29 weeks (Warning: Long Post)

This weekend was great for the most part. My mom, sister, and 2 nieces came over on Friday for the weekend so that they could attend my baby shower here in Seattle. After going to my CLE on Friday and visiting my friends in the hospital (though sadly, I waited for one of my friends to get back from her time in the jacuzzi, but she didn't come for a while and my family was in town, so I didn't get to see her then - I'm going to go visit her this week), I met my family for dinner. We ended up going back to my house to have dinner which was good so we could actually hear each other when we talked.

Saturday, we got up and hung out for a bit before heading out to the baby shower. As usual, I show up early. I had a wonderful time, and it was so great to see everyone come celebrate with me. There were quite a few people there. I am so blessed to have such wonderful friends, family and coworkers. Thank you so much to everyone that came and a big THANK YOU to the hostesses of the shower - Ally & Kedra!!!

Apparently, I forgot to charge the batteries in my camera and I didn't have any extra batteries with me, so I don't have many pictures from the shower. I'm hoping that the hostess will share any pictures that she took. Oh, and I had a teeny bit of cake at the shower - I had been pretty good the past few days and everyone told me to go ahead and enjoy a piece, so I did. :-) But no more sweets for me...at least for a very long time.

After the shower, we came back home and my mom and sister were so incredibly nice and helped me put together the nursery. There are some things that still need to be done, but it is looking a lot better than it did before they came over. THANK YOU!!! Hopefully, we can put the finishing touches on it soon and I'll take a picture to share with everyone.

However, I must have done a little too much that night as sometime in the middle of the night, I woke with some painful contractions. Luckily, there were only 3 and they were quite short. Then later on, on Sunday morning, I had a couple more. I then asked my husband for his stopwatch so I could keep track of them, but they stopped and luckily, haven't come back. I'm really anxious about Wednesday's appointment as the OB is doing another FFN test and I'm nervous about what the test results might be. I can only hope we get good news again. Because of the contractions, my husband wants me to be on modified bedrest, so I'm trying to rest as much as possible (though I can see all the things that still need to be done and want to go do them). My brother is supposed to come over to live with us next week, so I'm hoping he'll be nice and help out.

The other night and again yesterday morning, our baby boy was having hiccups. Poor little guy - he is just so excited about swallowing that amniotic fluid! I'm feeling the babies move quite a bit - usually rolling around, but I will also get some rather big kicks. I find that feeling so wonderful. I have a feeling I might miss being pregnant for that reason (despite the swelling and back aches) though I cannot wait to meet these babies - however, I do hope they hold off on their arrival for another 7 weeks at least!

Some cute news for this weekend, my husband was cooking and cleaning with my nieces. That was really cute. My 4 (almost 5) year old niece LOVES to clean - I hope she doesn't outgrow that.

The kitties were very spooked by the little kids around the house. They hid out in our bedroom most of the time. At one point, Oliver got mad at me because I wouldn't let him into one of the cribs. I think he might have been upset with me too that I let these people come into our house. I can only imagine what he's going to be like when the babies come.

Today's Post (28 weeks 3 days)

Not much going on today. I go to a nutrition class on Tuesday morning - they will also show us how to test our own blood sugar. Until then, I'm just trying to figure out what it is o.k. to eat and what isn't. Since I have a bit of a sweet tooth, while I was at the store last night, I got myself some sugar free lifesavers and sugar free jello. My husband is very sweet in that he said he would follow my diet along with me - he doesn't have to though.

This morning I went to the PT and I love going to the PT - the massage part being the best part, of course. The PT I saw today said I have a lot of knots in my upper back, which is probably why my upper back has been hurting a lot lately. Another issue that seems to be developing is my right knee hurts - not sure why. It usually hurts when I'm sitting down on something a bit low - like the toilet at home and at work. I have to steady myself on our sink to get down there and back up again. Hopefully, I can do some exercises to help my knee out some.

Tomorrow, I'm going to a CLE at the law school I graduated from. Super exciting CLE! The law school is conveniently right across the street from the hospital my friends are at, so I'm going to visit with them before my mom, sister and 2 nieces arrive.

Well, that's all for today. If I don't write again before tomorrow, everyone have a great weekend!

Glucose Test Results

I just got the results of my gestational diabetes test – I failed, so it looks like I’m going to be seeing a nutritional counselor pretty soon. I guess I won’t be having any cake at my shower this weekend. :-( Oh well, I will do what’s best for these babies – that is what is the most important.

