No Signs of Labor Yet

My doctor increased my visits to once a week now. I see the u/s doctor next week, and my doctor said that there probably wouldn't be a need to see that doctor again before the scheduled c-section on the 22nd unless there's something weird or unusual that reveals itself next week.

Anyway, as he was trying to coordinate my next week's appt with the u/s appt so I didn't have to go out that was twice next week, I made some comment about...blah, blah..."work." He quickly turned to me and said, "You're still working?" I kind of cowered and said, "Yes, no one told me I couldn't." At any rate, we briefly discussed it and he assumed that one of the other doctors a while back had pulled me out of work. Nope! I guess one flaw with having to meet all the doctors in a practice is that you go quite a while without seeing your actual doctor. I guess if I had been seeing him the whole time, he might have wanted to pull me out of work a while back. Who knows? I've been doing so well. There's really no reason for me not to be working. We'll see though. Given his reaction, I may not be working all the way up until the c-section as I had assumed. He may pull me out just one week early or something????

I also asked him about if/when I go into natural labor. I really hadn't discussed that with him since I assumed I'd make it to the c-section date, but anything can happen. He said with twins that I would call and plan to head into the hospital when contractions are 10 minutes apart. This is different than most women's experiences. He said a singleton mother would be told not to call or come in until contractions were 5 minutes apart. He said the difference is that labor with twins is just so unpredictable. You never know, so they'd rather have you at the hospital already.

That's about it for now. Happy Thursday!

TGIM, huh?

Thank goodness it's Monday...or Tuesday in the case of a holiday weekend. Huh? Who's ever been excited for a Monday. Well, lately I've enjoyed the scale on Monday's. Apparently I'm way more active over the weekend than I am during the week, and I actually lose weight over the weekends. Makes sense...I have more time to do things, and I take advantage of it. Minnie and Daisy get walked. I run errands which is not only walking but keeping me away from the refrigerator. And I do chores around the house. So, Monday mornings on the scale are my favorite. It's been this way for the past month I'd say. I usually am 1-3 pounds less than I was the preceeding Friday.

This Tuesday didn't disappoint. I've gained about 35lbs for the 33 1/2 weeks I've been pregnant. That really isn't bad, especially for twins. I've always had a goal to gain only 40lbs. Seeing as how I potentially have 3 1/2 weeks left, I may exceed my goal by one or two pounds, but this is going to be really close, especially since the c-section is on a Friday which is my least favorite scale day. (They say to expect a pound a week for a singleton in the third trimester, and with twins that amount goes up to 1 1/4 or 1 1/2 pounds per week.) I'll have to watch it my last week to see if I can't maintain that Monday weight that I love. :-) Minnie and Daisy will get lots of walks that week.

Dr appt with the regular doctor this Thursday. I'll let you know how it goes.

Hanging in There

Ceylese was a big help over the weekend. I had done all of the laundry when she got here, but I hadn't put anything away. Oh, and what a pain that was. I had to take the tags off of everything, and usually an outfit has more than one tag. And I realized as I was washing that I needed to not only wash clothes but also sheets, towels, bibs, burp cloths, blankets, etc. All in all, I think I did FOUR FULL LOADS of just baby stuff.

As I suspected, the twin thing did add a layer of complexity to the organization of the drawers. We managed though. So, for now, it's all organized and makes sense. Now, who knows if it can stay that way as I start going through multiple outfits in one day and several loads of laundry per week. I'd like to hope so. We'll see.

4 1/2 weeks left. I think it's just around 30 days or so. Wonder if I'll go into labor naturally before the 22nd???

Test

I just noticed on the post I did earlier this morning that there's no comment bar...not that anyone besides Jeana comments anyway. :-) (No big deal. I know I have readers out there.) But I just thought I'd try this and see if a comment bar pops up on this post or if there's something wrong with the blog.

And the Doctor Said...

The end is in sight. He basically said that in this day and age, you can express a preference for a c-section and, frankly, you can demand one. That being said, the c-section isn't off the table just because they're both head down. He had told me and Mike at our last appt that we should just ask the u/s doctor for his opinion on a 36 1/2 week c-section (which would be 6/20 or 6/21) without an amnio. (The amnio checks the development of the lungs to ensure that they're done. Typically the lungs are ok at that late stage in the game, which is why he wanted us to ask about his opinion without an amnio at 36 1/2 weeks.)

