Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Naming these babies

Jeremy and I don't have the same taste in a lot of things...he loves foreign foods, cut-off t-shirts, beaters for cars, carnations in boquets, etc. Now don't get me wrong, he manages to do pretty darn well when picking out presents for me, but in theory we differ dramatically when making some decisions. So, needless to say, I was prepared for a long process of picking out names for our little bundles of joy. It has now been over a month since we found out it was little girls and one name has stayed pretty constant--Addison Grace Ash and we'll call her Addy. Baby B has been Baby B for most of the month, she has also been Molly, Maggie, Lucy, Jillian, Kennedy and others, but over the weekend we decided we'd call her Lillian Sydney Ash and call her Lilly for short. So, as my friend Jenny said, "Let the monogramming begin!" I've already ordered wooden letters that spell the names out in the nursery and they are non-returnable, so we've committed.

Addy & Lilly-we can't wait to meet you!

Friday, May 25, 2007

Motherhood brings on ingenuity


They say this is true and if you begin to look at the gadgets and such that are out there for moms, most of them were probably thought of in the middle of a crisis or by a mother raising multiples! Here is a "spacesaver" I keep hearing about...
These poor kids have years of therapy ahead of them as they have recurring nightmares about being in jail.

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

22 Weeks


Another week and another doctor's visit. This morning we got quite a show from the babies. Baby A is ornery, like her dad. She is quite a show-off and is taking up about 90% of the space the babies have. Baby B, shown in this picture is so crowded and looks quite uncomfortable. Her head is facing down and you can see her eyes, nose and mouth in the pic. Her belly is the round thing next to her head, so she is all twisted because A is bullying a bit. We could see them fighting in the ultrasound, at one point B had her hands up pushing the other one away while A was smiling and laughing--it was pretty incredible. The good news is they are the same size, 1 pound, 3 ounces and are growing well with strong heartbeats and obviously their own little personalities already. I have put on 27 pounds and measure the same size as a, middle of their third trimester mom carrying one, should measure. But apparently out of all that weight, only 2 1/2 pounds of it is baby--not sure how that works, but apparently it does.
Most people who know me, know that I'm a joiner, from Girl Scouts to Delta Gamma, I've always been known as a pretty involved person. So, when I heard that there was a group that provided support for mothers of twins & other multiples, I thought I would check it out. Monday, I attended the Indianapolis Northside Mothers of Twins + Multiples club. The group hosts huge second-hand sales each Spring and Fall and for that benefit alone, I thought it would be worth it. I arrived and quickly realized that my car was the only other car in the lot, surrounded by minivans and enormous SUVs. There were over 100 moms there and after a joint meeting, they did breakout groups for expecting & new moms, 1 year old moms, 2 year old moms, etc. It was interesting in that they talked about everything from getting the babies to sleep through the night to negotiating the best maternity leave. I know most of you reading this are probably laughing at the thought of me sitting in a circle with all these moms and for me it was pretty surreal. I could have really used a cosmopolitan! However, out of the 8 or so expecting moms in the group, the majority of them had gone through IVF or atleast some rounds of fertility treatments, some as many as 5 before conceiving. So, I drove home, humbled, realizing that so much of this adventure is uncertain, but we have to believe that it was all part of the bigger plan for our lives and embrace it. Reality has set in and anxiety aside, we are so thankful.

Thursday, May 17, 2007

Things to do....

It has now been 4 months since we found out we were expecting and nearly that long since we found out it was twins. As soon as we found out we were going to be "parents of multiples":, our doc suggested this book: "When you are Expecting Twins, Triplets or Quads, Proven Guidelines to a Healthy Multiple Pregnancy". So, I bought it and a friend sent me a copy, so my mother and monther-in-law have also read it. Well, after the first week of reading it, I was still throwing up a few times a day and felt like a failure because I couldn't do anything they recommended, so Jeremy advised I stop reading, so I did. However, the other day I watched the Oprah's Mother's Day Special with Maria Shriver. She said in the interview that her mom once told her that motherhood was the most important thing you do and if you manage to screw that up, nothing else matters. So, in the spirit of mother's day (however still not feeling like a mom, just a blimp at this point), I decided to revisit my guidelines for a healthy multiple pregnancy. Please don't take my sarcasm as a sign that I'm not trying to take this very seriously-as I know all the risk factors of pre-term labor and such and I want these babies to have the best start at life as I can give them....Anyway, reading through the "Things to do" chapter, here is what it suggests:

  • If you were a drinker or a smoker stop (done)
  • Attend all pre-natal appointments (these are now every 2 weeks-done)
  • Drink 8, 16 ounces of water daily
  • Drink 8 large glasses of whole milk daily
  • Sleep an average of 8 hours a night, with naps in the morning, afternoon and evening
  • Eat an average of 6 meals a day, all meals should contain a fruit, a vegetable, protein and calcium
  • Do a minimum of 30 minutes light walking or pre-natal yoga daily
  • Set-aside about $150 a week to prepare for the financial burden of the first year. (aka, don't quit your job, you'll need the money later)

So seriously, is this possible?

I've come to the conclusion that it is not possible, that these women were full-time incubators and had stomachs the size of New England and bladders built like the Great Wall of China.

I'm going to stop reading.

Tuesday, May 8, 2007

20 Weeks



Well, here we are at 20 weeks and back from our first overseas adventure! We just returned from 6 days visiting relatives & seeing the sights in Nantwich, Crewe, Chester & London, England. We can officially say Jeremy has met all of the relatives and got the stamp of approval (my uncle may be holding out, but he's hard to read). The twins were spoiled rotton already, my parents brought home a small suitcase of onesies, bibs, blankets and knitted sweaters. We didn't fly back with them, so we thought it might alarm Homeland security and they would think they were smuggling a small child into the country, but they made it nonetheless. And at this rate, they are on pace to be the best dressed babies around!

It was a good visit, however the 18 hours it took us door-to-door today was pretty exhausting. I'm lucky to have inherited my father's ability to sleep anywhere at anytime. This meant, the plane, the train, the airport, even a museum in London after walking for a bit. Atleast I have an excuse and people begin to feel sorry for the exhausted pregnant chick.

I continued to abstain from drinking in a country that takes drinking VERY seriously--let's just say my 80 year-old grandmother likes her whisky diluted with just a splash of lemonade--enough said? Jonathan and Jeremy were in rare form, attempting to taste all the beer they make in the country. This will probably be used as blackmail in about 22 weeks when I call up my non-pregnant girlfriends for a night of drinking while Jeremy babysits!!

That is it for now, I'm off to sleep some more. I have my next Doctor's appointment on Friday. I've been upgraded and will be getting an ultrasound every 2 weeks to check my cervix. Apparently this is an attempt at catching any pre-term labor before it happens. I just think it will be a fun check-in to see how the girls are growing!