webcam and update

For anyone interested, we have purchased a webcam so that family members anywhere in the country can see the twins. If you have MSN and want us to add you as a contact, let us know.

In other news, according to the doctor, Thursday, the girls are doing great. Lucy's cardiologist appointment also went well and they don't want to see her again until March.

I've been worn out this week for some reason. I'm not sure why as nothing has really changed much. The girls were sleeping more fitfully I guess but they are having a growth spurt I think. Chris is now home for the holidays so the extra help will be nice...and of course it will be nice having him around, for me, as well. We are just transitioning the girls to eating every 4 hours during the day rather than every three so it's a bit of a mess at the moment but they are slowly accepting it. Thank goodness it hasn't affected thier night sleep that much and we are still able to sleep about 7 hours a night.

I guess that's all the news here. Happy holidays to all who check this!

What?

fun with toys

Gone gone gone

Mom left yesterday morning. I dropped her off at the airport around 8 am...Jannis watched the girls. I was sad, I miss her already! Jannis stuck around for the morning and then Denise popped by in the afternoon so I had company, which was nice. It seems very quiet here today. I guess I will have to get used to it.
Our computer has been acting up. I am not sure what is happening, according to our antivirus software we do not have a virus but I am not convinced. Too many things are going wrong. I've got to get wireless set up so I can use my mac again and avoid these PC problems.

Grey Cup & Canasta

Haha, All the Dodd's came over yesterday for the grey cup and I don't even know who won! I think it was the BC Lions, given the amount of yelling going on in the living room! It's been pretty loud here before but I think that was the loudest it has been. Reminded me of dinners at Grammie Donaher's sometimes! Haha. Jannis and Adrian left not to long after the game ended and the rest of us re-learned or learned to play Canasta, we only had time for one game, which Denise and Emily won. Mom and I did okay, but Chris and Bill didn't do so great at all. It was pretty amusing for us as those two are so competitive. It was also funny for me to see Emily gloat as she's not so competitive but has to listen to Bill's or her kids gloating all that time...hahaha. All in a fairly enjoyable day. It's always interesting getting the Dodd's together! I think we will be playing more of Canasta, I always enjoy games of chance.

no news

No real news to report. The girls have discovered EACH OTHER! Woo. It's pretty exciting for them I think. If you hold them up so they can look at each other they have a great time smiling, cooing and laughing at the faces the other is making. It's pretty adorable. We've always thought it so strange that although they bop each other on the head etc. while lying next to each other they don't seem to be aware that there is another baby next to them. I've tried to take some video of the mutual discovery but I'm not sure how that has worked. I had some trouble with the camera (needing a new tape at a time when you have to be quick, argh!)
Chris has gone and returned on his first foray into the field since the girls were born. I think he enjoyed it. It wasn't all that strange for me as mom is still here but it will be different once I'm on my own I think!
The girls are still growing gangbusters, Lucy's closing in on 10 lbs and Kate is nearly 11 lbs now.
Chris and I took the girls and went to Babies' R' Us yesterday. That was fun. We bought a few cute outfits. We also met another woman who has a 3 month old boy with a heart condition as well. I can't remember the name of his condition but he had one heart surgery at 2 daysold and another one yesterday...he will have his first open heart surgery at around a year I guess. I think she said he will have 8 procedures by the time he's done with them as an adult. I think Lucy will have 4. She was a really nice woman and I am going to try to stay in touch. It's nice to meet someone who is dealing with the same sort of thing.
I guess that's all the news here!

Kate and Lucy take it easy

Angioplasty done!

Lucy's angioplasty went well. She went in at around 8:30am on the 30th and was into recovery about 10:45am. She spent the night at the hospital and all was well so she came home this morning around 10am. The pressure in her heart is now down to 35...which is about what it was when she was born...but it is not supposed to go increase quickly like it did before the procedure. There is no leakage in the heart like they expected might happen and her femoral artery seems to have suffered no ill effects from having the larger tube inserted in it. All in all very good news.!

Flu??

It appears that at least one of our little charges has a stomach bug. I called the nurses' hotline last night and they sent me in to the hospital because they were pooing more than 'normal'. I guess because they are less than 90 days old they are at a much higher risk for dehydration . They are both fine but the Dr's want the girls to be fed at least on thier 3 hours schedule during the day and more often if they want it...thankfully they didn't think I should wake them to feed if they are sleeping well at night because they've just begun sleeping longer periods at night. They should be fine though, they seem to be doing a bit better today (although I am a lot more tired because of the hospital run! Thankfully Chris stayed at home in bed so I got to sleep a bit more when I got home because he got up!) Mom is now not feeling well, and a few days ago I was the one feeling a bit ill so I think they might be sick from me...although it seems to be hitting them harder...I suppose thier size might factor in there...but that doesn't explain poor mom who doesn't ever seem to get the flu!

Gifts for girls

If any of you that check this blog that are inclined to get the girls something for Christmas.. this is for you. (We don't expect anything from anyone...but just in case!!)
As the girls are so young and won't appreciate 'stuff' we would really like to max out their RESP for this year. So, you can donate money to them...if you would prefer doing it directly rather than through us we can give you our agent's number and she can take money out of your bank account. If in the unlikely event that we end up maxing it ourselves any 'donations' would go towards thier RESP next year.
IF you were thinking of getting them anything!!!
Thanks!!

Girls update

The girls are growing like crazy it seems. Kate is now 8 lbs 13 oz and Lucy is 7 lbs 15.5 oz, so she's almost 8 lbs. Kate continues to grow a bit faster than Lucy so she's almost a pound larger now! It really shows (as I'm sure you can tell in the pictures). Both girls are doing well. Kate no longer has her projectile spit ups since we switched her to liquid formula (as opposed to the powder) and Lucy's gas seems to be a bit less. Lucy gets all the breast milk so her gas baffled me a bit but I guess some babies gastrointestinal stuff just matures a bit more slowly.
Lucy's angioplasty is scheduled for October 30th, first thing in the morning so I think she has to be at the hospital around 6 am. We get more details next Thursday. I guess after the surgery she will be growing a little more slowly for a bit until her body heals and readjusts but I'm sure she will eventually catch Kate up...I kind of hope she won't though...if she doesn't it will always be that much easier to tell them apart!
They are becoming more and more alert every day and often hold thier heads up quiet well. It's an adventure for sure!

a couple of pictures

these will be added to the album with others but I liked these ones. They were all taken today and on Sunday.

Lucy's 2nd Cardiologist visit

Chris and I took Lucy for her second visit to the cardiologist today (we left Kate home with my Dad). She was well behaved for her echo cardiogram and her ECG, thankfully.
So the news is: Her 'pressure' is up to 80+ (from 30 at birth and 60 our last visit) but Dr. Duncan thinks that it will plateau there. It is not good for it to be so high though so her first angioplasty will be scheduled for October 30th or 31st. Before it is scheduled Dr. Duncan will be presenting her information to a team of Dr's and surgeons and seeing if they agree with his consensus, which they likely will, and then the appointment will be booked. They figure that it will be booked for 8am, which means we will have to be there for 6:30. The procedure will likely take 3 hours from start to finish. It has a very high success rate but there is some risk that her femoral artery, through which they thread the cathater, may get damaged to some degree. As a result they will be keeping her over night and she should be able to go home by noon the next day, assuming all is well. It's a lot to take in but we are optimistic, even though having a 'date' makes the whole thing a little more real, and so a little more nerve-wracking.
Anyway, keep those prayers and the positive thoughts coming her way please! Thanks!

Photo's again

I moved the photo albums to the bottom of the page as I might end up adding more (as I just did)...

Photo's

So, now we can add photo's to an album! Check it out. See link above....

