Waiting...

Tuesday's appointment was great. Both boys passed their BPPs, though it took a while for them to "perform" and show us that they are indeed practicing breathing. Doc still wants me to go at least another week, and I think at this point I'm measuring about 44 weeks pregnant. We'll know on Monday (appointment with the peri) how much they weigh, but I'm guessing somewhere around 4 lbs each by now. Doc lifted some of my restrictions, though I'm still on pretty strict bedrest. I can sit at the table to eat (WOO!), and he encouraged me to get up and stretch my legs every now and then. No marathon shopping trips or even short trips to the grocery store, but it's nice to know I can get up at times other than when I have to go to the bathroom.

The carseats are in Ryan's car, as is our bag....now we just have to have babies and we're all set! Ryan did a great job installing the seats!

Today marks 33 weeks, 5 days. The nurse in L&D reminded us that white boys have the hardest time as preemies - apparently they're referred to as "wimpy white boys" in the LDRP (Labor, Delivery, Recovery, Postpartum) ward. We just pray that their lungs are developed enough that they won't have to stay in the NICU long...or at all!

I've been blessed to have some company this week. Our friend Melissa brought her 6 month old daughter Carissa over for a couple of hours yesterday, and today our friend Jill brought 3-month old Sarah over. It was nice to have a bit of company, and Henley and Dabney both loved it! It was fun to see them interact with little ones. I think they're going to do really well.

In the meantime, we're just waiting...

the long awaited picture

Sorry it took so long to post this. My wife's been asking me to do it for about a week now.

So here it is! The 32-weeks picture!

Our 1st trip to L&D

Greetings from our borrowed recliner (thanks, Chris and Melissa)!

R and I took our 1st trip to Labor and Delivery (L&D) last night, as I spent the better part of yesterday feeling under the weather and getting some contractions. I spoke to 2 different nurses at our OB practice, and both wanted me to go to the hospital to be monitored. I'll give you the short version...

We spent a total of about 2.5 hours, most of the time with me and the boys being hooked up to monitors. Both boys are doing wonderfully - the nurse said they were "jumping rope" because they were so active. I, however, had about 5 pretty decent contractions within less than an hour, so I got a shot to make them stop. They didn't completely stop, so I got another shot about an hour later, and we headed home about 10-15 minutes after that. I now have instructions to be on strict bedrest until our next OB appointment, which is Tuesday afternoon.

I've spent most of the day in the recliner, watching Mom do things around the house and listening to Dad and Ryan make huge amounts of noise upstairs with the construction. I'm rather bored and stir-crazy, but it's not too bad. I've had more contractions today, but not to the extent that I feel we need to go back to L&D. We'll see how the rest of the evening progresses...

Babymooning and a general update

R and I forgot to mention a couple of weeks ago that we were able to get away and take a "Babymoon." For those of you not "in the know," babymoons are an up-and-coming thing amongst pregnant couples. Sort of a "last hurrah" before baby arrives. We knew that we couldn't go far, so we opted to spend the night in Greenville, at the B&B where we spent our wedding night. We didn't stay in the same room, but we had a great time! We went to Smoke on the Water for dinner - a great, kinda chi-chi Southern BBQ restaurant. Hard to explain, but really good. We wandered/waddled a bit around downtown that night, and we spent Saturday hanging out too. We drove out to our old house to make sure it was still standing, and we went to the used bookstore (The Silver Chair) that R's former manager at 'bucks now owns. And we went to see "National Treasure" because we're nerds like that. All in all, we had a wonderful time!

We had our now-weekly appointment on Tuesday, and everything still looks good. Both babies are now head-down, which would explain the huge amount of movement and wriggling that I felt over the weekend. I'm physically pretty exhausted and miserable, and the doctor told me to "hang in there" for another few weeks. Today is 32 weeks and 5 days, meaning they want me to go another 2 weeks and 2 days minimum. My patience/stamina/long-suffering is wearing thin! We go back on Tuesday for another check-up and then also for non-stress tests and bio-physical profiles. Basically they'll make sure both babies aren't under duress, and they'll also monitor breathing, movement, etc.

