We are happy to announce the addition of Babies Caroline Emalee and Claire Elizabeth to our family in late March of 2012.
Monday, November 28, 2011
It's a girl.... times two!
We are happy to announce the addition of Babies Caroline Emalee and Claire Elizabeth to our family in late March of 2012.
Monday, November 7, 2011
1/80,000
1/80,000 twin births results in mono/mono twins. So, yeah, we heard it was rare, but numbers really help put this in perspective. Our "twin" doctors have seen a handful of cases (9 or so) of mono/mono twins in their time practicing....and they each tipping mid-50's. But we know we're in good hands with them. No wonder we get so much attention when we go to see our doctors....we're like a textbook scenario that 98% of ob's will never see in their lifetime of practicing. (I'm not that good with numbers this all came from our twin Dr.)
Wednesday will conclude our 13th week. Our babies are doing great -- their heart rates are solid and they are on target growth-wise. So far so good!!!! We're still looking at 26 week hospital check-in for constant monitoring.
Our next appt. with them will be three weeks from today. We should be able to find out their sex on this day!!!! So exciting!!!!
This weekend we're going to relax and get the house ready for Christmas....and our traveling days are now over. This past weekend we went to Austin for the Tech/UT game with the Brookses and well...we all saw how that turned out. Dustin said he had never been so sick of hearing the Texas Fight Song.....too bad, I actually had bought a cute red and black dog collar for Polo...guess he will still be sportin' the faded burnt orange collar for another year.
11/7/2011
11/7/2011 Baby B is always shy...I don't think we have seen his/her face yet!
Wednesday will conclude our 13th week. Our babies are doing great -- their heart rates are solid and they are on target growth-wise. So far so good!!!! We're still looking at 26 week hospital check-in for constant monitoring.
Our next appt. with them will be three weeks from today. We should be able to find out their sex on this day!!!! So exciting!!!!
This weekend we're going to relax and get the house ready for Christmas....and our traveling days are now over. This past weekend we went to Austin for the Tech/UT game with the Brookses and well...we all saw how that turned out. Dustin said he had never been so sick of hearing the Texas Fight Song.....too bad, I actually had bought a cute red and black dog collar for Polo...guess he will still be sportin' the faded burnt orange collar for another year.
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Monday, October 31, 2011
Halloween & Pictures
It's been a whirlwind of events these last weeks...and finally I'm going to catch you up on things.
In September we took a Levelland girls trip to Fredericksburg for shopping and food! Last year was a little excessive starting off our tradition with a trip to Vegas for Amber's Bachelorette but we hope to keep the tradition going in the years to come.
We celebrated my mom's and my birthdays in Dallas at the Gaylord in October but sadly I didn't take my camera. She turned....KIDDING MOM--like I would sell you out like that!
This past Thursday Brent and Leslie had their baby girl, Emery. She's healthy and beautiful!
Today we celebrated Halloween at school and our department decided to dress up as various fish. I was two fish from Dr. Seuss and my co-worker that is pregnant with 1 baby was 1 fish. See if you can guess the other types of fish people dressed up. I'll give you a hint: the guy to the right of me was "gold"fish.
Tonight Dustin is handing out the Halloween candy to all of our trick-or-treaters. Summed up it's hilarious. The kids open up their bags and Dustin has seen everything from giant M&M bags to king size snicker bars....hahaha...I'm sure we'll be boycotted next year after handing out our suckers, bubble gum and starbursts. Needless to say we're almost out of candy (it's almost 8) because Dustin has felt the need to overcompensate for our mini-me candy servings! And btw....when was it ok to trick-or-treat when you were over the age of 14??? We've had some freakishly old trick-or-treaters.
Below is a picture of Ms. Aly for Halloween. : )
Dustin is still loving his job at Burleson. When you make a major change in your life you always contemplate whether you are making the right decision or not but this couldn't be a better fit for Dustin. He is truly happy and feels much appreciated. He's set to take the February New Mexico Bar as of now but given what we know may be in store for us this could be pushed back to July. Fortunately, he and his bosses are flexible and understanding of this time.
