Welp, I hope you like selfies-in-the-bedroom-mirror shots because until I make my peace with winter, this is the best I can do.
Months and months ago, I mentioned to my sweet friend The HH that I loved the bodysuit that Rebecca Woolf wore so often in her twins belly shots at Girls Gone Child, but that I doubted I could find one in OKC. A few weeks later, this arrived in a care package from her. She is so way too good me. I've really been enjoying the bodysuit (it's from American Apparel) because 1) warmth, and 2) it's surprisingly supportive.
The only tricky thing is that I have to visit the Ladies Room approximately 954 times a day, and that's when a one-piece anything becomes a little inconvenient. Otherwise, love it.
Thirty-one weeks. Here we are!
Last Sunday, I noticed that basically any time I was on my feet, I was feeling super contract-y. Mostly it was still just Braxton Hicks, but they were lasting much longer, and every now and again, the squeezing would move down to the base of my belly. Some of these were even starting to feel crampy.
This continued on into Monday. Of course, any time I sat down or laid down, they totally went away. Since it was a holiday and I was scheduled to see both my OB and MFM on Thursday, I decided to just put myself to bed for a few days until they could check to see if I was actually progressing.
I am so, so thankful that Kyle was able to be off work a few days. Meals, kitchen clean-up, wrangling the girls, bath and bedtime - he took over on everything. My appointments were superty early in the morning (I didn't even know doctors' offices were open at 7:30 AM!), so my incredibly thoughtful mother-in-law came on Wednesday and took the girls for an overnight at their house so I wouldn't have to schlep them with me to my appointments. AND (!) she took all of our laundry to do. I am ridiculously, outrageously fortunate to have so much help.
Thursday morning, dark and early, I went in for the first appointment - an ultrasound and visit with the MFM. The ultrasound revealed some good news - Twin B's fluid level has come down to 9.7. It's still higher than the magical 8 number they like to see, BUT it's better than where it was (12) when we first discovered the polyhydramnios. That was encouraging!
I'm always surprised to know when either of them has made a significant change in position. Two weeks ago, they were both transverse with Twin B laying on top of his brother. On Thursday, they were both head down! Funny little guys. We could also see some hair growing in on B's head!
Ultrasound guesses on weight are notoriously imprecise, but for what it's worth, Twin A weighed in at 3 pounds, 10 ounces and Twin B weighed 4 pounds, 11 ounces. Each baby had gained a full pound in two weeks.
I know that babies generally put on a half pound a week or so towards the end of the third trimester, but I was looking at my calendar and realized that if they do continue on that growth trajectory, by Valentine's Day (I'll be 36 + 5 then), Twin B could weigh over 7 1/2 pounds. Which is ... good? But also? Terrifying.
After we checked out the babies, the sonographer was able to check my cervix via ultrasound. Excellent news there - absolutely no signs of progression. Such a relief!
Next, I headed over to see my regular OB. My own (much more accurate than an ultrasound guess) weight has hit the 210 pound mark. Sooooo, yeah. I've gained about sixty pounds. Yeehaw!
I had a great visit with my OB. We talked about the fact that if there is going to be any reason for us to deliver before 38 weeks, it will most likely be because of complications related to their growth discordance. As of this week, their discordance is around 23%. The concern zone for growth discordance with monozygotic twins starts around 20% or so. If Twin A falls off of his growth curve or if B does continue to just get bigger and bigger, we'll have to look seriously at an earlier delivery.
She wasn't terribly concerned about all the contract-iness because they are going away when I get off my feet. She suggested drinking more water (THIS IS NOT POSSIBLE) but doesn't feel like I need to restrict any of my regular activities. She reminded me to just listen to my body and rest when I need to rest.
Still seeing both doctors every two weeks for now.
So that's where we are!
I am definitely feeling the exhaustion. This morning, I got up, made a little breakfast, unloaded and reloaded the dishwasher, and then felt like I wanted to take a nice long nap.
A few weeks ago, a store clerk was quizzing me on being pregnant with twins, and she asked if I could feel both of them moving around in there. I laughed and said, "Of course!" She went on and on about how weird that must feel. And I'm here to tell you - IT IS WEIRD. My belly shape-shifts into all kind of inhuman angles, and mostly it's amusing, but now it's getting quite uncomfortable, too. But I'll never, ever stop being grateful for these little assurances that they are in there, moving and grooving, doing their miraculous thang.
The nursery is still pretty much NOT put together. We did get a rocker:
It's a different style than we've ever had before, and it is SUPER comfortable.
We're to that point where there is just a laundry list of small things that we just need to DO. Nothing major, just the detail stuff.
We don't plan to use the cribs at first, so I've been thinking about getting an Original Arm's Reach Co-Sleeper. Thoughts on these good or bad?
My other big decision is whether or not to buy an electric pump or just rent one from the hospital for the first few months. I've never used an electric pump; a hand pump always worked fine in the past because A) I mostly used it to help manage overactive letdown in the first six weeks or so and B) Dacey never took a bottle and I was too lazy to keep up with bottles with AJ (although she happily took them).
Another time, I'll go into the reasons why I would like to have pumped breastmilk on hand this time, but for now, I would love to hear your feedback on renting versus buying and which pumps to be looking at!
That's the Saturday update! Both boys are kicking away as I type. We can't wait to meet them! (But not too soon!)
