29 WEEK OBGYN APPOINTMENT

We had another check-up today to hear the heartbeats and for me to get measured. I think I mentioned this before, but we start going to my OB every 2 weeks now, with an ultrasound every other time. I’m excited to see the boys more often. I wish I could do an ultrasound everyday. :) But no ultrasound today…next time!

It was another great appointment. Getting weighed isn’t getting much easier, but I know that means the babies are healthy. I’ve gained 3 pounds in the last 2 weeks. That puts me up to 28 pounds gained so far in this pregnancy of 29 weeks. Their heartbeats were good and strong, in the 140’s as usual. My fundal height is measuring 38.5 inches, which means - 38.5 weeks. This means that I am now officially bigger than full term for a singleton pregnancy. (A woman who is 40 weeks pregnant with a single baby usually measures at 36 weeks.) What does this mean? Well, I can’t get much bigger in that direction, but I’ll start spreading to the sides. And everyone tells me that I don’t look pregnant from the back. Which is true – my babies bump is all in the front and nothing on the sides. So will I loose that? We shall see!

So, here I am at 29 weeks with 11 weeks to go. And I’m experiencing everything a full term woman with a single baby is feeling. This pretty much means I have 11 weeks left of feeling “full term.” HOLY COW!!! It’s sort of like I skipped my whole 2nd trimester, going straight from the 1st to the 3rd. And the 3rd is lasting 6 months, instead of 3. Everyone told me their 2nd trimester was great and they felt wonderful with so much energy. Ha…I WISH!

Good thing I haven’t experienced a previous singleton pregnancy, or else I may be freaking out. Cause this just feels “normal” to me, as I don’t have anything else personally to compare it to. Does this mean if I have a future singleton pregnancy, it’s gonna seem so easy? Ha…who knows?!

My doctor confirmed that this is in fact true. (That I am feeling at this point what someone feels in their last weeks of pregnancy.) I then asked him if it was acceptable to tell others fact that, hoping they’d give me lots of sympathy. He said I can sure try, but it probably won’t work! And he said once the babies come, it for sure won’t be about me anymore. Everyone will just care for the babies. Thus, he told me to milk it for all it’s worth now!

So, if I complain to get a little sympathy, please give it to me. HA! Just don’t say what my older sister always tells me, “It’s only going to get worse!” And I assure her that payback is a $*%&@! (wink, wink)

TWIN BOY NURSERY

We are almost finished with the nursery. As if that's a surprise to anyone, since I'm such a planner. We’ve been working on it little by little for the past month and a half. Of course there are more personalized things I want to hand make after the babies arrive, but for right now, I’m so in love with it! The room is so very very teeny tiny as it can barely hold the two cribs, a bookcase, and a dresser. But it’s just perfect. And the earth toned safari animal theme turned out adorable.

Walking past the nursery and peeking in just warms my heart. I don't know when I will really believe it's all "really happening!!" Especially now with Baby Showers occurring, we are receiving more precious baby goodies and supplies. Seeing it filling with all the toys, books, and baby clothes is amazing. I love washing the clothes and folding the little teeny tiny outfits. I've imagined doing that for a long time and now that it's happening, I just smile and smile! How can those clothes be so tiny...I love it!

Here are a few photos below of the nursery in progress. (I’ll post more of the finished nursery later, as not everyone has seen it in person that we want to see it yet!)

Example photo of the nursery theme:

Nick putting together the cribs!

Painting:





Border:

Nick working on saying on wall:

GLUCOSE TEST & 27 WEEK ULTRASOUND DAY

Today was my glucose test at the clinic. I've heard so many people complain about how ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTING the juice is that you have to drink. And how they could barely swallow it, almost threw up, were sick to their stomachs for the whole day, etc. etc. I was a little worried, but told myself beforehand that “who cares, I've been through worse.” So, naturally expecting and fearing the worst, when I arrived to the lab, I started downing that thing without stopping, just so I wouldn’t have any time to taste it. Eventually I had to stop to breath and I was amazingly surprised when I realized this didn't really taste that bad. It just tastes like really strong sugary Kool-Aid or something. Or maybe really flat pop. Of course it’s not something I’d voluntarily choose to drink, but it wasn’t disgusting like everyone had said. (BTW: they did give me a choice of orange or fruit punch. I chose orange since that’s what others have recommended to me. Seemed to be a good choice!) Afterward, it did leave a weird coating in my throat and I did feel a tiny bit uneasy and weak. Although, I think that’s mostly because you have to fast and not eat anything after midnight the night before the test. So, I was starving!! My ultimate conclusion regarding the glucose test is one of two things - that either I must have a really strong stomach or else everyone else is just really really wimpy. Could be a little of both. HA HA!

