15 weeks!

Here is one of the babies at 15 weeks! The other one was hiding behind this one. Look at that profile. That is a camera hog. That is for sure a baby with my dna. he/she's going "Check me out right here, ain't I just GORGEOUS?" I'm nicknaming this one Showboat. The other one, who I'm calling Ninja, is pulling off the amazing - being 4 inches long inside something the size of a cantalope, and hiding from a device that can see through soft tissue. We saw his/her heartbeat, though. I'm giddy again. I'm like this every time we go to the doctor.
Other news: Dr. Northcutt is sending us to OKC from now on. He's decided that because Rebecca is a high risk pregnancy, and because it's even higher because of it being twins and all, it's probably best if we do our regular appointments down there from now on. The chances were high that she'd be delivering there anyway, and if there was a problem with the babies they'd get flown down there while she had to stay here in town and recover. We think this is the best for us. Plus they've got killer ultrasound equipment down there, so we'll get some great pictures. Only problems are that they have 4 doctors, so we'll likely see a different one every time. Plus it's the OU center, which will upset our little OSU fan a great deal... Sorry, Joshua.

Just catching up

There isn't much to report this time, but it's been awhile, so I thought I'd better check in.

I've been sick for a little over a week now. I had an abscess. Luckily, I knew right away what was going on and was able to get the proper treatment on time. I had this once before and it took them nearly a week to get a correct diagnosis, and by that time I was VERY ill. They said it was potentially life threatening and I was admitted to the hospital with a fever of 105. I spent a week in the hospital and had to have a surgical procedure under general anesthesia. This time it went MUCH better than that, and it seems that the babies are doing well.

We see the doctor again on Tuesday. At that time, I will be at 15 weeks, 3 days.

I am having round ligament pain now, much earlier than last time, and my uterus is the size of a bowling ball. I thought I felt like I was carrying a moose the first time, but I have a feeling it's not going to compare to how things feel with these two...

We are creating our baby wish list and it's frightening how much stuff we are going to need. We are probably going to have to buy another car as well. Eeek.

My Thoughts

BOO!

Secrets of the future!

I just got to thinking. Here we are all deliriously happy and overflowing with joy about these babies - but in about 7 months we'll be at our wit's end, pulling our hair out, with no sleep, poor nutrition, poor hygiene and half a million diapers a day to dispose of.


I think we'll still be happy.

today at the doctor

So we went in for a checkup today. one day shy of 12 weeks. The doctor had his little rollaway cart with an ultrasound machine on it, and we got some new pics. This one is of one twin, the one I've named "Jazzercise". Jazzercise spent the entire time pretending to be Bruce Lee. Below and behind Jazzercise was "Eeyore", who looked to be napping and only moved when prodded by the ultrasound probe. I don't know which one is baby a and which is baby b anymore. One thing we did see was what looked like a pretty clearly defined membrane between the babies. This is good. A membrane means they aren't monochorionic monoamniotic twins, which means they aren't in the same space together, at risk for getting tangled up in each other's cords. Mono/mono twins have something like a 60% mortality rate, so this improves things a lot. They're still at risk for Twin-To-Twin Transfusion Syndrome.
Just a rundown of what everything is here: The baby is inside the amniotic sac, which is inside something called the chorion. twins can share a chorion and/or amniotic sacs. Fraternal, that is, non-identical twins, are in separate chorions and have separate placentas. sometimes the placentas can fuse and look like one. Identicals can be in separate everything, or they can be in 2 amniotic sacs in one chorion, or they can be in one amniotic sac in one chorion. The closer they are, the higher the risk.
Anyway, back to the ultrasound.
Eeyore was really tough to find, and we only saw him/her enough to get a couple blurry images and a heartbeat. Jazzercise on the other hand was on stage today. Very clear spine, very clear movements (tons of them), and just generally being a baby. We go back in about a month, and I think it's just gonna be a doppler then, to hear the heartbeats. We go get a 3d ultrasound done in october. I'm going to make a baby book that's gonna be filled before the babies are even born!
SOOOOO HAPPPPPY!!!!!!!

Identical?

