Side Ways Selfie

The Side-ways "selfie" only means one thing...I'm pregnant.  We're thrilled!  We had been trying to get pregnant for close to two years.  In January I just knew that I was pregnant this time.  I wanted to surprise Evan on his birthday that I was pregnant, but what if I was wrong...that would be a terrible gift.  So I did the whole pee on a stick thing the day before his birthday and yup I was pregnant.  

That morning Autumn and I got to work to announce to Daddy that she was going to be a big sister.

Autumn really likes to paint...everything

This picture cracked me up so I had to include it...underneath her jammies is the big secret.

Autumn was working late per-usual I wasn't sure if Autumn would still be awake or not, and maybe she would just show her new to dad in the morning.  But she was still awake so when dad came home I told her to show dad what we painted today.  Without practice or further prompting she unzipped her onesie.  It was perfect.  Evan got it right away and was so excited.  When I told him I was pregnant with Autumn I tried to video tape his reaction and totally missed it, so this time I just sat and enjoyed his excitement.

I've been feeling pretty good, but much sicker with this pregnancy and super bloated (who knew that was a pregnancy symptom?).  Nothing to really complain about.  I only threw up with Autumn a total of maybe 3 times the whole time I was pregnant (and a couple of those times it was probably just car sickness).  This time I would throw up once every morning before I could eat breakfast then I was fine until after Autumn's nap and I'd lay on the couch and have her watch TV if I could convince her to sit still long enough.  I did get SUPER sick one day and have to skip a baby shower I was helping to throw...turns out it was just food poisoning or something else.  Two days later (at exactly 12 weeks) I was totally fine, no more sickness. I've also been way more picky about foods.  With Autumn I just loved to eat and couldn't get enough of almost everything.  I really craved pizza and tomatoes with Autumn.  This time around something would sound good to me like sushi I'd eat a ton of it, then be repulsed by it a few days later.  I've also had cravings for pasta salad, Belgium waffles, and tuna with celery, and of course green olives and pickles!

 My mom came to visit when I was about 9 1/2 weeks along.  I didn't tell anyone I was pregnant last time until I was 16 weeks...not even my mom (I know totally mean, but I was super paranoid that I would have a miscarriage).  This time I was really excited to tell my family, plus I knew I wouldn't be able to hide my sickness from my mom.

 My mom sent me this super cute Valentine's Day craft.  Conversation hearts with our names on it.  I casually asked her where she had gotten the hearts.  So I went out and got another one and painted it and put stickers on it that read: "Sept 2014".  After I picked my mom up from the airport she asked, "hey did someone else make you one of those?"  Then she got it and was super excited (of course).  We went shopping the next day for maternity clothes, because I hardly wore any with Autumn since I was working and just wore my work polo.

 After Evan and my trip to Florida, my dad was visiting.  We showed them the pictures of our trip and I had snuck some random picture of an ultra sound (I hadn't had an ultra sound yet) in the slide, and was kinda like "whoops you weren't suppose to see that;)  He's pretty quick and figured out what I was trying to say.  

Someone's ultrasound photo I found on the internet

So then we told Evan's parents and brothers by showing them the souvenirs we got from our trip which included a "Thing 2" onesie that we had gotten at Universal Studios.  I think Evan's brother Patrick got it first.  Evan's little brother was like, "who's thing 1?" and I said, "Autumn" he said, "oh"  Evan's mom said, "do you get it?"  Then he understood, and was more excited than I thought a 16 year old boy would be.

I text a picture of the onesie to the rest of our siblings.  Everyone got it right away except Evan's sister Sara.  It was hilarious.  We were texting back and forth for a while, and then I realized she didn't understand who the onesie belonged to.  I had to tell her, "IT IS FOR A BABY COMING IN SEPTEMBER...NOT FOR YOUR SON!" (although that would have been cute too, Autumn and her cousin are close in age).  Evan and I had a good laugh about that.