OB & Glucose (28 weeks 2 days)

Yesterday was very busy. I got to the lab around 7:50 for my 8 a.m. appointment. The lab tech took my blood right away and then gave me the lovely glucola to drink – nasty stuff – I felt so nauseous after drinking that! After an hour, it was time to take my blood again. That continued on for another couple hours. Fortunately, the time went by rather quickly. They had some trashy celebrity magazines for patients to look at, so that took up quite a bit of my time (as Nickie mentioned). During one of the hours, I wrote out some thank you cards for people who came to my Spokane shower. After the test, it was so nice to be able to go get something to eat. I was starving the night before and it felt like the food in the house was just there to torture me (o.k. it really wasn’t that bad). I got some lunch, then headed over to the bank to deposit a check. After this, I was just too tired to go to the maternity store up the street so I came back home and tried to take a nap. On my way home, I had what felt like a contraction – it hurt. It felt good to lay down.

After a while, it was time to go get Jon to go to our OB appointment. She checked my cervix and everything seemed the same as the week before so that’s good news (that cervix check was really painful). She also said that the mucus in the cervix was normal, so more good news. She then went and did a quick ultrasound to check the babies heartbeats and that was normal – yay! They are still laying transverse (boy) and breech (girl) with their heads right up by each other – so incredibly cute (the doctor thought so too – she also said it looks like they are plotting with each other – I thought it was probably to push on my bladder and my ribs at the same time). She also told me that although I am not anemic (which surprises her) that I should start taking iron supplements which may mean I need to take a stool softener along with it as too much iron causes constipation, so I’ll be looking for that stuff tonight. Next week, she is going to do another fetal fibronectin test to see if I might go into labor in the next couple weeks. Last night, I had another contraction – I tried all the breathing exercises I’ve been given but it wasn’t really helping. Luckily, it stopped rather quickly and I haven’t had another one though my tummy does feel a bit tight right now.

Later on that night, we went to go look at the first day care I looked at. Jon agreed that it seemed like a good place, so we put down a deposit and she said to drop by anytime to just hang out for a while which I will do once I have another day off. I feel good about the decision, but I'm still anxious about it too. After that, we went off to our 3rd childbirth prep class which I'm beginning to wonder if I will need at all if we have a planned c-section. One of the classes does talk about c-sections though.

To answer Faith’s question – we decided we will try a snap ‘n go stroller in the beginning as was recommended to me by Nickie (thanks!). It just makes it easier with the babies – we just keep them in their car seat rather than having to take them out of it. Once they get a bit older though, we will probably get one of the Graco ones – not sure which one yet but this is one that I liked.

In other news, I found out that two of my support group friends are currently on hospital bedrest – they are both pregnant with twins. I hope that everything works out for them and they can, at least, make it to 36 weeks.

28 weeks...

Well, you already know about my freak out moment from yesterday afternoon, but I have another freak out moment to share – this one happened in the middle of the night. I woke up – the first sensation I had was of acid reflux burning my throat then I started to choke on it. I was having trouble breathing – I just couldn’t catch a breath. It probably sounded like I was hyperventilating. I thought I was going to choke, and there wasn’t anything that Jon could do with me choking on my own acid reflux/vomit. I was pretty scared. Luckily, after a little while, I was able to catch a breath though my throat still burned. I really don’t want that to happen again.

Onto more exciting things, this weekend, I went out and bought myself a dress for my shower this weekend. A friend that was with me told me I looked good in it – I just look like a pregnant woman. Hopefully, my feet and ankles won’t be too swollen on that day, as it would look nicer to have the appearance of having ankles. I should probably see if I could even fit my feet into the sandals I want to wear with the dress.

I am very excited about this weekend. My mom, my sister, and 2 of my nieces will be coming over from Spokane to come to the shower. It will be nice to have them here. I need to find out if my mother-in-law is up to coming and if she and my sister-in-law need a ride as their car was totaled in the accident she had on the 14th. The last I heard, she was doing fine. Hopefully, that’s still the case. It will be nice to have them and all of my friends I’ve met throughout the years at the shower. So excited! My boss just told me that she and my “2nd boss” are planning a shower for me at work on May 17th – so nice of them! I’m being spoiled. My boss is also coming to my friends/family shower this Saturday.

