our babies are here!

(allright, i know that apologies are in order, but i'll do that later. :)  yes, our lives have been a complete whirlwind since we even found out that we were pregnant, but... it got even crazier as time passed.)

our lovely identical twin girls, Willow Kate and Coral Bliss, were born on December 10, 2010 (12/10/10) shortly after 10:10a.m.!  Willow weighed 4lbs., 15oz. and was 18" long while Coral weighed 4lbs., 14oz and was 19" long!!!

they are completely identical with no identifying marks... how crazy is that?!

i will update later when i have more time on my hands spent not sleeping. :)

and, yes, photos will follow, however, i'm still working on those and with my minimal amount of sleep, it's taking awhile....

until then, may God Bless your family in ways not yet revealed this day forward!

they are now as long as a...

banana!!!  isn't that so funny that my chief problem i'm having is with leg cramping which has to do with not eating enough bananas for potassium (i do have one in my smoothie every morning)!  LOL!  and, here, the babies are this long at 20 weeks!

i don't know where they're fitting in me because i don't feel like they can be that big, but i guess our body has different plans for how to accommodate. :)

on a side note, i've been awoken the last few nights with leg cramping, especially three times last night (2, 5, and 7a.m.)- all of which weren't AS bad as they HAD been before, but it felt like the pain just kept circling around my upper calf like a merry-go-round!  the pain didn't last as long as it had before.  still, i'm wondering if i should take potassium supplements... i'll ask at my next appt. which is in a week. :)

update: another site/weekly email said that the babies are the size of a cantaloupe, so who knows!  LOL

are they leg cramps or DVT?

since i have the history of DVT (blood clotting in my left leg) and PE (pulmonary embolism- side of my lung), i started to get super nervous when i started to develop leg cramps in my SAME problematic leg!  it started around when i was 8 weeks, and i went to ER since i had the SAME exact symptoms as my DVT- i mean, the pain hadn't gone away for several days, and for that, i grew even more nervous.

well, i went in, and hours later only to find out that they were severe leg cramps.  oh great, i felt silly and frustrated.  how do you know when they are for real or just the pregnancy taking its toll on you?

all i know is that i mentioned to my dr. and chiro my situation.  the recommendation was to eat a banana for potassium each day.  okay, got it.

then, i started drinking smoothies quite frequently, such as every morning, and regularly, i would throw in a  banana....

didn't develop anymore "cramps" until about 17 weeks... we were staying in CA, and suddenly it's 5a.m., and what do you know!  i feel like i'd rather chop off my leg than scream in pain!!!  the pain was so similar, if not identical, to my DVT, and the thing is- i developed my DVT a year ago at 5a.m.!!!  so, you see why i was extremely nervous....

well, i put my husband right to work to massage my left leg while i was screaming for bloody murder!  who knows how long it took for me to be able to get comfortable again, but the weird thing is- the pain shot to my right leg, and i thought, oh great, how's he going to massage both?  that leg!  no, that leg!  back to that leg!  it was so frustrating for both of us!

then, this past week, again, 5a.m., and bloody murder!  this.pain.was.the.worst.  blood curdling screams.  my right toes felt like they were on fire and going numb, and this pain was just bad.  the following night (or should i say 5a.m. morning?  lol), similar episode, and just felt like my toes were bending weird... know what i mean?  that awkward feeling... well, throw in there some fire-burning feet and annoyingly painful cramps!

FINALLY, i thought- i ran out of bananas!!!  nooooooooo!  need them now!  haven't had them in a few days, which is why i got the stupid, but avoidable cramps!  when we woke up that morning, i immediately sent my husband to go buy some bananas, and threw a few of them into that morning's smoothie!!!  lol

coincidentally, just read that leg cramping is super bad right around now... halfway through the pregnancy!  FYI!

had a minor cramp since then, but seriously... EAT A BANANA each day!!!  if you don't like them, then throw them in a smoothie- tastes yummy!  prevent this awfully painful episode!!!  your sleep, your legs, and your loved one will thank you.  :)

(oh, disclaimer: for a DVT, your leg swells up, hardens like a rock (especially when you touch it- rock hard), red like a tomato, feels boiling hot, and the pain is beyond unbearable.  go to the ER if you have leg cramping that is like that and it doesn't go away!!!)

toothpaste pillow

my cousin gave me her maternity pillow, and before that thing, i hadn't known how beautiful sleep could really be.  i don't know how i even slept without it BEFORE i was pregnant!  that's how comfortable it is!  sometimes, my husband likes to cuddle with it while napping- LOL!

here's what it looks like.

my cousin's husband calls it a "toothpaste" pillow... see why?  so funny!  i highly recommend getting something like this for everyday or maternity use... sleep is soooo much better!  i like to sleep on my right side with the pillow ends facing me.  i know that you're "supposed" to sleep on your left side, but it's not as comfortable for me as on the right....  also, gotta make sure that the pillow is between your legs so that they are not rubbing together- keep them spaced out.  i knew that, but also my chiro(practor) reiterated that.

happy sleeping!