Funny pictures, 'the conversation' between Lucy and Kate

Rusty in the tree

Here is a lovely photo of Rusty in a tree that Matt took on Rusty's birthday, July 7th.

Random pictures

Rusty and his namesake 'Rusty' the stuffed dog. This is how Rusty got his name. :) And yes he gets attention now the girls are here.




Kate and Lucy in Sarah H's onesies, I like this one 'cuz it shows how small and LONG they were!!

Should have put this pic up sooner

This is our first 'family' picture, haha. Taken on September 2nd, the day after we got home from the hospital...Also the girls first outing in the stroller (which we agree was worth the money we paid!)

Dr's appointments

So, Mom left Tuesday morning just before our first Dr's appointments...but we are all doing fine on our own so far.
The visit to Dr. Jane Hailey (our pediatrician) went well. She was pleased with the girls weight gain and in general...that's was good. We got our questions answered and found it to be a helpful visit over all.
Today we went to see the cardiologist for Lucy. They did another echo cardiogram, and an ECG. The Cardiogram showed that her 'pressure' has gone up from 30 to 60, which is within the range at which they do the first angioplasty. She is still too small to do it though, Dr. Walter Duncan felt that if they were to do the procedure now they would be putting the artery in her thigh at risk because of the tools they would have to use, so they want to see her again in a month to see if she has gained enough weight to do the procedure. (Apparently they could damage the artery causing reduced blood flow the rest of her life.) She is doing well though, at the moment, her heart is coping well so he figures it could wait, we will just have to monitor her.
Despite the news that she will likely have to undergo the angioplasty before too long she is doing well over all and that is good.

Picnic

The girls first picnic out on our patio the other day.

Girls in the sun

There, this is our new favourite picture..
Kate on the left, Lucy on the right.

A couple of pictures...we actually haven't taken many!

Kate (L) and Lucy (R) today at 1 week old...a bit sleepy after lunch. They got those onesies from Sarah Hughes...one of the only things that fit them well given that they are very long and skinny like thier Dad!











And...Kate and Lucy at one day old...funny faces! Too bad they had so many wires attached to them!

The first few days

Sunday morning arrived and I was able to get up and have a shower. I was moving painfully slow and had to sit to shower but it was great. After eating Chris wheeled me down to the nursery to see the girls and I finally got to hold Kate.

Over the course of the day we had a few visitors, mostly family but also Shannon, Meridith and Geno. As the day passed we spent time with the girls and got as many updates from the nurses and Dr's as we could regarding thier health. By the end of the day we found out that they had heart murmers that would be looked at more the next day. Apparently it's common for many people and I discovered that I also had one at birth!

On Monday they did a echo cardiogram on Lucy to check out her heart, apparently they were more concerned about her. We heard nothing that day except that they could not come upstairs yet.
Over the course of these days I attempted to learn breastfeed and learned to pump milk. Time passed.

Tuesday we got word that the Dr's were going to speak to us about Lucy and were double checking Kate. We found out that Lucy has an 'aortic stenosis'. In the early afternoon we got to sit down with the cardiologist and find out just what aortic stenosis meant besides narrowing of an artery.

An aortic stenosis is an narrowing of the artery leading FROM the heart to the rest of the body. So blood moves in just fine but encounters trouble getting into the rest of the body. It's hard to explain without diagrams but it essentially means that unlike many heart defects this one will get worse as she gets older. The first step in caring for this condition is doing a balloon angioplasty in which a tube is passed through a vein in the thigh and through that defective artery where the balloon expands allowing easier blood flow. This is done once or twice, but not more often as it can create leakage. The next step in managing this condition is an open heart surgery called a Ross Procedure. When this is done they replace the defective artery with the 'other' artery that pumps blood into the heart as this artery grows well with the heart and then replacing the 'other' artery with a donor artery or a artery made out of a cows jugular. This will ensure that it will grow with Lucy. As she gets older this artery will need to be replaced but hopefully not until the final surgery which is done once she is an adult and not growing anymore. They then replace it with one made of plastic or I think metal. This situation is slightly more complicated because she is a girl as if she wants to have children she cannot have this final surgery until after she has children as she would have to be on blood thinners. The donor or jugular artery cannot be permenant because the body eventually rejects them, depositing calcium on them until they can no longer function.
There is a resource family in Vancouver who will talk to people whose children who will be going through this who also have twins. Thier daughter (the one twin) had it a bit worse than Lucy and has already had 3 surgeries by the time she was 6...so that gave us a bit of a time line.
We will have a whole team of Doctors, some of whom are the leading Doctors in Canada in this area and will be followed closely by the girls pediatrician who is also one of the best around.

We dealt well with the news I think, mainly feeling sorry and sad that Lucy will have to go through this, but are glad she will have such good care. Kate is fine, with the same kind of heart murmer I had, I can't remember the name...transitory or something. Lucy should still have good quality of life, and be quite normal except tiring and such nearing the times she will need surgery. The procedures have a very high success rate and those who have the congenital heart defect such as Lucy's will usually lead perfectly normal lives.

Anyway, the good news was that Kate got to come up to our room on Tuesday as well. It was hard to seperate them but it was nice to have Kate. On Wednesday they decided that Kate needed phototherapy for Jaundice (which seemed apparent to me) and so was put in an incubator again under lights but still stayed in our room. Lucy was also allowed to come up to our room on Wednesday. Then by late night (around 11:30pm!) they decided Lucy also needed phototherapy and so they brought in another incubator and lights. SO, we spent some time moving the room around to fit everything in and thus a weird blue glow was cast over our room all night. :) Thursday Kate was taken off of phototherapy and Lucy spent one more night under her lights. Since the kids were born I'd not got much sleep but I still think it was a wake up for me and even more for Chris (who'd been sleeping at night because he didn't have nurses checking him all the time) to have the girls in the room. We put them on an every three hour feeding schedule which means we get 1 1/2 to 2 hours sleep in between feedings. Friday evening we were given the go ahead to leave. YAY! So, one week after being induced the girls came home.

Our first night at home was great. I actually fell asleep right away when I went to bed, unlike the 1/2 an hour to an hour it would take me EVERY time in the hospital. I got a good bit of sleep as did Chris, thanks to mom's help for a couple of feedings. We haven't done much today, just relaxed and visited with Chris' family who came over. We all went for a walk to Trout Lake today. I'm walking pretty slowly (didn't realize how little I was walking when in the hospital!!) but it was nice to get out.

The labour

The girls are finally here. Kate Emily Dodd was born at 8:08pm on August 26th and only 3 minutes later at 8:11pm Lucy Olivia Dodd was born. Lucy was breech and was fished out with the help of Dr. Woo, who was on call at the time.

