36 week check in!!

Sorry for the delay... i haven't been feeling so hot and we have had minor Internet issues. I can NOT believe we have made it this far...thank God!!! We had another ultra sound on wed. The babies looked good and my fluid levels were still really good. Baby A was weighing in about 5lbs. 11oz and Baby B was 6lbs 3 oz. Over all the tech said by what she could see they looked healthy. Both are head down and Baby A is defiantly making certain her brother is NOT the first one out. She has been parked pretty low for some time now and has moved even farther down ensure the #1 spot.

Thursday we had our 36 week OB/GYN appointment and NST. Dr. M said that he was extremely happy with our progress and said i am one of the healthiest moms of twins he has seen in some time. He is very happy with how the babies look and expects a smooth delivery. He checked my cervix to see if i was dilating at all yet and i was not (whew!!) but he did say that Baby A was right there and he could feel her head so i must be starting to efface. Over all he is happy with what he sees and is looking forward to me going into labor (as am I haha). Dr. M informed Mike and I that from here on out if i go into labor they wont stop it and we will proceed as if i were full term. Mike and i are both very excited to know the end is drawing near!

While I have you I might as well share a 36 week belly pic!! Look at it in all its glory hahaha...

As far as how everything else is going... This staying at home thing is not nearly as fun or easy as i thought it would be. The reason i am home is b/c i cant do anything and i am left to sit on the couch or lay in bed and get my daily exercise of walking to the mailbox and back everyday!!! Mike has been wonderful with my many needs and requests. He has really picked up the slack and wont let me lift a thing. Most days when he leaves for work he sets me up either upstairs or down stairs so i don't need to get up unless its to go potty or eat. Then when he calls and catches me trying to clean or do something in the nursery i get yelled at. He is going to be a great daddy!!!

Your probably asking yourself.. well if your in such great health why cant you do anything for yourself....1) take another look at the picture above!!!! Moving around with well over 12-14 pounds of fluid and moving objects in front of you can prove a daunting task after 5 min and 2) take a look at the picture below... swelling is an understatement!!!!

I never had nice legs to begin with I have always been on the chuncky side... but I use to have cute feet!!! The swelling has gotten so out of control that the fluid/swelling starts at my thighs and ends at my toes!! Compression socks don't help... ice doesn't help any more.. mike can rub my feet for hours and nothing makes it go away. I never thought swelling could be painful but it makes the simplest of tasks such as getting in and out of a chair difficult! Other than the swelling and heartburn i have very few complaints. I have been very blessed with a great pregnancy and CAN NOT wait to meet our little ones!

Hopefully we will get another week or two of updates... if not I cant wait to share pics of the babies!!!

xoxoxox

Mom and babies

Who would have thought???

Who would have thought packing the hospital bag could be so difficult?!?!?! I had the babies bag packed the other day and thought i should get a move on my bag. Since i have never done this before i went online and looked up what to pack... geeeezzze you'd think i was going away for a week with the amount of crap they suggest! It literally took me 3 hours to pack.

The labor bag is really Mike's bag hahaha. In that bag is cloths for mike in case he is at work and needs to meet me at the hospital... this way he doesn't have to get scrubs or wear his uniform hahaa that would be funny!! Then its got PJ's for him to wear in case the process takes a long time and he wants to sleep as well as a comfy outfit of gym shorts and a t-shirt. Other than that its got lots of snacks for mike, change for vending machines, an extra phone charger, my ID and insurance info, my doctors visit journal just in case we need to look something up or write something down, a night gown for me in case i dont want to wear a hospital gown to deliver, flip flops, and some small stuff like hair ties .

The post pardum bag is all mine... mike can go home and shower and change and play with the pups if he wants (i will try to sleep hahaha). Its got your typical 2 days worth of cloths, pj's, a going home outfit for me, socks, undergarments, and toiletries.

Then we have the babies bag which has 2 different going home outfits (I cant decide yet which i want so i brought both ahahha) then a long sleeve onsie for each, a cap for each, socks for each, and a receiving blanket for each.

Then we have the camera bags.. 2 digital cameras and 1 moving camera as well as their respective extra memory sticks and batteries. Now for those of you that know Mike... chances are he wont pick up a single camera.... so pray he can figure out how to work them and i can have some memories of that day.

Then on top of everything is the outfit i want to wear to the hospital and a sweatshirt for each mike and i. I just need to get the pillows ready and i should be good to go!!!!

