On the Go!

I started this post weeks ago. Here are some updates on what we've been up to instead of blogging.

The past few months have been a whirlwind of change...for the babies and for our family as a whole.

Meeting cousins for the first time: my twin sister and her family. 

Meeting another cousin, Uncle Colt,
and Uncle Colt's beard (kinda scary for the babies!)

Since May we took our first family vacation over Memorial Day. It was a quick tour of the Southwest starting with a few days to visit family in Utah, followed by job interviews in Tucson, AZ and Las Cruces, NM and passing through El Paso, TX. The babies were great traveling companions and learned they like the pool, especially Sister, at least at first. We really enjoyed our time in the SW and were pleasantly surprised. Maybe we will find our way back there? It did confirm my suspicion that I would like to live in a pueblo style house. And have a cactus or two in the yard.

White Sands National Park in NM

Of course, pueblo with hanging chilis.
Sister liked the spicy food!

First time in the pool A little tricky with two!

Always good sports! 

We also made a weekend trip to Minneapolis to meet my sister and her family who were there for a conference. The highlight of the trip was going to a Minnesota Twins baseball game. "Twins holding twins at a Twins game!" What could be better?

Can you tell who is who?

 



We will continue our job hunt here in the Midwest as well and make a few more interview trips. The babies have been great travel companions and make friends wherever we go. We have even been lucky to have family accompany us on some of these trips to help with babysitting and all of the logistics of our schedules.

Abe and I have also both had some job transitions. Abe finished his fourth year of residency by completing his most recent Head and Neck surgery block, and is beginning his fifth and final year of residency. I have never known Abe to not be in his training so this is such an unusual concept -- to see the light at the end of the tunnel so fast approaching after so many years in the dark. So far it has been an improvement already with shorter days at work much of the time.

While I had planned to stay at my current position in Burlington at least another year, I unexpectedly had a late change of plans and now cut my commute in half to work in Muscatine. While I am heartbroken to leave my staff and patients in Burlington, this will be an improvement in many ways! The biggest and best part is that I will be working part time with a shorter commute and thus home with Mister and Sister more than half of the week. I am really excited to join the team in Muscatine and look forward to meeting many more wonderful people along the way.


I have been busy finalizing things with my previous job and getting paperwork settled for the new position. In the meantime, I am home for a few weeks until my new position begins. My nanny is continuing to work her normal schedule with us so right now I am living a la "Real Housewives of Iowa" style-- at home while my full time nanny helps out. Needless to say, I am catching up on LIFE a little bit -- getting my house in order, starting up an exercise routine, playing with babies much more, and you know, getting my hair did or going grocery shopping alone whenever I want!

And then there are the babies. They are getting so big! We passed our "In and Out Day" last month -- a big deal in the "mom of multiples" community, when your babies have been out as long as they were in. We really wanted to celebrate at the restaurant In 'N' Out but there was none to be found in Iowa!

They are now nine months old and getting so big. No really, they are getting really big! It seems like they are bigger than all of the one year olds we meet. We are getting to the point that carrying them both in their carseats is a struggle. And we are starting the baby proofing progress as Sister learned to crawl and stand and get into everything and find power cords to chew on and get maimed or killed all within the last few days. AACK. Mister is not far behind, just starting to crawl and stand.

This guy sure loves his bottles!

First corn for this Iowa native!

We finally got some sleep training on board and they now go to bed consistently and sleep through the night most nights. What a relief after a major sleep regression.

So, it has been an incredibly busy and stressful time. But also a wonderful time. We are trying to enjoy all that life has to offer while making big changes and big decisions.

Week 16 update

15 weeks 3 days

I just got back from a quick trip to California. Unfortunately, the weather wasn't great but it was still a nice little break and I can't begrudge them their rain!

The highlight was going to Disneyland with my MIL Kristin and my sister Brenna and her kids. 

We got caught in the rain for much of the afternoon but with a few ponchos we worked through it and managed to still have a good time. Next time I hope to also go back to the farm with my sister's family but it was great to see them for even a few hours.

The rain finally stopped!

We spent some time on Balboa island, enjoying frozen chocolate dipped bananas, shopping for maternity clothes, and meeting up with an old friend Rachel and her cute family. 

Love you Rachel

New maternity clothes

We spent some time with our cousins the Drapers who were very generous hosts. Betty even supplied me with my top cravings: pickles, gummy bears, and popsickles. I guess blogging does have some perks! 

I am starting to feel good! I feel like I am now able to enjoy my pregnancy-- feeling pretty good and it feels more real as I grow. My nausea seemed to peak a week or two ago but is now much less frequent and mostly at night but some bumpy flights on our way back home really didn't sit well with me! I continue to have frequent headaches and falling asleep has been difficult since getting home. 

My belly seemed to grow overnight again, and I have transitioned to maternity clothes. This has actually been a nice change, a lot more comfortable and I feel like I look smaller in baggier outfits. I cleared out my closet today and made room for my roomier clothes. 

