34 Weeks Pregnant TWIN Update

34 Weeks Pregnant Twin Update:

 

(maternity shoot, at 31 weeks)

Weeks Pregnant: 34 !!

Gender: Twin boys! Fraternal most likely (di di twins)

Weight gain: holy smokes, I have gained and gained with this pregnancy, I expected to be around 35-45 minimum at the end of this since I was lower on the chart to start but my other two pregnancies I gained 21 and 26 lb. I'm already at 33 lb gained! My body is doing exactly what it needs for these babies and I'm so grateful. Well see where we end up, I usually slow down at the end for some reason.  I haven't worked out this pregnancy like I did with my last 2 so I'm sure that makes a tiny difference too.

Feeling: feeling so great still, I mean I have the expected uncomfortable lower back ache at night and I get winded sometimes, but for carrying twins and having two amniotic sacs, two placentas and 2 babies that are close to 5 lbs each I think life could be a lot harder than it has been. I'm just so grateful I'm still feeling like myself and able to keep up with my normal life and my kiddos. Honestly God has blessed us with an easy healthy complication free twin pregnancy. For being high risk and all the problems that can arise with twin pregnancies we are just so grateful and maybe that makes things easier too! Can't believe we will be meeting these babies in 2-3 weeks!!! This has flown by!

Movement: still feeling them tons, my stomach feels so tight and I can literally feel their bodies poking out, clearly they are running out of room. Baby A doesn't move as much as baby B, and he's in a frank breech position bent in half so that could be why. Baby B is head down. Praying baby A decides to follow, although we are running out of room and time for him to flip, it becomes statistically less likely after 34 weeks for twins, but I'm holding onto hope so we can still try for vaginal delivery ( Please Lord).

Symptoms: lightning crotch here and there, little cramping every now and then especially when on my feet a long time, Braxton hicks non stop all day (normal  for my pregnancies), low back ache at night, little numbness under my right boob right where my rib cage is (have had that every pregnancy at the end), that's pretty much it! Feeling normal!

Labor signs: cramping and Braxton hicks. But haven't been checked for dilation or anything. My last cervix check was via vaginal ultrasound at 30 weeks and my cervix was still doing awesome measuring 4cm long and just how they wanted to see it. Dr actually joked I would make it to 39 weeks (which they don't even allow twins to go to).

 

(31 weeks pregnant bump shot) 

 

(31 weeks beach fun with my girly)

 

 

(sprinkled with love by all of my closest friends and family, ladies only night)

 

 

(Last family of 4 getaway to palm springs at 33.5 weeks pregnant)

 

 

(33 weeks bump shot)

They'll be here before we know it! I'll try to update in a week if i find the time! 

XO

Twin Boys Pregnancy Update

Twin update:
First of all, I'm typing this on my iPhone because we just moved and I don't have my computer set up.  Excuse the typos or if the photos appear out of place.

Weeks Pregnant: 27!

Gender: BOY twins!

Symptoms update: I feel pretty good other than being sick with a cold right now. I started to get really achey in my pelvic bone region and hips, I think this is due to the hormone relaxin that relaxes all of our ligaments while pregnant. It hurts mainly when I'm getting dressed, rolling over in bed, and when I first get up after sitting or laying down. I just started getting winded and exhausted again about a week ago, third trimester has finally hit, like straight out of the blue im suddenly pooped!   My cervix is long and doing great handling the twin pregnancy, my high risk dr said she thinks I'll make it to term and said my "body carries babies well and my cervix is better than long" whatever that means! My lower back hurts and moving hasn't helped that situation but that's totally normal for me in pregnancy with all of my kiddos.

Movement: all the time, its non stop with 2 in there. I never had pain from movement(I.e rib kicks) while pregnant with  my other babies but everyone is telling me it's coming with 2 in there at once.

