long time coming....

it's been a loooong time.  :)

i'm posting now, because i am (90%) sure that the only people who read this consistently are already aware that we are expecting, and probably aware that we are expecting twins. 

how exciting.

though we are definitely not keeping the fact that we are expecting two little bundles a secret, we are also choosing to not annouce it to the facebook/social media world for quite awhile.

the twins are indeed identical, and we have been told our two little lovies are sharing a very special bond.  baby a and baby b are sharing a placenta as well as an amniotic sac.  this kind of twinning is rare, only 1% of all identical twins share the same amniotic sac, 1 in 60,000 births.  sounds sweet, and so special! 

unfortunately, this kind of sharing, sweet though it may be, puts that babies in a bit of a precarious situation.  our doc described it as two puppies tied to a tether in a small pen.  as the puppies play and grow, obviously those tether are going to get twisted and intertwined.  for the twins, those tethers are their cords. 



common knots in monoamniotic twins, although scary looking, these cords kept two babies healthy and nourished!

obviously, those cords are the babies life lines, so the concern is that the cords become crushed and the babies are unable to get oxygen and nutrients.  entanglement is a given, we have to watch for compression.

so what this means is that we will watch the babies VERY closely.  lots of ultrasounds and doctors visits until we hit about 24-28 weeks.  at this time, the babies will be viable outside the womb, a very important accomplishment.  once the babes are considered viable, we will begin daily, yes every day, monitoring.  our options at this time will be for me to be admitted to the hospital for inpatient monitoring, or to go the hospital 7 days a week for a couple hours to check the babies.  luckily a babies decline is generally gradual, so by being diligent in watching their development we should be able to make a very well informed decision about when to deliver. 

the goal is 34 weeks.  we will be lucky to make it to 32 weeks.  if at any point after viability the risk of the babies staying in uetro is higher than the risks of a premature birth, they will be delivered.

our chances of bringing home two healthy babies are 80% as long as they are monitored VERY closely.  without this obscene amount of watchfulness or chances drop to 50%.

we will keep everyone posted with any changes, and are simply asking for your love, support, and prayers during this intense time.  we are truly excited for these babes, and feel confident that everything will be fine, but are trying to remain well informed and realistic about what the risks are and what the next couple of months will be like.

we love you all and thank you for your support!

post baby bod

man oh man.  the post baby bod. 

i have, for the most part, been able to ignore the post baby bod focus.  i haven't had a lot of extreme weight gain or loss, pretty much the same size i was before mason... which was almost 29 months ago including pregnancy.

nothing spectacular, but just fine and dandy..

thi weekend i had to poke my head out of the sand and face the post baby bod head on.  getting measured for my sister in laws bridesmaid dress.  yay.

now let's back this train up and talk.  not only do i get to be measured for this dress, but i get to do so after a 2.5 hour drive to des moines, with the only mother/daughter combo that is more dysfunctional about wight issues than my mom and myself.  double yay.

so, lets carry on.

we get there and i cannot talk about the first half of the appointment.  not because it was that painful, although it was, but because i am trying to remember that this is cyberspace, and it's out there forever.  but ask me in person.  its a good one.

looooooooooong story short:
i went in feeling ok about my post baby bod, i mean sure things dont hang quite as high as they used to, but come on, i made a person, and then fed a person for over a year.  cut me some slack.  overall, with spanx and a good support bra, the general idea is still the same. 

i left feeling a little less confident.

so today i had a doughnut.

that'll show them.

first date

so i went on my first date

my first MOMS group date

i was pretty excited, it was a zoo trip.  i thought a lot about it before hand.  trying to figure out what i would wear, and what i would bring the boys for lunch.  something casual, but flattering, and something healthy and thoughtful so i looked like a very attentive mom.

you may think i'm joking about this, but i'm not.  i thought a LOT about it.  i ended up going with some running clothes, its the only chance those poor things have of getting used right now.  and i think i just brought a lot of healthy snacks. 

the date was... ok.

maybe my expectations are too high.
i mean, she has got a lot to live up to in the friend department.

she was nice, sweet, my age.  she met her husband in junior high.

and married him at 19.

i have no problem with high school sweet hearts, i think it's cute... but when someone tells you that they met their husband in junior high, and then married them at 19, how do you break the news to them that you met your husband at 20... when he was a bouncer... at a bar you were too young to get into, so you used your cute 'personality' to weasel your way in? 

ummm, yeah, we just met through mutual friends, lets leave it at that.

overall it was nice, and good to have company at the zoo. 

hear's to hoping we have more to talk about on our next date...

