First Time Mom Advice

There's no doubt about it, I am struggling a lot more with morning (read: all day) sickness with this twin pregnancy than I did with my singletons. I really do feel like almost a different person. I wrote here about the dangers of googling, but there are some valid searches and good information to be found if you look in the right place. I had to laugh though, at one article I found on "dealing with morning sickness" and how so many tips just don't apply if you already have kids. (especially small ones)

1. Allow yourself plenty of time to get out of bed. Get out of bed slowly as you start your day. 

Ha! I don't think I've been able to get out of bed "slowly" since my son was born almost four years ago. In an ideal world I would wake up with a soft beam of sunlight hitting my bed, hearing the birds chirp, getting a small glimpse of blue sky and green leaves through the billowing white curtains, and smelling a fresh pot of coffee. Reality - I am usually awakened by either my son standing by my bedside telling me "it's time to get up", or "I'm wet/poopy" or hearing my daughter yelling, "mommy, mommy, I wanna get out!" through the monitor. So yeah, getting up slowly is just not an option with two toddlers. 

2. Avoid foods or smells that make your nausea worse, and avoid being in warm places, which can increase your nausea. Um, so I guess it's not a good time to do potty training then? We are in serious training here with both kids and I can't count the number of wet/poopy pants/underpants I've had to rinse and wash in the past few weeks. Oh, and we're heading into summer here, a likely-to-be very hot summer. Woohoo. (insert sarcasm)

3. For dinner avoid spicy, greasy foods. Prepare things that are bland and do not have a strong odor. You may have to avoid cooking for the first trimester. So I guess I'll just let my kids (and hubby) starve for a while, then? I guess we could survive on cereal for dinner for a few weeks, right? Here's my other problem. I totally crave spicy foods. In fact my mom sent me a nice jar of mango pickle (hot, spicy, greasy, and tasty!) and just the smell of it helped my nausea. As for actually eating it though, probably not. Still, I just can't let my family go hungry and so I've been cooking as normal as much as I can. 

Now this would be a good way to wake up!
via

So while these are great tips for a first time mom - they just aren't cutting it for this mom of two expecting two.

When I hit 12 weeks on Sunday I am officially declaring myself to be over the first trimester (since I'm pretty unlikely to go past 36 weeks) and banning morning sickness from my body. Do you think it will work?

Not Quite Myself

I haven't been feeling quite like myself lately. For about 7 weeks - actually 7 weeks and one day ago I started feeling sick, four days later I took a pregnancy test and was a little surprised to see a positive result when I had yet to miss a period. 

It may have something to do with the two little ones taking up valuable real estate and moving everything around in there. I mean, seriously, I'm just 10 weeks and already my bladder is compromised. I'm sure it took a few months with my other two pregnancies to reach that have-to-pee-twice-a-night stage. 

Many of you may have read my musings on when/if to add a third child to our family, if not, go and see what I wrote close to the end...

Hubby and I often joked about just getting the baby stuff done with and having twins the next time around (this was before I got pregnant) and I just never really thought it was likely that I would have twins. The only twins I have in my family are my cousins who are identical, and apparently having identical twins is not a hereditary genetic thing. You are more likely to have fraternal twins based on heredity. 

So when I went to have my first ultrasound (super early here in Brazil - they use it to accurately date your pregnancy) around 7 weeks, and the doctor didn't say anything about having twins, or actually anything at all, I just assumed I was having a routine single pregnancy. I couldn't wait to pick up the results in a week to see if everything was ok. After finally getting the results (another long story) I walked back to the car, got settled in the driver's seat, and opened the envelope containing those precious photos and lots of medical speak (most of which I don't understand since it is all in Portuguese). So I start scanning the summary report, skimming over most of the first few paragraphs, when suddenly I read, "observa-se dois embriões" (we observe two embryos) and I think I stopped breathing for a while. Two embryos, two heart beats, two measurements of the little ones growing inside. Needless to say, I was in a bit of shock and called hubby in a mix of tears and laughter to tell him we are having twins. 

