Twin Baby Dolls

Steph got Hannah and Olivia twin baby dolls to share. The girls love them and have somehow decided between themselves which doll belongs to each of them. Hannah's doll is the girl in the pink outfit and Olivia loves the doll in the green outfit. Olivia won't play with the doll in the pink outfit and if you try to give it to her she shakes her head "no" and runs to get the doll in the green outfit...weird. Olivia loves wrapping her baby up in a blanket and kissing her, it's so cute! They both love to put their babies in our doll strollers and run around the house like wild children.
Here's Olivia kissing her baby!

And now her baby is all snuggled up!
Thank you Steph!!! The girls are thrilled!

On a side note...Hannah realized something very important at dinner last night. She was eating quietly, obviously thinking about something and said "Mom, When the babies come we won't have enough chairs. How will we all eat together?" She's right we are short 2 chairs so that's something we'll have to fix soon. It makes me happy to hear her talking about the twins so much, I'm proud that she understands this very complicated way to make a family and accepts it so willingly.

OB Appointment

Steph had her OB appointment today and everything looks great with our twin baby girls! Baby A's (aka-Tinkerbell) heart rate was 140bpm, apparently she was being stubborn so it took a while to find her heartbeat. Baby B's (aka-Rex) heart rate was 150bpm.

Steph's looking good with no weight gain this week and measuring 25 weeks (we are 21.6 weeks)! Thanks Steph for growing our babies so well!!!!

The Great Debate: Clothes for Twins

I've been thinking a lot about how I will dress my twins, especially more now that I know they are both girls. I have so many choices...identical outfits, coordinating outfits, the same outfit in two different colors, or two totally different outfits. I don't have an exact plan because I think all options are acceptable with pros and cons.

Why dress them the same: For one thing, I think it will be easier to dress the twins alike. I'm going to be exhausted and probably won't have the patience to choose two outfits, much less two outfits in the right size that are temperature, activity and style appropriate for the days events! Don't forget I have to dress two other small children as well! When I see twins dressed the same I think it's cute and fun. And it sure does make for nice pictures! That being said I was just at the mall looking at outfits for my twins and I had a difficult time purchasing the exact same outfit. I kept asking myself Why am I spending money on two of the same outfits when I can buy two different cute outfits. I don't know why I was having such a hard time, it's not like we are having any other children so it really doesn't matter what I buy because no one else is going to wear it.

Why not to do it: I haven't found any specific research that indicates that dressing twins the same could cause any lasting negative affects on them. However many psychologists do recommend against it for parents that wish to emphasize individuality. Of course I want to emphasize individuality.

I guess I feel like there is no right or wrong way to dress my twins. I think I'd prefer coordinating outfits but I'm not opposed to identical outfits at all. I'm positive the occasional identical outfits won't harm them. I'm sure after the age of three they'll be able to express their own opinions on the matter.

I'm very fortunate to have a great friend who has twin daughters. She mostly dresses them the same and they always look adorable! I recently went to their baby boutique (their basement) and found some great clothes at a marvelous price. Here are a few of my favorites!

I'll put a poll up to get all your opinions on this very important debate! Please take a few seconds to vote!

Reflections - Transferring Hannah

It was hard to sleep the night before our transfer but somehow I managed to fall asleep just after midnight. When I awoke the morning of our transfer I was filled with excitement, disbelief, and anxiety. I knew it would be an incredible day!!! The alarm went off at 4:45 a.m. Darin and I rushed to get ready and headed out the door. We drove an hour to pick up our friend and surrogate, Lisa and then had to drive another hour to get to our clinic in San Francisco. Darin, Lisa and I nervously talked in the car. We mainly had “what if” conversations…positive and negative. We arrived at the clinic around 7:30a.m. and were immediately taken back to the pre-op waiting area. Darin stayed in the waiting area while Lisa and I headed back to the operating room. I waited just outside the door while Lisa undressed from the waist down and covered up with a blanket. The embryologist stopped by our room and gave us our embryo report. They all looked beautiful so we decided to transfer 3 grade A, 3 day fresh embryos. The embryologist also let us know that we’d be freezing 8 for sure and keeping an eye on 2 (the two never made it to freezing). It was nice to know that we had 8 beautiful embryos left…just in case. I was given a picture of our embryos (one is now Hannah) that we were transferring. It was a magical moment! But it’s even more magical for me today. I sometimes sit and stare at that picture of those little embryos and wonder which one is Hannah.
Our three little embryos on July 3, 2004.

Dr. Ryan came in the room and got set up for our transfer. The nurse set up the ultrasound machine so we could see inside Lisa’s uterus. The embryologist brought in the catheter containing the three embryos and Dr. Ryan placed it into Lisa’s uterus. Lisa and I stared in amazement as my little embryos entered her uterus. We could actually see all three little embryos on the ultrasound screen as they were inserted. It was an overwhelming moment for me. I remember feeling so hopeful! I was willing and begging one or all of those embryos to grow! After our transfer Lisa had to sit for 15 minutes and relax. We all went out to lunch and back home! Now we would have to wait 11 days to find out if Lisa was pregnant.
The day before our beta (blood pregnancy test) I called Lisa. I was crying and so upset because I was feeling bad, I was scared that our transfer didn’t work. She just started laughing and said “Oh I’m pretty sure it worked, I feel nauseous and gross.” She offered to go get a pregnancy test and to call me with the results. She called about 30 minutes later with our good news! The rest is history! Lisa and I shared some really great moments, she’s a very laid back woman with an amazing heart. I will always be eternally grateful to her!

