29 weeks

I apologize for all of you who continue to check my blog for things/pictures I've promised...only to find nothing. I seriously have no ambition lately to get anything done. It's much more comfortable for me to just hang out on the couch with my feet up.

Here are some of our latest pictures:

*baby girl profile with her hand up by her face

* baby boy profile (facing opposite direction) with his hand up by his face

*the process of painting the bedroom

(painting is not really Cody's favorite thing...I think he got a little side-tracked)

(finished product...I think he did a fantastic job!!)

*my 29 week "belly picture." It's getting harder and harder for me to see how big I'm getting :(

*I found a little information (because I know some of you are curious) about the "pubic bone pain" that I've been complaining about for several weeks now.

SPD--Symphysis Pubis Dysfunction:

It is caused by a loosening of the pubic symphysis (a joint at the front of the pelvis) during pregnancy. The number one problem that many pregnant women complain about is pubic pain.

Because of hormones, it is normal for there to be some extra looseness and pelvic pressure during pregnancy. This is good because it means your body is getting ready for birth! It's loosening up to give you maximum space and flexibility, and to help make things easy for you and your baby.

However, in some women, either because of excessive levels of hormones, extra sensitivity to hormones, or a pelvis that is out of alignment, this area is extra lax or there is extra pressure on the joint.

Common symptoms that I'm experiencing:
*substantial pubic pain! Tenderness and pain down low in the front is common, but often this pain feels as if it's inside.
*Any activity that involves lifting one leg at a time or parting the legs tends to be particularly painful: difficulty/pain with stairs, getting in and out of the car, sitting down or getting up, putting on clothes, bending, lifting, standing on one foot
*difficulty/pain rolling over in bed (this is primarily my biggest complaint and is severely jeopardizing my sleep right now)
*"clicking" in the pelvis when walking
*waddling gait
*difficulty getting started walking, especially after sleep


Ok, now I'll finish on a brighter note. I just can't resist posting a picture of my niece Khloe....

TOO PRECIOUS FOR WORDS!!!

Looking Good

Once again, I've been pretty bad about getting any updates on here. Early this week my grandma passed away, so it's kind of been a busy week. We were originally supposed to have our ultrasound/appointments yesterday, but that's when the funeral ended up being scheduled.... but we were lucky enough to be squeezed in today so we were still able to get to see the babies this week.

They were able to finish the echo this time around on our little man.  He still wasn't being very cooperative, but the perinatologist was able to get in there and get what the ultrasound tech was not able to. He was very pleased with everything he saw. He was originally following us due to the fact that we had slightly higher risks of birth defects due to IVF....but everything has looked good up to this point so he feels he won't need to continue to see us unless there other concerns that arise. Our boy appears to not be able to stop moving. He is literally in a different position every time we see him. Now he is laying across the top of my stomach. He also continues to grow like crazy. Now weighing a whopping 3 pounds!!!  That puts him somewhere in the 70th percentile for growth (typically twins are down in the low 30th percentile) so needless to say, they are very pleased with their growth. His heart rate is 138.

Our little girl continues to remain in the same position she started in. She is on my right side with her head down low....VERY LOW.  She is pressing right up against my cervix. Her heart rate is 143 and she is weighing 2 pounds 14 ounces (which places her somewhere in the 60th percentile).

I am currently showing no signs of any preterm labor...thank goodness. I have started to swell in my legs and feet, but my blood pressure looks good, so no worries there...just an annoyance I guess. My uterus is measuring at 39 weeks, so this would be as big as I would get...I don't think that's going to be the case here :)

I did get a couple more ultrasound pictures....no 3D ones again this time, so none of them are really that great. We are in Brandon for the weekend, but I will try and get some posted when I get back home and get them scanned into the computer.

I will also get some pictuers posted of our progress on the babies bedroom. We have the room painted, and I think it turned out really great!

I have another quick appointment in 2 weeks and we do our next ultround in 4 weeks.

Just a couple of things I found out at my appointment yesterday:

*my glucose testing turned out just fine

*I will be checked every appointment now to see if there are any signs of preterm labor...as of yesterday, nothing!