Other than dress shopping, I bought an exercise ball as the PT and the teachers of the various childbirth/parenting classes I’ve been to say these balls are wonderful to have. I did various other things over the weekend, but I didn’t do much cleaning of my house for my company coming over on Friday. So I guess we’ll be busy this week getting things ready.

Well, tomorrow is the 2nd glucose test – I need to figure out what to bring with me to keep myself occupied. Thanks for all the advice I’ve gotten so far. Since I don’t have a laptop or a travel DVD player, I think I’ll try to read a book and I also thought I would get started on those thank you cards I should have done by now for the shower I had back in Spokane. I’m also bringing my iPod to listen to music and possibly play the limited games that are on there. Jon has a Tetris game somewhere, but we have no idea where it is.

Anyway, I’ll write again when I can.

Question!!!

If you don't want to read about a TMI issue - you may want to not read this post...

Does anyone know how would know if you lost your mucous plug or if you are just having some cervical mucus discharge? I'm currently freaking out (I know, yet again) because I had some clear mucus discharge and from what I read your mucous plug would have some pink tinge to it b/c it is bloody. Should I call the on-call doctor about this or is this something that can wait until Tuesday when I see my OB?




UPDATE: I called the doctor and the doctor said as long as the mucus isn't pinkish or brownish in color and there aren't any contractions, then things should be o.k. Luckily, I have an OB appointment on Tuesday so she can check me out then. With the cervix shortening, this just freaked me out. For now, I'm calm as it sounds like everything is o.k. I've been feeling the babies move a bit tonight so that is reassuring.

Glucose, OB, PT and more (27 weeks 4 days)

Well, I just found out the results today for my first glucose test…I failed. So next Tuesday at 8 a.m., I will have to go through the fasting 3-hour test. It shall be a fun time (so much sarcasm in that statement). Not sure what I will do with myself in between the blood draws – bring a good book? Ask a friend to join me in that boredom, as I’m sure Jon won’t be able to come? Probably shouldn’t do that last one – it will be too boring – I wouldn’t subject someone on purpose to that amount of boredom.

I also have an OB appointment that afternoon, so I’m taking the whole day off work. I’m hoping nothing has changed in my cervix length since last week - otherwise, the OB may just push for bedrest. Not that I love going to work, but I’d like to be able to go at least one more month before I have to leave work. I’ll do whatever the OB says, of course.

Last night, Jon and I went to another class. This one was all about coping with labor pains in different ways including with breathing, food, and smells. The teacher tortured us (both of us – the husbands weren’t getting off that easy) with trying out these coping techniques by making us hold ice in our hands for the length of a contraction. I found that what worked the best for me (though didn’t necessarily work all that well) were hard candies and really strong perfume smells – those I found somewhat distracting. The others not at all.

Today’s PT appointment went really well – she showed me some more exercises, and then came the best part – a massage. She seemed to know exactly where I needed the pressure – it felt so incredibly good.

This weekend isn’t nearly as busy as prior weekends, thank goodness. We have our tour of the hospital tonight. Tomorrow, I have nothing planned, but I may go to the Seattle Public Library sale to see I can find some children’s books (I have enough books for myself though I doubt I’ll be able to resist looking for books for me – we’ll see how I feel). On Sunday, we are going to a preparing for postpartum class at the hospital – luckily, it is just for 2 hours. I may go to the book sale this day rather than Saturday since books are ½ off the already cheap price.

Sometime this weekend, we need to clean up a couple of our rooms for our guests coming into town next weekend for my shower so they have a place to sleep. Up until now, those two rooms have been places to put things until I found a permanent place to put them. My brother is also coming to live with us in early May so we need one of the rooms cleaned for him too.

Wow, that makes it seem busy, but it doesn’t seem that bad considering what the past weekends have been like. Anyway, have a great weekend everyone!

27 weeks 3 days

So for some reason, I’ve been feeling a little nauseous again – particularly in the morning. Not sure what that’s about, but it can go away again please… I’ve also started having bloody noses.

Last night, after resting for a while, I got up and went to Dr. Google to find out exactly what is “normal” for cervix length around 27 weeks. I didn’t find much that wasn’t some abstract of some medical article – not exactly helpful. Places I did find said something about a 17% of having a preemie if the cervix is around 2 cm or that the babies could come around week 34 – but that’s for a singleton, I’m sure. So the information I found wasn’t very useful. While searching, some sites said that the third trimester begins at week 28, while others say 27…

Tonight, my husband and I are going to yet another class – this one called “coping with confidence” – I can’t remember exactly what that is about. Speaking of classes, I see that my hospital has finally decided to start a multiples class to compete with UW – not until July (I think), but better late than never, I guess.