I went in at 11:00am on Friday the 25th to be induced (37 weeks along). They finally inserted proglastin gel at around 3pm, which softens the cervix and is a bit more natural than the alternate oxytocin. It stimulates the cervix to begin to 'ripen' and so brings on contractions. I was monitored for about 2 hours and then sent home. I began contractions immediately after given the gel and by the time I was sent home they had become somewhat regular and further apart (the first hour was one on top of the other but not super strong). I was having them fairly regular at about 30 then 20 minutes apart and decided to go have a shower to help me relax. That was great. Upon emerging from the shower I had a strong contraction which didn't seem to let up. I crawled just outside the bathroom and laid on the floor for a good 20 minutes having contractions one on top of the other again but quite painful. I had Chris call the hospital (I was supposed to wait for them to come 5 min's apart but never really had that interval) and they said to come right in. I discovered when finally leaving the house that I could barely walk and the ride to the hospital again was not fun. Once at the hospital we were settled into a new room with a twin room attached and they began to monitor the baby's and my contractions again. It was pretty clear to them they would not be sending me back home and began all the procedures to get me onto some drugs so I would get some relief. Let me tell you I wanted it! They tried to give me 'laughing gas' (nitrous oxide) but it just made me gag so I opted to deal with the pain for the moment...although periodically I did attempt to make use of it. Once they inserted an I.V. they injected me with nitrous (I didn't hear them call it anything else) which did take the edge off. Next came the epidural, which did offer quite a bit of relief. I got these medications about an hour and a half after I got there and was so relieved to get them. I could not believe how anyone could go through the whole labour like that but apparently most people do not have contractions on top of one another, there IS a bit of a rest in between to regroup (so I'm told). Anyway, we were told to try to sleep and about 2 pm Chris got to sleep but what with the monitoring and checks mom and I didn't sleep more than an hour. They had to keep quite a close eye on the activities of the twins as those type of contractions can be quite hard on babies but they tolerated it well. I attempted to doze off and on throughout the day on Saturday. Chris' family was in and out visiting and I kept occupied talking to the nurses and mom. At some point they put in a catheter which I hated because I could feel it even though they said I shouldn't feel much and would get used to it. Around 4:30 I awoke from a doze to find I needed to have a bowel movement (so I thought). The nurse told me I didn't and she would get the Dr. that was on call at the time. At about this time I began to feel my contractions again to make me uncomfortable and I started using the self administering button for the epidural. After about an hour and a half of waiting for the Dr. (who was in the O.R.) he finally arrived and they found that I was fully dialated and ready to push. This was great news for me but I was wondering why the epidural didn't seem to be working so well. No answer was forthcoming. So began the pushing. It was painful but managable for awhile. Chris and mom were a big help in supporting me and helping me to push. As time passed the pain got increasingly worse and they got the anesthesiologist to try and figure out what was going wrong with the epidural. That was never figured out and by the end of my labour they had me on the same amount as they give some one for a c-section and were also topping it up periodically. I was still in A LOT of pain. Anyway, after an hour and a half or so of pushing (I have no idea of the actual time frame, this is what I was told, it seemed like forever), they decided that as Baby A (Kate) was not moving into position and may have been loosing oxygen they would use the vaccuum to get her out. I think the insertion of this was one of the most painful things ever. They asked me to tell them if I wanted them to stop but when I did they kept on. It was good they did in the end but no fun at the time. So after that when I pushed they pulled and Kate was out in a matter of minutes. I actually got to see her being born as I was mostly upright as was comfortable for me, but was so exhausted I just laid there dull eyed for what must have only been a few seconds before they said they were going in for Baby B (Lucy). I thought the vaccuum, then Kate's head was bad in terms of pain but having the Dr, who did not have small hands, reach up to figure out how she was sitting was BAD. The found her to be breech still and so pulled her out feet first. This part was horrible because of the finding of Lucy but also because they made me lay flat which was NOT comfortable...but on the up side once they got her feet she was out in a matter of mintues and I barely even noticed her head exit. I didn't get to see her being born due to my position but I think I wouldn't have noticed much by then anyway.

They whisked the babies to the twin room while I was stiched up. Thankfully I didn't have an episiotomy which I really didn't want, but I did tear a bit. Unfortunately the local they gave me for the stiching didn't work so hot either but in comparison to labour I could tolerate that pain. (although I did grumble and harrass the Dr. doing the stiching, but good naturedly.) Some time later I got to meet Lucy (and hold her for a few minutes), before they took her and Kate to the nursery. Kate had a lack of oxygen and they both were breathing a little fast and so had to be monitored. Chris went with the girls while I waited until they were finished with me in the delivery room. Another 1/2 hour to an hour later I got to go to the nursery in my new friend the wheelchair to see the girls and was then wheeled to my room.

Still no Babies!!

It has been a while since I last wrote. As you can see from the title, even though it is now nearing the end of August the babies still have yet to be born. I have been in for a couple of Dr's appointments now and as of the latest one they plan to induce me. I didn't think I would make it to my next ultrasound but my next ultrasound is on Thursday! I got word that they plan to induce me on Friday although no specific time slotted due to the unpredictabilty of space etc. Apparently I will get a phone call sometime in the morning on Friday, could be early or later afternoon... That will be a tough wait if it's later!!

Anyway, things are fine. There isn't anything to do around the house now, we've even baked (more mom that me) ourselves out. Just waiting now.

Latest Ultrasound and Move

The move went well on Monday I think. I can't speak for the folks doing the actual move (thanks to Bill, Jannis, Steph, Charles and of course Chris), but that seemed to go smoothly. The unpacking and settling in also went well here (thanks to Emily, Denise, and mom). Several items we managed to get unpacked as things were coming in so by the end of the day the kitchen and bathrooms were more or less set up. Bill and Emily were also kind enough to take some things to the Salvation Army and to the garbage so what we did get through did not end up hanging around. Yay.
Tuesday Chris decided not to go to work and help unpack instead, and Denise came over again to help. We got a good portion of the loot unpacked and put away (although some stuff has to wait until we buy appropriate storage). Chris and Denise (with some help from Nic I think) got the changing table/dresser put together as well as both cribs, and the kitchen, bathrooms and bedrooms all got organized and finished. The livingroom/dining area/computer area also got all set up and hooked up. I'm glad I was able to book someone to come right on the 1st to hook up phone, cable and internet!!
Chris went to work today and Mom and I went back to the old place to do the final cleaning. Thank goodness the new folks are only moving in on the 15th and were just from downstairs, so are pretty flexible. Mom and I also managed to stop and pick up a couple of hooks and similar items for storage. We still need quite a few other items but we hope to get many of them at someplace like the Dollar store or Linens n' Things tomorrow. It will be nice to get that stuff dealt with and get my art/pictures hung so that this place feels more like our home...

My (likely last) ultrasound was today. It was interesting because although you could not see as much shape detail you could see way more organ detail. I thought the brains were especially neat. Anyway, the end result is that they are both doing great and have gained quite a bit of weight since last time. Baby A is now 5 to 5 1/2 lbs and Baby B is now 4 1/2 lbs to 5 lbs. So I am carrying 10lbs of baby now! No wonder I feel so heavy!!! The ultrasound guy told me that, as the twins are safe now, I could talk to my Doctor about when I wanted to have them. That came as a bit of a surprise because I didn't think I would have any say about when they were born, they would come when they were ready...but I guess once you pass this stage you can book a time to get induced or have a c-section. Weird. Anyway, I have a Dr's appointment tomorrow so I will talk to her about those options then. I am definately ready, physically, for them to be born. I am quite uncomfortable and what used to be my abdomen area is often quite painful and you definately can't touch anywhere near my belly button without pain. Ugh. Anyway, that's the baby info.

While mom and I were going through the check out after picking up the hooks the fella behind us heard us chatting about the upcoming births with the cashier and was quite interested when he heard we were expecting twins. Turns out he has twins that will be 1 on August the 17th. Identical boys. They were just outside so when we went out he followed us and introduced me to his family. They were pretty cute kids I must say. As he was white and mom was black the boys were the usual mix, and oddly, had blond hair. Dad must have been blond when young...but I couldn't tell them apart. Mom asked about telling them apart and he confessed that he still couldn't half the time, not unless they were side by side or he could see the cheek of one (who had a very small birthmark apparently). He said his wife gave him heck for it but even she got confused sometimes. It was really neat meeting them. I guess when she passed 34 weeks they planned a c-section for 37 weeks, and that's when they were born. She found it quite easy to deal with the c-section which put me at ease a bit. I was concerned about having a c-section and caring for twins after! (If I have to have one). Thier boys were both a good size, I think in the upper 5 lower 6 lb region when born but I can't quite remember. She said that she was quite nervous before the birth also but once past 34 weeks she figured there was no point to taking it really easy as they Dr's always reccomend. I can understand that. I can only take it so 'easy' without going stir crazy. I've been pretty tired since the move and my stupid arthritis is acting up but I still can't be still. I guess that's normal! One thing they both said is that you will get no sleep, even if they are on the same schedule. She said that one is much harder to put to sleep than the other and that makes keeping the schedule and getting sleep difficult. I haven't been getting much sleep for awhile anyway so I guess I will manage.

