Two babies

Twins.

We can hardly believe it.

But we are so excited and happy for this amazing blessing coming our way.

We are now 21 weeks along and everything is great so far! I've been feeling the babies kick and move almost constantly since the week or so before Thanksgiving and this has been very reassuring and comforting to me. We think we lost Matthew at around 17 or 18 weeks, so getting past this point without problems or complications is a big blessing.

I can feel that the babies are getting bigger, because their kicks are more noticeable. The kids and John can now use their hands to feel the babies kicking, too. I used to have to stop what I was doing and concentrate on feeling the babies before I would feel a kick, now they meet me with surprise. All day and night! At least one of them is moving at all times... it seems.

It is extra fun now since the last ultrasound when the technician told us that our baby boy is Twin A and is on the bottom. I can now always tell who is kicking and moving, where I just had to guess before. Baby boy will be the first born if I have the babies naturally. Baby girl is Twin B and is floating on the top of Twin A. I'm not sure who will win the kicking competition... it seems they will both be getting moved around by me or each other a lot!! The last ultrasound was so funny, we could see that baby girl had her calf and foot resting right on brother's head and face. Haha! He's learning patience with the opposite gender already.

The ultrasonagrapher also took a couple of 3D pictures of baby girl. These were taken at 18 weeks, so she's still really tiny and skinny.

We love this one with her thumb in her mouth and her arm resting across her face.

Preliminary names are Megan and Alex. We're not sure yet. John happily agreed to Megan (hurray!!) and also ruled out Daniel or Charlie for baby boy.

We're just overall ecstatic and a bit overwhelmed with this amazing blessing. I have working at the high school in the Resource department since August and this Friday, Jan. 10 will be my last day at work. I'm finishing 2nd term and then I'll be at home to rest, get ready, work my other at-home job, and nest! I'm so excited. I'll also be able to attend Thomas' school events when they have day programs or presentations.

We'll put most of our personal updates about the babies over here on the blog. Another thing I've discovered is that I'm not able to exercise much without getting Braxton-Hicks contractions at night. I've tried to do a little bit of yoga during the days and I get the "practice" contractions each day I've tried this. I'll most likely try to get some walks in when I'm home during the days and see how my body fares. I can foresee that the last trimester may just be a time for my body to become a very LARGE "incubator" for the babes. :)

I'm also on the lookout for a new obstetrician to deliver the babies. The lady at Richfield hospital is not comfortable with twins and having them any other way except with a c-section. I'd like to avoid a c-section if possible, so I'm going to find a new Dr. (either to the south or to the north) that is comfortable trying to help both twins to be born vaginally, no matter what way they are facing. I've been told that the usual lineup for twins is that Twin A will be head down and facing the right way and with Twin B... you just never know. Twin B is usually transverse or breech. I will have much more time to research and prepare for the delivery when I am finished with work!

21 weeks. Getting pretty thick pretty fast!!

This is one of my favorite pictures of late. This was the day we told the kids about the babies and the girls are checking out all the ultrasound pictures here.