Another Monday morning...

Here is a photo of me, mom & Tawni taken about 2 years ago in Phx.

This weekend was a killer! I'm so exhausted that being at work actually feels a bit restful. Totally weird.

Friday after work we went out to eat with Guy's friend, Rick, and his wife, Adel, and their son, Nicolas. It was nice to finally meet her as we have spent a lot of time with Rick and Nicolas. I also have some yummy left overs to eat today if they are still good. But word of advice... If you do not like blue cheese DO NOT try Gorgonzola cheese. Wow, that is some strong and pretty icky cheese.

Sabrina and her mom came to visit from California. Sabrina & her husband, Junior (or Rod or Herminio) used to live here in NC. Junior used to work with Guy. We spent most of Saturday together and then Sunday evening as well. They were running me around like crazy to get those babies to come... LOL. Nope, these babies seem to want to stick around for the long haul. They also helped to organize the dresser I have the baby clothes in. The drawers were completely crammed full making it hard to figure out what is all in there. They pulled everything out. Anything over newborn or 0-3 months was packing in two boxes. Then the rest was folded and placed back in with like items. Now it is easy to see what the girl and boy have available to wear. One less worry and detail to attend to. We also went out to lunch on Saturday and dinner on Sunday with them.

I had my last baby shower on Saturday. It was so much fun and the perfect size guest turn out. There were just enough people to have a ton of fun and converse with everyone! My friend's Maria and Heidi made the most incredible cake. No, I didn't eat any, but everyone said it tasted great. Heidi baked the cake. Maria made it into a diaper bag! And she also made the accessories out of edible stuff too. There are tons of photos I'll put up when I get the chance. We still are missing a bunch of stuff we need though. I spend 3 hours after church making my sluggish (you know at a snails pace) way around BRU and Target Sunday. Every once in a while it was prudent to find a place to sit and rest. Then they didn't have many of the things we need in stock or it was discontinued.

This morning I woke up at 4:15 and was unable to get back to sleep. Now I am alternating feeling super tired and just a little tired. It feels like these babies are going to stay in forever! But I'm now ready for them to come out since the OB said it would be OK. It would work out for us schedule wise with all that we have going on this month. It is a crazy month of stuff going on. But since when do kids follow what we want them to do?

Starting on Thursday I noticed some swelling. And I gained 3 pounds in 4 days. By Sunday my legs and arms were quite puffy looking. This morning all signs of swelling were magically gone, but I didn't weigh myself. Now all I have is bright red skin which is weird too. The skin that is bright red is my legs, hands and occasionally my face and belly. But it doesn't feel like I have high blood pressure. Tomorrow morning is my appointment so it should be fine to wait until then to talk to them about these weird things.

Tawni just called me this morning. She has had two episodes in the last 12 hours of leaking fluid. I told her to get herself to the OB ASAP and call them to let them know she is on the way. She is only 28 weeks pg and has the placenta previa. So it is vital she make sure any sign of preterm labor or premature rupture of her membranes is looked at right away. Sam came home and they went to the OB. She said she would give me a call either way to let me know what's happening.

Results of the ultra sound and OB appointments

The ultra sound photos are all face shots. If you click on the photo it will bring up a larger version for you to look at. Baby A is the boy. Baby B is the girl. The AAA and BBB are in the upper left hand side of the photo. The first shot is a profile of the boy with his mouth wide open practicing his breathing. He is also facing into his placenta which is the big blob taking up the upper left side of the photo. You can also see his umbilical cord. What you can't see are his eyes or forehead as those are part of the white blur to the upper right. There may not have been enough of the gel which enables the scanning wand to transmit the image. The middle shot is of the girl facing you. From the left is her chest, then chin and cheek, mouth fading out, her nose is pretty defined, then the eye is the black space the shape of an eye with the forehead headed to the right from there. The last shot is of the girls face and chest profile with her mouth closed. The white blob by itself in the lower right side black area is her ear.