I'll try to remember to update tomorrow evening about any decisions made regarding 'delivery'.

Belly pic and more

Here is the big belly at 33 weeks Dad! Enjoy!

I'm even getting stretch marks, although you can't really tell in this photo. They aren't all that bad, nothing like I got when I hit puberty so I imagine they will fade pretty quick. The girls seem fine, I am growing every day and continually amazed at where they manage to get thier body parts!! Sometimes it can be pretty uncomfortable!! I will find out more next Wednesday at my ultrasound as to how they are really doing. I suspect they've put on a good bit of weight...due to the fact that I have new or longer marks each day.

Mom arrived on Wednesday past, we've managed to get in some errands, packing and relaxing in fairly equal measure. Thank goodness it's nice weather now, right around 20 the past few days and expected to stay like that for a little while. Last night we had thunder and lightening starting around 4:45 in the morning. I don't know how long it lasted, I only manged to stay awake to enjoy it for about 25 minutes...and mom said she was awake at 5:30 and didn't hear anything so perhaps it was short lived. It really freshened the air though. They are calling for heaving rainfall (only 2 inches though) for today, environment canada says it's only supposed to last the day though, and be decent tomorrow. Good thing, it wouldn't be fun moving in the rain. That said we were all pleased it cooled off from the hot weather, for the move... Mom and I have decided that we are going to stay at the new place and decide where we want things... and direct items from there as I think I would get stressed out not being able to do anything here. Thankfully Rusty is going to Dae's for the day and won't be under foot.

Well, I guess that's all there is to say at the moment. I must get back to the final packing and cleaning.

Nothing in particular

I am rather pleased. I was 32 weeks this past Friday, so that is good. Things are definately getting more uncomfortable lately...and now I even have a few small stretch marks. They are both sitting right on my pelvis with sometimes can be painful...and my lower back & hips often hurt...but I won't have that much longer to go...and the longer the better for the girls!
I've got most of the little stuff in the house packed now thankfully. All the boxes take up half of our spare room but I expected that. Still have a few things to pack, and most of the kitchen stuff then it's time to move! Hard to believe that we are moving a week tomorrow. I am so glad my mom is coming out to help with the move and the unpacking. I would've found it too overwhelming on my own. She arrives on Wednesday. I hope for her sake the heat lets up. It's been up around 30 C the past few days and more than that in our apartment each day. Ugh. Unbearable. I'd be much happier with temperatures closer to 20 C. :)
Rusty hates the heat too, he just mopes around, and doesn't even do a whole lot of running around at the park, although he does explore which I guess is better than laying around the apartment...I tend to agree though, it's nicer to sit around outside in the shade. We spent yesterday at Ambleside beach which was quite nice. We found a nice little knoll with a couple of trees on it right next to the beach to sit on so we lay our blanket there and relaxed. It had a great breeze and Rusty could still see us when he went down to the water. Today we had to get some shopping done, so Chris did that while Rusty and I went to Trout Lake. Not as nice as the beach but alright. I haven't been feeling great today so didn't enjoy myself as much as I could. Such is life.

Latest Twin news

It's a good thing I'd decided not to worry about Baby B, as it would have all been for naught. As I suspected she has flipped herself round again and is once more head down. She was doing more moving than I'd ever felt before on Wednesday and since then it's felt like she was kicking me in the ribs again, rather than my bladder. She has also grown quite a bit since the last ultrasound.
Unfortunately this does not mean I don't have to do another ultrasound for 4 weeks because Baby A has now decided not to grow. She's only grown 5 oz in the 2 weeks and a bit since my last ultrasound. Baby A and B are almost the same size now, both being around the 3 1/2 lb range, although Baby A still has a slight edge over B. So, I will be back again for another ultrasound on August 2nd. That was the next earliest date I thought I could manage given that we move on July 31st! I imagine it will likely be the last ultrasound as no one seems to think I will last much longer than that. I am hoping that they will be able to get up to 5lbs at least before they decide to come out. Fingers crossed!!

Into July now

It seems crazy that it's July already. It's hard to imagine that in 3 weeks we have to move and from that point on I could have the girls at anytime. Yikes!!
I've been going rather stir crazy here on my own from time to time but overall I've managed to keep busy. Still slowly packing. I've got much of the 'non-essential' stuff packed now, the boxes take up half the spare room! Still have more to go though. I have days where I get lots done and then others where I get next to nothing done...I guess that's no surprise.
I got my proofs back from the photographer. I liked many of them, but in the end have whittled them down to 7. (out of 70!) I plan on getting 6 5x7's and 1 8x10. The 8x10 is not one of my favourites becuase I'm kind of making a funny face but it's one of the few that have both Chris and I in it...which I think is nice for a large picture. I figure I'll post a few up here once I get the actual photo's back. I haven't ordered them yet so it will be a while.

Since my last post...

A few fun things have happened since I last posted. So, lets see...

Went to a BBQ at Chris' parents new place in Maple Ridge on the 17th, I contributed a BBQ corn recipe I had which was quite yummy I thought. Chris and I also brought Ostrich for the rest of the family to sample...I don't actually know how that went over as I forgot we'd brought it and didn't eat any myself. I did have a bite of Chris' steak and it was quite tasty...but I wasn't in much of a meat mood.
Chris' sister Denise and her boyfriend Stephan announced thier intention to marry this coming fall as well as the fact that they are expecting a baby in late December/early January. It will be neat. Our girls will have a cousin next door to play with aproximately the same age as them.

On the 18th Chris and I did our first 'face to face' meet with the folks up at SFU. We've been participating in a 'Transition to Marriage' study that a master's student is conducting involving filling out survey's online periodically and 2 face to face meets over the course of 2 or 3 years. We started this in the fall last year I think.

The rest of the week passed quietly. I can't remember anything especially eventful until Friday. On Friday Chris and I went to do some maternity photos with Kim @ http://www.eclipsephotography.ca/
That was really fun, and I can't wait to see how they turn out. Fingers crossed!! We got a pkg. deal with her so that we can go back and do a family shoot after the twins are born.

On Saturday the 24th we had the 'Vancouver' baby shower. That was fun. Some people did show up. :) It was great to see everyone and we got some interesting gifts and some money to go towards the stroller we want. A big thanks to Meridith and Shannon for putting that all together. If you read this at all...GREAT JOB GUYS!!

I just had another ultrasound yesterday (Wednesday the 28th). This was supposed to be my last one for 4 weeks, but Baby B didn't show enough of a weight gain from the previous ultrasound to make the Dr's comfortable with the 4 weeks time frame so I will be going in again on the 14th of July. I did find out their current weights though. Baby A is 3lb 2oz's and Baby B is 2lb 11oz's. Almost 1/2 lb difference!!! No one is worried about her size yet though, she is still growing, just slowly. It's crazy to think that when you add another lb between them you will have my apx. birth weight, and I'm only 7 mths along!! No wonder I feel so front heavy. Baby B has also decided to switch positions on me after a month and is now breech. Baby A is still head down thankfully, and hopefully Baby B switches to head down again, the chances of me having to have a C-section are lower if they are both head down. No photo's this time.

