Some nursery pics

Two pics we need to hang. The top one is what I told you Hubby had growing up that his mom made. I love it!
My $10 cr.aigslis.t find. My mom painted it white. Not too shabby!
The closet lined with diapers and wipes. The baskets only have clothes sizes NB and 0-3 months.
Again, the only clothes hanging are NB and 0-3 months. The top shelf has bigger sizes. And the bottom of the closet is lined with diapers and wipes.
Cutest lil lady bug bedding!


All the little toys they have already.
The glider/ottoman that I was surprised with (please ignore the garbage on the floor).

So, as you can see. Some more work to do, but we are close to done!

Some shower pics

We got two of these little seahorse thingies. They play really nice relaxing music and the bellies light up.
Of course scads of clothes too!
The gift table...
And the diaper cake my mom made.

Crunch time!

I am really starting to feel the pressure to make sure everything is in order for when these babies arrive. I have so many lists going of things I want/need to do. My latest idea of a good thing to do it plan ahead and freeze some meals for us. Instead of working at working today (shhh!), I've been googling all sorts of recipes I can make and freeze. There are several meals that require tomato sauce. I make spaghetti sauce from scratch, and while it is simple, it takes a while to do. I am thinking of dedicating my weekend to getting all these meals done. Or at least some. I figure Friday I could make the sauce, then Saturday I could assemble some meals to freeze. Of course this requires a clean kitchen, so between now and Friday I need to take care of that.

My other priority is to get my hospital bag packed. I can't believe it's that time already! And of course in order to do that...I need to do laundry. I don't mind the loading of the machines, but the putting away it what I hate. I suppose I need to get over it...the laundry is only going to get worse! :0)

Next is finishing the nursery/buying the last few items. I feel like I'm completely organized with the clothes, and other miscellaneous items, but we need some sort of shelving in there, like a book shelf to put a lamp on and the cutest darn piggy banks they got from one of the grandmas, plus books, etc. I want to put a touch lamp in there so it can be really dim if I want it. And, they need bedding still! I have some sheets that I got from the showers, but I still haven't bought the bedding set(s). I figured I only need one for now and we can get the second set later when we set up the second crib. We also need some sort of garbage pail or diaper g.enie to put in there...hmm...what else? Oh bottles! We don't have any. My original idea was to use the drop-in system...but now I'm second guessing that decision and wondering if I should just use regular old bottles. Does anyone have an opinion on that? My thinking was to take convenience over expense. But now I'm wondering how convenient the drop-ins would be. I'd have to stock up and go buy more when we run out instead of using the same bottles over again and just washing them. Hmm...

One last thing in the nursery that isn't a must, but would be nice, is if I could find some sort of curtain/shower curtain to put in the closet and remove the doors. Right now there are two sliding doors, but they are kinda narrow and the sides of the closet are kinda deep so it's not exactly easy to see everything with one side open. Of course it isn't a necessity, but it's be nice. I think that's about it for the nursery...although writing it all out it kinds sounds like a lot.

I need to take some time and reorganize my kitchen cupboards to make room for bottles. Currently we have a large cupboard that has miscellaneous crap in it that just needs a new home. If I got that cleaned out, I could move some other stuff around and that would work fine...I think.

Of course there are many other little projects I would have loved to get done, but they are just not possible with Hubby still on the mend and me not able to do a whole lot. Besides, are the babies really going to notice if the garage isn't cleaned or the flower bed isn't weeded? I doubt it.

I'm going to leave you with two questions...

1) What are your thoughts on bottles (drop-ins vs. regular)?
2) Any tips on what to pack in a hospital bag (other than what the books tell you to pack)?

Work shower

I had my work shower today. It was short and sweet. As soon as I get a copy of the pic I'll have to show you how the cake turned out. It was so stinkin' cute! It was a flat sheet cake and the bakery piped big fluffy daisies with big fat ladybugs sitting on the flowers. the background was a real light green. So cute! It was nummy too - white cake with raspberry filling...mmm...

