We are now 32 weeks and 1 day! Yeah!
Yesterday was our 32 week ultrasound and checkup. We planned it just right. Our daughter isn't allowed in the building where the ultrasound appointment is so we made the appointment for 10:30am and made arrangements with a great friend of mine that lives near the hospital to drop our daughter off on our way and pick her up right after so we could grab lunch before our Dr. appointment. When I made the appointment the receptionist assured me we would most likely be done by noon. Which was perfect as my friend needed to leave by 12:30 to take her daughter to preschool.
Perfect timing. Makes sense right? Nice try.
We dropped our daughter off right at 10:15am and were checking in for the ultrasound by 10:25am. Yeah! We waited our turn and somewhere around probably 10:45am we got called back to an ultrasound room.
We got settled right away and she greased up my belly and began. She went through all the usual things, checking me and the babies. The first thing she told us about the boys was that Baby A was head down and Baby B is breech. That's what we were hoping to hear. If Baby A had still been breech we would have been looking at a probable c-section, but with him head down we can go ahead with a planned VBAC. Baby B's positioning doesn't matter as much because Baby A will 'pave the way' for him, as long as he doesn't end up a few lbs bigger than Baby A.
Unlike our other ultrasounds I found that the images on the screen were not very clear. The boys are so big now that instead of looking up and going, "a foot! ooh, look at his little nose", etc. what we saw was a large mass of limbs. Occasionally I would realized I was looking at ribs or a femur, but for the most part it was hard to tell what anything was unless she happened to be measuring it in that particular moment. Needless to say the days of cute pictures to post and share are over until they arrive. We tried to get cute little face shots, but both boys were turned inward and the closest we got was a glimpse of Baby B's nose. :-)
The machine our technician was using was apparently new and she was either new to the practice or new to the machine because there was a lot of 'figuring out' going on during our appointment. Which probably contributed to the fact that when she finally said we were all done and she'd let the doctor know we were ready it was already 12:15pm.
My DH had to leave to go pick up our daughter before we could meet with the doctor. I sat for half an hour in the room by myself waiting. At some point our technician poked her head in and said something about it being just another minute, but after waiting over 40 minutes I was still without a doctor to talk to.
In the meantime my husband had picked up my daughter and parked on the street just down from the building to wait for me. They had been sitting in the car cranking the a/c for over half an hour and we needed to eat lunch before our 1:30pm doctor's appointment.
I finally poked my head out and found a nurse I knew. After she promised to find out what was going on I went back in and waited another ten minutes before the doctor actually came in. She didn't give an explanation for the delay and since I was beyond ready to go I didn't ask but got right down to finding out what she had to say so I could leave.
She went over the findings with me. The boys were doing great! Baby A was weighing in at approximately 4lbs 3 oz putting him around the 46th percentile. Baby B weighed about 4lbs 7oz. putting him around the 58th percentile. She said that was based on singleton weight, so as twins they were doing great! She said whatever I'm doing, keep it up!
She recommended starting weekly stress tests from here on out to not only check in on the boys once a week, but to check their fluid levels at the same time and make sure they don't start running low or showing a significant difference in levels of fluids in each sac.
At almost 1:15pm I finally thanked the doctor and headed out of the building. Down the elevator, out the front door in the 90+ degree heat, around the building and about half a block down the street to where my poor hungry husband and daughter were waiting.
We decided to grab a quick snack in the cafe of the building where my doctor is so once we parked I dropped them off on the first floor and then continued up the elevator to my doctor, got signed in and filled my water cup from their nice cold water dispenser. Ahh..sweet relief. Off to the bathroom to leave my urine sample and I settled myself in the far corner of the room where there were plenty of empty seats expecting a long wait to see the doctor. I figured we'd camp in that corner and dive into some calories before I got called.
I sat down and on the other end of the large waiting area I heard, "Miss Markez?" "Did you say Marquis?" I called. She laughed, "I'm sorry, Marquis."
I leveraged myself out of the chair where I had just landed to enjoy my cold water and waddled the length of the room muttering something about the room not looking so big the last time I was here. The nurse laughed and took me back to the scale.
At my last appointment 2 weeks ago I was happy to find I had gained 30 lbs on my pregnancy, bringing me up to about 163 (the weight I was the week my daughter was due). I couldn't wait to see how great I had done since then. I stepped on the scale and she stopped playing with the pieces at 165.
"Only two?" I asked.
I must have looked as disappointed as I felt, because she smiled and said I was doing great. Off to the examination room for a blood pressure check. Not sure what it was, I was so hungry I wasn't paying as much attention, but she didn't mention a problem and neither did my doctor.
My phone beeped and I saw a new text from my husband. They had arrived in the office to find me gone. I texted back which room I was in and then stood in the doorway and waited. Of course they would have found me no problem, but I was so hungry that I wasn't taking any chances on them getting turned around.
As soon as my daughter spotted me she yelled Mommy and ran straight to me to give me a hug and proudly show me the package of baked cheetos she was already wearing as much as eating. These are the moments I call Loopholes. We eats so healthy 95% of the time that when moments like this arrive, it is what it is.
I hopped, okay carefully climbed, back up on the table to sit and my husband produced a cheese bagel with cream cheese and a fruit salad. I love that man! I devoured my half of the cheese bagel/cream cheese sandwich in record time and sat back with a sigh while we watch our daughter, now full of refined sugar and color dyes, zip around the room like a fly in a jar stopping only long enough to eat a bite of strawberry or a grape.
Calories consumed I had a few bites of the fruit salad too while we waited.
When the doctor came in I had to finish chewing so I could say Hi. He didn't mind. :-)
I gave him the update from the ultrasound.
"Baby A is head down."
To which he replied, "Who hoo!" throwing his arms in the air like I had just scored a goal.
"And Baby B is breech."
He waved a hand, "Bah, who cares about that!" he said with a smile.
I asked him since we were looking at a VBAC what kind of time frame he was thinking. He looked at his calendar. I jokingly said, "November 2nd sounds like a good day, they'll be 37 weeks."
"Nice try Mom," he replied, with a knowing smile. "38 weeks."
He went back to his calendar and decided that since 38 weeks would be November 9th, we'd plan for November 8th as D-day. If I don't go into spontaneous labor, then this will be my induction day.
Now that I knew I had one day shy of six weeks, I wanted to know how big he expected the boys to be. He said at their current growth rate he expected between six and seven lbs each. Not a bad size. I think he is leaning more toward six lbs though, because I mentioned that my daughter had been 7lbs 4oz and his reply was that hopefully they wouldn't be that big, with a laugh.
He checked my cervix and happily announced I was not dilated at all and was 25% effaced. Good news!
See you in two weeks!
So off we went, happy our boys were healthy and on track, and torn between excited and terrified to realized that in less than six weeks they would be here in our arms!
Down the street to Soup Plantation for a much needed late lunch. It was already 3 o'clock when we sat down to eat and usually our daughter eats lunch around noon and takes a rest around 2pm. With her still tired after being sick last week, we knew she wouldn't last long on the drive home.
Sure enough we were five minutes down the road when the soft sound of snoring drifted up to the front seat. She slept all the way home, transferred to her bed without a peep, curled up and went back to sleep after barely stirring.
We were starting to think she was going to sleep through the night when my Hubs and I realized we were getting hungry around 7:30 or so. He went on an In N Out run and about two minutes before he got back she woke up and climbed in bed with me.
Everybody ate our dinner, watched Scooby Doo and then went quietly off to bed. We all slept great!
We finally got to call all the grandparents and give them a more accurate arrival date. Or at least a deadline for the latest they will arrive. Now everybody can start making travel plans to come and see these two little imps when they arrive. And did I mention the part where family comes and visits and helps out. I like that part A LOT. I'm going to have my hands full and my husband is only going to be taking a few days around the birth since family will be arriving so he can take the bulk of his time off after everybody leaves to help me transition to doing it solo during the days.
Less than six weeks to go and I will get to meet my little boys face to face. I can't wait!!!
