapers, a pair of jeans and a shirt. He picked out a whole outfit and it all matched! I was so proud. The best part: he didn't even make a mess out of his drawer. What a big boy!

So....the jeans are a little short but in his defense they were the only jeans in his drawer at the time. The rest of them are in a laundry basket waiting to be put away!

19 weeks

Today marks 19 weeks. The littlest of our little people weren't being very active today but they've moved and grooved a little bit for me tonight. Hadley was such a wild child when I was pregnant with her - well to be honest she still is kind of wild ;) I felt her consistently from about 16 weeks on all.the.time. By this point Petey was able to feel her and it wasn't long after this that you could see her from the outside as well. I guess I expected this time to be similar especially since there are two of them in there. My thought is that they are more like their brother and are mellowing out in there for now. I felt him for the first time around 18 weeks but not consistently until after 20 weeks.

Anyway, I should be at the half-way point if not further. To my knowledge the longest they will most likely let me go is 38 weeks. My personal goal is 36 weeks. I have a gut feeling they'll be coming early. I just hope it's not too early!! I've been getting increasingly uncomfortable. Stretching pains, not being able to move, varicose veins in bad places, not sleeping well, etc. I also feel HUGE but I hope that's just a good sign that babies are growing like weeds in there!

In other news we're in the middle of a huge snowstorm - Blizzard 2011. The last I heard we were forecasted to get 15.5 inches of snow on top of the few we got last night. It's also blowing like crazy with at least 30 m.p.h. sustained winds. Needless to say Petey is staying home tomorrow. The county plows were pulled off the roads at 5 pm tonight and won't go back out until tomorrow morning sometime. We are to expect very large snowdrifts several feet tall and travel is not advised anywhere. Thank God these babies are due in June and not in the middle of the winter!