The Sorrells Twins - Week 16

Baby A and B's heads

Baby B from the side...look at him/her stretch out!

Baby A relaxing...he/she is puckering its lips!

We have officially hit the 4 month mark! We went to the doctor today for our 4th ultrasound. Once again it was an amazing experience. They have changed so much in 4 weeks. We were able to see the details of the twins brain, spinal cord, heart, legs and arms. Matt and I just kept smiling and commenting on how beautiful our little ones were.

Baby A is one busy child. I think this one will be our "wild" one. He/She started out breech, then decided to lay across my stomach and finished with his/her head down. Baby A liked to punch, kick and move as much as possible.

Baby B on the other hand was calm and laid back. He/She did not move around too much; just a stretch here and there. I think we are going to have two babies with completely different personalities.

My belly continues to get bigger. Luckily the scale hasn't shown how much bigger I feel. I am enjoying it and amazed at the whole pregnancy process. My books have informed me that the babies can now hear us so Matt began reading to the babies last night. The first book was from the Ortoleva's called "Oh Baby, The Places You Will Go". I think they enjoyed it!

We continue to read all of our books. I feel like my head is full of so much information. Thank goodness for so many twins books and the guidance of Russ and Brenda who have twin girls.

We hope you enjoy the newest baby photos!!!

The Baby Belly

I am now 13 weeks and have entered the 2nd Trimester of my pregnancy. I thought I should share a photo of the growing baby belly. I really popped out this past week. It is strange but exciting! The babies are now the size of a peach.

We are doing well and looking forward to Christmas with family! We hope you have a wonderful Christmas!

Sorrells Babies Week 11 and Week 12

Baby A and Baby B....Baby A could only fit his/her head in on the right side. Baby B with his/her arms out wide

Baby A resting peacefully...

On November 26th we met our doctor who will be seeing us through this pregnancy. I was nervous but immediately that went away upon meeting him. Within the first 15 minutes he was making fun of Gene Keady and his wife. I knew I would like him!! Our doctor is very funny and made us feel so comfortable. Him and his wife have 4 kids, 3 of which were a set of triplets. He knows the challenges and fears that we face with a multiple pregnancy. It is comforting to have a doctor who knows this first hand. He made us feel like we were the first people to ever have a baby.

We had our third ultrasound during this appointment. It was another amazing experience. We breathed a sigh of relief when we saw their hearts beating away. Both babies have grown tremendously. I was 11 weeks along and they were the size of limes. It is amazing that I have two limes in my belly.

As I write this I am officially three months along. We are relieved and thankful that I am almost out of the first trimester. That is a major milestone. Our babies are each the size of a plum at this point. They are growing so quickly. Matt laughs how big my belly is at night. I swear I look like I am 5 months pregnant. The next morning my belly is back to normal and you wouldn't even know I am pregnant.

I have continued to be very lucky. I have had no nausea or vomiting. God is good! The only signs are headaches and extreme fatigue. I could sleep in the shower, at work...basically anywhere. I am embracing it and loving every minute of it.

I ordered maternity clothes online and received them in the mail yesterday. You would think I just received a Louis Vuitton bag or something. I was so excited to try everything on. I modeled for Matt. I kept sticking out my belly (for those of you who have known me my whole life...you know my special talent) to show how I would look in the clothes as I got bigger. I loved it and am so excited to eventually wear them. I think I can get through another month or so before I need them.

Congratulations to Beth and Steve who welcomed their second baby girl on Dec 1st. We can't wait to meet Kate and look forward to our kids growing up together.

That is the update from Sorrells Baby Heaven!!!!

Our 2nd Ultrasound - November 5, 2008

We had our second ultrasound today. It was another amazing experience!!! Both babies are doing wonderful. They both measured at 8 weeks and 2 days. We were able to see and hear so much more during this ultrasound. Baby A had a heartbeat of 167 and Baby B had a heartbeat of 162. Matt and I both let out a sigh of relief based on the very healthy heart rates.

Since our first ultrasound the babies have developed their arms and legs. We could faintly see their umbilical cords which are growing and beginning to attach. It was neat to see the yolk sacks which are feeding our little ones. The process just amazes me. I feel blessed to be able to do this.

Baby B is sitting behind Baby A so he/she is always harder to take photos of. You'll notice the difference in photo quality. Baby A is sitting upright in his/her picture. You can see a leg and an arm. Baby B is actually laying upside down. If you look very closely you can make out his/her head, arm and leg.

The nurses at our doctor's office predicted girls based on the heart rates. The Chinese calendar predicts girls. Matt claims they are both boys. I guess we will find out in 11-12 weeks. Little Miss Stella Winchester would be overjoyed if the Chinese calendar is correct. She has been waiting patiently for another girl.

We appreciate your prayers for our babies! Enjoy the photos!!

We Are Starting Week 8

We have arrived at Week 8. So far everthing is going great! I have only had a few days of nausea and I've been able to smile through each of them. The most noticeable change is my energy level and early bed times.

I've officially had two cravings. The first was celery and peanut butter. I have not eaten that since I was a kid. The other is Gardetto's which happened to be the first thing I saw at the store tonight. What a coincidence!

