Poinsettia Bowl!

I married into a Utes family. Not just any Utes family, but the biggest University of Utah fans I've ever met. They know how to throw parties and cheer on their team. It is quite a blast. For Christmas this year, Doug wanted to go to San Diego and watch the Utes play in the Pointsettia Bowl. We took off Saturday and drove via St. George to San Diego. We spent a few days enjoying the warm weather in December (if I hadn't been pregnant, we would've splurged and paid to go ice skating next to the ocean! Maybe next time.) The game was spectacular. We got lucky and got seats on the front row in the corner of the stadium (Charger's stadium) next to the marching band and on the 7 yard line. Doug was in heaven! We were nearly eye level with the players, cheerleaders, and coaches. It felt like we were really a part of the game. Here are some highlights...

Halftime show with some great fireworks behind us.

View from our seats--pretty sweet. We were on ESPN, KSL, and the jumbo-tron cameras quite a few times...

Thanks to the little champ to my right in this photo--Zachary. I had an empty seat next to me and he quickly asked if he could join us. He was quite the demanding spectator asking for autographs and cameraman time. I also had the opportunity of answering many questions during the game such as "is the game over yet?" and "did we just score?". Conveniently, he came with his grandparents to the game and they happily let him sit with us. They checked on him a few times and would ask us if we were 'okay' with him sitting with us. What do you say to that--when the boy is right next to you having the time of his life? He got a signature from every cheerleader and the mascot...a few random band members and players. He helped make the game more interesting.

Swoop came by and paused for a photo with us. One of the perks of being on the front row. The best news of the night...we didn't drive 722 miles in vain! The Utes beat the Cal bears and we were able to celebrate with the team. That's always nice to win! Go Utes!

Is it just paranoia?

It has been 6 days of being nervous. I was pretty sure I was only feeling one of the two babies kicking. Last night I realized how upset I was about it--I was having a hard time falling asleep with pictures in my mind of one baby alive and the other, not. Doug tried to comfort me and tell me that everything was okay. I've never been pregnant before so I don't know what things "should" feel like. What I did know is that the babies had moved, my belly had dropped lower, and I wasn't feeling the strong jabs from the baby boy.

I called my doctor this morning and the nurse said to come in for an "emergency appointment" and have a brief ultrasound. My mom was kind enough to come with me...so grateful. Doug had a final exam during my appointment time. It's amazing--I hadn't realized how emotional I had become about the idea of something being wrong. Even though I knew we'd bring home one baby in a few months--the idea of losing one of them was such an awful feeling. It reminded me of all the emotion I had during in-vitro...wondering if it would "work".

The doctor came in and was only there for 2-3 minutes and said, "yup--I see two good heart beats, breathing, and movement." They were both still there! I think I sighed about 12 times on the way home to my house...over and over again. What a relief! Thank goodness for ultrasound technology.

Here is the latest belly photo--taken today. I am 25 weeks and feeling good!

You can tell what I was watching on TV in the background. One of my favorite shows--Family Feud. Doug LOVES that there are like 3 shows on in a row everyday after work. It's his favorite! I have it on in the background while I make some dinner for myself.

Thanksgiving

I rely on other people to take photos and then I request that they send them to me. My sister-in-law, Chelsea, posted these photos on her blog and I basically stole them to use on mine. Thanks Chelsea!

Isn't he adorable? Doug is a baker--he bakes things. He is really good at it as well. At Thanksgiving dinner, my dad said, "Doug, your rolls are becoming a tradition." I think this was my dad's way of ensuring that Doug makes them more often. This is Tonya's (Doug's sister) recipe and it is a favorite.

Not the most appetizing photo, but I contributed to Thanksgiving dinner for the first time in my life in a real way--not just the relish tray (sorry Sarah). I made stuffing. Doug's family makes homemade stuffing. I didn't think that was possible until last year. So, I decided to take a stab at it. I was a little nervous because I like to make things 'healthier' by using better oils or eliminating sugar...so needless to say, they don't always turn out as planned. After a few phone calls to Doug's mom and sister, I made delicious stuffing! My mom even asked for the recipe (maybe just to make me feel good) and I was quick to accept her offer. Woo hoo for homemade stuffing!