The babies are great weights and measurements for their gestational age of 33 weeks 0 days. The boy is measuring two weeks ahead and the girl is one week ahead on the growth curve. The weights can be off by a pound in either direction as they are based on the head & abdomen circumference and the length of the femur and upper arm bones all averaged out. The boy is estimated at 5 lbs 3 oz and the girl is estimated at 4 lbs 13 oz. I thought they would be about 5.5 lbs but am very happy they are doing so well. And as much as they move and kick they probably already have great dense muscles and weigh more. :-)

The OB appointment went OK overall. This is not my favorite OB of the group. She is very pro c-section and really minimized my concerns about recovery from surgery. I mentioned that my concern with a c/s is how poorly I've recovered from past surgeries. She tried to say I would have just as hard of a time with a vaginal delivery and would most likely tear or have an episiotomy anyway. That's pretty interesting. Of course, either way is unpleasant, messy and requires recovery. But how can major surgery compare with a vaginal delivery? Not sure.... I am OK with having a c/s if needed. She basically said I should plan on one. She did say she would write me out of work whenever I'm ready. That was a tempting treat dangled in front of me, but I just couldn't say yes. Maybe it's the idea of future bragging rights to say I managed to work full time up until the end. Even though I do nothing at all when not at work and poor Guy is at his wits end trying to take care of the house, me, work and pack for our move. That's not really anything to brag about later other then how awesome my husband is. And he is awesome!! Then there is also that loss of income and the stress I know my coworker, Gwen, will be under when I leave. The income won't be a total loss as my short term disability will kick in at 60% of my income not taxed. So it won't be much of a loss. Gwen was definitely crossing my mind as I was sitting there thinking no way could I do that to her yet. All my tests came back great with no signs of any of the pregnancy related complications like toxemia or any of the many others.

And lastly - We have graduated to weekly appointments from here on out! And the OB said if I go into labor they will not stop it anymore since the babies had such wonderful estimated weights! We are down to the last little bit now.... That could last 5 more weeks. lol

Monday morning update

The photo is of Michael (nephew, son of Melia) and Michele's bird. I think he kinda looks like Harry Potter in this blurry photo.

This morning I had some fluid leakage, but it wasn't hardly anything at all. So maybe I am starting to lose my mucus plug. I hear that's pretty gross, and doesn't mean labor will start anytime soon.

Yesterday I made it through all of church! Mostly because Guy wasn't there trying to get me to go home right away. And Guy put a cushy hall chair in the Relief Society room where both the Spanish Sunday School class and Relief Society meeting are held. So I was almost comfortable and able to sit through both meetings. (Clarification - Guy was working so he was only able to attend Sacrament meeting while on duty) Both Guy and I like to go to the Spanish Sunday School because it is helpful for both of us in our quest to learn Spanish (very slowly). I have a program on all the computers I occasionally look at. My work computer flashes Spanish phrases when the screen saver is on.

I haven't gained any weight in two weeks. The babies are taking all of my fat for themselves because this belly of mine is getting bigger by the minute! It is painful a lot of the time now with one baby still trying his/her best to break my right rib. The last we knew it was the boy's head right there, but they have been moving a lot so I'm not sure. Back to the weight gain, I've been adding two brownies a day to my diet, from a batch I made for Guy (who's hardly had any), to try and help with the weight gain. It will be really interesting to see how much the babies have grown at our growth u/s tomorrow. My work is letting me work today and take my holiday tomorrow so that will be less time missed from work and a whole day spent with Guy who is also working today. It was very nice of them!

We also made a final decision on our next housing venture. The owner from the house we have an offer on to buy was being very stubborn about the repairs to the home only offering a $300 credit on about $800 worth of reasonable repairs. I also wanted to be really stubborn about them doing the repairs as we are not thinking we'll be in that home for very long. This means we would have to deal with them in addition to the flooring issues and putting in a fence we already have to deal with. The agents ended up splitting the cost neither parties would cover to get the deal to go through. YEAH! We had started to reconsider the renting option again. Now we are in the contract for good where we can't back out without losing our earnest money, but we think it's a good decision overall. Hopefully, the minor improvements and paint colors we choose will make the house more appealing when we go to sell it. Did I mention we still have back up buyers on our current home ready to put in an offer if the current contract falls through? This makes us very happy because it is not very common in this market.

Baby Boy picture

On our last ultrasound we were able to see a picture of the little boy. The girl would not co-operate. So without further to do, here he is. Thank goodness he looks nothing like his dad.

We need to add this is a side profile face shot only. I like many others probably wouldn't have been able to tell if no one told me.... shan

Fun photo of Guy

This photo was taken back at Christmas. There's a reason you can't see any lower.... lol The pants cut off where the photo does!

