36 Weeks Brings 2 Little Joys :)

Originally this post should have been posted on Feb 21... but due to the birth of the twins, it had been delayed. Sorry to all my readers!

This post will not describe the birthing process...it will be about the stuff that happened during the week, leading up to the babies being born!  Look for my next post for the story explaining how our two little babies were delivered!

Doctors appointment: I had my cervix checked at this appointment. Thankfully it wasn't as bad as the 3 cervix checks I had several weeks ago. My doctor said that I was barely 1 cm dilated, so I was still pretty closed off which was good. Baby A was head down but Baby B was breach, which was the opposite of what it was last week. These babies just can't sit still it seems. We decided to wait until my growth scan came back to see how the babies were growing before we decided on an official date for the delivery, but we were still aiming for Feb 28.

Baby Monitoring: My blood pressure was somewhat high so they checked me for pre-eclampsia, which I really didn't want. Thankfully, the blood and urine tests came back fine but they told me if I had any blurred vision, headaches, major swelling, etc, that I needed to come back in. They sent me home from this appointment, but I still came back to the hospital later because I had my growth scan.

Growth scan: I was told that Baby A was 6lbs 4oz and Baby B was 5lbs 12oz. I went to tell my doctor the scan and he ordered another blood pressure test to see how I was doing since it was several hours after my baby monitoring appointment. It was still high. It measured at about 142/94 and it was really concerning my OB. He was really worried and wanted to deliver that day but I had eaten not too long before the appointment so the earliest I'd be able to have my c-section would be 10pm which they didn't want. So, instead, they scheduled my c-section for the following morning (friday).

He did ask to make sure I wanted the C-section instead of a vaginal birth. He stated that he didn't think I'd be a good candidate for a vaginal birth because I still wasn't dilated very much (and a few other reasons) and there was only about a 60% chance that inducing me would be successful. He also said that I would still have a high chance of a vaginal delivery in the future if I decided to have any more kids. Since inductions aren't always predictable and can take a really long time, he also wouldn't be able to guarantee he'd be the doctor to deliver my babies. With it being the military, their doctors don't exactly rush into the hospital to deliver patients' babies if they aren't actually working that day. I really wanted him to deliver the twins since he had been the only person who seemed to know what was appropriate and going on with my twin pregnancy. Plus, I really liked him. So, I opted for the C-section.

So, on Feb 21, Kyle and I went into the hospital first thing in the morning to finally meet our baby twins!

Symptoms:

• Weight gain: 3.5lbs at the beginning of this week. 
• Contractions - some of these are just downright painful and make me hunch over.
• Lots of back pain/cramping
• Stretch Marks -started appearing
• Constipation - still causing problems
• Crazy baby movement from the baby on my left side. Sometimes they push so hard against my stomach it becomes really uncomfortable and I want to push them back in! 

Here is the last picture of my belly progress I took before giving birth! We are so glad that we made it to 36 weeks (almost 37)!

35 Weeks Sees Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day!! For the past 3 Valentine's days, I have bought Kyle non-lovey dovey gifts. So, in keeping with tradition, I ordered Kyle some UNC (University of North Carolina) onesies since he didn't have any for our twinnies. I thought it was only fair since I have 3 UK ones, that he should get an equal amount! It hurt me greatly to pay for a non-UK item... but it's amazing what we do for the people we love ;-). Kyle bought me some beautiful flowers and some chocolate (yummy)! We celebrated Valentine's Day the night before, because we had a coupon that didn't work on Valentine's. We went to a cute little seafood restaurant that sat on the harbor and we could see the water and all the boats. It was delicious! I tend to forget sometimes that by belly is as big as it really is and therefore I will have restrictions. We sat in a booth which was silly because my stomach was touching the table, but we couldn't move the table, so I had to sit up nice and straight so it wasn't too uncomfortable. Don't worry, Kyle asked if I wanted to move to a more comfortable table but I said no because booth seats are always cushy. :)

I'm happy to say that I have successfully made it to (and completed) 35 weeks, with twins no less! A lot of people with twins don't make it this far. I just wish I knew how much longer they were planning to hang out in there or if I will have to be induced or schedule a C-section! My goal for them is to grow and weigh at least 5.5lbs each. For a singleton baby, the weight would be about 5.5lbs at this point, but obviously with twins mine will be smaller than that right now. I'm just a little bummed I have to wait until I'm almost 37 weeks to know how much they've grown. Patience is a virtue! Or so I'm told...

