27 Weeks with Brooks and Ellis

Well yay for only having one more day in week 27! This is the 

week that I believe all twin pregnancies really start to pick 

up! At this point you are measuring full term for a singleton 

and I still have 10ish weeks left. I am doing okay though! I 

feel like its not worth feeling "miserable" or "complaining"

 because I just have too much time left where I am going to 

get a whole lot more uncomfortable! Pregnancy is SUCH a 

gift and I want to soak it all in, even when its hard. Its just a

 season, right? I am SO happy to know their names and with 

my baby shower tomorrow, it is beginning to feel more real! 

SO exciting! Im excited for thanksgiving week and pray all of 

ya'll have a wonderful thanksgiving and truly reflect on the 

many blessings we all have.

27 weeks with Walker

27 weeks with Jack Henry and Hadley

Maternity Clothes? Well, I am having a hard time finding maternity cloths that fit now! If they are big enough for the belly, they are too big everywhere else, and if it fits me everywhere else, it is too small for the belly... A problem that will probably grow worse. I find myself wearing Luke's T-shirts around the home when I don't need to be fashionable.

Sleep? Decent. I just wake up with a very stiff and sore back.

Movement? Moving TONS :)

Cravings? Excited for thanksgiving food!

Symptoms: Belly is BIG and tight, some leg cramps, back aches, and some braxton hicks contractions (these have been happening infrequently since 15 weeks)

Best moment of the week? Passing the glucose test! 

What I am looking forward to: My baby shower tomorrow! Cant wait to celebrate these boys with some of my very most precious friends! 

26 weeks with Brooks and Ellis

I'm 26 weeks and feel like I have taken a good turn before things get really physically hard. I have been off my nausea medication for a week now and I am doing well with that! I also started seeing a chiropractor for my sciatica which has improved it DRASTICALLY. She massages my lower back and puts K tape on it as well as adjusting and I can't tell you how much better it is! I am getting my gestational diabetes test done this week and I am praying I pass. Ive never had issues in the past and with Jack Henry and Hadley, I passed my test but later in the pregnancy developed polyhydramnios (excess amniotic fluid) and one of the causes can sometimes be high blood sugars so I had to stick and monitor myself for a week with that pregnancy but ended up being fine again. A twin pregnancy is just a whole different ball game and your kidneys are overworked so much trying to profuse all the excess blood and fluid that GD can be common, so prayers I don't have to deal with that.

The most exciting thing though is we FINALLY have names. It has been so challenging and hard for Luke and I to be on the same page at times, but we have talked and talked and prayed and prayed and finally came up with our names and we couldn't be more excited or in love! I have been wanting to name them for so long so I can attach their names to their kicks. When I go into my doctor's appointment he will tell me which baby will come out first (baby A) and which one will come out second (baby B) and then I can identify them more and fall even deeper in love with them. 

So our names are Brooks Ezra and Ellis Class. They will just go by their first names unlike my precious Jack Henry. Y'all know I love a double name. Brooks has always been a name I have loved and Ezra, a wonderful biblical name Luke has especially liked. We both liked Ellis and Class is the last name of Luke's grandfather. He died in a plane crash when his mother was an infant. When choosing names this time it was SO hard because I felt like we had a million girl names but our boy well was dry. The names also had to go with our other children's names. We don't have a letter theme or a specific theme, but the overall feel had to be right. When I look for a name I don't want it to be too used but not too "out there" I love a good Southern name that has a classy feel but still kind of cool? Do you get me?? lol its a lot and while there are so many names I "like", there are few I would actually USE. 

So here I am with our precious Brooks and Ellis. 

 26 weeks with Jack Henry and Hadley 

Sleep? Sleeping is good. I am sleeping with my friends U shape pillow and it has helped a lot! 

Movement? Moving TONS and seeing and feeling so many cool "baby parts" in my belly. 

Cravings? nothing really. Food is still not normal for me this pregnancy. 

Belly Button In or Out? OUT. 

Symptoms: Symptoms have really faded this week, just overall hip pain. 

Best moment of the week? Officially deciding on names. 

What I am looking forward to: Next ultrasound and doctors appointment in 2 days as well as a prenatal massage on the same day.