The u/s doctor said that 37 weeks is always better than 36 1/2. He wouldn't object to 36 1/2 weeks though with an amnio. Going with that, my doctor took the 20th and 21st off the table and went with the 22nd without amnio, which is a Friday, where I'm 36 weeks and 6 days. A Wed or a Thurs would have been more desirable to try to work out with Mike's new employer, but a Friday will just have to do. He can miss a Friday and a Monday just as easily as he can miss a Thursday and a Friday.

So, there it is....as a last resort, I won't be pregnant anymore by June 23rd. I still could go naturally earlier though.

Forgot To Mention Their Weight

I meant to tell everyone their weight too.

**Baby A: 3lbs and 10oz
**Baby B: 3lbs and 14oz

That's 7 1/2lbs total!!!! WOW!!!!

And they're side by side in my belly. Both heads are in my pelvis, with Baby A's head a bit further down, which is why they've called her Baby A all along. (The one that looks like it will deliver first is always labeled A apparently.) Their feet are both just above my belly button and their arms are at my belly button or just below. Basically, they're positioned in there for a game of patty cake since they're both facing in. I do feel lots of movements right down the middle of my stomach and not so much on the left or the right. This explains why. Although, I'd prefer it if they were back to back instead so I could feel distinct movement on both sides and know it was two different babies. With the movement being all in the middle, I never know if it's just one baby or two. Oh well. They're doing well, as I am according to the doc. :-)

Drum Roll Please, Baby B Is...

HEAD DOWN!!! Oops...not what I was hoping for. So, now when I meet with my regular doctor on Friday, we can go from here. Wonder if he'll still let me schedule a c-section or if all bets are off. Maybe I need to plan a nice meal for us at Scalini's for the eggplant parmasean on June 19th. HA!

Anyway, we've been getting ready around the house. Mike put together a swing, a bouncer and one of our two pack n play's this week. We still have the second pack n play to put together. I'm going to use one in my family room as a changing station or nap station so I don't have to always go upstairs. The second will be in our master bedroom and will be somewhere for them to sleep the first week or two.

My next plan is to start washing their clothes. Mike goes out of town on Friday morning with my brother and dad for a nice fishing trip, so both Ceylese and I will be without spouses for a few days. She said she'd come over and help me get everything organized once I wash everything, so we're going to do that while the guys are away. I know you've all seen the pictures of the closet from a while back, but once all of this stuff gets washed, it's doubtful that most of it will go back on a hanger. It will get folded and put in the dresser. So, Ceylese said she'd help with that. Do I do one drawer that has everything they own that matches so I can find those cute matching outfits easily? Do I do one drawer with just the solo outfits? Do I do one drawer with just onesies? Do I do one drawer with just PJs? Too many questions.

Weekend

It was nice to be at the house this weekend after last weekend's car extravaganza. I'm sure Minnie and Daisy were glad that we were around too. We did a bit of yard work, cleaned/reorganized our garage to better suit an SUV, took the girls for a walk, went to a going away party for some friends, and just relaxed. I also made a list this weekend called, "Before Babies." It has everything I could think of on it to get done over the next month. It ranges from fun stuff for me and Mike to do while still just a married couple to house work/projects to baby projects like washing all of their clothes. It's do-able.

Kaitlyn and Nicole did get me Mother's Day gifts too which was fun. I got a slipper and a robe for my hospital stay. They're pink and green. I was told they wanted to coordinate with the colors in the nursery. :-) Fun!

I of course finished off the weekend with Desperate Housewives. It's gettin' good!!!! Edy Britt...what a b*#$h, huh? And I don't know that Gabby should really marry the mayor. He seems a bit to shady. I've been wanting a Gabby/Carlos reunion ever since they split up. Doesn't really look like it will happen, but with TV, anything is possible.

Nothing much on the babies. Just the u/s on Wed. I'll let you know what Baby B is up to after that appt and if she's going to get me a c-section or not.

