Monday, October 27, 2008

Babies Sexes!!!!

So as promised today was the day we were hoping to find out the sexes of all the babies. It took a little begging but the doctor let us in on the results. He saw fit to mess with us a little, he was pretending not to look for the sexes during the exam even though he actually was. I am not sure if he would have given us the results today but AJ threatened not to leave the office until he did, eventually he gave in and the results made both of us very happy.

Baby A and B (Identical Twins) - Boys
Baby C - Girl
Baby D - Girl

Amy-Jo was so excited she got her girls and everything stayed even. Give credit to the OCD twins as not only did their splitting into identical twins give us the even number that AJ so desperately needed to keep her Obsessive Compulsive Disorder in check, they at the same time evened out the number of boys and girls. Not that she would admit it, but I think those two have already found a special place in mommies heart(*see disclaimer below).

The babies all looked great and A, B, and D all weigh about 5 oz. Baby C is a little ahead of the game and is weighing in at 6 oz. We have new pictures I will post later (I want to get this up quickly as I am sure there are some folks checking in already).

Amy-Jo wants to add that we love you all and thank you for all your prayers and support, keep them coming! We are half way there!

*Disclaimer - Any and all mentions of Amy-Jo's OCD is for entertainment purposes only. She does not now, or at any time, actually have OCD, only some small quirks which could qualify.




Here are the pics, the babies are getting almost too big to fit in the photos. You can really start to see the heads, fingers, toes and spines.

Baby D


Baby C


Baby B


Baby A

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Good bye 1st Trimester

Well this week marks the end of the 1st Trimester, only one more to go.....I'll give everyone a minute to catch on.

For those who do not know we will probably have the babies sometime between 27 and 30 weeks, so there will not be a true 3rd trimester. Not much to report this week, we did get back the test results for our nucotranslucency (genetics testing). Basically they take a few measurements and check for nasal bones to see if any of the babies are at a high risk for down syndrome or Trisomy 13 and 18. The good news is everyone is fine, no worries and no further testing needed. We really were not sure if we wanted to do the tests because we really weren't sure what we would do if the results were bad. Now we are glad we decided to as it is one less thing we have to worry about.

We did start tying to register last weekend, and I stress the "try". The saying "You don't know, what you don't know" never had so much meaning. I never realized there were so many different types of bottles, nipples, pacifiers, etc. Not to mention AJ is only good for about 1 - 2 hours before she needs to eat or sleep. So this will be a multiple week process but hopefully we can get there.

Below are more pictures of AJ and her ever growing belly. My mom requested some that showed more then just the belly, so here is your request and dedication....
She has gained 7lbs, which I guess is good. 63 more to go and only about 15 weeks to get there, so 4lbs per week for you math majors out there. We also started to measure the belly this week and I was a little shocked to find she is now 3 feet around. I would give you here before measurments but I like walking so I will just leave that tidbit out.

I probably won't post again until our next sonogram which is a week from Monday. Hopefully we will have the sexes by then so be sure to check back!





Monday, October 13, 2008

Sonogram 12.5 Weeks

Okay so here are the pics from our sonogram on Friday. Pretty cool to see them start to stretch out. The OCD twins (baby A and B) are a little smaller then the other two, but everyone is growing on schedule. They range from about 6.3 CM to 7.1 CM.

Those of you who have been waiting on the video of the sonogram will be disappointed to know I have given up trying. Apparently its much harder to get something from a DVD to the internet than I thought and I have spent too many hours trying. So technology 1 brandon 0.



Baby A (One of the identical twins)


Baby B (One of the identical twins)


Baby C



Baby D

Friday, October 10, 2008

Finally Back

Okay so after a week off I finally have time to get back to the blog. I thought since the phone calls were starting to pour in making sure we were okay and wondering where the update was I should get back to it.

We were back in Michigan last week and getting back into the groove has taken a little longer then I thought. Amy-Jo is looking forward to a few days off to relax and catch up on some sleep. We were down in the Detroit are for a friends wedding, Amy-Jo was actually in the wedding which meant for a long day. She wouldn't have missed it for the world, so the big thing was that she take it easy, she tried her best but in the end I had to force her to leave. After all day without me around to force her to eat and drink water, she ended up getting dehydrated and once the foot craps kicked in I forced her to leave. Jen you should know she went kicking and screaming, she did not want to leave but even with the 4 babies I am still bigger then her so I got my way. The trip was fun and to the family and friends we were able to see it was great to catch up, for all those we missed we apologize but we just ran out of hours in the day. That coupled with the strict doctor orders that AJ take it easy and not try to do everything, meant we couldn't see everyone we wanted. It was sad because we know its our last trip home for a couple years. It is going to be awhile before we are brave enough, and the babies are able, to make the road trip. It should be said though any family or friends brave enough to make the trip and help out with the babies are welcome anytime. Hell you don't even really need to tell us your coming, we'll be here, just show up and don't where nice clothes. Everyone who enters gets a baby as a door prize, its yours to take care of for your entire visit....just kidding....sort of.

We had another doctor appointment today, which meant another sonogram (all the sonogram's make us the envy of any mom pregnant with just one baby). I will post the pics this weekend, but the babies are getting bigger they range from 6.35 - 7.10 cm. So big may be relative but since they were only specs on a screen a few weeks ago I would say this is big. We were begging the docs to look at the sex's but its just too early. The doctor said to tell a boy this early means he would have to be a very "gifted" boy, doctors words not mine, so apperntly no future world record holders in the bunch. We are hoping to find out in 2 weeks but even then we may be just a little too early. Those who know me are aware of my total lack of patience so the not knowing is driving me crazy. The important thing is all the babies look healthy and are growing on schedule. Speaking of growing, it seems like every 4 days AJ's belly doubles in size. The doctor did an unscientific evaluation of AJ's size and said she is about where a single pregnancy would be at around 23 weeks (she is ending her 13th).

While at the hospital we stopped by the NICU where the babies and us are going to be spending several weeks once they finally arrive. The nurses we met all were very nice and the facility seems very good. You obviously would prefer the babies not need the NICU, but we know they will need it so its good to stop in and get comfortable with it now. I couldn't seem to find the area with all the flat screens for watching football, but maybe they just skipped that portion of the tour. No bar either, I mean what kind of place is this anyway?

So I was not able to get the video up last week but I think I finally have it figured out, I will give it a shot tomorrow and hopefully have it up and running this weekend. I promise the updates will be on time from now, I might even wake Amy-Jo up from a nap one of these days and make her write one.