One highlight of the holiday was being with not one, but two other pregnant ladies. Chelsea is about 7 weeks ahead of me and Sarah is 2 weeks ahead of me--we all looked nearly the same size. My friend Kayla (who is also pregnant) even stopped by for a visit! I was nearly 24 weeks in this photo and tomorrow I will be 25 weeks. My belly is rounding out with one baby boy on top by my ribs and one baby girl below. In the last few weeks I feel some weird sensations like that cute little boy is jabbing at my gallbladder or something--I can only imagine how this will feel in a few months.

It felt funny to eat a regular-portioned meal for Thanksgiving, but I can't fit much food in at once! So, I grazed a little and had the first caffeine rush of my life. I made a chocolate pie with only a few ingredients:

Crust:

¾ c cocoa powder

¾ c almond flour (or very finely chopped almonds)

½ c maple syrup powder (frontier)

¼ c coconut butter (also called coconut cream--I buy Tropical Traditions brand. It's a little pricey, so I buy it from the lady in Alpine.)

pinch of sea salt

Combine in food processor and press into pie tin. It is best if it is a larger tin.

Filling:

2 ¼ cup cocoa powder

1 c maple syrup

1 c coconut butter (coconut cream)

Combine in food processor until as smooth as possible. Pour over crust. Refrigerate overnight. I serve it with nut cream.

Cream topping:

2 cups soaked cashews, drained and rinsed

½ cup honey

1 ¼ cups water

1 T vanilla

Combine in blender. Blend until smooth and creamy. Spread over chilled pie.

As you can tell, a large portion of the pie is cocoa. I don't drink coffee, soda, or eat chocolate very often...so that much caffeine sent me over the edge. I felt jittery and restless. I didn't think I could get a caffeine rush from a dessert--but I did. I ate one medium-sized piece and then a sliver a few hours later...that was enough for my system. It was pretty crazy. Those babies must have been running in circles in my belly. Everyone loved it--although it was the richest dessert at the table. It was like dark chocolate fudge in a crust...delicious!

It was great to see Sarah and Chris and Chelsea and Dave from out of town. So fun to be with family. Can't wait until next time!

Halloween for Pregnant ladies

A little late, but thought I'd share...

Doug's school friends (otherwise as known as a co-hort) had a Halloween party and I was at a loss for costumes. It was a little frustrating to figure out--Doug dealt with a little bit of "I have nothing to wear!"

This is what we came up with. Does it fit or what? Doug is a peddler selling weight loss pills...and I am his #1 client.

Doug hates this photo, but I think it is so funny. It makes me laugh. I was holding down the air so my costume wasn't covering my face! It was a great party.

Jackpot

I went to work today and Bill, the owner of the company where I work, walked into my office with 4 garbage bags full of baby clothes. He and his wife adopted a baby last November and just adopted a baby girl two weekends ago (unexpectedly). I just went through all of it and we'll have clothes for the first year of our our baby boy's life! There were still clothes with tags on them. Bill's wife, Hilary, has great taste so they're all so cute.

I can't wait for Doug to get home from school tonight so I can show him!

21 Weeks

...and still counting.

I had a Dr. appt on Monday morning and they weighed me in. Yup, I gained 8 (count them...eight) pounds since my last appointment. I was stunned. That puts me up 20 pounds post in-vitro. I need to specify because I gained about 5 pounds with all the fertility drugs I was shooting up. He doesn't measure me, so I have no idea what I measure. The ultrasound showed 2 healthy babies that didn't look too different than they did 10 days before with my last ultrasound.

I have discovered that I cannot lay on my back during an ultrasound. For the second time I started to feel faint.

My doctor was a military doctor for many years (I think 8) and I felt like a soldier at this appointment. He was not helpful to make me more comfortable. About 10 minutes into the ultrasound, I said, "I'm not feeling well." He said, "oh, it's because your laying on your back and putting pressure on your vena cava." (I thought...yeah, I know)

Minutes later, I said, "can I move this pillow under my head?" He said, "sure."

A few minutes later I said, "I am really not feeling well." (no response.) "Can I lay on my side?" He said, "Sure. Man, this boy is in a tough position for me to measure him." I roll on my side and break out in a cold sweat, feel like I'm going to lose my cookies, and pass out--all at once. "I can't believe how sick I feel." (no response.)

Doug was the only one asking me if I was feeling better. I asked Doug to get a drink of water and my doctor? No response. Doug goes to get a drink from the nurse.

At this point, I didn't watch the ultrasound any longer. I was so ill I didn't want to rotate my head to watch. My doctor finished a few minutes later and I started coming around and feeling better. He said, "see you in 4 weeks" and left.

Wow.

