Our "official" due date!

So today is our "official" due date! The boys are 14wks & 6 days old. It's hard to believe this time last year we were all anxious to get this process moving. Several months of delays and then finally our transfer in March. And here we are, my final journey is over and now one amazing couple have become two even more amazing parents!
 
♥ Liam is 8lbs 12oz & 20 3/4", completely wireless, 3oz every 3hrs. Went home at 13wks 3days old!
 
♥ Ryan is 9lbs 5oz & 20", coming down on his oxygen needs & hoping he grows new lung tissue soon, he's taking every other feed by bottle. Praying he's home very very soon!

Welcome Home Liam!

 That's right! Baby Liam got to go HOME today!!

I can't express how happy I am this day has finally come for Carrie & Craig! I got to visit with them in the NICU a while today and hold Liam without any plastic..lol



He has been off oxygen for about a week and on all bottles as well so they finally kicked him out. He's nearing 8lbs too! Precious Ryan still has a few weeks to go but hopefully he will be home with his brother soon! And Ryan is almost 9lbs!!

I still can't believe how much we've been through on our journey together this year. It's definitely been a roller coaster ride for us all but to see where they are now is just truly a miracle.

Just a comparison:

 Ryan-36hours old, less then 2lbs

Ryan- 3months old & almost 9lbs!

Oh MAN I've neglected the blog!!

It wouldn't let me comment on the post either :( I am on a mission to get Stacey up to the hospital and have her hold the boys now that they are holdable, huggable, and snuggable :) Especially Ryan, He LOVES snuggling in and being held tight! I am so glad that Stacey has updated y'all because I am sooooo bad about it! I'm so sorry everyone! Love and prayers to you all!

Here's a couple more recent pics of our little love bugs :)

Ryan is our chunky monkey at 6 lbs 8 oz and an adorable double chin!!! But Liam is only 3 oz behind him at 6 lbs 5 oz :)

Brothers :) Ryan was trying to hold Liam's hand!

RE: 10wks old post

  Since it won't let me comment on my own blog (!?)...

Thank you all, we are thrilled they are growing so big & healthy! Hopefully not too much longer before they are finally home. Unfortunately I haven't been able to hold the babies so no pics to share of  that :(

10 weeks old

 Ok I'm a day early but 2 updates in one week! It's a miracle! The boys are getting more holding time and best of all time together again! I'm sure Mommy is cherishing every moment of all the snuggle time :)

 Ryan is officially 6lbs and Liam is just 3oz shy of it! Carrie & Craig meant it when they said the boys would be 10lbs if they'd been term. Oy!

Here are a few recent pics of their lil punkins :)

(Liam is on L & 1st alone pic and Ryan on the R & 2nd alone pic)

 Snuggle time with Mommy :)



9wks+ a growing like weeds!

Quick update since it's been forever again. The boys are just over 9wks old and both OVER 5lbs!! They are only on O2 nasal canula's..NO MORE VENTS!! Liam is taking bottles but still has his feeding tube. Ryan got his 1st bottle today! I'm still pumping for them but not doing so great so they get formula as well. Just trying to hold out for them as long as they are in the hospital. Mommy & Daddy got to hold BOTH babies together  for the 1st time recently. How exciting is that :) And got their 1st family picture too! Lots of exciting updates I've slacked on, sorry about that.. There is talk that it's possible at least Liam go home around Halloween. Look how far they have come from those teeny tiny 25 weekers! Here are a few recent pics:

Seriously slacking here..

 SO sorry we've fallen this behind on the blog. I guess now that the journey is "over" I just don't know what to post anymore. The boys are 7wks & 2 days old and growing so fast! Ryan is over 4lbs and Liam is just shy of it. They both did GREAT during and after their surgeries! The incision site is just below their shoulder blade and did not require stitches, just surgical glue. Can you imagine doing heart surgery on such tiny humans?? They are eating approx 22 & 25oz every 2 hours. I'm pumping still, trying to keep up the best I can : )
 Last week was the boys Welcome to the World shower. I know Mommy & Daddy had fun taking a break and getting to visit with a lot of their friends. I made Carrie a scrapbook for the boys and had some other stuff personalized for them.
 I realized after my last Dr visit that my regular OB has no idea any of this ever happened. Last I saw him was getting the ok to carry one last time. Boy will he be surprised at my annual in a couple months..LOL

Liam's Surgery

Liam's surgery is finished, it was very fast and went perfectly. Mommy said there was no blood loss so no need for transfusion and they were walking with him back to the hospital. Continued prayers for him and Mommy & Daddy as they were told to expect a rough few days following surgery as he recovers.

