20 weeks today

Here we are at 20 weeks. Five months! We just went to the OB yesterday and got another peek at the babies. The OB confirmed that it does look like two girls, so we're pretty confident now that we'll have a Lilianna and Gabriella this spring. Just so you know, I'm not buying anything pink because I know very well that they're going to be getting a lot of pink from all their Grandmothers and Aunts!

I'm excited about getting the nursery set up and ready, but of course we still have to get our room finished first. Construction is supposed to start Monday, so we'll see how that goes. Monday is also when the septic tank people are coming to tear up the yard. They're putting in a new drain field and a new top for the tank, which was cracked. All to the tune of $2300. Ugh. That's on top of the amount we already paid for a second pumping and the permits to do the work. I will be so glad when I don't have to worry about the septic tank anymore though!

Halftime

It occurred to me tonight that my being 19 weeks pregnant means we're halfway through this pregnancy should I be able to carry the babies the full 38 weeks. Wow. No wonder I'm anxious to get things ready!

Tomorrow the POD people are coming. Wait, that isn't as bad as it sounds. These are the people bringing us a POD to store all the things that are in the den now so that we can get the den finished. They're bringing it tomorrow and we (read Tom) will fill it up.

Then Tom and our friend Greg will tackle finishing the den. I hope this doesn't turn into a massive fiasco. I hate construction work. I'm always afraid something will not workout and will end up costing a zillion dollars. But theoretically Greg will keep things on track.

In the meantime I'm just cranking along with work, homework and gestating. And itching! Have I mentioned the itching? Seriously, this is driving me crazy. I've just done the 3rd application of the steroid ointment I was prescribed. Hopefully it'll start helping. I'm taking 2 benadryl every 4 hours like clockwork except at night when I start taking 4 every 4 hours. I'm also on three other antihistamines. Surely something's got to start working!

I just took my first nightly dose of 4 benadryl, and now I'm going to shop online and work on my programming homework until sleep takes over. Night!

To scratch or not to scratch

Well I managed to get in to see the dermatologist this morning. And the verdict: a raging case of eczema exacerbated by pregnancy. Otherwise known as "you're pretty damn itchy!" And of course, scratching will make it worse, so don't do that.

So starting today I'm on 3 antihistamines: zyrtec, allegra and benadryl, a steroid cream that won't be in till tomorrow, and two kinds of lotion. One is Eucerin, which is just a normal kind of moisturizing lotion, and the other is Sarna which is my new best friend in a bottle. It goes on kind of cool and then the heat ramps up like you're on fire. And you're so busy being on fire that you're not itchy! Heavenly! It only seems to last about an hour, but I can put it on repeatedly. It's kind of like Icy-Hot if you've ever used that. It does smell funky from the menthol or whatever, but who cares! I am still using the oatmeal bath stuff, but in cool water instead of hot. Hopefully this itching will get under control soon.

Because it's driving me bonkers.

Furniture shopping as itch distraction

Well the itchiness hasn't stopped at all, but I do have an appointment with the dermatologist tomorrow at 9am and I had bloodwork done this morning. Hopefully the bloodwork will be negative, because ICP is scary, and hopefully the dermatologist will have something that will help! This itching is driving me mad!

In the meantime we're getting ready for the babies slowly but surely. First we are getting rid of our sofa. I can't even sit on it as it's just too itchy. We found a great sofa at a great price! Here's a photo from the store:



And we also found a dining set we love. We had seen this same set, without a leaf, at the first store we were in. We loved it then, but since they didn't have the sofa we were looking for we left without it. But then it was right behind us when we found the sofa we wanted. And it has a leaf! We got the four chairs, but instead of buying two other chairs we got this bench that goes with it. When we're not using the bench we can put it in the living room.



I'm so excited to be getting a matching dining set with sturdy chairs that all match! It's been a long time since we had a matching set. I do still love the table we have, but it's pretty small and has no chairs left. It's actually the table my dad had as a kid, and we had it all through my childhood. We'll keep it, but use it as a craft table for now. My plan is to put it in the laundry room. Hopefully it will fit!

