Bryan Avenue

The return of Fred

Fred has returned. I had hoped he wouldn't, but I knew it was impossible to avoid him showing up on my doorstep and walking in unannounced, valise in hand and a fedora on his head. He's here to stay for the next 3.5 weeks. And I know he's only going to get more obnoxious as we get closer to the arrival of the babies. And I also know that, because of him hanging around me ALL THE TIME, I'll receive more comments from friends, co-workers, and strangers. He's unavoidable. Like a car wreck. You don't want to look but you can't help but take sideway glances to see the carnage. And then you see it and you wished you'd never looked in the first place. 

Who is this terribly annoying Fred you might be asking yourself?

This, is Fred. Note the last sentence and try to imagine how Fred looks now. 

Say hello to 34 weeks

So, I've been having contractions pretty regularly for the past 2 weeks, but still no change in the ol' cervix. The midwife who does the NST says its more like uterine irritability, rather than actual contractions, but they're getting more intense and frequent. The good news is there's zero dilation, no thinning. I think it's going to hang in there until 38 weeks.

I'm averaging a 2 lb weight gain per week, which approximately 1 of those pounds is being split between Alex and Bobbi-Jo. I'm guessing they're each about 5 lbs by now, which means if I continue along this path, they will be at least 6.5 lbs at 38 weeks, maybe even more. I'll know more next Tuesday when I have my final ultrasound. I'm thinking of taking Cohen along so he can see his little brothers before they arrive. Poor kid is probably really confused because Big C calls them Cohen's little brother and sister and I call them his little brothers. Maybe he thinks there are 3 babies coming! Alex's heart rate continues to average between 145-155, sometimes going as high as 170, while Bobbi-Jo's hangs out in the 120s, sometimes getting up to the 140s.

While the nerds continue to be active, I have REALLY slowed down. I was hoping to continue working full-time until the 15th, but at the recommendation of my mid-wife, I am going to be taking it a lot easier. Instead of going into the office every day, I'm going to mainly work from home and only go into the office for meetings. I think this will keep the contractions, er, uterine irritability, at bay, or at least keep it from increasing. Fingers crossed.

And now for my 34 week photo, which was actually taken at 34+1. I think I'm going to avoid wearing stripes going forward, especially stripes on non-maternity tops that are now too short for Super Uterus.

Look at that happy boy! Little does he know how upside down his world is going to turn in a few weeks. 

A peek inside my brain

Aren't you lucky? You get to see how my Type A brain works. If you're a Type B personality, this is going to freak you out. If you're like me and on the anal retentive side, you will probably be able to relate to my neuroses. 

Are you ready? Here goes nothing...or everything. You might never want to talk to me ever again. Or you might want to send me the number to a psychologist or counsellor who can help me.
Back in April I sat down one night and came up with everything I needed to do in relation to our renovation, getting the babies' room pulled together, our room pulled together, and everything else that was going on like birthday parties and purchasing Mother's Day cards. You'll see that I scratched some things off that I realized I just didn't need to do. Not too many though. Since I took this photo sometime last week, I've been able to put a check mark in a couple of boxes, but not nearly enough. I can check off "shower curtain rod", "shower curtain", and "order curtains (for the babies' room)." But that's it. This weekend I need to check off at least 10 things. Or maybe I just need to create a new and improved list with what I really need to accomplish.

In thinking about my list, and analyzing it, and looking at it about 10x/day, I've realized that out of all the things I REALLY need to get done before the babies' arrive, there really isn't anything that MUST be done. My friend M, who just had a little boy a few weeks ago, reminded me earlier this week that his son still doesn't have a bedroom and he doesn't know the difference. And he's right. The babies could arrive and we could survive. I mean, it would be nice to pull out all of the gender-neutral clothes out of storage and get them washed and put away in the yet-to-be-bought dresser, but apart from that, we could all survive without getting one of those boxes checked off. Survive, but I might go a little bananas if I don't get a few more boxes checked.

So with that, I'm going to sign-off and order more diapers so I can feel like I can get closer to checking the "stockpile diapers" box! And if anyone out there reading this wants to come over and help me check some boxes off, I'll gladly open my interior door, that you'll notice has been checked off.

Less than one month to go

I was chatting with my cyster yesterday and she reminded me that yesterday marked the one month countdown for the arrival of Alex and Bobbi-Jo, aka The Nerds. And this coming Friday marks the 4 week mark. Oh my! I am so not ready. Although I did buy 2 cases of size 1 Pampers from www.diapers.com and they arrived less than 24 hours after placing the order.

