Belly Picture

Here's a belly picture to keep everyone happy! My mom took this one when she was in town last week. It almost looks fake...

Week 35

Another week that we've survived with my belly intact! The babies are hanging in there, so I'm thankful that at least in this point of their lives they're cooperating with me. I don't expect it to last, don't worry. I might be delusional about what's ahead, but I do know that the moment they make their appearance, they'll be fully in charge. They just let me think that I have a say for now.

Twin A has been working really hard on making space for herself on my right side.. my upper belly is tight over there and the stretch marks have been appearing like crazy in the last few days. Neither one of them mess with my ribs too much, but it's probably because they're too busy trying to be the furthest down in my pelvis. Definitely getting more pressure on my pubic bone the last few days. Makes it SO much fun to try and walk to the bathroom!

We'll hit week 36 tomorrow, so they'll be full-term at that point. I have an appointment with the midwives tomorrow to go over the latest draft of our birth plan, so hopefully we'll be good to go on that. They'll also check my cervix to see if all the rest I've been getting has helped in keeping them in longer.

I'm getting better at typing sideways... = )

Kelsi has "pregnancy brain" worse than I do! Every conversation she has with people includes the phrase "I forgot" at least once.. That includes parents, friends, cousins, etc. Maybe once school starts on Tuesday her mental wiring will go back to normal. She's very ready to be the big sister, though, and is taking the title very seriously at this point.

More soon!!

Week 34

Another week and the girls are still hanging out inside my belly! There's only one week to go before I give them permission to want to leave. No way am I going to evict them (i.e. induce), but we are nearing the end. Strange to think about for me... you mean that they really will come out at some point? hee hee hee. Someday it will become real. Someday SOON for sure!

Grandma Sue's visit is almost over for this trip... she'll be back to help some more once the girls are here. Always a big help to have her here, so we'll miss her, but I know that I need her MUCH MORE once the girls are born. Plus, my bed rest is only for another week, so I'll be able to do more around the house soon. We'll see how long they stay once I'm active again.

Week 33

Still hanging out and laying on my side(s) for the most part. Makes it really interesting to try and type on the laptop, but I'll manage long enough for a quick update. We're working on the last few things to be ready for their arrival -- like packing our bag for the hospital! But I think for the most part we're as ready as we're ever going to be. Now it's just hoping that we get to wait until at least September 1st for their arrival, since that day they will officially hit 36 weeks.

At this point every day and week they stay in my belly is really important, since the last of the developments are going on, like being able to maintain their body temperature and have their sucking reflex, etc. Grandma Sue is coming for another visit this weekend, so that will help me to have someone around the house during the day. Someone to take Kelsi to the park! = )

Here's to at least two more weeks!!

Week 32

Sorry for the delay in updates... it's been a busy week of appointments! So as of Tuesday at my OB/GYN appointment, everything looked really good and we were on track. Then Wednesday I went in for my ultrasound and the babies are doing well - Twin A is 4 pounds 7 ounces with a big noggin like her daddy and Twin B is 5 pounds 2 ounces with a big belly and a TON of hair like her momma (and still 80th percentile)! No new pictures, though. They're getting bigger and more difficult when it comes to pictures. But then they checked and my cervix is getting a lot shorter so they did a non-stress test just to check for contractions (not the babies' heartrates). And I wasn't having any, so they didn't keep me there longer, but they did decide to put me on a drug for keeping them away to make sure it doesn't become pre-term labor. Today, I went back to my OB to check in with her now that we know more of what's going on and she put me officially on bed rest. Which means not too much is going to change since I was already spending the majority of my days laying down. Hopefully the girls can wait two or three more weeks to arrive!! I know I can!

So we're all doing well, but the doctors are making sure we stay that way by having me cut out any activity that I hadn't already. It's hard to sit and type at this point, so I will sign off..... back to the bed!

We're WEAK!

So, after much deliberation, we finally decided to find out what the babies' genders were going to be. And...... they're girls! Which means the wondering of if they are identical or fraternal lives on.

Kelsi is very excited at having two little sisters, while Marty and I are just happy that we all continue to be healthy. More to come!

Week 31

Yeah, I'm still not creative with my entry titles...

So here we are at week 31 and I survived the heat last week! Phew! Much better today and hopefully it'll stay that way for a little while. We had our last multiples class at the hospital this week and got to tour the birthing suites. It looks like we'll have wireless internet in our room, so we'll see about taking our laptop so we can email when the twins arrive. Though I'm not sure the laptop will be high on our list of things to pack when I'm in labor, so I make no guarantees. = )

More belly growth and strong foot movements by the babies. Man, they sure make a ruckus when I'm sitting in the car. We're not sure if that's because they like it or not, but it certainly makes them go nuts in my belly.