So we keep on trekking along.  I keep telling everyone how "huge" I am.  I text pictures to a few friends/family members and the ones that have more than one kid assure me that I'm bigger this time around because it is my second baby.  Except for my friend Carla who text back something like, "Wow! You really are huge!"  Thanks for the honesty Carla.  I swore to Evan I've felt the baby kick when I was only 10 weeks along, he doesn't believe me.  I'm still quite bloated especially in the evening...and pretty much get increasingly bigger after I've eaten breakfast.  

Sunday (3/23) Evan and I were playing games with some friends.  Emily asked me the usual pregnancy questions, "how are you feeling? Do you feel different from last pregnancy?"  I casually said "I think it may be twins".  Emily has 8 year old twin girls and got SUPER excited and asked "have you been sicker this pregnancy?  That's a sign of twins-more hormones ya' know?"  She kept telling me that I had to convince my midwife at my appointment the next day to do an ultra sound, "fake like something is wrong" she says.  So she got me real excited that my instincts my be correct.  At my appointment I just kept asking questions about twins, oh and by the way did I mention I took Clomiphene to get pregnant.  (Clomiphene is a fertility drug that makes you ovulate.  I took it for 6 months with Autumn...three months with this pregnancy but a lower dose than with Autumn).  Clomiphene increases your chances of having multiple babies by 5%.  Any given woman has a 5% chance of having multiples, so if you take Clomiphene the chances are 10%.  The midwife chatted with me then listened to the babies heartbeat (love hearing that and having that confirmation) then measured my belly.  "Well you are measuring at 19 weeks, so a little big.  Let's take a peek and get an ultra sound."  Didn't have to twist my arm.  I had a feeling (maybe just wishful thinking)  it was twins, but my friend had convinced me it was twins too.  So Autumn and I went to Chic-fil-A and played for a good 1.5 hours until we could go back for the ultra sound.  I called Evan and put him on speaker.  I only saw one baby so I said so, but then the ultra sound tech said, "Nope, there's two!"  Evan and I were both super pumped!  There are two placentas (which means fraternal twins) and double of everything which is good news.  It is too early to know the genders. It was nap time and Autumn was getting antsy poor thing, but we had to wait to meet with the midwife...again.  And no one told the midwife I was waiting so we waited an hour before I finally asked the front desk what was going on.  So Autumn and I were both very tired when we headed home 6 hours after we left the house in the morning.  We couldn't keep this secret in for long...I had Evan's dad take a few pictures for us in the backyard.  Like I said Autumn was tired....

I'm super ticked that the ultra sound tech didn't give me any pictures of the twins...together, but here they are separate.

Twin A

Twin B

15 weeks one day with the twins-16 weeks one day with Autumn

Here is evidence that I'm not just "bigger" but huger would be a better word.  (Also I saw a picture of my friend at 12 weeks with her second baby, and also added fuel that yes this must be twins.  We have girls the same age...so that must mean we'd be the same size again right?)

Yesterday Evan and I went to dinner together.  Autumn wanted to stay home, so luckily Grandpa said he would play with her.  Evan and I just talked about how excited we were.  Today...as more people called and text I got very overwhelmed.  I'm not really nervous per se, but my to do list just doubled, and the time table just got shorter (most twins are born at 37 weeks oppose to singletons which are born at 40 weeks).  I think I've found the "triple" stroller I'd like to buy and I think we've figured out a plan for where the babies will sleep.  The things that way on me the most is how the babies will actually enter the world.  I am petrified of having a C-section (6 out of 10 twins are born via C-section).  Will the doctors sweep my babies away to the NICU just because they are twins?  How will Autumn handle not only not being an only child but having two other people to compete with for attention?  I started crying on the phone today when my mom asked, "how I was doing".  But tonight I was searching (again) for twin things on the internet.  And pictures like this make me feel excited again....

Twins is going to be really fun!