34 weeks

I ended up having an interesting weekend. I had just made it to the 34 week mark and had a Dr. appointment that morning. One of my doctors - a perinatologist who specializes in high risk pregnancies and multiples suspected that I was in the beginning stages of pre-term labor. (I've been experiencing some contractions and he was concerned about the frequency of them). So we got in the car and headed to my other Dr. - my OB who will be delivering the babies. After seeing her, we went to the hospital for some monitoring and received some medicine to keep these boys baking a little while longer. It didn't feel like much of a scare because as we knew, twins do arrive on the early side a lot of the time and everyone seemed confident that things were under control. Fortunately, my Dr. was being extra cautious and upon being checked out further, it looks like we can make it another few weeks with the help of some medicine. Yay! The more time the babies can spend with me, the better off they will be once they do decide to arrive. Here is a 34 week belly bump photo and a picture of the boys being monitored while we were at the hospital. That monitor showed us both heart rates - which were excellent! Pretty neat stuff!

32 week mug shot!

This week my Mom flew out to California to be with us and to help me now that I'm on bed rest. My Dad also flew out and surprised us both with a weekend visit. Phil was the only one who knew and kept the secret well. I was truly surprised! 

Yesterday I crossed a new milestone. 32 weeks! Hooray! At my Dr. appointment I learned that Baby A is weighing in at 4lbs 1oz and Baby B is weighing in at 4lbs even. (of course these are estimates based on the Dr. measuring the babies with ultrasound equipment) While in my appointment we were able to capture a 4D image of Baby B! (Baby A is positioned in a way that we weren't able to get good photos) So... introducing a womb mug shot of Baby B!...

I don't know about you, but I think that baby looks a whole lot like Phil!!! :) 

Happy 30!

I'm 30 weeks pregnant today! That means I'm in the final stretch in twin terms! Full term for twins is 38 weeks - not 40 weeks like a single baby would be. And a little fun fact for you - 50-60% of twins are born before 36 weeks. We are hoping the boys hold on for as long as they can. The more time they spend with me, the less time they will need to spend at the hospital. 

I had a Dr. appointment on Tuesday and both babies were weighing in at about 3 and a half pounds each! That's pretty great! That might not sound like much, but I sure do feel it. They are getting so big and heavy! They are both head down and have been cuddling face to face. Pretty cute! 

A nursery preview

We are still working on setting up the baby nursery but here is a little preview. So far Savannah and Jojo are pleased with it. They think it's for them. Haha!

28 weeks! Thanksgiving! 29 weeks!

Phil and I had a nice quiet and mellow Thanksgiving this year. It was just the two of us so we decided to make a reservation and eat out at a nice restaurant. I ordered a more traditional Thanksgiving meal and Phil went with a less traditional but still harvesty type meal. We're in the 3rd trimester now and things are starting to get more difficult for sure. My belly is HEAVY to carry around and I've been given Dr.'s orders to remain on a modified bed rest. Basically, I can't spend more than several minutes  on my feet at a time. I have to go from the couch to a chair or to bed. Truthfully, I don't know how it could work other way because I have a hard time being on my feet. I get out of breath very easily. Simple things like brushing my hair or even talking on the phone make me feel like I've just been on a long run. It's been a tough week full of adjustments but I am trying my best to have patience. Here are some photos from Thanksgiving and one from our 28 week appointment! We finally got a photo of Baby A! He is still head down and has shoved himself into my pelvis. It took a while to get this photo but we were happy to see him! :)

The Gender Reveal

For anyone who missed the big gender reveal, here is a link we put up on youtube...

Click HERE

I love watching this. I've seen it a million times already. :) Enjoy!

Baby Phil cartoons

My friends celebrated at a small baby shower held for me out here in Los Angeles 2 weeks ago. We had a nice, girly time sampling different flavored teas and having little lady-like desserts at an adorable little tea and sweets shop. When it was time for me to open up gifts, I opened up cards and found lots of hilarious drawings that my talented and creative friends drew for me. We were all laughing at the funny baby Phils. Here are some of my favorites:

Crib

I call this piece... "Savannah judges Phil build baby cage"

2 little pumpkins

Today Phil and I went to a pumpkin patch and picked out 2 little pumpkins for our front porch. We're in the 24th week now and things are going great! I had a Dr. appointment a couple days ago and found out that Baby A is weighing in at about 1lb 6oz. and Baby B is 1lb 8oz. They're both about 12 inches tall. (I guess that sounds like they take after me. Haha) The Dr. showed me a curve chart that shows growth throughout pregnancies and both babies fall right on the mark of average. We couldn't ask for anything better than that! During the ultra sound I saw Baby B open his mouth to practice swallowing and I got a quick glimpse of his face before he moved. I saw his little nostrils! Haha! Baby A was more difficult to see because his head was shoved into my pelvis at the time, so mostly I just saw his little kicking feet. Right now both babies have enough room to fully twist and turn themselves around but soon their quarters will become much more cramped. When that happens, they'll start shoving each other to try to make more room for themselves. Phil has spent the rest of this weekend working on the nursery. Yesterday he painted and right now he is putting together some furniture. Fun fun! Pictures to come soon!

