30th week

Just a little over 30 weeks now. This was the week that I went into the hospital with the twins so I was a little anxious about the results of the fetal fibronectin test they did last week (though not too anxious since there is only one baby this time). I finally got the news it came back negative. Thank goodness! I see my OB again on the 9th.

I can't believe that the baby is less than 10 weeks away (if we go by due date). It still feels like there is so much to do to get ready and I am in no way prepared for this.

Tomorrow night is New Year's Eve and we'll be celebrating at home since we don't have a babysitter. That's alright really since I think I may just have enough energy to stay up to celebrate with the East Coast before heading to bed.

I am having some cramping lately and it seems to be just more Braxton Hicks. I am definitely having more heartburn issues and the Tums are starting to not cut it anymore. Other than that, things are still going well with the pregnancy. That's about it.

As soon as I find where I put the stats for Ben & Ella at their 18 month check-up, I'll post those. I also need to upload our Christmas pics and write about our day!

Cute Stories

Both of them kinda understand now that there is a baby in mommy's belly and will point to my belly when we ask where the baby is. Of course, there have been a couple times that they look to their own bellies. Both of them know how to say baby and last night, Benjamin said "I see a baby". Does that count as his first sentence or is it "hello, how are you?" though he says that as all one word?

Jon put up some Christmas lights the other day and each morning, Benjamin insists that we turn them on. He really insists. This morning, I put on my Christmas light necklace and turned it on - he liked that a lot - as did Ella.

Ella has figured out how to get on and off the scooter, so she's been riding that around everywhere. Ella also asks "what's that?" all the time now. I guess that's her first sentence. :-D

Both of them know where a lot of their body parts are and will point to them when asked.

Did I write the other day that Ella was walking around with their baby dolls and found the bottles that went with them, and she was feeding the babies? It's so cute.

Another thing that they like to do is to put on Jon's pink (yes, pink) croc wannabe shoes and walk around in them. I keep trying to get a picture but have had no luck.

Speaking of pics, there are new pics on my flickr site - www.flickr.com/photos/heathercim - even though they've seen the snow before - it is like they are experiencing it for the first time. Ella doesn't appreciate it so much unless she's where the plow has been in the road. Benjamin likes that too. I got them both mittens and hats to wear outside and of course, the 2T/3T hat does not fit Benjamin's head so Jon put his hat on Benjamin. You'll see a pic of that on flickr.

I think that's about it for now. I know there are some stories I'm forgetting.

OB Appointment - Week 29

I went to my OB appointment yesterday (though it was with the Nurse Practitioner b/c my OB is on vacation and last week's visit was cancelled). Everything seems to be going o.k. They did another FFN and I haven't gotten the results yet. This was about the time that I got a positive with the twin pregnancy.

I got to hear the heartbeat and she measured my belly. Next time I go in (in 2 weeks), I need to do the glucose test - which I should have done sooner than this, but they just now gave me the stuff to drink.

Getting to and from the appointment was the worst part of the whole thing. Because of the snow and the OB's office being up on a hill, it was a bit scary. The roads were bumpy and there were a lot of cars trying to get up and down the hill. Hopefully, in two weeks, the snow will be gone and it will be less traumatic to get up there. My husband was not able to make it in time b/c no busses were running from UW to First Hill, so he walked in hopes of getting there. He was just showing up as I was leaving.

When I got home, we checked our mail and saw a bill from the place that does the testing for the FFN. The last test I had done about a month ago - which should be covered by insurance - was not. I called Aetna, and apparently, my doctor coded it wrong and so because of that, I have to pay the whole thing out of pocket unless my doctor will change the code. And they're closed now for me to get that taken care of today. When I had this test done last time with the twin pregnancy, it was billed under a code of threatened premature labor and this time, it was billed under threatened abortion. The reason they are doing the test is for the former reason, so I'm thinking that they'll change it. I hope so b/c I didn't have to pay for it last time and it's $330 each time (and I have a feeling I'll have this test done again before the pregnancy is over).

That's about it. I'll update once I hear the results from the test which it doesn't look like will be today with the OB office closed now.

Just a few things

Today and yesterday, I stayed at home with the kids. Yesterday, mainly b/c Benjamin was sick and today, b/c I'm a chicken when it comes to driving in the ice all the way to my work (~28 miles away each way). I'm too nervous about hurting the baby with the amount of stress white knuckle driving would bring me. I was supposed to have an OB appointment this morning, but it was cancelled and they said they're opening at 10, but they haven't yet.

