Babies A & B "money shots"

Here are the ultrasound photos I didn't have scanned in yesterday when I posted the 20-week update. Your guess is as good as mine on exactly where the boy parts are in each photo labeled "boy". There's also a nice profile of each baby. Handsome, aren't they? :)

Nursery Update

Just to give you an idea of where we're headed with the nurseries, here are a couple "in progress" shots. These shots of the first nursery were taken at the beginning of January - featuring one of my helpers, Cait Rebera. I used the argyle design on the crib bumper pads as my inspiration for the diamond pattern and colors in the border on the wall. The second nursery is in progress and will look the same - though we've run into some issues with the yellow paint coming off with the tape. We'll have more pictures of the completed walls hopefully this weekend - once the 2nd nursery painting is finished and the gifts piled in the 1st nursery are organized. We'll have some white shelves to hang on the walls. And I'm still looking for ideas on curtains. It's coming together - slowly, but surely.

20-week update (a week late...)

Hi everyone! As many of you already know, last Thursday was our 20-week ultrasound appointment. And we're happy to report that all five of us came thru with flying colors.
The appointment started out like any other, but this time I received a flu shot - just as a preventative measure. I also got a lab slip to get my glucose tested. With multiples, there's a higher risk of developing gestational diabetes. We'll get the results at the next appointment.
Next was the ultrasound. We knew we were in for the long haul - up to 30 minutes per baby in what they call the "level 2" ultrasound. Our tech, Lori, looked for and measured virtually everything from head size to the number of toes the babies' feet - including every organ and bone in between. As she studied each baby, she also confirmed their sex. We already know that Babies C & D are boys, so we were anxious to find out what Babies A & B had in store for us.
(drumroll please...) ... We've got FOUR BOYS. Yep, that's right - 4 boys. But I guess we shouldn't be too surprised. We've beaten the odds with this pregnancy so far - all 3 embryos attaching, one embryo splitting into twins, etc. The odds would say we should have a mix of girls and boys...but why would the odds apply now? :) We're still working on the names. We know Samuel is a major contender for a first name; McKay and Donald are front-runners for middle names. We'll definitely let you know once we make some final decisions. (I don't have the ultrasound pictures scanned yet, but will post the "money shots" for Babies A & B this weekend.)
The really good news that came out of the appointment is that all 4 babies are healthy and growing right on track. Baby A is weighing in at 14 ounces, Baby B & Tommy are 13 oz, and Joey is 12 oz. In addition, when Dr. Donald saw my cervix measurement on the screen, his eyes widened and in true ESPN Sports Center style he said, "She - could - go - all - the - way!" Certainly he didn't imply that I'd go a full 40 weeks, but he did say that a cervix measurement like mine at 20 weeks is a "very promising sign" of a long gestation. Very good news all around. And from this story, my coworkers have come up with a new superhero: Super Cervix. :)
So the appointment ended with another "2-week pass": Dr. Donald sent us off saying, "Keep resting. Keep eating. We'll see you in 2 weeks." So no bed rest yet - but I am trying to take it easy when I can. Tim is certainly picking up my slack around the house - and we've discovered that we've got a great circle of friends here in Indiana. They've offered to help us with everything from grocery shopping to house cleaning to snow shoveling. Our local peeps are definitely our family away from home. Thank you!!!
I've been feeling more and more movement from the babies. Some kicks are strong enough to be seen and felt from outside - and Tim got to feel a couple good kicks last week. Just tonight while I'm typing this, I stopped to watch my belly move while a couple of the boys worked on their wrestling moves. :) I can only imagine what it'll look like as they get bigger. Tim is convinced it'll be tag team wrestling going on in there before long.
Tim is out of town this weekend - up north with his dad for 5 days of snowmobiling - so I'll have lots of time for more blog updates. I hope to get you all caught up on the nurseries and both baby showers earlier this month - with lots of pictures. Thank you again for your continued support and prayers!
Love, Kristin & Tim

Happy New Year!