Chris and I went to dinner at Bill and Emily's in Maple Ridge again last night. I've been wanting Bourbon Brinded Pork Chops for some time now so seized the opportunity to make them. They were quite good, and Chris especially enjoyed them. He's funny sometimes. Apparently he figured that was the best meat I've ever made...and as he doesn't think I thanked him properly for the compliment (haha), here it is. THANKS CHRIS!! haha. I'll have to make beer can chicken sometime soon. I love that but am still not completely over my aversion to chicken. We are headed over to Denise's for BBQ tonight I think.

Well, that's all the news. Til next time I remember.

ultrasound photo's 3D

I haven't scanned the last 2 sets of ultrasound photo's so it has been almost a month since the last ones. I am at 26.5 weeks here. These were done on Wednesday. The 3D was neat...even if the babies weren't super cooperative. :) Baby B was particularily uncooperative and the only photo we got that she didn't have her hands in her face or was hiding behind her ubilical cord was this one, and she's frowning! (or at least seems to be). Baby A was moving her hands a lot in front of her face and in the other photo's is either holding her nose or has her fist up obscuring her features. These were the two best photo's. Pretty cool.

Comparison Photo

Myself and my cousin Jeremy's girlfriend compare bellies. She is a month further along than I but you would never know it with her tiny belly!! I'm at almost 6 months here (it was at Daniel's wedding reception, so 3 weeks ago). Natalie is at 7 months. I didn't think I was all THAT big until we compared...but I still get comments that I'm not very large all the time. According to my Doctor though, at my last appointment (@ 26 wks) she said I was measuring more as if I was 32 weeks, so I can't be that small!!

News Update

I can't remember what all I've covered in recent news.

Move: It's been finalized, we are moving to 2091 E 12th...Lakewood Terrace. We are both looking forward to it. It's a nice place. 3 Bedroom, 2 Bath townhouse, with laundry! Yay, I will be so glad to have laundry in my own place again! Nice fenced in patio so I can let the kids and Rusty out without them going anywhere. I won't have a garden anymore but I have a small bit of earth out the front door I can play with. It's a good thing I will have lots of help for that move because I doubt I will be able to do much more than move myself at that point! :) I'm so pleased that we will be so close to Trout Lake, I imagine Rusty will get out much more after the kids are born having a good park near-by. I was worried he mightn't get out so much if I had to load the twins into the van everytime I wanted to take him out.

Shoot: I did end up doing that shoot in Saanich for the Catholic Society in Edmonton. There wasn't much to it. They just had me walk along a beach and pick up a bottle and look into it, then they kind-of looked over my shoulder into the bottle...apparently you would then see a baby in a cage. I think the rest of the commercial is the talk of the dangers of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. It was alright. I was pretty tired by the time I got home though, as we left here at 8:15 and it was 10pm when we got home. Now that I am accustomed to having a nap in the afternoon when I don't have one it's hard.

Baby stuff: So Friday Chris and I had a bit of a scare, but it turned out that everything was fine. I'd been having progessively more of the 'braxton-hicks' contractions, and by Friday evening I was having as many as 5 or 6 an hour, so we went into the hospital for monitoring. Both girls were fine, in fact the Doctor and the nurses commented on how active (and visibly so, my stomach was bouncing all over!) they were for 26 weeks. Apparently fetal activity at this point is not usually so prominent. That, coupled with their tests and the fact that I was fairly slender before getting pregnant and that they are twins all combined, led them to believe that all was well. The Doctor told us that I needn't worry about the contractions, even if I am having them a lot, unless they are lasting longer than a minute each and are painful. He then did a demonstration of the pain which was amusing to us and the nurses there. Since Saturday the contractions have petered out a bit though...they tend to last longer than a minute but they don't hurt at all. I think that perhaps because I disrupted my schedule on Thrusday and Friday that change may have caused them to increase.
Next Ultrasound is tomorrow (the 14th) at 13:30.

Family: Bill and Emily are moved, and sort-of settled in to thier new, temporary, abode in Maple Ridge. They arrived on Wednesday (I think it was) and we went over on Friday night to help them unpack. Rather Jannis and Chris helped Bill unpack. Emily and I sat and chatted and counted contractions trying to decide if we should go to the hospital. On Sunday they gifted Chris and I a bunch of boxes, so I have been slowly packing. We also went out to dinner and Denise brought her beau Steph so they got to meet him. Adrian wasn't feeling well (he recently hurt his back and has siatica) so he didn't come. It was nice though. Bill and Emily are coming for dinner on Wednesday night, I still have to figure out what to make. Then we are going to do a BBQ on Saturday, it should be nice.

Well, must get back to my packing.

Now it's June

Chris and I made it home safe, and the flight back was less uncomfortable than the flight to NB, mainly due to our seating arrangements. We shared the flight home with the Vancouver Giants which was not so strange until we arrived in Vancouver and there was a big mob of fans waiting for them. That was kind of weird.

We got a bit of relaxing in the following week, but also a lot of 'things' taken care of, such as where we are moving to August 1st. That particular item was happily resolved we got into the co-op we wanted and got a very nice place within the co-op, and as a bonus it's only a couple of blocks from Trout Lake! I had another ultrasound on the 31st. Baby A is now in the 50% percentile and Baby B in the 20th. According to what I've read on the internet that refer's to thier weight, but a weight greater than the 90% percentile is bad...so I'm not quite clear on all the details yet. Regardless, it seems both babies are doing well. I have another ultrasound next Wednesday (the 14th), get them every two weeks as I'm sure you can tell now. I didn't post any photo's of the last ultrasound because they weren't scanned. I have to remember to get that done sometime.

Took it pretty easy this past weekend, no excitement to share. Went out to brunch on Saturday with Chris' sisters. It was Jannis' birthday.

This week has been uneventful so far. Getting more of those 'growing' pains in the underside of my tummy. Not surprising given how much I am growing these days!
Got another call from the casting people in Edmonton, I guess they want to do the commercial in Saanich on the beach or something. I really have no idea what to expect. This is supposed to happen on Thursday but I'm still waiting for the phone call giving me the where to meet details etc. It's been such a strange operation so far I don't know if it will actually happen or not. I'm not worried though...


More later!

The croquet photo's

Is this really croquet??

New Brunswick and the wedding

Chris, Rusty, Simon and I left Vancouver late on Wednesday the 17th and arrived here safe on Thursday morning if a little worse for wear. I had a pretty restless trip but I survived.
It has taken me a bit to adjust and a lot of napping but I managed. Chris and I still end up napping most afternoons if we get the chance but that's expected for me and good for Chris. It's nice to see him really relax sometimes.
I'm just getting larger and larger everyday. That was proven to me when I got dressed for Daniel's wedding on Saturday! I'd just bought the dress and a bra the week before and already they didn't fit 'up top'! I spent much of the time trying to cover up with a scarf! I got teased a lot that's for sure. Oh well.
Daniel's wedding went well, it was simple and pretty. The reception was also nice. They had a morning wedding so a brunch reception, which was different and enjoyable. Then rather than a 'first dance' they had a 'first game' (of croquet) but didn't even finish one game there was too much hilarity and Natalie was doing so badly! I think most people liked it, and they survived the hubbub.
As things began winding down and photo's were done Ben, Chris and I went out to play Botchee (sp?) ball and Croquet. Josh (Daniel's bestman) then informed Chris and Ben of rules we were unsure of which unleashed the demons. That rule being the one saying if you hit an opponents ball you can keep hitting it until it's out of the way. SO....they took that to the extreme blasting those balls quite a ways across the golf course. (where the reception was held) I got some funny shots of that that I will post later.
Since the wedding we've been keeping things pretty quiet. Went to dinner at my Aunt Marilyn's with some of the Ricker cousins on Sunday night, that was nice. Today we went to Magnetic Hill and did the 'magnetic hill', so Chris could experience that weirdness and so I could get a beaver tail...yum. That's about it so far. It's been nice to spend time with the family and relax, even if I am huge. (for me!)