Tomorrow night, my husband and I are going to tour the hospital we plan to have our babies at (though I’ve already had a mini-tour from a doctor friend). Tomorrow is also my 2nd PT appointment.

Oh, by the way...

I forgot to mention that this Monday was the start of my 3rd trimester!!! Woo hoo!!!

27 weeks 2 days

Now that I am some time to breath from all the work I have to do, I thought I would give a longer update on things.

I forgot to mention that the babies are still in their favorite cozy positions – our son is in the transverse position (though he scooted his head to be by his sister’s) and our daughter is in a breech position. The OB is definitely thinking this is leaning toward a c-section but there’s still time to see them move! I’m preparing myself for a c-section though. One other thing about the ultrasound, we got to see our son swallowing some amniotic fluid! Our daughter was being a little stubborn and not moving her little butt when the tech was trying to measure my cervix so she had to do a trans-vaginal ultrasound with the dil*do cam. I haven’t had a vaginal ultrasound in a long while (not since I ‘graduated’ from the fertility clinic, but it looks like they might be making a come back.

The test I had done yesterday (which Nickie correctly called a FFN) was really, really uncomfortable. She couldn’t use lubricant for the speculum because that could give a false positive and so it was more uncomfortable than the usual pap smear exam. Thankfully, that came back negative, but my OB still wants to see me every week. She didn’t say if I needed to have an ultrasound done every week though – I’m going to ask my doctor’s nurse when she calls back with the glucose test results (as I forgot to ask when she called yesterday). Speaking of the glucose test – the drink wasn’t so bad in the beginning but about half of the way through the drink, I was starting to feel sick from all that sugar! I so hope I pass this test so I don’t have to do the 3 hour one.

In other news, I don’t know if it was all the pokes and prodding I had done in the last 2 days or something else, but my pelvic area is feeling crampy and a bit of pressure as if something is about to burst forth. The FFN test is supposedly 99% accurate, so that is reassuring, but I am still a little nervous considering how I’m feeling right now. I’m hoping it is just because of the pokes and prods that I’m feeling this way. A friend of mine, who is a doctor, said that my OB might put me on bedrest despite the test coming back negative – I guess I will find out more next Tuesday when I see her again. I wish I could go home right now and lay down, but I took the vanpool this morning as today was the only day I didn’t have to drive into work – now I wish I had drove myself into work.

I’m a little nervous about being put on bedrest since I really wanted to have those (nearly) 4 months at home with the twins and if I’m on bedrest, I will have to shorten that time as I can’t take too much unpaid time off. Of course, I am going to do anything and everything to make sure these babies are born as late as possible (I’m hoping for 36 weeks – I was hoping for 37, but 36 seems like the more reasonable goal), but I just hope that I can make it a while longer before being put on bedrest.

Test Results (27 weeks 1 Day)

Just wanted to write really quickly as I need to get some work done - the test came back negative for pre-term labor so yay!!!

I won't find out the results of the glucose test until Thursday (or possibly Friday).

More later when I have time...

Ultrasound Appointment (27 weeks)

I got back from my ultrasound appointment this morning about an hour ago. Both babies are doing really well (the boy is at 2 lbs 15 ounces - 96th percentile - and the girl is at 2 lbs 9 ounces - 69th percentile).

The only possible problem right now is that my cervix is at 2 cm when it was at 3.5 just 3 1/2 weeks ago. The radiologist called my doctor's office and he was told that they wanted to see me right away, so I went to go see my OB for an emergency visit. She told me not to panic and said that this is within normal but she would have rather liked it to happen at 30 weeks as opposed to 27 weeks. I am freaked out despite being told not to panic. She checked my cervix and she said had she not known of the ultrasound, she would think everything is alright. However, she is going to do some test (can't remember what she called it) tomorrow to determine if I will possibly go into preterm labor in the next couple weeks. She said there is a possibility I will be put on bedrest, but we will find out for sure tomorrow after the test results come back. I also have the glucose test tomorrow too. My husband can't go with me tomorrow, and I really wish he could.

I'll blog tomorrow when I know more. I came into work
today just to get things ready in case I am put on bedrest soon.