At my 33 week check-up earlier this week, I had my doc check me out as I'd been having contractions all weekend long. I sort of overdid it on Saturday and Sunday and paid the price. I ended up on the couch all day Monday, drinking buckets of water and doing nothing but watching A Baby Story on TLC and bawling my eyes out, especially when that Pampers commercial came on. If I didn't already love and use Pampers, I'd definitely switch to them based on their one commercial that's currently running during the 2:00-3:00 p.m. time slot on TLC. If you need a good cry, I highly recommend you watch it.

Anyway...

My doctor checked me and zero dilation. And the old cervix is long and strong. He said these babies weren't going anywhere anytime soon. So no bedrest for this cat. And they monitored the nerds and Super Uterus for an hour and zero contractions the entire time. But I swear I had contractions all weekend. I guess that's what Braxton Hicks is. I wouldn't know as I didn't have them with Mitt Romney. 

Heart rates were similar to last week. 145 for Baby A and 125 for Baby B, on average. The midwife and nurse are still predicting Alex to be a girl and Bobbi-Jo to be a boy. I'm still predicting two boys. Women's intuition. I'm so sure it's two boys that I've been buying coordinating boy outfits.

Fundal height is still measuring 41 cm or 41 weeks. Weight gain is up to 26 lbs. The every-other-night trip to the ice cream parlour is paying off in spades. I make sure I hit a different one each time as I don't want anyone judging me. 

Over the weekend I visited my friend, J, who had twin boys 3 weeks ago. They are all doing fantastic. She only gained 28 lbs total (and she was slim and athletic to begin with), the boys were 6 lb 5 oz and 7 lb 5 oz and she delivered them WITHOUT an epidural. She's kinda my new hero. It was great to meet the boys and see how terrific she's doing. It really gives me hope that I'll be able to do this. 

And now, the moment you've all been waiting for: my 33 (and 2 days) shot. Not as dramatic a difference as between 31 and 32 weeks, but I can see growth. And for the last 2 days, people have been telling me the old belly looks lower, like they've both dropped. Well, I wish that were the case, but as I type this, I have some body parts up in my ribs and pushing my stomach up into my throat. I haven't had any strangers approach me yet and tell me I look like I'm ready to pop, like I did with Cohen, but I feel like I'm larger right now than I was right before I had Cohey Bear. I just have a lot of stares. But no comments. I prefer the silent stares. What would you say if you saw this woman walk by you in the grocery store?

Tomorrow, watch for my to-do list! Wow, if that isn't a reason to come back, I sure don't know what is!

31-32 week update

I had my 31 week ultrasound last week. The doctor informed me it was my second to last one. I guess if you make it to 35 weeks with twins, they realize the babies are big enough and will survive ex-utero and there's no reason to keep monitoring their growth rates.  

As always, the nerds were within one ounce of each other. Baby A was 3 lbs 11 oz and Baby B was 3 lbs 12 oz. Fluid levels were great and the babies are still measuring within the same percentile as they have since the beginning. I asked the doctor if he could predict how big they'll get by the time 38 weeks rolls around and after a few seconds of calculating, he said he thought they would come really close to 7 lbs each. GASP! I'm not sure this body can handle 14 lbs of baby. 

Baby A is head down and ready for launching. Baby B is transverse. I still have no idea where it's head is and I can't identify any of the jabs and punches or what body parts are sticking out or who the part belongs to. Those wiley babies. 

Yesterday I had my 32 week appointment with my high-risk doctor who informed me I need to come in every week from here on out. Starting at 34 weeks, I'll come in for non-stress tests twice a week. Monitoring these babies is going to be like a full-time job. 

I hopped on the scale and saw a number I've never seen before, and I didn't care. In fact, I was a little disappointed as I have really been trying to bulk up. I'm up to 24 lbs of weight gain and am trying really hard to get to 35 by the time 38 weeks comes. Blood pressure is great. Everything is fantastic. Especially the size of my uterus, which is measuring at 41 weeks. Way to go uterus! I think I'm going to get it a trophy if it hits the 50 week mark.

And then I had my first non-stress test (NST). It took the midwife and nurse over 35 minutes to locate both heart rates and then I had to hold one of the monitors over Baby B for about 30 minutes because if it moved even a millimeter, it would lose the heart beat. The heart rates were about 20 bpm apart the entire time, leading the midwife and nurse to both predict a boy and a girl. Zero contractions, which is good. Seriously, no bed-rest for this mama. I'm so confident I'm going to make it to 38 weeks that I'm going to have a t-shirt made. I'll take any suggestions for what to write on it. 