25 weeks with our boys

Well, I failed to get week 24 out because I was babymooning and at a conference in Las Vegas. Such a fun refreshing week. I feel like I look like a full term singleton momma right now, every where I go people think "I'm due any day" lol Nope.... only TWELVE more weeks! And FIFTEEN until my "due date" lol 

I feel like the "uncomfortable part" is approaching here soon, I think I was 27 or 28 weeks with Jack Henry and Hadley when it started getting hard. I have an appointment with a chiropractor tomorrow which I am excited to go to. My other pregnancies I went to a chiropractor from start to finish and haven't gone ONCE this pregnancy since my Chiro moved. I am FEELING the effects! I have really bad sciatic nerve pain which is starting to get severe. Im planning on seeing a PT next week along with getting a massage. My belly is going to get much bigger. Ive gained 25 pounds here at 25 weeks which is right on track for the goal to reduce chances of premature birth (24 lbs by 24 weeks) CRAZY I know, and they are going to start packing the pounds on in the next few weeks! I also stopped taking my nausea meds again (last time I stopped was at 16 weeks and it was a big mistake) and I've been off for three days now and SO far SO good. Praying it keeps away! 

(left, pregnant with Jack Henry and Hadley, right, pregnant with Walker)

Maternity Clothes? All maternity at this point and some arent covering my belly!

Sleep? Sleeping great with my friends U shape pregnancy pillow... much better than my C shape.

Movement? Moving TONS! 

Cravings? Fruity lemonades 

Belly Button In or Out? Out

Symptoms: Belly getting big, sciatica getting bad 

Best moment of the week? Starting to feel body parts thru my belly! I'm still not sure of what I am feeling but love when they pop out.

What I am looking forward to: Scheduling their birthday next week!

23 weeks with our boys :)

These sweet ones are still not named and I dropped the ball on their 22 week chalkboard because we were getting our house painted and everything was out of sorts :/ So here we are at 23 weeks and things still aren't put back together so I opted to just take a pic while we were out to dinner tonight:)

 23 weeks with Walker

23 weeks with Jack Henry and Hadley

21 weeks with our boys...

Im slacking a little since I will be 22 weeks tomorrow and my chalkboards that I used to spend lots of time decorating are now very quickly written blurbs, but hey, I am getting it done! We are having a hard time naming these boys but I am hoping we can nail it down sometime this week. I made a list of the things I need for these babies and even ordered some baby bedding for them! I feel like I grew a lot this week but I am still feeling comfortable for the most part. I have kind of accepted my stomach/ appetite is what it is and I probably won't feel normal until delivery, but I am thankful I'm not constantly nauseated. Just taking my nausea medicine daily still and dealing with the food aversions. I love feeling them more more often and stronger, it is such a joy, Thank you Jesus for these precious boys who you already know by name :)

21 weeks with #4 and 5 

21 weeks with Walker 

21 weeks with Jack Henry and Hadley 

Maternity Clothes? Can still pull off a few maternity items but not many :)

Sleep? Still sleeping great!!! 

Movement? Feeling movement more often and stronger. 

Cravings? Still nothing 

Gender? Boys

Symptoms: Mild heart burn and sciatica still. 

What I am looking forward to:Naming these boys.

20 weeks with our boys :)

Here I am 20 weeks with my baby boys! I am getting so excited and am most excited to name these boys! We have always had such an easy time naming out children but this time has been a lot harder. Boy names have always been hard for us and to come up with TWO more is challenging. Luke and I have always really agreed on names, but this time, that has been hard too! I really love getting attached and connected and excited about my babies when I name them, so hopefully we can nail that down soon. I began feeling tiny movement in my 18th week but as of now, I am feeling them move much more often and loving every minute. 

I still don't feel like myself (as far as appetite and nausea go) which is a bummer but I'm not constantly nauseated so I am thankful for that! Still taking my diclegis at night and I'm going to finish this bottle up and see how I do with out it and my nausea. I can't believe I'm in the 20s now! Ive gained 16 pounds so far ( a little less than I did with Jack Henry and Hadley but also had a heavier start to this pregnancy than I di with theirs) It's getting exciting!

 20 weeks pregnant with Walker

20 weeks pregnant with Jack Henry and Hadley 

Maternity Clothes? Can wear really long t shirts and a few dresses and tunics that aren't maternity but for sure hanging out in mostly maternity yoga pants and maternity tanks.