We moved into our new place in Lake Saint Louis over the weekend. We are getting adjusted. It is strange to go from a house to an apartment. I realize how much stuff I have accumulated. We even had a box labeled "Baby Stuff" in the move. No, I haven't started shopping yet, just the many gifts we have received from our wonderful family and friends.

We have our next ultrasound on November 5th. We pray that everything goes smoothly. We hope to post new pictures soon. The babies have quadrupled in just two weeks so we expect to see a lot more during the ultrasound this time around.

Love to all from Matthew, Courtney, Georgie, Baby A and Baby B :)

We are having TWINS!!!

Ultrasound - October 22, 2008

We had our first ultrasound on Wednesday. It was such an amazing experience. It didn't take long for the technician to inform us that we were having twins! They are now known as Baby A and Baby B. They measured 6 weeks and 1 day; right on schedule. Thankfully we were able to see both of their heartbeats. They looked like little blinking lights. It was amazing. Matt is thankful that we did not find more than two babies for my health and the health of the babies.

We are overjoyed with God's amazing blessings! We continue to pray for our babies health as the

next 7 weeks are critical.

We hope you enjoy our ultrasound photos!

Week 5 Update

So far pregnancy has been very easy for me. I have not been sick or even nauseous. From everything I have read I understand that usually starts in week 6. I am almost there and hoping I will be one of the lucky ones to miss that part of the process. If not, I will take it with a big smile!!

Matt and I have not stopped smiling since we found out the good news. We love to sit and talk about it. Matt has been doing research on anything and everything relating to pregnancy. For those of you who know him really well, that is not surprising. He is so concerned and supportive already. Such a great husband!

We look forward to our first ultrasound. We hope to find out how many we are having...1..2...or even 3. We'll keep you posted!

I thought I would post some pictures of the adorable gifts we have already received from our amazing friends and family.

Nanna (Penny) was the first to get in on the action. She has been waiting patiently with her box of goodies. She provided us with the cutest Colts jersey, IU blanket, onesies, bath robe, books...the list goes on and on.

I received two cute onesies from Sarah, Travis and Tyler today...they purposely sent two hoping that we would have twins!!

We got a really sweet pink cross from Beth, Steve and Maggie today that says "Miracles" on it. Perfect...this baby is definitely a miracle from God.

Lastly, we have received so many cards, phonecalls and emails. We are thankful to have such a great circle of friends and family that are so excited for us. Thank you so much! We are truly blessed!!!

Our baby/babies first picture!

This is the very first picture of our baby/babies! We implemented three embryo's. We have a 25% chance of having twins and a 5% chance of triplets. We hope to find out in a few weeks how many we can expect.

It will be exciting to have our first ultrasound. The great thing is that we know God has blessed us with one!

~ Our journey to parenthood ~

Matt and I knew from the moment we got married that we wanted to have a family. We did want to spend some time on our own before we set out on this journey. We never imagined how long that journey would take. Over two years ago we thought we were ready to have a child and start the next step in our lives. Unfortunately month after month went by without the news we thought would come so easily (those of you who know my sisters well, understand what I am talking about).
We were very lucky to find out early on that we had fertility issues. It was very hard to swallow and put our minds around. We kept this to ourselves for quite a while hoping that a miracle might happen for us and we could surprise our families with the news we hoped and prayed for so badly. As things progressed and things became more difficult to deal with on our own, we revealed our fertility issues to all of our family and friends. We never realized how much we would need them over the course of the next year or so. They became our best supporters and what I refer to as our prayer circle!
We started with the "cheap" version of fertility assistance...IUI. Three attempts later, we still had no success. After this, we knew we would hear the words we so badly hoped we wouldn't....In-Vitro Fertilization. Fortunately we were referred to a world renown doctor and started our process right away. With the support of our family and friends and most importantly our faith in God we pushed on and started our Mini-IVF treatment in March. By May we found out that our first attempt was unsuccesful. That day was a day we'll never forget. It definitely made us realize how much we really wanted a baby. The loss was huge but our faith pulled us through and we never gave up. God definitely tested our patience and helped us grow as people and as husband and wife. We were reminded that day and many days following how lucky we were to be going through this together.
We immediately wanted to know when we could try again. We truly believed that God would take care of us and provide us with a child and family. In late August we started conventional in-vitro treatments. Our emotions were high but we definitely felt confident. The morning we were to find out if the procedure was successful or not was excrutiating...I think I cried the whole way to the hospital and multiple times throughout the next few hours. When I called our doctor to get the results and found out that YES, we were pregnant, the uncontrollable sobbing began and I was speechless. Matt thought we got bad news. I could barely form the words "YES" to him as I sobbed and sobbed. What an amazing day!
We truly believed that God was in control the entire time. He knew what was best for us. Some day I will understand why we had to wait and go through such an emotional journey to start a family. All I know is I will not stop thanking him the rest of my life. I am already overjoyed and completely happy.
I want to thank all of you for your prayers and support throughout the past two years. It has been amazing! God is so powerful and it is amazing the number of people he had working for us through personal prayers, church prayer chains, phonecalls, cards, etc. God bless each of you for caring so much for us!