It's a...... and a .......

Wednesday morning we had our 4 month ultrasound and of course the "big" one because it was most likely the ultrasound that we will see penis or no penis. Mom met me there and she was SO nervous. She kept saying she felt like she was going to have a heart attack! (not really though. at least i dont think anyway)

She held my hand the whole way up to the office. This bond is just amazing! I would have never ever thought that when i started my surrogacy journey that I would meet someone like this or be this close to my IM. She knows just the right boundaries but yet is always there to check on me in whatever way she feels like she should.

The other day she sent me a text, more like a reality check that was in midst of. She was at the grocery store and mosied on over to the baby aisle. Her text consisted of this..

"OMG...i just saw how much a can of formula cost! And i need double of everything. Clothes, food, toys...I think i'm going to pass out for a minute!"

She has quite the sense of humor. Of course she is just kidding. She like all other IM's are usually ecstatic to be at this point and she definately is. But I think for any mom, the reality hitting you of having 2 babies at once, can sometimes overtake it all.
On that note, we haven't talked in much detail about breastfeeding. She did ask me to breast feed them while we were in the hospital and i love that she did. I also will pump for her while I am on maternity leave but once I go back to work, i know my life goes back to pure craziness and without trying to sound selfish, i just dont know if i will be able to continue. We will definately need to talk more about that as time moves on.

Ok, Ok back to the important things of the week. Sexes!! Did we or did we not see??

             We DID!!

My two tator tots were right all along. Back in the beginning when they first found out i was pregnant with twins, they names the babies on their own. Baby A was named Alvin by our son Ayden...making him a boy and Baby B was named Emily by our daughter Riley, making her a girl. And they were right! Except that isn't going to be their names.

We found out baby A was a boy first. Mom was so happy and very anxious to tell dad. Then we found out B was a girl and she had the best reaction I have ever seen. I really wish i was video taping her. She was so happy and she cried for hours. What an amazing thing to be a part of! And how awesome, totally awesome that they are getting one of each!!?? They deserve this, they really do.

Mom and dad are both African. They moved her from Cameroon, Africa a few years ago. They are going to name them from their heritage. Their culture believes that twins have specific names.
I won't go into a whole culture lesson here but basically when you have one of these names, anyone you meet within the African culture, knows immediately that you are a twin. Pretty cool, right??

So baby boys name will be Sam-gwa (trying to type it so u can pronounce it)
and baby girl is Nigella.

Here are some 4 month pics of the bump, a pic of mom after we left the dr office and pics of the babies of course!!

Maternal Fetal Medicine

My next doctor appt was with Maternal Fetal Medicine. This is basically the "high risk" doctors office.
We went in Wednesday May 30th. Mom met me there. I wasn't sure what to expect from this appt because I never had to see a high risk doctor before. As soon as i got there and got checked in they took me in for an ultrasound. We were happily surprised because we didnt really expect to see the two little ones that day. They finally look like little babies and they were bouncing all over the place. I mean, seriously - they were going to make me sick if i stared at them because of how bubbly they were. But heartbeats were perfect, measurements were on target , and we got a clean bill of health.
Dr. Bayliss is who we saw. He was the first person thus far to sit us down and tell us all of the in's and out's of a twin pregnancy. Some things he mentioned...
        
                                    - I will gain between 40-50 pounds ( are u joking me???)

                                    - Bed rest is a high risk, especially after 20 weeks

                                    - No overtime at work (BONUS!!!)

                                    - When i come home at night i need to just sit on the couch, prop my
                                       feet up and let someone else handle the house work (this just                                         isnt possible but I do use it to my advantage sometimes...shhhh)

I do take it alot easier than I normally do. But i am just not a person to do that. I always have to be doing something. Even though I plan to have this 37 week, healthy, great pregnancy - reality is, bed rest happens often in twin pregnancy and i want to get some of my projects finished up just in case. But again, i am taking it easy and not putting strain on myself. Do a little and break, do a little and break ;)

We have a monthly appt here which we have already scheduled up to the very end. Our next appt is June 27 and guess what - we find out sexes!

Here are some pictures of everyone...

 Baby A (aka Alvin)

 Baby B (aka Emily)

Riley and Ayden have given the kids those temporary names

Me and mom after our appt...I asked her to give me a big real smile because her smiles are always small..and this is what she gave me  LOL

The of course some pics of me and 13 weeks...

             

Let's play a game...

Called Catch Up!!!   I have a feeling this game will become pretty popular over the next few months.
Overtime at my job has picked up, so by the time I get home, get situated and you know - do that mom thing...I. AM. BEAT!!

Soooo...what's new with these babies!!!???

Since I last posted we had two appointments. My first appt was with my regular OB, Lancaster Physicians for Women. I got to meet my first of 3 doctors. Dr. Jones.

Here is how that morning began. I woke up around 6 - PUKING! Really?? No way am i NOW starting morning sickness. I ate breakfast, puked it up. I just felt so so bad. Earlier that week Riley was home from school sick for 2 days but i did not relate the two at the time. Tim had decided to come to the appt with me, mom was also meeting us there. He was then going to take me to work and pick me up after work so we could go out on a date and celebrate our 8th wedding anniversary. I was pretty excited at him coming along because I normally don't ask or assume he will, given the circumstance. But he is completely supportive of me, so I shouldn't expect any less <3

On the way to our appt, we stopped at Bob Evans for breakfast. I just ate some fruit ontop of a crepe and it seemed to settle ok. Got to our appt and had an exam, all was good under the hood.

So we talked...the doctor got to know mom and then she gave me a prescription for Zofran, assuming this sickness was morning sickness as well. She said that really with twins, it could just be starting late.
We also then discussed the VBAC option over the csection. She made it pretty clear that we really should just schedule the csection. There were more cons than pros..and of course we want to do whats best. So it sounds like at 37 weeks which will be the end of November, we will be welcoming these little boys, girls, boy and girl..hmmmmm who knows!!!

After leaving the appt, Tim was supposed to take me to work. But i just felt way too bad for that. We took a run to the mall so that I could pick up a few pairs of maternity jeans, stopped at Rite Aid so I could get my zofran, and then home to sleep. Woke up and unfortunately the zofran did not work.
At this point I just knew this was not morning sickness. I had a bug. Sure enough, the next day I felt a bit better but i wasn't completely better until that next sunday afternoon. All i know is, thank you thank you for not being morning sickness because if I had to live like this everyday for the next few weeks or whatever - i would NOT be happy. Bless those mama's that do have to go thru this, i have no clue how you do it!

This is my catch up for tonight. I have another appt and some pics - i will do this tomorrow. My eyes are way too heavy for this now.  Good night