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Being Pregnant and Getting Sick Sucks...
I have been bragging, I know I should know better, about how healthy my daughter is. She's my little three year old vegetarian and I've been talking to other Moms about how our vegetarian and healthy living lifestyle means we're almost never sick and how great that is.
So what happened? Daddy got a cold and we were so glad Mommy and our daughter didn't get it. Ha. Nice try. Daddy started to feel better after about three days of ookiness and we all sighed in relief.
Then after only one day of feeling better Daddy had a relapse. This time his cold started off with a fever, not a good sign. Two days later we noticed our daughter wasn't quite herself, light appetite and tired. She woke up crying around 10:30pm with boogies and saying she had to go pee. And you guessed it, as we went to put her on the potty we noticed she was warm. Uh-oh.
We gave her our only dose of children's acetaminophen and tucked her in. The next day she woke up groggy and run down. And her nose started showing signs of stuffiness mid morning just as Daddy started to feel like he had been hit by a freight train...
I hadn't driven in over two months, because the last time I had my weak right hip had hurt so bad I walked funny for three days. We are currently a one car family and it goes to work with Hubbie during the week. On the weekend when I have access to the car we run errands together so this hasn't been a problem.
But here I was, now 8 months pregnant, and it was up to me to take care of my loves. I climbed in the car, laughed at how small that seat felt now that I was so big, and headed to the store in search of more disinfectant spray, children's acetaminophen, c-plus cold tablets and ibuprofen for my aching Hubbie who accidentally left our only bottle on his desk at work the one day he was actually in the office. Oops. Well, now we have two :-)
This went well enough that as they both napped I went and picked up sandwiches at Togo's and vitamin filled smoothies from Robek's for lunch on my second driving adventure in months. It went well, but I did notice that backing up was a challenge because my range of motion is so limited by my current tummy tenants. I certainly felt the stretch in my ribs. :-)
By the time we put her to bed she had even less appetite and Daddy was hacking and coughing. Mommy had a stuffy head and crossed her fingers that that was where it would end.
We both jumped out of bed as we lay watching a movie around 11pm when we heard her cry. Poor kid now had a stuffy and runny nose and woke up sobbing. We snuggled her, helped her blow her nose and, after some snuggles, she actually asked for the purple medicine. Poor kid.
Tucked in with her children's acetaminophen kicking in and her nose blown a little, she slept the rest of the night.
She came groggily into our room when the sun came up the next morning and asked for a movie. Daddy set her up snuggly on the couch with a movie and a cereal bar.
An hour and a half later Mommy was getting up, with a headache and still stuffy but no sign of fever thank goodness. This is when I discovered she hadn't eaten anything that morning. No food, no drink.
I called her in and snuggled her up on my lap, around my huge tummy, and asked what she wanted to eat. Nothing. How about to drink? Nothing.
"I just want my Mommy."
Aww, my poor baby.
I snuggled her up tried to talk her into something, anything from the kitchen. She just wanted hugs. I snuggled her in my lap for half an hour trying to coax her to just take a bite or a sip of something. No interest.
Finally one of us, either her or me, tossed out the idea of some purple medicine. She liked the sound of that. "Okay," I told her. "But first you need to eat some bites and have some sips so you can have the purple medicine."
"Okay Mommy."
Victory!
A few bites of organic blueberry cereal bar and about half a dozen good sips of cold water later she chewed up her reward of purple medicine and settled back against me.
Her interest was peaked at the idea of orange juice and at this point I was willing to go and get anything at the store if I thought she would eat or drink it.
I snuggled her up in a sheet next to Daddy to keep her warm without overheating and left them tucked into bed watching Wallace & Gromit as I climbed in the car and drove for the second day in a row.
I try to be good about picking up just what's on my list, in our family my husband is the better grocery shopper, I tend to be the impulse shopper. We do spend about 1/3 to 2 times as much when he brings our daughter and I along.
Since it was just me, I was trying to behave. But when you family is sick you just want to do everything you can to make things better. Lucky for me the grocery store was having a 72 hour sale, so the extra things I picked up were at least all on sale.
I got organic raspberries and strawberries for my daughter, she's a total berry head and when she's sick the last thing she needs is crap in her food. I found organic dark chocolate peanut butter cups for my Hubby. His favorite thing with less crap again! Yeah!
I also got the ginger root we should have taken days earlier as I was determined not to get it at all. Orange and apple juice in the hopes of getting plenty of fluids into our little miss. I did impulse a few other things, the mustard pretzels from the bulk section were not on sale, but the Annie's strawberry bunny gummies were and I remembered how much she loved them the one time she had them. I was desperate to get good somethings into my daughter.
When I got home with my stash of good stuff she was curled up in our bed watching Scooby-Doo. I was unbelievably excited when she showed interest in the raspberries and quickly poured half the container into a bowl for her. The poor little imp ate a handful of raspberries and promptly passed out, a raspberry still in her hand. She was soooo tired.
After her catnap we started trying to temp her with other treats. All she wanted was Daddy when he got her from her bed (we moved her after she fell asleep to her own bed to finish her rest after she woke up crying and didn't know where she was), until he brought her in where Mommy was. One look at Mommy and all she wanted was Mommy. She snuggled up in my lap in her sheet again to keep her comfy (she's big on nakie time and with her running a fever on and off we weren't going to complain!) and we spent the next hour trying to get her to eat anything. She ate three bites of a cheese stick that sounded good when we suggested it and then was done with it. Same with some cold organic peas, baked snap peas (though she ate more of these than anything) and the orange juice which ended up dumped all over the floor when she took off the lid and didn't tell anybody. Daddy went to pick it up and what she hadn't already spilled taking the lid off dumped all over when the lid came off in Daddy's hand. Poor Daddy.
Did I mention that I had also done laundry (which entails the bending it takes to get it into the basket and get the basket off the floor, followed by carrying it down a flight of stairs around my big belly without tripping and around the building to the laundry room where I get to bend and stand as I load and move the clothes to wash and dry them, whew that's a lot of work!) on Thursday night before my Hubbie got so sick and again during his sickest day on Friday.
So here I was, it was Saturday and I had done more in the last three days, physically, than I had done in the last three months. When you need to, you do what you have to do. That's the way it works. My husband had been working full time, often on projects that take long hours, and then coming home and doing his job and mine for months with all the things I was just not able to do without hurting myself.
So of course, somewhere around Saturday night I went "Whoa, Mama's gotta go lay down." Luckily my hubs was starting to feel better, but my endeavors were catching up to me. Sure enough when he came in to check on me during my rest early evening I had a slight fever. Dang.
So much for dodging the cold completely. Sigh.
Lucky for me since my Hubs was feeling better by the end of the day, he made dinner, got our daughter off to bed and even made me a cup of tea and some ginger root tea. Wow, did that burn, but as soon as I took it I knew I'd been right. My ears felt like there was steam coming out of them, a la a Bugs Bunny cartoon, and my sinuses heated up like I was sitting by a campfire. I definitely had the head cold part going on.
So now it is the end of our sick weekend, my Hubbie is still a bit tired, but well on the mend. Our daughter is a bit tired, but well on the mend as well. I'm tired and dragging, but not dreading his return to work as much as I thought I would.
Lesson learned: No bragging about how healthy you are, there's always a cold or flu nearby just waiting to make a liar out of you.
So what happened? Daddy got a cold and we were so glad Mommy and our daughter didn't get it. Ha. Nice try. Daddy started to feel better after about three days of ookiness and we all sighed in relief.
Then after only one day of feeling better Daddy had a relapse. This time his cold started off with a fever, not a good sign. Two days later we noticed our daughter wasn't quite herself, light appetite and tired. She woke up crying around 10:30pm with boogies and saying she had to go pee. And you guessed it, as we went to put her on the potty we noticed she was warm. Uh-oh.
We gave her our only dose of children's acetaminophen and tucked her in. The next day she woke up groggy and run down. And her nose started showing signs of stuffiness mid morning just as Daddy started to feel like he had been hit by a freight train...
