Week 37 and THEY'RE HERE!!!! :D

Well, we have a blissful moment of peace in the house.  Babies are fed and changed and sleeping in Dave and his friend, Frank's arms.  I have a little back-tracking to do!!

Last Saturday, I was feeling crampy and yucky all day.  I knew I was having labor pains, but I also knew that we were still 6 days away from c-section and I didn't think I had dilated any more.  So, I got through the day and tried to go to sleep.  I was very restless and couldn't sleep, still having cramps.  Around 1:45am, I felt a huge GUSH of water.  Yay!  My water broke!  Time to get things moving!!

I woke Dave and we called the doctor and they said to come to the hospital for an immediate c-section.  We got to the hospital around 2:30a.  Dave was letting me off at the main entrance.  As soon as I stood up to get out of the car, GUSH! again!  There were a handful of people in the waiting room getting a great show!  My pants were soaked and I wasn't in the mood to walk all the way to maternity.  Dave got me a wheelchair and took me up.  They put me in triage and started prepping me for c-section and had me monitored for non-stress tests/heartbeats.  During this time, I was having real contractions about every 7-8 minutes.  They weren't horrible, but they weren't pleasant.  We got bumped twice for the c-section and ended up waiting until 6:45am to get taken in.

The spinal was scaring the living daylights out of me.  The first needle stick surprised me and I jumped, but after that, it wasn't that bad.....except for my imagination.  I couldn't feel anything but pins and needles in my legs.  They brought Dave in and he did a great job taking pictures.  He did not pass out and seemed to have a great time checking out the whole procedure.

On Sunday, May 20, 2012, James Frank (baby A) was born at 7:12am and weighed 7 lb 12 oz and measured 20.5 inches long.  William Michael (baby B) was born at 7:13am and weighed 6 lb 15 oz and measured 20.5 inches long.  Dave was so involved with taking picture of James, that he didn't realize William would come so fast.....so he missed his entrance!!  All of us went to recovery together.  Both babies were having trouble maintaining their temperatures, so they kept putting them in warmers.  The nurse gave me a Percocet and it made me throw up for about 2 hours.  That was miserable.  After that, I just stuck to Motrin and was fine.

The recovery from c-section is way worse than I thought.  Throughout my 4 days in the hospital, they removed my catheter, IV, and leg massagers.  On the last day, they removed my staples.  I still haven't even looked at my incision site.  I just don't want to know!!  Being forced to move around and take care of the babies is helping me feel better faster.  It's been a full week now.  We are trying to get into a schedule at home, but basically it's eat, sleep, eat, sleep, etc!  The babies are everything we dreamed of and already it feels like time is moving too fast!

What a journey!

Week 36 & 11 days to go!

Well, I'm starting to pack on the pounds now.  I weigh 187 lbs.  This is officially more than Dave weighs in at 186.6 lbs.  It's also a big weight increase from just a week ago.  I am measuring 43 weeks pregnant, which is less than last week.  This is due to the fact that the babies have dropped very low.  Which makes eating easier....obviously, by my weight!!  My middle measurement is still at 47 inches.  I am still only dilated 1 cm.  We met with the doctor who will perform the c-section, if we make it to May 25th.  He's a big guy (think lumberjack, beard and all!).  Dave asked how big of an incision they make for the c-section.  He says it has to be just a little wider than his hand so he can reach in and pull the babies out.  Hmmmm......why can't we have a small, Asian woman as our surgeon?!!!

During the 3D ultrasound last week, Dave and I were looking at Baby A's face in horror.  It appeared that his eye was hanging out of his head, he had a cleft lip, and his nose was huge and squished.  I knew if there was a real problem, then would have told us and just chalked it up to the fact that 3D ultrasounds are just for entertainment purposes only.  Dave has been stressed about it for a week and asked the doctor today.  They have no concerns about our "Mr. Potato Head" baby with his dangling eye and nose on his forehead.  I can't wait to finally meet him and see what he looks like for real!  :)

In addition to being completely uncomfortable and tired all the time now, I have horrible back aches, nerve pains shooting down my legs, numbness around my belly button from stretching too much, numbness in hands and wrists from pregnancy induced carpal tunnel (who knew?), and leg aches.  I've lost my pregnant "glow"!! :/

I've been telling the babies that whoever breaks their amniotic sac first will be my favorite.  They haven't made any moves.  It appears that they have paid for their late checkout and will stay for all the remainder of the days.  Stubborn just like their father!

Next doctor appointment is in a week on Monday.

Week 35

We had our last ultrasound today.  They are really crammed in there!  I don't know how the ultrasound technician knows what she's looking at.  I couldn't pick out any body parts except for heads this time.  They are measuring BIG still.  Baby A is 6 lb 11 oz and Baby B is 6 lb 13 oz.  We met with the doctor.  I'm quite miserable-feeling these last few days.  I have a severe back ache and I'm having infrequent crampy, contractions.  I was hoping I would be more dilated this time so they would send us right to the hospital.  I'm still only at 1cm.  They have scheduled my c-section for Friday, May 25 at 9:30a.  Dave keeps saying that it's ONLY 17 more days.  I want to strangle him.  Of course, I could always go into labor before that and they would do the c-section right away.  I'm willing myself to do that.  My weight is 183 lbs.  I think that's up 2 lbs from 2 weeks ago.  Lately, I'm hungry a lot.  I haven't felt hungry this whole pregnancy.  I am measuring at 45 weeks pregnant.  I'm big!  My middle measurement is 47 inches around.  We get to see the doctor every week now, so we go back next Monday.....unless I can will this to get going!!

