13 Weeks

What Sara forgot to post in her latest entry is that today is the 13 week mark.

Lucky...?

I added a nice picture of Dustin and our godson, Owen (my sister, Betsy's youngest son) from Thanksgiving. So happy! Even though he puts pictures of DISGUSTING meat on here. However, this morning, my aversion is to bananas.

DUSTIN CLIFFORD, You better get that meat off of here, or the next time that I throw up, I might not be so kind to leave the room! (sometimes though, honestly, I can not make it to another room!)

And his shopping time limit is about 5 minutes. No more. We hardly get into a store and he gets all crabby and antsy.

Did I mention that I am the luckiest girl in the world???

Love, Sara & the babies.

At Work

On a Saturday. This sucks.

We bought a TV for the bedroom today, so when Sara's big ass is bed-ridden she can at least keep up with the latest episodes of 'House Hunters' and 'My House Is Worth What?' on HGTV. Too bad we can't watch the Food Network anymore - it makes her "pukey" to see all the glorious bits of spinach and assorted other food items. Raw meat REALLY gets her.


Exactly like this.

Today we will venture into St. Cloud where undoubtedly I will become enraged at the general public. This is pretty common while we are shopping. I have an internal timer that I can deal with people for a predetermined amount of time, and once that timer expires my mood swings faster than a pregnant lady with twins. This should be an interesting trip.

I will report back, but I fully expect it to end up like all of the 'Grand Theft Auto' games. Those that have played know what I mean.

Have a great weekend everyone.

Dustin

Blogging

Sara is giving me shit because I haven't blogged on this thing enough, so here you guys go.

You ladies at the TTCAM-PAL-PMS-ASAP-BBQ-LOL forums know me as super-sperm. Hi ladies. Good to talk with you all once again.

I am watching the Wild game (winning 3-1 in the 2nd period, by the way...) while having an icy-cold beverage and I don't have to work tomorrow. Quite happy about that. In addition to that, I get fed some turkey and other assorted quality food items tomorrow so right now things are going quite well. Fat guy's dream, for sure.

Things are going quite swimmingly with Sara and the twins so far. We do listen to the heartbeats every night. I know this because the belly doppler is so fu%!ing loud and scratchy that I can hardly stand it - it's like nails on a chalkboard to me, but nevertheless we plow through for the common good and for Momma's sanity.

In all seriousness, I can't describe how cool this is to be expecting twins. Granted, at this point we will take anything that is given to us but there is a certain extra-cool factor about seeing more than one little squirt in there moving around and creating havoc already.

Mom recommended 'A Child Is Born' when we were pregnant with Sammie. I bought it right away, but quite honestly didn't read through a whole lot of it at the time. I got to the picture where the baby's head is sticking out of the mother's hoo-ha towards the end of the last chapter and just shut the book up right there and let it collect dust since. Now, I find myself checking it out a lot to see how far the babies are along.

Anyway, that's my blog for the evening. I may be coaxed into blogging more if there is enough interest. Personally, I find my blogging to be enlightening and delightful and I hope you feel the same.

So Thankful...

We are thankful for so many things this holiday season. Amazing friends, family, supportive parents, great sisters, two ADORABLE little nephews, aunts, uncles, cousins.

I am thankful for several girls who I have met through our trying to conceive journey, the unbelievable love and support that we have received takes my breathe away.

I am thankful for my husband, I am the luckiest girl in the world.

I am thankful for my angel in Heaven, Sammie. I miss our baby every day, it is hard to imagine that she died so that we could get the twins. I can not fathom God's plan, but I trust in it and in Him.

I am thankful for our two little babes, growing and kicking inside every day. They are getting so big and developing at such an amazing rate! We still listen to their heartbeats all the time, they are in their own little place in my tummy, I can usually find them both right away. :)

We are spending our Thanksgiving in Hillman at my parents, we are so excited! A day with family and to play with Ethan & Owen! Can't wait.

Love to All. We are thankful for each person who reads our little blog, prays for us and supports us in all we do.

Happy Thanksgiving, Sara

My Belly!

Here it is! The first "belly pic!" It just kind of popped out today! I got up, went to the bathroom and was kind of like, Wow!! I have a belly!

It also looks like I have a lamp coming out of my belly, you'll have to forgive me, I am new to this whole thing!

I sold a dresser on Craigslist this morning that was in the nursery, I am trying to make as much room in there as possible before we paint! We picked a color today... I will keep it a surprise until it's done.

Today is Week 12. Praise God!

Love, Sara & Dustin and the Twins.

Whew! 12 weeks tomorrow!

I can not even begin to explain the relief that I am feeling being lifted off our shoulders as tomorrow I will be at the 12 week mark! After having a miscarriage, the only pregnancy outcome we know is a negative one. We have never been pregnant with a baby at the end. We don't know what that is like... In January, we weren't able to see a heartbeat, or bring a baby home from the hospital. The only experience we had was a really insensitive doctor, dropping hormone levels and empty arms after a D & C. This time is different, this pregnancy is different and each & every day is such a blessing, such a miracle & an amazing answer to so many prayers and so many tears.

Yesterday morning, after work, I got out the doppler and was able to hear two separate, distinctive little heartbeats. They are right next to each other (how sweet, our babies like each other!!) I wish Dustin would've been home to hear them, but I did record it on my phone and text it to him. Technology is so cool!