I hadn't driven in over two months, because the last time I had my weak right hip had hurt so bad I walked funny for three days. We are currently a one car family and it goes to work with Hubbie during the week. On the weekend when I have access to the car we run errands together so this hasn't been a problem.
But here I was, now 8 months pregnant, and it was up to me to take care of my loves. I climbed in the car, laughed at how small that seat felt now that I was so big, and headed to the store in search of more disinfectant spray, children's acetaminophen, c-plus cold tablets and ibuprofen for my aching Hubbie who accidentally left our only bottle on his desk at work the one day he was actually in the office. Oops. Well, now we have two :-)
This went well enough that as they both napped I went and picked up sandwiches at Togo's and vitamin filled smoothies from Robek's for lunch on my second driving adventure in months. It went well, but I did notice that backing up was a challenge because my range of motion is so limited by my current tummy tenants. I certainly felt the stretch in my ribs. :-)
By the time we put her to bed she had even less appetite and Daddy was hacking and coughing. Mommy had a stuffy head and crossed her fingers that that was where it would end.
We both jumped out of bed as we lay watching a movie around 11pm when we heard her cry. Poor kid now had a stuffy and runny nose and woke up sobbing. We snuggled her, helped her blow her nose and, after some snuggles, she actually asked for the purple medicine. Poor kid.
Tucked in with her children's acetaminophen kicking in and her nose blown a little, she slept the rest of the night.
She came groggily into our room when the sun came up the next morning and asked for a movie. Daddy set her up snuggly on the couch with a movie and a cereal bar.
An hour and a half later Mommy was getting up, with a headache and still stuffy but no sign of fever thank goodness. This is when I discovered she hadn't eaten anything that morning. No food, no drink.
I called her in and snuggled her up on my lap, around my huge tummy, and asked what she wanted to eat. Nothing. How about to drink? Nothing.
"I just want my Mommy."
Aww, my poor baby.
I snuggled her up tried to talk her into something, anything from the kitchen. She just wanted hugs. I snuggled her in my lap for half an hour trying to coax her to just take a bite or a sip of something. No interest.
Finally one of us, either her or me, tossed out the idea of some purple medicine. She liked the sound of that. "Okay," I told her. "But first you need to eat some bites and have some sips so you can have the purple medicine."
"Okay Mommy."
Victory!
A few bites of organic blueberry cereal bar and about half a dozen good sips of cold water later she chewed up her reward of purple medicine and settled back against me.
Her interest was peaked at the idea of orange juice and at this point I was willing to go and get anything at the store if I thought she would eat or drink it.
I snuggled her up in a sheet next to Daddy to keep her warm without overheating and left them tucked into bed watching Wallace & Gromit as I climbed in the car and drove for the second day in a row.
I try to be good about picking up just what's on my list, in our family my husband is the better grocery shopper, I tend to be the impulse shopper. We do spend about 1/3 to 2 times as much when he brings our daughter and I along.
Since it was just me, I was trying to behave. But when you family is sick you just want to do everything you can to make things better. Lucky for me the grocery store was having a 72 hour sale, so the extra things I picked up were at least all on sale.
I got organic raspberries and strawberries for my daughter, she's a total berry head and when she's sick the last thing she needs is crap in her food. I found organic dark chocolate peanut butter cups for my Hubby. His favorite thing with less crap again! Yeah!
I also got the ginger root we should have taken days earlier as I was determined not to get it at all. Orange and apple juice in the hopes of getting plenty of fluids into our little miss. I did impulse a few other things, the mustard pretzels from the bulk section were not on sale, but the Annie's strawberry bunny gummies were and I remembered how much she loved them the one time she had them. I was desperate to get good somethings into my daughter.
When I got home with my stash of good stuff she was curled up in our bed watching Scooby-Doo. I was unbelievably excited when she showed interest in the raspberries and quickly poured half the container into a bowl for her. The poor little imp ate a handful of raspberries and promptly passed out, a raspberry still in her hand. She was soooo tired.
After her catnap we started trying to temp her with other treats. All she wanted was Daddy when he got her from her bed (we moved her after she fell asleep to her own bed to finish her rest after she woke up crying and didn't know where she was), until he brought her in where Mommy was. One look at Mommy and all she wanted was Mommy. She snuggled up in my lap in her sheet again to keep her comfy (she's big on nakie time and with her running a fever on and off we weren't going to complain!) and we spent the next hour trying to get her to eat anything. She ate three bites of a cheese stick that sounded good when we suggested it and then was done with it. Same with some cold organic peas, baked snap peas (though she ate more of these than anything) and the orange juice which ended up dumped all over the floor when she took off the lid and didn't tell anybody. Daddy went to pick it up and what she hadn't already spilled taking the lid off dumped all over when the lid came off in Daddy's hand. Poor Daddy.
Did I mention that I had also done laundry (which entails the bending it takes to get it into the basket and get the basket off the floor, followed by carrying it down a flight of stairs around my big belly without tripping and around the building to the laundry room where I get to bend and stand as I load and move the clothes to wash and dry them, whew that's a lot of work!) on Thursday night before my Hubbie got so sick and again during his sickest day on Friday.
So here I was, it was Saturday and I had done more in the last three days, physically, than I had done in the last three months. When you need to, you do what you have to do. That's the way it works. My husband had been working full time, often on projects that take long hours, and then coming home and doing his job and mine for months with all the things I was just not able to do without hurting myself.
So of course, somewhere around Saturday night I went "Whoa, Mama's gotta go lay down." Luckily my hubs was starting to feel better, but my endeavors were catching up to me. Sure enough when he came in to check on me during my rest early evening I had a slight fever. Dang.
So much for dodging the cold completely. Sigh.
Lucky for me since my Hubs was feeling better by the end of the day, he made dinner, got our daughter off to bed and even made me a cup of tea and some ginger root tea. Wow, did that burn, but as soon as I took it I knew I'd been right. My ears felt like there was steam coming out of them, a la a Bugs Bunny cartoon, and my sinuses heated up like I was sitting by a campfire. I definitely had the head cold part going on.
So now it is the end of our sick weekend, my Hubbie is still a bit tired, but well on the mend. Our daughter is a bit tired, but well on the mend as well. I'm tired and dragging, but not dreading his return to work as much as I thought I would.
Lesson learned: No bragging about how healthy you are, there's always a cold or flu nearby just waiting to make a liar out of you.
Thursday, September 23, 2010
31 weeks and counting...
Here we are everybody! 31 weeks and 2 days into our twin pregnancy and I was thrilled to realize that puts us, at most, 8 weeks from meeting our little boys!
Since twins are considered full term at 37 weeks that means in less than six weeks they will no longer be premature when they are born! That will be around November 2nd and I'm hoping they stay in that long. On the flip side, I am so ready to have them out! LOL
My stomach is HUGE and heavy and crowded and I can't tell anymore if I'm having any braxton hicks at all because my skin is tight like a drum and everywhere I push or rest my hand there's a baby!
Ok, so last weekend we went and stocked up on the last few things we needed for me to feel ready to bring babies home. We bought wipes, we bought diapers, we have pacifiers (hoping not to use them, but good to have in case).
The last few things I will need when they arrive can wait until they do. My nursing pillow is probably the only real item that I'd like to have by the time they come out. Just so I can get used to using it in the hospital and hopefully we can get a good rhythm down from the start for nursing.
As for diapers, after all my stress and research here's what I decided. The Bambo Nature diapers are ideal. They have great reviews, they really are my number one choice. However, they are also approximately $.50/diaper. And at ten diapers a day, per baby, that's about $10/day in diapers alone. Yikes!
My second choice is the Earth's Best Newborn diapers, which are the only size diapers made by the company to have poor reviews which claim, unlike all the other sizes, that they leak.
Did I mention they also happen to cost about half as much as the Bambo diapers? I know, still much more than Huggies, Pampers or Luvs, but chemical free on our babies' skin and eco-friendly too.