Then off Nick and I went upstairs to fit in my ultrasound appointment with our OBGYN before heading back down for my blood test. And what a wonderful appointment it was! We were so happy to see those little babes again. Their heartbeats are great, measuring right around 140. Baby A weighs about 2 pounds 2 ounces (998 grams) and Baby B weighs about 2 pounds 3 ounces (999 grams). That puts the boys in the 41 percentile. 50% is “normal” for a singleton. So, a little smaller than “normal” but that is just fine for twins.

I’ve gained 5 pounds since my last appointment 3 weeks ago, which is obviously over than the suggested “1 pound gain a week” at this point for singletons! But again – this is twins, so I’m going to gain more. I’m starting to feel more okay with that fact, although I’d be kidding myself if I said it wasn’t hard to see those numbers creep up on the scale (creep up…wait a minute…who am I kidding?, they’re not creeping…they’re jumping on fast, taking hold, and weighing me down!!)

And…drum roll please…I am measuring…36 weeks!! So since I’m about full term size for a singleton pregnancy, my doctor has said I need to start relaxing more. He recommended 1.5 hours each early afternoon of lying on my left side to increase blood flow to the babes. This is just to try to help me take it easy, which will help a lot in a multiple pregnancy. This will force me to finally get some reading done that I’ve been putting off! (Or maybe some extra naps!!)

Watching the twins on the ultrasound was such a joy. I could watch it all day long. We got a great view of Baby A’s face. We could see his mouth open and close. Baby B was a little more shy, we just got a profile view of his face and his hand was up by his mouth. Adorable! I wonder if this is what their personalities will end up being like! Oh, and it was confirmed again – we saw the family jewels. So yes, they are still both boys!

As far as how the babies are positioned: Baby A’s head is facing down with his feet up. (Which is a great position for labor and he doesn’t have room to move, so he’s staying put there.) But right now, Baby B’s head is up with his feet down. Baby B does have lots of room to move, so we’ll wait to see if he shifts. If not, that’d be a breech position and we may opt for a c-section. Time will tell.

After the ultrasound, we went back down after 1 hour to get my blood taken for the glucose test. Later in the day, I received the news that everything was great. I passed! Thank goodness!

Today was just another day of thanking God for these precious miracles growing inside of me. Sometimes I still think that this is all just a dream, but then I remember that dreams do come true…and miracles happen every day.

WEEK 24 - 26 SYMPTOM UPDATE

Week 24:
I’ve started noticing that my balance is really off. Guess it’s time for me to not attempt any crazy stunts anymore or stand on chairs (Not that I have been!). I have butter fingers and frequently drop things (Thankfully nothing has broken yet!). Every so often my spacing is off and I run into corners of tables, walls, etc. (I’m slowly regressing!) Tripping has started occurring sometimes as well. Only once has this happened in public and thank goodness I didn’t fall down. My sister told me to be careful, as in pregnancy she’s experienced her legs just suddenly giving out and she fell to the ground. CRAZY!

My gums have started bleeding a little when I floss. That kinda freaked me out at first, but I read that this is normal. Even had a bloody nose this week and that hasn’t happened during my pregnant yet.


Week 25:
This has definitely been the week of “swollenness.” My feet and ankles are just crazy! They’re hot, tight, and sore. I try to soak them in cold water when I can which really helps. Actually, it feels like my whole body is swollen. Even bracelets feel tight on my wrist. And when I look in the mirror – pretty sure my face is gaining weight too. (I’m just blaming it on water weight and not that my face is actually gaining weight!!)


Week 26:
Sleeping has become quite the event. I toss and turn and sometimes wake up for an hour at a time desperately wishing to fall back asleep. I know I’m supposed to sleep on my left side, which is best to give the babies oxygen. But when I lay on my side, my back throbs. And then when I switch from side to side - It’s hard to turn over as my legs are so sore. The muscles or ligaments (not sure which!) in my legs that I used to move my body are as sore as can be. It must be those ligaments that are stretching to get ready to give birth.

I’ve created quite the interesting setup of pillows arranged around me. Poor Nick barely has room to move. I use a full body pillow to prop under my belly and lay between my legs. Then I have a flatter pillow to prop up behind my back so I can sort of do a side/back lay all at the same time. Now I’m also going to try propping my feet up on a pillow at the bottom of the bed to try to keep my swollen feet a little more elevated to help reduce the swelling at night. And of course I have my favorite pillow for my head that I just could never live without!

Here’s a recent photo of me at 26 weeks!