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!!!

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. :)

Shower Apprehension

So my shower is on Sunday. Overall, I am just not looking forward to it. Once an infertile, always an infertile. I haven't been to a shower (outside of small at-work shindigs) since I had to painfully host my SIL's shower after almost a year of TTC, for my nephew that was conceived the month we started TTC. Yes, that was January 2007- a damn long time ago. I just don't know if I know how to do the shower thing. I'm excited, over the moon, thrilled beyond words about our two babies, but I don't know how to play lighthearted baby games and gush over baby stuff. I don't want to be a poser- the joyfully pregnant lady who has no idea that other people struggle so much over trying to have a baby. I don't want to hurt the person in the crowd that I don't know is struggling with trying to get pregnant. I want to make it known how hard-fought this was- yet, I want to keep our very personal selves to our self. I don't want to hear the stupid comments while biting my tongue to keep from educating ignorant people.

But I want the stuff.

I want the stuff because one (of a long list) of my worries is how expensive two babies at the same time will be, and how little we have for them. We don't have the resources for lots of free hand-me-downs (my SIL is due in February, so there goes any opportunity for any stuff there). We don't have the $ resources to buy everything new. So hopefully we will be toting home lots of stuff on Sunday-otherwise, I am stressed to think about the alternative. If that makes me sound greedy- so be it. I don't need the prettiest stuff or the fanciest stuff- I just want everything that will make my babies the safest, happiest, most secure children possible(and the stuff that will help keep us sane- all for our babies health, of course).

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!