Prayer request, boys having surgeries this week.

 Liam is having his PDA ligation surgery early tomorrow morning. Ryan's will be Friday morning. Please pray for them, as well as Mommy & Daddy. The Dr's say this procedure is "simple" and should really help the boys towards getting off their vents and in growing as well but extra thoughts and prayers would be greatly appreciated. I will update afterwards.

 Growth update: Liam is up to 3lbs2oz and Ryan is now 3lbs8oz!! They both are maintaining their temps and are in open air beds and get to wear clothes now :)

So sorry everyone....

I would like to take a moment to apologize to all of our sweet followers... I've completely neglected the blog since Liam and Ryan arrived :( It's been quite the roller coaster. I promise to post a better blog entry soon and include a link to some of our pictures. For now, I'll leave you with a little preview of how they are looking at 4 weeks old! Love to you all. Thank y'all so much for the kind words and countless prayers!

Craig and Carrie

Sweet Liam... Saying I love you!!

Our chunky monkey Ryan :)

2wks & a day :)

Update from Mommy:

Both boys are up to 18 ml feeds every 3 hours.
Great day for Mr. Liam... He especially enjoyed pooping and peeing all over mom during a diaper change :) Up to 2lb 1.8oz.
Ryan is still trying to fight off this infection. 3 more days of antibiotics and then possibly re-intubating him with a new tube in hopes that the infection is colonized around the tube and not in his lungs. He's only receiving clear fluids and his antibiotics through his picc line now. Up to 2lb 5oz!

12 days old/2wk post op appt

 Today was my 2wk post op appt. Was there almost 2hrs to see the Dr literally 30 seconds. He just checked the incision and said to come back in 4wks. Will do a repeat glucose 2wks after that just to make sure the GD is gone. I am also back to pre-preggo weight, yay! Now I can start focusing on the baby-baking retirement makeover : )

 I took my oldest daughter with me so that she could see the boys for the 1st time. Since Ryan is in isolation even I can't see him :\ So we visited with Liam & Carrie for a while. The boys both had repeat head sonos and again both were CLEAR, no brain bleeds! Liam has NO IV's or anything! Just the CPAP & feeding tube. Is that not amazing!! Both are above 2lbs and Carrie said that Ryan has already moved up in diaper size! Liam is up to 16mL breastmilk every 3hrs. I'm not sure what Ryan is up to but I swear it's going up by the day! Will definitely take some work for me to build up supply for them but hopefully I can do it.



Here are some pics from today's visit:



Liam says Hi!!

Look how alert he is!!

Hi Michaela!

Holding Mommy's finger :)

9 days old : )

(Update from Mommy)

Pretty good day for our little guys :)
Liam is still doing great on the cpap and they have discontinued checking his blood gases! He us up to 8ml of milk every 3 hours and really enjoys spending time on his tummy.
Ryan is off the bilirubin light and they have upped his feedings to 5ml every 3 hours. He is still on the JET vent but his blood gases are getting much better. They also pulled his umbilical lines today and he got to enjoy some tummy time today like his brother!

Our Birth Story!

