Week 15 Update

How far along: 15 weeks!

What are the Twins up to?: Our growing babies are now measures about 4 inches long, crown to rump, and weigh in at about 2 1/2 ounces (about the size of a lemon). They are busy moving amniotic fluid through their nose and upper respiratory tract, which helps the primitive air sacs in their lungs begin to develop. Their legs are growing longer than her arms now, and they can move all of their joints and limbs. Although their eyelids are still fused shut, they can sense light. There's not much for our babies to taste at this point, but they are forming taste buds. 

  Maternity clothes: Not quite yet… but I am sure close. I have been wearing “baby doll” style tops and leggings all summer but will need some maternity close for work! Shopping will be in order VERY soon!

Sleep: I get up multiple times each night to use the restroom and have had a hard time getting use to sleeping on my side! Whichever side I am sleeping on eventually falls asleep during the night and is uncomfortable. I have to roll of in order to bring that side of my body back to life! Let’s just say I toss and turn a bunch!

Best moment of this week: Talking about and planning a gender reveal party with my Mommy. We have so many great ideas and cannot wait to celebrate with our family and friends!

Miss anything: Adult Beverages and Coffee. I don’t miss them often, but when we go out with friends it is not as fun when you are the only one not indulging!

Movement: Not yet… I don’t think…! I have felt some interesting “zaps” this week, but it was not a regular occurrence and could easily be gas (says my Dr.)

Food cravings: I have only wanted one thing… Biscuits and Gravy. This is not a craving all of the time, but does hit be every now and then. I have a MAJOR food aversion though… I cannot stand eating meat! I have been doing my best since I know how important protein is…. But it has NOT been easy.

Anything making you queasy or sick: I have had morning sickness since about 6 weeks. The Dr. has me on Zofran and it is my savior! I still puke each and every morning and I know it has to do with having an empty stomach! I am extremely sensitive to bad smells and gag each time I come across them. In all, these last 9 weeks have been all about queasy or sick!

Have you started to show yet: I don’t know whether I look fat or pregnant! My mom says she sees a bump and I know for a fact that with Twins I will be HUGE by the end!

Gender: Soon enough….

Labor signs: Nope… not yet! They need to stay put for at least 20 more weeks… if not more!

Belly button in or out: In still! It’s early!

Happy or moody most of the time: I have felt fairly happy! I did notice that I was easily agitated and moody during the first 8 weeks or so. However, I have felt very happy and blessed recently!

Looking forward to: Finding out the gender of our little ones! I cannot wait to begin shopping and planning for the future!

Fun Twin Fact #1: There are two types of twins: fraternal and identical. Identical twins are less common than fraternal because identical twins require the splitting of a single fertilized egg, which is very uncommon. Fraternal twins occur when two separate eggs are fertilized by two separate perm and implant in the womb at the same time!

The Journey Weeks 6-12

Weeks 6 -14

I knew that I wanted to document my pregnancy on this blog since day one. I wanted to be sure that I had something to look back on once the babies had arrived, as well as I feel it is a wonderful way to keep our loving California and Ohio family updated!

First Doctor Visit!

I LOVE MY DOCTOR! He is so amazing and makes every visit a memorable event.

The first visit to the doctor was a little scary. After what had occurred in January, I was so nervous for this appointment.

I was first called back for an ultrasound to see if a heartbeat could be detected. The tech applied the ultrasound wand on my stomach and I didn’t see anything! I was so worried that we were going to go through the disappointment of an empty sack again. The tech then decided to do a vaginal ultrasound and almost immediately I saw something!! As I continued to look at the screen I was a bit confused. I asked, “Why are there 2 circles on the screen?” The tech was so calm and replied… “Because there are 2 Babies in there!” This was so shocking and exciting. Both babies had extremely strong heartbeats and looked like blobs J. The rest of the appointment was a blur. My doctor was just as excited as I was! We learned that the twins were in their own sacs and did not share any nutrients (the best kind of twins!) They could not tell us whether they were identical or fraternal…they said both were a possibility! 

10 week Checkup

My next appointment was at 10 weeks. I had been feeling great after my doctor prescribed me nausea medication at my first appointment.

The ultrasounds are my favorite! The babies had changed so much in just 4 weeks. They were no longer blobs… but kinda looked like babies! At this point they could still get a picture of them side by side and it was so fun seeing them together!

My doctor told us that they looked wonderful and healthy… news I hope to hear each visit!!

12 week Checkup

This doctor’s visit was the best! There on the screen we saw real, bouncy, moving babies!! The ultrasound tech spent time measuring and checking their heartbeats!

Baby A was measuring bigger than Baby B… They explained this is very normal with twins! Both heartbeats were once again very strong. Each baby did some flips and dance moves for Joe and I… pure happiness!

