The Nursery Is Done!

I have to say, I am more than lucky to have a built in (and very handsome) handy man.  As most of you know we bought a "project" two years ago.  Have you ever seen the movie "The Money Pit"?  Well,that is pretty much  our house.  When Steve told me he wanted to redo the nursery I should have known better that it wouldn't be just some new paint for a fresh look.  Steve gutted the walls, put in all new insulation, new dry wall, new windows, new carpet, new closet door and shelving, and new trim--oh and some new paint too.  He is truly amazing, I am always astonished at his hard work and beautiful product in the end.  I wish we took more pictures as we worked--but here are some stages.  I will continue to update this page as our furniture comes in and as we begin to decorate.

Walls are down, new insulation is in, first window is in

2nd window is a success

Did i mention he had to move the shutters and rebuild some of the siding, what a man!

new dry wall is in

new paint!

trim is built, painted and up, closet doors in, and new carpet was installed

shelves are in the closet

hard work!

cribs are built


Stay tuned for more nursery updates...

25 weeks: My Most Special Birthday

It's always amazing how anxious I get a few days before an ultra sound.  The past two days I have been giddy with excitement to see my little guys.  I woke up this morning knowing there was not a better gift that I could receive today than getting to see the little loves (incase you did not know, today is my birthday!). Before our appointment Steve surprised me with a sweet card and a willow tree doll.  I was impressed by the sentiment, and the gift means a lot to me.

So, before we knew it I was bare belly on the table, getting warm jell rubbed all over me, and the little miracles began to appear on the screen.  First we saw "baby a", also known as "thing 1", our Sophia Alyse.  She was doing her typical play.  I swear, that girl is always moving!  She was kicking, squirming, flipping, and swimming.  I now officially have a new nickname for her: Tigger.  She is a bouncy whipper snapper, always kicking her brother; I am curious to see if this continues after birth.  She is already head down, ready to enter the world.  As we were laughing at her hyperactivity (no idea where she gets that from, HA), we saw the most amazing thing ever.  Her little hand went right for her mouth and we saw her begin to suck her thumb.  We not only saw her little thumb in her mouth, but at this point we actually saw her jaw move up and down in a little sucking motion.  It completely took my breath away.

Sophia Alyse

Shane Thomas

We then moved over to baby b, also known in the past as "thing 2", who I will now refer to as Eeyore; our Shane Thomas.  He was totally chillin'.  He is definitely a little smushed, and very relaxed.  He is transverse hanging out across my rib cage.  Although he is our more relaxed one and "little guy", he is super cute and taking it like a trooper as his sister was constantly kicking him in the head.

Sophia

Shane (you can see her feet above him kicking him in the head)

Sophia sucking her thumb

After we got to see them in action, and all measurements were taken we were able to get an estimated weight. At the last appointment (I was 21 weeks) they were 10 ounces.   Today Sophia was 1 pound 10 ounces, and Shane was 1 pound 9 ounces.  It is amazing to think it took 21 weeks to grow to be 10 ounces, and in a matter of 4 weeks they gained an entire pound!  This is truly miraculous to me.  It was the best birthday present a mom could ask for.

So here I am 25 weeks and truckin :)  I am definitely getting tired more easily, and find myself unable to stand for long periods of time. I am trying hard to come home and relax after work.  I know staying physically and mentally relaxed will help me keep these babies in place for as long as possible.  Well my friends, thanks for following--this big momma is signing off for now.


Warning: picture below might cause you to yell obscenities such as "Holy Shit", as my lovely hubby said when he previewed the blog.  He says it's not flattering...I say the bigger I look the better the picture.  I have never been so proud to be so big :)  Don't worry most of the time he tells me how beautiful I am...

love the twin mommy belly--what looks 9 months big is only  in it's 5th month...hahah!
I can't wait to see how big I get.  The doctor said these next 4 weeks will be the biggest growth period--oh boy!

A Look Back at the Past 23 Weeks...

So, I must confess that I have been wanting to blog my entire pregnancy experience, but I have not found the time. I have been very busy finishing up my graduate degree-- After what seemed like 4 months of hell (which it was between feeling exhausted, constant puking, working all day, and going to school full time) I  finally have found the time to do some fun things for myself, like blog.... Anyway, here is a quick review of the first half of my pregnancy....


The First Ultra Sound


So, I already had my pregnancy confirmed by a blood test. When I received my phone call with the confirmation and a comment about "strong HGC" levels, I instantly went to my handy dandy "What to Expect" book to see if I was right on track. I wish I had written down all of my numbers, I honestly forget them, but I remember being way outside of the "normal" range. Exceeding the norms is something I am used to in my life. I just don't do anything normal. As I state in my "disclaimer" I tend to cross lines, I am definitely not an "in the box" kind of person. SO, here I went again with the Google. I kept reading high beta levels could mean multiples!

