First ever belly photo

I never thought that I would be taking a photo pointing to a large belly...seems a little backward yet exciting. Alas, here is the infamous belly photo #1. I think it's growing everyday--rapidly. I am nearly 20 weeks.

I found out today that I have ultrasounds every month at my visits because measuring me doesn't tell them how each individual baby is doing. So, we already have a magnet board in our house that is filling up with baby ultrasound photos. It's pretty fun!

The Results are in...

I went to the hospital today for an intense ultrasound with a perinatologist to take a detailed look at the twins. We finally know what we're having! The babies are laying one on top of the other and the one on top is a BOY. He is the bigger of the two--so we think he was originally "baby A". The one on the bottom right of my abdomen was the one in question. At 14 weeks, my OB thought it was a boy, then at 18 weeks, he wasn't sure. Now at 19 weeks--it's a GIRL! We are so excited.

They were moving and I even caught a glimpse of the boy sucking his thumb for a second. It was so cool. The tech spent a while measuring and looking at the spine, feet, legs, arms, face, heart, kidneys, and stomach of both babies.

Everything looked healthy. The only exception was the left foot of our cute little boy appears to be turned in. The perinatologist came in to check it and said she thinks it just might have happened as the foot was forming. She said it's more common in twins and his foot just could have been squished in there. If that is the case, she said ligaments on one side of his foot are shorter and the other side longer. It can be corrected easily after he's born with a brace, cast, or it may just fix itself as he starts to move and walk. So, we're so grateful to have that be the only thing wrong. I don't know how they have any room in there as it is!

Everyday I wake up, my belly is sprouting out in front of me. I can't believe how fast it's happening. I need to stand in front of the camera for a snapshot, just haven't done it yet.

Baby B: The BOY

The proof...

Baby A: The GIRL

The proof...

I love this one of the foot--so amazing. That foot is pretty tiny, yet so easy to identify.

When strangers notice...

I hit a pretty major landmark with my belly yesterday. I returned last night from a brief business trip to Irvine, California (left Friday morning) and had 2 strangers yesterday make comments about me being pregnant. The first lady apologized that I had to keep standing up and sitting down to grab the necessary paperwork. I was puzzled at first and she motioned to her belly and I realized that she could tell! Oddly enough, I had no idea what to say! I blubbered something about having two babies in there (as if she knew I was only 19 weeks) and changed the subject.

The second, the rental car return lady. I told her that I had a lot of food wrappers in the passenger door and she said, "well, you are eating for two." Again, I had to say, "well, it's actually three!" It makes me feel better to say there is more than one baby in there as my belly expands rapidly.

I went to church today and sat in on another ward's Beehive class lesson. We were visiting as a Stake YW Presidency. The teacher (in the middle of the lesson) turns to me and asks if I'm pregnant. I've gotten better in the last 24 hours so I am not as awkward. The ladies in my presidency with me all said that my belly was a lot bigger since I saw them Thursday night. In short, I am told that I am "blooming". I will post photos soon. I am feeling both babies moving a lot. In fact, on my plane ride Friday morning, they were dancing all over the place. The cool part is that I can tell which one is moving. This is helping pregnancy feel a lot more real and exciting.

Friday Night Hike

It was a beautiful day Friday. I was off work at 3:30 pm and told Doug we needed to get outside. We went up the canyon for an evening hike. Man, I didn't realize the impact my pregnant belly would have on my physical abilities at this point. I could barely climb uphill without taking short breaks to catch my breath...so sad. We still kept a good pace though--we made it up to the waterfalls in roughly the same amount of time that it normally does.

We thoroughly enjoyed the changing leaves and picked some along the way. The photos (taken with my Blackberry) do not do it justice...at all.

At the falls...

On the way (on one of my breaks to catch my breath)...

18 Weeks

I had my 18 week ultrasound Friday morning. We were so excited to know if we were really having 2 boys or not. Well, the one on my left side is definitely a boy--we have evidence. The one on my right though was a different story. This is the portion of the ultrasound where my doctor was jabbing at my belly (when Doug laughs) to get baby #2 to move to get a better angle. He/She was a little stubborn. What you see on this video is baby #2 (almost in the center of the screen) and you see the bottom and legs extending out. It looks like an upside-down U. So the verdict? My 14 week ultrasound: 2 boys. My 18 week ultrasound: 1 boy and possibly 1 girl. We still aren't sure. I am still convinced that it's a girl and we'll have a boy and girl. We'll see if I am right.

I scheduled an appt with a specialist to rule out any issues with the babies. My doctor told me this would happen from the beginning. I go in on the 28th and so maybe THEN we'll know what we're having. We have yet to make any purchases, so we're excited to find out! This has been a rough waiting game.

We've contemplated a fish theme for the baby room...any ideas anyone?

A Battle in my Belly

I had my 14 week appointment yesterday and didn't have to ask for an ultrasound. I knew it was almost too early to tell, but I asked for him to look to see the genders of the babies. He didn't fight me on it (though I thought he would) and they both look like boys! He said that girls can be swollen at this point, so he's not 100% sure. I'll have another ultrasound at 18 weeks and he said we should know by then.

It was amazing to watch them move. The last few ultrasounds I have had were just the heart beat in the middle of a circular shape. This time, we saw the spine, and they were moving. In fact, I saw the lower one (baby A, sort of on top of baby B) hit baby B above him and baby B quickly responded with a jab. It was hilarious. They are already getting along!

Doug and I are both so excited. I was pretty surprised because I thought it would be a boy and girl, but we are thrilled. It feels a lot more real now. I don't have much a belly to post photos of, but will do it soon.

Better than Tarzan

Thanks to Aaron and Michelle, we discovered this amazing rope swing up in Island Park. We loaded 6 people into my pontiac and drive for about 30 minutes on a dirt road in the middle of no where until we came to this beautiful no-wake lake, Cliff Lake. After a short jaunt through the trees (treacherous, might I add), we came upon this amazing rope. The boys were in heaven for a hours and ended up getting pretty creative...

Chelsea and I were a little anxious watching out husbands do this when they got daring.

I decided I would just judge who had the best moves. To be honest, I felt glad to the "I'm pregnant" excuse because it looked really scary! The photos do not do it justice. I bet they dropped 20 feet into the water.

This is Dave's attempt and grabbing Doug's leg as he came down...swing and miss.

Doug had some good vertical drops--I started saying we should judge who had the smallest splash. I had no takers.

David's flip--he had us nervous.

Look at that form!

Not sure what this form is called--deep seat?

This one reminds me of Tarzan.

It was pretty dusty because the boys had to hike up a steep bank to get to the rope again. When the dust came down, I thought my sandwich bag would keep it out of my eyes. Christine thought it was a little odd.

Chelsea couldn't take it anymore and she had to go off that rope once. I didn't know this, but she is quite the dare devil. She was sitting next to me saying how bad she wanted to try it and I said, "really?" She just did a 'baby' jump so her baby in her belly stayed happy inside.

Christine had perfect form for her one-time shot at the water.

We had so much fun that everyone was late driving to Rexburg to watch the BYU game. Devin was a little disappointed to miss kick off, but we'd had a blast. Doug and I went back to the cabin for a few hours by ourselves while everyone watched BYU beat Oklahoma. Evidently, it was worth the drive.