Sleep? Sleeping well!

Movement? Feeling the baby more and more, especially at night. I am loving every moment. 

Cravings? I had a strawberry lemonade that tasted AMAZING

Gender? Boys

Belly Button In or Out? out 

Symptoms: Heartburn totally controlled with pantoprazole (miracle drug) Still averted to foods, sciatica 

Best moment of the week? Having Luke feel them move for the first time.

What I am looking forward to: Naming these boys.

19 weeks pregnant with our boys!

Well, oops I am 19 weeks today and I slacked getting my 18 week shot, so here were my 18 week shots with my other two pregnancies... (Jack Henry and Hadley on the left, Walker on the right)

This week has been good. I am still taking 2 diclegis (anti Nausea) at night and my appetite/stomach in the general is still not right/upset but it is way more manageable than it was in the beginning and I know double the hormones can make it that much harder on my body, so thats okay! We were so thankful to have a very healthy anatomy scan with the doctor this week and confirmed 2 boys and most importantly found out they look just perfect. Thank you Lord for healthy babies!!! I also felt them move at 18 weeks (the sweetest little taps) not happening all the time, but every so often I will feel a little something!
I was taking OTC heartburn meds that weren't cutting it, so I am now on pantoprazole and it is making such a difference! Very thankful! Super burning chest at night on top of the nausea was no fun. Still having pretty bad sciatica as I have with all my pregnancies, but working on that too! This week we just praise that they are looking so healthy. We are having a hard time with names.... coming up with ones that we both love but I am hoping we nail some down soon. 
Here I am at 19 weeks with these precious boys...

Maternity Clothes? Yes, and am trying to get use of all my normal cloths I can fit in while I can too.

Sleep? Sleeping good.

Movement? I am feeling movement! No hard kicks yet but tiny taps that started mid week 18.

Cravings? Still not loving food.

Gender? Boys :)

Belly Button In or Out? Flat/out

What I miss: Nothing this week. Just focusing on the blessing that I get to partake in!

Symptoms: Sciatica, heartburn (controlled pretty nicely with meds) nausea 

Best moment of the week? Feeling the babies and having a healthy anatomy scan!

What I am looking forward to: Naming these boys! 

First Trimester in review for my twin boys

This was NOT an easy first trimester! I was SO blessed to have no morning sickness with Jack Henry and Hadley and just a few queasy weeks with Walker. This pregnancy has by far been the hardest. Maybe because I am 30 now instead of 24 like I was with my first twins or maybe its just the pregnancy, but here were my symptoms that started at 6 weeks zero days.

Extreme nausea NON STOP. The no break was what was tough and I am 18 weeks writing this now, and I am still on my nausea medication (dicelgis) I tried to come off it 10 days ago and my nausea came back with a vengeance. 

Vomiting. I am so thankful this was only an every other day occurrence usually just once a day ( usually at night) No fun at all.

Exhaustion. Exhaustion like I never have known. I was SOOOOOO tired with my first twins, and very tired with Walker too but making two babies and two placentas is not an easy job. Very tried and this time I had three little sweeties to take care of which made it more challenging. My medication for my nausea is a combination of vitamin b6 and unison (sleeping pill) so this made the exhaustion even harder. I had to nap while Walker napped every single day. 

I am still having food aversions (food just doesn't sound good at all) but filling up with carbs is the only thing that will settle my stomach. Its a terrible problem to have, having to eat junk and not even enjoy it lol

I love pregnancy so so so much and I still do but this one is making this most likely my last pregnancy a little easier to come to grips with :)

Here are some growing belly shots in the first trimester...

17 weeks with our boys

Well we have prayed for years for a baby girl and God had a different plan and gave us not one, but two boys! I would be lying to say I wasn't a little bummed. Hadley has been praying for a girl every night since she was 2 so its hard to understand why God didn't give us the desire of our hearts but we know his ways are so much greater! My sweet girl's lower lip quivered and tears flowed as she learned she would be the only girl. We will have a couple days of mourning no more bows and princess stuff but we are looking at the bright side and trust His perfect plan! 

Hadley will be SO SPECIAL and truly, how could I have a more precious and perfect little girl? 
Many families only have boys and desire a girl so badly, I am so blessed to experience both!

Hadley and I will be the queens of the house :)

I can't wait for 4 beautiful daughters to marry into our family!