 I went to sleep around 10:30pm Friday night (8-5-11) and woke around 1am realizing I was having contractions. At 1st I thought they might be just some regular ones I'd had earlier yesterday. Except this time they got painful and close together fast! I called the nurse and she tried getting me on the monitors but babies weren't having it. She also tried checking me but like last time they couldn't feel much.
They quickly called Dr Burton (partner of Dr Tabors that was on call) and moved me down to L&D. They got me on magnesium again in hopes we could halt labor buit when Dr B checked me again we discovered Twin A was coming through even mor and delivery was a must. I panicked about having to call Carrie & Craig, and Hubby too trying to get them up here fast! By this point contractions were quite painful and very close together. I have to say I'm proud of myself (since nurses said so too) I did great breathing though the pain :)
I got ahold of Hubby & Carrie (both of which I'm sure I freaked out just by my voice..). I think all I got out was c-section, hurts bad and get here NOW. Poor Carrie had to get a quick disharge from the hospital.
Once in the OR it all went pretty fast. Thankfully they got my spinal in while I was laying down. It did take a while for Dr B to get me open because of excess scarring. About the time Liam was born and Ryan was about to be Hubby got there. Since the boys couldn't cry it was hard to tell when they were actually both out until Hubby was brave enough to look over the sheet and see that they were being worked on.
Afterwards it took quite some time for the Drs to get me all fixed up and I was able to feel a lot of discomfort during it all. The anesthesiologist had to give me more pain meds. When I got wheeled out I was so happy to see that Craig & Carrie both had made it. Craig got to see the boys briefly as they were taken to NICU.
I got back to recovery and was having minimal pain but had spiked a fever and pulse was high so they gave me reglar Tylenol. We spent a couple hours or so in there then I was allowed to go in NICU and see the boys for a few minutes before being taken to my new room in postpartum. I really have to say the boys looked really good compared to what I set myself up to think it would be like. Liam had an adorable blue hat on and was moving his arms & hands around by his face. Ryan didn't have a hat on so we saw that he has dark dark hair! The nurse said his blood gases were better so he'd be taking off the ventilator he was on and upgrade a bit.
I don't have much more news on babies but am grateful to be feeling pretty well considering the morning we had! Please continue to send prayers as the boys really need them.

Liam was born at 3:23am weighing 1lb15oz & 13.39" long
Ryan was born at 3:25am weighing 1lb12oz (dont have length yet)
Can't believe they were so close to 2lbs!! : )

Will update soon!

I'm sorry I haven't updated anything in almost a week :\ Since being home, recovering and catching up on time with my own babies I just haven't been on the computer much. I will try update soon on everything from going home from the hospital to how the boys are doing. They are doing really well though!! Keep the prayers coming for these little guys and their Mommy & Daddy :)

Ok just noticed our birth story isn't on here...weird. Will have to add that too!

This morning my pain kicked in, not too bad but had to ask for pain meds through the day. I did walk the floor a couple of times and once down to NICU with Carrie & back.
  Seems the boys are still doing pretty well. Ryan had to be given a small blood transfusion. His BP was low. They moved Ryan into the same room as Liam. They will still have seperate nurses though. Liam is doing great and may come off the ventilator soon and onto CPAP. How amazing is that!!
 I am continuing to pump for them and hope the milk supply comes in very soon. Liam go to have a few drops of it today! It is more to get his organs moving, "primed" as his Daddy called it. Than for nutrition.
 Craig said that ALL of the neonate Dr's meet every morning to update each other on each and every baby. Sounds like they are a great team. 

Keep the prayers & positive vibes coming!

25 weeks

Day 1 of diabetic life.. I have been put on a 2600 calorie diet. It seems like I am constantly supposed to be eating but of course the food is only "okay". The hope is that it can be controlled by diet and not have to take insulin.
 There has been a slight change in amniotic leakage. The  nurses say for now it's ok but to let them know if it changes any further. I've also had 4-5 strong contractions but they have been very spread out throught the  entire day. I'm sure stress of all the recent news doesn't help.

 Here's the 25wk belly pic from today. It's definitely gone down a lot but at least we know the boys are growing great!

A break would be nice about now..

Today has been one thing after another :( I had to fast from midnight on and then start the 3hr  glucose test starting at 7am. I couldn't eat breakfast so the rest of the day was thrown off and that glucose drink made me pretty jittery, and pulse high. Morning monitoring took about an hour but they did ok. I had several contractions around dinner time that I attribute to being overly hungry and having a headache.  By 8 they pretty much went away. My 8:30 monitoring session took over an hour and a half. Babies like hide and seek and do not like being strapped down. Once we got some good enough strip on them they did fine though.
 And then I found out I failed the 3hr glucose test. Dr hasn't written orders yet so I don't know what my punishment will be.. Collin started feeling bad last night and went to Dr today to find out he has strep..when it rains it pours! The kids are at my moms for a few days in hopes they don't catch it too.
 Here's a to  a better boring Friday, which also marks 25wks!! 

Rather eventful day..