Anyway, so we just hung out yesterday and saw how bad it got over where almost my entire family lives - over in Spokane. 21 inches officially is what I hear. Here, I maybe got 3-4 inches.

Some good things to happen while I've been home is that I learned Ella knows how to give a little close mouthed kiss. She kept coming up to me to give me a hug, then she gave me a kiss. So. Cute. Benjamin's favorite word of the day yesterday was mommy. :-D

I do have to admit that watching them on my own while 29 weeks pregnant is a bit of a challenge and I get tired easily, but it's been fun spending the day with them.

I just called OB's office and all of their lines are busy. I wonder when I'm going to be able to reschedule my appointment. I was supposed to have the FFN test again, the diabetes test and possibly an ultrasound. I find it funny that I get a recorded message from the OB's office this morning saying that they were closed - I got this phone call at 9:10 - 30 minutes after when my appointment was set to begin. Nice timing. Good thing I called the night before.

And this weekend is set to bring even more bad weather - not sure when I'm supposed to get my Christmas shopping done and even if I'll make into work on Monday (and I really need to).

28 weeks (3rd trimester)

Today is the first day of the 3rd trimester - I am currently at 28 weeks. I got a little nervous yesterday when I was feeling some painful contractions, but thankfully, they went away and they never got to the point of 4 in an hour.

Other than that, things are going well. Just the usual soreness/pressure that makes it feel as if the baby is going to come out at any moment. My hips seems to be doing o.k. lately so I haven't called the PT for another appointment.

We really need to start thinking of some baby names. I think we narrowed down the boy names - we just need a couple girl names!

18 months

Today, my two little cuties are 18 months old. Wow!

They like to play a game of do what Ella does - whether it be crawling on the floor or running from one part of the dining area to the couch or pulling out clothes from the drawers. The other night, they were going back and forth running from one point to another and they both said something that ended with "mommy" - not sure what was being said before that and they weren't looking at me. Perhaps I was the base on the other side of the room.

New words include Ella saying tree; Benjamin saying moon (or close enough). I'm blanking on any other new words. Everything is still a kitty. They saw a dog the other day - they were super excited about it too - and they kept saying kitty.

Benjamin really, really likes to point out anything that flies - airplanes, moths, birds, etc. We were playing inside the other night and he pointed out the window and it took me a second to realize he was pointing at the small light in the sky that was an airplane. They were both fascinated with the moth hanging out on our livingroom window (though Benjamin more so).

Ella LOVES to read books - the same one multiple times even. Benjamin likes to play with balls and throw them - he says "whoa" when he throws them too. They both fight over these links used to make a chain and like to put them into the container that should have been for the wipes.

All this week, my mother-in-law has been watching the twins since the daycare closed this week for one of their 2 weeks of vacation. It took a little bit of time for them to get used to a new routine - of course, now that they are going back to daycare on Monday.

We are supposed to meet with my support group tomorrow for a brunch - hopefully, the weather won't be as bad as they say it is going to be around here. I'm looking forward to seeing them and just learned this morning that one of the other ladies in my group is also pregnant without having gone through any type of medical treatment. She's due in May. I'm so excited for her!

Well, that's all for now. Happy 18 months to my sweet little cuties. Mommy loves you a lot!

Pregnancy Talk - Week 26

One of the ladies in my vanpool had her 1st child over the weekend - she named her baby boy Alexander, which is one of the names that we had thought we might name our son but he chose (and it suit him better) Benjamin. It was funny because one of the other ladies asked whether it was a boy or a girl. Umm, we've discussed this numerous times since she found out what she was having about 20 weeks or so ago. I wonder if people in my van just don't pay attention to each other or they have poor memory.

Anyway, it got me to wondering about the birth of our third child. I am wanting to try the "natural" or vaginal delivery, so I will be disappointed if I don't even get to try (I know that sounds a little strange to some). I am looking forward to it and we don't have much longer to go.

(Side note - I was just talking to this individual in our eastern offices and he said to me "is this your first?" and I said "no, I have twins" and he said "I thought this was feeling like deja vu". Thankfully, though, this pregnancy just has one child. I don't think I could handle taking care of twin infants again.)

Anyway, I hope that I am able to deliver vaginally. I hope that this baby will get into the right position for that. Sometimes, I think this baby is laying across my belly right now - at least, it seems that way when the baby moves. I hope my OB does an ultrasound at my next appointment in 2 1/2 weeks.