Today marks the end of my injections and patch regimen!!! My body is worn out and thus far my blood levels have been great with me lowering my doses. I'm pretty sure I've had at least an injection a day since April. I feel great other than I am exceptionally tired but don't worry about me....I am sleeping...A LOT!
This past weekend we got a lot done! We cleaned out what will become the nursery and made a nice "grandparent" room upstairs. We ordered our cribs, cleaned out closets and made a very generous donation to goodwill!
Alright here is the first baby bump pic....11 weeks and 5 days. The second trimester will begin on Wednesday!!! This bump has been pretty consistent over the last 6 weeks or so....this grew almost immediately which sent me in to a panic when I thought it was just one baby....but now that there are two I feel it is entirely justifiable. I think the crazier part is just how long my hair is...thank you vitamins!
Hope you had a wonderful Halloween!!
In September we took a Levelland girls trip to Fredericksburg for shopping and food! Last year was a little excessive starting off our tradition with a trip to Vegas for Amber's Bachelorette but we hope to keep the tradition going in the years to come.
We celebrated my mom's and my birthdays in Dallas at the Gaylord in October but sadly I didn't take my camera. She turned....KIDDING MOM--like I would sell you out like that!
This past Thursday Brent and Leslie had their baby girl, Emery. She's healthy and beautiful!
Today we celebrated Halloween at school and our department decided to dress up as various fish. I was two fish from Dr. Seuss and my co-worker that is pregnant with 1 baby was 1 fish. See if you can guess the other types of fish people dressed up. I'll give you a hint: the guy to the right of me was "gold"fish.
Tonight Dustin is handing out the Halloween candy to all of our trick-or-treaters. Summed up it's hilarious. The kids open up their bags and Dustin has seen everything from giant M&M bags to king size snicker bars....hahaha...I'm sure we'll be boycotted next year after handing out our suckers, bubble gum and starbursts. Needless to say we're almost out of candy (it's almost 8) because Dustin has felt the need to overcompensate for our mini-me candy servings! And btw....when was it ok to trick-or-treat when you were over the age of 14??? We've had some freakishly old trick-or-treaters.
Below is a picture of Ms. Aly for Halloween. : )
Dustin is still loving his job at Burleson. When you make a major change in your life you always contemplate whether you are making the right decision or not but this couldn't be a better fit for Dustin. He is truly happy and feels much appreciated. He's set to take the February New Mexico Bar as of now but given what we know may be in store for us this could be pushed back to July. Fortunately, he and his bosses are flexible and understanding of this time.
Today marks the end of my injections and patch regimen!!! My body is worn out and thus far my blood levels have been great with me lowering my doses. I'm pretty sure I've had at least an injection a day since April. I feel great other than I am exceptionally tired but don't worry about me....I am sleeping...A LOT!
This past weekend we got a lot done! We cleaned out what will become the nursery and made a nice "grandparent" room upstairs. We ordered our cribs, cleaned out closets and made a very generous donation to goodwill!
Alright here is the first baby bump pic....11 weeks and 5 days. The second trimester will begin on Wednesday!!! This bump has been pretty consistent over the last 6 weeks or so....this grew almost immediately which sent me in to a panic when I thought it was just one baby....but now that there are two I feel it is entirely justifiable. I think the crazier part is just how long my hair is...thank you vitamins!
Hope you had a wonderful Halloween!!
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Mono/Mono Twins
Monday we had a follow up appointment and everything is going perfectly with the twins and myself. They are growing at a steady rate and have very strong heart beats at 164 and 163 beats per minute. We found it was very hard to photograph them individually they love to be together and they love to do just about the same thing and to be in the same positions. It's so fascinating. We got to see them twirl and swim around on the sonogram screen and seeing them interact like that will melt your heart.
