Cousins

I am so excited that Taylor and Dominic are finally going to have Cousins!!! Taylor is in that stage where she is so interested in pregnancy, babies, and anything having to do with either of those. And Dominic, though he is six, is still really excited to hear about babies and all.

I stepped off the plane and Dominic and Taylor ran up to me and the first thing Taylor said was, "Hey Aunt Kimberly, you have two babies in your belly...TWO!" It was so cute and then she just kept touching my tummy. In fact, the entire weekend I was with her she would touch my belly and when Dominic would talk she would yell at him to be quiet so she didn't wake up the babies. Adorable!!! And, when I was leaving Christmas day to Dad's house, Taylor said she wanted to say bye to the babies, so she pulled up my shirt, folded down the cloth of the maternity pants and kissed my belly and just kept rubbing it. It was so cute.

Dominic is truly an angel too and like I said, though he is not to the extreme of Taylor, he kept talking about the babies. At one point he asked me why my belly was so big, and I said, "Oh, I'm just getting fat." Being the big hearted boy he is, he laughed and said, "Aunt Kimberly, You can never be fat." That has got to be the best compliment you can ever give a woman, especially when she no longer fits into her normal clothes.

I feel so blessed to have Dominic and Taylor in my life, and just know that they will be great cousins to Baby A and Baby B!!!

Christmas 2008

Well, I was really looking forward to this year. Kyle and I were going to Montana and going to celebrate our last Christmas before our beautiful twins are born...unfortunately, things didn't go according to plan.

Kyle's flight, which left two days after mine, was canceled. And, due to the holiday, he wasn't able to get out on another flight...until the 29th of December. By then all our holiday rituals and traditions would be over and he would just be hanging out with the family, so we decide he just wouldn't come out at all. Suddenly our last Christmas together before children turned into our first Christmas apart in six years.

I was really bummed out that he wasn't here, but it still turned out to be one of the best Christmases yet. We were so blessed with gifts galore, to the extreme that we are having to ship back two large boxes full of gifts. Mom gave us money to buy two cribs and knitted these adorable booties and a gorgeous blanket for the babies. I can hardly wait for them to be used and what a perfect gift that will be cherished forever!

We woke up Christmas morning (we open gifts Christmas Eve with my family) and Santa (AKA Auntie Mandie) had made two little stockings for Baby A and Baby B. My eyes filled with tears when I saw them and how it was set up. What a sweet thought and gesture for her to do that. The babies have pacifiers, blankets, bibs, onsies, and a lullaby CD that I am really excited to hear.

All-in-all, for Kyle not being there, this Christmas was still great and it made me even more excited to see our babies.

Heading to Montana

Well, tonight is the night that I have been anxiously awaiting for quite some time. I get to go home and see my family. Miss them terribly, especially with it being around the holiday season and being pregnant. It is hard for me that they won't get to be "active" with the pregnancy in preperation for the babies being born, and in watching them grow up, so getting to see them now is really important to me.

This is also the last trip Kyle and I are taking as just the two of us, before we are parents. I wish it would be a place and activities that he would be more excited about or that he would enjoy more, but grateful we get to get away together none the less.

We have talked about going on a "Babymoon" but I think we are both to nervous to do that. With twins it is scarier the thought of preterm labor or something going wrong. So I don't think we are going to do that. Maybe I can talk him into a weekend away to Branson or something.

Also, excited to see family because my belly is finally starting to show. In no rush for it to show since once it starts growing it is hard for it to stop, but helps pregnancy to seem more realistic.

Praying for babies to grow healthy and strong and that we can make it to full-term labor. Also, though very grateful that I feel a bit better lately I am still feeling pretty nauseous, so praying the nausea continues to go away and that my breathing gets better. Really struggling a lot to breath lately. Think it is anxiety, but also congested and keep getting bloody noses, which doesn't help.

Fourteen Week Dr Apt

We went to the doctor yesterday for another check-up and got to hear the heartbeats. There is a baby on each side of the belly. It was beautiful and we just sat there smiling while listening to them. Luckily the doctor left the Doppler on my belly for a little while so we had plenty of time to listen to them.

This is the first time in the appointments that we didn't get to see the babies on the portable ultra sound. Because we have been so blessed to see them so often, it was a little disappointing, but still very exciting to hear them.

All seems to be going well with the pregnancy this far. We will go back to the doctor in four weeks and have an ultra sound to determine that babies are healthy and their sexes. I still would prefer to wait until they are born to find out the sexes, but Kyle is so excited so waiting isn't an option. I will admit that Kyle being excited about the sexes makes me less hesitent.

Gained two pounds this week, so now I am up to 116. Yikes. That is the most i have ever weighed. Scary to think that I gained two pounds in one week while not feeling well. Can't imagine how much I will gain when I DO feel well.

Fourteen Weeks

Feeling so blessed today. We are at week fourteen and both babies are still alive and kicking around in there. Praise the Lord.

This week I felt the babies move a little. Haven't felt it for a day or two, but what an incredible feeling. I think I actually felt it sooner, but wasn't sure if it was babies. It is a weird feeling and kind of tickles. Feels just like a small movement in the belly like someone is taking something soft and moving it across the inside of my tummy. Have only felt it on the right side. Hoping this is just because both babies are hanging out on that side, and not because only one of them is moving. Excited to feel them move from the outside!


Still very nauseous and unsure if we will make it home for Christmas.

Setting Up

So while we are only three and a half months into the pregnancy, I am getting really excited to set things up for the nursery. I am not really into the decorating idea as much as I am into the idea of getting rid of clutter and things we don't use, and clearing out the guestroom for the nursery area to be ready.

