BIG BELLY!

Here is an updated pic of the girls in my tummy! I feel huge, and it seems like I am getting bigger everyday! We have less than a month until we meet the girls and I cannot describe how excited we are! David and I were talking and he said to me "the only thing I am freaked out about is that I am not and have not been freaked out about us having the girls". I thought that was amazing, I figured most guys get a good case of the nerves this close to time, especially since we are having girls and not to mention 2 of them! On a side note my only fear is the actual birth!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We are growing....

The little ladies are growing! We had an ultrasound this past Thurs. Baby A is been renamed to the baby on my right side, she is still head down. She is the bigger baby weighing in at approx 5 pounds! Baby B has is on my left side head down as well, she is weighing in at approx 4 pounds. They say the ultrasound weights can be off by a pound in either direction, my doctor says they probably are not much heavier than those weights though. We are officially 34 weeks along, and the babies can make their arrival at anytime, and be healthy. I do not feel like they are ready yet though, so I am not expecting them until at least June, the doctor also does not think they will be here yet either. My nights are rough, sleep is something that comes in one hour intervals. I know it is good practice for when the babies arrive, BUT I just want some sleep!!!!

A blog from a mom of twins....just a little scarry!

The road not taken….
May 8, 2009 by Rebecca
My doctor asked me yesterday how old my kids were. When I told her I had two year old twins, she responded by saying, “Boy, that first year was just hell, wasn’t it?”. The other doctors and nurses in the room looked at her with something like horror, but I knew what she meant. Not how I would describe it necessarily, but boy, was it hard! As soon as we’d figured out one thing, like breastfeeding, another issue came along, such as sleep or introducing solid foods. I always felt like I was one step behind them, and could never get ahead. Don’t get me wrong. I love my twins. I love having twins. I wouldn’t go back and undo the choice I made to have twins. But, this has been my life for so long that I forget that other parents don’t necessarily have the same experience. That some people might not describe the first year like my doctor did, or would be horrified to hear it described that way. Sometimes it takes an experience like that, or a lunch with a friend and her one newborn, for me to really understand how different our experience as parents was, or how much I missed out on having my two babies together, instead of one at a time.
A few weeks ago, a friend of mine came over for lunch with her 11 week old baby. When I had my babies, none of my friends had had kids. I met many friends with babies when mine were newborns, but I was too tied up in what I was doing (hurry, swaddle Danny so he won’t scream. Crap, is it time to feed them again? Who’s hungriest and should go first? Really?! You pooped through AGAIN?) to notice what anyone else was doing. And as my kids have gotten older, many of the newborns I spend time with are twins. Anyway, I watched this friend with her one baby and was simultaneously shocked at her parenting, and a bit horrified by my own take on it.
These were the things I noticed:
#1: She took the (sleepy, happy) baby out of the carrier right away. Right away! And held him.#2: She didn’t put the (sleepy, happy) baby down the WHOLE TIME she was at my house. Not to eat her sandwich. Not to have a sip of coffee. Not to go pee.#3: She told me that she loves holding him while he sleeps. Huh. I always thought that sleeping meant that you had time to do all of the aforementioned (eat, sleep, pee). Why would you HOLD a sleeping baby? That is what the carrier is for!#4: She did not, at any time, put the baby in the carrier and rock it with her foot while she ate/drank coffee/held another baby with her hands. She kind of looked at me surprised when I mentioned rocking babies.
I offered to bring her her food or coffee so she could eat with one hand while the baby ate or slept. She said no thank you. I offered to hold the baby so she could eat. She loves holding sleeping babies. She told me how lovely this time is with him and how every day feels like Saturday. Like Saturday? My memory of newborn days is that every day felt like 6am Monday morning, even Saturdays. I wanted to help her put the baby down and eat. I wanted to teach her how to get some more time for herself. And yet, she didn’t want any of that. She didn’t need any of that. The little techniques that got me through the day or a trip out to a friend’s with two babies? She didn’t need those with one baby. She just held and snuggled the baby.
And while I love having twins, I realized how much I missed out on in those first 6 months. The reveling in the baby. The way your whole world revolves around the baby—in a good way, not in a please, God, make this baby finally go to sleep way. The contentness. I loved having babies—but that first year was the hardest first year of my life. I find myself both really envious, and yet feeling a bit superior—to those moms holding their one sleeping baby. How can I feel both? I have no idea. But every once in a while something like this happens and I realize just how different having twins is than having one baby. Not better or worse, just a really different experience.

32 weeks!

Things are moving along well! I have started experiencing Braxton Hicks contractions. They are not horrible, but not comfortable either. This past week I had my normal doc appt and all went well! My belly is measuring that of a full term pregnancy....therefore I am big! He gave me a FFN test as well this week. A FFN test is a predictor of labor within the next couple of weeks. It is most accurate when the result is negative. Our results came back negative! YAY,so that would indicate that I will be keeping these girlies in for at least 2 more weeks and hopefully longer. Everytime I see my doctor though he suggests that I will not make it to my 38 week mark, we will have to wait and see! On Friday I had my normal NST hospital visit, my doctor and I both thought this was the week that the girls would be cooperative.....yeah not so much.... I was there for 4.5 hours! The reason behind the test is just to show that the girls heartrates excel as they should for their age. The anties have just been upped and they have to show three excels that are 15 beats higher than the baseline data. Friday evening the doctors also have started to moniter my heartrate with a permanent heart moniter that I have to wear for the next 14 days. For this entire pregnancy my heart rate has been elevated, so this is just precautionary. The cardiologist does not think that it has any toll on the babies, so that is very good news. The moniter is a necklace and then I have 3 electrodes stuck to my chest area with wires running from them to my necklace. Then I have a little computer that I have to keep within 5 feet of me at all times, it transfers the data to the doctor office. I have to wear the necklace all day and night unless I am showering. I really look all decked out with my new jewelry, I have wires and stickers on my chest and stomach! Next week we have our normal appts, doctor and Thurs and hospital on Fri. So this is my update! David seems to be doing well too, he has been busy helping me do all the challenging things pregnancy brings to a woman.You know like bending over and reaching up high, getting myself in and out of a sitting position.. he has been really great! I can't wait to see him with the girls I imagine it is going to be a great feeling!

New pictures

we had our 30 week ultrasound yesterday, it was fun! the girls are now both head down! that means that vaginal birth might be in our future.... funny thing is that they have switched places! Baby A is weighing 2.9 pounds and Baby B at 3.4 pounds. The ultrasound tech commented on how calm and laid back the girls are, I said they get that from their daddy!

We learned at our appt that from now on I will have weekly visits at the doctors office, and at the hospital. The doctor will just do my regular check up and probably an ultrasund every 2weeks, and the hospital will do a weekly stress test. The stress test moniters the babies heart rates and my contractions! Today's appointment at the hospital went well, of course it was not as easy as it could have been, but in the end all was great! The nurses have names the girls the PITA twins...(Pain In The Ass) HAHA!

Much Love to All!