Needless to say, Doug and I are contemplating switching doctors at the clinic. It might be slightly awkward to see him in the hallways, so we may just see other doctors every time I go (which he recommended).

I am feeling the babies move a lot lately and I can tell which one is moving. It's pretty cool. I've noticed that the boy moves when I am sitting and the girl when I am laying down. I'm really happy to be to this stage. It's way more fun.

The latest belly photo:

First ever belly photo

I never thought that I would be taking a photo pointing to a large belly...seems a little backward yet exciting. Alas, here is the infamous belly photo #1. I think it's growing everyday--rapidly. I am nearly 20 weeks.

I found out today that I have ultrasounds every month at my visits because measuring me doesn't tell them how each individual baby is doing. So, we already have a magnet board in our house that is filling up with baby ultrasound photos. It's pretty fun!

The Results are in...

I went to the hospital today for an intense ultrasound with a perinatologist to take a detailed look at the twins. We finally know what we're having! The babies are laying one on top of the other and the one on top is a BOY. He is the bigger of the two--so we think he was originally "baby A". The one on the bottom right of my abdomen was the one in question. At 14 weeks, my OB thought it was a boy, then at 18 weeks, he wasn't sure. Now at 19 weeks--it's a GIRL! We are so excited.

They were moving and I even caught a glimpse of the boy sucking his thumb for a second. It was so cool. The tech spent a while measuring and looking at the spine, feet, legs, arms, face, heart, kidneys, and stomach of both babies.

Everything looked healthy. The only exception was the left foot of our cute little boy appears to be turned in. The perinatologist came in to check it and said she thinks it just might have happened as the foot was forming. She said it's more common in twins and his foot just could have been squished in there. If that is the case, she said ligaments on one side of his foot are shorter and the other side longer. It can be corrected easily after he's born with a brace, cast, or it may just fix itself as he starts to move and walk. So, we're so grateful to have that be the only thing wrong. I don't know how they have any room in there as it is!

Everyday I wake up, my belly is sprouting out in front of me. I can't believe how fast it's happening. I need to stand in front of the camera for a snapshot, just haven't done it yet.

Baby B: The BOY

The proof...

Baby A: The GIRL

The proof...

I love this one of the foot--so amazing. That foot is pretty tiny, yet so easy to identify.

When strangers notice...

I hit a pretty major landmark with my belly yesterday. I returned last night from a brief business trip to Irvine, California (left Friday morning) and had 2 strangers yesterday make comments about me being pregnant. The first lady apologized that I had to keep standing up and sitting down to grab the necessary paperwork. I was puzzled at first and she motioned to her belly and I realized that she could tell! Oddly enough, I had no idea what to say! I blubbered something about having two babies in there (as if she knew I was only 19 weeks) and changed the subject.

The second, the rental car return lady. I told her that I had a lot of food wrappers in the passenger door and she said, "well, you are eating for two." Again, I had to say, "well, it's actually three!" It makes me feel better to say there is more than one baby in there as my belly expands rapidly.

I went to church today and sat in on another ward's Beehive class lesson. We were visiting as a Stake YW Presidency. The teacher (in the middle of the lesson) turns to me and asks if I'm pregnant. I've gotten better in the last 24 hours so I am not as awkward. The ladies in my presidency with me all said that my belly was a lot bigger since I saw them Thursday night. In short, I am told that I am "blooming". I will post photos soon. I am feeling both babies moving a lot. In fact, on my plane ride Friday morning, they were dancing all over the place. The cool part is that I can tell which one is moving. This is helping pregnancy feel a lot more real and exciting.

Friday Night Hike

It was a beautiful day Friday. I was off work at 3:30 pm and told Doug we needed to get outside. We went up the canyon for an evening hike. Man, I didn't realize the impact my pregnant belly would have on my physical abilities at this point. I could barely climb uphill without taking short breaks to catch my breath...so sad. We still kept a good pace though--we made it up to the waterfalls in roughly the same amount of time that it normally does.

We thoroughly enjoyed the changing leaves and picked some along the way. The photos (taken with my Blackberry) do not do it justice...at all.

At the falls...

On the way (on one of my breaks to catch my breath)...