We have decided to turn our office into a guestroom/office and our current guestroom is going to be the nursery. Hoping that everything will actually fit in the office. Currently we have a bunkbed/futon in there that Kyle has had since college. it is beatup and old and something that I have been looking forward to getting rid of as I think it just cheapens the room having it in there. Kyle is very hesitant though to get rid of it or to do anything that would mean moving forward with preparing the nursery at least for a few more months.

I finally talked Kyle into letting me post the futon/bunkbed set on Craigslist.com for sale (they currently have several others listed on there that are basically the same) but he wants to wait a few more weeks so he has time to tear it down and make it available for the buyers. But when looking on the site for what to price it at, saw a woman that is looking to buy one for her foster children. I emailed her and asked what she was wanting to offer for it, and then after talking to Kyle we agreed to sell the thing to her and even take a little less than she offered since she is using it for the foster children.

All that to say, I am really excited we are going to be getting rid of it, and we will get enough money from her to buy a couple mattresses for the cribs. Before long I will be buying the cribs and setting up the changing station. So excited to see our babies and hold them!

Debating the Shot

Well, yesterday was finally talked into getting the flu shot. Really didn't want to since the only other time I got it I was really sick following. But, want to do whatever is best for the babies.

Woke-up this morning feeling pretty good but ate something and have gone downhill from there. Seems like no matter what I eat or do today, the food is fighting to stay down. Tried Dramamine today for first time to see if that helped. It made me instantly tired and gave me bad dry mouth. Slept for an hour before waking up and eating crackers and cheese and then went back to sleep but woke-up from nap hardly able to move without wanting to puke.

Also having a lot of problems breathing. While part of this is due to congestion and clogging up both naustrils, I think part of it could be the lack of exercise. Really need to find a way to do some kind of exercise, no matter how small, to help lungs open back up but it seems so difficult seeing as how the nausea is preventing me from doing much of anything.

Prayers today are that I can get out and about enough to open lungs, and that the nausea would at least lighten up, even if it doesn't stop all together. Will be really sad if I don't get to go home next week for the holidays.

Thirteen Weeks

Went to doctor appointment today and met with the Nurse Practitioner. She was much friendlier than I remembered and had a student with her so brought in the portable ultrasound. It was nice to not have to go through the stress of waiting to find out if the heart beats were there on the Doplar.

Both babies were sleeping. Nurse kept pushing on belly and jiggling it with ultrasound want to make babies move, but they seemed to be worn out and not up for it. I could see their spinalcords though, and eye sockets and their heads. It was very exciting.

We will go again next Friday to see the doctor, since I am going to be out of town for two weeks for the holidays. Hopefully Doctor Stamps will not be caught up in surgery or unavailable.

Starting weight prior to surgery was 113 pounds. Have only gained one pound, which i was happy about. Once you start gaining, you don't stop and I get nervous about the idea of breathing and discomfort from being too big with babies. Nurse said she would like me to gain a pound a week, which wouldn't be bad at all. That would mean I would only gain about 25 lbs for the full pregnancy. I am trying not to think about that though and just enjoying that I have been so blessed with the opportunity to carry these beauitul babies.

Sick as a Dog

I am getting rather down lately. Thursday we got a call an hour before our appointment and the doctor had surgery so our apt was canceled. They rescheduled it for this week (Wednesday) but it is with the nurse practitioner, not our doctor. While I am sure that she is more than capable of answering our questions, I know Kyle well enough to know that no matter what she says, he won't listen. He struggles to listen to what the doctor says...so that is discouraging to me. And he has been scheduling us to come in every other week but I don't know if the nurse will know when to schedule us and all.

Also, I am still REALLY sick. Friday morning I went and got another Vitamin B6 shot. The other one helped for three days, so I assumed it would do the same this time. It didn't. Got sick Saturday evening, Sunday was puking, and today still feel really sick to the point I am hugging the trash can. It has also made me miss two Christmas parties. Not even out of fear of the smell at them, but just too sick to get up and get ready to go. Praying that this doesn't last much longer. It is draining me physically and emotionally.

Praying also that I will be well enough to go home in two weeks. I really want to see my family and spend the holiday with them. I just need to be well enough to fly there on the 21st of December and home on January 4. Of course would be wonderful if i wasn't laid up the whole time I am there too, but at this point just trying to concentrate on the travel days.

Waiting Anxiously

Well, we are finally at twelve weeks and into the second trimester and feel so blessed to have made it this far with two babies. God is so good and faithful and we will forever give thanksgiving to Him for all He does, but especially for the opportunity to carry these precious little ones.

Tomorrow we go to the doctor for our twelve week check-up and will hopefully hear both heartbeats, or at least see them on the portable ultra sound again. Kyle and I are both anxious to see and/or hear that both babies are still there and both are doing okay. We usually do great after the doctor appointment for about a week before we start panicing with every cramp, pain or change in body. We have wanted to be parents for so long now we fear that we will lose one of the babies or something will go wrong. I am sure that all pregnant women go through that at some point in their pregnancy. It truly does make us rely on God and trust that He is in control and His will is going to be done, no matter what we want, but our human nature is still to stress until we are reassured time and time again that they are okay.

Nausea seemed to be quite a bit better today. Actually was able to do laundry and dust the house, went to eat dinner with mother-in-law and ran to Target to get new "undergarments". Finally I can go in public again and be properly covered.

Praying this week for our babies' reflexes. This week they are developing, the kidneys begin working so babies start urinating, and they begin the sucking with their mouths and taking in the amniotic fluids. Love these babies already so much. And getting to hear and read about what is going on each week is so exciting and makes me feel that much closer to them.