20 weeks

i'm sitting here updating the blog on my new birthing ball (aka stability ball). jordan picked the ball up for me this weekend and i love it! it takes the pressure off my back and keeps my pelvis nice and balanced, plus i can do stretches with it and use it during labor. he's such a thoughtful hubby.

i've hit 20 weeks and feel great. my belly is big! here i am (i spared you all the skin this time):



as far as the ob saga, i have good news. we went on a fantastic dr. interview this afternoon. it was like night and day compared to our other ob. he doesn't require an epidural at all and didn't try and use scare tactics to encourage one. he was very pro-natural birth and gave us lots of different options and alternatives to having a full-on epidural, like a no-or-low dose version, should we choose. he also was very accomodating with labor and birthing positions and said however i was most comfortable, given that they could still monitor the babies effectively. he also had lots of great stories of mothers who birthed twins w/o interventions in the labor and delivery room. he said that as long as baby a was vertex (head down), we didn't have to deliver in the OR. It was VERY reassuring to meet with a doctor who was on our same page!

we had a fantastic ultrasound last thursday and the boys are perfectly healthy. they are growing fabulous - both at the same rate and right at 20 weeks. the ultrasound lasted almost an hour and they had a big screen that everything was projected onto, so we got to see the boys up close and personal. they were both super squirmy, but baby a definitely won the crazy award this time and at one point he was kicking his brother in the head! we were assured that this would not hurt the baby though. they videotaped the whole thing, so we'll try and figure out a way to get some footage onto the blog.

here's boy b's face:

and here's boy a's profile:


right after the doctor appointment we picked up our dear friends dana and mark from chicago and their gorgeous baby boy jake. we had the best weekend with them (see our regular blog for all the deets)! dana and i went to babies-r-us (scary!) and she basically walked me through the entire store and we did my registry. i had no idea what 75% of the items were for! she was truly a godsend and i learned so much about why different features of various products are important. it was also so wonderful having jake in our house. it really helps me to be with babies and kiddos right now - keeps my eyes on the prize!

we also made a very important decision this weekend - we're doing the boys nursery in a snoopy theme! we can't wait to get started.