'family' photo

Shannon took this photo of us last weekend...thought I'd share. It's kind of dark and grainy but still cute...Rusty just HAD to be in the picture!

Been Hectic

It's been a hectic past week or so. Lots of running around trying to get errands done and things set up, ready for our trip to NB. It seems kind of surprising to me that it is so crazy but I guess there is lots of other stuff going on as well.
We've finally decided on a date of June 24th for the baby shower. We've got a start on that now. Just a few things to iron out.
Got a clean bill of health at the dentist, and an okay hair cut on Thursday as well as visited the Dr. Interestingly enough both my dental hygenist and my hair dresser were both twins, both of the variety where a single egg splits and is fertalized by two different sperm, so kind of half identical.
My visit to the doctor went well although I got some surprising news. She figures I will have to leave work in just a few short weeks. She doesn't think I will have the energy to maintain full days without a nap, and she is a bit concerned that if I continue baby B will be the one to suffer. So I talked to EI (who does sick leave and maternity as you may or may not know) and they suggested that I take my sick leave starting mid-next week! This is because we will be gone from the 17th to the 29th and I will not be paid for that missed work, so it would be pointless to go back to work for a week due to the way they calculate what you will recieve. By that same token it wouldn't make sense for me to go back for half days or work part time from home either, because any length of time I work less than full time gets counted and the amount I would get paid from EI drops. Crazy but I guess it's better not to work at all then to work part-time. I don't know what I am going to do with myself all summer but I am sure after the first few days I will find some tasks to occupy me. Perhaps get all the stuff I put off dealt with before the kids make it impossible to do.
I guess that's all the excitement here, we are looking forward to our visit to NB and Daniel's wedding! Yay! NOT looking forward to the flight though. Ugh.

New fun stuff.

Item 1.
Sunday night Chris and I were over at Bob and Sue's for dinner with Ian and Mary and I was thinking about (and telling Mary and Sue) that although I've felt the twins move quite a bit inside me it hasn't been anything that could be felt by touching my belly while they were moving. (Except for a couple of brief occasions). Well, That changed pretty quick! Yesterday during meetings at work I felt a few quite obvious pushes against my stomach lower down (I suspect it was baby B), and then today while at more meetings baby A gave me 6 big kicks just under the ribs, which I could really feel! It's too bad Chris was sitting across the room so he didn't get to feel them. Baby A did this again a little while later although with less vigour than previously.
Item 2.
We finally bought a citronella collar for Rusty on Sunday and it works like a charm. He barks once and the thing sprays citronella, which apparently dogs hate, and he doesn't bark again. It gets him stressed out but I am sure he will eventually learn to just calm down. I'm happier with him getting stressed out by not barking than Chris and I getting stressed out because he won't be quiet!! We have also been in touch with the people he did puppy training with (they do behaviour training) and are going to set up an appointment to address his fear issues in hopes to curb his more aggressive or undesirable tendancies before the twins are born.
Item 3.
Arcas decided that this afternoon would be a good time to have a BBQ. I don't know when the last time they did this was, if ever, but as they had pretty much everyone in town for the meetings it was well timed. It was fun, most people rounded up some baseball gear and we had a game, although I and a few others sat the game out. I think we enjoyed the game just as much the players though. I sure did a lot of hooting and hollaring on the sidelines! I don't know which team won, don't know if anyone really paid attention, but I think it was pretty even. Chris made a fantastic catch (he was the pitcher for his team) that ended the game which everyone was pretty impressed with (including Chris.) All in all it was great fun and I think everyone was pretty glad Sharon was able to get it organized. It was a nice break in the middle of a week of meetings. Tomorrow night is Marianne and Rob's tenth anniversary at Arcas dinner, and I'm sure that will be fun as well. It can't help but be, it's a free dinner! Good thing Rusty is happily settled at Dae's for today and tomorrow!

Ultrasound # 5, I think.

The most recent ultrasound went well today. Chris did not come with me as we had meetings at work. So although I obviously could not avoid missing part of them, he could. Anyway, it made no difference. Everything went smoothly, fluid levels are still good and baby B is growing on track. He/she is still smaller than baby A but he/she is now within the proper growth range expectancy. It appears that although baby B has only 2 arteries to baby A's 3 it is not hampering growth. Thankfully this condition can only have an effect on the child in the womb and not after birth, but so far so good I guess. I will continue to have ultrasound's every two weeks for some time regardless. My next one is May 17th, the morning before Chris, Rusty, Simon and I fly to New Brunswick, then the following one is May 31st. The one on May 31st will be my 24 week ultrasound and the one at which the Dr's told us we would find out the sex of the babies. I've suspected that they were boys for the past while, then today something I may have seen made me think girls but I really don't know at all. Not a solid clue. No pictures from today though.

Liv is dumb sometimes

Well, I no longer have a rice cooker. I can't be too upset about it as it was my own dumb fault. As usual, we had it sitting on the back left burner to cook (which is kind of dumb period) and I decided that I would boil some water for veggies. I looked and looked again to make sure I was turning the right burner on but apparently my mind was not functioning as I turned the one under the rice cooker on. So, rather than cooked rice we got cooked rice cooker. Smells pretty bad, but Chris shooed me out of the room and it's windy outside so with all the windows in the house open it's got the fumes out fairly well. Sometimes I am a ninny. So, I guess a new rice cooker will have to go on the wish list. That one lived with me for only 4 years but it sure got a lot of use! Just wanted to share my folly with the world. Bring a little humour to your day perhaps.

Ultrasound #4 & Photos.

The Ultrasound went well yesterday, Baby B had lots of amniotic fluid and they saw his/her bladder (which they were looking for). The Dr. appointment after also went well (although we waited for 2 hours!..which was went by quickly for once because everyone at the office was so jolly and good humored). They decided that there was no Twin to Twin transfusion syndrome at this point thank goodness. They did discover that Baby B only has one artery leaving his body (via the umbilical cord), I am a little unclear on this whole this except that there should be 2 (as Baby A has) but it is not all that uncommon and might very well account for his smaller size. They are going to have me in for the measurements next week and then every 2 weeks after that just to make sure Baby B is growing as he should. You can actually see the difference in size in this ultrasound. Baby B is on the top (having a drink...his mouth is open), and Baby A is on the bottom. Again the dark spot is bladder, his/her heart is just above that. As usual Baby B was being squirmy so his chest and belly is all blurry but it was cool seeing him open and close his mouth to drink! I'd actually had a dream the previous night in which Baby B was doing exactly that (so seeing him doing it was a bit of a shock), but then the Dr. news in my dream was not so positive. 'Til next time...

Ultrasound #3 photos

Feet of both twins, only one foot is really clear but it's still neat.







No more alien, looks more like a bear! Head to the right, body to the left, the dark spot is the full bladder. He/she's got both hands up.





Profile of Baby A sucking his/her thumb. You can see the heart quite clearly.






These pictures are nothing to how clear they were on the screen, unfortunately for photo's they were pretty squirmy and it was hard to get a clear shot I guess. Baby B didn't really co-operate at all and even though they gave me pictures I won't bother posting them.

Ultrasound #3

Went to Ultrasound number 3 today.

It was a detailed one meaning they measure the head, heart, bones and do other various checks. Usually they just measure the growth rate. There is some slight concern over possible 'twin to twin transfusion', something that can occur when babies share a placenta. The babies both have suffficent amniotic fluid (one indicator), but there was enough difference in size between the two that they would like to check again sooner. So I have another ultrasound next Wednesday and the Wednesday after that. They will check only fluid amounts at the next ultrasound as there won't be enough of a growth difference yet, and then in 2 weeks they will measure thier growth again. It is not yet a big concern but it is something to be watched.