*babies heartrates are looking good at 142 and 145

*my hemoglobin levels were low and of concern. They will start me on iron supplements (and warned me that I should be adding some good doses of fiber into my diet to help alleviate any side effects...great, just what I need)

*my uterus is measuring 36 weeks...almost full term. I understand that when she measures my uterus like that, it's comparing it to a singleton pregnancy. And, I realize that the reason I'm measuring big is because I'm carrying two babies. However, it puts things in a little more perspective for me. It makes me feel a little more comfortable knowing that there is a reason I am feeling like a moose at only 26 weeks! It gives me a little comparison

*my doctor stated again that if we can get me to 36 weeks, that would be absolutely fantastic! If I make it that far but don't start labor on my own, they will induce me somewhere between 37 and 38 weeks. She said it's more likely for me to expect to go somewhere between the 34 and 35th week. It'll be interesting to see how the next couple of months play out.

*we go back again in 2 weeks. At that time we will have another ultrasound...I'm excited to see how much they've grown

Lately...

I'm not doing a very good job at keeping everyone posted as to what's been going on in the Finke household. I suppose it's time to share a little with you about what we've been up to.....

On April 24th, the last of our "group" celebrated their wedding day. It was beautiful. Congratulations Jeff and Emily!!!

Some back yard work. When we re-sided our house last fall we had to pull the deck away from the house and then that's where it sat...mangled/crooked/ripped apart...all winter long. Cody was able to find some beautiful weather to spend tearing it apart and cleaning up the mess. Although we're without a deck, it looks so.much.better.

Attempting to get some organizing accomplished. Our third bedroom in our house is basically an all-purpose room. Our laundry is in this room, and I've never been happy about our "system." It's kind of a throw-your-clothes-on-the-floor-and-sort-through-as-you-wash type system. But because it's a room we use often, we really needed to get things "cleaned up" a bit. Here is what I came up with. Everything is sorted. And the best part-no more clothes all over the floor.

 I LOVE IT!!

A visit from my sister and my niece Khloe. It was AWESOME to see them!! Khloe has grown so much from the last time I saw her. She is definitely going to grow up way too fast and having them so far away makes it super hard when they have to leave. She is just soo darn precious. Thanks girls for visiting!!

It's taken us a while to get the babies room cleaned out and in the process we've been working on preparing for a rummage. It's been so hard to get in that room, because every time we walk in there...we just stand there and stare at it. We've been stalling because we have absolutely no where to put the stuff that needs to come out. My family came over one day and helped me tackle it. We had so many rubbermaid totes around our house just piled with "stuff" that the only option for it, was to sell it. I just love this picture...this is where I found Cody that afternoon. Apparently he felt he needed a nap. (can you see him back there?)

FINALLY, we are starting to work on getting the babies room ready to go. Now that it's empty we are excited to get it painted and get the furniture in there. Cody absolutely HATES to paint, but this is one project that he has been looking forward to and has wanted to do all on his own. We'll keep you updated with the progress, but for now...the ceiling is all the further we've gotten:

And, if you haven't noticed...I have not been overly excited to be in any pictures lately. I am much more content being on the opposite end of the camera. But here is my latest "tummy shot" at 26 weeks. Holy Cow huh? The babies are certainly growing and I am becoming increasingly uncomfortable.

A couple of weeks ago, when I mentioned the terrible pubic bone pain that I've been experiencing and the dr. warned me that it's only going to get worse. I actually kind of laughed to myself because I thought "how could this get any worse?" Well, let me tell you.....it has certainly gotten worse!! I am finding it getting harder to walk and I already feel like I've got the "pregnant walk" going...yuck...I'm only 26 weeks! At night, while in bed, is the absolute worst. I have always been one who flops and turns during the night, and this is what causes me the most pain. It is so bad sometimes that I literally feel like I could throw up. Cody has been so great through it all...helping me roll over and get out of bed the "millions" of times that I need to get up and use the bathroom throughout the night.

But enough complaining...we'll get through it.

I have my 2-week check up tomorrow, the 6th. No ultrasounds this time, just a quick check. I will also be doing my glucose tolerance test to check for gestational diabetes.

So there you have it. A little bit of what we've been doing the last few weeks. I actually can't give myself much credit...that's got to go my amazing husband!!!

growing babies

My monthly ultrasound delivered more good news. Today an echocardiogram, to take a closer look at their hearts, was completed attempted on both babies. Baby boy was a little uncooperative, therefore they weren't able to get everything they needed off of him (he's already starting to remind me of his father).  Baby girl's heart looks great and looking at the little bit they were able to see today, they are not expecting anything out of the ordinary on baby boy either. They'll try again when I go back in 4 weeks. But for now, what a great relief!