We get the awesome and NEEDED challenge of bringing Godly men into this world, we need more of them!

Two precious boys that we can dress alike :)

4 wonderful men that will love their momma and protect their sister.

One wedding :)

We know God has the perfect design for our family and we praise Him for his good and perfect gifts. 

17 weeks with Jack Henry and Hadley

                                  17 (not 18) weeks with Walker

Maternity Clothes? I can still wear some regular tops but definitely most comfortable in maternity cloths.  

Sleep? Starting to be a little uncomfortable at times.

Movement? I think I MIGHT have felt a few flutters, but no DEFINITE movement.  

Cravings? Nothing specific really, food is less appealing this week than it was last week. 

Gender? Boys!

Belly Button In or Out? its now "flat" about to pop out 

Weight Gain: +10 lbs so far

Symptoms: HEARTBURN and still struggling nausea

Favorite Moment: Finding out what these two sweet ones were.

16 Weeks with babies number 4 & 5

Well, I was waiting until today to post the gender reveal because today I had my ultrasound at a local ultrasound center this afternoon. I was supposed to find out yesterday but they had to move my appointment to the next day because of a family emergency with the technician so I was SO EXCITED to find out today! We had already found out one of the genders a couple of weeks ago at my doctors appointment and today was the day to find out the other baby! Unfortunately, they looked for 15 minutes but couldn't get that shot they needed, so we got to see that sweet little baby move a lot but we couldn't see between the legs where we needed. So, they rescheduled me for next Friday, so Lord willing, I will hopefully know both genders next week. I had been feeling better and only had 4 nausea pills left so I decided to stop taking them and see how I did but the next night I threw up again, so trying to figure out what to do there. I heard its a hard couple days being off the meds but then things get better. Excited to start feeling the babies soon :)

(left, pregnant with Jack Henry and Hadley and to the right, Walker)
Total weight gain: +8
Sleep: Sleeping great
Best moment this week: Confirming the one gender we already know and seeing two healthy babies on the ultrasound. 
Movement: None yet
Food cravings: Nothing specific but starting to be able to eat veggies again! 
Symptoms: Sciatic pinching , still a little nauseas. 
Wedding rings on or off? on! 
Looking forward to:Finding out the other gender, Lord willing, next Friday. 

Finding out I was expecting twins again...

Finding out I was pregnant was an incredible and thrilling moment filled with overwhelming joy, just as each my pregnancies have been. This is my 5th pregnancy, Jack Henry and Hadley were my first pregnancy, I had a miscarriage when they were 20 months, Walker was my third pregnancy and first rainbow baby, and then when he was 18 months I had my fourth pregnancy and lost that one too, so this was my 5th pregnancy and was no less exciting than any of the others. It took us exactly a year to get a successful pregnancy each time we have tried, so they are always so welcomed, prayed for and celebrated. 

This was my fourth month on medication (lowest dose of Femara) and it was the same meds I took to get my Walkie, so with a less than 2% chance of twins, twins truly were not on my radar. I remember it was a Saturday night at I could test in the morning so I tried to get a good night sleep but of course I woke up around 3am needing to pee and felt like a kid on Christmas Eve. I tried to ignore the urge and go back to sleep because I knew if I went to the restroom in the middle of the night, then in the morning my urine wouldn't be as concentrated and not as ideal for early pregnancy testing. So of course, I tested... At 3 am...like a crazy person. As I waited for the result, I closed my eyes and began to pray, just talking very openly with Jesus. Lord, this is the desire of my heart, and I know you know that, but God you are GOOD if its negative just as you are GOOD if its positive. I kind of just kept repeating this over and over and my heart felt like it was beating out of my chest. After a couple minutes had passed, I looked down and immediately saw to dark and pink lines. POSITIVE!!!! I began to cry and rejoice and PRAISE him. Luke had a crazy morning planned at church, having his first interest meeting for our church's new campus so as BADLY as I wanted to wake him and tell him, I let him sleep. I stayed on my phone for about an hour, figuring out my due date and downloading pregnancy apps and just kept praising God for this perfect gift! That morning when Luke was up, I didn't plan anything special, I just walked up to him in our bathroom and showed him the test. He of course was thrilled and we hugged and thanked Jesus for this perfect gift and we prayed for protection. 