Hannah at 7 weeks! Hannah at 9 weeks! Me, Lisa and Darin. Lisa was 6 months pregnant with Hannah!
Happy Birthday Hannah! March 14, 2005 This is Hannah today! She's a beautiful 3 year old!

Positioning of the Babies

Some friends of mine were laughing and making fun of my drawing of the babies in the previous post, they thought Hannah drew it. So I decided to spend a little more time today drawing a new picture. Please remember that I'm not a professional artist so this is the best that I can do. Sorry Steph...I didn't mean to give you such a big butt or belly button!!!

Baby Girl A

Baby Girl A was being a bit stubborn yesterday! She was face up for the first few seconds of our ultrasound but quickly turned face down so we couldn't really see her and she never turned back up. She was being cute though! She had the hiccups, it was so fun to watch! At one time she was touching her head, it looked like she was twirling her hair just like big sister Hannah does. Baby Girl A's foot! You can also see Baby Girl B's head to the left of the photo!

Baby Girl A's arm!
Here she is sticking her butt out at us! She's a stinker!
This photo is hilarious! You can see Baby Girl B's head on the left side of the photo and Baby Girl A's legs and feet on the right side of the photo. Baby Girl A was kicking Baby Girl B's head constantly. At one point she (A) even punched her (B) in the face. It was amazing to see how close they are inside Steph's tummy.
Baby Girl A is measuring 2 days behind at 19 weeks 6 days! She weighs 11 ounces (317 grams), she is just slightly smaller than her sister right now! She had a heart rate of 137 beats per minute! She's doing awesome too!

Baby Girl A is head down! We are hoping she stays like that for delivery! Baby B is currently transverse, sideways in Steph's tummy. So they look like this....

Baby Girl B

Baby Girl B was being so adorable yesterday, here she is sucking her thumb! She was moving and turning a lot, showing off for her two older sisters! She was being a perfect model for pictures too! Baby Girl B's profile, she has such a cute nose!

Baby Girl B's legs and tummy!
Baby Girl B's foot! Footprint ultrasound photos are my favorite!
Baby Girl B's face! Her hand is touching the left side of her face!
Baby Girl B is measuring ahead at 20weeks 2 days! She weighs 11 ounces (323 grams)! Her Heart rate was 144 beats per minute! She's doing awesome!

Level 2 Ultrasound

Darin and I are happy and excited to share with you the results of our ultrasound today!!! First off the twins are both doing wonderfully! They are healthy and right on target with growth!

Only 12% of those who voted in our guess the genders poll guessed correctly, 88% of you were wrong! That's right we are going to be a house full of sugar and spice and everything nice...It's Twin Girls!!! Darin's master plan to create an all-Berg women's swimming relay team for the 2020 Summer Olympics is well under way! We are so excited!

The girls were very good today considering that they were in the car for over 13 hours! Hannah had some very cute things to say about the babies and today's ultrasound. Before the ultrasound today Darin and I asked her what she wanted to name our babies. At the time we were in the car and she was watching movies. She decided that she wanted to name the babies Tinkerbell (I don't think I need to explain this one) and Rex (the dog from the Little Mermaid). After the ultrasound today we were looking at our wonderful pictures and she said "It's pretty dark in Stephanie's tummy." The ultrasound pictures have black surrounding the babies. She keeps us laughing!

Here are a few photos from today! I'll post the ultrasound photos tomorrow with a bigger update on each baby girl!

Here's a photo of Steph and a small update on her too! She's measuring 23.5 weeks pregnant, we are currently 20 weeks. She's had some swelling lately so Dr. Richman suggested she decrease her intake of salt and increase her intake of protein. She looks beautiful as you all can see!
This is us after our ultrasound today!
The big girls and I at the Waterloo mall picking out some cute clothes for our two little girls!

Genders

We have our level 2 ultrasound tomorrow and will be finding out the genders of our twins...YAY!! We are so excited to see them both again and to finally be able to start seriously discussing...FIGHTING about names. We'll be back late tomorrow evening with lots of new pictures of Steph, us, our girls and our two little babies to share.
The "guess our babies' genders" poll is closed. The results are below!
Two Girls...7 votes
Two Boys...17 votes
One Girl/One Boy...30 votes
We've decided the winners should get a really good prize...How does changing a few diapers sound???!

Halfway!!!

We've hit our halfway mark in this pregnancy!!! We are 19 weeks today!! We'll have a scheduled induction at 38 weeks so we are officially halfway to our grand finale. The babies weigh about 8.5 ounces now and measure 6 inches each from head to bottom. Each baby is about the size of a large heirloom tomato now. They are starting to sprout hair. Some research suggests that our babies may be able to hear voices now. Due to this research Darin and I are debating making a CD with us reading and the girls singing. Steph would play our CD and let the babies listen to our voices through headphones on her tummy. We did not do this for Hannah or Olivia and we didn't have any bonding issues with them but we may give it a try this time just for kicks. I think it would be fun for Hannah and Olivia to do something special for their new baby siblings.