I was a little shocked to hear how much they've grown in the last 4 weeks. Apparently mommy is feeding them well :)  Little Miss is weighing in at 1pound 10ounces (66th percentile) and our little man is weighing in at 1pound 11ounces (75th percentile)!!!  These would be weights they would expect to see in a singleton pregnancy at this stage in the game. So to see that both of them were gaining good weight is pretty fantastic. My expanding abdomen gave me a pretty good idea that they were growing healthily! My uterus is now measuring at 33 weeks...yikes! I can't imagine what the next 3 months will bring.

With the ultrasound focusing primarily on their hearts today, I did not get very good pictures :(  I got a couple of profile pictures, but nothing clear enough that would even be worth posting. At the end when they tried to go back and get some 3D pictures, both babies had already flipped over and were facing down... so I didn't get any of them either. I kind of feel a little robbed!!  Oh well, it was great to be able to see them again. Both continue to be very active...it's quite the show sometimes.

My doctor wants to start seeing me every two weeks now. She said if anything were to start happening, as far as preterm labor, it would be starting around this time, so she just wants to keep a closer eye on me. My ultrasounds will continue to be every 4 weeks. She said 24 weeks is a magical number, because at 24 weeks babies are able to survive outside of the womb. We obviously don't want to see them yet, so we will continue to make baby steps and make sure they stay put for a while.

crazy kids

I'm finding it a little hard to imagine that literally two weeks ago, I was waiting to feel that little flutter coming from within. Now...the babes are at it full force (ok maybe not quite full force yet, but active none the less). Wow. What an amazing feeling. It certainly isn't a little flutter anymore and when I lift my shirt and look down at my tummy, I can see the jumping from all sides. Most of the time I can even tell who it's coming from. They must sleep with me during the night (which is nice they are not keeping me awake, for now) and are awake with me ALL day long. Cody has gotten to see it a few times and we both are just smitten!!

**My next appointment is on Wednesday, April 21st

Happy Easter

Happy moments, praise God.

Difficult moments, seek God.

Quiet moments, worship God.

Painful moments, trust God.

Every moment, thank God.

21 weeks

So here I am at 21 weeks, pregnant with twins. I never, EVER, thought I would be sharing my pictures for the world to see. But it seems like the further along I get, and the bigger I get, it is becoming more important to me that I document some of these life changing moments. And because I'm documenting them...I guess that means you all get to see too :)

I have felt like these last 5 days or so, I have just ballooned out and have felt very uncomfortable. Yuck. I have also been starting to notice some AWFUL pubic bone pain. Any activity that involves me lifting one leg at a time or parting my legs, lifting my leg to put on clothes, getting out of a car, bending over, sitting down or getting up, walking up stairs, standing on one leg, and walking in general tend to be very painful. Oh yeah, and turning over in bed is especially excruciating.

I also had my first "pregnancy leg cramp" last night...to be exact it was about 4:24am. I woke up screaming and it left me completely paralyzed. I have been noticing some mild cramping in my legs the last couple of weeks so I warned Cody and gave him specific instructions as to how to help me through a severe cramp. I was rolling over in bed when it hit me...and that's when I couldn't move. Cody took it like a champ. He woke up from a deep sleep, ripped off the covers, and was down at my foot to help me stretch within .5 seconds. What a guy!!

I am really looking forward to a few days off...5 if anyone is counting. Of course there are a million things that could be done around the house, but I am hoping for some time to just relax too. As I'm just finishing up, I can feel the babies moving around like crazy. I think I forgot to mention in my last post that I have now discovered their movements. It's still pretty faint, but I definitely know it is them, and I am definitely excited!!

new addition to the family

For those of you who don't know yet, I was blessed with a niece on Saturday, March 27th at 1:07pm. My sister gave birth to a beautiful baby girl, Khloe Ann Krohn, weighing in at 9lbs. 8oz!

WE ARE SOO HAPPY SHE'S HERE!!!!!

Mom, dad, and baby have settled in back at home and are all doing well.

Welcome Little Miss

I must admit, Des Moines has now become WAYYYY too far away. I am addicted to this little girl and absolutely cannot wait to go back and see her.

LOVE THEM!!