The shower this weekend was really fun. There were so many people there and I got to see a support group buddy I haven't seen in 5 months. I'm looking forward to seeing them again in a little less than a couple weeks. The rest of the weekend was good. We got some stuff at the multiples sale and some stuff from my brother-in-law and his wife. We hung out with them, then went to Tacoma to hang out with the rest of the family there was my mother-in-law was involved in a car accident earlier that morning - she's doing fine. Sunday, I spent cleaning up the house and then going out to dinner with some friends. It was a good weekend.

PT & Other Stuff (26 weeks 4 days)

Although my sister already answered the question relating to Tums in my last post, I thought I would just write a quick response in this post. Because of my past history with kidney stones and because of my family’s history with kidney stones and other kidney issues, that is the reason my OB doesn’t want me to take Tums (though sometimes I do anyway because the heartburn is too much and the Zantac doesn’t work fast enough). I’m trying to remember to take the Zantac each night, but I’m also a little nervous to take it though the doctor said it was o.k. I guess I’m nervous it will hurt the babies and I’d rather deal with the heartburn.


Anyway, this morning I went to my first physical therapy appointment (at least, first for the pregnancy). It was a good appointment though I expected more exercising b/c when I last went to physical therapy (for my back way back when in high school), that’s all we did. But this appointment I guess was more for the PT to get a general idea of what the problems are and to give me some general exercises and tips to help with that. We did a few exercises though. After she checked me out and we did some exercises, she mentioned that I am definitely tight in places and I may be starting down the road of separation of my pubic symphysis so she suggested things to help with that. She also said I should get a better support belt to support my belly with beside the one that I have so I guess that’s one thing I will be doing this weekend along with everything else.

This weekend, my husband and I plan to go to the Eastside multiples sale tomorrow morning – I’ve heard it is quite huge so I’m looking forward to seeing what’s there. After that, my husband is going to do some stuff with his family while I go to my friend’s baby shower in the afternoon. She just mentioned to our support group that she’s been put on strict bedrest now (she has been on modified bedrest) – good thing the shower is at her house! I’m looking forward to seeing her and my other support group buddies, including a support group friend who is now 11 weeks pregnant with twins and who I haven’t seen in a long while. After the shower, I’m meeting my husband and my in-laws back at our house for dinner. Jon’s brother and his family are in town so they will be joining us too.

As of right now, there isn’t much going on this Sunday but that could be changing soon. I do need to get back in the baby room and organize some things some more, so hopefully, I’ll have some time to do that. I need to call some more day cares too – though I may not get an answer on a Sunday. Speaking of day cares, Jon and I went to go look at a day care last night that’s a bit further north than the one I looked at on Monday. I did not get a good impression with this one. It seemed disorganized and messy and I was very uncertain as to the whole layout of the place. Plus, we both had a hard time understanding the day care owner because of her heavy accent. So I guess that place is out of consideration.

Well, that’s about it for today. Looking forward to the baby shower tomorrow – I love seeing my support group buddies and for such a wonderful event too! My Seattle shower is taking place on the 28th (at least, that’s the last I heard). I also got an invitation a couple weeks ago for yet another shower that is going on May 5th. This is the time for baby showers, I guess!

Have a great weekend everyone and I’ll be back on Monday to share the latest ultrasound news!

:-(

Sometime in the past few days I came across a blog written by a mother of twins whose husband was dying of cancer. She lost her husband last night – I cannot even imagine what she must be going through.

Childbirth Prep Class # 1 (26 weeks 2 days)

The first class of the Childbirth Prep class was pretty good though some of it was stuff that they talked about at the multiples class I went to at UW. All of the couples went around and introduced themselves and said how the pregnancy was going so far. Pretty much every woman there has some discomfort, including the biggest one – heartburn. We wondered exactly how many Tums a pregnant woman can take…of course, for me, my OB doesn’t want me taking Tums (though I occasionally do since it works so fast) but instead I should take Zantac. If I remember to take Zantac before my dinner, I don’t wake up with horrible heartburn in the middle of the night. If I forget though, Zantac doesn’t work fast enough, so I take Tums.

I noticed that I had, what seemed to be, the biggest tummy there despite being the one with the last due date in the group. Some women were due in May and my tummy looked bigger. One of the ladies there last night was also in my exercise class and she told me that she was thinking before she saw my face and recognized me that she thought for sure I was further along than she was, but then she saw my face and remembered that my husband and I are having twins. I don’t feel huge, but I certainly look bigger than the women with singletons. Yikes – can you only imagine how huge I’m going to be when this is all done? I’m curious how much longer I’ll be sitting at my desk at work!