I feel like I am going to be huge. I have a hard time imagining how these babies will fit in there. Right now they only weigh an ounce or two and I am a lot bigger than all of the pregnant ladies I know who are within about a month of me (and with only one baby) so it is hard to comprehend what it will be like when they are 3, 4, or hopefully even 5 lbs each!

I had a quick appointment today with my OB. I got to listen to the babies' heart beats for the first time, did the glucose screening test, and had a few blood tests drawn. I felt a little dizzy for the first time in years with the blood draw -- pregnancy related, I assume. I'm crossing my fingers my lab tests come back normal.

I am anxiously waiting for our 20 week ultrasound so we can learn what we are having!

16 week stats: 

Week 16 day 0

Weight: 157.2 lbs (home)

Total Weight Gain: 15.2 lbs 

Blood pressure: 132/67

Baby A: FHR = 160 bpm
Baby B: FHR = 170 bpm

Symptoms:

insomnia

nausea--infrequent, mostly at night

headache

tiredness -- mostly evenings

pregnancy comments from strangers

Fertility Baths and Mashed Bananas

The huge advantage of being childless is freedom and the ability to travel. At least that's what people would tell us. So here is a tribute to our child-free/pregnancy-free days!

* * *

Abe and I have done quite a bit of traveling since I completed my residency in June. I know because it seems like every time we were ready to try a new IVF cycle we would have to work around an upcoming trip. That was no exception come January when we had a long since planned vacation. Having to wait is frustrating and annoying, and when it comes down to it, simply having to wait that.much.longer is almost intolerable; but, I'd say despite the frustration, it was a welcome break from all of the stress from the previous weeks (studying and taking boards, multiple trips for the both of us including a trip home for my grandmother's funeral, and the previous disappointment for our most recent IVF).

I met Abe in Chicago after he took a red eye flight back from a conference in San Diego. We left from Chicago and flew to Puerto Rico. We stayed in charming Old San Juan -- ate mofongo (traditional PR dish made with mashed plantains), explored the amazing historic fort and colorful streets, and saw a flamenco show.

The streets of Old San Juan

Hiding in one of the passage ways in the fort

What an awesome lawn in front of the fort

The next afternoon we boarded our cruise ship for a week in the Southern Caribbean. Our first stop was to St. Thomas. We caught a cab and spent most of the day at beautiful Magen's Bay.

Our next stop was Barbados. We booked a taxi tour of the island with a couple from our cruise ship. It was really fun to see the interior of the island before finishing with an overcast afternoon on the beach.

I was especially excited for St. Lucia. We took a Catamaran sailing tour to Soufriere. We then took a van tour to the botanical garden (which was beautiful and a lot of fun), followed by a trip to the volcano and the mud baths, known for their healing properties for it sounds like any and all ailments and also the for cure for new or white bathing suits. After heading back to our catamaran we did a short snorkel session until heading back. My adrenaline was pumping as we barely made it back to the ship in time but it was a great day nonetheless. 

Yellow sulfur waterfall

Healed of our infertility! Black and White mud baths

At the volcano

Caribbean Food

The next day we did a few dives in St. Kitts. It was great to be back under the water after a long absence. Some of our most recent trips we were unsure if I was pregnant and so we had to avoid it as diving is a no-no for pregnant ladies. 

Beautiful St. Kitts

We were so tired from the diving and our previous travels that we skipped the afternoon of island exploring for some down time onboard. I guess we'll just have to go back to see what topside St. Kitts is really like!

Our morning on St. Maarten started out on the Dutch side with a sailing ship race. It was fun to learn a  little bit about sailing!

We took a cab to the French side of the island to see the French capital. It was fun to see but there wasn't much there.

We did climb up to the top of a small fort and had some beautiful views. I also felt like I was melting. That is about as hot as I have been. Thanks St. Maarten. By the time we found a beach again, it was overcast and a little chilly!

St. Maarten

After a wonderful and fattening cruise, we made our way back to Puerto Rico. We spent the afternoon exploring the other fort in old San Juan (The pass for the first fort was good for one week to visit the second. So yay for a few hours of free entertainment). 

I was so good about sunscreen and avoided sunburn until the last few hours. I didn't have my luggage (or my sunscreen) with me and my chest got fried. Darn, and with an awesome tan line from that necklace, too!

We got a quick bite of mofongo before heading back to the airport. 

Abe loves D.C. so I joke when we got diverted to D.C. from Puerto Rico that it was all part of a secret trip for his birthday the next day. Due to the fifth worst snowstorm in Chicago history, our flight was sent to D.C. midflight. After spending an extra hour in the air burning fuel so it was safe to land, we braved the long lines in customer service to find a hotel room and to rebook our flights for the next day. Unfortunately, we were forced to gate check our bags before boarding our previous flight (and before I had a chance to change into winter attire) so we had to wait in the snow in shorts and sandals while we waited for our hotel shuttle.

The next morning we enjoyed a nice birthday breakfast at the airport as we got delayed over and over again. We finally made it back to Chicago, found our bags, and drove home in some snowy weather before having birthday dinner with Abe's family.

No wonder we got pregnant shortly after this trip. Between the mudbaths and our ability to finally relax, it was bound to work.