We do have a belly shot at 32 weeks to post, but I'll have to get R to do that when he gets home. Stay tuned!

Babies' 1st Snow!

The 5 of us (myself, the boys, Dabney the cat and Henley the dog) have been officially sequestered to the house by Daddy....because there's ice and snow all over the front steps (all 4 of them) and the front walk. I guess it's not really any different from other days, since I mostly stay at home anyway, but I have missed going to Starbucks to see Ryan and get my morning coffee - decaf of course.

Today marks 31 weeks and 5 days - I can't believe it's been this long! The boys are more active than ever, and sometimes it feels like they're trying to push their way out through my ribs and stomach. It's hard to believe that they'll be here sometime in the next few weeks. It's been a great journey, but I'm SOOOO ready to meet them!

We're now seeing the OB every week, and we'll start seeing the perinatologist twice a week (for non-stress tests and bio-physical profiles) in just a few weeks - if we make it that long!

Off to stay warm and enjoy the beautiful scenery!

baby's first sneeze (and other various items, like an ear or foot)

Here are a few pictures from our latest 3D ultrasound. The boys are weighing in at 3 lb. 1 oz. and 3 lb. 5 oz. Doc says they're "beautiful" and right on track. Beck's pretty miserable not teaching and sitting on her rear all day long, but she's making it. I took her out to WildWing tonight, so she can't complain about too much, right? Well, maybe not. Enjoy!

Being "celebrities," Nesting, and Ruth and Rhonda

R and I went to a breastfeeding class last night (isn't my hubby GREAT?), and at break, I asked the nurse-instructor about breastfeeding twins, etc. She got so excited and is looking forward to when we deliver. At the end of the class, she decided to introduce the "celebrities" in the class - us! It's strange to think that having twins makes us "celebrities," especially when 1 in 33 pregnancies these days is twins (as opposed to 1 in 100 a generation ago)...according to wikipedia, but we all know how accurate wikipedia is.

Apparently one of the signs that delivery is coming is a phenomenon called "nesting." This is when moms-to-be start having crazy cleaning and organizing urges, and many people say that nesting means that baby -or in our case, babies - will be coming within a few weeks or so. I'm not sure if I buy this or not, but I have found myself wanting to clean and organize and straighten and do laundry for the boys. Or maybe it's just because I'm bored since I'm not at work! :)

The past few nights I've had some really weird dreams, but last night's takes the cake. I dreamt that I gave birth to the twins, except for the fact that they were GIRLS! Not only were the girls, but they had long, shoulder-length blonde hair. AND, before we had a chance to name them, the nurses named them Ruth and Rhonda. In part of the dream, Ryan was trying to figure out how the docs and ultrasound techs got their prediction wrong, and he pulled out one of the ultrasound pictures that showed our very obviously boy babies. His only explanation was that what we saw was a finger instead of...well, you know. The only thing I can figure out about the names is that one of Ryan's fellow seminarians and his wife just welcomed twin girls Ruth and Rhiannon. Go figure. The dream DID get me thinking that maybe I shouldn't be doing laundry yet - especially with all the boy clothes! Oh, you gotta love crazy pregnant women!

Just hanging out

Today marks the first day back to school for my students and colleagues. And let me tell you, it was NICE to sleep in this morning until about 8:00! I think it's going to be really hard to get back in the swing of things once I do go back to school. But I guess at that point, it'll be a completely different "swing of things" with 2 little boys added to the mix!

I got word today that the water was going to be shut off at the high school from about 2:00PM on. Good thing I'm NOT at school today, or else they'd have one unhappy pregnant lady on their hands. No bathroom breaks!

It's been a productive day, though I'm sure I've spent more time on my feet than I should. I took down all of Christmas (except taking the tree out of the stand...that's Ryan's job, especially considering it's too heavy for me) and redecorated the house with non-holiday items. I've gone through some maternity clothes that people have loaned me - and I repacked the clothes that don't fit anymore. I need to start doing laundry to get ready for the boys, but I don't have anywhere to put their clothes because my maternity clothes are in their dresser! Silly Mommy!

Who can believe that we'll be the parents of twin boys anytime within the next 5-8 weeks? WOW!