The shower lasted about 20 minutes. I was surprised it was so short - but happy. I don't like the attention, as you know. There were some individuals who bought gifts and the office also took donations to get a gift card to Costco. Of course a lot of the gifts were clothes, but thankfully they were larger sizes. The gift card has a very generous amount on it and it will come in handy for diapers, formula (if we need it), and any of the other wonderful items Costco carries.

It was a very nice little party. My office is always so thoughtful.

29 week appt

I had an appointment this morning. It was mainly to check my cervix. Before the u/s got started the doc asked me if I was on bed rest. I told him I was on half days. He said about this time he usually recommends bed rest for the rest of the pregnancy. My first thought was NOOO! Hubby is still a long ways away from going back to work and we are already on half my income. But...anything to get these girls here safely. So I swallowed hard and we proceeded with the u/s. THANKFULLY my cervix still looked good. He said it was a little shorter than before, but that is normal for a progressing pregnancy. I asked if I could still work half days and he, hesitantly, said yes, but I have to take it easy when I'm home. He said to have lazy weekends and lay on the couch and watch movies. I have a feeling maybe after my next appointment (in two weeks) he's going to put me on bed rest. I guess we'll cross that bridge when we get there.

My plan after work today was to go to the post office then to Costco...but I didn't do either. Instead I came home and ended up sleeping for 3 hours. I wish I could sleep good at night, then I wouldn't have to sleep for hours during the day.

Speaking of not sleeping at night, this last week or so I've been waking up contracting whenever I roll over. I told the doc about this and he said I may be getting dehydrated during the night so to keep water by the bed. I do that anyway, but mostly to sip if my throat gets dry. I guess I'll need to make sure I drink more. I feel like our water lately had crack in it. I drink so much water lately. I guess it's just natural since my body had all that extra blood and it changing out the amniotic water daily, but geesh, I drink a lot - and pee a lot! I've been getting up about every two hours at night to go to the bathroom, which is another reason I don't sleep great.

Dr. M took a quick look at the kiddos, and whaduyaknow, they flipped again. Baby A's head is now on the left and B's is on the right. I have no idea how they have room in there to do somersaults. We just took a quick look to make sure their hearts are still beating. Of course it took a minute to track down their hearts because they were moving so much :0)

Oh and my blood pressure was good. I think it was 118/63 - yay!

Next appointment is in two weeks. At that one he'll measure everyone again. Oh! Today my belly measured at 39 weeks!! No wonder my tummy muscles feel so tired after standing for a while!

Weekend Update

Well, now that it's Wednesday already, I guess I better post about my weekend!

Saturday I went to a baby consignment sale. I was very disappointed. They way it was advertised I thought it'd be a ton of furniture, clothes, gadgets, etc. Instead it was a fairly small conference area, with mostly vendors selling anything from baby stuff to candles and Tupperware. Then a large portion was racks of clothes. There was a VERY small area that actually had other "stuff". I did not buy one thing. My mom went with me and she bought some cute outfits, but that was about it. I think we spent a whopping hour...maybe an hour and a half there. Most of the time we were yakking with people my mom knew. I think the best part of that morning was going out to breakfast after. I had homemade cinnamon bread french toast. Mmm...I'm still thinking about it days later. If the restaurant wasn't 40 minutes away I'd go again tomorrow.

Sunday was my shower day. My.shower.day. I've been to so many, I never thought I'd have my own. It was very cool - although I will say, I'll be happy when the babies arrive so the attention goes to them and not me. I don't like to be the center of attention, it makes me nervous :0)

The shower was nice. There were about 20 friends and family there. My mom made a cute little diaper cake, and of course there were snacks and punch. Let me tell ya...these two little girls are so spoiled already. They got tons of gifts. I swear they won't wear the same outfit twice. We also seem to be pretty stocked on diapers for a while - and definitely wipes! I think I figured we have about 4,000 wipes and well over 1,000 diapers. AND one other nice thing is we got the car seats! They are sitting in my living room now, but I am planning to stick them in the car one of these days soon. That will be weird having car seats in my car. I'll have to take pictures - lol.

