25 weeks

I cant believe im 25 weeks today! Time sure is flying! It is 12 weeks from today until Im 37 weeks or 84 days! That means we will be meeting Alyssa and Garrett in 12 weeks or less! AHHHH!! I seriously cannot wait. Also, I have 5 more weeks left of work. Counting down for that because I am getting so tired so easy and my legs throb so much when I work. Yesterday I had my 3 hour glucose tolerance test and I flat out failed it, which gives me the diagnosis of "gestational diabetic." At first, I was pretty upset about it, but I had to talk with Dr. McKee and he made me feel so much better about it. He explained to me that my diet up to this point did not cause me to be a gestational diabetic, although once I go to the class tomorrow, my diet will control it. It is caused by hormones excreted by the placenta and since I have 2 placentas, I have a double whammy. I will learn how to count carbs and eat frequently which will help control it and I will have to check my blood sugar level 4 times a day. I know I can do it, it will just be somewhat of a pain! He also said it doesn't mean I cant have a piece of cake here and there, just means I have to count the carbs in it. Other than that, this week has been pretty uneventful. No contractions, praise the Lord!!! God is still on the throne and still in control and I know He will get us through this without any complications!


How big are the babies this week? The babies are now around 14 inches tall and around 2 pounds a piece. We will have a growth scan next Thursday to know how big they really are at this point.


What are the babies up to this week? Their hair is thickening this week and probably has now got a color to it! Their nostrils are starting to open and the air sacs in their lungs continue to develop. They can now tell which way is up and which way is down due to their sense of balance. They are moving like crazy right now and I am loving every minute of it!


Maternity Clothes? Yes for sure. Its quite hilarious how my belly looks in my regular sized t shirts!


Stretch Marks? Havent seen any yet but doesn't mean they wont come.


Sleep? I am so tired and sleepy by the end of the day that I cant wait to go to sleep but I wake up so uncomfortable and my hips and back ache so bad. The pillows are all over the bed to help but sometimes I just have to wake up earlier than I would like. Im thinking the recliner is very near in my future.


Cravings? Well unless I am craving hummus and carrots or nuts, it really doesn't matter what I am craving. I can no longer just give into my indulgences. But that's ok!


Swelling? I had a little bit of swelling in my ankles yesterday after being at the doctor and then having to run a few errands. I came home and elevated my feet and it went away.


Miss anything? Not yet but come next week I will probably miss a lot of things!


Signs of labor? None this week! Thank you Jesus!


Looking forward to? My maternity pictures are Sept. 7 and I am definitely looking forward to those and seeing the final product! My baby tea is Sept. 28th and I really cant wait for that! My work shower is Oct. 3 and cant wait for that one, too! Lots to look forward to in the coming weeks!


Praying specifically for? Praying that the diet controls my blood sugar levels well and that I will not go into preterm labor and that I will be able to carry these babies until 37 weeks!


Thank you all for praying with us and following our journey. We know these babies are already so loved and prayed for and we feel so blessed! God is truly soooooo good and we don't deserve His grace and mercy but he gives it to us because he loves us unconditionally! We cant wait to meet those precious miracles!!!!!