I did not find out thier sexes. I guess at this place it is not policy to tell before 24 weeks as it is more difficult for them to be sure. At 24 weeks they are sure enough to feel confident in saying.

When I asked aproximate size they said that they were about the size of my hand at the moment. They were being difficult during the ultrasound in that they kept moving (especially twin B, the smaller one), and were lying up against each other. In one shot they almost appeared to be spooning. Unfortunately they did not co-operate and let us get a photo of that position. :( There were a few moments when they would come out very clear in profile, and be opening and closing their mouth or sucking a thumb. She gave me 6 photo's but none are as neat as it was on the screen, and baby B utterly refused to show us a profile.
We got a couple of head and chest profiles of baby A, in which he's got his fist up to his mouth, likely sucking his thumb. We got one photo of him face on and a couple of baby B face on. They look less like aliens and more like teddy bears now I think. We also got one picture of thier feet which is cute. The whole ultrasound they kept getting their feet and legs in each others space. I am hoping to scan those tomorrow and post them.

Anyway, that's it for now.

Update

I guess I never updated this after my Dr's appointments on Tuesday. The Docter was positive. She gave me the go ahead to fly to NB at the end of May barring any unforseen complications, I'm excited about that but trying not to get my hopes up (like that ever works). My 'fundus', the top of the uterus, is now about an inch above my belly button, a fact of which I was well aware, but I found out that it is usually about an inch or so below the belly button in most pregnancies at this point, so I guess the twins are making thier presence known. Being the size I am doesn't seem that odd to me having no idea what I should look like! My Dad seems to think I will be huge and have to be on bedrest. I sure hope that is not the case! Overall the appointment went well. Then I was off to the nutritionist. Unfortunately for me I forgot to take my pills Monday night and so was feeling very sick by that time but I struggled through (and then kept a hair appointment I should've cancelled!! I sure felt sick after that!). That was also positive. (The nutritionist not the hair cut although that was also fine.) She said overall I am doing well. I guess eating cereals and fruit is not so bad. I have been eating more 'normal' food since I've been sick less as well and have been very concious of the types of foods I eat. Thankfully I've been craving fruit sugars much more than regular, although I still have to watch that. The biggest change I have to make is to get more protein, which is hard when meat kind of grosses me out. I've been eating more fish which is good, also for the iron. Today I bought some beef and salmon jerky so I didn't have to cook meat, although I also bought a bit of pork. It's the one meat I have no idea how I will react to so I will try cooking that up this weekend. I also was bad and bought a pie. A whole pie. I 'm sure it will be gone by the end of the weekend thought. It's in the oven at the moment. Mmmm.

I got a funny reaction from my self photo up now. Chris informed me that it is kind of 'creepy'. I thought that was amusing, I'm aware it's not a great picture but I didn't think it was creepy!! :) I told him when he gets home he can take a better one to replace it. I'm finding it harder to adjust with him gone this time and am finding I am having rather wild mood swings, I'm defiantely surly and grumpier with him away. He poked fun and asked how that was any different from when he is here! I guess I never realized how much support he has offered me though all these strange pregnant happenings. I will have to remember to thank him.

I am growing quite fast now and experienceing some of the stranger aspects of pregnancy such as joint loosening. My hips are loosening and the lower back pain can be quite extreme at times but I am not that new to back pain. The funny part is my clumsiness. I didn't expect that, also I didn't realize how much having a big belly would change how I move. My ribs are already digging into things, or a baby will lodge him/herself up there making it quite uncomfortable if I am slouching. I find it odd trying to put my socks (and everything else lower body for that matter) on in the morning. Gotta kinda move around the bulge. Lots of funny little changes you never think about. I'm afraid I idealized pregnacy quite a bit in the past. There's no floating through with my big belly all blissful and beautiful! It's funny really.

Well, That's long enough. There are likely countless spelling errors and such but I can't be bothered checking at the moment. Maybe later. Feel free to point them out! :)

More fat belly etc.

Chris and I never did get around to taking another picture of my ever increasing girth, so I snapped a couple of shots in front of the bathroom mirror this evening. They aren't great but show the belly growth a bit. I will try to find someone to take better ones soon perhaps. Chris left today for Fort Nelson for an indeterminate amount of time so he's not an option. Tomorrow I get to visit the specialist again, hopefully for a full appointment this time, and then the nutritionist later in the day. Should be interesting.

More pregnancy blues and other stuff.

I haven't written anything in a few days I guess. I've been doing okay for the most part, sick less, and throwing up even less (thankfully feeling nauseous no longer means I am going to have to run to the bathroom in the near future). I actually did a few real human things recently.
April 1st Denise had her first PAID show, and Chris and I went to that, along with our friends Shannon, Meridith and Bob. Lynn and another couple of Denise's friends I don't know also showed up. It was cool. She played very well and even though she lost her spot in one of her songs she didn't panic. :) Lynn brought her camera so I am hoping to get a few photo's off of her if they turned out, hopefully I can post one here.
April 2nd I'd made a date with Shannon and Meridith to have some girls only time. We went to "T", a tea shop near Shannon's, rented Howl's Moving Castle (a great flick) and ordered in from Tamarind, a yummy Indian restaurant also near Shannon's. It was nice, and we ate too much and generally enjoyed ourselves. We'd intended it to be an early night but Meridith and I still didn't end up leaving until 10:30, oh well.
April 3rd I managed to get a half day of work in. That was good...but not so good at any point following the end of the work day up until this afternoon.
Chris and I took Rusty, as usual, to Trout Lake after work but by the time we got home I felt ill and exhausted. That lasted all night unfortunately, without relief. I couldn't sleep. I'd never really understood insomnia until I got pregnant. It's incrediably frustrating to not be able to sleep when you're feeling sick. I was finally able to sleep by 3am but it was fitful and I woke often due to feeling sick and general discomfort. I can't imagine how uncomfortable I will be as time goes on as I often already have a hard time with how my body has changed and feels now. Anyway, I slept on and off, getting up every now and again for 1/2 and hour to an hour until 2pm this afternoon. I did get some sleep I think, but don't feel rested. At the same time I am not sleepy. Argh, I am determined to sleep tonight. (Fingers crossed) I want to get back on a regular schedule. I am going to try to head to bed by 10pm. Hopefully taking my morning sickness pill (which I've discovered has the same sleep ingredient as Unisom) and a glass of warm milk will help. We will see I suppose. Wish me luck!

How about a cool picture? I like this guy (girl?), he looks like he's from Ants or A Bug's Life. :)

This week

This week has been alright I think. I got to work for 1/2 a day on Monday, then Tuesday was a blow out, had a relapse of sick I guess, Wednesday I got some errands done, then spent most of today at work. (congrats to me!)
Chris has gone off to help Denise's friend move to a new place. He just has a few things and the minivan comes in handy for moving items such as couches and mattresses. Unfortunately this meant we had to remove all the seats from the minivan and they proved to be heavier than expected. I ended up helping carry the back seat at least, despite Chris' protestations. I didn't bother to go help move though, cuz really I'm not supposed to be lifting stuff and my back is sore enough as it is. (yet another whine) Plus it was raining when he left. Who wants to move in the rain.
All the moving made me think about moving though. We are crazy to be thinking about moving right now, or any time in the next year, but I guess it's necessary. Last time we moved (to here) I mostly did it by myself. My friends Chris A and Armand helped out a bit but they had other commitments. Chris was only just flying back into town and didn't actually get home til I was almost done! So, it will be weird trying to move when I can't actually MOVE anything. I will just have to be the packer/organizer and the bosser of people...I'm pretty good at that I think. Hope whoever ends up helping has patience!!
After all this moving talk I don't want to give the idea a move is imminent. We have decided to stay here until there is an opening at a co-op in the vicinity. That could happen soon, or not until after the kids are born. Hopefully it won't happen right when the kids are born.
Anyway, enough of the rambling already...

movement from the monster twins

Felt my first real movement from the monster twins, although I think I've felt them before... Apparently it's quite common to feel movement this early and think it is gas or something (fluttery feelings or like bubbles)..I was lying with my hands on stomach Friday night and felt a definate kick type feeling, it was faint for a kick but an incredibly strong bubble feeling. :) Anyway, that's all just wanted to share.