Kyle had 2 concerts at the beginning of this week...so as the local groupie for the Marine Corps Band, I attended them both. I even rode with him down to the location hours beforehand so I could be in close proximity to him in case anything happened to me. Lucky for me, I have a phone with games and a Kindle with books. I guess sitting in a church waiting for him to play is not much different than sitting on my couch waiting for him to get home. On the second day, I sat next to a cute, older couple who liked chatting with me. I pointed out who Kyle was and the lady said, "oh, he's handsome!" Of course he is, I thought! At the end of the concert she slipped me a $20 bill and said, "Enjoy your Valentine's Day!" I tried to give it back but she refused...reminding me of my own grandmother. It was incredibly sweet and I can honestly say that we applied that $20 to our Valentine's meal.

I was happy, though, because Kyle only had a 3 day work week since he was off on Monday and Friday. That certainly made me happy :) He has a 4 day weekend the next 2 weekends, and I'm ecstatic...especially if I somehow go into labor during those weekends!

Symptoms:

• I gained a whopping 5lbs this past week. Holy crap, I about died. I almost weigh more than I ever have before (Jan 2009 after I got back from a semester in Europe). I've gained about 37lbs total at this point and if I have to continue until almost 38 weeks, I could easily reach 50lbs which I was pretty determined not to do. I guess we'll just have to wait and see. 
• Crazy vivid dreams - some of these are like sci-fi movies. One of them allowed me to look at my stomach and actually see the babies through my skin, swimming around like they were in a pool. Very weird, but certainly not the strangest. 
• Belly button sticks out. It's still weird, and yes, I do try to push it back in! It just pops back out, so I don't think I can do anything about it for the next few weeks.  
• Swelling - I have had to take off my wedding rings which makes me sad. I hate taking them off! My fingers feel fatter, my feet do too. I feel like my face is bigger. I just feel big, everywhere, all the time!  
• Discomfort & Pain - I don't have many places that don't hurt or cause any problems for me.  
• Constipation - sorry if too much information but it's causing some pain the past few days and it's incredibly frustrating. 

Giving up sweets for this year...is not really going well. Granted, I am still firm on not giving my twins sweets (sorry to all of you who want to), but I was ruined in this department since I was a baby. I've always craved sweets, even prior to my pregnancy, and during pregnancy that hasn't changed. I might need to adjust my new years resolution to "eat sweets in moderation but not daily" instead of "no sweets except holidays/birthdays." We'll see. I really don't want to give myself an inch though, because I'll take a mile. Kyle is just as bad as I am which makes it worse since neither one of us has the will strong enough to be completely healthy like I want. I can say that our meals have been healthier though, so I guess that's a positive thing!

I had another baby monitoring session this week. It took longer than usual because the lady who does only monitoring sessions wasn't there today, so the nurses who are also running around dealing with women in labor/delivering etc. were setting me up. Both babies are still doing well. At first, baby on the left (which was Baby A but is now Baby B) had a higher heart rate than they like, but they believe it was due to my temperature being a little higher than normal. The nurse gave me some water, and I was watched for quite a while and it turned out fine. Baby B is is no longer head down, which doesn't surprise me. The left side of me is always moving like crazy! That one will be our little acrobat while Baby A (on my right side) seems to be a lot more docile and just digs its butt into my ribcage. Baby A is head down, and the doctor doing the ultrasound said it almost looked like they were sucking their thumb, but he couldn't tell. Seems to be taking after their momma! I was a thumb sucker until I was 9 years old! Not exactly something I am proud of.... Anywho - I did have some contractions but they were irregular so nothing to worry about.

Well, I guess my feelings of being huge were confirmed. I had a nurse come into the room at one point and say, "whoa, looks like you're about to pop! How far along are you? 39 weeks?" I just smiled and said, "nope, only 35 weeks but with twins." So I guess I am rather large, which is true, but that's okay. I have 2 weeks max at this point until I have two little babies in front of me! Crazy to think about.

34 Weeks Means Discomfort

Welcome to February! This month, we will (hopefully) meet our precious babies! Hard to believe, isn't it??