This is my favorite picture. <3
We were referred to a perintologist, Dr. Gordon, that will be with me throughout my pregnancy along with my ob/gyn, Dr. Hasty. Fortunately for us, all of my Dr.'s seem to be in constant contact with each other and work with each other daily so that is a relief. Dr. Gordon was pretty blunt with us regarding how risky of a pregnancy this is. Twins itself are risky and the risk only goes up as you get in to twins that are monochorionic (share the same sac) and monoamniotic (share the same amniotic fluid and are not separated by a membrane) and we have monochorioinic/monoamniotic twins which according to Dr. Gordon (aka Dr. Happy) this is the most risky twin pregnancy. At this point I need to reemphasize that everything is going smoothly and I feel wonderful. I will be under constant care and will be going to my ob/gyn and Dr. Gordon every other week. I am ok with that though, as I will be constantly monitored. I will also be placed on hospital bedrest beginning early February as I conclude the end of my 26th week until the twins are born. This is only precaution and seems to be more standard procedure given the type of twins we are having. We left this Dr.'s appointment a little shaken up and scared but we keep reminding ourself just how healthy they are now. We have made a promise to not google and read the crazy stats that are associated with this type of pregnancy and I urge you not to as well. Dr. Gordon said this type of twin pregnancy is very rare and there really isn't a large enough pool for the stats to be accurate. But there certainly are a lot of risks involved but we're going to remain positive and honestly feel pretty fortunate that I will be under daily care by both of my Dr.'s while I am at Methodist. They hope to monitor me week 26 through week 33-34 and they will deliver the baby's by C-Section at that time. I am in search for hobbies to take on in a bed-rest type setting. I am such a busy body -- I'm sure you're laughing uncontrollably at the thought of me being in a hospital, in a bed for 8 or so weeks. (I cry at that thought).
So...going to the hospital um....14 weeks early has sent me in to a frenzy to get this nursery semi-together. This will only add to book of stories Dustin and I already have. I've had the Kanye West song "Stronger" in my head all day today and I'm pretty sure this will be our theme song until we get these babies here healthy. "Work it, make it, do it, makes us; harder, better, faster strong. N-now that that don't kill me can only make me stronger." (I hope these Brooks Babies are just as rap friendly as us)!
We couldn't get a shot of them by themselves.
Tomorrow we're going to order our cribS .... yes.... plural; more than one! cRaZy!
I've wanted an iron crib from day 1 and we're going with a gender neutral finish since we don't know their sexes yet and the crib takes 3-4 months for it to arrive! EEEK!
We finally found a stroller that has the capacity to hold two infant carriers.....now that was a task to find! You can check out all this sucker can do at: http://www.babyjogger.com/city_select_lp.aspx
Happy 6th birthday to Polo...what a sweet and loving companion he has been for us over the last 5 years.
Poor baby is still camera shy so we have to sneak the pics when we can.
Each day we go without a complication is a blessing and we thank you all for your out-pour of love, support and prayer! These are the miracle babies and clearly they are fighters!
So...going to the hospital um....14 weeks early has sent me in to a frenzy to get this nursery semi-together. This will only add to book of stories Dustin and I already have. I've had the Kanye West song "Stronger" in my head all day today and I'm pretty sure this will be our theme song until we get these babies here healthy. "Work it, make it, do it, makes us; harder, better, faster strong. N-now that that don't kill me can only make me stronger." (I hope these Brooks Babies are just as rap friendly as us)!
Tomorrow we're going to order our cribS .... yes.... plural; more than one! cRaZy!
I've wanted an iron crib from day 1 and we're going with a gender neutral finish since we don't know their sexes yet and the crib takes 3-4 months for it to arrive! EEEK!
