Latest Glamour Shots

Here are the latest pix of Apple and Banana.  The one of Banana came out great, but they had trouble getting a good shot of Apple's face because she was facing my back and her brother's butt was in the way.  At one point we did see one of the babies rubbing their eyes.  B thought it was Apple, but I thought it was Banana.  Either way, it was really cute!

24 Week Update

Doctor's appointment today went well. The following info will probably be really boring for a lot of you, but I want to continue to document the details for myself.

• Apple (girl) now weighs 1 pound 4 ounces and is measuring around 23w1d.  She is still head down and was pretty calm again today, her heart rate at 130.  We were told this is typical of Baby A because they are lower and have less room to move around.
• Banana (boy) now weighs 1 pound 3 ounces and is measuring around 23w3d.  At the beginning of the scan, he was also head down, but by the end had flipped all the way around and was breach, with his butt bumping up against Apple's face again.  He was squirmy and really active again, his heart rate at 148.  I suspect that is one of his body parts bumping up against my sternum tonight making it difficult to breathe.
• Since I'm at 23w4d today, they are happy with where both babies are measuring which is on track even for singletons.
• Both placentas still look good and both babies have normal amounts of fluid.
• My cervix is holding nice and long at 6.
• My blood pressure is still low at 124/64.
• My belly is measuring about 27.5 or 28cm now.
• No sugar in my urine or any sign of infection.

I now go in to see the OB every 2 weeks, but continue on the every 4 week schedule for ultrasounds.  At my next OB appointment in 2 weeks, they'll do the glucose screen (drink icky syrupy liquid and get blood drawn an hour later).  If I pass the screen, I'm in the clear for gestational diabetes.  If not, they'll have me do the big scary glucose tolerance test at the next appointment (fast, drink much more icky syrupy liquid and get blood drawn one, two and three hours later).  If that comes back with bad results, it's off to the dietitian.  Hopefully I'll pass the screen with flying colors and be able to mark that milestone off the list.

The OB we met with today mentioned that she prefers that all of her twin patients get epidurals even if attempting a vaginal delivery.  Her reasoning was that if they end up having to do an emergency c-section (usually because baby B isn't cooperating), you are all ready for it and they shouldn't have to knock you out for the c-section.  If I was on the fence at all (which I kind of was) about wanting to try natural versus getting an epidural, I think she may have just nudged me to one side and convinced me to get one.

The doc confirmed that I should get a flu shot (in case any of you were wondering).  She also confirmed that taking Tyl.enol pm EVERY single night is not a problem.  This is a good thing because it has really been helping.  Even just taking half the normal adult dosage is working for me.  I will also stay on the baby aspirin even through delivery as she said the dosage is too low to affect clotting, etc. during delivery.

So, the only real issue I seem to have now are the contractions/cramps I've been having.  They aren't real contractions because they are fairly localized (not the entire abdomen) and sometimes just brought on by the babies moving around.  But they are still disconcerting.  Half the time it will be just on one side.  I'll notice the muscle tightening and look down and my belly is all lopsided and rock hard on one side.  Freaky.  The doc did caution me that if I start noticing a pattern to them or if I notice more than 4 in an hour, to call them.

We also talked about the ECP (evil crotch pain) and back pain and she said if massage doesn't help, we can always try physical therapy.  She also mentioned that I might want to start thinking about cutting back my hours at work soon.  Given what is going on at work right now, I think I'll likely wait for a couple of weeks and see how I do.  I think my first step would be to approach my boss about working from home in the afternoons (maybe after 2pm each day).  We'll see.

So all is well on the baby front.  We did get some more ultrasound pictures today, but I'm too exhausted to hook my laptop up to the scanner right now, so I'll try to scan and post them later in the week.  Sorry to be a tease, but seriously, the scanner is like 10 feet away and my butt is PLANTED on the couch!

23w2d

This was one long week. We had people from around the world in town for a week-long conference. Monday through Wednesday afternoon were spent in a hotel downtown sitting through presentation after presentation. Some of it was focused on soft skills, other pieces were technical. And because of my current work situation, instead of sitting through all of the presentations and just listening, I also had to present a couple myself (which I just found out about the week before). Others had months to prepare for their presentations and I found myself presenting topics that someone else had prepared the slides for. Not the ideal situation. It was also the first time I've spoken in front of that big of a crowd (70 people) and had to use a microphone. All in all, it went off swimmingly. During the first presentation, I must have been nervous because Apple and Banana were kicking up a storm. It was a little distracting!

We started each morning at 7:30am or 8:00am depending on the day. Monday night was a mandatory dinner. Tuesday night was a Rockies game (which I skipped). I was pretty sore all week and it was difficult to sit in those hotel conference chairs all day long. On Tuesday, they found me a "more comfortable" chair. It was more cushioned, but deep and the back leaned back pretty far. Not the most comfortable thing for a short person to sit in, but I didn't want to complain after they went to the trouble to find something more comfortable for me.

