30w1d: Good News Update

Today I am feeling very happy and optimistic.  I had my LAST cervical check this morning!  My OB said that he doesn't like to bother cervixes after this point, so given that I am still stable, and have been for 8 weeks now, I am allowed to start increasing activity.  That means that I don't have to stay in bed anymore, so I will start going back downstairs and eating dinner at the table like a normal person.  He also suggested that I take two 2-hour trips out each week!  So of course, being the planner that I am, I have already planned my trips for the next two weeks.  First, I am going to go to Babies R Us with my mother-in-law to finish registering.  We were supposed to go together at Christmas but I didn't make it up to Maine.  I want her to be a part of all of this since we have been so far apart for all but 3 days of my pregnancy so far, and these are her grandsons!

Then, after my in-laws leave, we have dinner reservations at a small restaurant near us.  Just Eric and me.  And a bottle of wine.  Ok, I know you are not supposed to have wine, so go report me to the Pregnancy Police, but I am going to have a little wine with my dinner next week.  Not half the bottle, or even a full glass, but some.  I am so excited for this evening out, and I am so glad we are going to get to do it before the babies come, since I know opportunities will be scarce after the babies are here.

My OB also addressed delivery with me.  Both boys are head down, and have been head-down since about 20 weeks.  He said that he wants to have a vaginal delivery (this is good, because I do, too!) and that he does not do episiotomies except in very exceptional circumstances (also good news).  He did say if Baby B does not descend quickly he will use a vacuum to help out.  He said when delivering 2, getting things moving in a timely manner is helpful because I will likely be tired.  He also said that he will start an epidural no matter what.  I would like to try without medications, but he said it is important to have it started in the event that I can't deliver B vaginally and we need to have a C-section.  He did let me know that this is very rare, but better safe than sorry.  I am really not attached to any one birth plan.  If there is one thing that I have discovered in this process, it is that things almost never go the way you plan.  I did not get pregnant the way I wanted, I did not get to enjoy pregnancy the way I wanted, and so I want to be flexible on delivering the way I want.  All I really, truly want are two healthy babies, and I don't give a damn how they get here.

So, that is the pregnancy news for now.  I am excited because the winter Olympics start tonight, and I love watching the Olympics.  My favorite events are figure skating (men, women, and pairs), ice dancing, snowboarding, aerial skiing, and speed skating.  I know that with my pregnancy hormones I will probably cry at every medal ceremony, too. 

When I was younger, we always watched all the skating.  My sister wanted to do ice dancing, although without the ice and the skates.  She would put on music in our family room and make my dad dance with her.  Because she was about 9 and little, he could actually do some lifts with her.  It was so cute and definitely a wonderful memory.  My dad is the kind of guy who will do anything for us (in case you hadn't caught on with all the spoiling he does even now), including lifting his daughters and twirling them around the family room.  Winter Olympics never come without us reminiscing over this!

Ok, and to end, my weekly pregnancy update:
How far along?  30 weeks, 1 day
Total weight gain/loss?  I am packing on the pounds now!  I have put on 32 pounds in the pregnancy so far. 
Maternity clothes?  You bet.  I think I might treat myself to something cute for my shower in two weeks.
Stretch marks? None yet!  I do use cocoa butter, but I am resigned to getting stretch marks.  If it happens, it happens.
Sleep?  Up and down.  I took Tylenol PM a few nights while I had a cold because I couldn't breathe and wasn't sleeping.  Now I have been falling asleep ok, but waking up early.  This morning we were under attack from the cats from about 6:15 until we gave in and got up at 7:30.  Sometimes there is such a thing as too much love...
Best moment last week? Today's appointment was pretty good!  I am thrilled to have remained stable and be getting back some activities.
Movement?  They are definitely getting bigger.  I think A's feet are hurting my side!  They seem to be most active around 11 pm when I am trying to go to sleep.  I am hoping they don't keep that schedule on the outside.
Food cravings? I am still craving a lot of fruit.  I am in LOVE with cocktail grapefruits.  They taste to me like a hybrid of oranges and grapefruits, but my mom thinks they are Pomelos and tangerines?  Regardless, they are so good that I like to eat at least one a day.
Gender? Two boys!
Labor signs? Same old Braxton-Hicks.  Obviously not a sign of labor since I have been having them for about 12 weeks now.
Belly button in/out? It is still in.  I am not sure it will ever pop, actually.
What I miss: Sledding.  This would be an amazing winter to go sledding.
What I am looking forward to: I'm looking forward to my two outings this week!  And of course the visit from my in-laws.
Milestones: 30 weeks.  These babies are now pretty much 100% viable if they were born today.  I am so, so relieved.  I feel myself becoming more attached and in love with them every day, and my feelings are shifting from anxiety to excitement.

