Trimester Three & Halloween!

Tomorrow is Halloween! One of the top holidays of the year. I love decorating and baking and dressing in costume. One of the best parts of the day is handing out candy to the cute little kids in our neighbourhood. We rarely get more than 50 kids but it's still very fun none the less. We're handing out a various assortment of chocolate bars (which I plan to stay far away from) and scary sour gummy candies. Of course we also have glow in the dark bracelets to hand out. A tradition I've kept going almost a decade.

Today, I spent the afternoon baking chocolate-chocolate chip cupcakes and making homemade icing in orange and purple. Phil picked out some halloween sprinkles to decorate the cupcakes and we also bought cute little cupcake paper and napkins in a halloween theme.

Fresh out of the oven!

Decorations & Homemade icing.. yum!

Homemade Halloween Cupcakes!

We carved our pumpkins this evening together. It's our halloween tradition. Phil was wonderful and scooped out both pumpkins because I didn't really like the pumpkin smell. Once they were prepared, Phil carved a scary face in his and I carved a pumpkin with a ghost coming out of the top. We used the templates from the little kit we bought. I think they turned out nicely. We also decorated the outside of our house but I didn't get a photo before dark, so will try to take one and add it here tomorrow.

Our family jack-o-lanterns this year

I am looking forward to tomorrow and hope that at least some of the people in the office will get into the halloween spirit. This year I am dressing up as a Pumpkin Smuggler. At least it's original. Also, likely the only year I'd be able to pull it off.

Beware the Pumpkin Smuggler!

This year marks another exciting milestone. We are now officially in the third trimester! Less than 90 days to go! Suddenly it is becoming more real. I am enjoying feeling the babies kick and I often rub them and talk to them. I've also been nesting like crazy, buying them things and crafting for them. My mom (aka Grandma - because she hasn't told me what she would like to be called yet..) is also crafting up a storm. She's made two matching baby quilts, a valance, two raggy fleece blankets, two knit baby sweaters, two knit baby hats and is working on the second of two knitted angel wing design baby blankets. She is also working on adding a zipper to the diaper bag she found for us and still plans to knit baby booties, quilt a crib skirt, make crib sheets and likely more I don't yet know about. They already have so much love.

I spent the morning organizing the nursery some more and putting the teeny baby items into their respective wicker baskets. Once the nursery furniture arrives I will post photos. We expect it within the next four weeks. Yesterday we spent a part of the afternoon baby shopping and brought home a second towel/bath set (this one in pink) and some other small baby items. We also ordered a baby tub, a change pad for the nursery and the crib mattress from Babies-R-Us. This morning Phil tested out the baby monitor from the basement and is happy to report that it works wonderfully, you can see and hear everything in the nursery. I washed all of our cubs' newborn sleepers (they each have six) and their tiny little scratch mittens & hats, along with the sheets we bought for their travel sized pack and play and the cover for the nursing pillow. It will be good to have everything clean and ready to use.

I plan to start packing a hospital bag soon so we have lots of time to add items that we may forget. I am sure this list is by no means complete, but my list so far consists of:
~ newborn sleepers (all of them - since I have no clue how many we may need)
~ newborn hats
~ scratch mittens
~ preemie/newborn diaper packs
~ penaten cream
~ soothers/clips
~ car seats/buckets
~ warm blankets for the ride home
~ receiving blankets (my Mom is currently making)
~ clothes and toiletries for myself

Lately, I have been in a baby crafting whirlwind myself. (I am also addicted to Etsy, but that's a whole other ball of yarn.) I went on YouTube and learned how to crochet baby hats and flowers. I also learned two new crochet stitches. I am now attempting to crochet two little baby hats in size 3 baby wool (very fine and soft) for our cubs when they come home from the hospital and perhaps for a newborn baby photo shoot. I plan to decorate our baby girls hat with a crochet flower/leaves and our baby boy's hat with a cute wooden button.

Work in progress.

