12 weeks and 1 day

We had our 1st ultrasound at the "regular" OB yesterday. It was definitely different not being known by name by every nurse. ha. The Dr. was very nice though and the tech took a lot of time with my ultrasound. She tried really hard to guess the sex, but it is just too early to tell. boo! They looked amazing!!!
Baby A's heart rate was 154
Baby B's heart rate was 168
They measured the exact same- 12 weeks and 1 day (which is what I am )
I added a short part of the video from the ultrasound- Baby B is moving around a lot in this one...they were so cute! I love them so much already~

He put in his thumb, and pulled out a....

...PLUM! The most dramatic development this week: reflexes. The twins fingers will soon begin to open and close, thier toes will curl, thier eye muscles will clench, and thier mouth will make sucking movements. In fact, if you prod your abdomen, the babies will squirm in response, although you won't be able to feel it. Their intestines, which have grown so fast that they protrude into the umbilical cord, will start to move into their abdominal cavity about now, and thier kidneys will begin excreting urine into thier bladder.Meanwhile, nerve cells are multiplying rapidly, and in the babies brain, synapses are forming furiously. Their face looks unquestionably human: their eyes have moved from the sides to the front of thier head, and thier ears are right where they should be. From crown to rump, the babies are just over 2 inches long and weighs half an ounce.

Here is a diagram of what the twins look like in the womb at 12 weeks...

Infertility Awareness Week

This week is National Infertility Awareness week. I want to stop and take a moment to acknowledge all of the women that are struggling with infertility and/or loss. I do not ever want to get so wrapped up in this pregnancy that I forget what it took to get us here. It wasn't one night of passion, let me tell you that. Literal blood, sweat and tears went into this process. It is a process that will always be a part of me. It will always be a part of my soul. I will always feel a kindred spirit between me and other ladies that are suffering. Honestly, I still feel infertile. I get in in comments like, "Did you have twins naturally?" "Do they run in your family?" to which I answer simply, "Yes, my grandfather was a twin." It is none of their business how I am having twins...the only thing that matters is that God has blessed us with twins...however they got here! A comment really made my pregnancy feel less important the other day.... "Well, a friend of mine has twins on the way, I am not sure if it was IVF or the real way." Do people think that every twin pregnancy is an IVF pregnancy, and are my babies not REAL??? They most certainly ARE real! They were put here by God. They are little gifts from God that to me.... one night of passion could never encompass the love, devotion and sacrifice that it took to get them here. I will always be a part of the "infertile club"...it is a club that I would have NEVER joined on my own free will, but it is a club that I am now SO very proud to be member of. We understand the pain, the guilt, the solitude, and my prayer is that every woman that involuntarily joins this club learns the deep sense of gratitude for having been given the gift to join. I would have never truly sensed the beauty and awe of God's grace and the Faith that it takes to walk behind Him. There are so many things that I would have taken for granted without infertility...and for that, I am grateful.

put the lime in the coconut... (or should we say TWO limes in the coconut)

Slightly more than two inches long now and weighing about a third of an ounce,the twins are growing by leaps and bounds. And so are their heads, which is equal in length to the rest of the body. On the crown of that large head (and over the rest of the body), hair follicles are forming. Fingernail and toenail beds begin to develop this week and by next week, the nails themselves will start to grow. Your baby's body is straightening and his or her torso is lengthening. Other poses the babies can assume now: stretches, somersaults, and forward rolls. And while you can't tell this baby's gender by its cover yet, testes are developing if it's a boy and ovaries if it's a girl.

10 weeks

End of week 10

With bones and cartilage starting to form and vital organs beginning to function, baby is making major progress. Body length will almost double in the next three weeks, and arm joints are now working. (Soon, legs will start working too.)

They are nearly an inch and a half long and the size of a prune, but not nearly as shriveled (even with all the time it spends in water). In fact, the babies are really taking a human shape now. Bones and cartilage are forming, and small indentations on the legs are developing into knees and ankles. The arms (complete with elbows) can flex already. Though the baby's arms are taking shape and getting stronger, each one is only about the size of this number 1. The tooth bud fairy is making her appearance this week, heralding the arrival of the twins first little choppers, which are forming under the gums. Other systems are go, too. Their stomach is producing digestive juices, the kidneys are producing larger quantities of urine, and, if they are boys, or if one of them are a boy, he's already producing testosterone.

Ultrasound pictures will be posted tomorrow!

One Week- Wow

One week made a big difference....no pun intended...
8 weeks:

9 weeks:

Graduation of the Twins

Things seem to be falling in place for C and I. It seems that God works all at once sometimes. We were talking about things last night and were thanking God over and over for everything...but then stopped to remember that even when everything seemed to be going wrong, we were still thankful then. We knew that God had an ultimate plan and it is so nice going through life knowing that we can rest in that fact. Such an extreme sense of peace...because truth be known, it probably will not be long before we have another season in the valley, and in that season we will know that we can trust and rest in HIM! We just sold our home and are planning a trip to KY in a couple of weeks to look for new homes. we feel so blessed that God is making all of this work like clockwork! All praise to Him!

Just for my memory, here is what The Laney Twins are up to this week:

Sunrise, sunset: The babies are having thier first graduation already! Yes, it's true: At 9 weeks pregnant, the twins have left the embryonic stage and are entering the fetal period now (good-bye embryo, hello fetus). They are now about one inch long, the size of a medium green olive (but no martinis, please). The head has straightened out and is more fully developed, the ears are much more prominent, and some new organs (the liver, spleen, and gallbladder) are forming. They are also making spontaneous movements of their arms and legs now that minuscule muscles are beginning to develop, though I won't feel the tiny dancers for at least another two months.

Thier dancin!

8 weeks...

We got to go see the "doodles" today. I really am upset with how the pictures came out. I have decided that I like Sonar room B better than Sonar room C...the pictures are not clear in room B...and today I was in room B. I tried to lighten up the pictures...but the babies looked so much more life-life on the screen than on these pictures. They are really starting to look like babies. Baby B measured 8 weeks and 1 day (and I am 8 weeks and 1 day) and Baby A measured 8 weeks and 3 days....so Baby A is a little bigger than B. It has been bigger from the beginning. BabyA was (according to the tech) "sleeping" and when you nudged on it's sac, he/she would start moving around. Baby B, however, which is the smaller of the 2, was wiggling all around. It was looking straight at us, so we had a better view of head, body, arms and legs. You could only see Baby A's arms and legs when it would move around, it was curled up with it's legs in front of it. The tech said A is going to be our "laid back" baby and B will be the active baby.. Ha... I realize you can tell nothing of the sort at this point, but it is fun to guess...ha.

A picture of them both is getting harder and harder to capture because they are getting so much bigger. You are really only able to see the top of A's head here and B's head and body.

It was SO incredible to see them moving around. What a blessing. I told Cal when we left that I am just still in shock. I really don't think that I would have truly appreciated this 2 years ago as much as I do now. There were times when I wondered if we would raise a child that was our biological child. I would have been perfectly OK with that if that is what God wanted. I am just still in awe that we are really going to be able to raise 2 children that are part of Cal and I. What an incredible blessing.