Week 34 and Maternity ER visit

I woke up yesterday and had a few symptoms of labor (I'll spare the gory details).....although one of them was that my pants were completely soaked.  I called the doctor on call (because, of course, it was Sunday) and she told me to come to the maternity ER.  They did a non-stress check (all good) and then checked to see if I was leaking amniotic fluid.  The test showed that I wasn't....but she wasn't convinced.  I was also dilated 1 cm.   So, they put me on the non-stress machine for another hour.  All good again.  They did another check for amniotic fluid....and found nothing.  So, my water hasn't broken.  I probably just peed myself.  Nice. :)  They did determine that I am having very mild (and almost unnoticable to me) contractions every 1-2 minutes.  That, plus being dilated 1 cm, are cues to pay attention to other labor symptoms and call right away if I notice anything.  Dave came home and immediately went into "nesting" mode and cleaned out his office and organized his files!  It was comical!!  So, I am home, resting, and back to waiting.....

Week 34 (joy!) and a baby shower

We are officially at week 34.   Since early on in the pregnancy, we've been so worried about not getting here.  We made it!  The doctors would like us to get to week 38, but if they should come early, there aren't too many major concerns.  Whew!! :)

I have declined showers from so many thoughtful friends and family.  I was worried about having one too soon and I have already been "showered" upon by people when Evan was born a long, long time ago!  Well, my school friends all surprised me last night with an amazing shower!!  I thought I was meeting a small handful of friends at the Depot restaurant for dinner.  When I got there, there were 22 people!!  We had dinner, awesome conversations, gifts, and cake!  When Dave stops working today, I can't wait to go through all the gifts again and show him.  People were so generous!  I have such good, good friends!!

Week 33

Good news!  I believe we have found a night nanny.  Her name is Lauren and she is a senior communications major at SUNY Brockport.  She and her husband have a 5 month old baby boy.  We interviewed 2 people and we really felt comfortable with her.  I hope it works out.  I hated going through the process of finding and interviewing people.  As it stands, she will start a few days after we get home from the hospital.  She'll work 11p - 6a, giving me a chance to sleep and heal.....or that's the plan, anyway!! :)

We had a doctor appointment today.  My weight is 181 lbs!  That is a 4 lb increase in 2 weeks!  I'm feeling it!  I've gained almost 40 lbs now and my lower back is starting to kill me.  I'm tired, can't breath, can't bend over, can't roll over in bed, etc. etc. etc!  Whew!  Everyone keeps saying that they can't believe I'm having twins because I just don't look big enough.  I don't know if they're just trying to be nice or what.....but I am certainly big enough!!  They measure me at 44 weeks pregnant!!  That means my uterus is stretched to the capacity of being 4 weeks past a due date, if I were having just one baby.  I'm feeling very whiny.  My blood pressure is still good:  130/74 today.  My middle measurement is still about 45 inches around.  Both heartbeats are good.  They get the hiccups a lot......baby A more than B.  Twice they have had them at the same time!

Now the plan is to try to get to 38 weeks.  They are in the process of scheduing the c-section officially.  They will let us know. Until then we are supposed to be watching for any signs of labor since the size of my uterus and very short cervix could cause that to happen.  Dave asked about cord blood banking.  We have to order a kit online and take it with us.  The doctors will fill the kit and then we are responsible for mailing it back ASAP.  Seems kind of weird.  Dave is talking about trying to schedule less travel in the coming weeks.  I hope he's able to be around more because I just can't do much for myself anymore!

In the meantime, Dave and I both saw our lawyers and wrote up draft wills and health care proxies.  I'm glad to have done that.  Without being married, all of the usual stuff is kind of tricky.  Evan is not biologically his and these babies are not biologically mine.  If I should die, we had to spell out that they all go to Dave, along with the house.  Also, because we aren't married, we can't be health-care advocates for each other unless it is written legally.  We've decided that to protect ourselves from both dying in the same catastrophe, we shouldn't drive or fly anywhere together, leaving our three orphans for family to raise!  Ugh.

Next visit is in 2 weeks for an ultrasound and office visit.  After that, we go in every week....which is only twice.  Then, it's BIRTH day!!  I can't believe this is really, finally happening!!

Week 31

I had a doctor visit this morning.  My weight is 177 lbs.  My middle measurement is 45 inches.  Heartbeats look great.  They've been getting the hiccups for a few weeks now.  Still lots of movements....and some serious good kicks to the ribs.  Blood pressure is in a good zone still.  I'm scheduled to go back in 2 weeks for another doctor visit.