Went to the hospital again - so did Melia

Melia is Guy's sister who is my age (I think). Or maybe Ngaire is my age and Melia is a year older then us. Anyway, that doesn't matter. It all started for us when I received an instant message at work from Mum in Australia on Wednesday. She said Melia had a stroke. I didn't get much information, but I don't think she had much either other then she was taken to one hospital then transferred to another. I called Guy who jumped online, but wasn't able to talk more then a minute or two with her by instant messanger. We tried calling Melia's number that evening and he was able to talk to her husband Wayne. He didn't have much to say other then they don't think the first event was a stroke and she just had another event and he is no longer with her and didn't know what was going on. Neither of us have heard anything since. I'm thinking the crisis is over or someone would have let us know.

Last Saturday was my weird hospital day. I had asked Guy to unload some boxes into the house from the Trooper when he got home at 5 am Saturday so I could pack. When I got up I just didn't feel right. I kept having pains and what I had thought was baby movement for 2 days but they were a bit worse and every time Guy touched me or felt the babies move it was irritating me. It finally dawned on me about 6 pm I was having regular painful contractions. DUH! So I started timing them and they were about 5 minutes apart. I called my friend Aleesha to get some contraction/labor advice. She was great. We were also having severe weather in our area so that was a concern if they and the weather got worse. I went to the store to get some milk and lottery tickets. On the drive back I noticed I was only driving 35 when normally it would be more like 60 mph. So I broke down and called the OB oncall. She agreed that I should come in. Now all these painful contractions were still manageable and there period like cramping, but I was really thinking and hoping if we went in they could get everything stopped. Guy was at work and asked if someone else could go with me as he was thinking the same thing. My friend, Erin, from church who is a Douala was able to take me up there. Even on the way the contractions calmed down and were better though it wasn't comfortable and the cramping was still there. At the hospital they got me all hooked up to the monitors. They were able to get both babies heart beats on there. I was having contractions still and some 'irritable cervix' showings. The babies tollerated the contractions wonderfully with increased heart beats during them. The nurse who was assigned to us was having a terrible time with the computer. It was not working for her at all. They ended up doing a few tests and giving me a tributaline shot again. The urine test showed a tiny bit of bacteria so my OB thought a very early urinary tract infection was causing the contractions. She did a physical check of my cervix. It still felt closed and high but 50% effaced. So the contractions definitely did to a little 'damage'. The tributaline shot got everything calmed down, and Erin took me home about 1 am with a perschription to knock out the UTI. Now I for sure need to keep the babies in until 34 weeks because the UTI perschription causes a blood issue if the babies are born while on it or shortly after taking it. Fun! Another worry.

Though since Saturday the contractions are back to what they used to be with no cramping. And I haven't gained any weight in two weeks. The babies are certainly bigger though. I'm fast running out of fat for them to cannibalize. And it is harder to eat much since my digestive system is so slow and getting squished again with the babies rapid growth.

My sister, Tawni, hasn't had a very good follow up OB visit. She was diagnosed with Placenta Previa around 21 weeks pregnant. She just had her next visit with what was supposed to be a perinatologist last week at 25 weeks. It was a terrible visit. I'm hoping she can go thru the military and get some better service in the future. She definitely needs to be her own advocate (nicely) in order to be treated as someone in her condition should be treated. With the placenta completely over her cervix they will need to monitor her for signs of pre term labor very closely as she nears the end.

Rambles about pregnancy and babies

I'm just getting around to finishing this post today 3/21/08. Ooops...

The babies should each gain 2 lbs in the next 3-4 weeks. So if they were 3 5 oz and 3 9 oz two weeks ago then they will be about 6 pounds each by week 34. I'm week 31 as of yesterday. And if they gain a little faster then a little over 6 pounds. WOW!

I can't bend over anymore to brush my teeth or do something quickly at my computer (have to sit down). And I can only do one sock and shoe every 5 minutes and have to wait another 5 minutes to each and cannot eat before trying that. lol

I've got about 5 starter stretch marks right now. Only about 1/4 to 1/2 inch each.
My belly is only measuring 46" around.

My mom just sent me her itinerary for visiting us after the babies are here. She planned it perfectly. If they are born early they will surely be in the hospital until 36-38 weeks gestational age. If we get induced at 38 weeks then we should be home from the hospital by the time she gets here anyway. That way she will have loads of good quality time with us and the babies not in a sterile hospital setting.