That's all we bought so far for furniture. We will be buying two cribs, but those will have to wait until we finish the den and move our master bedroom furniture in there. I tell you though, there was a super cool bed for Nicky at the first store we saw. It was a low bunk bed with a built in dresser, desk and trundle bed. Then behind the dresser drawers on both sides of the bed were little doors to a storage/play cubby area. Nicky loved it! It was solid wood and only $575 if I remember right. Tempting! But that comes pretty low on the priority list. Maybe in the next year or so. Let's see if I can find a similar one online to show you. Well, it was kind of like this one, except the desk just rolls out as a surface for writing on, and there are about 2-3 of the top drawers missing so that the bed is right about chest high for an adult, giving us easy access to Nicky when he's in bed. That means the little cubby door is about half the height of the one is the photo. And it was a lot cheaper. Oh, and had lighter wood. Pretty cool huh!

Itching to scratch

Lately, over the last week, I've been having this horrible itchiness. It's all over and yet there is no associated rash or hives that we can see. I'm just shredding myself scratching though, so I called the OB Friday about it. They said to try oatmeal bath and lotion and benadryl. I'd been taking the benadryl at night to help me sleep, so we added the oatmeal bath and lotion (I'd already tried lotions and even baby oil after showering) but by Monday I was ready to just lose my mind (not to mention my temper) with the itching!

So I called the OB again Monday morning. I'd of course googled pregnancy and itching and found some scary stuff. There's a particular liver issue that is characterized by itchiness without rash as the main symptom. And it's about the only pregnancy related itching that does cause issues for the babies.

So my OB's office squeezed me in for a visit. They found both babies heartbeats on the doppler which was nice to hear. And they are stumped on the itching. We are doing bloodwork to hopefully rule out that liver issue (it's usually a 3rd trimester issue, so hopefully I don't have that) and then they're referring me to a dermatologist. I just hope we can do this quickly and find something that will relieve the itch!

After my appointment I stopped by the mall (conveniently located across the street) and popped into the Motherhood maternity clothing store. I'd been thinking about ordering clothes from them online (since the last time I was pregnant I could never find my size in the store) but I wanted to find out if I could return anything that didn't fit to the store instead of having to deal with shipping. The good news is that I can return items bought online to the store for store credit. But the better news is that I found a bunch of clothes in the store that fit!

I tell you, I didn't realize how constricting my clothing had gotten until I put on a pair of maternity pants and a shirt. Oh my! That felt so much better! In the end I found 11 shirts and 3 pairs of pants. I will definitely buy a few more pairs of pants online. It's so nice to have clothes that FIT again! And it's pretty amazing how much more pregnant I look in these clothes. I'll have to have Tom take photos of me in a few outfits.

I'll leave you with Nicky's morning concert today:

Nicky the rocker does "Love Shack"

18 weeks

The babies are getting bigger every day!

We're still working on a middle name for Gabriella. We really liked May, but found out that that combination is the name of a porn star. Darn it! So back to the drawing board. We have a few ideas, but are waiting to make sure before choosing.

We're ready to start working on finishing the den into our master bedroom. Then we'll look at furnishing the nursery. So much to do, and so little time!

And the winner is....

GIRLS!

We just had our level 2 ultrasound today and the verdict is that we're having two girls. Nicky sounded excited and he said he will be their "protector" because "the bears will want to bite them." Good to know they'll be safe from the bears!

So of course we revisited our name choices. We were kind of sad not to be using Gabriel, so Tom suggested Gabriella. I love that name, so we're set on Lilianna Elizabeth and Gabriella....? Not sure yet on Gabriella's middle name. Playing around with Marie (except it's really short, and I would like a longer one) and Rhiannon, which I actually like a lot as the middle name, but now Tom's not sure. We have some time to figure it out.

When we got home the weather was finally nice today. Nicky went outside to play and we had the doors open to let in the air. And out of nowhere we had 3-4 ladybugs come in the house today. I consulted Nicky, and we agree that ladybugs will have to be a part of the theme for the girls' room. Maybe a cute bugs and flower garden kind of motif.

The fun can officially start now that we have a better idea of who is coming in the spring!

I'll have movie clips and scanned ultrasound photos up soon. Hopefully this weekend!

Getting ready for babies: Part 1

So you know we have a really tiny house right? Just one bathroom, 2 bedrooms, and a den that could be a bedroom. It's only 1216sqft. It worked for just the three of us, but with two babies on the way we have some major work to do before we can even think about decorating a nursery.

The plan is for Nicky to stay in his room, move the babies into our room, and finish the den into a master bedroom.

Yesterday we moved the guest furniture from the den into Nicky's room. He's been wanting a big bed for a while, so we've decided to give him that furniture. (We'll paint it later.) We've left his toddler bed in there too so that when we have guests he can sleep in the little bed and Nana, or Tom and I, can sleep in his big bed. I took some photos of his room as it is now.