On Monday my mom came over and looked through the loot (since she didn't get a good look being busy at the party). She and my dad hauled it all back to the nursery, then I spent a good 2-3 hours that night organizing and putting away items. I'm not even done yet. I also got a wonderful surprise on Monday from my MIL. I got home from work and she was at the house visiting Hubby. She grabbed my hand and let me down the hall to the closed door of the nursery. I opened the door and to my surprise there was a glider chair and ottoman with a big soft blanket and pillow sitting on it. To top it off she gave me a framed piece that she (I think cross-stitched??) made when her kids were little and had it hanging while she rocked them in her rocker. Now I get to hang it in our nursery while I rock our babies. I love homemade family stuff like that. I got all choked up. Hubby says he remembers it hanging in their house for as long as he can remember. It was really really sweet.

Tomorrow I have my shower at work. Everyone is being all "hush-hush" about it. I hope it's not too big of a deal. Maybe this weekend I'll be able to go out and get the rest of the items we are missing. It's not much at all, but it's of course the bigger ticket items, like bedding, a pack n play, one of those strollers that the car seats can snap into, oh and bottles.

Also tomorrow morning I have a doctor appointment to check my cervix. Hopefully everything is still a-ok. I'll be 29 weeks tomorrow!!! I also want to ask him about the BH contractions again. I've had significantly less since I cut back my hours, but for some reason at night I have a lot while I'm sleeping. It seems like every time I roll over my uterus seizes up. I'm not sure there is anything I can do about it, but it doesn't hurt to ask.

I'll update you tomorrow on how everything goes! :0)

28 weeks and stuff...

I'm 28 weeks today. Officially in the third trimester. I can't believe how fast time is flying! I'm so thankful that we have reached this major milestone. The doc mentioned way back when I was probably 14 weeks that 28 weeks was our first goal to get to. I made it - yay!

I had my follow up appointment at the UW Medical Center this morning for my blood pressure. I guess the pills I've been popping are doing their job. My bp was about 114/63. Not too shabby! According to their chart I'm finally where I'm supposed to be, as far as heart rate/bp, etc, for as far along as I am. Last time I was off the chart - yikes! They didn't do a new u/s but they looked at the last u/s I had two weeks ago from my other doctor and they said things are looking good. The girls were measuring a little above average. I knew that already, but it was good to hear again. I know one of the possibilities from taking the atenelol (sp?) is that it can hinder the baby's growth. Thankfully that isn't the case for me.

Over all, I'm pretty impressed with my body. It's finally giving me a break. It was such a struggle to get pregnant, I figured I'd have all kinds of issues once I got pregnant too. Thankfully (fingers crossed & knock on wood), I have had no big issues at all. My belly measured at 34 weeks today, which is a little bigger than is "should" be, but since the girls are a little bigger too, I'm guessing it's no big deal.

In other news, poor Hubby is STILL in the hospital. When he had his surgery last Thursday we anticipated him being discharged on Monday or Tuesday. Due to an infection he got in one of his wounds, he's still there. They thought he might be able to come home today, but it's now 12:30pm and still no word if that is going to happen. I'm guessing it will be tomorrow. Poor guy has had nothing but trouble his whole stay at the hospital. If you ask me, they are all a bunch of idiots and I'm reconsidering my loyalty to that hospital and thinking delivering up north doesn't sounds like such a bad idea after all. If you're the praying type, send one up for him. He's in a lot of pain and his body is working really hard to heal itself. :0(

Well, I think that about wraps it up. I have a consignment sale to go to on Saturday, my baby shower on Sunday and my work shower next Thursday. I can't wait to start setting up the nursery and putting everything away!

My lucky day!

I just got home from visiting the hospital a little bit ago (Hubby is still in, had some complications, but should be home tomorrow). While I was a work today my MIL and SIL came cover and shampooed all the carpets in my house, plus cleaned the hardwood and my kitchen!!! What a great surprise! It made me teary eyed! They had to have worked their tails off! When Hubby and I just shampoo the living room and hallway I'm exhausted.

It's really hard for me to ask for help and to accept help. I know several people have offered several times to come and help with house stuff, but I always decline. I guess MIL figured she should just come and do it - lol. I told Hubby about it and apparently he already knew they were going to do it and just didn't tell me.

So thank you so much Cathy and Lauren! I can't thank you enough!!