We have appointments with the lactation consultant at the hospital and one of the midwives in my OB/GYN's group to make sure we're all set for breastfeeding and to see about having a midwife on the delivery team since we are still hoping for an unmedicated birth for both babies. The appt's aren't until week 32, so it'll be a little while before I can report in on how they went. Apparently, since the midwife is directly affiliated with the hospital (rather than a birth center like our previous one) there is a chance she will be able to attend the birth. I'm excited at the thought, but we have to meet with her first to see what the options are. And we still have 4 more weeks of our Bradley classes, so we're ironing out the birth plan at this point.

Week 30

We're cooking now! It's currently 105 degrees outside. Um, I didn't request that!! Makes it tough to do much, but I got some errands done in the morning, visited my work (to show off my belly progress) and now we're just holed up in the house trying to keep cool. We'll see how much it cools down this evening before our next multiples birthing class at the hospital.. hopefully they have better a cooling system than we do!

Other than the heat, there's not much to report.. Braxton Hicks contractions every once in a while, but for the most part I don't notice them, I'll just happen to touch my belly and notice it got HARD. Lots of foot movement, too. Not so much kicking anymore, but repositioning their feet and making my belly do all sorts of fun motions.

Week 29

I got the results back from the blood work they did this past week at my appointments and I'm doing good -- not anemic, no gestational diabetes, and since I'm Rh negative, they checked to make sure I hadn't developed antibodies to the possibly Rh positive babies and I haven't. Woo hoo! We had our first multiples birthing class at the hospital this evening, and it's nice to be around other parents with twins coming. We don't get that opportunity very often yet! I am going to attend a Mothers of Multiples meeting soon, so that will expand our support group for the fun we have coming our way. But we're all healthy and doing well, so there's not really much else to report!

Ultrasound - Week 28

Marty, the babies, and I went in for our monthly ultrasound yesterday and everyone is doing well. Twin B is measuring 3 lbs 5 ounces which is 80th percentile for a single baby! Woo hoo! Twin A was being stubborn as usual and they couldn't get all the measurements they needed, but still got an approximate weight of 3 pounds. Both are now head down, and will most likely stay that way for the duration of the pregnancy.

The first picture is a profile of Twin A - it's much easier to point things out directly, but the forehead is on the right, nose pointing up, and body on the left.

The next picture is also of Twin A. This one's a face shot, but is tilted almost upside down. The top of the head is in the lower right, and then you can see eyes, nose, mouth and chin as you look to the upper left.

The third picture Twin B makes an appearance (faintly). The ultrasound technician had to really try to get this shot of B's face and she labeled it, so it's easier to figure out what things are.

Week 28

Week 28 brought the arrival of baby shower #1 with some college, PTA, and engineering friends. It was a nice Saturday afternoon of playing a few games and chatting with everyone.

Here's a few photos of me opening gifts.. April handmade those green and yellow bibs - very cool!

Thanks to everyone who could make it!

Grandma Sue's Visit

Grandma Sue has come and gone... we gots lots done while she was here, like painting the changing table and re-painting the old chest of drawers from red to lavender. The dresser hadn't been painted since my dad finished them for my sister back in the day. So I got to sand them down and repaint.

I also mentioned earlier how we got the double stroller put together and fit the infant seats in it. See? We can do it! Now we just have to see how it goes when there are actual babies in the seats.

Week 27

New pictures! These were taken last week when I went out to lunch with my friend April. Thanks April!

Everything is going well, the babies kicked a bit during the 4th of July fireworks show we went to, and the nursery is coming along. More pictures once we're done.

We did get the double stroller put together last week and practiced getting the infant seats in and out of it. We'll have to do it a lot more before we're ready for them to arrive.

Week 26

So I'm home from work, but I'm definitely not stir-crazy yet! I'm sleeping a ton and eating lots. There's been quite a bit more movement as the weeks go on, so that's been fun. This week my momma's coming to visit so we can get the nursery started. Yippee! I kept putting that off until I was done working, and now I don't have to anymore. It's over 90 degrees right now, so I'm staying in the house for at least today and tomorrow. It's supposed to cool down again this week, but until then, I'm staying out of the heat!

At my last checkup, the babies' heartrates were in the 140's and my blood pressure is doing well, so all three of us are good to go!

I wanted to get the ultrasound pictures up for everyone last night and then I was in too great a need for sleep to finish up telling you all about what's going on. My last day of work is tomorrow so that I can concentrate on being a good incubator to my parasites full-time. Last night was also the first session for the Bradley classes that Marty and I are taking this summer. Even though with the twins my chance of c-section is higher, we want to be fully educated in husband-coached natural birth so when Twin A decides it's time to come out, we will be ready! Hopefully Twin B will be as adequately ready for arrival when A is. = ) For those of you who aren't sure why Twin A would be in charge - it's because Twin A is lower in my belly and will be the first to exit when it comes time.