One thing that the teacher mentioned was that she plans to have a party for everyone to get together again 4-6 weeks after the due date of the couple with the last due date (that would be us). That should be fun. That’s something that I think the multiples class should have done. Speaking of, I got an e-mail the other day from one of the members of the multiples class I went to and she went to 39 ½ weeks with her twins – I thought that 38 weeks was the max for twins, but I guess not! Her sons are quite cute!

Baby Shower Weekend (26 Weeks 1 Day)

And now the post about my weekend that included my first baby shower – in all its ‘boring’ detail!!!

My husband and I drove over to Spokane on Friday. When we got there, we spent some time with my sister and her family before heading out to my parents’ house for dinner. My sister had some clothes to give to us for the babies, as well as some bedding. My mom also had some stuff too at her house. Our car was so completely full on the way back as it was on our way there (I gave my sister some of my old clothes that either didn’t fit me anymore or I just didn’t want anymore for whatever reason).

On Saturday, we had the baby shower at my parents’ house. My grandmothers and several aunts were there along with my sister and her two daughters and my ex-cousin-in-law, Kim. We started out with a couple games, and then we moved on to eating some grub. After that, we played another couple games including one that we won’t know the winner of until the babies come as it was a guessing game as to when the their birthday will be. I had a good time playing the games even though I am not very good at them at all (games included finding names for the babies out of mine and my husband’s names (including last name); naming two animals that started with each letter; and the game where if you said the word “baby” and someone caught you, you had to give up a sticker to that person and whoever had the most at the end of the party won – I believe the winners were my sister, Kim, and my 11-year-old niece in that order of the games mentioned).

After the game playing, we had some present opening time …my youngest niece (she’s 4, almost 5) was my present opening helper while my other niece (11) was my picture taker. I got quite a few cute clothes for the babies and some nice homemade blankets. My sister also stitched some patterns onto some burp towels that were quite cute. I got a few other items as well – including photo frames and a diaper organizer to attach to the side of the crib or changing table (though at this moment, we aren’t getting a changing table). Kim also gave me a couple clothing items for myself. I think that was about it.

It was funny that during the party, my youngest niece kept telling me that I had two babies inside of me –she is so cute! At one point, during the present opening, she asked me how the babies got inside there. Umm…well, I told her the truthful answer that in my case, the doctors put them in there. She didn’t ask any more questions so I guess that was a good enough answer for her.

After the present opening, we had some yummy cake and just sat around and chatted until everyone decided it was time to go. I think everyone had a good time. It was funny that one of my aunts told me that I didn’t look that big and yet, everyone at work thinks I look big.

On Sunday, we went out to lunch to celebrate my brother’s 21st birthday before my husband and I drove back to Seattle. My brother said he was going to go out that night and have a huge celebration (bigger than what he did the night before or rather that morning). It took us way too long to get home – I was so exhausted by the time we got back, but I was really happy to see my kitties and they seemed to be happy to see us. The next morning, both kitties were following me everywhere around the house. I don’t think they were too happy when I left to go enjoy my day off away from the house.

The first thing I did yesterday morning after leaving my house was to go look at the day care just a couple minutes away. I got a really good impression from this place, so it is a possibility. We will need to look at several others before making a decision, but she did say that she will have room in November and our twins will be the only two infants she will have at that time. My husband still needs to look at this place too before the decision is made.

After that, I went to go have lunch with a friend and do some shopping for the baby shower I’m going to this Saturday for another twin momma (she’s having twin girls). Looking forward to yet another shower for another support group buddy!

When I got back home, I rested for a bit, but then I went to work on the babies’ room which is one reason I think I had quite a painful contraction this morning. Luckily, it was just one even though it lasted for quite a while. The on-call doctor wasn’t too concerned. They said to call back if there were more than 4 in an hour or if the contraction intensified. So far, so good. Tonight, Jon and I are going to our first of a six week long childbirth prep class. I’m looking forward to it.

Oh, and the entire weekend, it seemed the babies were trying to stretch or push their way out of my tummy. At several times, my tummy looked lopsided. I’m sure it was an odd sight to see one side of my belly bigger than the other!

Well, that’s all for today. I’ll upload the baby shower pictures soon, I hope!

Response Post

I just wanted to write something really quick before enjoying my day off from work...