I am also still working on crocheting the pink and blue fluffy baby blankets with the Red Heart Yarn. I made the main portion of the pink blanket using seventy-six stitches across and have been doing the same with the blue blanket. However, for some strange reason the blue blanket is a few inches shorter. I am guessing I'm crocheting tighter, but have no idea. once the blue blanket is finished I will have to crochet a bit around the edges to make them the same size. Then finally I can add the white fluffy borders. I will post photos once they are complete.

My newly found craft addiction is minky fabrics! I ordered a bunch online, and my mom also bought me some more at a sale today. I can't wait to sew 100% cotton prints onto minky fabric to make baby blankets! I just hope that I can find the time. If I can mass enough baby crafts I may post them on my own Etsy shop and hopefully make some extra money while on maternity leave.

This week coming up, we have our second prenatal class on Tuesday night, where we will learn all about labour and birth. Then on Wednesday, I have my second OB appointment in the afternoon. I am not sure that I will learn anything new that the perinatologist didn't already tell us at our last ultrasound appointment, two weeks ago. I imagine that our OB will measure my belly, weigh me, check my blood pressure and let me listen to the babies' heartbeats as per a normal check up appointment.

Then on Friday we have another ultrasound, this time at Foothills Hospital in a new clinic we have not been to before and we will meet with another (or possibly the same) perinatologist. We are hoping that the news will be as good as the last ultrasound, and all will be looking great.

It is going to be a long busy week. I hope that I can muster some more energy than I've had lately. I look forward to Friday afternoon already...now it's late & time for bed..

Twins Prenatal Class

We had our first twins and triplets prenatal class this week and we're glad to meet other couples in our area who are also having twins (no one in the class was expecting triplets). The instructor had us all break the ice by arranging ourselves in order of due date. I was quite surprised that we were couple #3 in the line! I'd expected to be someplace in the middle. Also I was surprised again to see we were one of the younger couples in the room, someplace close to the middle if I had to guess. Then finally was very surprised at how many of the women, who were not as far along as us, were already off of work.

We learned a little about all of the other couples and then watched a short video about twins. Then the nurse discussed some of the signs to watch for which would be abnormal/might signal preterm labour and which ones are normal. We knew most of the subject matter but were interested none the less. One tidbit we did learn, is that preterm multiples have a higher survival rate than singletons born at the same gestational age. We guessed it was because of a bond formed in utero, but there is likely a good explanation. Who knew?

I look forward to next week's class on labour and delivery. I have a feeling that the videos may be a bit on the slap-in-the-face-scary side, but hopefully are helpful to us. I'm guessing they're not like the baby shows on TLC. It's also the class when the dad's will learn about massage how-to. The massage, I am anticipating, will come in very handy when we do eventually go to the hospital to meet our cubs.

Suddenly, reality has snuck up on me. I am beginning to realize that this is truly happening for us. Our babies are doing well and will be born big and healthy with a high chance of survival.. which translates into.. I will be feeling a lot of pain and have to push them out.. in approximately two and a half more months. It's all hapening so fast!

I really love being pregnant and don't want it to end anytime soon. I'd be okay with late-term twins, at perhaps 38 weeks along. That would also put us into the second week of January which would be very nice. I love feeling the cubs kicking and rolling around, and will miss that feeling. Though I am somewhat conflicted, as much as I am enjoying pregnancy and all of it's wonders, I also look forward to meeting our babies and holding them! I mean, we will get to keep them and take them home! There are two real people growing inside of my belly! Life is so beautiful.

26 week belly pic

Pregnancy has been wonderful to me. I wasn't sick or really even tired in the first trimester. I don't have heartburn, hemorrhoids, leg cramps, swelling, stretch marks or any of the things women usually complain about. My energy level has remained fairly high throughout. I worked out on the elliptical until approximately week 20 (I miss it now) and have been doing my best to clean and do household tasks. I haven't really had any issues and am very thankful.