30 Weeks! and I am a bedrest rebel

So, today I am 30 weeks!  When my OB set that as our initial goal 3 weeks ago, I felt like getting here would alleviate my fears.  But, of course, now all I can think is, I want go to 36 weeks!  And, I definitely want to still be pregnant at my shower in 2 weeks.  My friend Cass is coming down from Boston for the shower, and she is also a photographer, so while she is here she's going to take some maternity pictures of me.  This has never been a huge priority for me, and now that I'm on bedrest and feel especially unattractive, it's hard to imagine pictures of me all aglow with pregnancy, but I am hoping with the help of makeup and a haircut we can get some nice pictures.

Yesterday we had more snow.  The news told me that this is the snowiest winter on record for Philadelphia!  When the boys come, I will write that in their baby books.  I decided to be a little rebellious, and went on an unauthorized trip downstairs and out on to our back deck.  The snow was so beautiful.  I could have stayed outside forever, but after throwing a snowball (at the back of the house, not Eric) and eating a little snow (only the white stuff, nothing yellow!) I went back in and back into bed. 

Here is a picture out our dining room window:

 

We have owned our house for almost 4 years now, and in the entire time we have lived here, we've never had snow like this.  I still can't get over that it's all happening while I'm stuck on bedrest!  My timing is the pits.

Yesterday I had a visit from my mom, aunt Jane, and uncle Ed.  Jane and Ed were very brave and drove over here in the morning before they got housebound.  Mom walked over.  In the late afternoon, my neighbor Amy came over and we chatted for a long time.  She also brought me some homemade chicken soup, which I had for lunch today (it was delicious).

Tomorrow is my cervix check, so I will post again with the update.  I am going to leave you with a picture of me from the last time Eric and I got snowed in together.  It was January of 2005 and we were up in Cambridge.  It was so much fun, we took snow walks, and went to the playground around the corner from his house.  We went on the swings and then just let go of the chains and went flying into the air, landing in the snow.  We baked chocolate chip cookies, and watched movies in bed.  I think it remains my most favorite snowed-in time ever.  Love you, honey!

29w5d: Celebrity Profile: Trouble Maker Whitten

For those of you who don't like cats, I'm sorry, feel free to skip this entry.  Trouble is our big kitty, he is a beautiful orange tom cat.  He weighs somewhere between 15 and 16 pounds, and if you ask me, most of it is muscle (other people have used other words that I'm not going to say here because I don't think Trouble needs to have a complex about his weight).  I think Trouble is essentially the supermodel of cats.  He really has it all, the body and the face!  He is so handsome.  I also say he is like Tom Brady, totally built and pretty damn cute.  His nicknames are Doggie, because he always meets us at the door with his tail wagging, and Oedipus, because he is very devoted to his mommy (see picture below, no I am not sick or dying but merely very pale and without makeup).  He is very loving and sweet and is wonderful to hug because he is so solid and soft.  His favorite foods are watermelon, popcorn, yogurt, and peanut butter.  Trouble is the kind of cat that makes dog-lovers think they could be cat people.

He had an interview over the summer to be a therapy pet.  That means that I would take him to nursing homes and residential facilities to visit people and bring some fun into their day.  He has a wonderful temperament and is very friendly.  In his life, he has never scratched or bitten anyone.   He passed the interview, but he was unable to tolerate the car ride there and home.  The interviewer suggested I get him acclimated to the car, but I found out about a week later that I was pregnant, so I have not dealt with the stress of carting him around.  I would love to do it one day in the future.