After the ultrasound, I had to wait to see my Dr. Joe just kept repeating… “They are so small and cute!” He was a proud dad for sure!

My doctor gave us another glowing report and encouraged us to begin sharing the news! I was so scared and we waited until around 13.5 weeks to send out announcements to family and friends. Due to what occurred in January, I have been very apprehensive about sharing the news. I wanted to be very sure that they were strong and healthy before I began to tell everyone!

In all the first 12 weeks went well! I have spent much of my time sleeping (so tired) and feeling nauseous. We are so excited to become parents… I know it is going to be a wonderful journey!

This is Happening

We're Having a Baby... I Mean 2 Babies!!!



What a journey this has been! Joe and I are feeling so incredibly blessed to announce that we are expecting twins. As I type these words it still doesn’t seem real. Our path towards this announcement was not an easy one and was full of bumps. These bumps included months of trying with no success, fertility medication, and an early miscarriage.

Our story:

In April of 2011 Joe and I began discussing the topic of family. He and I had always known we wanted children and after much discussion we decided that we would begin “not preventing”. I say “not preventing” because we had decided to go off of birth control, and we were completely fine with not getting pregnant right away. We were still fairly young and knew we still had time. After several months of being off of birth control I had a feeling something was wrong. My monthly periods had not returned to normal and I knew this was a potential problem. I had never in my life had irregular periods and was not sure way now! In November of 2011 I went and saw my doctor. This was a disappointing visit and nothing was solved! The doctor thought that the irregular periods might be due to the absence of birth control and they wanted me to try some natural vitamins and give it a little more time. This was about the time that we decided we really needed to start “trying”. I began to read online about all the things that can be done to get pregnant and we tried out a few. I began to try and track ovulation and eat foods that are supposed to help with fertility. This was quite difficult since my periods were still all out of whack!

In February of 2012 I went back to see my doctor again since nothing had really changed. This appointment changed everything! The doctor performed a variety of test on me and soon discovered that I had small cysts on both of my ovaries. This was causing the irregular periods because the cysts were not allowing me to ovulate regularly. I was so relieved to find out that this was VERY common and that they had various ways of treating it. As a group we decided to start me on a medication that would first regulate my periods and solve the issues with my ovaries. Upon leaving that appointment I was so excited. I immediately began taking the medication and my periods returned to normal. They were like clockwork! I thought we had solved all our problems, but we weren’t quite there just yet!

In May of 2012 I took another trip to the doctor. We had solved the irregular periods, but it had been over a year and we were still not pregnant. This was when the doctor asked Joe to get checked out. I have always loved Joe, but my love grew for him even more when he was willing to see a specialist to ensure the issue did not also involve him. Luckily, he was just perfect! The issue was solely with me and we were determined to fix it! My wonderful doctor decided I should begin taking Clomid. This is a fertility medication that forces ovulation. It took a few months to get Joe’s results and so I began Clomid in August 2012. Clomid was my magic drug! 

In December 2012 we discovered we were pregnant! Joe and I were so excited… we had finally done it. We went to the doctor immediately and they did blood work. We were told to come back at 6 weeks because that is when the baby is visible through a vaginal ultrasound. At 6 weeks we returned to the doctor and had our ultrasound. The tech detected a sac but no baby was visible. They told us that I was probably earlier along than we had previously thought and asked me to return in 2 weeks. I just knew that something was not right as I left that appointment. I had been tracking ovulation and I was pretty certain of when I had ovulated. I also had not had ANY pregnancy symptoms which is unusual. My mom came with me to that 8 week appointment. I felt sick as we went in for the ultrasound and even sicker when we once again only saw an empty sac. I met with my doctor and he explained that the sperm and egg had met and implanted, but that a baby had never formed. He listed many reasons for this and just kept saying, “We now know you can get pregnant… We will do it again!” It didn’t bring me much reassurance as I left the doctor’s office with medication that would help my body dispel the empty sac. (I’ll spare you the icky story on the weekend I took the pills and got rid of that empty sac)

After that ordeal, Joe and I just began to enjoy life and stop “trying” to have a baby! This was one of the best times in our marriage. We had a large group of friends and spent every weekend trying new restaurants and bars. Life was really good and we were really happy! In May 2013 it happened again! ON Mother’s Day I realized I was 3 days late and decided to take a pregnancy test. It was positive!! And so our journey began. In following posts I will tell you all about our first doctor visits and how the last 16 weeks have been.

The Suarez Twins are on their way!!

San Francisco Trip 2012

San Francisco was a BLAST!!

Joe and I have traveled to many places together, and we both agree, that San Francisco was one of our favorite trips!