We started out the new year with our scheduled 2-week visit to the doctor this morning. All 5 of us are progressing well and received a clean bill of health. The appointment this time was short and sweet: no growth measurements on the ultrasound. They measured each baby's heart rate and all are very good - in the 140s and 150s (within the "normal" range). The ultrasound tech commented that things are starting to get a little cramped for space in there - so much so that we still couldn't get clear shots of Babies A & B to determine their sex. Hopefully we'll be able to find out at our next appointment on January 22. The doctor used a tape measure to check my fundal height (or is it fundal length?) - basically the size of my uterus. I think he was a bit aggressive last time when he estimated my size at 26 weeks - because this time with the tape measure, I'm coming in at 27 weeks (though I'm only 17 weeks along). The only words of caution he gave me today were to be sure to get more rest. As I near full-term size, the risk of pre-term labor increases and one of the best ways to avoid that is to get plenty of rest. Since we'll have the painting finished in the nursery in the next week or so, that will certainly help increase my rest time. Speaking of the nursery: With my friend Dana's help, I'm about 75% done with the border in the first room and will start with the border in the 2nd room on Sunday or Monday. I'll post pictures soon. I think that wraps it up for now. We wish you all a wonderful 2009! Love, Tim & Kristin

Baby "Bump" at 15-16 weeks

I'm not sure you can really call it a "bump" any more. As you can see from the pictures above, I'm certainly gaining in belly size on my sisters-in-law! For some reason, the pictures loaded in reverse order - so I'll start from the bottom:

The headless pic with 2 pregnant girls in pink and red was taken at the Sasse Christmas party at our house on Dec 20. Kate is about 12 weeks ahead of me, but Tommy, Joey, A & B are certainly doing their best to close the gap.

The next shot is Nikki and me on Christmas Eve at their place (I'm wearing green in this shot). Nik has about 14 weeks on me...so I'm not sure I'll be able to catch up to her before little Sophia arrives in late February.

The last shots were taken on Christmas Day at Pat & Don's. (believe it or not, we did not plan to wear red that day) From left to right: Kristin, Kate & Carrie. Carrie is about 16 weeks ahead of me, but her baby is growing ahead of pace, so she's measuring closer to 40 weeks. She's certainly got us all beat in the belly department!

We'll go back to see Dr. Donald on Friday for a quick check-up, so we'll have an update on the weekend. In the meantime, we wish everyone a safe and happy new year!

Love,

Kristin & Tim

15 Weeks

We saw Dr. Donald again last Thursday. Sorry for the delay in posting our update - we had 36 people here for a family Christmas shindig over the weekend (15 of which stayed the night), so finding time to update the blog was tough to come by. Thank you again, to Tim's parents Pat & Don for all your help with the party preparations and clean up. We certainly couldn't have pulled it off without you!

But back to the business at hand. Everything went very well at the appointment. Dr. Donald is very pleased with our progress so far. The big news with this ultrasound is that all 4 babies are still growing strong and have great heart rates. They're all weighing in at about 5 oz each - right on track. Also, my cervix is still measuring very well - not shortening or causing any concerns. All great news.

I'm still feeling good - though I definitely feel the impacts of my rapidly growing belly. (Though only at 15 weeks, I'm measuring more like 26 weeks. We definitely have to get an updated "baby bump" photo out here on the blog.) My skin is already feeling tight and my stomach gets full with much less food. I also find myself out of breath after climbing a flight of stairs - but I guess this all comes with the territory; I'm just experiencing it a lot earlier than if I were expecting fewer babies.

Though it is a little earlier than the norm, we were able to find out the sex of the identical twins. Baby A was way too shy and didn't give us a peek at anything. Baby B was a wiggler and didn't provide a clear shot. But Baby C & Baby D are definitely BOYS! Meet Thomas Michael (formerly Baby C) and Joseph Timothy (Baby D). The photos at the top show a profile and a "money shot" of each boy. Tommy is definitely not shy...

