Just a Day in the Life of a Mom with Twins

Merry Christmas!! I hope everyone had a great time celebrating our Lord’s birth. We sure did. My brother, Marcus, was able to be home for the holidays. There was a chance he was going to have to miss and be home in January instead but the Lord worked it out and he was able to take his leave right over Christmas break. I loved having the entire family under one roof again. I thought it would be fun to do some pregnancy favorites of mine thus far into pregnancy along with a baby update. I am 25 weeks and 5 days today, 46.5 inches around the belly, and I’ve gained my 14th pound. Doctor says I’ll probably start packing on the pounds now that babies are pretty much fully developed, their job is just to gain weight and get nice a chunky. Babies are the size of Napa Cabbage, about 14 inches long, and weighs close to two pounds each .  At my last appointment they both were head down, which is great news for me, with their feet sticking up by my ribs. Everyone keeps saying how “small

Hi ya'll! I figured we'd keep this post fun and light hearted with questions and answers. If you don't know or haven't seen the video posted on Facebook, we're having Twin Girls!!!! We couldn't be more excited! What themes are you going for in the nursery? We don’t necessarily have a “theme” but the nursery is currently grey and mint and we’re going to stick with a lot of grey tones. I’ve never been one for a lot of pink, so even though we’re having two girls we won’t be decking the nursery out in a lot of pink anything. What’s your birth plan? Like with any multiples pregnancy the birth plan is always up in the air. My hope is that the girls come in late march on their own without having to be induced and that I will be able to have them naturally. Carrying twins though, I do run the risk of preterm labor, placenta problems, fluid problems etc. and so an emergency cesarean section is always a possibility and shouldn’t been forgotten about. The co

To put it simply – It sucks and I hate it. It’s been almost exactly a month from my last foot update and I was correct. I ended up in a wheelchair before the end of this pregnancy. My feet have been hurting me since August and no doctor has been able to tell me why. Oh sure they have had plenty of guesses along the way such as cysts, fracture, and pulled/torn ligaments but none of it was actually diagnosed. So let me catch you all up on where we’re at and what I think is going on. This last week was NUTS with appointments, I literally had one every day starting with the Podiatrist to receive my orthotics. When he saw me he was shocked that I was in a wheelchair. We talked about how I no longer can put weight on my feet because it sends me to my knees with shooting pain. I had an x-ray done on them (approved by my OB, I’m far enough along now for it not to cause any problems for the babies) and I showed the results to the Podiatrist. He was baffled by the results, mostly because

Today is one of my favorite holidays and my hubby’s birthday!! I am so excited for both these events; however, it is also the day we find out if the twins have a neural tube defect going on and I’m quite nervous with what the results are going to be. Our test levels came back abnormally high, 4.55 – anything above 2.5 is high… Our appointment is at 10:00am. Update: 2:00pm Where to actually start… Praise the Lord there is NOTHING wrong with either baby! We arrived today at the office and they took us back right away. I got undressed and waited for the doctor. Eric was with me. We both took the day off in order to get this done. The doctor came in and right away asked how I was feeling, wanted to know if I had had any bleeding or anything abnormal. We talked for a little bit about my history and then he said do you know why you’re here today? I said yes, for a few things. We want to make sure everything with the twins is ok since I had the bleed two weeks ago, if they are non-

Here we go again... This Friday was one of the craziest days I’ve ever had. I finished work at Noon, picked up and burger from Wendy’s and made my way over to the DMV. These feet have been acting up so much I was able to get a handicap parking placard and while I was there I was able to get my stickers for my plates. Good, one thing checked off the list. I then was on my way to the Blood Lab to take the Glucose test. Luckily at this place you don’t need an appointment, you just go in and sign the sheet. They call you in order of arrival. I didn’t have to wait long as no one else was even there.  I drank that lovely sugar drink (fruit punch flavor) and waited for my hour to be up. While I’m waiting my OB called – the one I’m not too fond of. The conversation went something like this… OB: Hi, I wanted to discuss the test results for your Alpha-Fetoprotein. Me: Okay. OB: They came back elevated. This is a sign that there could potentially be something wrong with one o

