BOYS!

We found out last Friday 9/19 that we are having 2 identical boys! BOYS! I don't know what to do with boys. All I know is frilly, tutu wearing, lipstick lovin, Frozen obsessed girl. While this will be a whole new adventure and challenge I am really excited. Two boys! :) This means trucks, bugs and dirt - although Molly loves her fair share of dirt.

The best part about visiting the high risk doc is that I got to see both babies for 2 hours (yes I laid on my back for 2 hours while he measured every part of each baby - a little on the uncomfortable side but I'll take it). Thanks be to God that both boys are super healthy. Which from what we learned is amazing in itself since I didn't know I was having identical (mono/di) twins until 18 weeks and didn't see the high risk doc until 19 weeks. It is truly amazing how much God was protecting us throughout this journey. They were both 8oz at the 18 week mark and grew to 13oz at 19 weeks.

The boys heads.

I am currently 20 weeks 3 days and feeling these boys kick all the time. Danny has felt baby A but Molly hasn't felt either. After telling Molly that we are having boys she wasn't thrilled (cried, said she only wanted girls, I don't want brothers, etc.) but after she thought about it she was happy and is now really excited. We ask her what we should name them and she talks gibberish. She never says anything in gibberish but all the sudden their names gibberish. Ha. Speaking of names Danny and I are not so much on the same page. This could take some time....I got back to my regular high risk doc next Wednesday (every two weeks) so I will have an update then.
Molly naming boys from Lauren Struzick on Vimeo.

BIG NEWS: Say what?!?

So, I now know that there is a reason my belly is so huge (see the last post). This past Monday 9/8/14 I went in for my 18 week anatomy scan and thought I would see one happy baby swimming around but no. I got a HUGE surprise! Danny was running a little late  and the tech asked if she could go a head and take pictures for the doc. Sure, why not. She did one scan over the belly - paused - another scan over the belly then turned off the machine and said we should wait for Danny. I started freaking out asking why. She just kept saying we should wait. No, no, no, no I needed to know right then. I was thinking something was wrong. Then she said it was good news and a light went off in my head, eyes bulged out of my head and all I said was "please tell me there isn't more than two". Nope, but she said it was twins. TWINS - let's let that process. 18 weeks and I am just now finding out TWINS. Identical twins. Two babies - two. Ok, enough freaking out. I start crying, laughing, smiling, and freaking out all at the same time. Then Danny walks in, sees my crying and the tech says "your wife has something to tell you". He starts freaking out thinking something is wrong and I just say "we are gonna have to buy a lot more stuff and hold up two fingers and the tech turns on the screen and says twins. His jaw immediately drops, hand goes up to his mouth and says "are you kidding me". Yeah, no. Twins. We are having twins. TWINS!

Moving on from there we come out all the nurses are buzzing saying we have never missed twins. Yeah - you missed mine! We sufficiently freaked out all day long. I didn't sleep a wink that night all I could do was thinking of everything. We texted out families saying we couldn't hold out on finding out the gender (we were going to wait when we thought we were having one baby - now we will find out but we just don't know yet) and we wanted to have a reveal dinner. My fam was set for Friday and Danny's was set for Sat. Well, my sister called immediately and said she couldn't wait so I met my family that Monday night and told them. Keeping a secret like this until Saturday was painful but we managed. Both reactions are below on video.
Mitchell Family finding out we are having twins! 9/8/14 from Lauren Struzick on Vimeo.
Struzick Family finding out we are having twins! 9/13/14 from Lauren Struzick on Vimeo.
At my 18 week appt I was measuring 27 weeks and the doctor said oh yeah I would have been able to tell something was up. Yeah......Thank goodness both babies are super healthy and both 8oz and one in the 50% and the other 42%. From here on out I start seeing a maternal fetal medicine doc every two weeks and see my regular OB every month for now. I have always loved working at the hospital but now I realized that I know entirely too much that can go wrong so I just have to calm myself down and know that I will be taken care of and God is in control.

So, in case you haven't heard.....

OK, so here is the deal. I have been meaning to blog from week 12 but of course this has not happened. So, surprise! I am prego if you didn't know yet. I am 17 weeks currently and am due February 9th. Danny and I super thrilled. Molly is excited as well thinking that we all have babies in our belly including daddy and herself. I am excited to see what happens when she can start feeling the baby. That should be interesting. It is so crazy the difference in life comparing now and when I was at this stage with Molly. I thought I was so busy but having a toddler brings a whole new meaning to the word busy. I am sure when there is two it gets even more crazier. While I can't wait to mean this little one I am really excited to see the whole sibling connection. I actually can't wait for that.

Here is my belly pic that I took tonight. Not the best but it will do.

How far along? 17 weeks 2 days
how are you measuring? Don't know, but will find out on Monday - when we have our anatomy scan/gender appt. BUT this time we are not finding out the gender!
size of baby? According to thebump.com our baby is 5.1 inches long and 5.9 oz, the size of an onion 
heartbeat? 162 bpm (at our 14 weeks appointment) 
total weight gain/loss? + 5 lbs as of 14 weeks 
maternity clothes? Pshhhh yes! I needed maternity clothes starting at 8 weeks. It is crazy the difference with baby numero 2.
stretch marks? just my leftovers - no new ones.....yet
sleep? I wake up to go to the bathroom twice a night and I remember how much I am not a side sleeper.
best moment this week? wearing a maternity swimsuit and rockin it or I just didn't care what people thought especially when chasing a curious toddler.
movement? I feel like I felt something around week 15 but then not again.
food cravings? nothing really. Oh wait. for a while there I needed pickles and I mean NEEDED them, even dreamt about them.
gender predictions? No clue. 
what i miss? Sleeping through a whole night and I would really love it if I could have a glass of red wine.
what I'm looking forward to? Going to my next doc appointment where we get to see the little one.
how are you feeling? Feelin good.

Just so we can compare with this itty bitty belly below. This was me with Molly at 17 weeks. What a crazy difference!