His toy shelves and book rack:


His big bed and desk. The toybox serves as a step up into the bed for him. We'll be working on getting a chair for him so he can use the desk.


Nicky's toddler bed is serving as his stuffed animal sofa right now.


His closet. Closet doors for this and the nursery closet are planned for the future.


The next step is to install the kitchen sink base that we bought a long time ago. We've put off installing it, but we need the space it's taking up and the sink base cabinet really needs replacing.

After that we'll be finishing the den. It's actually just an enclosed and carpeted carport. The carpet is right down on the concrete and the floor is about 8 inches lower than the rest of the house, and sloped. We have to rip out the carpet, closet and walls (which are just cheap wood paneling). Then raise the floor level with the rest of the house, install the same flooring we have in the rest of the house, and sheetrock the walls. We're thinking about blocking in one of the windows, and replacing the other. We'll have to replace the door to the den (it opens the wrong way now) and then build a closet unit along one wall. It's going to be a big job, but it should increase the value of the house and will make a much bigger room than we have now. Once we have our room ready we can start on the nursery.

For the nursery we're planning to put in two cribs and a daybed. Later we might add a trundle to the daybed as well. The idea is to maximize guest sleeping places since we're anticipating needing a lot of help with the babies. We thought about a changing table, but right now we're thinking we might just use the twin daybed and have a changing pad on that. Two cribs take up a lot of room! There are mini cribs I found online though. We might look at those to see if they might work for us. Either way, I think we're going to look at cherry cribs this time. And we're going to avoid the drop-side cribs. There are just too many recalls on those.

We're waiting to find out the genders before even thinking about themes for the nursery or anything. But we don't have long to wait now!

He's getting so big! (and so am I)

We've had these dinosaur pajamas since before Nicky was born. They're size 4 and just seemed humongous. They were really cool though, there are glow in the dark dinosaurs on the fabric, so we kept them hanging in the closet. Well, it's been really cold lately and we ran out of Nicky's regular long sleeved pjs. So we thought we'd try these on, even though they looked way too big. We were shocked to find they fit perfectly! He's getting so big!



And speaking of big: I'm getting huge! This coming Thursday is our next ultrasound. It's the level II ultrasound and we should find out if the twins are boys, girls or one of each. Nicky told us this morning that it's one boy and one girl. We'll see if he's right!

Tom's tired of looking at the Christmas post....

So I better add something new!

The only things I can think about though are that we got the official Nuchal Translucency results. We actually got them on the way to my Glucose Tolerance Test. Still waiting on the GTT results, but the Nuchal Translucency results were great. If you recall, we'd done the Quad Screen with Nicky and it had given us a bit of a scare with the risk of Trisomy 18 being really high. Of course that turned out to be a false positive, but then we did know that the results of the Quad Screen give something like 20% false positives. Well, the Nuchal Translucency checks for Trisomies 21 (Down's), 18 and 13. And the results have only a 5% chance of error. Much better. Our results were something like a 1 in 4000 chance of Down's and 1 in 8000 chance of Trisomies 18 or 13. Excellent!

The next steps are the GTT test to see if I'm developing Gestational Diabetes again. This was an early screen and I'll probably have to do it again later in the pregnancy. I also did an AFP screen which checks for potential for spina bifida or cystic fibrosis, or something like that. Something that the Nuchal Translucency didn't check for. We should have those results in another week.

Then the big day we're all waiting for is January 14th! That's when we have our Level II ultrasound and find out if these are boys, girls or one of each. We're so excited about that! Once we know that we can really get started on planning the room and stuff. You know, all the FUN stuff!

We also think we've settled on the names.

If one of each:
Lilianna Elizabeth
Gabriel Thomas

If two girls:
Lilianna Elaine
Rhiannon Elizabeth

If two boys:
Gabriel Thomas
Christopher Brian

So far everyone loves them, but we don't really care if they didn't :) Don't go embroidering them on anything just yet, but we do think we're pretty set.

I think what this post really needs now though is a gratuitous Nicky photo and maybe a movie!

Nicky swinging at the park near Aunt Liz and Aunt Jodi's house:


Nicky all dressed up in his tool set from Aunt Liz and Jodi:


Nicky, the Toe-Biter, overly tired and rapidly deteriorating. We were at Grammie's house and he was dressed for bed, but we were waiting for Aunt Jodi to get off work so we could open presents.


And Nicky, in his room full of toys...playing in the box the new TV came in. (It was a replacement for the one we bought in September that had a factory defect.)