Me at work

One of my supervisors thought it'd be funny to take a pic of me at my desk and send it to one of my coworkers who works out of state.

Like I've said before my office has been really accomodating to me whether it be for my doctor appointments...or my desk set up. Since I've been experiencing all this pelvic pain, they have tried to make me more comfortable while I'm here. Below are a couple of pics...

And of course my belly at 27w4d...

The plan is, not to plan

If my infertility taught me nothing else, it taught me that I have no control over my body. Why would pregnancy be any different?

I've been asked a lot lately what my "plan" is for the delivery. My answer? No plan.

I suppose if I were pregnant with a singleton. I could plan on going to 40 weeks. I could plan on going to my local hospital. I could plan on having a vaginal delivery. I could plan on not having an epidural. I could plan on being in the hospital for a couple of days then going home with my bundle of joy.

Twins make such a difference.

I feel like going to 36 weeks is just a goal. I don't feel like I can plan on going that far. A while ago the doctor told us our first goal was to get to 28 weeks; that most babies are viable after that time. Our next goal is to get to 32 weeks; babies delivered after then typically don't have any major issues. Our final goal of course is 36 weeks.

I have another set of goals too. I would really like to deliver at our local hospital. To be able to do that I have to deliver after 34 weeks. If I go before then, then we'll have to travel up north a little and deliver at a bigger hospital that is equipped to handle premature babies. Obviously the longer that babies can stay in my belly the better for them, but it would be better for me if they will stay in so I can stay local.

What is my "plan" for delivery? Well, before I knew I was having twins, my wish had always been to deliver vaginally with no epidural (other pain meds would be fine) - if you don't remember from all my posts last September, I dislike needles...like a lot! Anyway, now that that plan is out. I'm preparing myself for having a c-section. From what I read about 50% of twins are born vaginally the other 50% via cesarean. My doc told me a lot of times what can happen is the mom can push one out, but the other isn't in a good position, or is under stress, or whatever, then she'll have to have a cesarean for the other. He said most of the time mom's opt to just go for the cesarean. I think I'm going to board that bus. Why go through the "trauma" of pushing out one baby and all the loveliness that can happen to your body, just to go into the OR and have them cut you open and stitch you up too? No matter what, I'd have to deliver in the OR in case something happened. I'm sure they'd want me to have an epidural in case they needed to do an emergency c-section. So if I'm there and prepared already, I might as well go for it, right? Besides the girls have been transverse the whole pregnancy anyway, I'm guessing they aren't going to change anytime soon.

So that is my plan...or lack thereof. Only God knows when these girls are going to arrive. Only God knows where they will be delivered. I am just along for the ride and waiting to bring home my widdle gwirls!!

A sweet gift

Today at work I went to check my mailbox. I had a pink envelope with my name on it. I opened it to find a really nice card from a lady at work whose last day is today. The card was very sweet and she wrote a really nice note inside and included inside was a CD of heartbeats blended with nature sounds to soothe our little girls when they arrive.

I got really choked up. I went out to the front desk to thank her, but she had just left for lunch and wouldn't be back until after I was already gone for the day. I'm so sad I missed her. Thankfully her daughter works here, so I can send her a thank you note.

I just wanted to share. It really touched my heart today.

Surgery day

All went as well as it could. The surgeon was able to go in a make a small incision to hook everything back up. Hubby seems to be a lot more comfortable than he was last time right after surgery - although I'm sure he'd say he's not comfortable at all.

We are expecting him to be in the hospital for 5-6 days. I'm so relieved this will all be behind us soon.

Thanks for your thoughts/prayers!!!

The eve of Hubby's surgery

The day has finally come! Tomorrow morning, before the sun comes up, we'll be trekking over to the hospital to get Hubby checked in for one last surgery. We will both be so glad when this over and behind us.

We are anticipating he'll be in the hospital for 4-5 days. The waiting will be to make sure his digestive system is back and running like normal. I'm guessing he'll be coming home on Monday.

We're going to have a busy day getting the house all cleaned up. I really want it spic and span when he comes home, and with my "condition" I cant' get it all done myself...plus part of it is cleaning bathrooms, so he can help with that - lol (not to mention it is my least favorite chore). Our pooches also need food, so while he can lift we'll have to buy some today, because I think we'll run out in a couple of days and I can't be lugging around a 35lb bag of hound food. It's just not possible with the belly in the way.

