How many licks...?

How many licks does it take...to find out the gender of our babes?! Yep, that's right, we found out the gender of our kiddos at 12 weeks! Can you believe it?! I am still questioning it a little, but don't worry! We will be double checking at our next appointment in 2 weeks.

So...what are they already?!?!?!?

BOY AND GIRL!

Lucky us gets one of each. We are elated, soooo perfect! Okay, let's be honest, whatever we get will be perfect.

We flew home to MT for Cody's fall break, and we were able to spill the beans to our parents about the genders...it was so fun to do it in person!

At my house: We gave each of them a sucker, and my mom went at it right away, she was so anxious to know the genders! My dad was a little more hesitant. He told us to "just tell him"! I told him that he better get to sucking or they would never know what gender the second baby was! By this time, my mom had sucked the chocolate off of a BLUE sucker..baby #1 is a BOY! Her eyes filled with tears. Dad then got to sucking, and when he took the sucker out of his mouth....it was blue! O SHOOT! I had mixed up the pink and the blue suckers! I swiftly grabbed another sucker (which I was praying was pink), he sucked it, and a little pink shone through. WHEW! It took a couple times, but we got it right, One boy, one girl!   (Unfortunately, my dad is STILL determined that the suckers were right the first time, and that the Dr. is wrong. I guess we will see at our next appt if there are 2 boys in there, or 1 of each! HA!)

At Cody's house: We had been talking about how "excited" we were to find out the genders, pretending that we didn't know. Finally Cody gave in and told me to get out the suckers...I gave one to Laurel and one to his brother, Will. Laurel went to town and just bit right through the chocolate, to a BLUE sucker. Will, on the other hand, left the sucker in his mouth until all the chocolate was gone...a good 45 seconds! A LONG 45 seconds! And pulled out a pink sucker. (We got it right!) They were so excited for us!
We had our ultrasound 15 days ago and I am just posting this! Sorry! Everything went just great. So far so good. *deep breathe of relief* The babies are both growing at the rate they should at this point. I am very, very anxious for our next couple of ultrasounds, though. Dr. R. (my perinatologist, who was also with us for Warner's) said that he will be able to completely rule out OI (Osteogenesis Imperfecta) at 20 weeks. I am almost 15 now, so not much longer until we will feel ~a little~ more safe.

I am pretty much a freak, though. I am so careful about what I eat, what I lift, what I push, how I walk, how I sit, how I, well, do everything! I know I am crazy, but I think most women who have had any type of a lost child can somewhat understand. I KNOW it's not my fault, but every little ounce of me just wants to make sure that nothing I do will hurt the babes. I think I will probably be like this for the rest of my pregnancies, and I guess it's not a bad thing, probably just annoying for everyone around me, and my Dr. who gets a call about every out of the ordinary pain.

I had a really amazing experience last night. Often when I was pregnant with Warner I would be so, so worried about him. I would pray, and Heavenly Father would always give me comfort in some way. Sometimes it was just a feeling in my heart that everything was going to be okay. Sometimes it was a whispering in my ear. Sometimes others would call or send me cards that would give me the comfort I needed. One time, I hadn't felt Warner move in a really, really long time. I was getting extremely worried about him, So, I prayed. I prayed for comfort. Immediatley, literally within seconds, I felt a swift kick from my little boy. I began to cry the happiest tears I had cried in a long while. Heavenly Father had answered my prayer so quickly, there was no way that I could even question it. I knew at that moment that my son was okay, that GOD LOVED ME, and could hear my prayers. I was blessed with a tender mercy from the Lord.

In 1 Nephi 8:8, it states, "And after I had traveled for the space of many hours in darkness, I began to pray unto the Lord that he would have mercy on me, according to the multitude of His tender mercies."
To read more, CLICK HERE.

What comfort that scripture gives me. We all travel through darkness, but that Lord is willing to extend mercy to us, whenever we need it.

Back to my experience last night...I had a dream. Well, a nightmare. I dreamt that only one of our sweet babies was doing well after birth. I woke up before a real diagnosis was given, not knowing if both babies had survived, almost gasping for air. I was breathing so fast and so hard. I knew immediately that it wasn't real, thank heavens. My first instinct was to reach down and feel my belly, to feel those 2 sweet children growing inside of me. For the next 10 minutes, I watched and felt my babes moving. I have felt little flutters in the past weeks, but nothing like this. I could physically see their actions beneath the skin. At only 15 weeks. I, once more, was blessed with a tender mercy from the Lord. I knew that it was only a nightmare, and that my babes were safe and sound, (and maybe punching eachother:) ) in the womb. Our Heavenly Father loves each one of us, each one of you, and is willing to send us tender mercies, just when we need them the most.