Squirming Lemons

Second trimester!  I hit 14weeks yesterday making me officially in my second trimester.  I told Jay yesterday that it makes me like officially pregnant with real babies.  We are past the first trimester where people still hold their breath and hope nothing happens and safe and growing.  I almost can't wrap my mind around being that pregnant.  I am officially in maternity clothes, well pants at least.  I can still wear my stretchy yoga pants to work but if I want denim, preggo pants it is.  Jay and I can tell how my belly is changing shape and sticking out a bit more, but to the casual observer I probably just look like I've had a big meal.  And at 14 weeks, the babies are the size of lemons.  I get such a kick out of comparing their sizes to food.  So this week, we are lemons and learning facial expressions and we can pee.  Say what you will about me being happy for my peeing lemons, but these are big deals for us.  

We had an ultrasound yesterday because we have a wonderful doctor who wanted to see for certain (read: reassure freaked out first time parents) both little heartbeats.  He tried to get them with the office Doppler (actually Dopplers, plural, he was trying to hear them both at the same time) but, as we learned, that is very hard with them being so little and moving so much.  And moving they are!  At the ultrasound, that is the thing I was most struck by.  The last time we saw them at nine weeks they moved a bit and you could see little flippers/future arms and legs move.  But this time, they were like little people.  Arms and legs stretching and moving and flailing about, turning around and flipping over.  At one point Baby B literally spun in place; we could see the little top of baby's head spin around.  Baby B was good for the US tech.  She (the tech) was able to get head measurements, belly measurements, and femur measurements without too much trouble, only quite a bit of squirming and ninja moves.  Baby A, on the other hand, is definitely my child.  This baby was comfortable and not willing to move.  Oh, contrary baby showed off with legs moving and kicking and arms stretching out in front so the tech got belly measurements and femur measurements, but that head shot was not in the cards.  The tech leaned the table back so the blood rushed to my head, flipped me onto my left side, then my right and still Baby A would not move so she could get that head measurement.  Well, I take that back.  Baby A did move but this child went from pressing a head up against the membrane between the babies to flipping over and pressing a head to the side of my uterus.  See why I say this is definitely a child of mine and Jay's?  The tech even got the radiologist who told her that skipping that measurement would be better than making do with a side (or trans) measurement that would skew the growth measurement results.  So she took lots of pictures of Baby A's face to show that it was our stubborn child's fault that she couldn't get her measurements.  

But she got us some neat pictures of our alien babies.  I know that may offend some, but be honest people.  At this age, a face picture of a baby looks like an alien.  Cute, miraculous, amazing aliens, I'll grant you, but aliens none the less.  And one of the pics of Baby B shows the child in mid fist pump, probably because the US was about over.  Having that thing pressed on my belly for so long was uncomfortable for me, so I can only imagine my affronted children were tired of having their warm, watery home poked and prodded.  

Father's Day is this weekend and I am so proud that my husband gets to join in this year.  Pride seems and odd emotion to have about it but I am proud.  Proud of him, this wonderful man I married and am creating life with.  Proud that I get to carry his children, that I get to be, for a little while, the home for his reasons for Father's Day.  It's weird, to point out to Jay that it's his day, too,  after so long of just thinking of my dad and his, but probably no more weird that it was for him to point out that this past Mother's Day was a bit for me, too.  So (because he reads this) Happy Father's Day, Jay.  I would never have the courage to make it through this adventure without you.