Where does his name come from?  Well, Trouble and Peanut came from the Pennsylvania SPCA.  One very hot day in June, they had an event in downtown Philadelphia called the Dog Days of Summer, and they were in a crate together.  We instantly loved them both, but thought we only wanted one cat.  We couldn't decide between the two of them!  The SPCA people kept saying, "it's a two-for-one special today!"  We started to think about it.  Two cats?  The SPCA people said, "two cats are better than one, they'll play with each other and keep each other company while you're out of the house."  Being the suggestible people that we are, we began to see their point of view.  And that was it, we decided we would take both of the adorable orange kittens.  We paid $75 and were given a cardboard box to take both boys home (let me point out here that $75 for two neutered cats with up-to-date shots is a bargain! Thank you, PSPCA).  And as I might have mentioned, it was HOT that day.  We got into my black car with a black interior and started to drive home.  The car was not cooling off at all, despite our running the air conditioning as high as it would go.  Our poor new kitties were overheated and completely stressed out.  We kept smelling something foul, like cat poop, and kept peeking in the box, but everything appeared fine.  Until it didn't.  Trouble had had some terrible diarrhea all over the tiny box, and Peanut was stuck in the bottom trying to keep out of it!  So we lifted Peanut out of the box to keep him from getting in the poop, and then held Trouble with his head out of the box but bottom half hanging down.  I said, "This one's a real trouble maker!" and that was it.  Peanut then threw up all over the adoption paperwork, so he isn't exactly trouble-free, but Trouble had already gotten the name.

At times he lives up to his name (like tonight when he appeared on our bed chewing on the ear bud from Eric's iphone headphones), and at other times he is so sweet and adorable that we forget the bad times.  Overall, he is our big love bug and he makes us feel loved and admired.  I really hope that we can still give him the attention he deserves when the babies get here, even though everyone tells us that he will get pushed aside.  I think he'll let us know what he needs... a 15 pound cat generally makes his presence known!

29w3d: My husband went to Orlando and all I got was this lousy...

Cold!  Eric came home totally exhausted from Orlando, and by Tuesday was sniffling.  He developed his version of a cold, which means that he blew his nose occasionally, sneezed 3 times, and said he was stuffy.  (Side note: for those of you concerned about breast vs. formula, Eric was formula fed and has the world's best immune system.  In the 6 years I have known him, he has never had more than a cold and has never had any reason to see a doctor.  So if breast feeding doesn't work out, don't worry, your baby will still grow big and strong.)

Now, with my 3rd trimester pregnant lady immune system, I am a sniffly mess!  I didn't get my usual sore throat telling me that I'm getting a cold, but I just got all stuffed up, runny nose, and sneezing.  Today has been the stuffiest.  I haven't been able to taste my food, and that is very disappointing to me.  I'm hoping today is the worst and that by tomorrow I'll feel better.

I also haven't been sleeping well these past few nights.  It is partly because I can't breathe, and also because when I begin to fall asleep, I start breathe more loudly and wake myself up!  I am very sensitive to the sound of breathing (this is one of my quirks) and it wakes me up when other people do it.  I can usually sleep through my own breathing with earplugs, but not now.  I know, I'm a weirdo.

My mom is  back home now.  She ended up getting her flight from Paris diverted to Atlanta, but was then able to get on a flight to Newark that landed at midnight.  My dad left here around 10 to go pick her up and they got home around 2 am.  She has kindly extended the loan of her kittens to me until I am out of bed.  This also works out for me because now I know she'll come visit me everyday, at least to see her cats!

Tonight my parents came over for dinner, my aunt Jane made a big chicken curry soup with noodles that was delicious.  Here is a picture of our dinner buffet laid out on top of our dresser:

 

We are very flexible and adaptable here!  Below is a picture of my eating position, and our guests gathered around the end of our bed.  Eric covered a big piece of wood with plastic, and then we are using a big towel as a table cloth.  The red lap tray I have is from my mom's parents' basement.  A very useful gift.

But you can probably see why I am eager to resume normal life.  I am tired of eating in bed, and tired of seeing these same 4 walls day in and day out.  I have never made so little use of my time in my life.  The days are slipping by and all I care about is staying pregnant, not accomplishing anything.  It is such a change in attitude from the past five years of my life.  No, make that 29.5 years of my life.  I know as soon as the babies are born I will be overwhelmingly busy, but I don't completely feel like myself.

I guess I have some other complaints... I don't really look like myself either, or at least not how I think of myself looking.  I mostly avoid looking at my body in the mirror, especially my breasts.  I fantasize about my old clothes, my old waist, and about exercise.  I can't wait to exercise.

Tonight was the Superbowl, and we were not especially invested in the game, so we watched Animal Planet's Puppy Bowl.  It turns out that Trouble does like TV... he seemed riveted to the dogs!  This is kind of funny because he never watches TV, and he has only ever met one dog in his life.  But it was adorable.  Here is a picture of Trouble watching his new favorite TV show.