We had the best time exploring new things, site seeing, and being together....

Day 1: Alcatraz Tour and Pier 39-Fisherman's Wharf

We began our trip with a VERY busy day. That morning we woke up bright and early and walked the 2 plus miles from our hotel to the pier.

sites seen along our walk to the pier

We had a 9:30 ferry ride to catch to take us over to Alcatraz Island.

The weather was beautiful and perfect for a day walking around the old remains of Alcatraz. I would have to say that this was my favorite part of the trip! I love hearing about history and the stories behind Alcatraz are fascinating.

Joe and I explored the island for about 3 hours! We took the "audio" tour of the old jail house, walked around the run-down buildings, and took in the view!! There were so many interesting things to look at and take pictures of :)

After our tour of Alcatraz we headed back to land and walked over to Pier 39. Fisherman's Wharf was packed and full of sites to see. Joe and I stopped at Boudin San Francisco Bakery! This bakery is known for their homemade sourdough bread. We decided that me had to try some... so we bother order sandwiches! Let's just say... they live up to their reputation!!

While on the Wharf we watched many musicians, enjoyed the Sea Lions, and SHOPPED!!

After a long day we headed back to the hotel to get ready for dinner. I took Joe to the Famous John's Grill that night (yummy food)! We then headed to The Haight area of San Francisco. Joe wanted to visit the Amoeba music shop to buy some CDs.... I was glad he was able to buy his music.... but I was not a fan of the area :)

Day 2: Painted Ladies, San Francisco Mission, Castro, First Bridge Visit

We began Day 2 with some breakfast at Lori's Diner. Joe made me take the picture below of the motorcycle hanging from the ceiling of the diner. He thought his dad would find it interesting (sweet boy).

After breakfast we headed to Alamo Square Park to walk off our food and check out the Painted Lady homes. When I think of San Francisco... I always think of FULL HOUSE. These are the homes seen at the beginning of each episode :) I loved walking around the park and enjoying these beautiful Victorian homes. I might have asked a few times... "Can I have one?"

We then walked over to the San Francisco Mission. I had to smile because Joe's mom loves to visit missions and this just shows Joe takes after her a bit. We took the tour of the mission and loved reading the history behind it.

Then we were off to Castro. This is another interesting district in San Francisco. I really enjoyed Castro! Joe and I walked around, looked in many shops, and stopped for some coffee.

We finally ended our day with a drive to the Golden Gate Bridge. We had planned to see it the next day, but were so glad we went this afternoon! The sun was shining and the view of the bridge was beautiful. I was so amazed at how our pictures turned out... they looked like a PAINTING!!

Cable wires seen at the Cable Car Museum

After our visit to the bridge, we stopped by Twin Peaks. This is a windy road that takes you to a scenic view of the city! It was so neat to see San Francisco from above!

 

Day 3: Bridge Visit 2, Muir Overlook, Sonoma, AT&T Ballpark

Day 3 was our day to get out of the city and explore!

On our way out of the city we took another trip to the Golden Gate Bridge. It was rainy outside and so we were glad we had seen it the day before as well. Despite the rain, we still got out of the car and explored. I of course took lots of pictures :)

After a stop at the bridge we drove over the bridge and began our drive up PCH. The Pacific Coast Highway is much different up north! I was in awe of the amazing views we saw from our car. We were basically driving on the cliffs overlooking the ocean.

We stopped off at the Muir Ocean Overlook. This overlook at a trail that took you out to the very tip of the cliff. You could walk out and look straight down at the ocean. It was so AMAZING!

Joe and I then headed to Sonoma. Many know how much I love wine.... so I was very excited. I could totally live in Sonoma! It is the cutest little town. Wine is everywhere and the shops are to die for!! Joe and I walked around the town square and found so many things to check out. Here we found the last of the California missions, a fort, and an old hotel that was open for tour.

I truly LOVED Sonoma!

When we arrived back into San Francisco, Joe and I took the "F train" down to AT&T Ballpark. Joe just LOVES baseball and has to visit every ballpark when he is in a new town. Of course the park was not open, but we walked all around it and enjoyed its beauty. Joe was very excited and now wants to go back to see a game!

We also stopped by a local brewery called 21st Ammendment. It was a really neat place! Joe and I had a few beers and realized after the fact that each beer contained 9% alcohol. That is ALOT for beer.... but it sure tasted good :)

We ended our trip back at Pier 39 for some San Francisco Sea Food! Joe had to have some lobster and the last night was our chance. We enjoyed a very romantic dinner overlooking the water. Perfect end to a Perfect trip!!

I was so impressed with the city of San Francisco. I had the best time seeing new things and enjoying my husband. Cant wait to go back!!!