Of course it doesn't hurt that we have stock in Hain Celestial, which also owns Earth's Best. With the amount of diapers we're going to go through, we may raise the value of the stock all on our own! LOL
So I made my Hubbie a deal. We went to Toys R Us and bought about a week's worth of Earth's Best Newborn diapers. Which worked out great because they are usually about $10.99/40 diapers in Newborn size and they were on sale for $8.99. So we saved six bucks and got a great deal on the diapers!
If at the end of the first week we are doing twice the laundry because the diapers leak, we will drive over to Encino and pick up some Bambo Newborn diapers at Mother's Haven to use instead. But I'm honestly hoping that they have improved the Newborn size since the reviews were left for the Earth's Best diapers and we can continue to use these baby and eco-friendly diapers that are also friendlier to our wallet.
I also picked up two boxes of my favorite nursing pads made by Lansinoh, which were also on sale at Toys R Us last weekend, BOGO half off, so those are ready when we are.
The changing table is stocked, I found some great canvas bins at Big Lots and bought six of them, which fit perfectly onto our changing table. They contain diapers and wipes, onesies galore, newborn t-shirts and pants, bibs, hats and socks, and extra wipes and boobie covers.
My tummy feels huge this week and although at my doctor's appointment a week and a half ago I was assured everything was going fine and there were no signs of preterm labor, now I am feeling like we have got to be entering the home stretch. I spend half my day heading to the bathroom to empty my bladder because somebody is pressing on it again and half the day heading to the bathroom trying to decide if I have to go, or if the boys are just putting a lot of pressure on my bowels. My husband assures me I had this with my daughter, but does concede that he only remembers it being an issue the last month or so.
We have our next ultrasound on Tuesday and I can't wait to see my little boys again and find out how much they've grown. I'm betting at least 4 lbs each! Feels like so much more! Did I mention that I weighed in around 163 at my last doctor's appointment. The same weight I was at my last doctor's appointment the day my daughter was due. And I still have 6-8 weeks to go. And the boys are supposed to be putting on another half a pound a week until they arrive. Whew!
It may not sound like much, but I'm only 5'3". That's a lot of weight on this little frame. My only consolation and the reason I'm not crying every time I step on the scale, is that I really am ALL BABY. I haven't put hardly any weight on in my legs, arms or face. I've just got this ginormous belly on me! I'm hoping that means I really will lose 30 lbs the day they are born, but I'm not betting on it!
I'm also looking forward to seeing their faces again. As you may recall we got a few wonderful pictures of Baby A and one great scowl picture from Baby B. I'm hoping this time we will get clear enough pictures of both that we can see just how alike they look.
Mostly though I'm looking forward to hearing that they are around 4lbs and that they are very near in weight. If there is a large difference in their weight I know the doctor will want to deliver them sooner rather than later.
I don't mind the sooner part, on the condition that they are big enough and their lungs are developed enough that they won't be spending much, if any, time in the NICU. Their place is with me, so I want them healthy enough that they can stay there. Snuggled with Mama filling up on Mama Milk!
Fingers crossed!
Since twins are considered full term at 37 weeks that means in less than six weeks they will no longer be premature when they are born! That will be around November 2nd and I'm hoping they stay in that long. On the flip side, I am so ready to have them out! LOL
My stomach is HUGE and heavy and crowded and I can't tell anymore if I'm having any braxton hicks at all because my skin is tight like a drum and everywhere I push or rest my hand there's a baby!
Ok, so last weekend we went and stocked up on the last few things we needed for me to feel ready to bring babies home. We bought wipes, we bought diapers, we have pacifiers (hoping not to use them, but good to have in case).
The last few things I will need when they arrive can wait until they do. My nursing pillow is probably the only real item that I'd like to have by the time they come out. Just so I can get used to using it in the hospital and hopefully we can get a good rhythm down from the start for nursing.
As for diapers, after all my stress and research here's what I decided. The Bambo Nature diapers are ideal. They have great reviews, they really are my number one choice. However, they are also approximately $.50/diaper. And at ten diapers a day, per baby, that's about $10/day in diapers alone. Yikes!
My second choice is the Earth's Best Newborn diapers, which are the only size diapers made by the company to have poor reviews which claim, unlike all the other sizes, that they leak.
Did I mention they also happen to cost about half as much as the Bambo diapers? I know, still much more than Huggies, Pampers or Luvs, but chemical free on our babies' skin and eco-friendly too.
Of course it doesn't hurt that we have stock in Hain Celestial, which also owns Earth's Best. With the amount of diapers we're going to go through, we may raise the value of the stock all on our own! LOL
So I made my Hubbie a deal. We went to Toys R Us and bought about a week's worth of Earth's Best Newborn diapers. Which worked out great because they are usually about $10.99/40 diapers in Newborn size and they were on sale for $8.99. So we saved six bucks and got a great deal on the diapers!
If at the end of the first week we are doing twice the laundry because the diapers leak, we will drive over to Encino and pick up some Bambo Newborn diapers at Mother's Haven to use instead. But I'm honestly hoping that they have improved the Newborn size since the reviews were left for the Earth's Best diapers and we can continue to use these baby and eco-friendly diapers that are also friendlier to our wallet.
I also picked up two boxes of my favorite nursing pads made by Lansinoh, which were also on sale at Toys R Us last weekend, BOGO half off, so those are ready when we are.
The changing table is stocked, I found some great canvas bins at Big Lots and bought six of them, which fit perfectly onto our changing table. They contain diapers and wipes, onesies galore, newborn t-shirts and pants, bibs, hats and socks, and extra wipes and boobie covers.
My tummy feels huge this week and although at my doctor's appointment a week and a half ago I was assured everything was going fine and there were no signs of preterm labor, now I am feeling like we have got to be entering the home stretch. I spend half my day heading to the bathroom to empty my bladder because somebody is pressing on it again and half the day heading to the bathroom trying to decide if I have to go, or if the boys are just putting a lot of pressure on my bowels. My husband assures me I had this with my daughter, but does concede that he only remembers it being an issue the last month or so.
We have our next ultrasound on Tuesday and I can't wait to see my little boys again and find out how much they've grown. I'm betting at least 4 lbs each! Feels like so much more! Did I mention that I weighed in around 163 at my last doctor's appointment. The same weight I was at my last doctor's appointment the day my daughter was due. And I still have 6-8 weeks to go. And the boys are supposed to be putting on another half a pound a week until they arrive. Whew!
It may not sound like much, but I'm only 5'3". That's a lot of weight on this little frame. My only consolation and the reason I'm not crying every time I step on the scale, is that I really am ALL BABY. I haven't put hardly any weight on in my legs, arms or face. I've just got this ginormous belly on me! I'm hoping that means I really will lose 30 lbs the day they are born, but I'm not betting on it!
I'm also looking forward to seeing their faces again. As you may recall we got a few wonderful pictures of Baby A and one great scowl picture from Baby B. I'm hoping this time we will get clear enough pictures of both that we can see just how alike they look.
Mostly though I'm looking forward to hearing that they are around 4lbs and that they are very near in weight. If there is a large difference in their weight I know the doctor will want to deliver them sooner rather than later.
I don't mind the sooner part, on the condition that they are big enough and their lungs are developed enough that they won't be spending much, if any, time in the NICU. Their place is with me, so I want them healthy enough that they can stay there. Snuggled with Mama filling up on Mama Milk!
Fingers crossed!
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
30 weeks and counting...
So here we are at 30 weeks! For something that seemed to be taking forever, that finish line is coming more and more clearly into view.
Part One
Today we have our 30 week checkup. In two weeks we'll have our 32 week checkup, and more importantly our 32 week ultrasound where we'll find out if Baby A is still breech.
In the meantime, I've spent the bulk of my awake time so far this morning putting together a birthing plan, something I kept putting off and putting off until I realized we have less than two months until the boys are full term. So, no time like the present.
Thanks to sites like Parents.com you can find plenty of information on what to include in your birthing plan.