That's it for news around here.  I am eager to make it to Thursday and the 30-week milestone.  I don't have many visitors scheduled to come this week, but that's ok, because I know my mom will be here every day.  And come Sunday, my in-laws will visit, and that will certainly distract me for a while.  I hope these next few weeks fly by, and next thing you know, I'll be going out to dinner with my husband!

29w1d: cervix check-up

My appointment this morning was another uneventful one.  Those are definitely my favorite ones!  My OB measured the boys' heartbeats, and they were nice and strong.  He didn't even calculate how many beats per minute they were, because they sound just right.  The boys had been up and moving earlier but were still and asleep during the ultrasound.  Then he used my old friend, the transvaginal ultrasound wand, to check my cervical length.  It was still at the longer length, so it continues to be stable.  He said that was great, and to just keep up what I'm doing. 

I told him I have an appointment next week, and should I make one for two weeks from now?  He said no!  He said next week is our last check, and that in two weeks, I should use my outing of the week to go out to dinner with Eric.  That is so exciting!  He doesn't want us spending 3 hours on a multi-course meal at a fancy place, but we can go to any of the casual places around here and spend about an hour or so out to dinner, just the two of us.  I seriously can't wait.  Like normal people!  What will I wear?

He is fine with me having my shower at 32 weeks.  It seems as though, given how long I have been stable, he is expecting me to hold out for at least another 3 weeks, likely more.  I sure hope he is right.  We came home and I got back into bed, but it really does seem like there is light at the end of the bedrest tunnel.  Just a few more weeks, and I know I can do it!

The OB didn't weigh me, so I jumped on the scale when he left for me to change, and I have gained 3 pounds in the past 2 weeks.  1.5 pounds a week is perfect for the third trimester in a twin pregnancy; if I continue to gain at this rate, I will gain just over 35 pounds over the course of the pregnancy, which is ideal. 

We got our first gift from the baby registry today!  It is the baby swing.  It came from my Uncle Ed's sister and mother.  I was totally surprised, Ed is married to my mom's sister, so I am not related to his sister and mom, and I haven't seen them in about 10 years.  Ed said he had no idea they had done it.  We can't figure out how they knew my married name, or where to look for my registry, but they obviously did some sleuthing and figured it out.  And I am very excited to have a baby swing!

Also, my dad has been spoiling me.  Today he brought me flowers (two weeks ago he gave me 2 dozen red roses, today it is a mixed bouquet) so that I can always have fresh flowers to look at while I'm in bed.  I also told him I wanted chocolate cake for dessert, so he called a fancy bakery a few towns over and came home with a triple-chocolate cake.  Oh my gosh, sooooo good!  Cake, mousse, ganache.  It was pretty to look at but totally worth cutting into.  And then I mentioned that I wanted orange juice.  And in 3 or 4 inches of snow, he drove back to his house, got orange juice, and brought it to me.  At 10:30 at night.  I am so lucky.

Tomorrow I think work begins on the nursery.  I will have Eric take some "before" pictures so you can watch the progression.  There's not much else to do around here, since we are expecting 12 or more inches of snow.  So, off to sleep, and then I will try to keep updating with nursery pictures over the next few weeks.

29w: This week's stats

So I know it has been less than a week since I last did these, but since I didn't go to the doctor today, and I wanted something to write about! Ignore my little pink socklets in the picture.  I sure do look like what Stacy and Clinton on "What Not To Wear" call an ice cream cone-- big on the top and tapered at the ankles.  Eric said that the cat (Ian) is to give the viewer an idea of scale.  Big human, little cat.