So yesterday my day nurse added Be Boring! to my daily goals! Apparently that jinxed me because we have had quite the eventful day today!
 It started out with them not leaving me alone from 6am on. Weight ck 1st thing this morning showed I have lost 5lbs. Dr isn't concerned though since babies growth is great. Doesn't really surprise me after sac  rupture and stress of this week. Tried napping around 1pm (ya know that whole REST thing...) and was woken up 3 times in an hour! One was maintenace coming to check my bedside table, seriously?? Anyway they decided to do my glucose test at 3:30. I thought I did good laying off the sugar and such to find out I failed it by 16pts. Carrie said it could be the carbs I'd had all day. Wouldn't it have made sense for them to watch what I ate all day or do it in the morning?? So now I have to do the  fasting after midnight and the 3hr test :\
On to tonights monitoring session. Babies were found easily at the beginning then A started being stubborn and going off the sensor. I was strapped in same spot for 2hrs and showing uterine irritibility which A did not like. My pulse ran high for a bit but was fine quickly and temp is normal. Nurse called the on-call Dr to see what she said. Dr came up and did an u/s to make sure babies were ok. Not only were they doing well but BOTH were practicing breathing!! This is pretty early but exceptional news for Baby A to be doing :) They are laying head to head and A is still transverse with his arm nice and comfy in the cervix. B gave us a yawn,  apparently he thinks it's been an eventufl night too.
  Things have all settled down now, so here's to a night of only sleep! And a nice boring day tomorrow!!

Weekend update

 Nothing eventful over the weekend. Which of course is a good thing :)
Babies both continue to be very active. This makes for some very eventful monitoring strategies throughout the day. Our 20min strip easily takes 45-60min majority of the time. We had the u/s yesterday morning. Twin A still no fluid and transverse. His arm is in the cervical canal which could mean problems for it after birth but there's really no way to tell to what degree. Dr said it would take some crazy moving for him to get it back out but anything is possible. Main point is to have a brain healthy living baby then worry about an appendage. He also seems very optimistic with us making it long term since we made it past the 1st 72hrs from rupture!

  Tomorrow marks one week in the hospital! Just taking it day by day for now : ) Here's a belly pic from yesterday..

Caring bridge site for daily updates

I have started a caring bridge site to give daily updates. I will continue to update the blog & FB but wanted to try and make it easier for family & friends  to have one place to rely on the latest updates: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/staceymcneese

Huge turn of events

 Yesterday I was fine, took my girls to eat then to Sam Moon and we were home within an hour. Put baby to bed then went to the bathroom and wait>.....this is weird. Go upstairs..go again..OH CRAP it's not pee or normal d/c my water broke!?!? And we are only 23w3d!!!! Fast forward through IM getting pulled over on her way to the hospital and my mom locking her & my kids out of the house....

 We get to the hospital around 4pm to find out Twin A's sack has ruptured and there is no measurable fluid around him. I was on magnesium with my feet above my head for 18ish hours. Let's just say it was not fun but it worked! Contractions are under control. No more mag. Catheter out. Can eat all I want! And we were moved from, L&D up to high risk pregnancy floor where I will stay until they are born. This could be anythime from now until 34wks. So I'm  officially VIP at the Harris Ft Worth Hilton.

To those who've mentioned wanting to come up I'm currently in Room 376, I don't think that will change until delivery. Harris Ft Worth is right across from Cook Childrens near downtown. Please let us know ahead of time if you'd want come visit. I try not to have a room full at once : ) Msg me on FB or my cell is 817-913-0932. Just want you ALL to know how much all the prayers and support mean to us, Carrie & Craig too!

Had to share some pictures :)

I couldn't help myself... I had to take some cute pictures with Stacey at her little ones' birthday party on Saturday :) Is she not the cutest pregnant woman ever!!!??? I can't believe those are our boys in there!!! Next big update will be in after our 24 wk appt. Here's to healthy growing baby boys, Stacey staying healthy, and an overall good report from the doc on 7/28!

OT: Have to share..

   I try to keep the blog all surrogacy related but just had to share a couple of my   youngest daughters bday pics we had done : ) These were done by

	http://www.bellajewelphotography.com (or can find her on FB too). She's done pics for us a few times now, I LOVE her!!

 Happy 2nd Birthday Kailyn!!