I have very recently noticed feeling more tired as time goes on and have noted small changes, things which zap my energy, creeping in on me. Things like walking up the stairs at work, sitting in meetings for long periods of time, standing for more than a few minutes at a time, and generally commuting to and from work, all seem to be becoming more difficult. I've taken sick days here and there just to get by. At this point I am struggling to work my 4 day weeks, and am not sure I could make it through a 5 day work week without complete exhaustion. Next week (which is a 5 day work week), I am planning to talk with my OB regarding work and when I might expect to be off in her opinion and then move forward from there.

As a last fancy night out on the town, we are going to see the Royal Winnipeg Ballet preform Alice in Wonderland at the end of this week. A throw back to our Manitoba roots and our last ballet night out before the babies arrive. It will be nice to dress up and spend the evening together in a cultural setting. I have the perfect little black dress.. and a perfect husband to share it with.

Edit: The babies either loved or hated the ballet. They were wiggling around like mad the entire performance. We thought that the story was a bit unique for a ballet and enjoyed the show. Afterwards we went out to the Keg lounge for a late evening dinner, just the two (er, four) of us.

Evening at the Ballet

Babymoon, Birthday and Kicks!

Welcome to Month 6!

Our babymoon weekend away to Banff was beautiful. We also celebrated Phil's birthday. He loved being at the hotel grounds, taking photos of the mountains and of course, all of the tasty cuisine!

On Saturday we went to the Waldhaus, a german restaurant and a short walk from the hotel, for fondue dinner. Phil got a giant stein of dark beer, which reminded us of the Hofbrauhaus in Munich. The evening walk together was very nice. The hotel staff provided me with a pregnancy pillow from their pillow menu that evening. I figured I'd give it a try, since I didn't have one at home. Turns out the pregnancy pillow experience was a learning experience, and it spent more time on the floor than being used as a pillow. 

On Sunday, we had breakfast in the gold floor lounge and then went swimming in the outdoor heated pool and the indoor saltwater pool. We spent some time browsing the hotel shops and then had Sunday brunch at the Bow Valley Grill around lunchtime. After a long afternoon nap, we took a walk to Bow Falls and saw elk in a nearby field. That evening we went out to the Maple Lounge for a romantic dinner. Driving back we saw more elk right in front of the hotel, eating shrubbery. (Which the next morning was completely trimmed down to nothing!) The best part of our Sunday was late in the evening (1115 or so) when Phil felt the babies kicking his hand for the first time!

On Phil's birthday we slept in and had breakfast at the gold lounge. Phil opened his card and gift and we then went to the spa to lounge around the spa pools. Phil went into the three relaxation pools, which were 40 degrees, 37 degrees and 24 degrees, for blood flow stimulation, and then into the mineral pool, which he described as tingly. I stayed in the body temperature, 37 degree relaxation pool, because of being pregnant. We then had a couples massage. We then went for traditional Afternoon Tea overlooking the mountains. We took a lot of photos and went for another walk. Of course, we hadn't eaten in about 2 hours.. so we had appetizers at the gold lounge before ordering room service. The hotel had snuck cheesecake into our room while we were out and I put four candles on it (two green to represent Phil & I, one blue and one pink). Phil blew out his candles after I sang him happy birthday and then we enjoyed the sugar and watched a movie. Phil felt the babies kicking his hand again and we could actually see them moving around! He said it was the best birthday gift ever.

This week we have no appointments, but we do know that our cubs are doing well (and that they like sugary snacks..). Our next OB check up appointment is on November 2nd and ultrasound on November 4th. Today was my 1-hour gestational diabetes blood screening test. I believe that I passed, and will find out for sure at the OB. The orange drink tastes not bad at first, then moves into some sort of of tingly sickeningly sweet flavour, which I just simply tossed back. I hope to not have to drink that stuff again anytime soon.

We are starting our Prenatal Twins and Triplets Class on Tuesday and are looking forward to learning all about having babies. We also signed up for Infant CPR, Old Pet/New Baby and a panel discussion class for twins & triplets, where we can ask questions and learn from others who have had multiples. We *think* we know some things, but I'm sure we'll be surprised and learn a lot over the next 6 weeks.