21 weeks!

The Twyndas are 21 today!  Time to celebrate LEGALLY :)

-Phil

ps... I'm kidding obviously.  They won't be allowed to drink until they're 30 years old. :)

A cute profile

I love this photo of Baby B! Isn't it cute?! This is from my 20 week appointment. Baby A was being a little camera shy and we weren't able to get a good still image. Usually it depends on where the babies are located and how much they are moving around at the time. After a thorough set of examinations, we found out that both babies are growing at the same rate which is really important for twins. My Dr. told me that things could not look better! They are measuring at 11 oz and 12 oz. and are about 10 inches long.

20 weeks

Here I am at 20 weeks and feeling happy. Overall, I feel pretty great but I tire easily and need to take breaks often - even breaks from sitting. If I do anything for too long (usually over an hour or two) I feel some pain in my back and need to rest.

The babies are proving themselves to be little kick boxers in training. At my last Dr. appointment I asked about a spot that was feeling sore. It felt like I had pulled a muscle in the upper right part of my abdomen. My Dr. said, "I want to show you something". He put the ultra sound tool right on the sore spot and said, "What do you see?" I replied, "Four legs" He said, "Exactly. All four feet are kicking you in the same spot and have created a bruise on the inside" I was happy to hear it wasn't anything serious, but I quickly realized how intense this kicking is going to get over time! Have any of you seen Twilight Breaking Dawn where Bella gets beat up from the inside by her super human strength baby vampire fetus? I imagined that and Phil pretty much fell over laughing. Phil has been able to feel the kicking too and he loves it! The first time he felt a kick he was speechless!

18 weeks & kicking

Here is a photo of me at 18 weeks! This week I am feeling a lot of light baby kicks here and there - mostly, right after I eat. I imagine the babies are communicating with me, "Thanks for that yummy food, Mom!!" A lot of people told me the movement would feel like "butterflies" but Joan M. described it exactly how I feel it - "like someone is flicking me with their finger from the inside". Sometimes it surprises me but most of the time it's subtle enough to be a really pleasant reminder that the babies are doing well. I am pretty sure I feel Baby A moving more than Baby B, but that's probably due to where they are located. I'm feeling pretty great overall. I had an acupuncture appointment yesterday. I've been going to acupuncture regularly since April. Susan my acupuncturist has helped get my body ready for the embryo transfer process, the pregnancy, and she has also worked wonders to help me feel my best during this process.  I always leave her practice feeling very refreshed and ready to tackle the next set of adjustments coming my way.

What else is in the tummy?

Phil has been dying for me to have some serious cravings but I haven't had anything too crazy yet. Since we haven't updated in a little while, I thought I would share an image of some of the babies' favorite foods.
P.S. Hi Francesca!

16 weeks & back at work

I'm in my 16th week now and feeling pretty great. I had been on bed rest for about 7 weeks due to a minor complication, but everything has been fully resolved and looking A-OK! So I'm headed back to work to finish out the season of Gravity Falls at Disney. There is only 4 weeks left on my contract at Disney so it will be the perfect amount of time to get in a little work and social time before I become a little more restricted with my activity.

Growing

Full Bellies

The Bump Begins

Announcement

We posted this 12 week ultra sound image on facebook and got a great response. Someone referred to the babies as "The Twyndas" and that's how we got the name of this blog.

The Proof!

A couple very long weeks after the embryo transfer, we received a phone call from one of our nurses. She had HAPPY news to share! Hard work, modern medical miracles, and some plain old good luck paid off. She said, "Congratulations! Amanda's pregnant" She also told us that Amanda's hormone levels were on the high end. We asked if this could mean a multiple pregnancy and she told us we would need to come in for an ultra sound. Here's what we saw...

We kept the news private until we took a trip to NY and shared our joy with our families.

Embryos

After multiple unsuccessful single embryo transfers, we decided to go out with a bang and transfer our final 2 embryos. When the Dr. asked if we were sure, Amanda replied with, "I just cracked 7 double yolked eggs in a row. Yeah, I'm sure".

Double Yolks!!

A few days before our embryo transfer, we decided to have eggs for breakfast. As we got started to cook, a funny thing happened. We were surprised when we cracked open a double yolked egg! We kept on cracking and found 7 lucky double yolks in one carton! Could that have been a sign twins were in our future? We like to think so. :)

The Very Beginning

As some of you may know, it wasn't so easy to get this family started. We've spent the past few years going thru many rigorous tests and procedures to get to where we are today. Here is a little glimpse of the memories we made going thru that process.