First Appointments and More!

On Wednesday, we took our babies to their first ever pediatrician appointment. It was early, at 8 am- and our first experience getting both us and them ready to leave the house. I am proud to say that we actually made it to the doctor's office 5 minutes early. Go us!

Sam and Anna were both weighed, and Anna made herself at home by peeing on the scale. I figure better her than Sam! At 8 days old, Anna is back up to her birth weight of 5 lbs even. Sam weighed 5 lbs 7 oz- so he was 3 oz shy of his birth weight. In the next two weeks we will be going back once weekly for weight checks because they are so small. Once Anna hits 6 lbs, she will be able to ditch the car seat bed. I think that will make her very happy as she does not like to ride flat. She cries and cries. On the way home, we figured out a way to soothe her discomfort- by playing Bob Marley. I listened to my Bob Marley CD every morning on my way to work during the pregnancy, often singing along. In utero, I could tell the babies recognized my favorite songs because they tended to be more active while I was playing them and singing. Lo and behold, Anna instantly settled once those songs started playing on our drive home. It was really neat to watch.

Both Anna's and Sam's head and length put them at the 10%ile and besides Anna's heart murmur, they are both perfectly healthy. Their pediatrician even complimented us on how relaxed and calm my husband and I both were- she said we didn't seem like first time parents.

I also had a followup appointment in the afternoon to check my c-section incision. I decided to drive by myself so we didn't have to cart the babies on the 45 minute drive one way. While driving, I got really sad because I realized it was the first time I left my babies somewhere without me (but they were with their totally competent dad). I started crying when I realized it was the first time that I was without them since July. It was a really lonely feeling. Lovely baby blues. :)

The good news is that in 8 days, I have already lost almost 30 lbs of pregnancy weight. Go me! The depressing news is that I have almost 40 lbs to go to get back to my pre-IVF weight which is my smallest weight ever as well. The incision looked good, so I just have to go back at 6 weeks for the post-partum appointment. I have big plans to go for marathon walks in the beautiful spring and summer weather once I get the okay from my doctor. Hopefully that will help melt off some of that 40 lbs.

After the appointment I stopped to look for some preemie sized clothes for both of them. I got a few things, but it isn't easy to find preemie clothes. After trying them out, I decided some will need to be returned because length wise the two are falling in between preemie and newborn sized clothing. Why is it that some companies think preemies are short and fat??? Fat is the last thing a baby gains. Preemie clothes should be skinny. I can't wait until they get a little bigger and out of the awkward in between clothing size- we have way to many cute newborn clothes that I am dying to dress them up in!

Now some new pictures:

1 week old

Fighting like siblings alreadyStarting Sam early on a little Eric CarleAnna's first tummy timeOur family is complete

Ho Hum

Still here, and getting very tired of spending the past two weeks creating a fantastic ass-shaped imprint on my couch (thanks for the vivid imagery, JB). Except for the December hospital drama, I have had the most boring twin pregnancy ever. I know, I know- I am not complaining about that: boring pregnancy=healthy babies. However, it is really starting to feel like they are never coming out and I'm going to be this huge gargantuan whale for the rest of my life. I figured out today that I now weigh 150% of what I weighed a year ago. I wistfully watched old ladies enjoying the weather on a walk today because they looked so darn mobile.

Irrational as it is, the infertile side of me won't truly believe that we have two babies until I see them in person and bring them home with us. Right now I read about everyone else's births and how close it seems everybody else is and I'm convinced they will all have their babies in their arms before I do (and yes, I mean all the lovely ladies I read on my blogroll. Your babies are so close, they feel even closer than mine). When I'm being super irrational, the thought crosses my mind that it's maybe all a farce anyway. I realize that most people wait 40 weeks (or more) to see their bundle of joy- but to me, I've waited 4 years for this (or my whole life). 11 more days seems like complete torture when I really thought they'd already be here by now.

On to the OB appointment and NST: Everything is good with the babies. The not-so-good news is that my doctor will be out of town next week, so that makes scheduling an induction or a c-section for next week a no-go. I have to wait until March 16th for that (38 weeks 2 days) if it comes to something that has to be scheduled. The other side of that is if I go into labor from this Monday until next Monday, my doctor will not be delivering my children. Interestingly- when I was processing this news and starting to get upset (not outwardly upset though), our little girl's heartrate shot up really high. Once I calmed down, it dropped again.