Since then google has been my best friend and worst enemy. I read so many articles in the first few days, all about twin pregnancy, labor and delivery, myths and rumors on twins, incidence of natural vs c-section deliveries, the best twin strollers, a scary phenomenon called vanishing twin syndrome, and a very interesting one connecting twin pregnancy to long life and health.

So things have been quite different lately, feeling tired and sick every day, just trying to eat enough, not throw up and keep the kids lives as normal as can be for now. When we first found out I was pregnant I had so many things I wanted to write on this blog, and I still do, I just don't have as much energy these days for blogging, so it might be a little quieter around here. We are excited to do our 12 week ultrasound in a few weeks to get another look at our little ones. 

And I've given up reading anything on the internet for a while. :) 

Five Minute Friday

This is my first week at joining the Five Minute Friday linkup; the kids are both playing quietly so we'll see if they give me five minutes to write.

Let's go!

You know when life gets comfortable, manageable, almost easy? Routines are in place, kids in school, meals and chores planned? That's when you gotta be careful. We sort of planned a pregnancy and I was in the beautiful stage of being sick all day, but still planning every last detail of how our lives would change with another baby...

Then BAM! A wake up call from God, reminding me, oh so gently, with the presence of two heart beats, that He is in control, not me. We definitely hadn't been planning for TWINS! And each and every day is a reminder to take each day as it comes, trust Him with our concerns and needs and allow our paths to be directed by Him.

So we trust him for the long months ahead, praying for these two new precious lives we hope to add to our family next year.

(my five minutes are up, but I want the record to show that I was interrupted at least twice by my two kiddos :) )

Speechless

No problems going wordless on this wednesday....

I should note that the ultrasound technician said ab.so.lute.ly NOTHING to me during the ultrasound to suggest there was more than one baby. Actually he didn't say anything to me at all. So I was totally speechless when I saw the results. Bring on the crazy, baby! (or should I say, babies!)

And for those who don't follow me on Facebook - here's how we announced our pregnancy to the world at large.

So many people did not notice that there are two hearts :)

Happy Wednesday Everyone!

Saturday Sleep-In

{and a few random tidbits from our weekend}

I've written before on how much I love (and desperately need) sleep. Sleeping in was something that used to happen very regularly on a Saturday morning and always included waking up to a clock that started with double digits. Now, of course, that has been drastically re-defined. Anything after 7:00am is classified as a sleep-in. 

Friday was a holiday here and we took the kids into Sao Paulo to meet some friends and then spent the afternoon/evening at Grandma's house. The one hour drive home is our favorite (and easiest) way to put the kids to bed after a long day. And even now that Lucas is getting older, and staying awake the whole ride home, he is usually pretty happy to get into his own bed when we arrive. 

I was pretty sure, however, that despite the long day and later bedtime, I would still be woken by my little angels before 6:30. It seems sometimes that the later they go to bed, the earlier they wake up! So imagine my surprise when Lucas comes into our room at 7:30 (Yes! 7:30 people!!) to inform me that Elena needed me. Our baby monitor occasionally cuts out and so I wasn't hearing her call for me. Once we were all up and relaxing in the living room I saw some evidence that Lucas must've been awake for a while before hearing Elena calling and then summoning me - mainly a freshly finished cup of yogurt. But you know what? I am more than happy to let him get up, get a snack and entertain himself for a bit in the morning (especially with Elena safely in her crib) so I can have a resemblance of a sleep-in. Hooray for growing up :)

More evidence of growing up - look how nicely they are sharing the blocks!

Also wanted to share this precious conversation that happened between Lucas and his grandma. They were talking about his cool car and cool house when grandma asked, "And do you have a cool mommy and a cool daddy?" To which Lucas replied, "No, I don't have a cool mommy and a cool daddy, they're just old." (Clearly to him "cool" is synonymous with "new")

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