26 weeks: Bigger than Ever

Well, we've hit 26 weeks today and I'm still feeling good! Yesterday I reached a new milestone with my first day of swollen ankles - I think I did a little too much walking around/standing, so I'll be trying to stay off my feet mostly for the rest of vacation. My hands are also starting to swell ever so slightly. Let's keep praying for no preeclampsia!

I felt "for sure" hiccups in each of the babies at separate times yesterday, which was fun. :)

I'm still not having too many contractions in a day, although I definitely get more when I walk around or do too much. But praise the Lord for no pre-term labor episodes yet - I'd love to keep off of bedrest for as long as possible!

Still no decision about names... although Jonathan and I do need to have a conversation about them while we are on break and he is rested and has time to do whatever he wants, rather than having to come home and cook for me and do chores after a long day of work!

We are so in love with these sweet boys and can't wait to meet them... in 9+ weeks' time (hopefully)!

24 weeks: These babies could live outside of me! (Scary thought.)

I absolutely don't want my babies coming out for at least another 11 weeks, but I am so thankful for hitting the 24 week mark yesterday - my sweet babies could live outside of me!

Next goal: 3 lb. babies (about 27-28 weeks)!

Names
We are pretty sure on one name and trying to toss around a few options for the second name in our heads. The problem is that Name #1 has a shorter version (nickname) that we will probably always call that baby by, and we want Name #2 to have the same thing... But we can't agree on any nicknames that we both love! Not sharing the names yet, but here's an example: if we were going to name Baby #1 Nicholas, and always call him Nick, I feel like we can't name the other one Carter unless we were to always call him Cart (not just in passing), which is unacceptable to me. (Like the BSB reference there? Heh.) I'm not going to sign a card "Love, Jonathan, Abbie, Nick and Cart." So that is my conundrum. Is this not a problem? If you think I am being crazy and it would be fine to have a Nicholas who we always called Nick and a Carter who we always called Carter, please feel free to let me know in the comments. I guess I would feel like this was not a big deal for siblings, but with twins, I feel like their names should at least sort of go together (even though we are not rhyming them or starting with the same letter).

Weight gain
31 lbs. down, 19+ to go! I have finally caught up with the chart from Dr. Luke's book for recommended weight gain for underweight twin moms. And I am right on schedule, since she likes to see a majority of weight gained toward the front end of pregnancy (I think she said by 24 weeks). Go me!

Pre-Term Labor
Well, I have finally hit a point where I absolutely cannot push myself too far. If I am dehydrated at all (and we're talking less than 8-sixteen ounce glasses of water every day!), haven't eaten enough, go up the stairs too quickly or too frequently, do too much during the course of a day, etc., I get a contraction. Up until this point, God has been gracious to me in my slow learning and I haven't actually had more than one an hour (four an hour for two hours straight is considered pre-term labor). They usually frighten me enough to get me to down a huge glass of water and lay down. At least I know what they feel like now (because before I was worried that I wouldn't recognize a contraction when it came) and can watch for them. But my goal is to not have any triggered contractions (of course pregnant women will always get Braxton Hicks ones that you just can't prevent, but these also shouldn't trigger PTL) over the next week (and, of course, until I'm full term - but I'm taking it one week at a time here). This week is particularly rough for me because we are MOVING and I want to DO things. But although yesterday was quite productive, yesterday night proved that I did WAAAAY too much. So I'm off my feet today and I will be glued to the couch the rest of this week!

Gestational Diabetes
I passed my Glucose Tolerance Test - woohoo! Sadly, they are going to make me retake it around 28-30 weeks, since apparently the results can change.

Car
Fixed! Our friend gave us the name of his mechanic who fixed our $400 problem for only $60. HOORAY!

Olivia's first birthday

Happy first birthday to my precious Livie! She would have been one today.

I am thankful for my sweet girl in heaven who is praising Jesus right now. But I really wish I could have seen her first steps and if she liked chocolate cake as much as her mommy.

It hurts to know that we should be partying it up with a one year old, but I am so thankful for the two precious boys kicking in my womb right now. Lord, please preserve their lives!

22 weeks: all is well!

Well, I guess I go on record as worst mommy blogger ever. :) Our lives are just so busy right now, though!

What's going on lately:
-Jonathan's name list was at 295 names the other day and has been cut down to 211 thus far. We're making some good progess, folks.
-I have been doing a great job of gaining weight (except this week; I was 114 on Monday and dropped to 113 by today... I guess those 2 cups of ice cream every night really were helping!)
-My new doctor is AMAZING. So lovely. She asked me if anyone had spoken to me about vaginal birth and told me as long as Baby A is head down and not too much smaller than Baby B, we're good to go. She is not repeating ultrasounds on days that I have just had one at the peri's office, which is nice and saves my babes from some radiation exposure, and sits down at a table with me to have conversations, where I am treated like an adult. She actually cares about the things I say - like when I told her I am having some back and hip pain, she gave me a referral to a physical therapist (who healed my hip pain the first day and is going to work with me on my back).
-I just barely failed the one hour glucose test and have to go back for the three hour one on Friday. I am pretty sure I will pass it.
-And on a funny and totally unrelated note, we ran over something on the way home from Thanksgiving break and broke off a plastic bracket that was tying a plate on the bottom of the car to the frame. It is making an awful racket, but seemed to be driving without a problem. When I brought it to the Toyota dealership to have them check it out, they wanted to charge us $400 (four! hundred! dollars!) to fix it... but get this: it is just an annoying noise, nothing is actually going to fall off or break further. So yeah, we're living with a very loud car. If you hear that deafening rattling sound, it's probably just the Burnhams driving to church. :-P

From our 20 week ultrasound:

Sweet baby tootsies!

Cutest lips and nose!