To the anonymous poster - if you find my posts so boring - stop reading. I wouldn't continue to read something that I found boring. If you find that I complain too much - again, stop reading. If you have better things to do, as you said before, then what the hell are you doing here? I really don't understand. And please stop hiding under "anonymous". And even better yet - STOP READING MY BLOG that you find so painful to read.

This is my blog and I can write whatever I am feeling at the moment. I can write that my feet are swollen so much I had no idea that they could get that big or I can write that I felt the babies move so much it felt like they were trying to push out of my tummy, which is really a cool feeling despite what it may sound like. I wouldn't tell you what to write on your blog (if you have one and since you hide behind anonymous I have no idea if you do or not). I appreciate that I am pregnant, but that doesn't make pregnancy a bed of roses and since this is my journal, shouldn't I get to write what's going on during it and not make it seem like everything was easy? Should I have wrote that while we were going through the IUIs and the IVF that everything was cool there too because we were trying these things for a baby? I don't think so. I think my children will understand our appreciation and love for them even more knowing all that we went through to bring them here, including the happy and uncomfortable times of pregnancy. I know I appreciate my mother knowing what pregnancy is like and soon, I will know what taking care of a newborn is like.

To Nickie - thanks for sticking up for me. I really appreciate it. :-)

I'll write more later on my weekend - the shower was fun, hanging out with my family was fun and hopefully, my brother didn't drink too much last night for his 21st birthday! Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Latest Belly Shot

24 weeks 6 days
Originally uploaded by heathercim.

Here I am at 24 weeks 6 days with Oliver looking on, as usual.

Nothing new to report today. I didn't call any more day cares today instead I ran some errands since I had my car here at work since I'm meeting some college friends for dinner over in Bellevue. After work, since I have some time before I meet them, I'm going to find some warm weather maternity clothing to wear since I have none. Today is just a warm and beautiful day in Seattle and I was burning up in my jeans and long sleeve shirt, and it is supposed to be nice this weekend in Seattle and over in Spokane. So nice to have some nice weather for a change!

I probably won't be online too much the next few days, so I'll update everyone on how the baby shower went when I get back. Have a wonderful Easter everyone!

Day Care Search & Other Tidbits (25 weeks 2 days)

Well, I’ve called 4 day cares so far (I might call some more during lunch tomorrow). Two of which the people sounded really nice – not that the other two were rude but they basically were telling me it was way too early to call for a day care and said to call a month before I needed the day care – that seems crazy to me. I don’t think they understand how stressed that would make me. The two that sounded nice they said to come on in and take a look and ask questions to see if this would be right place for us. One of the places is really, really close while the other is maybe a mile or so away. The latter one I’m going to go look at on Monday morning while the other one I will need to call on a Friday to come look at the place on the weekend (which seems weird b/c I’d like to look at the place while they have kids there, but I guess if I like it, we can come back while there are kids there).


In other news, my boss just brought in a potential replacement for me while I’m out on leave. This guy worked with us last summer as a temp when one of my coworkers was out on her maternity leave. He had been through infertility treatments before and I got the impression that he didn’t know why we needed a temp again this summer until my boss asked me to stand up and show off my belly. I wasn’t sure how to react to that. I don’t think I would have liked that situation had it happened to me. Currently, this guy and his wife are adopting a child from China and he is just anxious to get a baby – he’s hoping for two babies.

My boss had me go through what I do here and he says that he’s interested in the position so I might be seeing him again to go into more depth about what I do and specifically what still needs to be done when he’s done with his school year in May. Hopefully, they decide to hire him and he decides to come back as everyone here really likes him.

Regarding working from home...I would really love it if my company allowed us to do that. It seems the only ones that are allowed to work away from the office are those who travel a lot or who are higher up in the chain. Of course, that doesn’t mean I won’t try especially if my OB asks me to cut down my hours before the baby comes. I don’t think they would allow it after the baby comes, but who knows.

Regarding having someone come to our house – that would be the best situation. I looked into au pairs a while ago, but I’m just not sure where the au pair would be in our house especially when my brother comes to live with us. Our house isn’t that big. The person could stay in the room downstairs after my brother finds his own place, but the room wouldn’t be that private so I don’t think that would work out too well. I’ve only barely looked at having a nanny come to our house during the day, but it seems like it costs too much. Maybe I will be able to find something by joining the multiples groups in the area – I plan to go to the first year meeting for one of the groups this coming Monday.