Acuras All Around

We bought a car tonight!!! Yeah. We found a 2003 MDX from a private seller for a really good price. So, my TL has it's brother in the garage now. :-)

The MDX is one of the Acura SUV's. It has a silver exterior with black leather interior. (I don't actually even think you can buy an Acura these days with cloth interior...maybe back in '03 when this was made, but not now.) It's got a sunroof and third row seats that can either pop up or fold down to give more trunk space. We think we'll be very happy with it.

It's just nice to have a second car again.

And to kill time during rush hour before heading back home after buying the car, we stopped in to buy some stuff at Babies R Us. Since I'm not having any more showers, I figured that I needed to buy anything on my registry that I really had to have. So, we bought our second car seat bases for both of the girls and our swing. Those were the big ticket items. The other stuff we bought was small, like our changing pad, a second set of sheets for the cribs, etc. It's good to be done with that. The babies truly have just about everything that they need at this point, but they're still not welcome home...they need a few more weeks to cook. :-) I hope they hang in there.

U/S appt on Wed. I'll let you know what happens with Baby B. Will she still be breech??? Who knows?

Still No Car

We've been hunting for a car for a while now and still no luck. We hit the pavement hard over the weekend. We left the house on Saturday around 10am and didn't pull back in the driveway until 10pm!!!! Then, on Sunday, we had a baby class through Northside that was supposed to be about multiples (I'll get to that in another post another day), and we continued car shopping after the class let out. So, needless to say, we spend almost zero time at the house over the weekend. I even lost a pound or two over the weekend. I figure it's from all the walking. No fear...I've found it again. :-)

Our first goal was to buy a private party car. They're usually more affordable and they obviously don't come with tax, tag and title which can save around $2,000. We weren't finding what we're truly looking for though which is why we ended up at all these dealers. But after negotiating a few good deals, when they show you the bottom line, we just kind of gulp. It's that pesky tax, tag and title. You think you've done a great job when you talk them down almost $5500 from the sticker, but in reality it's really still so expesive for the cash out the door. AH!!!!

So...we're back to private party cars. We figure this is actually one instance where it's a good thing that Mike doesn't have a job yet. He's still doing a bunch of odd jobs to keep busy. (He's actually doing bead board for a big girl room for Mackenzie over at Grandma Mary's house right now.) But these aren't situations where we both have to be to work at the same time. He's been dropping me off and picking me up for over a week now. And with it being 10Q season, some of my departure times have been unpredictable. I felt bad that he sat in the parking lot for about 40 minutes one evening last week. :-(

Anyway, we're going to just suck it up and keep sharing the one car until that perfect private party car comes along. We just hope it's sooner than later.

June 21st????

I had an appt yesterday with the regular doctor. I mentioned my new predicament about Mike's job and the start date. His company sounded like they would work with him when he accepted the job offer, but to what extent we're unsure. So, we figure the safest route to pursue at this point is a Thursday c-section so that hopefully he could miss Thursday and Friday from work. Then, with the weekend following, at least we'd have four straight days together to try to figure this parenting thing out. And if we're really lucky, maybe his company would even let him have Monday.

Anyway, the doctor said that June 21st was looking like a real possibility if Baby B stays breech. (June 15th was too soon...it's just before 36 weeks, and he was uncomfortable with that timing.) I have an u/s appt on the 16th. He told me to get an appt with him just after that (so I have one lined up for the 18th), and if Baby B is still breech in the 16th u/s that he would "put me on the books" for a c-section on the 21st. So, I might have a potential due date!!! That's 7 weeks from today. :-)

If Baby B has flipped, who knows what then? He still said he'd consider a c-section if that's what I prefer. Twins give them opportunities to be flexible with stuff like that where they might not be otherwise with a singleton.

AHHHHHHHHH!!! As I'm typing this, I just realized that the zodiac sign flips on the 20th, so if they're born on the 21st, they won't be gemini. I thought that would be neat if they were born under the sign of the twins. Oh well. Hey, maybe Mike's work will let him have a Wed, Thurs, Fri off so we can have them on the 20th????

Why am I trying to plan birth? That's not really able to be controlled, huh? Oh well...you know me.