28 Weeks

I am 28 weeks pregnant with the twins!

I had an appointment with Dr. Drake today. We had a ultrasound first to check their growth and they are doing AWESOME! Ainsley is 2lbs 9oz and Ben is 2lbs 14oz! This is great news as we were initially worried about Ben's growth with his two vessel cord but he is bigger. Also we want to make sure they stay close to the same size to make sure one isn't taking too many nutrients and not leaving enough for the other. Never too early to learn to share.

Dr. Drake was not happy with the contractions I have been having, especially at work. That combined with the cervical changes I'm having (some external dilation and funneling) made her decide we needed to do something different. That something is reducing my work hours. She recommended 20 hours per week. I am going to try 26 and see how that goes. We can reassess if need be. This is very difficult and stressful for me. First, financially I will have to take sick days and vacation days to cover this time off as we cannot afford to take it unpaid. This of course reduces the time I have available to take off after the twins are born which is frustrating. It also feels a little like I'm not doing as good a job as I should at being pregnant (which I realize is ridiculous). I find myself thinking "Why can't I do this better?" I think it's my slightly neurotic personality to blame there. I am also a worrier about what other people think and I worry people will see it as lazy to not work until the babies are born. I hate laziness so that stresses me. Again, neurotic, I know.

So with all that oversharing done being said. I need to do what the doctor thinks is best and I need to rest as much as possible (whether people judge me or not for it) so that these babies stay in and grow as big as possible. That needs to be the goal and the number one priority. Something I have to remind myself of frequently. Dr. Drake did say that after this we are "done messing around." If I continue to have contractions and cervical changes I'm done working all together. She means business. I love her for it.

I also saw the regular OB yesterday and that went fine. It was a very quick visit. I now go every two weeks to see them and at 34 weeks I start going every week for a non-stress test.

Moving on! I got these in the mail this week.

Aren't they sweet? I took a picture with my phone and made it my background - it makes me smile :) I ordered them off of GroopDealz which is a daily email I get similar to Groupon but with daily "boutique" deals. They have crafty things, handmade items, and all sorts of ca-ute stuff. I highly recommend signing up even if you never buy anything, it's fun to see all the neat items.

I also got this in the mail

"You got what in the mail?" you may be asking. It is a baby carrier/sling. It just happens to be inside out, a poorly taken picture and I'm using Daisy as a model. Jeesh, I don't know why you couldn't understand. So, anywho, about the sling. My cousin's wife, Jeannie forwarded me an email that advertised getting a FREE baby sling using the promo code FAMILY 2011 on the Seven Slings website. I was quite skeptical to say the least. I decided to try it and I paid for the shipping and a size exchange fee (which I'm sure is where they make their money) through PayPal. I think it ended up being under $15. I honestly figured that if it didn't work I would only be out 15 bucks. So, I wasn't expecting much but literally three days later it arrived in my mailbox! So if you want a baby sling and for cheap, go here!

Lastly, a food shot.

Dinner was smothered chicken, zucchini on the grill and some frozen potatoes with ranch seasoning. De-lish!

Hope everyone has a great week!

27 Weeks

Today I am 27 weeks pregnant with the twins!

We had a little excitement this past week when we made a trip to the hospital because I was having contractions. Basically I couldn't sleep at all so I moved around some, tried the couch, nothing was helping and I didn't really know for sure if I was having contractions, having never had a baby before. After a phone call to my mom at 3:30am we decided to go in. I wasn't going to sleep anyway since I was worrying about what was going on so we thought we might as well make sure everything is alright. We went to Methodists, which is where we have decided to deliver now. We were originally going to deliver at Mercy for no other reason than it's visible from the interstate, it's new and it's shiny. Very selective, I know. However, since we are now seeing Dr. Drake there at Methodist we decided to deliver there. So, on the way there I was having a contraction every four minutes. Needless to say, I was glad we decided to go. When we got there I went up to the maternity floor (in a wheelchair which I found quite embarrassing) to triage. They put monitors on the babies and a contraction monitor on me. The babies were doing fine and I only had maybe eight or ten more contractions the whole time we were there. They had Perinatal Services come up when they opened at 8:00am and do an ultrasound to measure my cervix. It was down to 2.9cm (from 4cm two weeks prior). They also checked my cervix for dilation and it was dilated to 3 on the outside but closed on the inside. This sounds scary but apparently it is normal with twins to start to see these changes. Bottom line now is that we are going to start monitoring it more closely and we will have to reassess if there are further changes. Since standing puts pressure on the cervix and causes it to shorten I am doing my best to take it easy and relax and sit down as much as possible. I stress a lot about how long I'll be able to work. My original goal was to work until at least 32 weeks but obviously if that isn't what is best for the babies I won't be doing it. Another struggle for me is not knowing what is going to happen and not being in control. Definitely something to pray about!

