3rd Trimester!

So I have been at home on restrictions for a whole month now! My huge to do list is done and the house is clean... finally! It has been a hard transition staying home all the time especially since Billy has been so busy working.  Farming and home repairs have been keeping him busy until 9 or 10 o'clock! I have been lucky to be able to sit down to eat dinner with him.  It made for a long and lonely day at home for this hormonal pregnant lady! I tell ya, it's the first time in my life I have had hormones making me feel one way then at the same time my brain was telling me I was being irrational! A typical day for me goes like this: Eat, watch TV, check facebook, check email, pinterest, eat, nap, repeat...

Other than adjusting to our new routine we have made time to spend with friends and family. Here are a bunch of pictures summing up the last month.

We went to the Wilson wedding and it was nice to have other pregnant friends to hang out with!

Darcy 18 weeks, me 26 weeks and Jordan 27 weeks!

Billy's cousin Liz and his mom hosted a family shower. I am so bummed  that I forgot to take more pictures! We received a lot of really nice gifts and it was really nice to see everyone that was able to make it!

 The spread! It was a dessert bar with chocolate fondue, brownies and mini lemon cheesecakes!

 Some of the onesies my mother-in-law made for Max and Macie.

My niece Madelyn had her dance recital. She is turning into quite the little dancer! I can't believe I got such a good picture of her on stage! Isn't she a doll?

I have been trying to make it to as many of my nephew Brody's T-ball games. This is the only picture I got of him in his uniform. He is doing a great job and really likes t-ball. I think last Saturday's game was the last one I am going to make. I barely made it 40 minutes sitting in the heat before I started feeling sick. :(

Our friends hosted a Couples Diaper Shower for us! My friend Danielle just finished building a beautiful new home and opened it up to have our shower at her house.  We had such a great time and we received SO many diapers! Our friends are so generous and we are so thankful to have them in our lives!

The beautiful hosts. 

Daddy-to-be and I with our diapers and wipes! We now have over 3,300 diapers to get us started!!

We wanted to make it to at least one Royals game this year. We went with my sister and her family.  I am glad we went with them since my activity restriction is kind was kind of an inconvenience and they are understanding. Billy had to get golf carts to give me rides to and from the parking lot and stadium and we had to get seats that were close to that gate we could access without going up and down a lot of stairs. We had a lot of fun and had some really nice weather! It was buck night, so we ate  a really healthy dinner of hot dogs, peanuts, diet Pepsi and popcorn. Billy bought the kids some snow cones, but the popcorn was a bigger hit than they were! Who knew such little people could eat so much popcorn! Good things the bucket came with free refills!

Uncle Billy and Brody

Sweet little Madelyn!

We have some exciting things coming up this week. Starting with my 30 ultrasound tomorrow, one of my best friends is coming in town Thursday and we have quite a bit of family (including my parents) coming in town for my baby shower on Saturday!  I can't wait to see everyone!!

26 Weeks

I've gotten pretty lazy when it comes to taking belly pics, well I guess I can say I've just gotten lazy! I feel like I wait until I have a lot to talk about before I post anything. In the last few weeks I have had my OB appointment, an ultrasound and my last day of work!

My doctors appointment went well. He put me on activity restriction, so I am supposed to spend the majority of my time resting and stay off my feet as much as possible. The reason for my activity restriction is to keep the babies inside me as long as possible and to prevent going into labor while there is a chance of the babies having life long problems due to being born too early. As long as everything is still going well I think he will lift the restriction at 32 weeks when the babies have reached a "safe zone." No exercise, lifting, pushing, pulling, straining and NO MORE GOING TO THE LAKE! That last part is the most disappointing! I was hoping to be able go down there at least one more time, but these babies are more important than going to the lake! Everything else went great my belly is measuring about 7 weeks ahead of what it would if I was only have one baby, so at 25 weeks I was measuring at 32 weeks with a singleton. 

This month I went to Shawnee Mission Medical Center for a level II ultrasound. My doctor wanted a more detailed report than he was getting from Menorah. Billy couldn't come to this one so his mom came with me instead. I'm glad she was able to see the babies and I think she really enjoyed it too! My experience at Shawnee Mission was so much better than it had been a Menorah. For starters it was a place that only does prenatal ultrasounds and everyone there was so nice. They had a big flat screen across from the bed that we got to watch the babies on and they played some nice calming music. There is also a doctor that watches the ultrasound and comes in afterwards to let you know if he saw anything abnormal so that was nice. Both babies are looking perfect! They are measuring just a few days behind schedule which is to be expected with twins. Max weighed 1.9 LBS and Macie weighed 1.7 LBS. 

My last day of work was pretty bittersweet. I was so ready to be done both physically and mentally!  I don't think could handle getting spit at one more time! It was sad leaving the awesome women I have worked with for the past 4 years. Our classroom is changing so much next year and people are leaving. When the day was over and I went to say bye to Emily (my supervising teacher who has become a very close friend of mine) I gave her a hug and we both started crying. I couldn't even say anything to her. I just had to leave. I know that I have made some life long friends working in that classroom and it is sad knowing that I won't be spending 40 hours a week with them anymore.