I do feel the baby move quite a bit - especially, it seems, when I have a full bladder. I guess he/she doesn't like that too much? It's always fun to see my belly move a little bit. The other day, my husband was able to see it. I was trying to get Ben & Ella to put their hand on my belly but they didn't seem to be interested nor understand why I was asking them to do that. They thought it was to tickle my belly button like we do to them.

In other news, I bought a Bella Band the other day in place of buying new maternity pants. So far, they seem to be working o.k. with a couple of my pants, but it doesn't seem to work well with the lower waisted pants - at least, not for me.

I think we narrowed down the names for the boy to two different names (though one is near the top of the list), now we just need to figure out the two girl names. I'm finding it more difficult to find girl names I really like, and that's probably what we're going to have just because I'm having a difficult time with it!

Cute Stories

I got to write about these before I forget about them:

1) I got Ben & Ella into their high chairs for dinner (need to get boosters or something b/c I think they're getting too big for their chairs). While I was in the kitchen, I heard Ella call out "Ma? Mommy? Momma? MAAA? Mommeeee? Momma? Mommmmaaaa? Mommy?" I answered each and every time but I guess she didn't think one was working so she was trying different variations. It was quite cute.

2) While eating dinner, Benjamin looked over and saw his reflection in the french doors. He laughed and smiled at himself. Then a few seconds later, looked back over with a little pose this time. Silly boy!

3) Then after dinner, I was putting away stuff and Ella and Benjamin were playing in their new favorite spot - behind the loveseat that is up against the fireplace insert (that we never have used). Ella wanted closer to the fireplace insert, so she pulled Benjamin out by his shirt while Benjamin was fussing about it. Once he was a safe distance away from the opening behind the loveseat, she walked right in there.

4) And even later, they thought it would be fun to take the diapers out of the diaper box (which reminds me that a coworker's child is on the cover of the new Kirkland Signature Size 4 box) and then try to put them back in (after I asked them to put them back in the box). Well, Ella was having a difficult time lifting one of the packages into the box and kept dropping it, and Benjamin thought that was HI-larious. He cracked up so much. He decided to join in and pick up the diaper packages and drop them on the floor. That was a fun game for a while.

That's about it for now on the cute stories.

Many things...

I really need to write more...I can't remember all the things I wanted to write about.

Thanksgiving

We had a good Thanksgiving. We stayed at home, watched football (Seahawks suck this year - UW too), and went to the park to play for a bit (it was rather crowded at the park). It was just the four of us and our two kitties. The kitties even had a turkey dinner (though they'd rather it be fish).

Ella didn't seem to enjoy Thanksgiving dinner all that much - Benjamin, at least, ate a little bit of it.

Pregnancy

The other day into work was a rather bumpy one - it felt as if the baby was going to come out due to all the pressure I was feeling. It felt as if the baby was dancing on my cervix - much like Ella did.

We went on a walk to a park about 10 or so blocks away yesterday - that brought on quite the hip pain. It may be time for the PT again.

Yesterday, at church, the pastor asked if everything was going o.k. in the pregnancy. A friend who goes to the same church said that we were mentioned b/c I had told our small group that I was going to have the fetal fibronectin test and that they had prayed that the test went well. It was nice of her to ask. It will be the next time that I go in that I'll be a bit worried about the results as that's when I got a negative on that test. Next time is also the gestational diabetes test.

Children Stories

Each time we leave the daycare, Ella insists on sitting in the time out chair. Then she gets up, pats the chair and tells Benjamin to sit there. She even tries to gently nudge him that direction, but he has no interest. I'm thinking of trying to find them a little table and chair set for Christmas as I think that they would enjoy that - Ella especially. Or maybe one of those little couches for toddlers.

Yesterday morning, we heard some giggling in their room and we just listened to them wondering what they were giggling about. It turns out they were playing hide and seek with the curtains.

Last night, Ella insisted on going to bed with one of my little books - ones that you might find at a Hallmark or something like that. So funny.

Lately, Benjamin has started to turn on his music crib toy when he wakes up - it's a good way to let us know. :-D

Both children - especially Ella - will sit down on their little potty for a little while, but they don't actually do anything. Sometimes they like to sit their with their pants on. It's a step, right? Getting them comfortable with the potty.

Other

Went to go see Twilight this past weekend - it was alright. I enjoyed it well enough - though it was rather cheesy at spots and the special effects were just bad. That being said, I may go see it again especially since the movie I wanted to see next and thought was coming out next weekend (The Time Traveler's Wife) isn't coming out until 2009 sometime.