Soooooooo think we got enough crap? I think i packed less bags for our honeymoon than for this! Well after 3 hours of laundry and folding and finding stuff i was exhausted and hungry. Went in the kitchen to make dinner only to start with some contractions. I guzzeled a ton of h2o and layed down. Thank God that did the trick. After i told mike what happened he was very upset and told me i need to not push myself so hard! He is right... sooo now that the bags are packed its just a waiting game. Hopefully a long waiting game for a least another 3-4 weeks!

Im off to go make some breakfast!
xoxoxox
mom & babies

33 week belly pic...

33 weeks!!!! I am so excited to have made it this far. Like i said in my last post the bigger i get the harder everything gets but its all worth it in the end. So far so good.. Other than being uncomfy my health is great. I have put on a tad more weight than i would have liked but heck at our last ultra sound the babies were each about 5 pounds so I'm not complaining if it means big healthy babies! The last few NST went well w/ the exception of the last one. Baby B (our son) was being lazy and wouldn't give us two heart rate accelerations in the required 20 min... of course he gave us the second one at 23 minutes but the tech had to make us wait another 20 min and he just barely passed the second time around. Baby A passed right away. Please pray he was just being a lazy bones that day and didn't feel like moving for mom.

Being home is ok... BORING is more like it. Mike has been great about trying to keep me occupied while he is home even if its just a simple ride around the neighborhood in the car. I will admit i don't know how i would have gotten through work this last 2 weeks i can barely get a load of laundry done or clean the kitchen. After a little scare with some contractions last night Mike has warned me that i need to rest or else!! For those of you that know mike can understand why that coming from his mouth is soooooo funny! But i love him and i love that he cares about me and the babies so much!

xoxoxoxo

mom & babies

Maternity Leave Here I Come!!!

Well its official... Oct 1 was my first official day of maternity leave! At my last OB/GYN appointment the subject had been broached by my doc and it was inevitable this would happen! The larger i get the more things hurt and the more i am lucky to get out of bed some days!!! At my 2nd NST i was showing some minor contractions but the babies were doing great!!! The contractions were just one more reason for me to take it easy!!! I need to cook these babies as long as possible. Then to add fuel to the fire I was also having a lot of problems with my bladder and I actually thought i might have a UTI. Turns out that the babies are crushing my bladder and whenever i go #1 the muscles surrounding my bladder spasm from having the extra room. This extra room is then quickly taken up by urine and babies so my poor muscles dont get much of a break! I was also getting a lot of stomach cramps which at first i confused with contractions. Apparently the same thing was happening to my stomach and intestines as was my bladder. These things made just laying around the house pretty uncomfy!

With all of this in mind I went to work and discussed with my boss my options. Given that we are slow right now he wasnt all too upset to see me go. We chose Oct 1 b/c its the end of the month and end of a pay period. This made paperwork and billing that much easier for them. Unfortunately for me if I carry the babies to 38 weeks that will give me only 6-7 week at home w/ them before i have to return to work. Please pray that work and I can come up with a nice deal and I can get at least 8 weeks with my babies before i have to return to work.

The first day of leave i was pretty depressed and stressed out! Cried a little and worried a lot! But by day 3 (today) i am 100% certain i made the right choice. This is the 2nd day in a row i have woken up by 6:30 am (after having be awake 6 other times during the night to either pee, adjust positions or take tums) b/c my body hurt so bad that i just had to move! the good news is now that i am home i can at least take a nap... if only i could get comfy enough to sleep?!?! there are so many things i want to do but i dont want to push myself! I really want to make it to 38 weeks!!

Soooo join me on my journey through the last few weeks of this pregnancy and the joys of bed rest!!!

xoxoxox
mommy & babies

Baby Showers Galore!!!!

I was super blessed to have 3 baby showers!! The first was my work shower which was a total surprise!! The second was back home in NJ with family and NJ friends and the third was where Mike and i live now with close friends.

The work shower....

My boss (Ted) scheduled a lunch staff meeting. I thought "ugh great.. i am pooped and the last thing i want to do is work during lunch!" I should have known when he wanted to have the staff meeting in the larger upstairs conferance room, but i stopped questioning why certain things happen a long time ago. The conferance room door was closed but i didnt think much of it. As Ted opened the door everyone screamed surprise!!! I was honestly 100% surprised! Everyone was very grascious and i had a ton of fun!! Thank you all very much!

Wish i had dressed a bit nicer or
done my hair that day hahaha!!

The NJ Shower.... (09/12/09)

I knew about this shower b/c i had to travel to get there and mom knew there was no way i wouldn't suspect something! Mike took off of work and drove me to NJ b/c driving that far alone was getting way to difficult.