25 weeks, taken October 20

Perfect Ultrasound

We had a medical ultrasound early this morning (clear across the city - 1 hour 20 minutes drive..) and it was worth every minute. When we were called in, a nurse asked us about how everything was going, asked a bunch of questions, took my blood pressure (110/60 which is low but good) and let us know what they were going to be looking at this week. At our 19 week ultrasound (back on August 30th) they didn't get a good view of our babies' heart chambers, so she said they'd be looking for that today. We then waited for the technician. Once in the exam room we got to see the cubs' heads/faces, bodies/organs, hearts, legs and genders. (They're now confirmed three times.. a girl and a boy.) This appointment went much quicker than the 19 week anatomy scan as they don't re-do all of the checks. The tech checked the babies' amniotic sac fluid levels and checked my cervical length this time as well. Baby boy(heartbeat of 141) was super active doing flips as per his usual active self, while Baby girl(heartbeat of 157) was calm.

Once the scan was done, a perinatologist came into the exam room and went over the results. (We will be seeing a perinatologist every time we have an ultrasound from now on.) He told us that both babies look great and told me to keep up whatever it is that I am doing as it is working. Our little boy has now surpassed the growth of our little girl. Baby boy was always a tiny bit smaller up until now, but the doctor said that the babies do go through growth spurts. Baby girl weighs 731grams(approx 1.5lbs) and Baby boy weighs 810grams(approx 1.75lbs), which he said puts them in the 40-60th percentile currently for normal singletons. (I'm not sure why the OB told me they were big a couple of weeks ago.) He also said my cervix looks good, closed and 4.7cm which is longer than most and the best part, shows no signs of opening. (Which he said normally occurs weeks before delivery.) So we took this to mean that we're still quite far from delivery. Great news!

We were told that pictures get harder to achieve the further along in pregnancy we get, so this time we just have a couple of profiles to share.

24w5d Profiles - October 14

This afternoon I went to the APrON (Alberta Pregnancy Outcomes and Nutrition) clinic to sign up for their medical study. They measured and weighed me. (I gained again. eek. I'm going to weigh twice my normal weight with three more months of gain like this! - Truly I'm averaging about 1.5lbs per week and hope that it melts off later..) Then they did the fat caliper test and took blood and urine samples. I filled out three questionnaires for them and brought home a package of questionnaires for Phil to fill out as well as a cheek swab for him. (Guess we'll know if he's the daddy soon enough.. Kidding! Bad joke.)

Tomorrow we are going on a mini Babymoon! We decided to take a vacation to Banff and have a relaxing few days together and also to celebrate Phil's birthday. We have big plans to order room service, eat fondue and have afternoon tea, watch movies, stroll through the town admiring the mountains and generally relax. Looking forward to spending quality time with my wonderful husband.

Every year, I buy myself a new winter jacket. It's the equivalent of a "shoe addiction". My guilty pleasure.  Last year, I got a beautiful black North Face jacket, which I tried to squeeze my belly into.. but sadly, failed. I can still close the top but will have to wait until next winter to wear it again. I had been considering buying a maternity jacket, going back and forth, since it's already getting cold here and I've got three more months of belly growing to do! Many people told me I didn't need a jacket.. but it's been cold.. and I love jackets! (That's like me telling them they don't need that donut..) Today, I bought a maternity jacket! It's not nearly as warm as normal ones but will get me through this winter. It's black and has ample belly room. It also has side zippers to expand the jacket outward for even more belly room. I think it will do the job nicely. Now to find some new mittens and a scarf, preferably at a craft sale. Winter is coming!

New Winter Jacket!

3D Ultrasound - Take Two!

Yesterday was our follow-up appointment at UCBaby for 3D ultrasound! We looked forward to seeing clear photos of their teeny, little faces, for weeks. For me, I was just nosey, to see who in the family I thought they most closely resembled. I think our baby boy looks like a Smeltz for certain and our baby girl perhaps looks more like my side? I guess we'll have to wait and see once they arrive.