Our next appointment on January 2 will be a short one - which will be a nice change. Instead of taking measurements of all 4 babies, they'll use the ultrasound simply to check heart rates - and hopefully the sex of Babies A & B. When we go back 2 weeks later, they'll do the full "level 2" ultrasound - like they normally do at 18-20 weeks. This is the ultrasound where they measure all of the anatomy of each baby: organs, limbs, spine, etc. It'll take approx 30 minutes per baby (hopefully they'll give me a potty break between Baby B and the twins). If we haven't found out already, this should be when we can get a final count on the number of boys and girls.

We're looking forward to seeing friends and family over the holidays - and comparing belly size with Nikki (approx 30 weeks along) and Katie (approx 28 weeks). :) Thank you again for your continued support and prayers. Merry Christmas!

Love,

Kristin & Tim

13 Weeks 1 Day - Doctor Visit

Last Thursday, we had our regular 2-week visit with Dr. Donald - the high-risk specialist. This was Tim's first time seeing A, B, C & D in action on the ultrasound screen - so it was pretty exciting.

All 4 babies are measuring right on track: ranging from 13 weeks/1 day to 13 weeks/4 days. (right around 7cm in length). All 4 heartbeats are strong and Dr. Donald was very pleased with our progress. He said I'm measuring around 22 weeks. (The size of my belly will certainly catch up to Nikki and Katie before too long!)

The big news from this visit is that we were able to see (plain as day) a membrane between the identical twins (babies C & D). Whew! The main thing we'll need to watch out for is the Twin-to-Twin Transfusion Syndrome (TTTS) that I mentioned after our last doctor visit. This occurs in about 15% of all identical twins. The vascularity in the shared placenta can get mixed up - crossing veins and arteries. When that happens, a shift in pressure occurs: one twin sort of becomes a high pressure zone and the other a low pressure zone. This forces the majority of the blood flow and amniotic fluid from one twin to the other. This can result in a much slower development rate for the twin with lesser fluids. There's no way to keep TTTS from happening, so it's something we'll just need to watch for. Due to the increased risk for the identical twins vs. the other 2, Dr. Donald said the twins and their condition will pretty much drive this pregnancy - and may be a huge factor in determining the time of delivery.

During our appointments, while the ultrasound tech takes all the measurements (which takes quite a while with 4 babies), I can't see the monitor. So this time I watched Tim's face for his reactions to what was going on on the screen. When his eyes lit up and he smiled, I knew it was because a baby was moving, or he recognized specific body parts in the black & white blobs on the screen. But the best part for him seemed to be when the sound wave of the heartbeats was up on the screen. He'd smile big for that part. :)

As you can see in the photos above, the babies are definitely growing and looking less like aliens and more like babies. They're labeled a little differently, but Baby A (Sac A, Baby 1/A) is looking right at the camera. Baby B (Sac B, Baby 2/B) is bumping heads with Baby C and was quite a wiggler according to the tech (B is the one on the left). Baby C (Sac C, Baby 3 C) is waving at us this time. And Baby D must have been taking a nap and provided us a wonderful profile shot with a clear view of an arm and a leg too.

As for Tim and me, we're certainly keeping busy. Thanksgiving weekend, my sister-in-law Nikki joined me at Babies R Us to help me register. (Thank you Nikki!) Talk about overwhelming. I'm still not done with the registry - after almost 3 hours in the store. I'll finish the rest from home and do it online. Last week I taped around the moldings on the walls we need to paint in the nurseries and Tim put on the primer yesterday. The plan is to paint the walls yellow this week so I've got time to work on the stenciled border in the nursery we're still using as a guest room before the Sasse Christmas on the 20th. I think we'll come in just under the wire... We're also starting our Christmas decorating and finishing our Christmas shopping. Lots to do this time of year - and we're doing our best to get in all that we can without over-doing it. So far so good.

Thank you again for all your wonderful comments - and for all your thoughts and prayers. I'd also like to send a big thank you to Aunt Bonnie for her wonderful prayer before Thanksgiving dinner (even though you made the 2 pregnant girls cry!). It was beautiful and we certainly appreciate your love and concern for our babies' health. Thank you!

Love

Kristin & Tim