I have been done working for a week now and it really harder than you would think to sit around the house! There is so much to do around here, but I am supposed to be taking it easy. I just do a little at a time and eventually everything will get done. I just keep reminding myself that my only job right now is to take care of myself and these babies. It is really hard adjusting to not getting a bunch of things done at once, but I guess that is how it is going to be once the babies get here.  Billy has been working till 9 or 10 o'clock every night for the past few weeks trying to get all of the fields ready to farm, so I know once that is taken care of he will have more time to help me take care of things around the house. It makes for a much longer day not having him around in the evenings. I am looking forward to being able to spend time with him again! 

I am hoping to update a little more often since I have a little more time on my hands these days! 

23 Weeks

I guess I can officially say that I feel pregnant! My belly is growing so fast, I'm tired, sore and have trouble sleeping. I think I have really started to notice my pregnancy being different than my friends with single babies. It is getting harder for me to run errands, I can't make it more than 20 minutes before my back starts to hurt and the muscles in the very top of my stomach get really sore. Enough complaining!

On an exciting note the babies room is coming together. We have both beds up and Billy has been working on refinishing a few old dressers that we have. He is making one into the changing table and the other is going to stay a dresser. Hopefully they will be done this weekend. I had all these ideas for things I was going to make for their room. We went to Hobby Lobby last Friday night to get supplies and I realized that it was going to be way to much work! We spent an hour and a half there and almost left empty handed! We ended up getting pulls for the changing table and wooden letters to put their names above their beds.

Liz (Billy's cousin) and I at 22 weeks. 

My dreaded "Activity Restriction" or "Modified Bed-rest" (the terms have been used interchangeably) is quickly approaching. I still don't know what all it entails, but I was just informed that I will be unable to work during this. My nurse was filling out my FMLA paperwork and informed me that my doctor does not want me working past 25 weeks. My last day of work is a little closer than I was expecting. My last day will be May 15th! I am excited, but it is kind of a reality check. I know that I have a high risk pregnancy, but I don't feel like it. I haven't had any complications so far and other than my aches and pains I feel pretty good. I guess I need to start gathering some books, because I am getting ready to have quite a bit of time on my hands! 

I have to take a minute to brag about my awesome husband! He has been working so had lately. Some nights I have to force him to sit down and relax. He has been working long hours then comes home and continues to work around the house. He has been so great about picking up my slack around the house. He has something to do with making dinner every night. Whether he does it all himself or he comes home and takes over for me so I can sit down and relax. He also makes time to give me awesome back and foot massages. I think I'm a pretty lucky girl!

20 Weeks

Half way there... well technically we are over half way, but 20 weeks is a pretty exciting milestone! I'm still feeling pretty good. Something exciting that happened this week was that I saw and felt Max's little kicks on the outside of my stomach! They were followed by some horrible pain, but it was still pretty cool. Apparently the babies are big enough to start pushing on organs and ligaments on the inside of my stomach now.

This week we got our cribs, but unfortunately we need to exchange one of them because it was damaged. Billy got one of them put together though! I think he was pretty excited about that little daddy project! The room is slowly coming together. I am anxious for my chevron crib skirts and curtains to get here. They should be arriving any day! 

Daddy putting the cribs together!

This weekend we went to Omaha to visit my grandpa before he moves to North Carolina. We drove down and back in one day so it was a short visit, but it was a nice one. My uncle, aunt and cousins came from Lincoln too. It was a really nice afternoon visiting with everyone. I don't know why we don't see each other more often when we only like 3 hours apart. 

My sister Jessie, my grandpa and I

It was a good thing we came home on Saturday night, because I woke up around 3:45AM and had the worst pain I have ever had in my life on the left side of my stomach that wrapped around to my back. I had gotten so bad that I started throwing up and we ended up in the ER. They tested me for everything, gave me an ultrasound and pumped me with morphine (which did nothing for me). They found nothing. They called my doctor and he said the pain was from my round ligaments and that my stomach was just growing faster than my body could keep up. He gave me instructions to lay on my left side and I should get some pain relief. Well, I tried this and it didn't work. I went home and tried to get as comfortable as I could and the pain finally started to go away around 4:00PM. I went to my chiropractor later that week and told her about everything. She didn't seem to think that the pain I had been describing was round ligament pain. She felt around and said my ligaments were not that tight. She checked my broad ligament (a ligament that wraps around your stomach and attaches to the spine). It was tight and when she pushed on it it sent pain around to my back. Not the severe pain I was in, but I could tell it was where the pain was coming from! It is crazy to me that the team of doctors in the ER and at my OB's office couldn't figure out where my pain was coming from and my chiropractor could by just listening to my symptoms and feeling around my stomach. She is AMAZING! Every time I leave I am so impressed with how knowledgeable she is. I really don't know how I would be getting through this pregnancy without her. 

19 Weeks

I'm a week late but here is last weeks update. 