Baby Girl 24 week ultrasound

Baby Boy 24 week ultrasound

I asked the tech to double check their genders for us. Baby Boy was very obvious the first time around - I imagine him in the future, to be a naked, diaper-less streaker with the way he was casually displaying himself. Baby Girl, is still a baby girl! The tech was pretty certain the first time, but I wanted to make sure. His heartbeat measured at 144bpm and hers was 146bpm. Both very nice. They also both were already opening their eyes! We're very happy and are pleased to know that they are doing good.

They were moving around all over the place while we watched the scan. Baby Girl was head down and Baby Boy was head up in my belly this time. Baby Boy kept kicking his sister in the face! She was protecting herself by putting her arm up in front of her face. Poor girl, she's already getting picked on. I told DH that his son was already a little troublemaker.

This time around, there was a bit more fat on their teeny bodies and we got a few more photos, nothing super clear, but we have yet to go through all of the photos they gave us on CD. They told us it's harder to get pictures of two babies, since it's more limbs to get in the way and more movement. No big deal. We got to see them and we got a DVD of our hour long session, so that's good enough for us. UCBaby also gave us two gift bags full of coupons and trial items which I loved! Inside were 4oz bottles, diaper creams, stretch mark creams and sample diapers. Score! I love gift bags! Our parents got to watch the broadcast live again this time. It is up online for 60 days for anyone to view. If you're interested, send me an email and I can send you the link.

Now that I'm feeling the flutters of movement more often each day (no real kicks yet or feeling on the outside - hoping that comes soon so DH can feel them moving too!), I am beginning to become more and more aware that this is really happening for us, and there are babies inside of my tummy. I know you're thinking, "How could she not know by now?" Well, I guess the best way to explain it is that it's a really huge change from my normal, or 30 years of just being me, and until recently I had no way of knowing the babies were even there unless I looked down and went "Oh, yeah. A belly!" Up to this point I haven't really had many of the pregnancy side effects that most women complain about. (I'm happy about that.)

Week 23 belly pic (Taken Oct 4/11)

This week we went shopping at Babies-R-Us to browse the playards in person. We left with a hamper for the nursery which I am hoping to customize with fabrics, an adorable stuffed owl that I couldn't put down, and a crib sheet. We also ordered a Graco Stages Travel Lite Playard from Sears. It's 20% smaller than a normal sized playard (or playpen as some would say) and we plan to use it beside our bed for the first while to have the babies sleeping safely close to us. It holds up to 15lbs on the top and so we figure they'll be able to sleep in it together for the first few weeks, then we can buy a second one or move them to their crib. Also we can take the playard with us travelling to grandparents' houses or where ever we need. We also tested out the baby monitor this week. DH was super excited since it's technology plus baby related (the best of both worlds!). He loved that it has portable digital screen and infrared lighting for night time. We can also take it with us when ever we travel. (Or should I say "if" we do travel..)

Today, we're off to do a bit more shopping/errands for the week and drive to my parents' place for the long weekend to celebrate Thanksgiving! Now to get DH out of bed...

At the Lake for Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving All!

Thompson Visit

Welcome to Month 5!

We took some vacation time and drove up to Northern Manitoba to my hometown. My parents came along as well and we all stayed with my Grandma. DH and I left home on Thursday evening and arrived at my parents' place. Friday we all drove to PA and Saturday we finally drove into Thompson at about 7pm.

At Grandma's House

We spent the week touring around town, completing the local wolf statue GPS hunt. We also went to the museum, and we went fishing together. My Dad and DH also went fishing one early morning, just the two of them. They caught four pickerel. We took my Grandma shopping, and did cooking and cleaning for her. We made chili, zucchini quiche, chicken stew and pork chops and we froze them or left them as left overs for my Grandma to eat. One evening DH and I had the chance to stay in with Grandma to visit and listen to her stories. I will always remember that evening. While there, I also got a chance to see a few friends and catch up. I had a great time.