Our house is under contract!

We signed the paperwork last night to put our house under contract! The closing date is set for 4/17/08. The buyers have also let us know we can change the date a little one way or another if we need to because of the babies. We were also considering renting, but we have been unable to find a cheap enough rental that would suit our needs. The home we are putting in an offer on is in a good location and is the least amount of compromise for the least amount of money. Here is a link to it. Look at the last house on the list. The address is 200 Webfoot. http://trianglelistings.marketlinx.com/SearchDetail/Scripts/PrtBuyFul/PrtBuyFul.asp?prp=mls&AgentId=R6508&EmailKey=24492419

This next link is to our current home we are selling in case you missed it previously. http://trianglelistings.marketlinx.com/SearchDetail/Scripts/PrtBuyFul/PrtBuyFul.asp?prp=mls&AgentId=R6508&EmailKey=23805525

I've decided to map out the new house if we get it with the placement of the furniture and boxes. This way if we suddenly have the babies at the most inopportune time we will be able to have clear directions for whoever moves us in. And I won't be worried about having to move everything again when we get there. It also depends on when they come and if I have to have a cesarean section how long I will be in the hospital.

Guy is super stressed out about the logistics of everything. Also, how we are going to get the whole house packed up with me having contractions every time I over do it. And everything seems to be over doing it still. Yesterday I walked to our neighbors house across the cul-d-sac to chat (even took a light chair to sit in). By the time I was almost back to the front door I was really in pain through my pelvic area to where it made me walk slow. But I walk as much as possible to get the stretching and exercise in. I'm thinking there are about 150 boxes of stuff in our house right now. If we pack 5 boxes a day then it should be not so overwhelming or difficult.

The babies haven't really showed much interest in music. It may be because normally I only listen to music while driving which only hardens my tummy. At church on Sunday the babies went crazy during the songs. My belly was hoppin they were moving so much. A friend of mine who is always trying to feel the babies move and hasn't was also able to feel them move on Sunday. I'm sure the reason she hadn't before is because she always tries when I am standing which is when my belly is rock hard. They are getting to be quite vigorous in their movements now which is pretty cool. Oh, it hurts sometimes, but it's still cool!

Today we are going to take our tour of the hospital. On Friday night a friend of mine who is a Douala came over to our house to do a birthing class with us. She did a great job. It was really cute when she let us know she was sooooo excited to get back into it that she ordered a pelvis and a smaller pelvis that comes with a baby to show how the hips flex and how the baby comes Through. We talked about positions to help with the labor prior to getting an epidural and for pain relief now. Not that I think anything will help with the pelvic pain at this point. We'll do another one in two weeks. At the next one we'll talk more about the interventions and how Guy can be my advocate and ask the right questions to really know the risk of any intervention. We'll also talk about confronting any fears we have regarding the birth and breastfeeding. This also brings up that I still haven't picked a pediatrician. Sheesh. There is so much to do before and after these babies come.

Some photos from a couple weeks ago

These shots were actually taken almost three weeks ago. Sheesh I'm slow....
This first one is showing where the boy and girl were at the time.
The second one is of Guy and I doing the goofy heart thing over the babies.

Poor Moose

We had some drama I forgot to write about. On Sunday Guy was washing Moose (see photo at left). He decided to trim up some of the hair around his collar which gets matted and tangled. Guy was using the scisors to trim his hair when he missed and fileted Moose open at the neck. The cut never bled and Moose didn't show any signs of pain after the first yelp. We had our neighbor, the vet, look at him. She said we could wait until the next day to avoid the steep emergency bills. She also gave us a pain pill in case he just wasn't showing any pain. Guy also put a ton of antibotic on the wound a couple of times. The next morning the vet got him right in and he now has about 7 staples up a completely hairless side of his neck. They said he did wonderfully and just chilled out looking for love while waiting for us. Guy said he was busy saying goodbye to all of the other pets when they left to come home. He doesn't hold any resentment towards Guy and is still our happy loving pet.

Last night we were run out of the house for a last minute showing. Hopefully they love it. Today there is someone scheduled to come for a 2nd showing. We have had a lot more activity then we thought we would. Lovely! All it will take is the right buyer at the right time.