I honestly can't tell you how lucky we feel to be able to get to watch our babies grow and check in on them every month...what a great feeling. They're getting so big!! Our ultrasound today lasted about 90 minutes. Yikes! That's kind of a long time to have someone pressing on your belly...but I must admit, we I kind of liked it. They finished the remaining anatomy measurements, but they didn't even do the echocardiogram today. We visited with the Perinatologist for a while and he thought everything looked great!  Always good news to hear. Some updates:

*we still are carrying a boy and a girl, definitely confirmed today :)

*baby A (girl) is weighing in at 13 ounces with overall development in the 54th percentile

*baby B (boy) is also weighing in at 13 ounces and in the 57th percentile of development

*i am currently 20 weeks and 1 day, and both babies are measuring at 20 weeks and 5 days

*my uterus is measuring as a 29 week singleton pregnancy

*baby boy gave us a big yawn today....he must have been feeling a little bored today like his daddy

Here are a few pictures:

*baby girl profile

*baby boy profile

*boy parts!!

*3D pic of baby boy (face looking straight up at us)

*3D pic of baby girl...don't you just love her beautiful smile!?!

Kind of an amazing day huh?

Oh, by the way....I'm still waiting to start feeling some movement. It amazes me to see how active they are and to think I can't feel that. It's gotta be any day now :)

a day for organizing

Seriously, some days I look around our house and wonder....where in the world are we going to put everything to bring two new babies home here???  And then I start to panic a little bit. So Saturday was a day dedicated to just that...making more room. I started in the kitchen. I emptied out all of our kitchen cabinets onto the dining room floor. We then put contact paper down on all of the shelves and in the drawers (thanks mom and dad!) and then found new homes for everything, making sure we had empty spaces for all of the babies needs. We don't have a lot of cabinet space, so everything just had to be rearranged to make it a little more functional for us. This ended up being an all day project, but I sure am glad it's done!!

**We actually ran out of contact paper, so a couple of the bottom shelves are not re-stocked, but it's close enough to being finished that I feel comfortable calling it "done" :)

half way point

Holy Crap....where did this time go???  I am 19 weeks today, and because my doctor won't let me go past 38 weeks, that makes us at the half way point. Yikes!! I know that it's been the easier half, but it literally feels like yesterday that we were given our exciting news. Things are continuing to go well for all of us. Besides currently batting a yucky sinus infection, I have been very healthy. We go in again for our next ultrasound next Thursday the 25th.  I can't wait! Unfortunately I am STILL waiting to feel something, anything!! I am starting to get a little impatient because I know how active the two of them are in there, I just wish I could feel it!

Cody has been very busy the last few days with all of this melting snow. The lift station pumps have not been able to keep up, so he has been trying to deal with that. Once he gets home from work, he heads out every couple of hours, including setting his alarm clock throughout the night to get up every 2-3 hours to check on it. With me being sick, and him coming and going all night, we are certainly not getting the sleep we need. I feel like this may be God's little way of preparing us for what's ahead :)

P.S. Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!

March 8, 2010...marvelous multiples

Things are continuing to go very well for us. I wish I could come up with something to get on here and write about, but it just seems like our life is not that interesting right now! We did go to a class yesterday afternoon at Sanford called "Marvelous Multiples." I think we both took a lot out of it. We were only with two other couples who are also expecting twins, but we also got to meet with some others who were parents of multiples, hear their stories, and get their "advice." We took a tour of the birth place and also were able to walk through the NICU....wow, what an experience. It was kind of a shock to all of us. The nurse gave us the statistics that approximately 60% of women expecting twins will go into preterm labor, anything before 37 weeks. Any babies born preterm will go into the NICU. She also shared that, even if we go to full term (for twins), only about 20% of twins will go to the regular newborn nursery...the rest of them go to NICU. Again, a shock to us. So, we got the tour and a folder of information in hopes to prepare ourselves for what is most likely to happen. Although, we like to think positively and know nothing is 100%, so we will pray that everything continues to stay great and we are the ones taking our babies home with us!

I am absolutely amazed to think that in about a week, I will be halfway through my pregnancy!! It just doesn't seem possible. With that said....I told Cody, we must be kicking it into high gear around this house and getting things organized and ready for two new babies. I am still waiting patiently, very patiently, for these two kiddos to start making their presence known. I am sure I will regret this one day, but I cannot wait to start feeling them!! It should be any day now.

