Happy Thanksgiving!

There are a million things that I am thankful for this year, but the thing I am the most grateful for is making it to my 2nd Trimester!  I honestly never thought I would make it here, so here's hoping for many more weeks of a healthy pregnancy.

This year Dave & I stayed in Atlanta for the holiday. We had a little too much fun on vacation this year & didn't have enough time off to get to OH & NY.

Dave celebrated Thanksgiving early this morning by running his first half marathon!

It's little bittersweet not running the half with him - but I promise I will next year. Anyone want to babysit?

I figured I would add a bump pic as well. I keep looking at other blogs for twin pregnancies, and I have to say I'm a bit overwhelmed at just how big I might get!! So far it looks like my bump has started it's decent upwards! Grow babies grow!!

Hope that everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving!

13w5d

Just got back from a quick check up of the babes.

It took some time for them to be still so she could get a consistent heartbeats. The nurse said they were moving around a lot. One read at 150bpm & the other at 148bpm.

We got pretty excited when they rolled in the ultrasound for a quick scan, but alas the machine broke & we couldn't get a scan done today. I honestly didn't expect one, but was a little bummed at the when prospect of seeing the babes vanished. Oh well!

On Thanksgiving we will officially be in the second trimester. I guess it will be time to tell the world the Tubbs twins are coming!

12 Week Bump!

Yea - there is no hiding this thing anymore. I might have to buckle down and buy my first pair of maternity jeans. The bella band has been doing a good job, but I am starting to get more & more uncomfortable while I'm sitting down.

I am going to be gigantic.

Grow Twins Grow!

Third Ultrasound - 11w6d

Talk about anxiety week. As we get closer to the 2nd trimester, where I hope to breath some sign of relief, I instead find myself googling ridiculousness & worrying about every twinge that just doesn't feel right.

Neurosis aside we made it to our Perinatoligst appointment. I like to think it's an early introduction to the hospital where the babes will be born.

Not knowing what to expect at all, I was more excited to see the babes than the implications of the scan itself. I had already told Dave that no matter what these tests showed, I wasn't going to do any further testing.

In the exam room, my heart was racing. I had only known that our babes were twins for 2 weeks, but the idea of us losing one or both, was absolutely fresh on my mind.

And then, there they were.

Two babes, two heartbeats, sitting on top of one another like a bunk bed.

Squirming, dancing, playing.

Doc gave us the "normal" measurements.

Then Baby A (on the bottom bunk), started kicking Baby B (on the top bunk) & was making s/he bop all around. Sibling rivalry has begun.

We are ecstatic.

Second Ultrasound - 9w5d

We were so excited & nervous to get back to the doctor for our 2nd ultrasound.  Since the babe was still small I was just hoping to see that little heartbeat flicker again.

And oh boy did we see a heartbeat.

In fact, we saw 2.

2?!?!?!?! Excuse me doctor??? What did you just say??? 2?!?!?!

Holy Shit. Twins. In fact, I believe that Dave might have dropped an F-Bomb or 2.

The rest of the appointment was somewhat of a blur. Next thing I knew, we were scheduling an appointment with the Perinatologist at Northside Hospital for our NT Scan in 2 weeks.

What?

Why do we have to go to the hospital?

I guess they are better prepared to monitor twins than my doctor. But in the long run, the extra monitoring makes me feel better & I hope to get to see our babes more often.

Post appointment, I email the grandmas the ultra sound pix & tell them the news. We get pretty excited/WTF happened phone calls from both our mothers approximately 5 seconds later.

From here on out come all the OMG we need 2 of everything thoughts. However, after all that settles, the idea of 2 becomes so wonderful that you can't imagine anything else.

8 Weeks

I realized that I did want to track my belly progress if this was really going to happen this time!

Here's the stereotypical 8 week bathroom shot. Only really bloat going on here!

Our 2011

The year 2011 has been pretty bumpy.

Dave & I found out that we were pregnant back in June, only to miscarry a few weeks later.

We were devastated & I was withdrawn.

So we coped the best way we knew how. We ran. We focused on ourselves, our health, & our well being.

Per Doctor's orders, I had to wait 2 cycles till we started to try again. In my mind, I never knew when I would be ready. I wasn't sure if I could handle this disappointment yet again. I pushed it out of my head & continued to run. I figured that I didn't have to worry about it for awhile.

Two cycles passed.

Our approach: we would make an attempt, & if it happened it happened. Our current goal was the Atlanta Thanksgiving Half Marathon.  If baby news came before that we would be happy, but knew that we would have other things to help keep us in good spirits if it did not.

One Saturday a couple months back, I had the worst long run. EVER. I felt so slow & everything ached. This was so disappointing. I had been running so well, so fast, with only minor knee pain (a real problem for me) and felt so confident. I was kicking Dave's ass & on this day he completely dominated me. I fell back and finished about 5 minutes after he did.

I didn't think much about it, but had some strange feelings the next few days. Weird cramping & heartburn were among the few. I decided on one particularly long drive home, that I was going to test.

It stung to pull out the other test from the packet we had our initial BFP on.

However, pretty quickly, the test read Pregnant.

All at once there was a flood of emotion. Joy & excitement, followed by fear & doubt. Dave & I decided that we would wait a few more days to test again, and use a less sensitive non-digital test. Those too came up positive pretty quickly.

Three betas later we had our pregnancy confirmed & my HCG & Progesterone levels looked good. We were then scheduled for an ultrasound at 7 weeks.

7 weeks. The same as when I miscarried last time. I couldn't help but worry & question every symptom. Dave probably was so annoyed by my chattering, but the day we saw the little tiny blob & a fast little heart beat, my heart melted.

I can't say that the fear has gone away, because it hasn't. I experienced some spotting & brown CM for several weeks & that kept me on edge. But each day we still had our babe we were happy.

The next appointment was scheduled for October 25 - where we would be 9w5d. I had everything crossed that all would be okay!