24 weeks



We had our 24 week appointment today with Dr. McKee. It started out great and then ended with me crying the rest of the day. Got there and drank the sugary drink for my glucose test. It wasn't bad at all, just tasted like very sugary Gatorade. My iron level came up from 9.9 to 11.9 so that was good! My blood pressure was great, and I only gained 1 pound since last week. We went to ultrasound and both babies were moving a lot from the sugar drink I had to drink. We got some pics of them and I will post below. We even got a sneak peak of Alyssa's face in 4D but Garrett wasn't participating and turned and was facing my back. Im not going to post the 4D pic since its a little distorted cause her face is smashed into my uterus but she is a cutie! Then we went to see Dr. McKee.... we went over everything and he was happy with my weight and how the babies were doing. Then he started reading about my scare last week. He said my urine culture had come back negative meaning I didn't have a bladder infection and that just a yeast infection wouldn't have caused the uterine irritability and the small contractions. He then proceeded to tell me I was going to be a "contractor" and be one of those woman who just contract the whole time and probably have to go to L&D multiple times. He said I may even have to quit working before 30 weeks. I know that he doesn't have a crystal ball and he is not God at all, but it just upset me. We are just going to keep praying and believing God has got this and is going to carry us to the finish line. God has the ultimate say and will continue to protect me and the babies! After I saw the doctor, I went to the lab for my sugar check. The lab tech said it had to be less than 140 to pass and my level was.... 155!! NOOOOOO!!!!!! I failed! :( So this coming Tuesday, I go for the 3 hour sugar test and hopefully I can pass that one! I went ahead and went to the store and got some healthy foods and maybe that will help. This appointment just left me a little down today, but I am so grateful the babies are doing well and I am not already on bedrest. Things could most certainly be worse. These hormones aren't helping! haha! I will go back for another appointment in 2 weeks with 3 hour sugar test being this Tuesday.

This is Alyssa 

23 week update



Today marks 1 year since I started this blog! I cant believe 1 year ago I was introducing ya'll to our fertility journey and our upcoming IVF journey and today I am blogging about my 23'd week of pregnancy with 2 babies! The blog has had over 50,000 hits so I appreciate everyone who has been reading and following our journey! What a blessing to share this story of God's faithfulness.

So yesterday I was 23 weeks and boy did the day start off with a scary situation. We had our first "labor" scare. I had been having these "pains" that were taking place in the middle of my abdomen in between my pelvis and belly button starting Tuesday night. At first, I thought they were round ligament pains that are very common at this stage in pregnancy and dismissed them. Yesterday morning I woke up and was getting ready to go to work and I kept having them and they were coming pretty frequently. I didn't think they were contractions because I was feeling my belly and didn't feel like it was getting hard and the pains weren't lasting long, just a few seconds. Once I was at work and they kept coming I figured I should probably call the nurse at the doctors office and just see what they think they might be. I left a message and they got back with me pretty quick. The nurse told me I needed to come on over and get this checked out so I got there at 10:20am. My blood pressure was good which I was happy about cause I thought it would be high cause I was sooooo nervous! I really thought the nurse was going to tell me to take some Tylenol and put my feet up so when she told me to come right over, it sent me into freak out mode! We got an ultrasound and both babies looked great, fluids levels were great, and cervix was closed on ultrasound. I saw Dr. Pryzbysz yesterday cause she was the doctor on call and she was great! I explained to her what had been going on and she wanted to "check me" down there. Oh joy! My cervix was closed via exam but she said it was soft. I was initially concerned that my cervix was already soft but she emphasized that it being soft had no bearings on whether or not I would go into labor early. She said the important thing is that it is closed! She said based on my urine sample it looked like I probably have a bladder infection and I also had a yeast infection. I mean, really??? She wanted to send me down to L&D to monitor me to make sure these pains I was having weren't contractions. So I went down and they hooked me up to a monitor. Both babies behaved well and looked great on the monitor, they were super active the whole time. I did have some very small contractions but it was mostly "uterine irritability". They went ahead and gave me a shot of brethine (a medicine to relax the uterine muscle) to see if it would stop the pains I was having. It made me feel soooo weird! If you have ever had it, you know, heart racing and very shaky!



This was getting my first shot of the med. I got another dose of the brethine 30 minutes later cause I still had some of those pains. After the second dose I didn't have hardly any of those pains. The doctor came in and said she felt like this was all related to the bladder and yeast infections and gave me a prescription for both and said this should take those pains away. They sent me home and told me to drink lots of fluids and rest. Shout out to Erica Bradberry in the birth suites for taking great care of me and keeping me calm! Even though I wasn't in labor, it was still very scary and nerve racking and a wake up call to take it even easier! I haven't had any of those pains since after starting the meds yesterday so Praise the Lord he was watching out for me and the babies yesterday! If I hadn't listened to my body, the infections could have sent me into labor!

