Baby #3 & #4: Weeks 12-16

The chalkboards are back! We may not have announced our pregnancy to the Facebook/Internet world until 15 weeks, but we've been celebrating long before then. I decided to start back up the chalkboards at 12 weeks. 

So there's the belly progression so far! I've been showing since about nine weeks with a nice hard belly since then. The nausea and morning sickness has been strong with this pregnancy. I lost three pounds in one week due to not having an appetite to eat and not being able to keep anything down. I'm on some medicine now and it has helped some, I'm gaining weight again at least!

Exciting things so far: Two beautifully round heads on our 14 week ultrasound, feeling flutters starting at 14 weeks, definitely looking pregnant!

Not so exciting things so far: spotting. I have spotted basically this entire pregnancy on and off. We had a big scare the night of our first ultrasound when I woke up to bright red blood. Thankfully we were able to get back in to see my doctor and both babies were doing well. But since then I've had random spouts of spotting that haven't amounted to anything bad. Let's hope it stays that way! Like I mentioned above, the nausea/morning sickness has been out of this world this pregnancy. I can chalk that up to twice the HCG levels due to twice the babies. 

The real hero in this pregnancy so far has been Eric though. He's been 1000% excited from the very beginning, and has helped me overcome my fears over something bad happening in this pregnancy. He's done so much around the house- including painting the propane tank, the dog house, and one of our barns. He's been mowing the grass, weed-eating, feeding the dogs (since I've been going to bed at like 8:30 every night), and hasn't complained once about me hardly cooking for the past 6 or so weeks. Dr. Haller reassured me that I won't feel miserable the entire pregnancy, so hopefully that's true and I can start pulling some more weight around the house soon. Until then, I'm just focusing on growing these babies and keeping them put as long as possible!

Two.

Two.

Ever since seeing this double rainbow on Ian's first birthday, the number two has held a special place in my heart. I can't tell you the number of times I've seen a double rainbow over a single one since Ian's death. And I know that others around me would say the same thing. Two butterflies playing, two cardinals in the yard. Two was all around us.

Two took on a whole new meaning when we learned that Madison would be joining her brother Ian in Heaven. Two babies, both in Heaven.

Two is the number of failed IVF transfers that we had. Two times our hopes were so high, only to come crashing down at that negative test.

Two, that's how many embryos we transferred this last time.

And that's how many heartbeats we heard on the ultrasound four weeks later.

Suddenly two had an entirely new meaning. Because now it meant that we would be bringing two babies into the world. Two times the clothes, two times the diapers, two times the late night feedings. But we will also enjoy two times to smiles, two times the laughs, and two times the love.

And at our most recent ultrasound we received the best news of all. We have two babies with two perfectly round heads. 

There's still so much time left in this pregnancy, and I'd be lying if I said I thought we were totally in the clear now. But every day I get to spend with these two babies makes me even more grateful and even more excited that we will actually get to bring these babies home in February (because let's be honest, I doubt I make it to their due date on March 5). 

Here's to a quick and healthy remainder of this pregnancy. We appreciate any and all prayers you want to send our way!