22 weeks & what a week it has been!

 Let's just say it's been one heck of a week. Like Carrie said, I had quite the spill in the movies parking lot. Thankfully my ankle turned out to be fine but my knee still hurts pretty bad. I'm just glad I was able to keep my 2y/o and belly protected! The day after that our a/c went out so had to get that fixed. No way can this preggo momma stay in a 95+ degree house! All seems to be calming down now, just in time for my youngest daughter's bday tomorrow. I still can't believe she will be 2!!
 Here's a pic of my sexy knee the day of my spill and then 5 days later. And of course our 22wk belly pic! These boys are SOOO active. I can already see them moving from the outside. I can only imagine when we're in our 3rd trimester!

21 weeks and a little excitement

Oh my goodness... This week has already been quite crazy especially for sweet Stacey! Yesterday morning I had my first post-op appointment which my SIL drove me to since I had to take pain pills beforehand which left me quite loopy. Appt went well but the doc wants to see me back next week to do a little more 'cleaning out' in my sinuses, not fun or comfortable but worth it afterwards. Anyway, after the appt I rode with my SIL to meet her in-laws and pick up my nieces... great little ride to Terrell that let me and Ali chit chat and catch up :)

After picking up the girls and making it back to Frisco, we were pulling up to my house and my cell rang... it was Stacey, PANIC rushed over me but I answered the phone calmly and started the conversation with "Hey, are you okay?" Stacey and I chat everyday but her calling in the middle of the day just seemed off... apparently my motherly instincts have already started to kick in. Stacey immediately told me "Don't PANIC" and proceeded to tell me that she had taken a spill in the parking lot (while holding her two year old) and that she went ahead and called our OB who said we should come in and have everything checked out just to be safe. I immediately jumped in the car and headed to Fr. Worth to pick up Stacey and get to the doctor. Dr. Tabor did a sono and checked everything out... Fortunately, everything looked good! Stacey had managed to fall mostly on her knee and ankle... she must have performed some kind of super power trick to keep her little girl and our boys/the baby bump from hitting the ground! Her knee is pretty beat up and her ankle seems sprained but nothing too painful.

The boys were also EXTREMELY active, I suppose they were caught up in all the excitement ;) I am very proud to say that I was able to feel one of the boys move for the first time yesterday!!!!!!! AMAZING!!!!!! I believe it was a little butt bump that I felt :) I'm sure the look on my face when I felt one of our little guys move was quite entertaining! Stacey just watched me as I held on to her tummy and smiled!

Craig and I cannot express how blessed we are to have such an amazing woman carrying our boys and being so cautious with them. She really went above and beyond yesterday in a situation that many women would have shrugged off.

I'm sure Stacey will be posting a blog soon with some pictures of her sexy beat up knee and her version of our busy Monday as well. Thank goodness for her amazing hubby racing home from work and her parents living so close... They were able to help out with the kiddos w

hile we made our mad run for the doctor!

On another note, the nursery is really coming together and we are almost done with our registries :) Our 24 week appt is on 7/28... Can't wait to see our boys again, I just love seeing those wiggle worms during sonos... They are getting so big that you rarely get a full shot of either of them anymore.

I suppose I will stop blabbing for now... Here's a pic of Stacey's beautiful baby bump last week when we met for lunch :)

21 week bananas!

I just had to add the fruit ticker. Although I've never seen 1lb bananas before the comparisons each week crack me up! Here's our 21wk belly : ) Thankfully, I don't look near as huge as I am feeling today!

Lunch date on Thursday

Looking forward to having a little lunch date with Stacey and her youngest two kiddos on Thursday. Fancy lunch for us at Chuck E' Cheese and I couldn't be happier!! Hopefully I will get to feel my boys moving around for the first time :) Looks like I am going to go shopping for some little goodies for K and G, as well as their wonderful Mama!

I'll post some pics afterwards, I'm sure :) For now, here's a cute picture of me and Stacey at our 20 wk u/s...

The "official" 1/2 way point

20wks today and this belly is seriously starting to pop out! Think I should stock up on some Costco size lotion..LOL The boys are really starting to move around and I can feel them from the outside more now so that means their Mommy will get to feel them soon too!! It's hard to believe we only have about 15-16wks before they are here : )

Also, IM had a minor surgery this week so if you could all pray for a fast recovery for her!

