Babies Update

Well, we went to the doctor and are excited to announce that we are having identical girls! Paul's parents and sister (Chelsea) came to the ultrasound with us. We got to go through all of their little structures. It was pretty neat. They're doing very well. However, with identical twins there are some concerns. They're sharing a placenta/blood supply. We have to go in every two weeks until 28 weeks to get ultrasounds to monitor the blood supply and growth. The doctor said that complications are extremely rare, but they'll keep an eye on things to be safe. Thank goodness for medical technology! We are so grateful! We've settled on names; Olivia and Aislee. Whenever we tell people "Aislee", they say they've never heard it. It's an Irish name similar to Ainsley. My mom probably would have used it if she wouldn't have had only 3 girls and 7 boys. I've always liked it. We even know what we're going to "call" them. We like Livi and Ase (pronounced Ace). Paul thought of the Ace one. We're still trying to figure out middle names. Olivia's will most likely be Christine after my sister (Megan Christine). I like Maureen for Aislee's because it is my middle name and it's my mom's name. She doesn't have a granddaughter named after her yet.
Other than the exciting news of identical girls, everything else is pretty boring. I'm graduating today! YEA! No more tests, papers, assignments, or boring lectures!

18 weeks and counting...

We are now well into the second trimester. For twins, I'm about half-way. It's nice to look at it that way. We had our doctor's appointment this past Thursday and everything looks great. The babies are huge! They can't get them in one screen on the ultrasound! We got to hear their heartbeats and see them wave their arms and kick their legs. Dr. England suspects that they are both girls (Aislee and Olivia). Paul's pretty excited! Quizno's for dinner...! We have a consult set up for Wednesday, the 23rd with a specialist to figure out what type of twins they are and how they're developing and truly whether or not they are boys or girls. We're looking forward to finding out more about them! I registered at Babies-R-US after our appointment. I figured that it's safe to now pick some pink clothes and blankets. I've never been a big fan of pink. I wear it sometimes to make me feel a little more feminine, but I like my greens and blues. So, I'm not too excited about ALL the pink. I picked out some sage green, which is my favorite color, and some yellow things along with the pink. We were thinking of doing a ducky theme when we get a two bedroom apartment. I have this yellow duck a babysitter gave to me when I was little. Paul thinks it's pretty cute and thought of the "ducky nursery" idea. He's gonna be such a good daddy!

Trips to the hospital...

Well, it's been a while since my last post. A lot has happened. The morning sickness hasn't gone away. I was told by a lot of people that it would go away by the 14th to 15th week, but I guess I'm just special or something. I think it got a little worse. Paul had to take me to the ER to get IV fluids. I wasn't keeping anything down and feeling pretty lousy. They gave me three liters of fluids, did some blood tests, and an ultrasound. The babies were fine. They were moving a lot and the fluid looked good for them. I was just having problems. So, for the next couple of days I was feeling a lot better. I stayed home from class (not that different from prior weeks) to make sure I got enough fluids and ate. However, by that Thursday I wasn't keeping anything down and started to get some muscle cramps. Our doctor set us up with the infusion clinic at the hospital and HomeHealth. They taught us how to "plug" me in to my fluids at home. Paul is a very good nurse. I have an IV line in my arm all the time and I have to get one liter of fluids a day. The bag also has vitamins and medicine so I can keep the food I eat down. It's been working pretty good. I have had a few bouts of vomiting, but once a day is a lot better than 12 times a day!
The IV isn't so bad. It's wrapped pretty good so I won't get the cord caught on things. I have to get it changed every three to four days. I now know who I can let put the IV in and who to avoid. I got a new person a few days ago who broke some serious blood vessels in my right arm. I had to come back in to get a new one an hour after because it was so sore. They had another woman come over. She was able to get it in my left arm. With all the needle pokes and bruising, I look like I am a user! It's pretty bad.