Some of it is straightforward, such as "Do you plan to circumcise your son?" To which, for us, the answer is No. There's no medical reason to cut my baby, I'm certainly not going to do it just because. If either of the boys decide later in life they can do without their foreskin they are welcome to have it removed. In the meantime we'll teach them as they grow how to take care and keep clean and our part will be done.
Other things you wouldn't necessarily think of, such as "Do you want the nurses to give your baby bottles or pacifiers?"
I didn't realize when I began making the birthing plan for our daughter that I should think about these things. I intended to breastfeed and it didn't occur to me that unless I told them otherwise, the nurses would feed my baby formula and give her a pacifier.
I put that right into our birthing plan and the hospital she was born in put a small sign in her bassinet that said in bold letters something along the lines of "NO bottles. NO pacifiers. Bring me to Mommy." Which is exactly what they did. If she started to cry and was in the nursery while I was resting they brought her straight to me instead of confusing her with pacifiers and bottles. I think this is part of the reason she took to the breast so well. It was all she knew.
Granted this meant that at all hours of the night my little baby girl would come rolling into my room with her nurse escort for some boobie time. I was tired, but I'm glad we stuck with our decision. It also meant that nearly every time she fed, I had a nurse handing her to me and helping me make sure she was latching well. That was a huge confidence boost for a new Mama.
It turned out that she was a good eater and a good boobie snuggler and never actually had a pacifier. I was a nanny for ten years before we started our family and I had played "The Paci Game" where you spend baby's entire sleep time running back in to put their pacifier back in their mouth. I didn't want to encourage such a thing with our little one, I knew it would drive us crazy.
The flip side of that was that I was her pacifier. All new babies need to suck, it's good for digestion, it's comforting and when Mommy is the pacifier it is also a great bonding experience.
Granted with two babies on the way, we may not be able to let Mama be the pacifier this time around so I have found baby, and baby teeth, friendly pacifiers (recommended by the boys' godmama) and have them on standby in case we decide to use them.
Having been through the child birth experience once already I can put things in my birth plan that I would not have thought of before. For example, when my daughter was born via c-section she was cleaned up and handed to Daddy where I got to look at my beautiful baby. Then she and Daddy headed off to the nursery for her first bath and official weigh in.
Approximately 30 minutes after she was born I was all stitched up and lying in recovery in an empty room waiting for somebody to remember I was there. After ten minutes or so in came my daughter with her entourage (Daddy and all the Grandparents) that had been oohing and aahing outside the nursery window as she got sparkly clean.
Now about half an hour old my daughter was placed in my arms for the first time. The disconnect from the c-section and not touching her for so long I think attributed to the fact that I had more difficulty bonding with my daughter than I ever thought possible. She was months old before she felt like mine. I felt more like her nanny than her mother, even though I was breastfeeding.
This time around, baring any medical complication, I am being very specific with my doctor that the boys and I be allowed that bonding time. Even in the case of a c-section, I want to be able to touch them and hold them and this time around be the first person they come in contact with instead of the fourth or fifth. It's not going to hurt them to spend a few extra minutes with Mama before they go off for their first bath and weigh in.
Part Two
Came through our appointment with flying colors. My cervix is right where it's supposed to be. Nowhere. I gained 7 1/2 lbs since our visit two weeks ago. I am now a whopping 163 lbs which sounds like a lot, but it really is all in my belly. I have this tiny frame and, unlike my first pregnancy, I'm not putting on weight everywhere despite the numbers climbing on the scale each time I step up. I'm all baby. Which means the boys are growing, growing, growing.
Each visit the doctor takes out his tape measure and figures out how big my uterus is. If I were having one baby then the size of my uterus would track pretty close to how far along I am. So since we're 30 weeks my uterus would probably measure around 30 cm for a normal, singleton pregnancy.
My boys are definitely growing because my tummy measured in at 37 cm today!
My blood pressure was also a bit lower this week than its been tracking. Not that it's been high, my husband just noticed as he was reading the computer over the nurse's shoulder that it was just a bit lower. I have been watching my salt intake pretty well, hoping to head off any possibility of pre-eclampsia. And I'm so big and so tired that I do lay down a lot. Both are probably helping my blood pressure settle in at a nice level.
Dr. Brock did a great job answering my questions. Cameras and video are welcome at the birth so we can document their arrival! I was excited to hear that as some doctors don't allow the actual birth to be filmed. Not that I need a graphic account, but I would like to be able to look back and enjoy their first few moments with us in technicolor.
He doesn't do episiotomies, so Yeah! Don't have to worry about that one. Plus with twins, he said it wouldn't be anything to worry about. He also assured me that if I want to hold my babies as soon as they are born, "They're your babies!" Which is great, as you read earlier I was a bit neurotically concerned about getting to bond with my boys.
When I joked, "I know. I'm neurotic," after my long list of questions (which I actually remembered to write down this time) he simply replied, "There's a word for people like you...Mom."
Exactly!
I was able to round out my birth plan so at our next appointment I can pass a copy on to the doctor for my file. Next on my "You mean we didn't do that yet?" list is a tour of the maternity ward at Cedars. That way we can get a feel for the space and I can ask any leftover questions about our hospital stay. I'm not sure when we were supposed to do it, but we haven't yet.
The only birth experience I have is a c-section. I found the doctor I chose so that I would have the best chance of a VBAC. The hospital I'm delivering in only has a 22% cesarean rate.
So if my little imp, Baby A, does flip himself over head down, I may find myself getting exactly what I asked for. A surgery free birth.
So why didn't it occur to me until now that I probably should have taken a child birth class, or at least a refresher?
I'm going to be in labor for who knows how long and I haven't even thought about any music to bring, or labor techniques or anything like that.
What was I thinking?
I know what I was thinking. I was so busy preparing myself for the possibility of another cesarean that I forgot to prepare myself for the actual VBAC!
Time to figure that out before I find myself in labor for hours wishing I'd at least done some of the above.
Part One
Today we have our 30 week checkup. In two weeks we'll have our 32 week checkup, and more importantly our 32 week ultrasound where we'll find out if Baby A is still breech.
In the meantime, I've spent the bulk of my awake time so far this morning putting together a birthing plan, something I kept putting off and putting off until I realized we have less than two months until the boys are full term. So, no time like the present.
Thanks to sites like Parents.com you can find plenty of information on what to include in your birthing plan.
Some of it is straightforward, such as "Do you plan to circumcise your son?" To which, for us, the answer is No. There's no medical reason to cut my baby, I'm certainly not going to do it just because. If either of the boys decide later in life they can do without their foreskin they are welcome to have it removed. In the meantime we'll teach them as they grow how to take care and keep clean and our part will be done.
Other things you wouldn't necessarily think of, such as "Do you want the nurses to give your baby bottles or pacifiers?"
I didn't realize when I began making the birthing plan for our daughter that I should think about these things. I intended to breastfeed and it didn't occur to me that unless I told them otherwise, the nurses would feed my baby formula and give her a pacifier.
I put that right into our birthing plan and the hospital she was born in put a small sign in her bassinet that said in bold letters something along the lines of "NO bottles. NO pacifiers. Bring me to Mommy." Which is exactly what they did. If she started to cry and was in the nursery while I was resting they brought her straight to me instead of confusing her with pacifiers and bottles. I think this is part of the reason she took to the breast so well. It was all she knew.
Granted this meant that at all hours of the night my little baby girl would come rolling into my room with her nurse escort for some boobie time. I was tired, but I'm glad we stuck with our decision. It also meant that nearly every time she fed, I had a nurse handing her to me and helping me make sure she was latching well. That was a huge confidence boost for a new Mama.
It turned out that she was a good eater and a good boobie snuggler and never actually had a pacifier. I was a nanny for ten years before we started our family and I had played "The Paci Game" where you spend baby's entire sleep time running back in to put their pacifier back in their mouth. I didn't want to encourage such a thing with our little one, I knew it would drive us crazy.