Secretly, I was not surprised. Since I was a little girl I would tell my mom I just knew I was going to have a set of twins; specifically a boy and a girl. She would always say to me "Melissa, it doesn't work that way. You can't just want twins, and get twins". It sounds a little weird, but it wasn't about what I wanted, somewhere deep inside it just felt like what was going to happen. I called my mom and told her about my high beta levels, and my prediction of what it might mean. She laughed at me in the same way she would when I was a kid. I continued to tell her about this feeling throughout the next two weeks as I began to see my levels increase at an extremely high, and not normal rate. I think I was scaring my mother, and she began saying "Melissa you really don't want twins, it comes with high risks and possible complications". Once again I was thinking, it wasn't about wanting--more about just knowing somewhere deep inside this was what my life was going to be.

SO...
The day finally came when it was time for our ultra sound. We had an ultra sound very early in our pregnancy. We were a merely 6.5 weeks along. I was laying on the table when the doctor began to "take a look inside". We could hardly believe our eyes when we saw the tiny black dot on the screen. The doctor explained to us that it was the sac, and when we came back in the next few weeks we would begin to see the embryo inside. The nurse began to read the doctor our beta levels. When she was telling him, I knew the subliminal message she was sending... "Check around for a second". The doctor told us he was going to take a look around to see how everything else looked. Within a matter of seconds he turned the screen, looked at us, and said "Tell me what you see". On the screen I saw two beautiful black circles. I yelled "Oh my god, we have two!!!" I could not stop laughing. Steve turned white, looked at the doctor and said what does that mean??? He softly said, "WELL GUYS IT'S TWINS!!" Again, my laughing attack started---the doctor looked at Steve and said, "Expect her to be twice as sick, then twice as hungry, and twice as large...." I can tell you now, his prediction was dead on....

Before we knew it, it was second nature to say things like "they" and "babies", I began to show by week 9, and boy was I ever sick. I spent many hours a day throwing up. I was looking forward to my cravings, but the only thing I had was a total loss of appetite. I slowly became a vegetarian, and not the healthy kind. I swear my first 4 months of pregnancy I lived on cheese, bread, soft pretzels, buttered noodles, and pizza. The thought alone of chicken sent me heaving to the toilet. In a sick way, no pun intended, I enjoyed this time. It was my reminder that my babies really did exist--and every time I puked I laughed and reminded myself (if Steve didn't remind me first) that I asked for this.

Sometimes I swear I prayed so hard to get pregnant that God laughed at me and said, "OK, Melissa--you really want a baby that bad...how about two..I'll show you!"

The twin thing became a real part of our word, and we were just thrilled to go from 2 to four.  One of my favorite moments that I will never forget was when I asked Steve how he was honestly feeling about having two babies at once.  He said to me "It's just us, it's the way we do things---GO BIG OR GO HOME".

And Then There Were Three...
week 9


I can imagine your thoughts right now...triplets. Well, not quite. To make a very long story short, we received a phone call from my little brother Brett three weeks after we shared our good news. Brett and Sara were also pregnant. Their due date Is the same as ours, April 27th! We are so excited to share this experience with them.


Pictures
here are just a few pictures of my belly and our babies!

Steve did his first half iron man, we were there cheering him on

7 weeks

One of my students told me she just knows it is a boy and a girl, and this is a picture of them :)  She was also the one who asked me if I was pregnant at only 9 weeks and barely showing...she said "I just know you have a baby in your belly".

My first "bump" picture at 11 weeks

The babies and I were in Aunt Jenna's wedding  (14.5 weeks)

 

Just about 16 weeks along

We Just Know it is Going to be 2 Boys!
Week 16


We were both convinced that we would be having 2 boys. Everyone I knew was convinced of this too. I heard all of the comments "It's all in your belly, it must be boys", "You are carrying low, it must be boys". I too, didn't think I had the girl look. Whenever someone says you look like you are having a girl what they really mean is "Your stomach has widened, your face is swollen, and I have noticed all of your zits". They say girls suck the beauty out of you.  Since even I thought I was looking pretty good, I swore I was wrong all of these years, and I would be having two boys. Now, if I could just see four weeks into my future I would have seen all of the "girl things" were on their way in...

At week 16 we went to get our ultra sound and to find out the big news. Now, some people think it is better to be surprised. I am totally fine with that; however, for me--I wanted to bond with my babies, and I knew knowing the gender would create a bigger bond as we would be able to think in more detail about our future with the babes.

The babies were being very good that day. Once again, baby A was beating up on baby B. We are curious to see if this stays true to their personalities when they are born. After we watched baby A kick baby B a few times we zoomed in on "A" (or as we liked to call it "Thing 1"). The technician said we should be proud of the cooperating baby because it's legs were spread wide open for us to look. We were not surprised,think about who their parents are. The technician zoomed in on the booty, and there it was!  Steve called out, "Ah, I can see it!!"  Just as his mind became filled of dreams with him and his little boy the technician said, "Yup, congrats baby A is a girl!!!"  I saw that same "Holy shit, I may pass out look" on Steve's face as I did when we first saw we were having twins.  He was confused on how "that" was a girl part. It was hilarious.