For now, my schedule remains ridiculously open- with no plans at all, in the event that the babies decide to make their grand debut. I'm not holding my breath- I'm very suspicious that they'd stay in there until they were 18, if I let them. Imagine how cramped the space would be then.

So March It Is

February with its full moon this weekend passed with nada in the baby department. I'm still here at home, still in exponentially worse pain, and now gestating at over 36 weeks. Obviously they just aren't ready to come out yet. My body is definitely saying it has had enough, but my uterus isn't listening!

I had my weekly OB appointment and NST last Thursday, and things were same as usual. The babes did great on the NST (this time I drank OJ before the appointment so I wouldn't have to drink juice after a while there, and boy did that work!) My OB won't check my cervix yet, because even if I was dilated it wouldn't be any sort of true indicator of when I'd go into labor anyway. I could be at 1-2 cm for weeks, or go from 2-10 cm in the same day. So whatever. I also had my GBS test. My next appointment is on Friday. Maybe I'll get a cervix check then. He did say two weeks ago that he'd be okay with inducing/scheduling a c-section for 37 weeks-38 weeks, so I'm hoping that if I make it to Friday's appointment, I can say, "let's schedule that c-section for Tuesday March 9th!" (At 37 weeks, 2 days) I'm really trying to hold that date in my head so I know I only have 8 more days left, at the most. Believing that I could have more than that is almost too much for me to bear at this point. I'm in major pain here. This body was not made to carry 11-13 lbs of baby or gain 60+ lbs in a few short months and it reminds me of that every second of the day and night.

This weekend was a hard weekend for us in other ways, not pregnancy-related. We discovered my black lab Benelli has what appears to be a tumor in his mouth, on the top jaw, way in the back. He is 7 1/2 years old and had a cancerous tumor removed from his leg 3 years ago. We've always said he's a cancer survivor. It doesn't appear to be bothering him, so the earliest the vet can/will get him in is on Tuesday afternoon. If it is a tumor, we are thinking it isn't removable anyway because of the location. He's my first dog, he'll always be my first baby, and I'm not ready to lose him yet. As he's gotten older, I knew the day I'd have to say goodbye was getting closer and closer, but it just doesn't seem fair to have this happen at a time when my head and heart must be focused on other things. One of our baby daydreams while TTC was imagining our children trying to say his name and coming out with "Nelli." I could always picture toddlers trying to climb on top of him and pulling his tail, and Benelli taking it all like a champ. He has to stick around for a lot longer for those to happen. He'll always be my favorite dog and I love him so much. Please send good thoughts our way that we are wrong- that it is not a tumor and is something that is easily treatable.

I'll leave you with some pictures of my lovable, huggable dog that has been through so much with us in the past 7 years:

See how good he'd be with kids?

My Benelli

A Day of Lasts

Yesterday was my last day at work for a very long time. I'm used to leaving my room for a few months in the summer, but not used to turning my room and my students over to another person. It definitely felt weird to put away my picture frames, change my screen saver (I'm guessing the sub won't want to look at my babies' u/s images) and tiddy up like I clean my house for a guest to visit.

I'm glad that I was able to do those things though, and prepare my students a little. I think it would have been a lot harder for both my students and I if I suddenly was gone without warning. I had to make several promises of visits with the babies and several hugs- one of my kindergartners cried. Awww. I'm such a work-a-holic that it is going to be hard to stay mostly disconnected to my students' progress and learning. I've worked so hard up until this point to get them where they are- I really hope they don't regress with a different teacher.

So many people asked me if I was excited to be done- and I think it just hasn't sunk in yet. Maybe after Monday and some rest it will seem more real.

Yesterday was also our last u/s and appointment with the perinatologist- unless there are problems. Basically, except for the contractions at the end of December, I've been a pretty boring, textbook twin pregnancy, which is fantastic! Everything continues to be just fine. We didn't get any good pictures, because their heads are so low in my pelvis and turned towards my spine that we couldn't see their precious faces. Ready for exit! Now we just need to wait to see the real thing at this point! He didn't measure my cervix because he said it really didn't matter at this point. If I go into labor they wouldn't attempt to stop it. Our little girl Sweet Pea was 5 lbs and Little Bean was 5 lbs 1 oz. He said they were small for a singleton at this point, but large for twins. Over 10 lbs of baby in there- no wonder every part of my body is aching under the strain.