20wk appt

Unfortunately we had quite the LONG wait at the Dr's appt today but it was nothing but good news from there! And best of all IM's mom got to see her grandbabies for the 1st time!!

  Baby A: HR 144, measuring 19w5d, weighs 13oz -Was sucking on his hand during most of the u/s

  Baby B: HR 156, measuring 20w1d, weighs 14oz -Not too active today but continues to be a camera hog & kick his brother in the head. He was chillin' with one hand on top of his head

 We are 19w3d today so the boys continue to measure ahead : ) Both are still definitely boys! Anatomy (heart, liver, kidneys, etc) all look perfect. We go back at 24wks end of July. We'll have another growth scan, diabetes test (BLAH) & start having fetal fibronectin tests to watch for any signs of impending labor so we can limit my activities/bedrest or whatever's needed if it's postive.

Stats:
B/P: 122/72
Weight gain since last month: 5lbs
Total weight gain so far: 9lbs
 

20 week u/s tomorrow :)

Man, I've been such a slacker lately! I haven't posted anything to the blog... I believe it is due to the fact that I am in major nesting mode right now. We have started on the nursery and I seem to have lost myself in there lately :)

As Stacey said in her last post we all got together for lunch today! The only one missing was Stacey's oldest but hopefully she will get to come with us to our 24 week sono. My mom and brother are completely in love with Stacey and couldn't believe their eyes when they saw her beautiful pregnant belly with our little ones in there! We had a wonderful lunch spent chowing on some fabulous mexican food and visiting with each other. K, Stacey and Collin's youngest, and I have quite a little friendship going on! She spent most of the meal eating off my plate and the rest of the time sitting in my lap like a little love bug :)

Mom and Bry are looking forward to attending the sono with us tomorrow... They will finally be able to see our little boys in action! Bryan still can't believe he is going to be an uncle, it's hilarious to see a 21 year old boy become so excited and enthralled with his soon to be nephews :)

Here are a few pictures of the nursery so far and I will post some sono pics from tomorrow as soon as I can... May not be until this weekend though since I will be undergoing sinus surgery Wednesday morning :/

Keep in mind the nursery is a work in progress ;) Hubby did a great job on the shelf for the boys room and we have had such a great time working together on everything from painting the room to assembling the cribs and the dresser :)

Thanks again to everyone for all of the prayers so far and for following our journey! I love being able to share this with all of you :)

19wk belly

  Slacking a bit here..here's the 19wk belly pic. It's definitely growing fast now that I'm not sick anymore! We got to meet IM's mom & brother today for lunch & they get to go to our 20wk appt tomorrow too : )

18 weeks!

 We were 18 weeks yesterday & I'm feeling the boys move around much more now..especially while trying to sleep! I can't wait until Mommy & Daddy get to feel them too! Best of all, the all day sickness is pretty much gone..YAY!!! It's probably safe to say we're half way through this pregnancy. It's hard to believe how fast it's going! Our 20wk appt is just over a week away : )

18wks!

Let the belly pics begin!

         16.5wk Belly

Maternal blood screening results & telling my son..

 The nurse called today to let us know the 2nd part of the maternal blood screening results were in and that everything came back with clear margins:

1:10,000 for Downs
1:200 or <.5% for Spina Bifida

 I also finally told my son today about the babies. He will be 6 in September so I waited until I felt it was safe to tell him. My oldest has known since we matched and the youngest, well she's too young to know any better. Although she has been rubbing my belly lately. Anyway we are a foster home for a local boxer rescue and we have always told our son that we take care of them until they are adopted and find their forever homes. That's about the closest I could think of he could relate to surrogacy. I explained Carrie having CF and that her lungs couldn't handle pregnancy so that we were carrying her babies for her until they were read to come out and go home with her. At 1st he was like WAIT..2 more babies in our family?? And I explained more how no they were Carrie's babies and will go home with her and their Daddy. I think there was a sigh of relief there from him..LOL And after I finished my spiel his response was "so that's kinda weird"..
 Not quite what I was expecting but he seems content with the explanation he got : ) My oldest was only 3-4 during the last journey but I guess with the whole girls maturing faster then boys thing she just caught onto the whole process very easily.