Excited for: oh goodness I don't even know, I'm getting more nervous now the closer we get to them actually being here. I think my head is trying to understand the reality of two newborns coming at once. I'm excited for decorating their nursery now that we've moved. And it feels good now that I can start doing things for the babies and checking things off our list like buying a mini van last week.

Labor signs: none

Exercise: nope. I tried once at 16 weeks when my nausea was gone. Then again once around 21 weeks and once in Hawaii on vacation at 23 weeks. But now that I'm in the third trimester my goal is rest and keeping them cooking for as long as possible. Totally different than my other two pregnancies where I was active throughout.

Weight gain: I haven't had a scale in a month and a half to weigh myself on because it was packed away. But before then I was already up 20 lb.  Dr wanted 20 lb by 20 weeks and 24 lb by 24 weeks to reduce the risk of preterm birth for twins. I think I accomplished that goal for sure. Which is so crazy because I only gained 21 with cash and 26 with Layla's pregnancy. But 2 babies, 2 sacs and 2 placentas weigh a lot.

I'm excited to do a post on twins must haves so stay tuned for that!!

XO

Gender Reveal: TWIN BOYS!

Gender Reveal: TWIN BOYS!

Last month we had a small little gender reveal get together with our families and a couple friends, we couldnt wait to find out who these 2 little people are! Twin boys! I can hardly believe it still! I thought for sure they were boy girl or girl girl, but im always usually off with my guesses. So its official, we have 3 boys and a little girl. This is our crew, our forever family, i've always wondered how many kids we'd have, who they'd be and who would complete our family. Its crazy to think come June we'll have the answer to all of those questions. Now if we could just know for certain if they are identical or fraternal?! Dr says most likely fraternal but theres a small chance for identical twins still even though they have their own sacs and placentas.  Now on to the name game, it is soooo tough coming up with TWO boy names we love when we've already used our boy name for Cash.  Send help..


XO

We're Having TWINS!

We're Having Twins!

 

 

I'm sure those who follow us on instagram and facebook have already seen that we shared a big announcement a couple weeks ago, we are having not one but TWO new babies join us this coming summer! We were on the fence about whether we would stop at two kids and told ourselves after Layla was around 15 months we would talk about a third baby.  When that time came we felt like our family wasn't fully complete and decided to go for baby number 3. Within 2 months we were pregnant and just a few weeks later we found out through our first ultrasound that there were two babies growing with two perfect heartbeats and 2 sacs! It was the biggest shock of our lives, literally. I have never been that shocked and truly felt like it was a dream. I was sure i was going to wake up and come to find it never really happened. But the days went by and it sank in deeper and deeper. I knew there was a possibility of miscarrying one or both babies, since that happens naturally for alot of pregnancies, but i also couldnt focus on that and felt like I needed to process the fact that four babies were in our future. We would be adding a third and fourth baby at the same time.

The first week or two was an emotional roller coaster. I went from being so thankful and excited, feeling special and trusting Gods plan, to feeling overwhelmed, anxious, fearful, and had so many thoughts of "how are we going to handle this?", "whats this mean for my other two kids already here?", "will i be able to divide myself evenly?", " how will this impact us financially?", "we need to move, get a mini van, and double baby everything?", etc etc etc. Im sure you can imagine the flood of thoughts that one might have.  Not to mention the scary things you hear and read from others about twin pregnancies and deliveries and NICU stays.  I had to choose to be thankful and turn my focus towards the gift that this is, that God chose our family for this miracle. Twins dont run in our family, this was completely a natural spontaneous crazy God miracle that somehow either my egg split (which would mean identical babies) or i randomly ovulated twice (which would mean fraternal babies).  Fraternal babies are what people say can 'run in families', carried on the mothers side, she can inherit a gene that can cause "hyperovulation" which means ovulating more than one egg per cycle.  I dont have this gene, twins do not run in either my mom or dads side, so we were completely shocked.  There has never been a thought in my mind that twins would be apart of our future. Now its our reality and i feel like God has really helped us see this as such a huge blessing, i also think our families being so supportive and kind has helped tremendously. The fear i have about surviving this next year and a half is now gone, i know mine and my husbands families are going to be here for us and supporting us every step of the way, they have been by our side giving us all the love we could possibly need right now and i just know we're going to be ok.  This is not a death sentence like some might feel or think, its a gift, and although it will initially be really hard we know in the long run is going to be so special to see all of these kids bond and have each other for a lifetime like we have with our siblings.  So all in all, we have moved past fear into a really good place of peace and excitement. When i say we, i guess i really mean me, haha! My husband has been so at peace with this since the minute we saw those two babies in there, im the one who was up and down the first week, damn prego hormones. Im so thankful for him and how he is always my rock and knows just what to say to make me feel comforted and bring my head back around to gratitude and GOD.  We feel grateful and are just amazed we have made it to almost 13 weeks this week with these two special babies. In a couple weeks we'll find out the genders so be sure to check back here!