We also had a NST, which was also just fine. Next NST and OB appointment is on Thursday! I'm beginning to wonder if they will try to come out on their own... or if other measures will need to be taken. Now that I'm done with work, I don't really want to sit around for three weeks and wait until mid-March to deliver. I might take my OB's offer to induce at 37 weeks instead of waiting til 38 weeks if it comes to that.

For the record, these are some dates that I think would make great birth days: February 28th (Lately I've been secretly telling them that is when it is okay to come out), March 6th, or March 9th. Here's the story about March 9th- my class is visiting the hospital in the morning and my hospital plays the baby music for babies that were just born. How cute would it be for the music to play twice while my class is on their field trip and they'd know it was my babies???

First NST

Yesterday I had my first non-stress test (NST) and another uneventful OB appointment. I worry more than ever before that each appointment is going to be the one that concludes with, "go get your bags and head back to the birthing center." I'm in this constant state of anticipation that either my blood pressure will be too high, or my cervix will be long gone, or I'll be contracting and not be able to distinguish it from the other daily pains I feel, or some other reason will make that appointment my last. But this time, my blood pressure was "good" as well as everything else- so I'm back to work on Monday and back to the clinic on Friday for another NST and u/s with the perinatologist. I'm guessing I have over 9 and 1/2 lbs of baby in there, so I estimate that by the u/s I'll have 10 and 1/2 lbs (since each babe is supposed to gain about 1/2 a week). I guess I've proven that bed rest after contractions at 26 weeks was not necessary, huh?

The NST was no biggie, because I was hooked up to monitors during my brief hospital stay two months ago so it was just more of the same. Little Bean (baby boy) got hiccups during it and it was very comical to see and feel my stomach jerk rhythmically while hearing it at the same time. I was supposed to push a button every time I felt movement, so I was pushing it every second there for a while.

I let my OB know that I'm still on the vaginal delivery side of things, but that if I make it to 38 weeks, I'm probably more inclined to prefer a C-section. I asked if that would need to be scheduled in advance, and he said no- that if I have an appointment in the morning, I can let him know and we can do it later that day, or if my appointment is later in the day, we can plan it for the next day. So we'll just have to wait and see. I liked the idea of having a definitive date in my head that the babies would be here no later than, but I like that my doctor is okay with whatever I want (vaginal or C-section, and timing: anywhere in the 37th or 38th week).

Wish me luck for another week of teaching kindergartners while 8+ months pregnant with twins!

Busy Week

I'm gearing up for a busy week, with a few roadblocks. I still need to finish report card comments, but I just can't muster up the motivation to do it. The voices in my head keep whispering "go ahead and wait- if you get put on bed rest you can still do them through the Internet..." I'm trying to take it easy due to this darn cold that I can't medicate, and as always I have to try to take things one day at a time, because looking at the big picture of 34 more days at work is way too overwhelming.

Today was my easiest day this week- a long chunk of special classes so my students were out of my room for over an hour and no after school commitments- so I quickly rewarded myself for going to school and getting through the day with a two hour long nap (hey- it will probably be my only one this week). Tomorrow after school is our next peri appointment and u/s. I'm so curious to see what they weigh right now. I'm estimating that there's over 7 lbs of total baby in there, but I wonder how close to 8 lbs it will be. Wednesday we have an appointment with the pediatrician we're considering. It will be nice to cross that off the list once that is officially decided. Thursday afternoon is my work shower (I know I'm getting the co-sleeper among other stuff, so I'm excited about that! But I still have the same apprehension about showers that I mentioned in November) Friday afternoon is my OB appointment and then the guys should start arriving for their weekend. I also plan on getting The Note to release me from work so that I have it when I need it, instead of having to wait until my next appointment. We'll wrap up the weekend by celebrating hitting the 32 week milestone on Sunday!!!

MFM appointment

We had our 28w u/s appointment with the MFM specialist, and all continues to look good. My cervix is at 3.9 cm- and while at the hospital about two weeks ago it was measured at 4 cm (I'm thinking there has to be at least a 0.1 cm margin of error) so it appears that there were no long lasting ill effects from my bout with scary contractions. According to the doc, anything over 3 cm at this point is great. That's fantastic news!

It continues to amaze me how fast he zips through measuring all the parts of two babies compared to the u/s I got from u/s techs in the past. In less than a half hour he was done- and all the measurements were so speedy, I can't even remember most of them except that each baby was 2 lbs 11 oz- exactly the same weight. That also means I've got over 5 lbs of baby in there- no wonder the stretch marks (my Christmas present from Santa) continue to multiply and there are times during the day that my stomach just feels heavy.