I was scheduled for a First Trimester Screening next Wednesday, Nov. 26th at the Maternal Fetal Medicine Center at the University of Minnesota that I canceled. We discussed it and we would NOT abort, no matter if there was a "problem" or not. The "problem" that they look for is Down's Syndrome. We talked to Dr. Roberts about it also, and she didn't deem it necessary.

I did talk to the receptionist about scheduling my 18 week ultrasound at the University where we will find out the sexes! I see from the poll most are voting boy/girl (myself included). We won't bank too much on the results and the nursery will be gender neutral. That ultrasound will be right after New Year's.

The latest thing around here is blaming things on the twins. For instance, Dustin turned the thermostat down to SIXTY this morning (I like it more like SEVENTY or more... I did grow up with wood stove heat!) And when I asked him who turned the heat down because the babies were freezing, he blamed the left twin. Well, then, the right twin turned that sucker right back up!

Thanks again for following us. Watch for belly pictures coming soon!

Love to All, The Grieser's

How We Feel at 11w, 2d

Hello Friends & Family,

I hear a lot of people are following us on our blog, which is completely awesome!! I would like to post often, because as much as it is important for us to keep you updated, it is a little journal for us. I have a pregnancy journal, but I don't always get the time to write in it!

I have been feeling really good. I am tired a lot, but blessed that Dustin just lets me fall asleep and then wakes me up to go to sleep on the bed. I have been off my narcolepsy medicine too, which I suppose adds to the sleepiness, but it is worth it.

I have a serious food aversion to bar-b-que sauce. I loved it when I was first pregnant and now, yuck. I can't even think about how disgusting it sounds. I have had cravings, but nothing crazy. These babies are a serious fan of ketchup though.

I am still vomiting, but that's ok. Yesterday, I think I puked three times, but none today (yet). It usually hits me right before bed.

I just got home from school, I am taking a Drug, Alcohol and Tobacco class at Anoka Ramsey and then I also have a Chemistry class online. I don't like Chemistry.

Thank you all for your thoughts, well wishes, voting on the sex (I personally think boy/girl, but we will see)! We so appreciate every positive thought & prayer. We need each and every one of them. We are so thankful for all of you and appreciate all your love.

Lots of Hugs,
Mama & Daddy Grieser, Left Twin & Right Twin too!

Heartbeats

Here is a recording of the heartbeats. One of them is very prominent, but if you listen closely you can hear the second one in the background. They are both beating along wonderfully, but Sara concentrated the belly doppler on this one for now. We'll try to get another recording up later on when I have a better recording tool. The smartphone just doesn't cut it for this kinda stuff. :)

Click here to listen to the heartbeat. (.wav format 256 kb - right click, save as)

Thanks for reading.

Dustin

Update on Appointment

Hi! Sara here. :)

I had another appt. today at 3 p.m. The doctor tried to listen to the heartbeats with a fetal doppler and couldn't hear them, so decided to do an in room ultrasound.

As soon as she started, two beautiful babies appeared on the screen. They are both nice size and had strong heartbeats. The left twin was moving around in crazy circles, jumping all around and then the right twin was asleep. :) It was so precious.

Our doppler came today. I was able to hear one heartbeat. We will try again when Dustin is home. :) As you can see, lots of smiles.

Keep in mind that the ultrasound pictures aren't the greatest. I think we used the oldest machine in the clinic. She had to update the year for Y2K!!

Love to All.

The Mama!

I thought that I would post a little something tonight. I am not sure if I know what I am doing. I have never "blogged" before. I am really excited about it though. I am actually thrilled about all our blessings that have been in our life lately.

Today was my last day at work, I am going to still work at the same place, I am just going down to 30 hours a week, at night. My OB (Dr. Sujatha Roberts, in Princeton), said that I will need to start lifting restrictions at 20 weeks and switching to nights will help with that & daycare once the babies are born.

I am still so nervous about losing one or both. I am continually praying and thinking positive thoughts. It is hard, the only experience I have with pregnancy ended in lost. I know that this is different and today, I am 10 weeks, 4 days, and we lost Sammie at 7 weeks, 4 days.

My appt. with Dr. Roberts is tomorrow at 3 p.m. I will update after!

I would also like to thank my amazing husband, Dustin, for creating this blog and also for ordering me a doppler. I am the luckiest woman in the world!

Love to All, Sara

Quick Update

Sara has an appointment this Thursday at 3pm with Dr. Roberts here in Princeton for a basic check-up. Everything is going very smoothly - honestly not a single bump in the road to report other than some pretty visceral morning sickness, albeit at nighttime.

We got one of those bellybeats(.com) dopplers coming so we can listen to the babies heartbeats. It looks like a pretty neat deal, but I honestly don't have a clue how to work the thing so hopefully Sara puts some of her nursing schooling to work and figures that sucker out before I throw it against a wall.

Thanks for reading.

Dustin

First Entry

We are starting this blog to help keep people informed about the progress of our twins.

We found out about four weeks ago that we are expecting twins. We are excited, nervous, and elated at the same time. It's been somewhat of a struggle for us in this regard so this has truly been a blessing.

We will post pictures and updates here for anyone who is interested. It will help keep you in the loop as well as provide an online journal for us as well.

Thanks for reading, and be sure to check back soon for more updates!

Dustin and Sara