I'll try to be as honest and open as possible and share our journey along the way as often as i have time to on here. I know for me, reading other pregnancy blogs and twin journeys is helping so much right now for me to feel like i know what to expect, what could happen, and also finding hope in other peoples stories.  I would love for you all to be a part of our journey and be praying for our little twinnies.  Please share in the comments if theres anything you want to know about, any specific posts, or if you have had twins or are pregnant with twins.

Also thank you all so much for all of your sweet comments, we read every single one!

^^^Here they are at 10.5 weeks^^^

 

^^^Here they are at 12.5 weeks ^^^

XOXO

Holiday Photos With Dulcet Creative

 Holiday season has officially begun and we are so exited! Having two little ones to share the magic of the holidays with is so special for both my husband and I.  We were asked to do a little promo shoot for Dulcet Creative for their new mini dulcet white space sessions they're offering this holiday season, of course we said yesss and jumped on the opportunity! If you haven't checked them out you are missing out, link to their website HERE.  I had to share some of our mini session with you all because they turned out so cute.
I hope you guys are all having an eventful holiday season full of love and making memories! I'll try to come around here a little more often since ive been neglecting this space i love so much.  Thanks for following along all these years and to see us on the daily you can find us on Snapchat & Instagram sharing little snippets of our fun crazy lovely life.

The Start Of Fall + TART Collections Fall Line

TART FALL COLLECTION 2016

Hey ladies! Happy FALL, im loving this chilly weather this week, the wind, the rain this morning, all of it! We have been hitting every pumpkin patch in the area since October 1st and cant get enough of all of the fun festivities. Im convinced October might be one of the best months for kiddos with all of the fun activities available, there are carnivals, pumpkin patches that offer rides, games, face painting, picking pumpkins, etc, carving pumpkins, apple picking making pies, and cant forget costumes and trick or treating. Its an eventful month thats for sure. Im so excited to go into this holiday season with my two little people, Layla is old enough to get to enjoy every little bit, and Cash is already talking about Christmas! With that said i've partnered with Tart Collections to share their Fall 2016 line with you all! I love Tart, i've wore their stuff in the past and the quality is so great, it holds up even after a zillion washes because being a mom of two my clothes are always a mess at the end of they day. See below!

Coupon Code for you all for 15% off your first purchase! enter FALLTESSA15 at checkout

I've been living in this Indy hat, proof on my instagram @tessaarmstrong8

Link to this ADORABLE Fall hat called 'Indy" HERE

Im wearing the Adora blouse and im obsessed! its so silky smooth and light weight billowy and covers all the right places (;  perfect to dress up or down. I wore it to my brothers gender reveal with shorts tucked in the front and ive wore it with jeans and these leather leggings. Its cute with everything.  Heres the link

LOVE these leather leggings called Sadi, they are a perfect fit and a must have for Fall, link here

Coupon Code for you all for 15% off your first purchase! enter FALLTESSA15 at checkout

Happy Fall and happy shopping!