New Van

This is the new to us Plymouth Grand Voyager. It's much more swank than the Tracker, if a couple of years older. Leather interior, CD player, Air Conditioning yada yada. We like it. Hopefully it serves us well. Rusty has mixed feeling about it. You can check his opinion out on his blog at www.myspace.com/cwd_odd

Ultrasound photo coloured

I was informed that the pictures were hard to make out so I figured I would colour them in. I didn't bother adding them all back on here, just this one, but I figured you could see the twins etc. in this one and then refer to the others for a larger image (if you were having difficulty.)

Ultrasound #2 Photos

Taken on March 17th @ 14wks

Twin A, Twin B (larger below)


Twin A and B, in each photo.
They were lying parallel but one head up and one head down..not that you can tell. (although you can tell a bit better in the 2nd photo who is bum up) You can make out the fine membrane between them (seperating thier amniotic sacs). And the solid grey above them is the single placenta.




Twin B, Face up











Twin A Face up (the body's more apparent in this photo)

They look like little aliens, I think, with the large dark eye sockets. They were moving quite a lot so I imagine it was hard to get a good photo.

Ultrasound appointment #2

Denise, Chris and I went for my ultrasound today. I had to wait for over half an hour, which normally might not be that much of a deal but I REALLY needed to pee!! The result of that was I was told not to drink so much next time because I had to go empty my bladder quite a bit before the technican was satisfied. :) Anyway, that went well. The technician is almost 100% sure we have identical twins. She is pretty sure there is only one placenta (meaning identical) but there is always the chance the placenta is fused. Besides that information the membrane (which you will see in the photos) is quite thin between them, if it's thicker I guess there is more of a chance they are not identical. So, It seems to be safe to assume at this time that they are identical. The ultrasound itself was pretty neat. I had no idea they actually had so much room in there. They were moving around quite a bit, able to stretch thier legs right out. We all really enjoyed being able to see them move around.

Anyway, as we have no scanner here the photo's won't be posted until next week. They look like little aliens right now though. She gave us 4 photo's, one of each baby's face and one from the top and one from the bottom (those two show the membrane).

So, the conclusion is yes I am high risk, higher risk than fraternal twins but not so high as identical twins who do not have a membrane (ie. share an amniotic sac). My type, if it is as they think, is that I am monochorionic/diamniotic...for those interested in technicalities.

Car Estimate

Got the car estimate yesterday, it's is actually a bit more than we expected so that is good. We should be able to find a decent vehicle with that money. Unfortunately the estimate cheque, voucher and the car plates are all in Coquitlam. We can pick them up there, or they will be transfered to the closer Kingsway claim centre on Monday. Hopefully we can figure out a way to get them before Monday though, and perhaps find a vehicle before Chris leaves on Monday, but who knows. Who knows if I will feel up to car shopping anyway. We'll see. We have got it in our heads to get some type of station wagon, hopefully we can find a good one.

Photo..

of my belly for those who requested it... I am apx. 13.5 weeks here...and NO I am NOT sticking it out on purpose, Chris actually double checked. Doubting Thomas.

And More News from the Doctor

She forgot to mention that the doctor was able to listen to the babies heartbeats and found both of them. That was really neat. One of the twins kept moving about making it difficult to find it's heartbeat. Obviously the more shifty of the two, gonna have to keep a closer eye on that one. Undetermined which side of the family that the shiftiness comes from but we will keep you posted.

Visit to the Doctor

So, Chris and I went to see the specialist today. I did okay, didn't throw up or anything (although I wanted to at times). It took us 1 1/2 hrs of waiting to finally see the Dr. and then it was a very short visit. It was kind of funny, as she hadn't read all of my files before seeing me, and was asking me all these questions and started to seem concerned with how I was doing...but as I was answering questions she was looking over my notes and then came across the 'twin' information. That changed things dramatically. So I guess it's good I got in to see someone when I did, as twins births are monitored much more closely, and as there is a good chance the babies are mono-zygotic (identical) the risks are even higher, so I guess I will be in for ultrasounds and various checks every two weeks, or even every week.... but I'm getting ahead of myself. I go in for an ultrasound on this coming Friday to verify if they are identical then we go from there.
She was asking if I would be able to work from home, so I will have to check with Arcas about that, but I am not sure how necessary that will be...All that is information for after this Friday.

Other news (of the good variety) I got today was that my brother Daniel (and his soon to be wife Natalie) are going to adopt my cat Simon. That solves that concern. yay.

Just have to find a new vehicle to replace our tracker (which turned out to be a write-off) and we are on a roll.

Anyway, I'm not feeling that great right now, but I'll keep you posted later as events occur.

More whine from Liv

Poor Rusty feels terribly neglected. Today has not been a good day for Liv's belly (and head). Good thing that dog has some patience.

Vacation

I liked this picture from Little Shuswap Lake we took in mid- February when Chris and I took off for a little time away. It's out in front of Quaaout Lodge. Rusty could play in that lake all day and not get bored it seems. It was pretty neat to see the water so far out.

So far so good

I've only been sick once in the past two days so I'm looking at that optimistically. If I manage to get through today and tomorrow with few 'incidents' I'm headed back to work. That's the plan. No plans for the weekend, especially with no car.

Photo

I figured there should be a photo of Chris and I on here. I thought this one from our wedding was funny.

Chris' car accident

So, I got a call yesterday morning around 10 am from Chris. He'd been in a car accident, and they were blaming him. He and his passenger, Charles Moore, disagree but you can't argue wih witnesses. I guess he was changing lanes when getting onto the highway out in Coquitlam and got rear ended. Pushed the back of our car up into the wheel so it wasn't drivable. Hopefully we can get that fixed soon. Her car was totaled. All persons involved were okay, thankfully. That will be the first accident to go on my insurance in 12 years. It won't knock my discount down too much. I'm just glad everyone was fine and I wasn't in the car.

Liv's whine for today

So, I figure why not, I'm sure everyone gets tired of listening to me whine so I can whine on here and no one has to listen.
Still sick, unfortunately a side effect of having twins means that 'morning sickness' is twice as bad as it might normally be, and often lasts longer, so despite the fact that I am 12 1/2 weeks there is no sign of things letting up. Some days are better than others but most days, especially lately, have been horrid. The good news is (if you choose to see it that way) is that I actually have a bladder infection. This may not seem like good news but considering that starting last Monday my 'sick' has more than doubled in intensity it was nice to find out there was another cause. I am now on med's for that, as well as the med's for morning sickness. Hopefully soon I will return to my normal sick, or perhaps I will even get over it all together!! Who knows.
Chris is in town until the 20th of March likely, instead of heading back up to Fort Nelson on the 15th so that will be a little bonus. It does help having someone look after you, or even just look after everything else, such as Rusty!! Our long awaited first appointment with the specialist is March 14th and we are looking forward to meeting the woman who will be taking us through the pregnancy and birth, but also to possibly hearing the twins' heartbeats.

Ultrasound

This is our first ultrasound done on Feb. 9/06. We were very surprised to discover it was twins! According to the ultrasound I was 8 weeks 6 days at this point in time.

For those of you not sure what you are seeing:
the two white 'blobs' to the right of the dark center, with the circle (placenta?) above them are the twins.

Next ultrasound will be sometime in April.