How far along?  29 weeks
Total weight gain/loss?  No news on this front, but I feel gigantic.  I will let you know if there is anything interesting after my OB appointment tomorrow.  Oh, and I did take off my wedding band today because it felt a little tight.  I would rather take it off while I can than struggle in a week.  I still have on my engagement ring.
Maternity clothes?  Yes.  Some of my tops are significantly shorter than they used to be and I am considering buying a couple of tops the next size up (I was vain and got all my maternity tops in "small").
Stretch marks? Still none.  I put my cream on every day, not that this is supposed to help, but it makes me feel better.
Sleep?  Decent.  I am going to take Tylenol PM tonight because I always get anxious the night before an appointment and don't sleep all night.
Best moment last week? Eric came home a day early!
Movement?  I feel them move, it is hard to tell when they will be most active.  Eric has felt Baby A have the hiccups, so that was fun.  Also, I am having movements that are clearly a body part poking up, and not just the feeling of something moving inside.
Food cravings? Fruits and vegetables. 
Gender? Two boys!
Labor signs? Still Braxton Hicks.  I have a little panic with each one but they are totally inconsistent.
Belly button in/out? It is still in.  Shallow, but still a ways to go.
What I miss: Cooking.  There are all these recipes I would love to try.  I also miss seeing the rest of my house, and when it snows tomorrow, I will be sad not to be able to watch it pile up on our back deck.
What I am looking forward to: My appointment tomorrow, which will hopefully be good news only.  And my mom is supposed to come home on Saturday afternoon, but we'll see how that works out since they are saying something like 12-18 inches of snow tomorrow through Saturday.
Milestones: Another week pregnant!  And I did say I wanted to be pregnant when my mom got back from her trip, so that is only 2 days away.  I am hoping/assuming I'll make that milestone!

Tonight Eric made macaroni and cheese for dinner.  This has been my only really "bad food" craving recently, and apparently he had the same craving!  It was very good, and we thankfully have leftovers.  My friend Shoshana came over and we watched Grey's Anatomy and had ice cream for dessert.  Eric brought up the ice cream containers and said we could scoop our own.  He put the container on the bed and I started to scoop and tossed the (chocolate) ice cream on to our duvet cover.  Whoops!  Time to wash the sheets, I guess.  I also got it on my shirt sleeve.  Oh, and I also found strawberry jam on my shirt.  I'm such a mess!

And, the big talk around here is that is supposed to snow.  Why this is a big deal, I don't know.  I swear, when I was growing up, it snowed all the time.  I have many memories of sledding, snow days, making trouble with my cousin Jess, building snowmen, etc. every winter.  Yes, the past few years have been pathetic in terms of snow fall, but does that really mean that Philadelphians don't know how to deal with snow?  AND it's on a Saturday, so we don't even have to worry about work and school (not that I was going to worry about that stuff since I don't go out anyway).  It's just crazy that the news tonight is about people buying milk and shovels.  People should already have their shovels, it snowed 2 feet in December and we have had some inches since.  Well, at least it is amusing to me.  I am still sad that I can't go for a snow walk, and I can't go sledding, because I love to do those things.  Maybe I can sled next year and leave Eric home with the boys.  What kind of mom am I?

Here's to hoping for a good night's sleep and a good appointment tomorrow.  I will update again tomorrow, hopefully from home and not a hospital bed.

28w5d: A Sad Day

Today is sad because my aunt Sharon left to go home to California.  I will miss her so much!  She took such good care of me, constantly keeping me fed and watered without a word of complaint.  On top of that, she cooked more than a month's worth of meals to have in the freezer and would sit with me for hours on end just talking.  I really enjoyed her company.  She had a lot of helpful advice about living with babies and then kids.  One thing she said, which I agree with, is that Eric and I need to make sure we continue to take time to have a relationship of our own, and not just put our marriage and ourselves way behind the babies.  Not that the babies won't be the center of our lives, but that we can't lose sight of other things.  Sharon had a lot of other advice, which I won't list here, but will come up eventually, I'm sure.  The picture is of Sharon sitting in my visitor's chair in my bedroom, where she sat and had breakfast with me and watched things like "What Not To Wear" with me.  We will all miss her!

Jane and Ed brought me dinner tonight.  It was a chicken stir-fry over brown rice.  I am eating such healthy food these days!  Interestingly, eating all of this stuff has led me to stop craving a lot of the less-healthy foods and I'm no longer having cravings for the junk I see on TV.  The only "bad" food I still want is macaroni and cheese, although Eric can certainly make this for me at home at some point.

There does seem to be one down side to all this healthy eating...  I seem to be a bit gassier than usual.  This is a problem since I am stuck in one room, and often people come into the room to do things like eat their dinner.  Last night Eric told me no passing gas during dinner... which I managed, but after dinner, poor Eric!  He threatened to make me go sleep in the guest room, but that would have meant his re-making the bed in there and he didn't follow through.  I feel awful, because it makes me physically uncomfortable, and of course it makes Eric uncomfortable, too!  I don't know if there is something I can take, or eat or drink, but if anyone has any solutions to this please let me know.  I told Eric now I know why people get married before they get pregnant.  If Eric weren't contractually obligated to me, you can bet the gas would be the straw that breaks the camel's back.  Pregnancy is not very glamorous.