Today, we had fetal echocardiograms done with the maternal-fetal doctor at UAB. After they did my target ultrasound 5 weeks ago, they wanted us to come back to have these done because IVF babies are at risk for cardiac defects. Both babies hearts were perfect and there were no abnormalities! Thank you Jesus!!!! They also measured them both and both weighing in at 1 lb 7 oz. They released me from UAB and said to just keep growing these perfect babies!! Answered Prayer!!!

How big are the babies this week? According to todays ultrasound, they are both 1 lb 7oz! According to the pregnancy apps they are 1.2 pounds and the size of a papaya.

What are the babies up to this week? I can tell you both babies are extremely active now and its so awesome to see their kicks and feel them all the time. The blood vessels in their lungs that will allow them to breathe on their own once they are born are under construction. Their faces are fully formed now, just waiting for the fat to fill them out!

Maternity clothes?  YES

Stretch Marks? Still none yet. Not sure how much longer that will last!

Sleep? Well, some nights are terrible and some are good. The hip and back pain that comes with sleeping has gotten rough and I imagine will only get worse. I sleep with 2 body pillows and 2 regular pillows now. Keith has learned to embrace all the pillows! haha :)

Cravings? Well this week I indulged in my craving for Mexican cheese dip. I also have been craving Gobstoppers candy and those are just soooo good. I tend to be cravings sweets right now which is not good since my gestational diabetes test is a week from today. I did say no to the powdered donuts at the store today!

Swelling? none so far

Miss anything? Cant say I miss anything!

Signs of labor? Even though I had my first "labor" scare, it was not labor, so nope!

Looking forward to? Honestly Im looking forward to getting the gestational diabetes test over with so ill say that! I hope I pass cause I am so going to get a hot krispy kreme donut with a big glass of milk if I do! :)

Praying specifically for? To be able to carry the twins to 37 weeks or November 19th!! To be able to make it to 30 weeks for working and not have anymore "labor" scares!

We are just so grateful God has got this and is carrying us in His hands throughout this entire journey. Alyssa and Garrett and already 2 of the most prayed for babies I know! We feel so blessed and thankful that God has chosen us to be their parents and we know GOD IS SOOOO GOOD!









21 and 22 weeks

As you can see, the belly has really grown lately! I went to the doctor today for the 22 week check up. My iron level dropped to 9.9 from 12.7 so I have to start taking iron pills. Those babies are sucking everything from me :). My weight gain was good this time, only 4 pounds in 2 weeks which is perfect for twins they said. Had an ultrasound today but I didn't get any pictures, both babies were head down looking towards my spine so the tech said she couldn't get a good picture. Alyssa's heart rate was 150 and Garrett's was 155. They measured them today and they both weigh in at a whopping 1lb 3 oz which is the 51% percentile. Perfect for twins! They measured 22 weeks 6 days so they measured 5 days ahead! The doctor was super happy that they both weighed the same which is ideally what they want for twins! My belly is measuring 29 weeks this week! Dr. McKee said I was doing great but he highly emphasized me to stop working at 30 weeks, Keith and I talked about it and have decided it's what's best for me and the babies so 8 more weeks of work. It is becoming very hard to work, especially 12 hour shifts. I am wearing thigh high compression hose for my legs and feet and wearing a over the shoulder belly harness to help with back pain.. The amount of shear exhaustion I feel after working a 12 hour shift is crazy. I am also going to cut back to 8 hour shifts to help ease the discomfort. I go back to the doctor in 2 weeks and will have the gestational diabetes test done. I'm a little nervous about that! The nursery is coming along now. We ordered the bedding from Beckers Bedding in Homewood. She makes custom bedding. I cannot wait to see it all together and done, I think it's going to be soooo cute! It will be ready OCT. 3. When we get more progress done I will post pics of it :). We are so happy to have another good appointment and so thankful both babies are doing well and growing like they should! God is truly showing us His faithfulness and grace! Can't believe we are experiencing this real life miracle! God is soooo good!!!