Weeks 14 and 15

 14 WEEKS

At 14 weeks, the twins have hit about 3.5 inches and 1.5 ounces. Their kidneys are working now, so they can pee, and they are also learning to squint, frown, and possibly even suck their thumbs! 

Isn't it incredible what God made our bodies to create?! And of course, here's a little outtake from my "helpers". Shane gets what we're doing and enjoys it, and Azaria is always like...huh? Chew on a lemon? Ok mom, sure thing.

This was a pretty uneventful week. I was still in D.C., and extremely exhausted. In a way it was nice that I was in DC, because I was much less busy. In fact, I often took the route of easy parenting and let the kids watch TV in the morning, then we went for walks and to the park in the afternoon. For some reason, the guest bed at my brother's house (which was my twin bed as a high schooler) is the most comfortable place I sleep. I took an amazing nap while I was there! Over the weekend my SIL had some houseguests from Germany. They spent most of the time out sightseeing, but we enjoyed talking to them in the mornings and evenings. One the last night there their family had a BBQ out by a volleyball court, and the kids played in the sand there for a couple hours. They are the family of one of my brothers friends, and several more of his friends were at the BBQ. It was a fun evening, and not awkward since these friends come over nearly every time I visit. One of them has been in love with Azaria since she was an infant. It's pretty cute. One of the guys got a new girlfriend, who seemed like a nice girl but she did ask me if I knew how babies were made, and said she'd go live in a psych ward if she had to deal with two older kids plus twins. So, maybe not as nice as she first seemed. I laughed it off instead of being a smart aleck, as I'm sure I'll get quite a lot of not so kind remarks throughout this pregnancy. My friend Tara told me early on that the way people react isn't a reaction to me but rather how they would feel if they were in my position. So I don't usually take people's comments personally. She also painted me a lovely word picture of the fun I'll have with the twins, which was such an encouragement then and I'm sure will be during sleepless nights to come!

15 WEEKS

At this point the babies are about the size of an apple, 4 inches long from crown to rump, and about 2.5 ounces. Unfortunately we don't have an apple picture for you, because my apples were teeny tiny! I buy them small so the littles don't waste them when they get full, but there was no point in taking a picture of something smaller than lemons!

This was an incredibly busy week for me. I went back home for a week to go to a bunch of appointments before we traveled to Ohio. We drove home on Wednesday, and on Wednesday evening I had scheduled a tour of the Labor and Delivery ward where the twins will be born. When I scheduled the tour online the webpage said children were welcome, which was great and Shane got excited to see where babies are born. Unfortunately Nathan ended up having to fly that night, which I didn't know when I scheduled the tour, so I was going to have to take both kids and go alone. So, that morning I traveled home (and had several rude interactions with strangers, which I won't go into but it didn't have me in the best mood). I had to go to the commissary before I went to the house, then Nathan called and asked me to bring him a late lunch before he flew. Finally we got home and tried to get ready to go, but we were running late and I was pretty worn out at that point already. I got to the tour about two minutes late, but it was fine because they hadn't started yet. What wasn't fine, however, was that I wasn't supposed to have my kids there! Apparently you are only supposed to take your kids the last week of the month! They were both packed into the stroller with snacks and toys to entertain them, so after some discussion the nurse kindly said that we could try taking them, and I said I'd just leave if they became disruptive. I had a lump in my throat already--I was embarassed, and being tired never does anything good for me. So the tour finally started, and we all went to the elevators. I didn't fit with everyone, since I had the big stroller, and I said I'd take the next elevator. Once they got in and the doors shut, I pressed the button. Wouldn't you know, it opened the door back up? The nurse poked her head out and told me I needed to wait until they left before I pushed the button. I swallowed another lump of embarrassment tears, smiled at her, and nodded my head. It was an honest mistake; there are three or four elevators and I just thought it would call another one. I instantly decided that if every little thing was going to make me want to cry then I needed to just go home. I asked a nurse going up to let the L&D nurse know I would just reschedule, and practically ran out of there. Once I got to the parking lot the tears hit. I put the kids in the car with Shane of course asking me why can't he see where the babies are born, why, why, why? Then I sat there and cried for about five minutes. Pathetic, I know--extremely so, but I'm cutting myself a little slack here with double the hormones and a large side of exhaustion. I passed out that night at nine o'clock.

Thursday as part of my housecleaning and preparing to go to Ohio I decided it was time to switch my closet from normal clothes to maternity clothes.

Nathan, of course, made some smart remark about how now I'm getting all my nice clothes out. He hates my wardrobe! If I'm being honest, I do too. But there's always other places our money needs to go, and since I was losing weight I didn't want to buy things that I would shrink out of anyway. Now I just get to do that all over again! 

Then on Friday I had an appointment at the endocrinologist to see what's going on with my thyroid. My levels are still off, but only slightly, so they are going to check my blood work again in two months and monitor me. The Dr. said she believes it's pregnancy related and should be normal again soon. Whew! Friday was also our sixth anniversary, which we celebrated by doing absolutely nothing.

Monday was my normal OB appointment. The twins look great, I look great, the kids acted great while we were there and Shane was excited to see babies. It was the cutest thing, we got to see one of the twins sucking its thumb!

We also saw that the twins are spooning each other, and got a picture of their heads all cuddled up close. One baby is lying down, and the other baby's head is on the left.

Monday evening we had a very special appointment, the kind of appointment where you get to see your babies and find out their genders! Happy anniversary to us!

Unfortunately for you all, you have to wait to find out until I get it confirmed at my next ultrasound. The tech said she was sure, but it was very early to find out so I want to double check!

Finally, Tuesday was our absolutely fruitless WIC appointment.  In the morning I rushed around, finishing laundry and packing, and finding all of our paperwork to take to the WIC appointment. I loaded the car and we headed out early. It was a good thing I was early, because I went to the wrong goverment building and had to go to a different one. Of course, by the time I got there I was five minutes late, but they didn't mind so I filled out some paperwork and we waited. The waiting room there has some fun toys and books and Shane was being such a social butterfly enjoying the other children. It was so sweet! Finally it was my turn and I took all my papers to the lady...who told me that my proof of income was not acceptable because Nathan is military and I'd have to reschedule (again!) and come back with a different paper. Now mind you, when I called to set up this appointment I asked specifically if this was what I needed, and I was told yes. Cue frustration and embarrassment, load the kids in the car, shed a couple tears, and make the long drive back to DC. Ugh.

So if you were keeping track, that's twice in one week I cried for no good reason, and I'm not a person who cries often. Apparently it's a nice cocktail of exhaustion and hormones. I wasn't like that in my other pregnancies, but I guess that second baby is sending me over the edge!