The flip side of that was that I was her pacifier. All new babies need to suck, it's good for digestion, it's comforting and when Mommy is the pacifier it is also a great bonding experience.
Granted with two babies on the way, we may not be able to let Mama be the pacifier this time around so I have found baby, and baby teeth, friendly pacifiers (recommended by the boys' godmama) and have them on standby in case we decide to use them.
Having been through the child birth experience once already I can put things in my birth plan that I would not have thought of before. For example, when my daughter was born via c-section she was cleaned up and handed to Daddy where I got to look at my beautiful baby. Then she and Daddy headed off to the nursery for her first bath and official weigh in.
Approximately 30 minutes after she was born I was all stitched up and lying in recovery in an empty room waiting for somebody to remember I was there. After ten minutes or so in came my daughter with her entourage (Daddy and all the Grandparents) that had been oohing and aahing outside the nursery window as she got sparkly clean.
Now about half an hour old my daughter was placed in my arms for the first time. The disconnect from the c-section and not touching her for so long I think attributed to the fact that I had more difficulty bonding with my daughter than I ever thought possible. She was months old before she felt like mine. I felt more like her nanny than her mother, even though I was breastfeeding.
This time around, baring any medical complication, I am being very specific with my doctor that the boys and I be allowed that bonding time. Even in the case of a c-section, I want to be able to touch them and hold them and this time around be the first person they come in contact with instead of the fourth or fifth. It's not going to hurt them to spend a few extra minutes with Mama before they go off for their first bath and weigh in.
Part Two
Came through our appointment with flying colors. My cervix is right where it's supposed to be. Nowhere. I gained 7 1/2 lbs since our visit two weeks ago. I am now a whopping 163 lbs which sounds like a lot, but it really is all in my belly. I have this tiny frame and, unlike my first pregnancy, I'm not putting on weight everywhere despite the numbers climbing on the scale each time I step up. I'm all baby. Which means the boys are growing, growing, growing.
Each visit the doctor takes out his tape measure and figures out how big my uterus is. If I were having one baby then the size of my uterus would track pretty close to how far along I am. So since we're 30 weeks my uterus would probably measure around 30 cm for a normal, singleton pregnancy.
My boys are definitely growing because my tummy measured in at 37 cm today!
My blood pressure was also a bit lower this week than its been tracking. Not that it's been high, my husband just noticed as he was reading the computer over the nurse's shoulder that it was just a bit lower. I have been watching my salt intake pretty well, hoping to head off any possibility of pre-eclampsia. And I'm so big and so tired that I do lay down a lot. Both are probably helping my blood pressure settle in at a nice level.
Dr. Brock did a great job answering my questions. Cameras and video are welcome at the birth so we can document their arrival! I was excited to hear that as some doctors don't allow the actual birth to be filmed. Not that I need a graphic account, but I would like to be able to look back and enjoy their first few moments with us in technicolor.
He doesn't do episiotomies, so Yeah! Don't have to worry about that one. Plus with twins, he said it wouldn't be anything to worry about. He also assured me that if I want to hold my babies as soon as they are born, "They're your babies!" Which is great, as you read earlier I was a bit neurotically concerned about getting to bond with my boys.
When I joked, "I know. I'm neurotic," after my long list of questions (which I actually remembered to write down this time) he simply replied, "There's a word for people like you...Mom."
Exactly!
I was able to round out my birth plan so at our next appointment I can pass a copy on to the doctor for my file. Next on my "You mean we didn't do that yet?" list is a tour of the maternity ward at Cedars. That way we can get a feel for the space and I can ask any leftover questions about our hospital stay. I'm not sure when we were supposed to do it, but we haven't yet.
The only birth experience I have is a c-section. I found the doctor I chose so that I would have the best chance of a VBAC. The hospital I'm delivering in only has a 22% cesarean rate.
So if my little imp, Baby A, does flip himself over head down, I may find myself getting exactly what I asked for. A surgery free birth.
So why didn't it occur to me until now that I probably should have taken a child birth class, or at least a refresher?
I'm going to be in labor for who knows how long and I haven't even thought about any music to bring, or labor techniques or anything like that.
What was I thinking?
I know what I was thinking. I was so busy preparing myself for the possibility of another cesarean that I forgot to prepare myself for the actual VBAC!
Time to figure that out before I find myself in labor for hours wishing I'd at least done some of the above.
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
29 weeks and counting...
Here we are, another Labor Day weekend away from family and although we missed our families again this year I have to admit it was nice to have the weekend to ourselves. We spent Saturday and Sunday as we usually do, running errands and trying to accomplish all the things that just don't happen during the week.
Including a trip to Babies R Us where we stocked up on a few items for the boys and I am continuing to feel just a bit closer to prepared.
I have two goals for September.
The first is to purchase that second crib mattress as our daughter is still using the first one on her toddler bed for the time being. The boys will share a crib for the first 5 or 6 months, which I think they will enjoy anyway, and then we will need to find a larger apartment.
The second is to purchase a package of diapers so there are some in the house. I know it may sound silly, but if I have diapers I can pack the small diaper bag for the boys at the hospital. Onesies, organic diapers, socks, hats...all those silly things that you realize you wish you had brought as you are sitting in the hospital looking through your bag full of items just for Mommy.
Today I am going to try and make a list of Things to Do in September for the boys and Things to Do in October for the boys.
That way I won't have moments where I drive my poor husband crazy with a meltdown over not having something, like diapers, in the house with ONLY eight to ten weeks until the boys are supposed to arrive.
Again neurotic I know, but when you are pregnant and nesting and fully aware that there is no guarantee the boys will even stay in until full term you just want everything to be done NOW so you at least feel prepared. Of course, it's entirely possible these boys will take after their sister and stay in beyond their due date. Which wouldn't surprise me, but I can't help but prepare for their early arrival for my own peace of mind. Of course that probably means at the expense of my poor husband's sanity on occasion.
For instance, the garage. When we packed up our world and moved from the east coast to the west coast our daughter was just over a year old. I know that at that time I took all the newborn clothing (mostly neutral since we didn't find out she was girl until our daughter arrived), and packed it up together either in a box or a space bag in a tub. I didn't pay much attention to where it ended up because we were not even thinking about baby number two at that point.
Now here we are two years later with much of those boxes/tubs still piled in the back of our garage waiting to be organized. Enter summer in California where the daily temperature here in the valley is in the upper 90s every day. I certainly can't go out there and move boxes around at all, let alone in the heat while my husband's at work.
And since my husband is working full time and then spending most of his home time helping take care of all the errands and chores that I can't do, he hasn't made it out to the garage as yet. But he still hears about the garage nearly every day.
He even took the time to go take a peek yesterday, but it was too dark to see much as it was the end of a wonderful day.
Oh well, maybe next weekend he can get in there and find me the newborn baby items so I can take stock of what we have and finish filling in the gaps.
Yesterday was the first 'Saturday' we had in a long time. Since we had taken Saturday and Sunday to run around and get things done, we got to enjoy a lazy 'Saturday' when Labor Day itself rolled around.
We had a nice breakfast, picked up some groceries and then snuggled and watched a movie as we dozed during our daughter's nap. We even spent the evening outside enjoying the cool night air and good company of friends while the kids played.
It truly was a relaxing day. I actually had to go back in to change into pants and a sweatshirt! It was heaven. I have been big, pregnant and hot for so long it was a great change of pace.
We have our next doctor's appointment next week and will see the doctor every two weeks until we get to the very end and then I think we'll see the doctor every week.
We will find out where the babies are positioned at our next ultrasound in three weeks. At which point the boys will be out of room and in whatever position they are likely to stay. If Baby A (thus named because he is closest to the exit) is still breech we will be scheduling a c-section instead of waiting for labor to begin.
I'm torn on how I feel about this. As hard and I tried to make sure I would not have another c-section and as hard as I know six weeks of recovery with two new babies and a toddler to keep up with would be, part of me feels safer that at least I know I won't be having the babies in the car on the way to the hospital.