18 Weeks

I had my 18 week ultrasound Friday morning. We were so excited to know if we were really having 2 boys or not. Well, the one on my left side is definitely a boy--we have evidence. The one on my right though was a different story. This is the portion of the ultrasound where my doctor was jabbing at my belly (when Doug laughs) to get baby #2 to move to get a better angle. He/She was a little stubborn. What you see on this video is baby #2 (almost in the center of the screen) and you see the bottom and legs extending out. It looks like an upside-down U. So the verdict? My 14 week ultrasound: 2 boys. My 18 week ultrasound: 1 boy and possibly 1 girl. We still aren't sure. I am still convinced that it's a girl and we'll have a boy and girl. We'll see if I am right.

I scheduled an appt with a specialist to rule out any issues with the babies. My doctor told me this would happen from the beginning. I go in on the 28th and so maybe THEN we'll know what we're having. We have yet to make any purchases, so we're excited to find out! This has been a rough waiting game.

We've contemplated a fish theme for the baby room...any ideas anyone?

A Battle in my Belly

I had my 14 week appointment yesterday and didn't have to ask for an ultrasound. I knew it was almost too early to tell, but I asked for him to look to see the genders of the babies. He didn't fight me on it (though I thought he would) and they both look like boys! He said that girls can be swollen at this point, so he's not 100% sure. I'll have another ultrasound at 18 weeks and he said we should know by then.

It was amazing to watch them move. The last few ultrasounds I have had were just the heart beat in the middle of a circular shape. This time, we saw the spine, and they were moving. In fact, I saw the lower one (baby A, sort of on top of baby B) hit baby B above him and baby B quickly responded with a jab. It was hilarious. They are already getting along!

Doug and I are both so excited. I was pretty surprised because I thought it would be a boy and girl, but we are thrilled. It feels a lot more real now. I don't have much a belly to post photos of, but will do it soon.

Better than Tarzan

Thanks to Aaron and Michelle, we discovered this amazing rope swing up in Island Park. We loaded 6 people into my pontiac and drive for about 30 minutes on a dirt road in the middle of no where until we came to this beautiful no-wake lake, Cliff Lake. After a short jaunt through the trees (treacherous, might I add), we came upon this amazing rope. The boys were in heaven for a hours and ended up getting pretty creative...

Chelsea and I were a little anxious watching out husbands do this when they got daring.

I decided I would just judge who had the best moves. To be honest, I felt glad to the "I'm pregnant" excuse because it looked really scary! The photos do not do it justice. I bet they dropped 20 feet into the water.

This is Dave's attempt and grabbing Doug's leg as he came down...swing and miss.

Doug had some good vertical drops--I started saying we should judge who had the smallest splash. I had no takers.

David's flip--he had us nervous.

Look at that form!

Not sure what this form is called--deep seat?

This one reminds me of Tarzan.

It was pretty dusty because the boys had to hike up a steep bank to get to the rope again. When the dust came down, I thought my sandwich bag would keep it out of my eyes. Christine thought it was a little odd.

Chelsea couldn't take it anymore and she had to go off that rope once. I didn't know this, but she is quite the dare devil. She was sitting next to me saying how bad she wanted to try it and I said, "really?" She just did a 'baby' jump so her baby in her belly stayed happy inside.

Christine had perfect form for her one-time shot at the water.

We had so much fun that everyone was late driving to Rexburg to watch the BYU game. Devin was a little disappointed to miss kick off, but we'd had a blast. Doug and I went back to the cabin for a few hours by ourselves while everyone watched BYU beat Oklahoma. Evidently, it was worth the drive.

We're Moving

We cannot fit 2 cribs into our apartment--nope. We cannot come up with any configuration that will work. We even looked into this crib style.

We just got a little nervous about the idea of them collapsing or something. So, as a result--we are moving. We are leaving our first home we've made together. We're both a little sad to leave it. We have a huge backyard, and a spacious apartment. Our new apartment is probably 200 feet away with roughly the same square footage, but it has a second bedroom. It's long and narrow--exactly what we need to fit two cribs end to end. I am glad to move now vs when my belly is really big. We thought about having them share a crib for 6 months, but then we'd be moving with 2 6-month old babies...not a fan. So, here we go! I am excited to start setting things up.

We've had people anonymously dropping off diapers on our front porch--so we're excited to be able to have a place to put them! It's funny--Doug and I thought that we had too many newborn size diapers until I calculated it. Each box has 84 diapers and I've read that we'll go through 14 diapers per day...yup, one box of diapers will last us 6 days! That woke us up to reality a little bit. That's a LOT of messy diapers.