In pregnancy news. Today sucks! We had a massive T-storm come thru last night that rattled the house on and off for about an hour. I was looking out the window and it was fierce at times. There was this huge green flash almost like a giant solid rainbow that swelled up from the ground then the power went out for about an hour. But thru last night I woke up at least 4 times with a painful contraction. This does normally happen 1-2 times a night whenever I have to pee. This morning my whole tummy hurt and I've had mostly non painful contractions all day whenever I walk, stand for more then 3 minutes and have to use the potty. Usually this doesn't happen until afternoon so it just sucks to be having so many. On the up side it seems that the babies may both be head down right now! The belly is definitely more out front with a lot less spread out to the sides. YEAH! My thinking is that they will get stuck in position soon so we need to keep them head down until they do. This way we can try for a vaginal delivery to hopefully avoid surgery.

Monday update - 30 weeks pregnant tomorrow!

The photo is of my little sister's, Tawni, 'virtual' baby shower invite. The is now on bedrest due to having been diagnosed with placenta previa. This is where the babies placenta is either partially over or completely over the cervix. For those who aren't familiar with womens anatomy the cervix is what opens for the baby to come out. The babies placenta is the source of all the baby's needs between it and the mother such as blood supply and waste treatment. In Tawni's case the placenta is completely over the cervix making it highly unlikely for it to migrate upwards as the uterus grows with the baby. She cannot dialate or deliver vaginally. If she is to dialate at all both her and the baby can die of massive blood loss. Generally delivery will occure obviously by c-section around 34 weeks according to my mom who was researching on the internet. As of last week Tawni was waiting for a referral to a perinatologist (OB specialist) and clarification on what exactly bed rest entails for her. Some obvious outs are any kind of travel, shopping, housecleaning, laundry and loads of other normal activities. Bummer. I feel for her. I'm sending a letter to her local church leaders today (the phone generally only gets answered when someone is there which is seldom during the week) to see if they can have some people locally help her out with meals, light cleaning & hopefully some companionship. Sam is going for training this Thursday for two weeks in South Carolina. She will be all alone and the only friends she has there seem to be more of the 'needy' kind and not so much the 'helpful' kind.

I'm doing the best I have in months especially considering those little monkeys are about 7 lbs together now! They also like to have most of their bodies on the right side making my right rib cage crazy hurt sometimes. The girl likes to try escaping by pusing her bum out and over my right rib cage. Putting on my socks and shoes now makes me really out of breath and hurt for a few minutes afterwards. And here is a complete TMI alert! TMI is Tooo Much Information! lol Anyway, it is getting increasingly uncomfortable to reach and wipe my booty. ha ha ha.

Did I blog about my sciatica nerve issue that started the week before last? Don't know. But anyway I went to the chiropractor last Tuesday and Thursday. Man I feel soooo much better now. It has made walking better then it has been in months. She has this really cool table that between raising and dropping leaves the belly free from pressure. And there is no twisting of the body or normal adjusting. This chiro will help anyone but has some additional education in pregnancy and baby/child chiropractic practice. My personal belief about chiropractic is to see one for treatment when you need help and keep your muscles nice and strong to maintain a proper back otherwise. Pregnancy has done a number on mine though so I definitely needed help.

Update on our housing situation. We are still going out and looking at homes every Saturday which will stop soon with Guy's schedule coming back around to working thru the weekends most of March. Our house has now had 4 showings which is a lot of traffic for our area in the two weeks it has been on the market. Maybe almost three now. All of the feedback has been excellent with one buyer who thought the floorplan would not work for them. Another buyer was just in the start of making his decision to move out here. And the last buyers want a contract on their home before making an offer on the new one. The last buyers have been by twice now. All it will take is the right people at the right time. We would like to move before the babies come or at least have the home under contract. One of the homes we went to last Saturday had new boy/girl twins about 2 months old and the place looked like a tornado hit it. I'm sure the utter chaos has scared away many a buyer for them.

The weather is finally warming up a bit here. Yeah, a bit of a clothes switch will soon be in order. Wearing the same 4 pairs of pants and the same 5 shirts gets pretty old pretty quick as a girl.

Only 8 more weeks to go until 'inducement day' if these babies want to bake in there for a long time. April 29th will be 38 of 40 weeks. My OB practice induces twins then if they don't come before hand.