The shower was at the house of one of my mom's friends (Thank you sooo much JoLee). I arrived shortly before all of the guests.. this gave me a chance to look at all the decorations and awsome diaper cake!! (Thanks again JoLee) Everything about the shower was awsome.. the food was great, the vibe was good and everyone was very generous! Mom Thank you soooo very much for all your hard work. I knew this shower was coming at a bad time of year for you but you still put every once of energy you had into it! I love you so much!!!

Me and my GIANT Belly!!!

Mike being very proud of

his handy work!!

Mom and i with the cake... yuuuummm cake!!

The Shower Here... (09/19/09)

A close friend of mine and her mom threw my shower here (Thanks Melissa & Ruth). Again i knew about this one. Between the shower in NJ and the shower here i decided to take a week off of work and stay in NJ to relax at my parents house. Mom drove me back home and came to my 3rd shower as well. I was surprised by the number of people that actually came!!! I felt very blessed to have all of these people who cared about me and my babies (some drove well over an hour to get there!!) I had a great time and felt very blessed to have so many good friends!!

(pictures to follow soon!!!!)

Thank you everyone who helped Mike and I prepare for our beautiful babies!! With out everyones generous gifts Mike and i would certainly be BROKE!! hahaha!!

XXOOXOX

Mommy & babies!

30 week belly pic!!

Well there it is..... my giant 30 week belly!!! I was told that i would regret that belly button ring i had gotten in college... well now it looks sooo gross and i certainly do regret it!!! I'm going to admit all this belly is making moving, sleeping, sitting and laying VERY difficult. I still have 8 weeks of growing to do which is even scarier, but we wan those babies to grow grow grow so i will take the discomfort!!!

We had our first Non stress Test (NST) on Thursday and it went great!!! Baby A was hard to hear at first but she passed right away (w/in 15 min) and Baby B was a bit lazier but finally passed after 25 min. I wasn't having any real contractions just have an "irritated uterus" which means its starting to run out of room but not reacting by causing labor yet!

I was so proud the babies did so great especially when the tech said that babies at 30 weeks (let alone twins) rarely pass the first time. My little guys are beating the odds from day one!!! The are already making mommy and daddy very proud!

Well sitting at the computer is getting harder and harder everyday so i need to get going and lay down for bed!

xoxoxoxo

29 Week Check in...

I cant believe we are already at 29 weeks!! Only 70 +/- days left!!! Mike and I are sooooo excited to finally meet our beautiful babies.

I had to take the 3 hr glucose test last week... can we say BORING!!!!!!! I got to the hospital at 7 am and of course didn't get taken back until 7:45 am. I had to get my blood drawn then drink a small bottle of this flat lemon lime soda. I must have a strong sweet tooth b/c it wasn't as bad as everyone said. Then i was sent back to the waiting room for an hour. After 1 hr I went back and had more blood drawn. I repeated this another 2 times and finally at 10:45 am i had my last blood draw taken. I could FINALLY eat and get back to work.

I had an ob/gyn appointment the following day. Well good news i passed the 3 hr glucose test!! Dr.M answered some questions i had and checked the babies heartbeats. They sounded great and Dr. M was very happy. While listening to the heartbeat Dr. M seemed to have phased out and then finally said "ya know what after doing the math in my head... normally twins are small but these guys are BIG!" He said this was a great thing and that they seem to be growing great! I couldn't be happier! Dr. M measured the size of my belly and it was measuring at 37cm. I think that would typically be a 37 week pregnant woman hahahaha!!! Boy i got a big belly!! :) Dr. M informed me that at 30 weeks i need to start going to the hospital 1x a week for non stress test, where they will put the babies on heart monitors and i think we will also be getting an ultrasound. SO we are scheduled for all the non stress tests and ultra sounds through til 36 weeks!!

We are coming down to the home stretch! I pray everyday these little guys stay in as long as possible! For as uncomfy or tired i might be we have come too far to go early!!

I'm off to do some laundry and lay on the couch like a beached whale hahaha! More updates soon!!!

oxxooxoxoxox

28 week Ultra Sound...

We just had another ultrasound!!! (the pictures got a bit graney when i inserted them.. sorry) Its hard to see what is what but…. the picture on the left is Baby B face shot straight on. He looks kind of weird like a frowning old man hahaha but I think it’s just the angle the tech took the pic at. The picture on the right is a profile of Baby A!!! We were so excited to FINALLY get a glimpse of Baby A’s face. Until this ultra sound she was always facing my spine and no one could ever see her face. It was a sigh of relief to see her adorable little face!!!

