A few weeks ago Ryan and I were at the Children's Museum, for all of 5 minutes, when he was running, tripped, and bonked his forehead on a wood block attached to the wall. As most toddlers, he falls and hits his head regularly but this time it was bad. I immediately picked him up and within seconds I gave him a once over checking for blood but instead I found a huge goose-egg on his forehead. And it kept growing. It probably took all of 2 minutes for him to calm down. I was a different story. After calming Ryan I fell apart. I sat in the sandbox and cried. I blame the majority of my hysteria on hormones. I'm happy to report the final stage of the monster bruise just faded.
Here's my attempt capturing the goose-egg. It doesn't do the egg justice.
A week or so after the goose-egg tragedy, Ryan stopped eating well and started spiking fevers. I'd been sick off and on and Chris and I assumed Ryan had just caught what I had. After a few days with fevers he developed stinky breath so in to the doctor he went. Positive for strep throat. Poor guy. He was back to his usual self just a day after starting antibiotics.
To make matters worse his mouth was bleeding. Why? Not exactly sure. I believe his gums were compromised from several teeth coming in and the infection decided to settle in. Now when I say he was bleeding, it wasn't just a bit of blood. The blood was seeping out his mouth and down his face. The doctor said to bring him back in for bloodwork if it didn't stop. Fortunately, it stopped!
While he was not feeling well, I broke down and let him snuggle me on the couch and watch Barney. That's right, the big purple dinosaur. Let's just say he got hooked. He now asks to watch 'Bar'. I suppose one 15 minute episode of 'Bar' a day won't hurt him.
Ever since my mom and I made Ryan's birthday banner we plotted to make a Christmas banner. So, last November we did just that. Well, actually, we made a 'bunting'. The difference? It appears, according to Etsy, the difference is words. As with the birthday banner, my contribution was the idea, the fabric, and my superior cutting and ironing skills. My mom did all the sewing. I absolutely LOVE the fabric. Do you know how hard it is to find modern Christmas fabrics in a world of ultra-ugly fabrics?
Upcoming projects: curtains for Ryan's room and curtains for the twins room.
Though many people know we have fertility issues (its not like I keep it a secret), there are many that do not. The response, after hearing I'm pregnant with twins, is always "do twins run in your family" - see video below. Most times I don't feel like explaining our fertility issues so I say "My grandma is a twin". It's a true statement. And, hey, twins do skip a generation. Well, what I don't bother to clarify is that she's not my biological grandmother. Details.
Theres really no preparation for the obvious day to day complications of caring for twins, however I can prepare for the logistical issues that will arrise...
Car I'm not certain the appropriate 3 carseats will fit in my car. There's a slight chance they will fit in Chris's car. If not, we need a new car. Car. Not minivan. Stroller I need a stroller to accommodate a 2 year old and 2 infants that also fits in the trunk. I'm thinking of a sit and stand option. In the beginning, Ryan can sit in the actual seat and the baby can sit in the infant carrier. As the babies get older, one of them can sit in the seat while Ry sits/stands in the jumpseat. While one baby rides on the stroller, the other rides on me. This beats a triple stroller. I think. Or maybe a side by side...
Sleeping arrangements Chris and I've talked a lot about how to accommodate the babies in our rental house. We have an upstairs that we don't really use but I can't fathom taking the babies up and down on a regular basis so we've decided to keep everyone downstairs. In the beginning the babies will stay in our room. Once we want to transition them out of our room we will move us into the small playroom and the babies will get our current room. Downside is no playroom, but between Ryan's room and the babies room I think there will be plenty of play space.
By the time the babies need more than one crib Ryan will be out of his crib. Sweet.
Feeding As of this early moment I plan to breastfeed both babies and supplement as necessary. I've already looked into it and realize I have to feed them both at the same time or else all I'd do is nurse. So, I watched a youtube video on just how to do it. Totally possible.
Travel It occurred to me that I will no longer be able to fly to Texas without Chris. Not only would it be impossible to fly with 2 babies and a toddler but I'm fairly certain the airline won't allow it. I foresee my mom flying to Virginia to turn around and fly back with us (afterall she did it once so I wouldn't have to fly alone with Ryan).
In addition, it seems rather impossible to take 3 carseats and 3 children on a plane. Not to mention the fact that our family members don't have a single car that can accommadate us all. So, I expect we'll have to rent a car, um I mean minivan, complete with carseat rentals as well.
Diapers Yes, I realize I will have THREE babies in diapers at the same time. I feel like the we'll need to wait as long as possible to potty train Ryan (rationale: so the twins are older and slightly less demanding). We'll likely wait until Ryan is at least 2 and a 1/2, which I hear is plenty early for boys.
I'm going to look into cloth diapering both babies...with Ryan we didn't start cloth until he was 6 months old and while that worked really well I'm tossing around what to do this time. While I'm much more educated about cloth, I know newborns are different and there are TWO to consider.
A couple months ago we bought a new camera. A standard compact digital camera with HD video. After all, we can't watch our family videos in standard def, now can we? As it turns out, this bit of safistication took us until now to be able to download. Hence, these random videos...
~ The all day sickness has passed for only occasional sickness. Hallelujah. Ten weeks of straight nausea was plain torture. I just now started enjoying food again. And meat. I went 9 weeks without any meat. I started thinking one of these babies was a vegetarian. But, alas, I'm back to being a carnivore.
~ I've gained about 9 pounds to date. I've been instructed to gain about 1.5 pounds a week from here on out for a total of 45 pounds! 45 pounds. Are you kidding me? My doc said I'd look full term at 28 weeks. Oh. My. Goodness.
~ I'm only slightly bigger than I was with Ryan at 16 weeks. I'm wearing clothes with either no defined waists (dresses), drawstring waists, or elastic waists. With that said, I can still completely hide the belly if need be.
~ I just had an ultrasound and the babies are currently laying one on top the other. They look perfect. Baby A is slightly smaller (4 oz) than baby B (5 oz). Baby B was more active and had a higher heart rate of 160. Less active baby A's heart rate was 140. We will have plenty of opportunities to see these little babies as I will have monthly ultrasounds until 32 weeks at which point I move to weekly. I learned the need for increased ultrasounds is simply because there is no other way to see how much they are growing (with a singleton they measure the belly for such).
~ The headaches have surpassed. At least the major ones have. And heartburn has set in, big time. I went from tums to zantac which was incredibly helpful. My doc said I will likely graduate to prilosec sooner than later.
~ And now for belly pics...
9 Weeks
11 Weeks
12 Weeks
14 Weeks
16 Week (turned around to get that pesky doorknob out of the pic)
Both babies, head to head, 15w4d