If I could have the controlled, safe environment (and the chosen date of arrival) of a c-section and still not have the six weeks, plus, of recovery wouldn't that be great?
Oh well, what will be will be. Like my daughter, I have a feeling these boys will arrive how and when they choose.
Fingers crossed that the little imps at least stay in until 37 weeks and at least five pounds each!
Including a trip to Babies R Us where we stocked up on a few items for the boys and I am continuing to feel just a bit closer to prepared.
I have two goals for September.
The first is to purchase that second crib mattress as our daughter is still using the first one on her toddler bed for the time being. The boys will share a crib for the first 5 or 6 months, which I think they will enjoy anyway, and then we will need to find a larger apartment.
The second is to purchase a package of diapers so there are some in the house. I know it may sound silly, but if I have diapers I can pack the small diaper bag for the boys at the hospital. Onesies, organic diapers, socks, hats...all those silly things that you realize you wish you had brought as you are sitting in the hospital looking through your bag full of items just for Mommy.
Today I am going to try and make a list of Things to Do in September for the boys and Things to Do in October for the boys.
That way I won't have moments where I drive my poor husband crazy with a meltdown over not having something, like diapers, in the house with ONLY eight to ten weeks until the boys are supposed to arrive.
Again neurotic I know, but when you are pregnant and nesting and fully aware that there is no guarantee the boys will even stay in until full term you just want everything to be done NOW so you at least feel prepared. Of course, it's entirely possible these boys will take after their sister and stay in beyond their due date. Which wouldn't surprise me, but I can't help but prepare for their early arrival for my own peace of mind. Of course that probably means at the expense of my poor husband's sanity on occasion.
For instance, the garage. When we packed up our world and moved from the east coast to the west coast our daughter was just over a year old. I know that at that time I took all the newborn clothing (mostly neutral since we didn't find out she was girl until our daughter arrived), and packed it up together either in a box or a space bag in a tub. I didn't pay much attention to where it ended up because we were not even thinking about baby number two at that point.
Now here we are two years later with much of those boxes/tubs still piled in the back of our garage waiting to be organized. Enter summer in California where the daily temperature here in the valley is in the upper 90s every day. I certainly can't go out there and move boxes around at all, let alone in the heat while my husband's at work.
And since my husband is working full time and then spending most of his home time helping take care of all the errands and chores that I can't do, he hasn't made it out to the garage as yet. But he still hears about the garage nearly every day.
He even took the time to go take a peek yesterday, but it was too dark to see much as it was the end of a wonderful day.
Oh well, maybe next weekend he can get in there and find me the newborn baby items so I can take stock of what we have and finish filling in the gaps.
Yesterday was the first 'Saturday' we had in a long time. Since we had taken Saturday and Sunday to run around and get things done, we got to enjoy a lazy 'Saturday' when Labor Day itself rolled around.
We had a nice breakfast, picked up some groceries and then snuggled and watched a movie as we dozed during our daughter's nap. We even spent the evening outside enjoying the cool night air and good company of friends while the kids played.
It truly was a relaxing day. I actually had to go back in to change into pants and a sweatshirt! It was heaven. I have been big, pregnant and hot for so long it was a great change of pace.
We have our next doctor's appointment next week and will see the doctor every two weeks until we get to the very end and then I think we'll see the doctor every week.
We will find out where the babies are positioned at our next ultrasound in three weeks. At which point the boys will be out of room and in whatever position they are likely to stay. If Baby A (thus named because he is closest to the exit) is still breech we will be scheduling a c-section instead of waiting for labor to begin.
I'm torn on how I feel about this. As hard and I tried to make sure I would not have another c-section and as hard as I know six weeks of recovery with two new babies and a toddler to keep up with would be, part of me feels safer that at least I know I won't be having the babies in the car on the way to the hospital.
If I could have the controlled, safe environment (and the chosen date of arrival) of a c-section and still not have the six weeks, plus, of recovery wouldn't that be great?
Oh well, what will be will be. Like my daughter, I have a feeling these boys will arrive how and when they choose.
Fingers crossed that the little imps at least stay in until 37 weeks and at least five pounds each!
Thursday, September 2, 2010
28 Weeks and Counting!
Yesterday was our 28 week appointment and ultrasound. Today we are 28 weeks and 2 days into our pregnancy and things are going great!
As usual I managed to work myself into a tizzy just days before the actual appointment. I've learned, even moreso since becoming pregnant again, that I am very much a 'prepare for the worst' personality. I tend to forget the 'hope for the best' and simply prepare for the worst, probably in an attempt to not be blindsided if bad occurs.
Since yesterday's appointment included my glucose test I was in rare form the last few days, driving my poor husband crazy with my mood swings and worrying. I have had hypoglycemic tendencies since I was a teen and am very aware of how sugar effects me. I've known for years that if I get up and have a powdered donut for breakfast, half an hour later my sugars will bottom out and I will feel horrible. If I want a donut, I have to eat something high in protein first, like eggs.
Now that we eat much healthier than I did as a teen, oh the things I used to put in this body, I don't have to worry as much about my sugars. When I was pregnant with my daughter, I realized somewhere near the end of my pregnancy that unlike before I was pregnant, I could actually eat things like donuts. Of course, upon discovering this I started a horrible habit of stopping at Dunkin' Donuts nearly every day to 'be a good girl' and have a raisin bagel with egg and cheese on it, followed of course by my reward for behaving: a large glazed twist!
Which probably explains the bulk of my weight gain arriving the last six weeks or so. :-)
With these boys, I have found the opposite to be true. I have to limit my sugars, or at least my super sugars. If I want a donut, even after an egg and cheese bagel, I have to settle for a simple cake donut because anything resembling a glazed donut or apple fritter will put me over the edge and I feel the effects.
Because of this, I was actually very worried about my glucose test. I know diabetes runs in my family, and my mother had gestational diabetes with my brother leading to a very specific diet AND insulin injections daily for her. She did have a few factors that I don't, but she also wasn't carrying two little imps.
I approached it rationally when I was pregnant with my daughter, eating a high protein lunch and then chasing it with the nasty orange glucose drink. I passed with flying colors.
This time I was so stressed out that I ate a good protein breakfast but didn't manage to eat anything more before I took the actual test at nearly noon because the morning got away from me and I was stressing about it. I got the red glucose test this time, which oddly reminded me of the hawaiin punch 'juice' boxes I drank on a couple occasions as a child. Thank goodness I kept it in the fridge, because even cold it was kinda nasty.
I thought for sure I would feel my sugars going crazy by the time we got to the doctor, but other than being about 20 minutes late we did just fine. We went right in to see the doctor, he checked me out and everything was fine. No signs of preterm labor, good blood pressure. I mention this because along with my worries/preparations about my appointment I was waiting to hear that I was dilating and my blood pressure was high due to pre-eclampsia. There is definitely such a thing as too informed and I'm there.
After I was all checked out and we had heard both heartbeats, the doctor said "see you in two weeks" and a nurse came in to draw blood for my glucose test. And then it was over. All that stress and everything was fine. I am such a worry wort.
We popped downstairs to a cafe in the building for a quick bite and then it was off to the ultrasound down the street.
We got checked in and realized we were about 20 minutes late for this one too. We went in pretty quickly and within minutes there were our boys, up on the big screen. I have a girlfriend who found out she was having a girl at her 20 week appointment and starting planning for such. Three days before her baby shower, she went in for another routine ultrasound and the technician said "Oops. Looks like you're having a boy!"
So of course the first things I asked was, "Are they still boys?"
She was very patient and the first thing she did was find that view for us. Yep! They are definitely little boys! LOL
You may recall the wonderful picture we got of them touching toes through the membrane between them and how sweet that was. You may also remember the fact that the entire time she was trying to get pictures of Baby B, his brother Baby A was kicking him in the head.
Well, turns out my boys give as good as they get!
The first picture she took was of Baby A, with Baby B's food resting on his chest. King of the Mountain I guess. About ten minutes later she got another such picture, this time Baby B had his foot resting on top of Baby A's head. Definitely boys!