The babies are getting big. Baby A is 2 lbs 13 oz and measuring at 28 weeks 1 day gestation and her heart beat is 134 BPM. Baby B is measuring 3 lbs 5 oz and 28 weeks 6 days gestation.. his heart beat is 132 BPM. So I have approximately 6 pounds of baby!!! Both are head down at this point and (im praying that doesn’t change!!!) Baby A is fighting for the first spot to come out!!! Hahaha She is pretty low in my abdomen and her feet are up in my right ribs. Baby B’s head is right above my left hip bone and is laying diagonally with his feet in my right ribs as well! No wonder I only feel kicks on the right!!! And no wonder I am having all the rib pain!!!

We are so glad to see they are both healthy!! I have my 3 hour glucose test tomorrow am please pray i pass!!! We have our next doctors appointment in wed night so we should have more info then!!

xoxoxox

Well I failed that test....

I recieved a call from the ob/gyn today at work (never a good thing!) Apparently i failed the glucose test i took yesterday by 1 point!!!!!!!!!! Normally if i was carrying 1 baby they would let it slide but since i got 2 in there i have to go for the 3 hour glucose test. NO FUN!!! The appointment for the 3 hour test is Sept 1st 2009 at 7 am... the day before my next ob appointment.

Funny thing is during the whole test yesterday i was so impressed with myself b/c i felt 100% normal? i got back to the office that day and told co-workers i had of passed w/ flying colors. APPARENTLY NOT!!! I'm not looking forward to 3 hours of sitting in the waiting room in those super uncomfy chairs! But gotta do what i gotta do!

As far as everything else... these last week or so has been hard. Thats why i have been MIA. I went to the ob/gyn for an emergency appointment last thursday... i was having so much pain in my back and right rib area that i would litterally walk in circles at my desk not wanting to sit. Turns out i tore a nerve or damaged a nerve on my ribs on my right side. It probibly happened b/c my uterus is the size of a 36 week or more pregnant woman and grew so rapidly. Also could be it seems Baby A wont get her little feet out of my ribs! I took last friday off in an attempt to rest the nerve. Well i have come to find out that a pregnant women never gets rest!!! i felt great all weekend... i was in the office for about 1/2 a day and all the pain was back again!! Ugh! Please pray i can stick it out and work until as close to the end as possible!!

Other than the nerve and apparently the possibility of gestational diabetes... i am in great health and so are the babies as of my last ob appointment!! My BP is great, urine samples are great, weight gain is right on track! Not to much to worry about. We go for another ultra sound on saturday which i always look forward too i love seeing the babies!!

I should have more news next week after the doctors appointment/glucose test/ultrasound.

xoxoxoxo

Nursery soooo far....

As i said in the blog a little why back.. my mom came out and painted the nursery. And Mike and i were VERY blessed to have gotten 2 hand me down cribs and a changing table (thanks Mom, Dad, Chris & Chuck). The cribs dont match but thats ok.. since we are having a boy and girl.

both cribs and changing table....

changing table.. full of cloths that need to be put away...

these were also hand me downs (thanks Nicki)

Our son's crib...

Our daughters crib...

As far as furniture goes we have most of it. We are really lucky that this room has 2 GIANT closets so the need for multiple dressers wont be needed until they get much bigger. We have a "dresser" its more like plastic shelves w/ a wood frame that we got from Ikea a year or so ago. That should work for linens and other items. I would like to eventually get a glider and another low book shelves. I also would like to get some shelves to go over the changing table to hold somethings like diapers and other essentials.

Now the fun stuff!!! Mom painted to room a light green. I needed to pick a neutral color so the bedding sets corrdinate. I was extremely pumped to find a bedding set for our daughter that i was in love with and was on clearance!!! Mom was awsome and bought that matching mobile which was also on clearance!!! Here is what the set looks like.....

image off the package....

the bumper....

amazingly soft blanket that mom bought..

thanks mom & dad!!!

the matching mobile....(thanks again mom & dad)As far as our son's bedding set we picked the "MiGi Splash" set and put it on the registry but i am sad to see that the mobile is on back order and im afraid the bedding set will end up on back order as well?? I might splurge and buy that one for myself also.

I plan on buying fuzzy rugs possibly circles. I;m thinking about getting one that is pink and one that is green or blue (which ever matched the MiGi set better). Then both bedding sets come with valances which we dont need so i plan on using them to make some wall art!! I also plan on hanging on the wall the diaper holders that come with each of the sets. I can fill them with toys or something else this will also add color to the wall. I can NOT wait to get the bedding sets in the room and decorations on the walls!!! I want to start now but i'm too paranoid to do that!!! I would feel better waiting to do that til after the showers and the babies are a little further along.

Only 3 more months and the room wont only be full of decorations and essentials but two beautiful babies!!! i am so excited!

xoxoxoxoox