This surgery couldn't have come soon enough. I'm running out of paid leave at work, so my checks are soon to be cut in half. Hopefully he can heal quickly and get his keester back to work asap. These babies are going to be here in 9 weeks or less, so before we know it I won't be working at all. Whew, time is flying now!

Please keep Hubby in your thoughts/prayers for a simple surgery and speedy recovery!

26 week belly pics

Okay, I'm finally going to do it...I'm going to show the world my belly. My belly has never seen the light of day...or a camera. Here are a couple of pics I took tonight.

26 weeks!

Wow, I can't believe how quickly I arrived here! Some weeks seem to go faster or slower than others, but over all this has been a fast 6 1/2 months!

I had a doctor appointment this morning. He took time to measure the girls...and confirm that they are really girls. They are both weighing 2 lbs 3 oz already! They are in the 80th percentile. I'm so happy that they are weighing well, because I was really worried about small little babies. Hopefully they keep up with the pace and are healthy weights when they arrive. They are both about 13 inches long too. That's a lot of bebeh!

My cervix still looks good. He didn't say how it compared to my last measurement, but if he thinks its fine then I'm not going to worry.

I talked to him about my pelvic pain and all the BH contractions that I've been having. I showed him my list I've been keeping of the daily tally of contractions and there is definitely a difference when I'm at work and when I'm home. To remedy the problem I'm going on half days now at work. Financially, this sucks, but I am really looking forward to relaxing a bit more and enjoying our last couple of months of freedom (and quiet) around the house! :0)

My office has been very understanding and supportive. They've rearranged my desk area and even bought a stand/tray thingy that hold my keyboard so I can recline in my chair, put my feet up and still work. This has helped take the pressure off my pubic bone, which has helped in the pain department. We've worked out coverage already, so me going to half days is not a big deal.

Back to my appointment...I also did that one-hour glucose test today. I have to say that syrupy drink wasn't so bad. It helped a lot that it was ice cold and I could chug it all down with out coming up for air. I got my blood drawn an hour later, now we just have to wait for the results. Hopefully we'll know by Monday or Tuesday.

Blood pressure was good today too. I think is was 120/63 or 68. Also I'm up about 9 lbs since my last appointment. That's about 16lbs total. Not too shabby!

Good appointment overall. I go back to Seattle the heart place for a follow up in two weeks, then the following week I'll have my cervix checked again.

We're getting close!!

I get it now!

When I was going through all my infertility drama, during the treatments and the breaks, etc., I would notice almost all pregnant women seemed to constantly have their hand on their belly. Of course this would drive me crazy, like they were rubbing it in that they were pregnant and I wasn't - like their bulging belly wasn't enough of a reminder that I was broken - although they obviously didn't know what I was going through.

But, now, I think I get it.

I find myself with my hand(s) on my belly all the time and for different reasons:

While at my desk or lounging on the couch, if the babies are moving, I'll try to see if I can feel them on the outside;

While standing or walking, if I feel a contraction, I'll feel to see if it really is one, and;

While in the car, if I'm a passenger - and Hubby is driving, I'll put both my hands on my belly to keep them from getting sloshed around by his driving (which by the way, will need to change if he thinks he's driving MY kids around - lol).

******

Oh, and an update on the BH contractions I've been experiencing...

Work definitely seems to contribute to having more contractions. I've been diligently keeping track of how many I've had each day, since I had the "bad" day last Thursday. Here is my current breakdown:

Thursday - 10 or more (this is when I started keeping track)
Friday - 7 (I had 4 by 11am, so I went home at noon)
Saturday - 4
Sunday - 2
Monday - 7
Today - so far none, but it's only 10:30am.

I just have to get through today and tomorrow before my next appointment with the doc. I'm going to talk to him about what is going on, and of course depending on how my cervix is doing, I'd like to go to half days. Financially this would not be good, but the babies are more important at the moment and going to half days is better than not working at all. I only have about 10ish weeks to go, so in the grand scheme of things, that not that much longer.