By the way, I am getting pretty close to becoming a first time aunt. My sister is due in about 4 weeks......and let me tell you, she is BEYOND ready to be done. She is miserable and ready for that baby to come out. She's a little nervous about the whole thing, but I am sooo stinkin' excited to have her here I CAN HARDLY STAND IT!!!  Come soon baby Krohn!!

February 24, 2010...It's A....

Nothing like making everybody wait all day huh?? Well I have been extremely frustrated with my internet as it has not been working well the last few days and I was not able to get on at all this afternoon until now.

We had a wonderful and LONG appointment today. They did an anatomy scan, and the babies cooperated enough so that we were able to see the really important anatomy (in our opinion).........

Yep, a boy AND a girl!!!!!!!!!!  We are sooooo excited!!!!!! I think Cody's brother Travis said it the best..."you guys are just receiving blessing after blessing" and we are. We are reminded of God's grace every single day and try not to take a minute of it for granted.

Baby A is the girl. She is on my right side with her head down and feet up. She is weighing 6oz. and has a heart rate of 153. In this picture, her head is at the top and she is looking off to the left. You can kind of see her ear and just underneath she has both of her hands pulled up to her neck area.

Baby B is the boy. He is more in the middle, but off to the left a little. He has his feet down at the bottom with his head towards my ribs. He is weighing 5oz. with a heart rate of 155 (we were very glad to hear that both babies heart rates had come down so significantly). Here his head is at the top with his face looking right towards us, however both of his hands are up right in front of his eyes. Notice baby A's head down towards his legs, just off to the left.

This next picture shows the two of them together. Baby A is on the left with her head at the bottom. You can follow her body up and then her legs are pulled in tightly at the top. Baby B is on the right with his head at the top. You can see his arm pulled up over his ear. They look to be very close, however they are separated by a pretty thick membrane where they are each in their own placenta. These pictures just amaze me. It's awesome to see how much they've grown since we last saw them. I feel very blessed that we get to see them once a month and actually get to watch them grow.

Both babies continue to be extremely active, and everything looked so good today! The doctors were very pleased. After our ultrasound we met with the Perinatologist. He specializes in high risk pregnancies and will keep an eye on us throughout the rest of my pregnancy. He discussed the fact that babies conceived through IVF have a slightly higher risk of birth defects, one specifically being a heart defect. At our next ultrasound, they will get the rest of the anatomy measurements that they were unable to get today, but they will also try to do an ECHO on each of the babies. This will help them to detect any type of heart defect.

Another thing that they will continue to look for, right up until the end, will be the length of my cervix. A big concern with carrying twins is having cervical incompetence. This is where the cervix gets shorter and shorter and is unable to tolerate and hold the babies. My cervix today was measuring nice and long so they said that looked great!! The doctor took a measurement of my uterus and thought I was measuring right around 25 weeks. This means, if I was carrying a single baby, my uterus is measuring at the size I should be at 25 weeks, even though I am only 16 weeks. So it's no wonder I feel like I am getting big soo fast!!

We must have misunderstood someone along the lines when we thought we were going to start going every two weeks. Today we understood that they would start seeing us every month. Our next appointment is scheduled for March 25th.

February 9, 2010...second trimester

I know, I know, I have been horrible about blogging lately. But honestly, there is really nothing new to share. This is the last week of my first trimester. It's amazing to think that tomorrow I will already be starting on the second...where has the time gone??  A little update to my most popular question "how are you feeling?" Initially it was awful. I was sick all the time with an overall feeling of nauseousness ALL THE TIME. I am glad that constant feeling has subsided, however I continue to be sick often. It's completely random though and I haven't really been able to link it to anything. Completely out of the blue I will be running to the bathroom to hug the toilet. Cody usually responds with "seriously? what just happened there?" I have been lucky though, and haven't had any spells during the day while at work. It usually happens in the morning or at night, while i'm able to be in the comfort of my own home.

Our next appointment will be February 24th. I can't believe how excited we are to be able to see them again. It feels like this has been such a long wait. I will be 16 weeks, and our doctor told us there MIGHT be a possibility we could find out the sex at this appointment. We absolutely cannot wait to find that out and are hoping they cooperate. If we don't find out this time around, it most likely will be the next one. We are excited to get rolling on the babies room and will feel much more organized once we know the sex!