Holy Moly these babies are movin'! This week I was kind of freaked out by all the movement going on.  I wasn't to sure that it was normal to feel the babies push out and make my stomach hard and lumpy so early. Everyone talks about the feeling flutters and I was feeling those, but much more intense movements too.  I guess thats just one of the differences in being pregnant with twins.  What I am pretty sure was going on was the babies were changing positions from being stacked on top of each other to side by side. I ended up calling the doctor just to make sure that all these weird feelings I was having were normal. He wasn't concerned and said everything sounded pretty normal.  Everyday I feel more and more pregnant. I've had lots of round ligament pain this week, the babies sitting in places that make me uncomfortable and it just keeps getting harder to get off the ground and move.
Here are a few sonogram pictures from our 18 week sonogram.

Our Little boy Max

and...

Our little Macie girl

18 Weeks!

What a BIG week we have had! My mom came in town, we had our anatomy scan, OB appointment and it was Easter weekend.

My mom was able to be here for our anatomy scan and it was so nice having her here with us. We found out that baby A is a BOY and baby B is a GIRL! I could not be happier and I am feeling so blessed. The babies were moving around like crazy! Little boy was kicking his sister in the head and doing mountain climbers at one point. It was so neat to see how much the babies have grown and I can't wait to see them again in a few weeks!

After our sonogram we headed over to Buy Buy Baby with my mom and while we were there we decided to start our registry. I figured we were just wasting time walking around looking at things and we might as well get a head start on that. Oh man is that overwhelming! People say registering for a wedding is overwhelming, but this is on a whole new level. Maybe its because we are having twins and it was kind of a reality check of all the things you need! Twins don't need two of EVERYTHING, but we will need two of a most things. We will use double the bottles, sippy cups, bowls, spoons.... oh and did I mention DIAPERS! We have started stocking up a little and when we think we have a good start we do the math and realize we only have about a couple of weeks worth!

Our OB appointment went great. Our doctor went over our sonogram and everything is perfect! The babies are measuring right on track, they are just about the same size and they did not find anything concerning! What a relief! I had my belly measured for the first time this week and I was measuring at 22 weeks for a singleton. The doctor said it was normal to measure about 4 weeks ahead, so that was good too. He was also very impressed with my lack of weight gain. I have gained only gained 4 LBS so far and I really don't know how. I told the doctor that it was the first time in my life (since high school) that I wasn't concerned the the number of calories in something. He warned me that I wasn't going to get away with that for long. He said at 24 weeks is when the swelling starts and your metabolism starts slowing down and you start packing on weight. He told me I should be consuming between 2000 to 2500 calories per day. I am pretty sure I am well within that limit, so we will see how the next few months go!

I am so lucky to have such a generous loving mom. When she comes in town she always spoils us. She takes us out to eat,  buys us things and its always very appreciated! This time I feel like she went a little overboard. I have always seen this with my niece and nephew, but it was my first time experiencing it for myself. The babies got their first Easter baskets...

Isn't she nuts? Those things were LOADED. They had all kinds of stuff the the bath, first aid kits, toys and little boy and girl outfits! After she gave us the Easter baskets she took us out and bought us our cribs and mattresses. We are fortunate!

Today was Easter. We started the day out by going to Mass with my sister and her family. We spent the rest of the day at Billy's parents house. We wanted to do something creative to reveal the babies gender since Billy's whole family would be together. We decided to hide special eggs in Easter egg hunt. I filled two eggs, one with blue and one with pink jelly beans and wrote A on one and B on the other. So whoever found the eggs got to announce the babies gender. It was a fun way to tell everyone together!

Here is a picture of Billy and I after we made our announcement. 

Billy's cousin Liz is has the same due date as me so we took some pictures together today.

Both of us at 18 weeks 3 days

17 Weeks

I didn't have much to write about last week, so I will start this week off with last weeks belly pic.

Life has not been too exciting around the Waters house in the last few weeks. We have just been busy nursing little Daisy back to normal. She is making process, but we are still keeping her as quiet as we can. She is now wagging her tail, going to the bathroom outside again and is able to get up and take a few wobbly steps.
Since I have been on spring break all week we decided to go to the lake for a few days just to get away.  It was not as relaxing as I was thinking it would be. We brought the dogs for the first time and poor Daisy couldn't explore, and Pepper loved it so much that she wanted to go outside 10 times a night. We planned on staying three nights, but we decided to head home so we could get some sleep. We will try again when Daisy is in better shape.

Weenie's at the lake!

We also spent Saturday celebrating St. Patrick's Day.  We have had a float in the Belton parade for the last few years. It was pretty cold this year!

I have spent the rest of the week taking care of myself and cleaning out the babies room.  In the last few weeks I have started getting quite a bit of back and hip pain, so I went to the chiropractor and used my gift certificate from Christmas and spent four hours at the spa! My chiropractor is awesome, she specializes in prenatal work. She adjusted my back and hips, did a lot of ligament work and gave me some stretches to do everyday. My spa day consisted of a prenatal massage, manicure, pedicure and hand and foot wrap. It was so nice and relaxing!

I look horrible in this picture, this was the day I spent at the spa then I came home and napped. That's ALL I did. Creating two human beings has been quite exhausting lately!