We watched them play as she measured all their little parts, I couldn't believe how big their little legs looked! Of course, I know they were blown up on the screen, but considering you used to be able to see the whole baby at once and now it was like an octopus in there with limbs everywhere it was truly amazing!
After they were all measured she told us that they were each weighing in at 2 lbs 8 ounces. I was thrilled! My sister was born premature, 6 weeks or so, and only weighed 2 lbs 12 ounces at birth. I just wanted to hear that these boys were already at least 2 lbs with ten-ish weeks to go. Yeah boys, good job!
Lucky for us, all the machines in this facility have been upgraded to 3D. So once all the formalities and measuring were done, she switched wands, re-gelled my belly and we got to see our little boys faces for the first time.
It was so fabulous to see my wonder reflected on my husband's face as we saw our little boys for the first time. Baby A was cooperating more so we got a couple good pictures of his face. His brother we only got one before he grouchily rolled over. Of course the look on his face is priceless! Right before she snapped the picture his brother (Baby A giving some back!) kicked him in the face, so he was scowling as he slept when she took the picture!
It was truly amazing to see in the wonderful shot we got of Baby A's face that he looks just like his sister! He has her nose, mouth and chin. It was just breathtaking to see them already! If they didn't feel quite real before, they definitely do now.
Baby B
Baby A 
So far, no news on my glucose, but I figure no news is good news for now. In the meantime I left a message with the Dr. office and am waiting for a reply. Fingers crossed.
*Edit: Finally heard back! Yeah! Passed my glucose test fine. But I'm slightly anemic. So time to add another iron supplement and increase my iron rich foods. Tomorrow I'm going to attempt a lentil soup in my crock pot that includes all kinds of iron rich foods. Fingers crossed that it's yummy!
9 weeks to go until they are no longer considered premature at birth! Almost there!
Oh, and as of yesterday Baby A (who is closest to the exit, and would thus be born first) is breech. The ultrasound Dr. said that they still have room to move around, but at our next ultrasound in four weeks if he is still breech, we will most likely be scrapping the VBAC and planning for a c-section.
As usual I managed to work myself into a tizzy just days before the actual appointment. I've learned, even moreso since becoming pregnant again, that I am very much a 'prepare for the worst' personality. I tend to forget the 'hope for the best' and simply prepare for the worst, probably in an attempt to not be blindsided if bad occurs.
Since yesterday's appointment included my glucose test I was in rare form the last few days, driving my poor husband crazy with my mood swings and worrying. I have had hypoglycemic tendencies since I was a teen and am very aware of how sugar effects me. I've known for years that if I get up and have a powdered donut for breakfast, half an hour later my sugars will bottom out and I will feel horrible. If I want a donut, I have to eat something high in protein first, like eggs.
Now that we eat much healthier than I did as a teen, oh the things I used to put in this body, I don't have to worry as much about my sugars. When I was pregnant with my daughter, I realized somewhere near the end of my pregnancy that unlike before I was pregnant, I could actually eat things like donuts. Of course, upon discovering this I started a horrible habit of stopping at Dunkin' Donuts nearly every day to 'be a good girl' and have a raisin bagel with egg and cheese on it, followed of course by my reward for behaving: a large glazed twist!
Which probably explains the bulk of my weight gain arriving the last six weeks or so. :-)
With these boys, I have found the opposite to be true. I have to limit my sugars, or at least my super sugars. If I want a donut, even after an egg and cheese bagel, I have to settle for a simple cake donut because anything resembling a glazed donut or apple fritter will put me over the edge and I feel the effects.
Because of this, I was actually very worried about my glucose test. I know diabetes runs in my family, and my mother had gestational diabetes with my brother leading to a very specific diet AND insulin injections daily for her. She did have a few factors that I don't, but she also wasn't carrying two little imps.
I approached it rationally when I was pregnant with my daughter, eating a high protein lunch and then chasing it with the nasty orange glucose drink. I passed with flying colors.
This time I was so stressed out that I ate a good protein breakfast but didn't manage to eat anything more before I took the actual test at nearly noon because the morning got away from me and I was stressing about it. I got the red glucose test this time, which oddly reminded me of the hawaiin punch 'juice' boxes I drank on a couple occasions as a child. Thank goodness I kept it in the fridge, because even cold it was kinda nasty.
I thought for sure I would feel my sugars going crazy by the time we got to the doctor, but other than being about 20 minutes late we did just fine. We went right in to see the doctor, he checked me out and everything was fine. No signs of preterm labor, good blood pressure. I mention this because along with my worries/preparations about my appointment I was waiting to hear that I was dilating and my blood pressure was high due to pre-eclampsia. There is definitely such a thing as too informed and I'm there.
After I was all checked out and we had heard both heartbeats, the doctor said "see you in two weeks" and a nurse came in to draw blood for my glucose test. And then it was over. All that stress and everything was fine. I am such a worry wort.
We popped downstairs to a cafe in the building for a quick bite and then it was off to the ultrasound down the street.
We got checked in and realized we were about 20 minutes late for this one too. We went in pretty quickly and within minutes there were our boys, up on the big screen. I have a girlfriend who found out she was having a girl at her 20 week appointment and starting planning for such. Three days before her baby shower, she went in for another routine ultrasound and the technician said "Oops. Looks like you're having a boy!"
So of course the first things I asked was, "Are they still boys?"
She was very patient and the first thing she did was find that view for us. Yep! They are definitely little boys! LOL
You may recall the wonderful picture we got of them touching toes through the membrane between them and how sweet that was. You may also remember the fact that the entire time she was trying to get pictures of Baby B, his brother Baby A was kicking him in the head.
Well, turns out my boys give as good as they get!
The first picture she took was of Baby A, with Baby B's food resting on his chest. King of the Mountain I guess. About ten minutes later she got another such picture, this time Baby B had his foot resting on top of Baby A's head. Definitely boys!
We watched them play as she measured all their little parts, I couldn't believe how big their little legs looked! Of course, I know they were blown up on the screen, but considering you used to be able to see the whole baby at once and now it was like an octopus in there with limbs everywhere it was truly amazing!
After they were all measured she told us that they were each weighing in at 2 lbs 8 ounces. I was thrilled! My sister was born premature, 6 weeks or so, and only weighed 2 lbs 12 ounces at birth. I just wanted to hear that these boys were already at least 2 lbs with ten-ish weeks to go. Yeah boys, good job!
Lucky for us, all the machines in this facility have been upgraded to 3D. So once all the formalities and measuring were done, she switched wands, re-gelled my belly and we got to see our little boys faces for the first time.
It was so fabulous to see my wonder reflected on my husband's face as we saw our little boys for the first time. Baby A was cooperating more so we got a couple good pictures of his face. His brother we only got one before he grouchily rolled over. Of course the look on his face is priceless! Right before she snapped the picture his brother (Baby A giving some back!) kicked him in the face, so he was scowling as he slept when she took the picture!
It was truly amazing to see in the wonderful shot we got of Baby A's face that he looks just like his sister! He has her nose, mouth and chin. It was just breathtaking to see them already! If they didn't feel quite real before, they definitely do now.
Baby B
Baby A 
So far, no news on my glucose, but I figure no news is good news for now. In the meantime I left a message with the Dr. office and am waiting for a reply. Fingers crossed.
*Edit: Finally heard back! Yeah! Passed my glucose test fine. But I'm slightly anemic. So time to add another iron supplement and increase my iron rich foods. Tomorrow I'm going to attempt a lentil soup in my crock pot that includes all kinds of iron rich foods. Fingers crossed that it's yummy!
9 weeks to go until they are no longer considered premature at birth! Almost there!
Oh, and as of yesterday Baby A (who is closest to the exit, and would thus be born first) is breech. The ultrasound Dr. said that they still have room to move around, but at our next ultrasound in four weeks if he is still breech, we will most likely be scrapping the VBAC and planning for a c-section.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)