The Queen of My Castle

Looks like I'm going to be outnumbered in our house... We are gonna be the proud parents to TWO bouncing baby BOYS come the end of October!! I have to admit I was a little shocked when the u/s tech looked at baby B and said "Definitely another BOY, wouldn't you agree Dr. Tabor?!" My husband was beaming, as I'm sure any man would after finding out he was going to have two sons. We had absolutely no preference on whether we wanted boys, girls or one of each but I do believe that I was meant to raise little boys. Playing in the dirt, hunting and fishing are what I was raised doing and I can't wait to share that with our boys.

On Tuesday we headed out and went to pick up Stacey for our big 'gender reveal' appointment... I was so excited to see Stacey and spend a little time together. She also brought her photo album of her first surrogacy journey along with her for me to look at, which was amazing. I can't wait until she starts taking belly pictures of this journey so everyone can see her progress as our little boys grow! Once we were called back and they started the ultrasound, Craig and I were once again mesmerized by the sight of our little guys happy and VERY active. The u/s tech had no problems getting the boys to 'reveal' themselves for us. The only thing she had trouble with was getting Baby B to hold still long enough for measurements... Once his brother stopped kicking him in the head :-/it was smooth sailing. Man, already fighting in the womb! Both boys are measuring perfectly at 5 oz and everything is looking great.

Craig and I are going to spend our weekend shopping for furniture, bedding and a paint color for the nursery :) So excited to get things started in there!

Here are a few pics from the u/s... Craig and I are going to pull some still photos from the DVD of the u/s that we have and I will post them when I get a chance :)

Baby A-- Definitely a BOY!

Baby B-- Also definitely a BOY!

Am I psychic or what??

  Go back and read my entry from 12/20/10..how crazy is that?? So now I have to stick with the dream and these 2 be bigger then L&W were!! I had another dream 2 nights ago that my water broke and we were just a couple days over 36wks. I called Carrie and we just started talking, then I was like "oh yeah my water broke...". I kept thinking we better hurry and get to the hospital before contractions start..PLEASE!! That was all that I remember but thought it was funny : )

Frogs & Snails and Puppy Dog Tails..

  That's what little boys are made of! You got it! Once again I am carrying twin boys!!
I am still a bit in shock that one isn't a girl as sick as I have been but what matters is that both look perfectly heathly! IP's got a DVD of the entire sono too : )
  All measurements were right on track and several were measuring bigger. They appear to have big heads and one has a big ol belly..LOL One HR was 152 but hopefully Carrie can tell you the other. They both weigh perfectly at 5oz! All parts of the brain, organs, heart chambers etc looked perfect. Twin A was repeatedly kicking B in the head.. I think IP's are going to have their hands full with these 2 : )
  I will let Carrie share pics of the boys. We go back at 20wks the end of June. Wow the 1/2 way mark is coming up fast!!

Stats:
BP: 102/65
Weight gain since last visit: 4lbs
Total weight gain: 4lbs
 

15 weeks tomorrow :)

Well, tomorrow we will be 15 weeks :) Stacey seems to be doing a little better and not feeling quite so 'ick' all the time. She is continuing to be upbeat and determined to take care of our little ones until she can hand them over to us when they are done 'cooking'.

On Friday, Craig and I took off to South Padre Island for a little vacation with my family. Probably the last vacation that we will have as just the two of us :) Stacey and I chit chat or text back and forth everyday and that didn't change just because we were on vacation... Early this week, Stacey let me know that we had hit a milestone--Our little ones were officially on the move and she was able to feel them kicking and wiggling! We are so excited!! We can't wait until they are big enough and strong enough for us to feel in her belly!

We are really looking forward to next week... Tuesday is our big ultrasound and hopefully we will be able to find out the genders of the babies!! Hopefully they will be cooperative and let us get a good look :)

On another note, we received a package in the mail from our IVF clinic which included a dvd of all the pictures from our journey as well as two birth announcement cards that they want us to mail back to them when the babies get here. It is so amazing that we have photos of our munchkins from the earliest stages... The first cell division after fertilization! Here are some of the pictures... ENJOY!

Embryo 1 Day 1

Embryo 1 Day 3

Embryo 1 Day 5

Embryo 2 Day 1

Embryo 2 Day 3

Embryo 2 Day 5