Wednesday afternoon around 3pm, we all headed up to Vail for the rest of the week. I drove myself so I would have total control over when I left Friday and wouldn't have to go back into town since I live on the West side of town. By the time I checked into the hotel Wednesday and got settled, I had about 20 minutes to rest before it was time for dinner. Dinner was just a 5 minute walk (for a normal person) in the village, but it took me about 15 minutes to get there and I was exhausted, huffing and puffing the whole way. I definitely noticed a difference with the change in altitude. Dinner didn't end until about 9:30pm and then I had to walk back to the hotel. The village is all cobblestone and, while it is beautiful, it is pedestrian only, so there was no option to drive or take a cab.

I slept horribly Wednesday night. While everyone else thought the beds were supremely comfortable, it felt like I was sleeping on concrete. I tossed and turned all night and woke up sore. Thursday was another day of presentations and break-out groups until around 3pm. At that point, we met to kick off the team building activity. It was a pseudo amazing race where teams had to complete different challenges around town. I knew I wouldn't be up to running around Vail with a team, so I settled for sitting at one of the stations and watching all of the teams come through. Unfortunately, as soon as I got in the car with the coordinators, my boss called and asked if I could join a conference call. So they dropped me back off at the hotel and I spent the rest of the afternoon in my boss's room on conference calls. Dinner was another lengthy affair that lasted until 9:30pm.

I didn't sleep well again and by yesterday morning, I was ready for the week to be over. We had one more presentation from 8 to 9am and then it was back to my boss's room for another conference call. I was excused from the call 10 minutes early so that I could go get my massage. In the meantime I accidentally locked myself out of my room and had to lug all of my work stuff down to the spa with me. My massage was at 11am and I had to be on another call at 1pm. The massage itself was nice. They had one of those cool pregnancy cushion contraptions with pieces that move around to accommodate lying on your back, side or stomach (with cut outs for the belly and boobs). The cushion was really comfortable. But of course, it was hard to relax and calm my brain down in between phone calls and a hectic day.

Without all of the actual work going on, the idea was that you get your massage and then go eat a leisurely lunch with others in Vail and hang out for a couple of hours enjoying the scenery before heading home. No such luck for me. I didn't want to sit at the hotel for the 1pm call because I didn't know how long it would last and I knew I would have work to do after the call. So after my massage, I rushed to pack up, check out and was on the road by 12:30pm. The call lasted until 2:30pm, 15 minutes past when I got home. I then spent the rest of the day working from home and finally stopped around 5pm.

I slept pretty good last night back in my own bed with the proper configuration of pillows and our 4-inch memory foam pad. I really missed my bed. Today we are trying to make final paint decisions for the dining room, master bedroom, and the niche in the family room. I'm expecting a call from the painter this week to let us know he's ready to start. We also have a vet appointment for Scout today (just normal routine exam and shots). I haven't seen our vet since I got pregnant, so I'm going to go with B today when he takes Scout in. We absolutely love our vet and she's gonna freak when she sees me!

For your viewing pleasure, below are this weeks belly shots in addition to a shot of the stroller and car seats that B put together last weekend. Enjoy.

Bad Blogger

More like bad blog reader and commenter. I hope to catch up this weekend. Left the house at 7am yesterday and got home at 9pm. Today, I left at 6:45am and was home in time for dinner, but all I could do was lie on the couch. And I need to pack still. Heading up to Vail tomorrow through Friday and I won't even have a computer with me. Hope you are all having a decent week!

Are You Ready for Some Football?

Football season is now officially in full swing. It is cloudy and cool here today, which makes it feel even more like football season. And B is making chile for dinner. Nothing like curling up on the couch in sweats with no make-up for the day. The only draw back is that I'm uncomfortable in my own skin! Can't sit in one position for longer than 10 minutes to save my life. Oh well. My little occupants are just as squirmy this morning!

We went to dinner last night at this place. It was my first time there after hearing people just rave about the place. Everything we had was really good, but I didn't eat much of my entree. I must have filled up on the bread, appetizers and gazpacho. I'm not usually one for cold soup, but the gazpacho was really tasty.

Did anyone watch SN.L last night? Tin.a Fe.y was hilarious as SP! It is such a perfect fit. I wonder if she has been automatically imitating her since Mc.Cain's announcement? Or if she just had to study her mannerisms this week. Either way, it was great! Even the accent. Is it just me, or does SP sound a bit like she's from Minnesota?

One more week until the next ultrasound. I have this irrational (at least I hope it's irrational) fear that I'm only feeling one move and the other one is in trouble. Why do these thoughts keep creeping into my head? I keep trying to push them away as soon as they pop up, but the thoughts still come back. I wish I had better control of my own brain.

Oh yeah, and my pre.natal crad.le came on Thursday last week. I L.O.V.E. it. It has definitely helped with the soreness and I'm walking much better now. It does kind of look like a weird contraption, but it is mostly hidden under clothes (other than the straps at the top that tend to peek out of my shirts. There is one other version that is *more* supportive, but it looks like a jock strap was added on to the original. It might have helped more with the pelvic pain (or evil crotch pain, as Nancy calls it), but it just freaked me out.

Here is the latest belly shot as of yesterday, which was 22w2d. I've got the cradle on in the pictures and I was sportin my Illini orange yesterday. For some reason the shots are a little fuzzy when I use the timer on the camera and the lighting is funky. Oh well.