Crazy Saturday

Dave and I had a very busy day yesterday. I went to my future cousin-in-law, Jacqui's, bridal shower Saturday afternoon with my mom, aunt Carla and my grandma. The shower was great. Jacqui & Travis received a lot of nice loot. I am very excited for their wedding on Saturday, September 5th.

This is me with my mom, my aunt Carla, and my Grandma after the shower.

This is my aunt Carla (the mother of the groom) with Jacqui and my Grandma.

Saturday evening, Dave and I headed to the Willows to celebrate his 20th high school reunion. I am kicking myself for not getting more pictures, but I thought I would share the ones I did take. We both had a great time. He really enjoyed talking to all of his old buddies.

Sonya, Dave, Angie & Deana

The Class of 1989

Dave and Adam - he came all of the way from Australia

Saturday was a great day, but it completely exhausted me. I have done absolutely nothing productive today. Dave decided that we should watch the movie Knocked Up again. I was slightly embarrassed that I cried my eyes out at the end. Then, for some reason, I thought we should watch the movie Juno. I seriously cried like a baby at the end of that movie. Two pregnancy movies in a row!! It was funny. My pregnancy hormones are kicking into high gear. It didn't help that both movies have the main character delivering a baby at the end. It was an interesting choice of movies.

Showing Some Skin

I can't believe I am actually doing this, but I thought you all would get a better view of how huge my belly is if I actually exposed a little skin. I am officially 18 weeks pregnant today. According to my calculations, I am at least halfway through this pregnancy. The average twin pregnancy goes to 35 weeks. Of course, some last up to 38 weeks and some unfortunately end much earlier than 35 weeks. I am shooting for these beautiful babies to arrive sometime around Thanksgiving.

I don't know if you can see it in this picture, but I have so much blood circulating in my body right now that my blood vessels are very visible when looking at my skin - especially in my abdomen. I have read that women pregnant with twins have a 100% increase in their blood volume. That means I have twice the amount of blood in my body than I did six months ago. I primarily blame that for my weight gain. Ha. Ha.

This increase in blood volume has more of an effect on me than I expected. I have been having very frequent nose bleeds. Who knew pregnancy caused nose bleeds?? I average about three nose bleeds per day. Also, sometimes when I lay down after being on my feet, I feel as though my heart is pounding ferociously in my chest. I think it has to work a little harder than usual. This increase in blood volume is often blamed for anemia and hypertension, as well.

But, generally, I have been feeling much better during the past week to 10 days. I have significantly less nausea. HALLELUJAH! I do have more heartburn and I am so, so tired all of the time. It is becoming more and more uncomfortable to sit or lay down.

I have made a conscious effort to slow down at work a little bit. I am seeing fewer patients in a day and trying to work less than 8 hours each day. This has been a little difficult for me. I have a hard time saying "No" to squeezing in one more patient. It will all work out just fine, though.

To sum it all up, things are going very well.

Belly Bump Buddies

Thursday evening Dave and I were able to meet up with our friends Casey & Holly for dinner. It was great visiting with them. They are in the process of moving from New York City to Norman, Oklahoma. They were able to spend some time at home visiting with friends and family during the move.

Holly is 6 months pregnant with their first child. They are having a girl - who shall remain nameless. We took a belly bump picture together that I thought I would share.

Good luck to you, Casey & Holly. We know that you will make great parents.

It is a Boy and a . . .

who knows?! We had a an issue with the umbilical cord blocking the private parts of Baby A. Our wonderful ultrasound tech, Nan, spent a lot (I mean a lot) of time trying to figure out the sex of Baby A, but she was unsuccessful. So, we will just have to be patient and wait until the next ultrasound. I love Nan. She sent us home with 15 pictures today. I am sharing a small sample. Dave, Mom, and Jeff were all present for the ultrasound. I am 16 weeks, 1 day pregnant today.

This is Baby A. Baby A weighed approximately 5 ounces and measured at 16 weeks, 2 days. Baby A's heart rate was 155.

This is a group picture of the babies. Baby A is on the left and Baby B is on the right. Don't worry. Baby B is not squished. They were kicking each other back and forth during most of the ultrasound. They were much closer together during this ultrasound than they were during the previous one.

This is Baby B. He is definitely a boy. He was showing off for us today. He weighed in at 6 ounces and had a heart rate of 156. He measured 16 weeks, 5 days. So, he is slightly bigger than Baby A.

There was a little bit of disappointment that we were unable to determine the sex of Baby A today, but a lot of relief that both looked perfectly healthy. The only slight concern was that Baby B's placenta was very close to my cervix, but apparently that will only be a concern if that is still the case at 24 weeks.

My next ultrasound is on August 4th - at 20 weeks. I scheduled my 4D ultrasound for late September, too. I am very excited about that one.

OLEVA REPORT

Mom had her weekly chemo again today. She also had a Muga scan of her heart again. Everything looked just fine on the Muga scan. There are no problems with her heart. That is such a relief. She has 5 more weekly chemo sessions. It will be a huge relief when it is over. I told her we should do something fun to celebrate.

Sometime very soon (if not immediately) after the chemo, she will start six weeks of radiation. She will do that daily, 5 days a week. So, we are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. By the end of September, all treatments should be completed.

Thanks so much for reading!