24 Weeks and Star Spangled Babies Shower

24 Weeks is always an exciting time--24 weeks is considered Viability! Viability, meaning that's about the earliest a doctor would try to save a baby if you were to give birth, or that the baby would be able to survive. 28 weeks is actually better in terms of baby's prognosis but 24 weeks is a good milestone to reach.

24 Weeks--Cantaloupes!

The babies may weight about 1 and 1/3 lb, and be about a foot long. Their movement is amazing! That has always been my favourite part of pregnancy, but it's even more mind blowing now when I feel one kick, and then the other kick back, and the squirming and the somersaulting! I love to try to picture them "playing" with each other. At the last scan one of the twins was head down and one was breech. The U/S Tech also changed her mind about which twin was A and which was B. At our 20 week scan, Dani was A, and on my right; Dean was B, and on my left. At our 14 week scan Dean was A, on my right, and Dani was B, on my left. At the quick heartbeat check at my 23 week visit, they were back to the 14 week position. Who knows what they will be next time! I guess I'll find out tomorrow--I have another growth scan! (I have a growth ultrasound every four weeks, and a checkup every two.)

The above picture kind of gives you a better idea than a cantaloupe as to their size. I really don't feel as though there are two babies that size in there. I actually feel like I don't really look pregnant at all to people who don't know it's not just fat, but I guess I do since I've been getting a lot of "when are you due?!" questions. And then I walk past a mirror and I'm like, nope, that doesn't look like pudge!

It seems like everywhere I go people ask me how I feel and I'm not always sure what to say. I feel fine, but I think people expect me not to! Honestly, I seem to kind of go in waves. Last week I think we maybe had a growth spurt, and my belly hurt and I was tired. This week I have a little more energy, and about a two page to do list. Overall? I really couldn't complain at all. I'm having twins. I'm going to be uncomfortable, and as the weeks pass I'm going to get even more uncomfortable! I think I'll save the complaining for when I really need sympathy, and continue to say I feel great for now. 

Whoa. There's a difference!

At 23 weeks the babies were supposedly the size of grapefruit. Grapefruit to Cantaloupe seems like a big size jump, but I supposed they are going to be putting on a lot of weight now. The big happening of week 23 was I completely forgot to go to the endocrinologist. Oops! Rescheduled, but it's a month away.

23 Weeks--Grapefruit

I don't have a size comparison picture for 22 weeks, because the fruit was supposed to be papaya and the only time I ever bought one of those in the US I nearly barfed trying to eat it. It was not the papaya of my childhood! Suffice to say, I wasn't about to waste money buying two of them.

STAR SPANGLED BABIES 

I was very blessed in early June to be a part of a baby shower, Star Spangled Babies, hosted by Operation Homefront. Sign ups were online and filled up within about two hours, so I must've gotten in in the nick of time! There there were around 125 ladies there, either due soon or with teeny tiny newborns. Once we signed in we filed through a front room of pregnancy and mother related services booths--babywearing, nursing, doula, formula, WIC, and a couple of others that I can't remember. They also had an area set up where a local photographer took a maternity portrait of each of us (which reminds me, I never got my link to get mine! Hmmm.) She wasn't allowed to give out her name or info, but I figured out later in the afternoon that she was a photographer Nathan had told me about months and months ago--who happens to be the wife of his chief! We had quite a nice conversation near the candy bar. 

Photography was done by Sassy Snapz

Eventually we went through a buffet for a delicious lunch, played some fun games, filed through the candy bar (I shouldn't have spent so much time talking to the photographer--all that was left by the time I got there were two Dove chocolates! Which were delicious, by the way), and got started on the raffle!

Candy Bar

The big ticket items (things like swings or pack n plays) were given away by raffle. I would guess maybe 25 women won. Then we had a speaker, and were released to another room to receive our shower gifts--a 31 diaper bag filled with baby gifts, and a second gift bag full of "essentials". Twin mommies got double, since they had a few extra things. The biggest surprise was that we were each taking home a brand new Evenflo car seat!! I nearly cried, what a great gift! It was fun to get together with other ladies and shower our babies.

Super cute decorations!

 Oh, and I nearly forgot, I made it into the news spot! My two seconds of fame. Literally, I'm at 22 and 23 seconds--polka dot shirt and curly hair. Check it out here if you want to see.

Here are a pictures of some of the goodies I brought home. Thanks so much, Operation Homefront!

Two diaper bags and two gift bags

Two new car seats for when the babies are a little older

Closeup of the boy set--they didn't have girl left so I got boy and gender neutral.

Some of the loot from the bags

Two handmade baby quilts.

And there you have it folks, you're caught up!

Twin Gender Reveal: Then and Now

Part 1, April 21st, 2014

What will they be?

I'm not publishing this post until I get confirmation at my next ultrasound, since we found out so early, but on April 21st we went to an elective ultrasound for an anniversary present. I'd wanted to get one while I was in Ohio for my Dad's graduation, since my mom hasn't ever gotten to see an ultrasound or one of my ultrasounds, but that plan changed when Nathan was unable to get leave to come along. I didn't think it was fair to potentially find out the twins' genders if he couldn't be there, so we did the next best thing. We went to the ultrasound and got a video to take her to see!

I was shocked, since I was only 14 weeks, but the sonographer was absolutely certain of what she was seeing. She told us the genders! The twins were so sweet and active--one was cuddled up to it's placenta and one was punching and kicking the other.

Before we went, Shane helped me sort out pink and blue candies to put in two little eggs for a gender reveal. We had to use plastic eggs since, after all, it was right after Easter!

Shane loves to sort things...especially when you get a piece as a reward after!

So when I got home that night I filled my little Easter eggs and packed them up to take to Ohio...where the kids gave them to my parents!

And the babies are...

...One of each! Wahoo!

I know these pictures are hard to understand. This twin was the one cuddling the placenta, which is that large blob. Head on the left.

The twins have been spooning each other in every ultrasound so far. Hope that continues all the way to a double vertex delivery!

Part 2, June 2nd, 2014

Now that I've had my "official" anatomy scan I'm glad to be able to finally publish this post. Both twins look healthy and whole. The difference is that twin A is actually our girl, Dani, and twin B is actually our boy, Dean. Dani (A) is estimated to weigh 12 ounces, and Dean (B) is estimated to weigh 14 ounces. Both placentas are posterior (toward my back) and both were extremely active during the ultrasound. At one point when the tech was trying to measure Dean's humerus he was kicking to fast that his legs were little blurs! For the first time the babies aren't spooning each other: Dani is head down, Dean is feet down, and both were kicking each other in the head the whole time. In the picture below Dani has her hand up by her cheek.

Dani, Twin A

The tech was really nice about explaining what she was looking at and measuring and thanks to my Anatomy and Physiology class I was following along really well. She didn't have a very good sense of humor though. As I laid down on the table I told her I hoped she didn't find a third hiding in there, and snickered. She very seriously told me that it was highly unlikely, and if I was having triplets I would have found out at the same ultrasound in which I found out I was carrying twins. Ooooookay. I didn't make any more jokes! I was grateful to her for her explanations though.

Dean, Twin B

 I wanted the big littles to be involved in helping introduce "their" babies, but they were more interested in playing with the balloons. I just LOVE how excited Shane is. He tells every random person he meets that hes having two babies; one for sister and one for him, and he'll share with me sometimes. He plans on sharing his bed with "his" baby. Azaria doesn't get it quite as much, but she loves to pat my tummy and say "babies", and then try to look under my shirt to find them.

I have about 15 funny outtakes, but I'll spare you and just share one. They were bouncing their balloons together so much that the above is the only one where they were still!