Some other tidbits – I worked on my scrapbook some more last night after I got home from meeting with my friend and it is starting to come together though I don’t know if it will be fully done by the time my shower comes around this weekend. If I have time tonight after getting things ready for our trip this weekend (I’m meeting some college friends for dinner tomorrow night so I won’t have time to do it then), then I’ll work on it again. I have to say I’m kinda enjoying putting the scrapbook together.

Better (25 weeks 1 day)

I just want to clarify something regarding yesterday’s post – there was not just one person that said all of that – it is combination of many different comments from many different people.

I’m doing better today than yesterday. I did go home last night and found that the tears still wanted to come out, so I let them…maybe a little too much as it caused to start coughing and eventually throw up.

Thank you to everyone who commented – I really appreciate it. By the time I got home, I was in a really dark place but I eventually pulled myself together and started to feel positive again. My husband wasn’t home so he didn’t witness any of this, but I did tell him about it. It was really nice to be reassured by him.

After a while, I decided to spend my night by starting to put together my scrapbook. I probably should have been getting the baby’s room ready or going through the clothes I plan to bring over to Spokane to see if my sister wants any of it, but I just wanted to sit on the couch and do something not requiring too much thought (and I wanted to get a good chunk of it done before we went over to Spokane for my shower). So I got a good start on the scrapbook. I put together the first few pages (sorta – I needed a glue sticks to keep everything in place – probably got too many when I was at the nearby Cos*tco) and I ordered some pictures to be picked up at the Cos*tco. Tonight, I hope to be able to put more of it together when I get home after meeting with a law school friend for dinner. We’ll see how things go. There are a bunch of other things I could do before we leave for the long weekend (I get Good Friday off and I took Monday off too).

In other news, a couple friends of mine (one of which who is planning a baby shower for me) had their 2nd child via C-section last night. The baby is a big boy at 11 pounds and 24 ½ inches long! I’m looking forward to meeting the new edition to their family.

Well, that’s about it for today. I’m feeling a lot better today (though by no means less freaked out in getting things done). Perhaps a weekend away from the house will do me good – though I will miss my furbabies a lot!

Emotional Today (well, everyday) (25 weeks)

For those of who are still trying to conceive – this probably isn’t the post for you…

I’m sitting here at work crying. I can’t stop the tears from coming down, which sucks since I’m at work!!! I am seriously freaked out about finding a good day care for a price that we can afford and now someone is basically telling me we’re selfish for having to go to a day care. We want these children so badly. We would love to stay home with them, but that just isn’t a realistic option for us. Did we make the wrong decision to go forward with IVF and go forward with having twins or even one baby at all? Some people think we're bad people for using IVF when I could “just adopt” or live child-free and now we're bad people for having to put my infants into a day care? I hope that everyone realizes how hard this will be for me. What if I make the wrong decision and place them in a day care that will be bad for them emotionally or physically? I’ve already made several poor decisions in my life (there are only a few good ones), including going to law school and taking out loans to pay for it all, so it is all too likely I will make another poor decision.

I’m already freaked out about having everything done for these babies for when they come and freaked out about taking care of them especially when I’m at home alone, do I need something else to be freaked out about?



Well, maybe if I write about something positive, then maybe I stop being so emotional. Over the weekend, I went to a friend’s baby shower and her cutie pie son was there (he’s about 7 weeks old). Holding him in my arms was so wonderful. Another friend brought her almost 3-week-old son with her and he is such a cutie pie too. It was a really fun baby shower. I look forward to going to another friend’s shower on the 14th. I have my first shower this coming weekend that I’m looking forward to – though my body is not so much looking forward to the drive over to Spokane.

The visit with Jon’s parents on Saturday was good too. Jon and his dad put together the other crib. Now we just need the rest of the room done and we’ll be set. There is no way I’m getting the house ready by 30 weeks as people have suggested we do. I’m at 25 weeks now and most weekends this month will be busy, as will the weekdays. Luckily, even though Jon is back in class as of tonight, he’s only in class 2 nights a week. Sunday’s CPR class was good – though scary. The safety part of the class was good too in that she told us what things aren’t needed so I took some things off my registry. We also picked up some things from a professor at Jon’s work – some girl clothes and some other things (we haven’t looked through everything yet) – so that was really nice. Then after that, we went and played some Wii games at a friend’s house. My favorite was bowling and cow racing. :-)

I just felt one of the babies move… still love that feeling so much – I just hope I can be a good mom to them.