I am really starting to feel the affects of being pregnant with twins. These babies are getting heavy! I mean let's face it, when I was checked at my last growth scan, I had close to 8lbs of baby inside me. That's what most women are carrying at 40 weeks and full term. I was carrying that weight at 32 weeks. I feel uncomfortable a large portion of the day. If I eat too much, I feel like my stomach is literally going to explode from all the pressure. I also can't stand for very long before my back starts to ache. It's hard to take my normal showers because I just need to lean over to give my back some relief. Sometimes when I'm washing quite a few dishes, Kyle brings over a chair for me to sit at the kitchen sink. I'm not sure I'd be able to keep doing this for another 3 weeks.

Symptoms

• Bloody Nose - last week I didn't have one, but this week I have. 
• Contractions - I feel a lot of it in my back -- these might not all be contractions and might just be strain being put on my back, but it feels like menstrual cramping almost...and it is super uncomfortable.
• Heartburn - I've woken up several times with it and start craving milk. I just suffer through it though because I don't want to go downstairs for milk. 
• Movement difficulties - it's becoming increasingly more difficult for some of my movements. Kyle will help me up off the couch often, and trying to roll out of bed to use the bathroom in the middle of the night would be comical to watch, I'm sure. 
• Possible feet swelling - My feet will actually feel more tight and rub in my Sperry's which I haven't really ever had a problem with before. Kyle has mentioned that my feet have looked bigger, too, so I'm assuming they are starting to swell.
• Baby Hiccups - I feel these almost daily. From what I've read and feel, it's just a twitch in my uterine muscle. It's not a kick or a jab because it's far too rhythmic and consistent. 
• Emotional - I have definitely become much more emotional this past week. Poor Kyle doesn't understand why I will just start crying and after I start, it takes everything inside me to make it stop...and it usually isn't for quite a while. Everyday this week has had something happen to make me cry. I'll be glad when these pregnancy hormones are gone!
• Pelvic pain - this is super annoying. I can barely move in anyway without feeling some kind of pain.  
• Weight Gain: 32.4lbs

This week I met with Tara, our photographer to discuss the twins' photo session. It went well. We've been looking up ideas and trying to figure out how we'll maneuver with two babies! Tara has never worked with twins before so this will be a challenge for everyone, but we are both excited for it. :)

I also had another doctor's appointment and baby monitoring session. The doctors appointment was pretty short which is normal for Naval, but I met with the doctor that I like. He said he's been looking at dates for my delivery and he is looking more towards the end of my 37th week, on Feb 28. Of course, we realize the babies could come before then but we'll just have to see. This also means I won't be able to see my twinnies as early as I thought and if they do wait until the 28th, my mom's visit will be shorter than we had originally planned which has really bummed me out. What girl doesn't want her mom to be around for the first few months of dealing with her newborns???..especially as a first time mom! I just have to trust that everything is in God's hands and his timing is best. I know that waiting to deliver the babies until a little later will be better for them because it decreases the possibility of any NICU time which we obviously would prefer. I certainly don't want to feel like I'm whining about that because the health and development of my babies are the most important thing. I am just super emotional at this point, though, so I am struggling with the idea that Mom can't come for how long I want her to.

The baby monitoring was the quickest one I've had yet. Both babies are head down at this point which is good, of course. I was very unhappy with the lack of professionalism from the lady doing this appointment, but I guess that would be a story for another time. The good thing is that both babies have good heartbeats. The baby on the left side likes to move (same with last week) and so they constantly have to move the piece that tracks their heartbeats to re-find wherever the baby had gone! I also had several contractions during the 20 minutes, but nothing to be concerned about. 

Kyle has had to work a lot more this week than normal which I haven't liked. Sitting at home by myself becomes very boring, very quickly. I can't really take walks around the neighborhood, though, because of the back pain I will start to feel. I also don't really want to drive somewhere by myself just because I would rather be home and close to the hospital in case the babies decide to give me some issues. Looks like I'm stuck in the house, watching a lot of Netflix!

Prayers that the babies are healthy and keep growing! We want them to have a healthy weight when they are born so they won't have to stay in the hospital. Tomorrow will mark my 35th week, and I'm so thankful that God has allowed me to reach this point with twins. We will just have to wait and see what happens the last few weeks!

Week 35 - size of Cantaloupe