Belly Perspective while Fishing

It was very nice to be back for a visit, since it had been over 5 years since I'd last returned. Somethings have changed and some remain the same. I missed living there, yet am thankful to live where we do now. I was sadly disappointed that Popeyes restaurant was already closed for the season, also it was a bit disappointing to see Southwood closed and gone for good. Fond memories.

As for our own shopping, we didn't buy anything for ourselves. We did buy the cutest little native slippers with fur and beading for our cubs, some onesies (more not shown here). Of course we bought them stuffed animals as well - Two little howling Thompson wolves and each of them a unique car seat musical toy from my friends' store.

Our twins' loot from Thompson - spoiled already

Favorite find, handmade native slippers.
Hoping our cats wont stalk them wearing these around the house..

We also found them a Soul Connection Dream Catcher, in bright blue, which we plan to hang in their nursery. I love the sentiment and memories this holds from my childhood. I hope to someday teach our children about where and how I grew up. We thought it was appropriate that this particular dream catcher had two parts connected. On the dream catcher's tag it says:

"Soul Connection - It is by sharing ourselves that we come to truly learn about who we are. Soul connection dream catcher honours this relationship between two people."

We also brought home some baby clothing, two bunting bags and two pairs of knitted booties for our babies, all given to us by my Grandma. I can't wait for them to wear the clothing she's given us. It means a lot to us that she can share in our joy. She is so very happy that she is going to be a Great-Grandma. She had a dream the last night that we were at her place, that our babies would be born on January 10-11th. I hope she is correct. That would be wonderful. She also prays for our babies everyday, which I appreciate so very much.

The drive back home felt much longer than the drive out. I'm guessing because we knew that our trip was ending and we were getting tired. We stayed at my parents' place once again (and ate fresh MB pickerel!) and then made our way home on Sunday. Even the road trip with my parents will be a memory we will cherish for years to come. We enjoyed it all.

22 weeks in Thompson MB! (Taken Sept 28, 2011)

In week 23-24, back home in Calgary, we had our first OB appointment. The OB seems very nice and she explained a lot of what to expect to me. She told me the protocol for the hospital and explained what milestones we needed to hit. Our first milestone is at 24 weeks (next Sunday according to me & tomorrow according to the doctors). Then the next is 28 weeks. Finally, she told me that after 32 weeks, the final milestone for twins, we are, in her words, "laughing all the way to the bank". Meaning that after 32 weeks our cubs will be just fine. She gave me survive-ability rates for each, but I'd rather just keep on thinking positive that we won't even have to worry about that stuff. I didn't like the fact that she kept saying "if" and not "when" as she spoke. Under my breath I kept correcting her saying "when we hit week.." and ignoring her "ifs". I expect that our babies will gestate until 37 or 38 weeks along. The OB also mentioned that we are aiming for the 37 week mark.

We listened to our cubs' heartbeats and she told me that they were strong. When I asked her if they were measuring on track, she said that based on our 19 week ultrasound they were measuring big. So I asked her if they were big for twins, or just big for a normal baby (meaning one). She said they are normal. I took that to mean they are actually big for a normal single pregnancy. That'd be nice if they were big healthy babies. (Though I may eat these words come January..) I also learned today that I've already gained approx 35lbs! This is scary, but if it helps to keep my babies healthy then I'll take it. The OB said not to worry and I'm doing fine. I was right in my previous assumptions and our next appointment is not until November 2nd. Then after that we will start going for a check up every two weeks. We also have a medical ultrasound scheduled now for Friday, October 14th. I guess we will find out those results in a months time.

This Friday, on October 7th, we have the second UCBaby 3D ultrasound. We are excited to see our cubs again and know that they are doing well. I hope to see more fat on their teeny bodies and I plan to ask the tech to double check their genders for us just in case! I hope we can get some nice photos of them this time as well. I am always so amazed to see these two little humans developing inside my belly. It still hasn't hit me that this is truly real. I'm in awe of these people that I'm somehow magically creating.