We finally found a stroller that has the capacity to hold two infant carriers.....now that was a task to find! You can check out all this sucker can do at: http://www.babyjogger.com/city_select_lp.aspx
Happy 6th birthday to Polo...what a sweet and loving companion he has been for us over the last 5 years.
Each day we go without a complication is a blessing and we thank you all for your out-pour of love, support and prayer! These are the miracle babies and clearly they are fighters!
Friday, October 14, 2011
Twin Talk
I cannot stop watching this youtube video and googling all sorts of other "identical twin" stuff. This is going to be so much fun! From the matching outfits to how much fun the holidays will be, to squaring our family size from 2 to 4. I am so excited about this as I know whatever sex they will be they will have a forever partner in crime and best friend; how special is that!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbqioNKCpoA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbqioNKCpoA
Monday, October 10, 2011
Twice the Blessing - Identical Twins!!
Today was sonogram #2 where we found out we are expecting IDENTICAL TWINS! I'm sure you're thinking....whaaaat??!! Where was that sucker in the last sonogram -- that's the million dollar question!
To bring you to date on the whole fertility situation and now we're expecting "monozygotic" (identical) twins here is how it goes: we transferred two embryos in August. We found out on September 26th that only 1 embryo made it and the other one did not survive -- we were accepting of this -- we were PREGNANT! Somewhere in the midst of it all the surviving embryo split -- giving us two babies in one womb. We've learned a lot over the last 5.5 hours and are still learning a lot! Monozygotic twins are always the same gender so we will either have two boys or two girls -- as if we care at this point!?!? HEALTHY is our only priority!! My dad's side of the family has a history of twins (3 sets) so this isn't completely from nowhere but it did catch us by surprise. Both babies are growing as expected and their heart rates are strong at 158 and 161 beats per minute!
In a couple of weeks we will know if they are diamniotic (each having their own membrane around them) or monoamniotic where they are enveloped by only one membrane. We want diamniotic as this is a less risky of a pregnancy and less opportunity for them to push, punch and get tangled in each other's umbilical cords. Below is a diagram of what I am talking about.
Baby "B" is mooning us and Baby "A" is kicking back and laughing.
Either "Best Buds" of "BFFs" -- they are hanging out together on the far left (the circle on the far right is an amniotic sac)
My brain is on overload right now; we will post more information soon....for now I need a nap and some time to digest this all! This now explains my EXTREME INCREASE in appetite and my belly already rockin' a bump! We're overwhelmed with joy -- what a fun journey this will be!
Full term for twins is 36 weeks and they can arrive as early as 8 weeks so our due date has been bumped from between March 16 & April 16 of 2012!
To bring you to date on the whole fertility situation and now we're expecting "monozygotic" (identical) twins here is how it goes: we transferred two embryos in August. We found out on September 26th that only 1 embryo made it and the other one did not survive -- we were accepting of this -- we were PREGNANT! Somewhere in the midst of it all the surviving embryo split -- giving us two babies in one womb. We've learned a lot over the last 5.5 hours and are still learning a lot! Monozygotic twins are always the same gender so we will either have two boys or two girls -- as if we care at this point!?!? HEALTHY is our only priority!! My dad's side of the family has a history of twins (3 sets) so this isn't completely from nowhere but it did catch us by surprise. Both babies are growing as expected and their heart rates are strong at 158 and 161 beats per minute!
In a couple of weeks we will know if they are diamniotic (each having their own membrane around them) or monoamniotic where they are enveloped by only one membrane. We want diamniotic as this is a less risky of a pregnancy and less opportunity for them to push, punch and get tangled in each other's umbilical cords. Below is a diagram of what I am talking about.
My brain is on overload right now; we will post more information soon....for now I need a nap and some time to digest this all! This now explains my EXTREME INCREASE in appetite and my belly already rockin' a bump! We're overwhelmed with joy -- what a fun journey this will be!
Full term for twins is 36 weeks and they can arrive as early as 8 weeks so our due date has been bumped from between March 16 & April 16 of 2012!
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