Heartbeat

A cute lady in my ward offered to let me borrow this fetal doppler aka heart rate monitor to listen to the babies. It's been 5 weeks since my last doctor's appointment, so I was really excited to hear the heart beat last night. Now, I understand how twins went undetected before birth. Honestly, I kept saying to Doug, "do you think that's the same heart beat or a different one?" It helped calm some worries that there would be nothing there at my next appointment.

I finally made my second doctor's appointment. I was taking a while to see if I could find another doctor that I liked better. Unfortunately, Humana insurance made the decision for me--doesn't that seem wrong? The hospital closest to me is not covered, so there you have it. I was choosing between 3 doctors and ended up choosing my original one. I have my next appointment on Monday. I'll be 14 weeks Saturday, so I am considering going to the mall to find out their genders. I think I can go this next week, so let me know if you have any opinions about that.

Labor Day Weekend

My parents were planning on going to our cabin Labor Day weekend and we decided to crash their party. Dave and Chelsea joined us for a bit and Christine and Devin came up with us. For the first time that I can remember, my mom completely enjoyed herself at the cabin. She seemed to be beaming just spending time with my dad and enjoying the outdoors. We went to a huge Sacrament Meeting in Island Park, and then mom and dad took this cute afternoon walk in the meadow. I had them pose on their way back. Aren't they cute?

Saturday, we went to a nearby lake and found the sweetest rope swing. I will post photos later as I didn't bring my camera on that difficult trek through the woods. Monday, Dave came back, and he and Doug did a little diving competition into the lake. I was the judge--it was too chilly for a swim. Plus, my swimsuit is uncomfortably tight with a little belly that's forming.

This is Dave's best performance...

And here is my SUPERSTAR husband in his dive-of-the-day...

Dave and Doug thoroughly enjoyed torturing my mom while she was trying to lay out in the sun on a pretty chilly day, but her last day of cabin sunshine.

The conquering heros. They were loving it.

Doug has been learning to swim freestyle for a little while now, so I was pretty nervous when he announced that he was going to swim across the lake. I watched him the WHOLE time. He ended up doing a little backstroke to make it and told me afterwards that he got a little nervous. He was sitting on the bank and Dave jumped in to join him on the other side. I think they sat on the bank for 20 minutes because Doug needed a good rest before attempting that swim again. He's my muscle man!

My dad can swim forever...seriously. Dave and Doug were winded just from a jaunt across the lake, but my dad swam out to the buoy in the distance and back without stopping. When he got close, my mom decided she would meet him. We started chanting, "kiss her! kiss her!" to which my dad repeatedly said, "what?" He had earplugs in. My mom finally had to tell him that we "wanted him to kiss her". Ironically enough, this photo looks like she is trying to drown him.

We left Monday afternoon for home--bummed it was over so quickly. We had a great time...and I didn't even see one single mouse!

They're Growing

Ultrasounds are an amazing thing. Just two weeks apart and the babies have heads, eyes, and appear to have some arms and legs! I had my 10-week appointment a little early today with my OB. He didn't take new measurements but we saw the heartbeats again. It makes it all seem real, that's for sure.

The second line

I've always wondered what that second line looked like...it showed up on this test and I left it on the counter for a little while, just because it was so fun to see it!

Doug and I got a call on July 14th to let us know that the blood test I had taken that morning had confirmed a pregnancy. We've been on cloud nine ever since. I had taken the day off work to be with Doug when we got the results. We decided to go shopping in Park City for the day and were at lunch when the call came. Our waitress was a little caught off guard when she came to get our order and we were crying. Doug quickly told her that we had just gotten some good news from our doctor. We celebrated all afternoon. Before going home, we stopped back at the outlets and picked up two baby outfits, one boy and one girl. I am going to need to reign in Doug on the clothes shopping--he LOVES buying baby clothes!

I am due March 20th--which is Doug's birthday. He thinks that's pretty great.

On July 29th, I went in for a viability ultrasound when I was only 6 weeks and they found two babies in there--yup, two. I thought I would attach a photo of them--they are I think 1/2 cm in this photo. My doctor heard good healthy heartbeats for both babies and they measure pretty well on time. The one on the right is about 2 days behind developmentally. My doctor calls them twin A and twin B. They are fraternal and we will find out in a few months if they are boy/boy, girl/girl, or girl/boy. So, we're taking guesses for the next while! We're so excited.

Two babies means a whole new ball game for us. We will need to move into a bigger place because we can't fit two cribs in our walk-in closet. We will be getting two of everything and that seems a little crazy.

Their first photo shoot.