I kind of thought the lies were very DARK for such an early test and a week or so later I had bloodwork done to check my progesterone and my HCG levels, and I noticed my levels had almost tripled, instead of the normal doubling, but I know lots of high level pregnancies that were just a really healthy singleton, so again, my brain thought, high levels and dark lines? Could it be twins? NO WAY! I didn't even give it a second thought. 

At 6 weeks and 0 days, the nausea hit FULL FORCE and I didn't get a break for months. You are supposed to have worse nausea with twins, but again, I was never nausas with my first twins, so I didn't think anything of it. I was starting to feel blue, feeling SO sick and SO exhausted, I felt like I could barely mother my kids, so when my sister in law called me and told me that her middle child, Hayes, age 11 told his other aunt, that his aunt Kathleen was pregnant with twins, I laughed and thought it was a cute story. I said something like "ha ha ha, well we will see next week on my ultrasound, but I HIGHLY doubt he is right" She then told me that she and her sister in law both received it as prophetic and from the Lord and that I needed to be preparing my heart. I then began to panic and spent the next 5 days leading up to the ultrasound, on the verge of tears, fearful and panicked! I went to church that Sunday and was so so scared, barely able to get my kids ready for church, we got on the shuttle to church where Jack Henry was having a meltdown on the bus and I was SOOOOO nauseas just thinking HOW WOULD I HANDLE TWINS ON TOP OF THIS!!!! I got to church and told a few friends what my sister in law had heard, and I began to cry right there in church. People probably thought I was nuts. I told my friend Kayla and she advised I brought an adult to the ultrasound as Luke was going to be out of town for the appointment.  This was  great advice and I asked a dear friend and elder's wife who is a nurse and works at a pregnancy crisis center to come with me lol, I knew she handle good news, bad news or twin news. I told my community group girls who all assured me it wasn't going to be twins and if it was, I would be just fine. 

Fast forward to the appointment, with my friend Sandra and all three kids in the exam room, we looked up at the sonogram machine and I INSTANTLY saw TWO sweet babies. I began to laugh and asked my doctor, "there's two isn't there?" He got a huge grin on his face and said there sure were! He also told me that in his 25 years of practice I was the second woman he has had to have 2 sets of twins. We heard the amazing heart beats and I immediately called Luke and my mom and family to tell them this CRAZY and exciting news.

The next couple weeks were weeks of processing. I completely broke down with my friend Heidi at church when my husband was preaching and said "what do you need to let go of? Come up front and we have people to pray with you." I was a blubbering mess! I needed to let go of FEAR. Crippling FEAR. I saw Heidi up front and I knew I needed to get to her but was too embarrassed with all my tears to go in front of people so as soon as church ended, I found her and we went backstage and she heard my heart, and loved on me and prayed with me. She has been such an encouragement texting here and there through out my pregnancy.

I had SO many thought in my head.
HOW would I do this?
ONE more, no big deal, TWO more... OH MY GOODNESS HOW?!
HOW am I going to go through another twin pregnancy taking care of three others?
Im going to have FIVE KIDS 5 AND UNDER!!!
Im going to be THIRTY with FIVE KIDS! Hey, I kinda loved that actually. Young empty nesters!!!

The very next week, I had told hardly ANYONE and my friend Amanda who makes my favorite earrings, check them out at The trend shop, texted me and told me she had a DREAM I was pregnant with twins!!! She didn't even know I was pregnant!

It was an INCREDIBLE feeling to know the Lord was reaching my loved ones to encourage me that these babies are part of his perfect plan!

God has truly been so good giving me PEACE and JOY. And while this may not have been a part of my plan, I would have loved to enjoy my babies one at a time, I know its a part of HIS plan, and I wouldn't have it any other way. Knowing how special the experience of twins were, make me excited to do it again. It also makes me treasure Walker, my "rare" single baby lol.

God is SO good. He has always known my heart for a large family and I'm having 5 kids with only 3 c-sections. Most doctors don't like you to have more than three sections, so this is an incredible way of achieving our dream of a larger family. I also think part of me might have wimped out at 4 lol. This is His funny way of saying, you aren't done yet. 

We are THRILLED to be welcoming these two babies into our family and trust he will carry us through all the crazy times which I know are coming. But we wouldn't have it any other way.