Today I saw Dr. Carney from the OB office. I’m not really sure how I feel about her. First off….She didn’t schedule me for an ultrasound today. She just used the fetal dopplar to hear both babies’ heart beats. That’s fine and all, but I just had a scare about two weeks ago I want to see these babies! I wanted to make sure everything is still ok! No go. Then she’s pushing for me to get the Flu shot and to each their own when it comes to this subject, I however am not taking the chance. I get sick every time I get the shot, and I don’t care what the health professionals say, I know my body. I’m going to get sick if I get the shot. AND there’s also NO study done that says this shot is absolutely 100% safe for pregnancy. Um….no thank you. I’ve had enough ladies tell me in my support groups that suspiciously a week after they received the flu shot they miscarried. These are women in all stages of pregnancy, 1 st , 2 nd and 3 rd trimesters. No. I’m not getting the Flu Shot. So I decl

This has been the scariest weekend of my life. This past Saturday I was coordinating a wedding, it was beautiful and aside from the rainy, windy and cold weather it went great, but I was on my feet for 14+ hours. I took breaks when I needed and at the time only one of my feet were acting up and so standing was a little easier back then. At the end of the night, when everything was cleaned up and we were on our way back home I was in so much pain (feet/legs) and so tired that I asked Eric to drive. If you know anything about me you would know that almost never happens. I prefer to drive but I just physically could not do it that night. When we got home I left everything in the car and went straight to bed, it was just past 1:00am. That night I couldn’t sleep. I felt like I was having a panic attack. My heart was racing, I was wearing my fitbit at the time and it said 130 heart-rate. I was cold and clammy. My back felt like it was on fire. My nose was running and I couldn’t stop sn

Gender Prediction Time! What will the Piontkowski Babies be? Two Boys? Two Girls? One of each??? Help me figure it out by using some old wives tales. Old Wives Tale #1: Heart Rate If the baby’s heart rate is above 140 bpm, it is said that the baby will be a girl. If it is under 140 bpm, then it will be a boy. Prediction Outcome: Both Girls Old Wives Tale #2: Shape of Belly If you are carrying high with a big, round belly, you are having a girl. If you are carrying low with a smaller belly that sticks straight out, it’s a boy. (It seems like every week my belly shape changes) Prediction Outcome: Boy and Girl Old Wives Tale #3: Acne If you have acne while pregnant, it’s a girl. It’s thought that acne during pregnancy is caused by extra hormones. (My skin is crazy. One week it will be clear, the next I’ll be breaking out) Prediction Outcome: Boy and Girl Old Wives Tale #4: Cravings People believe that if you are craving salting foods while pregnant, you can coun

Today was our first High Risk OB appointment. We're going to Dupage Medical Group in Naperville. The Doctors are Julie Jensen, Kathryn Kemnetz, Kellen Patten and Michele Carney. I saw Dr. Patten today and she was great. Lots of energy, and full of information for us.  Our Ultrasound was at 10:00 am and we were able to see both babies moving around in there. Baby A is still a jumper as he was moving all over the place. It was difficult to get a heartbeat because he kept moving away from the dopplar. He then flipped all the way around and was facing the other way when we tried to measure him. He's quit energetic and will be interesting to see his personality after he's born! He measured at 12w0d and his heart rate was over 150. Baby B was pretty chill again, moved a little here and there but nothing like his twin. He measured at 12w3d and his heart rate was also in the 150's. I am 12w2d today so babies are measuring well. They said they'll take + or - 7 days unti

We had our 10 week ultrasound today. I always get super nervous right before one of these appointments because I always think something might be wrong or we’ll find out some devastating news. Luckily none of that had ever happened but as a mother I am always going to worry about them even before they are born. The babies both looked great. Baby A was moving around like crazy. At first he was kicking his little feet, then was wiggling all around. Then as he settled down he got the hiccups. He was all over the place! Baby B was completely chill the whole time. I honestly worried a little bit because he wasn’t moving but as we measured him, his little heart was beating and be began to move around – I think telling us to go away and let him sleep. Baby A measured in at 33.9mm 10w2d (right on target) heart rate was in the 170’s. Baby B who has been measuring a tad bit larger than A was 34.5mm but 10w2d (same as A and right on target). So even though the ultrasound picture looks lik