So, as we moved over to baby B I held my breath, hoping Steve would get his little boy that he was so determined to have.  Now, I know you are not supposed to wish for gender; but, what Mommy doesn't want a daughter and what Daddy doesn't want a son.  In the end we would have been thrilled no matter what--but imagining a boy and a girl just seemed so awesome!

Well... within seconds the girl said to Steve, "congrats Daddy, do you see the difference now? It's a boy!!"

Steve and I could not be happier to have a beautiful baby girl and baby boy.  Finding out the sexes of the babies made me feel closer to them.  I find myself thinking about them, picturing them playing together...I can't wait to meet them!

The reveal...

In a very typical "all about me" Melissa fashion, I had a gender reveal.  I ran around work giving out little candy boxes filled with the answer to the gender question.  It was a lot of fun!

More Pictures....

17 weeks

19 weeks, Thanksgiving

21 weeks, at Hibachi 

And So Our Story Ends....well for this post
Week 23


So, it is kind of ironic that here we are back in AZ--where our story began just 19 weeks ago. I am looking forward to the rest of my pregnancy journey, and I am hoping you will follow me on this crazy ride :)

23.5 weeks

Merry Christmas 2011 picture, the last of just us 2...

our amazing 14 year old niece (who will be a famous cook and baker someday) helped us to announce the  babies' names

in Sedona, AZ

2 Pink Lines!

Week 5: Our Story Begins....

Our story begins on a trip to Arizona. We were visiting our family on the west coast, and I knew it was that dreadful time of the month again. The time when not only is it painful because you get sharp, knife stabbing, intolerable cramps; but, just to drive it home of how much physical pain you are in--you get the "1 liner" pregnancy test. Whoever thought that 1 pink line could cause so many tears? I told Steve I wanted to take a test when we were here, because it would be so much fun to find out we were having a baby. He suggested that we hold off until I get home in case we were bound for disappointment.

We decided to go to the gym and burn off some of the massive amounts of wine we drank the day before. I had a great run, and was extremely sweaty (more than usual). While we were working out I kept smelling bleach; a pungent ammonia smell. As I went to get in the shower, I realized that smell was all over my clothes--coming from me!!! I picked up my soaking wet clothes, took a sniff, and it was as if I had dumped them into a bucket of bleach! I immediately thought something was wrong with me. Could I be sick, am I poisoned? What was a girl to do but jump on the computer and GOOGLE!

The Google search led me to a lot of websites for woman going through menopause. They said a quick spike in hormonal changes could create this smell in their sweat. Then a light bulb went off in my head. I got that indescribable feeling that I "knew" I was pregnant. Pregnancy causes rapid hormonal change. I knew that had to be the reason. Little did I know for the next 2 weeks just how high my hormones were rapidly changing. I ran this "theory"by my sister-in-law Kristy, who has a background in nursing; she was right on board!

Later that day I went to Walmart with my niece Chelsea. We bought a pregnancy test. She was so excited, I made sure to let her know not to get her hopes up. I also told her I wasn't going to tell Steve I was buying a test, and to keep it top secret for now. We picked up her boyfriend on the way home from the store. When he got in the car he "wreaked of laundry detergent". At that very moment, I knew for sure I must be pregnant; and I could not wait to get home and take that test!

I ran straight up to the bathroom to pee on that once dreaded stick. My entire Metzler family was in the kitchen making Mojitos. I sat down, closed my eyes, and did the "stick thing" for what felt like the 1,000,000th time. I felt too nervous to look, I thought that those 3 minutes of waiting time would go by soooo slowly. Much to my surprise, those 2 glorious, most beautiful, hot pink lines showed up on the test within a matter of seconds! I hear a lot of woman have to take more than one test because the second line might be faint. Well, my line was not at all, it was screaming hot pink saying "You did it, you really, really did it!!!".

I ran to the top of the steps and called out for Steve. He would not come. Kristy came over to see what all the screaming was all about. I just looked at her, with tears in my eyes, and nodded my head in a frantic yes. She immediately began to tear up, and called for Steve to come. It seemed like ages for Steve to mosey over and come up the steps. I ran towards the bathroom, and as he begrudgingly followed (not knowing the reason for my "craziness") I started to cry, jump, and dance---I sang out "We did it, we are pregnant".

Steve looked white with excitement and nervousness. He laughed a little and said, "Don't those things come with 2, try again". We laughed, and I refused; secretly afraid it would go away. We ran down the steps and shared our amazing news with his brothers, their wives, and our 7 awesome nieces and nephews. We called our families, they were all full of the same tears of joy that we all felt. We spent the next two weeks in a bubble of shock, celebration, and happiness. We bought the classic "What to Expect When Your Expecting", and talked about our new future ahead.

As we flew home I wrote a very long letter to our future baby. I told him or her this very story, and shared my dreams of our new life with him or her. There is no word that can define how we felt-- our family was about to get bigger, our love was about to get stronger--and still we had no idea the "surprise" we would soon find out in the next two weeks....