Kids! What a hoot!

Last week I was sustained as the Ward Music Chairperson at church. This Sunday I went to the bishop's office with my family after church to be set apart. (In our church, we have callings where we serve, unpaid, in different capacities. When a person receives a new calling, she is "set apart," or given a blessing or special prayer, to help her do the new job. It's like getting advice from Heavenly Father, through a priesthood leader who voices the blessing.)

Tobin and the kids and I went in the bishop's office with the three bishopric members. I told the kids this was going to be a special prayer and they needed to sit very quietly with their arms folded and listen. We emphasized the need for reverence, too. About half way through the blessing, Maryam let out a really loud fart. She followed that by giggling and snickering through the rest of the blessing. I couldn't decide whether to be embarrassed or burst out laughing. Luckily all of the adults in the room managed to maintain decorum until the blessing was finished. I shook the bishop's hand and apologized for my daughter and we all started laughing. What a story I have to share with her future husband someday! Needless to say, our Family Home Evening lesson last night was about appropriately dealing with bodily functions in public.

Little Life Lessons

Being pregnant has produced all sorts of opportunities to teach Peyton and Maryam about life--especially about reproduction. They have quite a few questions about babies and pregnancy. I'm doing my best to be honest and age appropriate with answers for them. Yesterday, they asked to see some pictures of themselves when they were babies. Tragically, I still haven't made their baby book. (This brings me to a dilemma. Do I make one book or two???? Advise, anyone?)

But I digress. Thank goodness for digital pictures! I took the kids to the computer and opened the pictures there. They were enthralled with the slide shows of themselves as babies. Many of the pictures also feature Tobin and me. As you probably recall, Tobin has lost quite a bit of weight in the last year and a half, so he looks very different in those pictures from four years ago. Maryam saw the first picture of Tobin way back when and said, "That's Daddy when he was crunchy. Now he is smooth."

This is serious progress. The last time she saw pictures of her chubby daddy, she said, "That's when Daddy was a little bit ugly." I'm not sure why she was associating being overweight with being ugly. That's not something she heard here! She made comments to me about strangers along those lines too, so we had some serious conversations about everyone being unique and special. And just because someone is overweight doesn't mean they are ugly. I'm glad she has now found some different adjectives to use. Crunchy and smooth are just too funny!

Crunchy Daddy

Smooth Daddy

Baby Update

Here are a few ultrasound pictures from last week.

Baby B back of head and spine (facing down)

Baby B Profile (facing up)

Baby A Profile (facing up)

Baby A with hand next to face

I had my first appointment with my OB/GYN, Dr. Grullon, today. I love him! I've only seen him a few times in the last 8 1/2 years, so I don't know him very well; but he was so supportive and happy for me today. I'm so glad he is my doctor!

From here on out the medical monitoring gets more intense. I will see Dr. Grullon every two weeks, and I will have a "big" ultrasound every 4-6 weeks. Suddenly I feel like my schedule is getting full.

Dr. Grullon did an ultrasound "up top" (what's the technical term?) and a vaginal ultrasound to check my cervix today. I had a "big" ultrasound last week, and he discussed the results with me today. At Kaiser the "big" ultrasounds--where they measure the babies' bones, brain, organs, etc.--are done in the radiology department. Dr. G said that one of the placentas is just touching my cervix. I think this is called placenta previa. I saw the radiology tech type it on one of the pictures last week, but she didn't mention it to me. I'm pretty sure that's because she is not actually allowed to discuss the results with patients. That job is left to the doctor. Anyway, Dr. G said today that when the placenta is close to/touching the cervix this early in the pregnancy, it will usually resolve and move away. If it doesn't move away from my cervix, then we will have a c-section delivery. He said if I tried to do a vaginal delivery with the placenta there I would just bleed. I'm kind of freaked out about this, but Dr. G was so calm and didn't seem to be overly concerned. So I'm going to rely on his expertise and tell myself not to worry until there is really something to worry about. In the mean time I'll definitely be praying for that placenta to move over! Dr. G said he will be doing an ultrasound on my belly and a vaginal ultrasound to check my cervix at every appointment until the placenta is no longer touching my cervix. Besides this minor concern, everything else looks good.

Dr. Grullon was so upbeat and positive. And he seems genuinely excited that we are having a second set of twins. He mentioned how unusual it is for someone to have more than one set of twins and how wonderful it is for us. I really appreciate his positive attitude. I can get so anxious and nervous when I go to the doctor, but he made me feel so comfortable and more calm. He even asked me to bring him pictures of Peyton and Maryam that he can put up in his office.

Every time I see the babies on an ultrasound I get more excited to meet them. This pregnancy is finally starting to feel real. I am beginning to show a little, but I won't post a picture yet. Mostly, I just look like I need to start working out more. Maybe next month I will look pregnant enough to put up a picture. I have felt the babies move a little bit too. I realized during the "big" ultrasound last week that I feel them moving more than I thought. It was easier to identify when I saw them moving on the screen and felt the little tickling movements inside me at the same time. I've also felt a few definite thumps. On Tuesday I rested some library books against my stomach and got a kick right behind my belly button!

I'm officially 16 weeks pregnant, as of yesterday. Woo hoo! Moving right along!