So! That's all that drama. Baby Center says the babies are 14&1/2 inches long this week and weigh 2 pounds. So that's 4 pounds of baby and I've gained 35 pounds...hmmm...

They are sleeping and waking at regular intervals, opening and closing their eyes, and sucking on their fingers.

Here is my paper chain I mentioned a couple weeks ago. Huge dork, I know.

I made the chain to get to 32 weeks. I don't know if that's still a possibility but we'll see how far we can get. I have been having some more contractions, especially when I'm at work and I have to be up and walking around a lot. I try to sit down when I can but that isn't always a possibility with my job. I do have to say that my coworkers have been amazing at helping me do things and really taking some of my workload whenever they can.

I also got these in the mail these week. I ordered them from Etsy. It was $10.99 for five headbands and bows.

That's all for now. I have an appointment with the OB Monday and with the Perinatologist Tuesday. I can't wait to see how big they are!

Hope everyone is having a great week!

Nursery Inspiration

We have had our fourth bedroom empty since we moved in. I mean completely empty. When we bought our house right after I graduated we knew we were going to try to start a family right away so we made one bedroom an office, one a guest room and left the fourth bedroom empty for the nursery. There were times over the last three years, when didn't know if we would ever have a baby, when it was quite hard to walk in that room and honestly the door usually stayed shut. I can't describe how excited and grateful we are to be preparing this bedroom for not one, but two little miracles!

Here are some pictures that we're using for inspiration.

Of course we'll post pictures when the room is done!

26 Weeks

I am 26 weeks pregnant with the twins!

This week, according the Baby Center, the babies are 14 inches long and weigh 1&2/3 pounds. Their hearing is more developed and they can hear both my voice and Jeremy's voice as we talk to each other. They are inhaling and exhaling small amounts of amniotic fluid which helps develop their lungs.

I don't have too much to share this week since last week's post was so late. I just finished an eight day work stretch, had today off, then work six more days. I'm really resting as much as possible when I'm not working which means Jeremy is taking care of pretty much everything else - laundry, cooking, cleaning, etc. I feel very blessed to have a husband who does so much for me - thanks J!

Apparently if you are having twins you are supposed to start counting kicks this week. I need to do a little research on that and figure out what I need to do exactly. Anyone know much about kick counting? Did you do it regularly?

I think that's it for now. Our next appointment is in two weeks and I'm getting excited to see the babies again!

Hope everyone is having a good week!

25 Weeks

So I'm a little late but I'm 25 weeks pregnant with the twins!

This has been a busy week! I worked on my day off Tuesday. My mom could have killed me I think because she said I needed to rest but I really want an iPad and some B-Rate never hurts.

Work has been getting much harder. I am pretty much in constant pain after about 4 hours most days. I had a really rough day Wednesday and started to question whether I'll be able to work until I have the babies. I've decided my goal is to make it to 32 weeks which will allow me to maintain my pay through any disability and maternity leave. Hopefully the babies agree. Also, I've decided a paper chain is in order. Anyone else love paper chains? We always had one to count down to Christmas.

This week Baby Center says the babies are 13&1/2 inches long and weigh a pound and a half - the size of a rutabaga (whatever that is). However, Benson was 1lb 11oz last week so he's kind of kicking butt. They are starting to get some baby fat and grow more hair.

This week we also made some salsa from tomatoes from our garden. Jeremy HATES tomatoes but LOVES salsa so he was pretty excited about this. We just used a packet of seasoning (Mrs. Wages) and canned two batches.

We also made this Apple Sage Pork Roast

As we were getting ready to eat I said, "You know what would be good with this?"

"What?"

"Some All Night White."

"Oh! Yeah! I think I'll have some!."

"Mmmm Hmmmm."

Well, that's it for now. Hope you all have had a great week!