Here are the images, although they are not the best we've gotten from all the ultrasounds so far:

Baby girl with her hand by her face

Baby boy saluting with his foot by his forehead

Sweet Pea also kicked me so hard today that I totally said "OW" out loud. That was a first. I guess they are getting pretty strong in there!

Belly Shots 25-27 weeks

25 weeks

26 weeks

27 weeks

Wowza... I get even more huge every week! I'm going to spare you the bare belly shots from here on out, because stretch marks made their first appearance this week. It started with two tiny lines under my stomach on Tuesday, then when I woke up this morning there were a couple more... Maybe it's because I'm still measuring 9 weeks ahead according to my OB; my belly is the size of someone pregnant with one baby at 36 weeks right now. I still have my belly button though, thanks to a deep innie to begin with. Interestingly enough, I weighed the same at this appointment as I did 4 weeks ago; still a total gain of 40 lbs. I've noticed my face looks a little fuller, so it's not just in my belly any more though.

Other milestone moments this week, besides stretch marks: I woke up in the middle of the night to what I think are the first hiccups I remember feeling. My crappy sleep might be getting to me, but my little ones can wake me up at any time and I'll still love feeling them move. I also had my glucose test today- I'll find out tomorrow if I didn't pass. I wore and bought my first XL maternity top too- the one in the 27 week picture (so much for the recommendation of buying your pre-pg size). Most of my small and medium pants are still fitting, thank goodness. It is hard to justify buying new maternity clothes when any day could be my last pregnant day . But a girl's got to have more than a shirt or two that fits!

My OB was very laid back and reassuring about the contractions and hospital stay that I had last week- he's not at all concerned about a higher risk for pre-term labor and the babies showing up earlier because I had them. He thinks (as I do) that it was a isolated event. I start OB appointments every other week now that I'm pretty much in the 3rd trimester (according to different sources, the 3rd trimester starts anywhere from the beginning of week 26 to week 28). Our next perinatologist appointment (and u/s) is next week on the 8th. I think that means between the two doctors, I'll pretty much have doctor appointments every week until the twins are here!

So far behind!

I'm out of town for 4 days and now I'm no longer just treading water- I feel like I'm drowning in the amount of stuff I need to/want to do! I want to comment on all the blog posts I missed while we were gone, I want to post all about the shower, I want to unpack all the shower things, I have a mountain of laundry to do, we had our latest OB appt today, I have a crapload of mittens to make, but yet all I feel like doing is laying on the couch to recouperate after the first full school day in over a week. So I guess I'm resorting to bullets for today- only because I'm afraid I'll never get a chance to fully post before it is too far in the past (like the post about registering that never was).

• The OB appointment: I am up 37 lbs since 6 weeks 5 days (that's 37 lbs in about 17 weeks). Uff Da. I'm also measuring 32 weeks; which is 9 weeks ahead. Ha- I guess I'm not going to have tiny twins. That's okay- I like healthy babies much better. :) I also got a letter to take to the DMV to get a temporary handicap permit- mainly so I don't have to trek across the staff parking lot all the way to my classroom, which is conveniently the farthest classroom in the entire long school. Now I should be able to park in the front "parent" lot- instead of taking 5-10 minutes to get to my classroom, I should be able to get there in 2 or less. My next appointment is a week from Friday with the perinatologist, which means I'll get another u/s next week. :) I like hearing the heartbeats- but seeing the little ones beats hearing them, hands down.

• The shower was relatively painless (after PIO shots, everything is relatively painless). I'm not one for being the center of attention in a crowd of relatives, but I made it through. I made my dear husband hang out since he had no where to go during the shower and that helped. The only thing that marred the whole event was that a guest's car was broken into in the parking lot and her GPS was stolen. I wish I could say I was overwhelmed with with amount of stuff we got, but we did get a few of the larger things so that is nice. We got home after 9 pm last night- piled the boxes in the babies' room and unpacked what we needed to since we both had to work today. I'm itching to go through it all without so many eyes on me and spending so much time thinking of the "right" thing to say like, " how cute" or "awww" or "that will really come in handy," blah, blah, blah...

• Thanksgiving was the first time I've seen my brother in person since the email drama this summer and in true family fashion, not a word was said about it. I'm not one to hold a grudge, so whatever- I have other things to stress about now.

• Saturday is our all day long birthing class... so that should be interesting.

