Ouch, Charlie! This really hurts!

Matt keeps telling me this is going to get easier.

That's a sweet thought, but right now I'm more uncomfortable than the silence of a movie theater in between previews when you can hear people chew their popcorn. For me, that's really, really uncomfortable and joking aside, the last two weeks have been pretty miserable. I never realized how painful pregnancy could be.

Two weekends ago we started painting our guest room and the babies room, with the help of my in-laws. We painted the guest room first-and yes, I did protect myself from the fumes and only did trim work while sitting on the floor. Each room was a dark color; the guest room was blue and the babies room was green, and so they both had to be primed before we painted them the colors that Matt let me choose.

Getting the guest room ready to be primed.

Getting the babies room ready to be primed.

We primed the guest room, then the nursery, then painted the guest room, and then the nursery. Saying that we had complications with the nursery is putting it very lightly. I had chosen a color called Vintage (a shade of white that had a yellow-old tint to it) and for whatever reason, the primer we had done had a blue-ish tint to it and was very hard to cover up. Before long, we had run out of paint and instead of going to Lowe's where we had purchased the paint, we went to Ace Hardware, which was much closer, and had them color match it. Huge mistake. Huge.

Very quickly we noticed that they appeared to be different colors, but hoped that it was just because the "color-match-color" was wet and needed to dry. Drying didn't make a difference-they were different colors. The yellow hues of the Vintage color that I loved were completely absent from the color-match color and replaced with a blue-ish lavender, Elmer's glue reminiscent hue. Since the room was almost half way done, we decided to forge through, hope for the best, and paint over everything in order to make it one color. We were exhausted.

That night, after all the paint had dried, I went into the nursery to get a good look at everything. My eyes found a spot that we had missed where you could see the old Vintage color.

Vintage color is the side-ways foot shape.

I knew I liked the Vintage color better. With great patience and love from my husband, he painted the nursery, by himself, again in the correct color with minimal help from me.

Crazy how different they are, huh? Will never color-match again.

Before I post "after" photos of the rooms, I really want to finish getting them furnished. We have a few antique pieces that my in-laws have been holding onto for us that I can't wait to get into the rooms. You'll see them soon!

Even though I didn't do much work and took many breaks, that week started my on-going two weeks of misery. I've grown so much lately and my body isn't quite taking it in stride. Emotionally, I have been stuck in a war of being grateful for being pregnant and being in pain, discomfort and fear for what else is to come. I can't sit for long. I can't stand for long.  I dread night time because I am so uncomfortable in bed-I toss and turn and my legs feel tingly.  I was in the kitchen at five this morning making scrambled eggs and biscuits because, after getting up to use the bathroom, I was so hungry I couldn't fall back asleep. Everything has just been very difficult. I feel guilty even typing these complaints because I don't want to seem as though I'm complaining about the babies. I don't know, it's complicated.

Matt helped to distract me from my discomforts by making Mother's day really special. He rented me a Doppler heartbeat device so that I could hear the babies whenever I want. It came the Wednesday before Mother's day and he didn't make me wait until Sunday to use it. Friday, he had flowers delivered to me at work, and Sunday he presented me with the sweetest card.  I've already gotten plenty use of my heartbeat monitor and it has been so much fun sharing it with my family.

Listening to the heartbeats with my mom

Listening to the heartbeats with Andrea and Betsy

I don't tell him enough, but I am so very grateful for my husband. He has provided so much for me and lets me have so much of what I want-new furniture when he was happy with our old furniture, having all three of our bathrooms, the guest room, and the nursery painted in colors of my choice when he would've been fine with the way they were, painting the house in the colors I chose, getting me a new car to suit a family when we first started talking about having a baby, constantly cleaning the kitchen, taking care of the dogs, etc. There is great love he shows me in his efforts to make me happy, even in the goofy things he does to make me smile. I recognize it all and I am so very blessed.

If I knew how to make the heart symbol, I would insert it here. :)

Yesterday I had another appt with Dr. Wilder. Every morning, an hour or so after I have been awake, I get kind of shaky and nauseated. It happened to me while I was in the room with Dr. Wilder. Fortunately, hearing their heartbeats does a great job of distracting me from my discomfort. Although it wasn't a sonogram, Matt did film him getting their heartbeats.

24 week appt with Dr. Wilder

I talked to him about the struggles I have been having. He said I did have edema (swelling) in my legs and recommended I take it easy as much as possible. He also insisted that I cease working after the end of this month, which is 2 1/2 weeks away (THANK GOD).

I know better than my husband's optimism that this is going to get easier. I'm just going to have to cling harder to my excitement and joy of having these babies in our lives. I feel them constantly now and can differentiate between the bulge of a knee, foot, or elbow and the bulge of a back or rear-end.  I can see them move all around...it is awesome and amazing.  Our next appt with a sonogram is next Thursday. I will also be having a glucose test done...any feedback on that?  I can't believe I am already 24 weeks! That's ELEVEN WEEKS away from the average birth week for twins which is 35 weeks!! Wow!

[Happy to be] hanging in there, -Natalie