Well, we don't know 100%, but because both babies are in the same gestational sac (the black "void" on the ultrasound), it appears very likely that they ARE monozygotic (identical) twins. This means that they are the same sex. I'm thinking about the possibility of 3 BOYS- Maybe a full head of gray hair by the time I'm 40 and probably a few visits to the "happy home"? (Which I STILL wouldn't trade for anything) The thought of having 3 boys makes me tired, but it's all worth it- The boy I have now has been the greatest joy of my life.

I'm the mom!

Hi- I'm the mom. And forgive me, but I'm still in shock. I wasn't even supposed to get pregnant at all, let alone with twins. I lost an ovary 2 years ago, and I didn't have much hope that I'd have any more children, even though I wanted one. Oh, and then there's that little thing about being on the pill. The odds were certainly stacked against a pregnancy even happening at all, and it's a good thing I was laying down when the ultrasound tech told us we were having twins, or they would have been reviving me in the ER.

We found out entirely by accident. I had been feeling REALLY bad. I was dizzy, I was overheating ALL the time, feeling like I was going to die from the heat even when it was 85 outside, and I was overwhelmingly tired. We were moving at the time, and just doing a little bit completely exhausted me. I would drip with sweat from doing very little. Truth be told, I was a little worried that something was wrong with me, but we had so much to do in so little time that I was going to worry about that later.

I went to the ear, nose, and throat doctor on July 16 and he ordered a sinus X Ray. I have chronic sinus/ eustacian tube problems and vocal cord dysfunction, and this was the first thing on the list to start me on the way to overcoming those problems. When I went in for the sinus x ray, they asked if there was any way I could be pregnant. Well, of course not! I told them that there was almost no possible way. I guess the "almost" was enough for them and the radiology tech wanted me to have a pregnancy test. He called Dr. Howard (The ENT), who ordered a pregnancy test. I took it and then waited for my X ray. About 15 minutes later, the X ray tech came back and told me that I wouldn't be having the X ray. I was bummed that I'd sat in the hospital all that time for nothing, and about a half second later, he broke into a grin and told me my pregnancy test was positive. I don't remember much after that.

Because I didn't want to deal with female issues while moving, I had gone straight from one pack of pills into the next without taking the placebos (And no, this isn't what caused me to get pregnant), so it had been awhile since my last visit from Aunt Flo. I also hadn't kept track of that stuff for the past couple of months- Lots of stress and very little time. So I had NO idea how far along I was. So they let me have an ultrasound. The ultrasound revealed that I was approx. 7 weeks along and that- SURPRISE!- There were two heartbeats and two very distinct babies.

So... There it is. YES, I am thrilled. This was obviously meant to happen. And I love the babies already. But, because it was unexpected in EVERY possible way, I have been in shock for awhile.

Hiya!

So, my name is Ian. I'm the daddy. If these twins are fraternal, then I will forever say that my sperms were so cool that they fertilized 2 eggs. If the twins are identical, I still have the best sperm ever, but it was some randomness that caused the twins to happen. I am the happiest person ever, and every day, I'm happier. I'm going to marry a wonderful woman who is having my babies, and who already gave me a best buddy in Joshua. I honestly don't know how my life could get any better without involving twinkies.

Introduction

Above is one of our sonograms from our first ultrasound, the one where we discovered that the miracle of life had happened twice. Against all odds, we were pregnant with twins. Well, not against ALL odds. I mean I suppose Rebecca could have had a spiky uterus or I could have been a ghost or something, but we certainly did overcome quite a few odds. And a couple evens.
This is little Autumn Rose Amanti and Violet Ann Amanti, or if they're boys, we've pretty much settled on Atticus Gregory Amanti and Harrison (something) Amanti. Right now, we're a day shy of 12 weeks along. The babies will be born sometime in mid february to early march. They'll be born via c-section, so we can determine the actual birth date, to a point. I'm pushing for either valentine's day or the total lunar eclipse that happens on the 18th of February. Something about a set of twins born under an eclipse sounds extra cool. But then neither of them is going to be named Damien or anything, so I guess it doesn't matter.

Welcome!

This is the first post in the first blog devoted to the amazing Amanti Twins! This is The Amanti Twins Official Fan Club, and I am a founding member. The idea here is that both Mommy and Daddy can post whenever they want. This will give a view on how we operate, and how we view the same events. I'm making the first post just because I made the blog. I'm also going to make the next post, so there.