• And that's about it, for now! I will try to post a shower picture or two someday soon, I hope. :)

Latest OB Appointment

Today I was able to finally get the H1N1 vaccination. In two weeks, I will be armed against all the H1N1 germy kindergartners I am face to face with every day. Funny enough, I had a little needle anxiety before the shot went in- ME! - The girl who not that long ago got stuck with over 200 needles (many self-inflicted) and then lost count. I guess the break from needle poking has been nicer than I realized.

According to my OB, I am measuring 7 weeks ahead at 26 weeks (for a singleton PG). I also have gained 24 lbs since 6 weeks- that's right, 24 pounds in 13 weeks. I have no idea what my starting weight was, because the IVF bloat messed with my actual pre-PG weight. It is crazy watching that scale creep higher each time I'm at the OB's and seeing numbers that I've never seen before. Besides some gain in my chest, I'd like to think that the rest is all belly. I hope it stays that way. But I'm not weight gain-obsessed- I don't care, as long as it means my babies are healthy and I'm doing the right thing to help them be the healthiest they can be.

Today was my first school day since finding out the genders, so I decided to bring "surprise" cupcakes to school to reveal the genders. In the middle of the cupcakes we piped pink and blue batter (colored with food coloring) so that you had to bite into the cupcakes to find out. I kept it a secret until lunchtime so that the beans couldn't be spilled before then. I thought it was a cute idea- some people cared more than others. Oh well- I thought it was fun, and that's all that matters!

Finding Out the Genders, Maternity Leave and Showers, Oh My!

I didn't get a chance to mention yet that we had another OB appointment last Thursday. No u/s this time, but we did get to hear the h/bs again. I know I said I was sort of looking forward to a break in the u/s appointments at week 12, because it had been difficult in the beginning of the school year to cover my class so I can get them. BUT- my biweekly u/s were so nice- I'm totally going through withdrawal because it has been a month since the last time I saw my little ones. The good news is that I was able to schedule the next *big* u/s finally- where we should hopefully find out girl/girl, boy/boy, or both genders. Amazingly, we only have a little over two weeks to go! Our anatomy u/s is scheduled for October 29th when I'll be 18 weeks and 4 days. My OB's nurse wanted it to be closer to 20 weeks, but I have that Thursday/Friday off of school and knowing that it will be a long u/s to measure all the bits and pieces of both babies I was hoping that it could work out that we could have the u/s then, instead of having to take more time off of work. I'm dying to know what's in there jammin' along to Bob Marley with me!

We've also finally nailed down my maternity leave- provided that the twins make it to 38 weeks, and I make it at school that long. I know it is a long shot, but I make sure to tell them every day that 38 weeks is the magic number, and that's our goal. If I can make that, then I don't have to go back to school this year, and I can stay home until September when the next school year starts. The babies will be about 6 months then. I have almost 8 weeks of paid sick days I can use, and I'm planning on using 4 weeks unpaid FLMA leave. If I can't hold out until 38 weeks (March 12th) then I will have to go back to school for a little bit before school gets out in June and maybe May. Jake can stay home with the babies then (he has 7 weeks of paid time off he can use), but it is something I'd rather not do if I have any say in it. No matter what, I can't take more than 12 weeks- so if I'm on bedrest for 6 weeks or so, then that will take away from time I can spend with my babies at home. :( I just can't imagine going back to school and leaving my twin newborns at home at 6 weeks. It might just kill me.

There's also been some talk in the works in our families about a baby shower. There are several factors that are against us in making the timing really crummy for a shower. All of our families live 4 or more hours away from us, so we have to travel for any shower. I am not allowed to travel in the third trimester, which will begin on December 26th. I did get the okay from my OB to travel the 4 hours away for Christmas, provided that everything is going well. But that means that a baby shower for our relatives will not be possible in January, February or March. We toyed around with the idea of holding the shower after they are born- but who wants to travel in a vehicle for four hours with two newborns either? And also, we need the stuff before then! December was not looking like a good option because everyone is typically so busy for the holidays.... so.... it is looking like there will be one baby shower for us with all three sets of our families the Sunday after Thanksgiving! I will be 23 weeks. It seems so early and soon, but we didn't really think there was any better option. At least I know that, with twins, I'll be looking more like 30 weeks then anyway, especially if the rate my belly is growing continues! My work will still have a shower for me after the new year, so I'll still have that to look forward to later. It just seems like everything is happening so fast- it seems like yesterday we found out there were two sacs, and here we are, 2 weeks from finding out the genders and a little over a month from having a baby shower for us! Crazy!