OH, the hiccups! Must tell you about the hiccups. I haven't started recording it, but I bet if I did, these kiddos would each have the hiccups about 5 times per day. They've only once had them at the same time. I remember Cohen having them all the time and I thought he'd have them constantly after he was born, but he didn't. 

And there you have the most comprehensive update I can think of. Stay tuned next week for the 33 week photo. I'll be sure to take it on Saturday when I hit 33 weeks. Even one extra day makes all the difference.  

I've rounded the corner...

...from being "the cutest pregnant woman I've ever seen" to Shrek. Not kidding.

Last week was probably one of the best weeks of my life. No joke. You'll begin to wonder how deprived my life must be once you see what makes for a great week for me.

It seems that everywhere I went, from Maternal Fetal Medicine for my 31 week ultrasound, to Lowes, to Cohen's "school", even the grocery store, strangers would approach me and say I was "darling", "rockin' the pregnant belly", "the cutest pregnant woman I've ever seen", "so beautiful", "glowing", you get the point. It really gave me a big head. I felt so euphoric from all the nice words from complete strangers, I decided that next year, when I'm having a bad day or week or month, I'm going to purchase one of those fake bellys and am going to wear it around so I can experience that rush all over again!

But something dreadful must have happened over the weekend. On Friday, at a work end-of-year-party, I had so many nice people say so many nice things. But today at work, those comments became "what did you eat over the weekend? You're HUGE!", and "You look like you're about to pop", and "I don't know how you're going to possibly carry those babies to term!". Even my friend, T, said tonight that I looked a lot bigger tonight than I did on Saturday. And when we got home tonight, I asked C if he noticed I was bigger all of a sudden and he said "Yes, but I didn't want to say anything." Smart man. 

They say the proof is in the pudding, and although I have no idea on the origin of the phrase, I do find it fitting in this case. So, without further ado, here's the pudding... Cohen looks as shocked as I feel. Note the cankles, if you will. And the fact that my Birkenstocks are really the only shoes that fit me by the end of the day. I also had to add in the 2 days bit, just so you weren't led astray thinking I was ONLY 32 weeks. Those 2 extra days really did add something.

And now one from the front for those of you who have been asking for one.

Cohenisms

Cohen, upon blowing his nose in a Kleenex: "Mommy, you wanna see my boogers?"

Me: "Ummmm, no thanks, Sweetie."

Cohen: "You sure? It's weally, weally gwoss!"

Thirty One...And Counting!

Oh boy. The people who have been telling me I'm so small for carrying twins are LIARS! Just look at the evidence below...

I. Am. Huge.

And I have 6.5 weeks to go. Oh well, the goal is big, healthy babies. Must focus on the goal.

In other Hancock news, our big boy slept in his big boy bed last night for the first time and did GREAT! He didn't even try to get out once. We both thought we'd be back and forth to his room, putting him to bed all night, but nope. And his nap today was almost 4 hours long. I had to go in and wake him up for dinner. You could say he likes his bed, and you would be right. And you would also be right if you supposed that I was a little sad that my baby is in a big boy bed. Time flies way too fast. 

 

So very grateful

I'm watching the news for the first time in about 6 weeks, or whenever the reno started. They just had a story about a local family who have a child with Spina Bifida and they are expecting another one who was diagnosed with it too. She's 24 weeks along. The family opted to have a risky surgery done where they operated on her spine while she is in utero. 

I'm bawling the entire time I watch it, thanking God for two healthy babies. And the babies responded by moving around and shaking my belly like crazy. In fact, they're still bouncing around in there, getting into fistacuffs while I type this. I think someone is getting kicked in the head. 

People have been asking me how I've been doing lately, and I've given them the honest answer of: 

• I'm tired;
• I've finally hit the wall;
• I'm tired of having my uterus rub on my ribs because it's really painful;
• I'm getting more uncomfortable.

But after watching that story tonight, I really want to respond to the same question with:

• We're all doing so great!

The baby in the story, Maggie, made it through the surgery and the doctors are hoping that she'll stay in there until she is at least 37 weeks along. I'm adding this baby to my prayer list tonight right after I thank God a million times for these little miracles inside of me. And when you ask me how I'm doing, I sure hope I say we're all doing great!

More reno photos

As promised, here are the updated photos. Fingers crossed that we'll be moving our new bed and desk into the basement in 7 days!




By the way, I'm KICKING myself for not taking before photos for those of you who never experienced the Swingers Lounge that was our basement. This is a complete transformation and we still can't believe this is ours, and it's not even finished yet!