I'm working really hard on getting lots of protein. Our Bradley instructor put it a good way: body builders eat a lot of protein to build their bodies, so pregnant women need to for the same reason - you are literally building a body. (Or two in my case!) I haven't been counting grams, but according to the doctor at the ultrasound yesterday since the babies and myself are all doing fine, I just need to keep doing what I'm doing. Which means I'm going to keep doing my modified kickboxing to get some activity in and eating lots. :) And I'll be getting more sleep once I can get naps in on weekdays in addition to weekends. If anyone else reading this is expecting twins, definitely get Dr. Barbara Luke's book: "When you're expecting twins, triplets, or quads." Lots of good info for what it takes to carry more than one baby!

I feel a lot more of the twins' activity now.. they were especially active during the ultrasound yesterday - they must have thought it was playtime! "Avoid the wand" was more like it! They couldn't be 100% sure of the genders because of their positioning (Twin A had closed legs), so the mystery remains. And it's been fun having Marty be able to feel their movement as well.

Week 24 - Another Ultrasound!

So we had our monthly ultrasound done today.. Still not the most cooperative little ones when it comes to photos, but we got a few.. Twin A is now 1 pound 10 ounces and Twin B is 1 pound 12 ounces. Those are each just above average for a singleton pregnancy, so that means we're all doing really well! Apparently Twin B likes to sit on A's head... which made the ultrasound technician's job really fun when she was trying to measure things in A's brain.

The photos! Can't forget those.. Twin A's face: the top of the head is on the right of the picture and those are most likely hands on the left side of the photo. You can see the eye sockets fairly well in the picture.



Then, we get to Twin B's face shot.. and B is facing the opposite direction, so the top of the head is on the left, and the rest of the body is on the right.


And we managed to just barely get a profile of Twin B again this time (we have yet to see A in profile!).That's the noggin on the left, facing up with the belly and a hand on the right.

More movin' (by the babies!)

So the twins are confirming their recent growth spurt as my belly is popping and I'm feeling a lot more movement now. Even Marty got to feel some of the action this afternoon with his hand on my belly. Twin A seems to be in a better position for me to feel on a consistent basis, but Twin B got up under my ribs yesterday and made for the first of many uncomfortable afternoons. LOL

I'm still doing kickboxing, but just the strength half of the hour (modified), not the cardio portion. It keeps me social, it's only 30 minutes, and I have better control over my heartrate. Everyone's keeping an eye on me to make sure I don't overdo it, so no worries. I'll have to keep visiting them after my doctors tell me I can't go anymore so they can see the progress my belly makes. = )

Our next ultrasound is next Tuesday, so not too much longer to wait for more pictures!

Movin' right along...

I guess it's a good thing that there's not much new stuff to report! I spent the holiday weekend eating and sleeping most of the time. I now take morning and afternoon naps, plus rest after dinner. It's tough work having these puppies growing in me. My paying day job was tough today.. I only got a morning nap in. Not quite sure how I'll make it through another month there, but we'll play it by ear and if I have to stop sooner, then I will. The babies are in charge now!

I think Twin A just kicked or punched me... Someday I'll feel them consistently enough to distinguish what's what. At this point I figure if there's no intestinal sound that accompanies the movement, then it must be a kid.

The belly demands food!

And once again, there really isn't much news to report. I feel a bit of pressure in my belly from time to time, but no flutters like everyone described. My last appointment with my "regular" OB went fine, everything is progressing smoothly. I'm still doing kickboxing and trying to stay active, knowing that I also need to get tons of rest when I do. We've cut down on my hours at work, and at this point are looking at the end of June for my last day at that particular job. Then of course I transition to full-time incubator for the little parasites. = ) Until then, I just get to make sure I lay down for at least 20 minutes every day when I get home from work to get the pressure off my cervix. Naps are good!!

It's amazing the amount of food I'm supposed to be eating to keep these kiddos healthy and happy. They do a good job of reminding me to eat every two hours though, you have to give them credit. LOL

I don't have any other appointments for a couple weeks, so there won't be much new to report for a little while longer. We also don't have the multiples birthing class starting until July, so lots to look forward to in the months ahead as we get prepared.

Back to the couch to lay down!

Week 21

Well, the kiddos in my belly are doing fine, growing normally, and are healthy. Twin A is 13 ounces and twin B is 11 ounces. We still aren't finding out the gender, though it was tempting when the doctor comes in and says "We know and if you want to know, too, just ask." Oy! Now we want to know!! But we didn't ask. Yet. LOL We also got a group photo today -- they wouldn't cooperate for faces or profiles, but we could see the heads together by the end of the session. (At the beginning of the ultrasound, B's feet were right by A's head, so they're moving around in there!).