100

apparently this is my 100th post. 

congrats

a little background info:  mason is VERY aware of where his penis is, and also VERY proud of it.  we are teaching the correct names for body parts, but when mason talks about his favorite, it always comes out 'peepis'

a couple nights ago he was in the bath, and we use the bath to work on learning body parts, so i ask him to wash his feet, wash his cheeks, wash his elbows, you get the idea.  well, as mason is washing his legs, he stops and turns his little face to me, eyebrows raised about  as high as they will go. i asked him what was the deal, and he quickly popped up, grabbed his favorite body part and shouted "GOT YOU PEEPIS!"

where it was trying to get away to is still a mystery.

in the running....

no, I'M not running, but i think i must be in the running for mom of the year.  what other title would you give to the woman who let her 1.5 year old out in the (fenced-in) backyard to play with the dog while she makes dinner.  sounds safe right? 

our dog is 70 pounds.  never had an issue with her.

the neighbors have three yorkies, as in our dog makes.... messes.... the size of their dogs. 

however

in the 15 (*cough* 45 *cough*) minutes that mason was outside playing, the neighbor yorkies wiggled under the fence (again) and came over to play.  this is a pretty common event. 

yesterday the biggest yorkie (the size of my husband's shoe) some how knocked my son over.  he fell, onto the deck, and caught himself... with his nose. 

baby's first bloody nose.  where's the baby book page for that one?

like i said, MOTY, mom of the year.

MOMS group

i joined a moms group.  i was VERY nervous, i didn't know what to expect, but i went.  and boy oh boy am i glad that i did.  apparently, i'm not alone, lots of kids poop on the floor.

the group opens up with talking a little bit about 'mom moments', those things that really only a mom can understand completely.  one girl talked about her life with 3(!) kids, and how she is CONSTANTLY yelling at someone, and someone is constantly crying at her.  and if there is a moment when someone is not crying, then she is probably crying herself. 

sounds sad to most people... it's kind of funny if you are a mom.  funny because it's sad.  and sad because it's true.

i didn't share a mom moment, it was my first day, i had to feel out how honest we were really going to be.  i had to figure out if these moms could handle the fact that my son constantly tries to pull off his diaper so he can play with his 'beeeeeg pepis", or that sometimes mason's voice gets annoying, and i put him in the stroller for a walk/jog so i have an appropriate excuse to put headphones in and drown him out for an hour.

it's still all good though, because even on our worst days, i'm still glad to be home and experiencing them with him.  he is such a sweet boy, but it will be a miracle if my house (and my sanity) survive his childhood.

this weekend mas and i were at hy-vee, and he L-O-V-E-S the carts that are shaped like cars.  so at the end of our shopping trip, when it was time to get out, there was a little, um, resistance.  resistance in the form of screaming, kicking and arching the back.  luckily, i am a champion fit-throwing-kid carrier and i simply hoisted his squirmy body, facing out, over my arm, and began the trek outside, ignoring the tantrum.  we had just made it out the door when i dropped my phone, and after bending down to pick it up i noticed a couple staring at me.  now in their defense, i can imagine what they were seeing.  i probably looked like some un-showered, crazed baby abuser.  but i just lost it a tiny bit.  i looke straight at them and said "what? would you like to take a two-year old home?"  As you can imagine, they promptly lowered their gaze and hurried on. 

i felt bad for all of 30 seconds, but i managed to get over it.  maybe they will think before staring next time.  or maybe i'll learn to control my toddler. 

niether of those sound likely, meh.

hmph

i need to get better about posting when i am enjoying the day... i am starting to annoy myself with this whining. 

however

today, parenting, staying at home, is hard.