12 weeks, 1 day

Far along: 12 weeks, 1 day
How big are the babies: Each are the size of a plum!
Total weight gain: About 1 lb
Maternity clothes: My mom and I went shopping yesterday and picked up a couple pairs of pants. It's time.
Sleep: Last night = good; Friday night = not so good
Gender: Not yet
Movement: I don't think so
Food cravings: Milk and I guess vinegar- italian salad dressings and pickles sound great
What I miss: Heroin
What I'm looking forward to: Getting into my second trimester!
Milestones: We had a really cool u/s this week.
Symptoms: Nausea, exhaustion (it finally set in this week)

Because I feel like these check ins are getting kind of boring, here are some u/s pics of the babies...

Baby A:

Baby B:

11 weeks, and allll's welllll....

Far along: 11 weeks, 0 days

How big are the babies: This week, we have limes!

Total weight gain: Nothing yet

Maternity clothes: It may be time to try out the maternity pants. Most pants are about an inch or two from buttoning.

Sleep: Not terrible last week

Gender: Just a few more weeks...

Movement: I'm not sure.

Food cravings: Milk!

What I miss: Crack. Life is just not the same without it.

What I'm looking forward to: Each day.

Milestones: I met my new OB on Tuesday and loved her!

Symptoms: Nausea; puking count is up to 2.

Fireplace complete!

So I thought blogspot would let me create a different page that I planned on putting all our house projects in........ not so much. So instead, here's a nice break from pregnancy-ville and a story about our new fireplace!

When we built the house, we had the option of having Dominion put a gas fireplace in the corner of our living room. 1) we had no choice where it went- it was in the corner or not at all 2) they wanted to charge us $6,000. So.... we opted not to have Dominion put in our fireplace. Luckily we know of a contractor that lives a few streets over and doesn't charge us for his work...... thank god for dad!

My dad and Chris spent just two weekends working on our fireplace and it looks amazing! It's a gas free fireplace which means it didn't need to vent to the outside. My parents were nice enough to buy us the firebox for Christmas and both sets of parents stocked us with Home Depot gift cards to pay for the framing and such. So all Chris and I had to buy were the gas logs and the stone finishes. We are THRILLED with how it turned out, especially when we only had to come out of pocket $500.... sure beats $6,000!

Before:

Okay, so this isn't the best before picture. But basically, the fireplace is now where the TV is in this picture (it's hiding behind the railing).

A different angle:

In progress:

And After....

My dad and Chris did everything themselves, except run the gas line which my wonderful uncle Doug did for us! My dad even built the mantel from scratch... amazing!

Our next plan is to have dad build some book cases on each side of the fireplace (where the brown bookcases are now)- spanning from each wall to the fireplace. I can't wait til it's all complete! Just imagine the amount of toys....er um books.... we'll be able to fit on them!

10 weeks exactly!

Far along: 10 weeks, 0 days
How big are the babies: Both are the size of prunes
Total weight gain: I'm down another pound
Maternity clothes: Still rocking the bella band like crazy
Sleep: Still not great
Gender: Too early
Movement: Too early
Food cravings: Still not much of an appetite. I did have mexican three times this week though...
What I miss: Dr. J!!!
What I'm looking forward to: Meeting my new OB
Milestones: I am officially "out." And I am done with PIO! Hoooray!
Symptoms: Still nauseous 24/7, I've only puked once though.

I'm "out"

I came "out" at work today! I write an internal newsletter for our office every other week, so the plan was to put a little announcement in Monday's saying "Congratulations to Christy Bland who is expecting twin grandbabies in early October." Well, I started thinking today and was pretty much like, what the hell, let's just get this out of the way today. It's becoming harder and harder to hide my belly anyway, so today seemed like a good day.

So I went with the same plan and put the announcement in the newsletter, but instead of printing and distributing it on Monday, I went ahead and did it today.

The play-by-play, in case you are interested:
So I printed all the letters (of course the printer ran out of paper in the process) -meanwhile, I'm sweating up a storm and literally shaking from nerves- I put a copy in everyone's mailbox and then take a copy straight to my friend Darci, who also works for Christy. I hand the newsletter to Darci and point to my announcement. She reads it, looks up at me and says, "I don't get it." So I say, "Christy is going to have twin grandbabies." We both start to tear up, and head in to congratulate Christy who immediately starts crying.

Well, the news spread like wildfire at that point. I don't know how, I don't know who, but people starting coming out of the woodwork! I mean 10 people huddled outside Christy's door congratulating us. It was pretty cool. A few even started to tear up a bit- very touching.

Moving on... everyone was so happy for us and I got so many nice emails to boot. I think I'll make a Facebook announcement in the next day or so.

Maybe now it will start to sink in that this is real!

Graduation Day

I am sad to announce that today, March 8, 2011, I, Amie XXX XXX, graduated from my RE. I thought I had a couple weeks left with Dr. J. I made plans to meet my new OB next Tuesday but really thought I would have one maybe two more visits with Dr. J before I was officially kicked out. Well.... that wasn't the case and today was my last day with her. I cried when I left her office and I feel like I'm going to cry now.

Please don't get me wrong, I am thrilled to need to meet with an OB because I have two thriving babies growing, but I have built a bond with this doctor that no one could understand unless they've been through what us infertiles have. Dr. J has given me a gift that I will never ever be able to repay- a gift that, toward the end, I wondered if I'd ever receive. And she did it so selflessly, going through an even more advanced case of IF, herself.

I have had many doctors in my life, but I can honestly say that none has touched my life as much as she has. I have never felt as confident about a doctor or admired one as much as I do her. As a parting gift RGI gave me two little silver spoons for the babies. They are beautiful and it was such a sweet gift. I plan to visit RGI frequently and of course take the babies to visit some day.

So onto the amazing parts of my appt...
Today I am 9w3d and both babies looked huge! Their little hearts are doing great beating 180 and 186 bpm. And they were both wiggling their little arms and legs! It was so cool to see! I'll meet with my OB next Tuesday, but I'm not sure if I'll get an u/s or not. Either way, I think it will make this pregnancy feel more real, to go to an OB and sit in a waiting room with other pregnant ladies (and not feel depressed).

9 weeks, 1 day!

Lindsey, I'm stealing your check in questions.... remember, imitation is the finest form of flattery :)

Far along: 9 weeks, 1 day
How big is the baby: Babies are both the size of grapes or green olives
Total weight gain: I've been fluctuating by about 4 lbs since the start of this IVF cycle. So none, yet, really.
Maternity clothes: I received a bella band and two maternity shirts for my b-day that I've been wearing. Still in normal pants.
Sleep: Not great, but definitely better than a few weeks ago.
Gender: Too early
Movement: Too early
Food cravings: No food cravings. My appetite has been less than stellar, so it's basically whatever sounds great at the moment.
What I miss: I know it's cheesy, but I don't miss a single thing.
What I'm looking forward to: Telling everyone at work and just being "out."
Milestones: I am officially in my third month now! And that's pretty cool!
Symptoms: Nausea pretty much 24/7, but no throwing up! Also, growing boobies and belly.

In other news..... my newest little cousin/nephew is here! Lucas Shawn was born Friday morning and we got to meet him that night! He was so alert and so calm and peaceful and of course beautiful and perfect in every way!! Congrats to Andrea and Chris!!!! We love you!