Birth Day

Mike and I just got done talking with my doctor. Their normal procedure for twins is to deliver them by 38 weeks, 37 being just as good of a choice. I am 36 weeks tomorrow (Tuesday). The doctor is willing, though reluctant, to let me go into natural labor, so he is giving me until the 16th to do it. Otherwise, I am on the books for cesarean delivery the morning of January 16th.

I will be making an effort to stay active and encourage contractions, however, I still have to be semi-cautious because Mike is leaving for DC in 2 days and won't be back until Sunday night. His mom is coming in 3 or 4 days, so that I am not by myself. And yet, I have little expectation that I will actually go into progressive natural labor since only one of my other children was born without a little pitocin to help them along. My doctor will not induce me. If I come in for the c-section dilated to 8, (or any time before) he'll just let me go. Past experience says it takes me a week or two of consistent contractions to progress that far.

In conclusion, you can pretty much mark your calenders that Anastasia and Amelia have a birthday of January 16th.

I'm Done

I had an ultrasound today from an ultrasound specialist. They finally got all the measurements down. According to their calculations, each baby is now about 6 pounds. I am done being careful. I am done taking it easy. It is time for these critters to come out. I am 35 weeks and 2 days. At 36 weeks is when doctors feel completely safe with the delivery of a baby. According to the doctor I saw today, although 40 weeks is full gestation, with twins they take the babies at 38 weeks. Yeah, I am having a contraction right now.

I will be talking to my regular doctor tomorrow to see what he has to say about it. If I can manage to go into labor before that, I won't have to debate with my Doc about whether or not to do a c-section.

You know what's funny? I heard my babies' heartbeats today for the first time. I have seen their hearts beat on the ultrasound, but not heard it. Today they hooked me up to a fetal monitor and I got to listen to their shwop shwop shwop shwop for several minutes. Usually I get the doppler mic on me about the 12th week and get all misty eyed when I hear my baby for the first time. It is then that pregnancy becomes real to me. Of course, when you don't go to the Doc until your 24th week, there are several other reality checks you get without the Dop mic.

You know, I actually did hear the babies heartbeat before. I wasn't sure because before I went to the Doctor, I borrowed a stethoscope from a friend and found one heartbeat on the left side. But I know now it was the baby's heartbeat because it was in exactly the right place. I got a really strong pulse in the center of my belly and today learned that it was the blood pumping through the umbilical cord.

The kids have dinner on the table, so I better go. But not until this next contraction subsides.

Christmas Vacation

No Snow, for Christmas, just showers of love. If you read Mike's blog, it sounds like all we got was movies and video games. The movies were what we got from Thomas and Vickie, who were our exchange family. I had mom and dad, and since they are coming in January, I figured I would give them their gifts to take home. I will probably make them go shopping with me at Bed Bath, etc because it is now Clearance Season, where everything that is on clearance is brought back out of the stock rooms and is marked down an additional 30% off the lowest ticketed price--and you can still use the 20% off coupons on top of that (which is what I would automatically get if I was still an employee, but I am not.)

The girls got dresses and the boys got new suits for church from this awesome store called Syms, to which I had never been, but love. Lots of high quality brand-name clothing and great discounts. I got Mike a robe and a shoeshine kit. I also gave him a promise that we would go back to Syms and get him another suit or two. He only has two and he has to wear a suit to work every day. I like watching my dapper darling go out the door in the morning.

Mike got me a case for my makeup because he hated the one I had. It is big enough and nice enough that I can even put all my new Cookie Lee Jewelry (as well as previously existing accessories in) along with my makeup. So I am now a Cookie Lee consultant, but I have yet to look at my information and imitate getting started.

The kids are all here all week, and I am here with them. I like it. Mike has short workdays this week, but he is working. The boys--get this-- played video games all yesterday while I took the girls shopping. Where do stereotypes come from? How did we fall so easily into them? I left Lexi and Emylie at the Mall while Claire and I exchanged her 18" bike for a 20" bike that would continue to fit her for much longer than the smaller one. There ended up being no price difference either. Since Emylie has a WalMart gift card, she is anxious to go, so we may do that today (depending on how their rooms look by the time I have my Dr. appointment).

Isaac and Emylie both have cell phones now. Isaac is on my plan and Emylie is on her dad's plan. Those little boxes have generated the most excitement for them. I resisted them having a cell phone for a long time, but I am tired of wondering where Isaac is after school. He has no excuse now not to let me know where he is.

Emylie has decided to go back to her dad's for the rest of the school year. She misses her friends. She wanted to go a long time ago, but I made her stick it out a little longer. Splitting parenting necessarily means less control over your children's lives. It is hard, but you have to continue to teach them and trust them to be mature and make their own decisions based on what you have taught. I guess it gives them a chance to mature a little sooner. Good or bad, that's the way it is. I treasure the time I have with them.

Calm Before the Storm

It has been a lovely, quiet weekend, with just Mike and I hanging out together and tying up loose ends before Christmas. We may have one more weekend completely to ourselves before the babies are born, but then never again.

My focus this weekend has been on keeping my activity limited and my feet up, to reduce swelling. In the second trimester I could feel the tension of my skin being stretched as me belly grew. Now I have that same sensation in my feet and ankles. It's really gross.

I have also been working on a little sewing project that has to be completed before Christmas Eve. I can't say more than that at present, because we never know what prying eyes may happen upon my blog.

Tomorrow is my last day of work at Bed Bath and Beyond. I told my store manager I would try to hang on until Christmas, and I have. Everybody says I am doing really well for having twins, and I guess I am. I have gotten to the level now where I am familiar enough with my discomfort that it doesn't bother me so much. I just don't like those moments when I really need to go to the bathroom, and then I get a contraction, and with all that pressure, a child decides they need to adjust themselves. But it only lasts for a couple of minutes.

Mike and I will be going separate ways tomorrow night to pick up kids so that we can have everybody wake up at our house on Christmas morning. We are excited about it. It will be our first Christmas all together. Last year we had to have two separate Christmases.

We had a fairly warm week last week, but we got wind from the north. It is really cold again, and they are saying that there is a chance we could get some snow flurries for Christmas. That is exciting in Texas, for those who may not appreciate it.

Look at the Baby

This is me in Missouri at Thanksgiving, looking every more like Joan Cusack. It was just Mike and I for that trip. Below is a more current picture. It is the profile of Righty. We can't see lefty's face because of the way she is turned.

As you can see, full lips are an inheritance from both sides of the deal. The NP noted that these babies were not small. They are skinny, but they are long, hence the pain in my ribs. Lefty's head is lower, so she will probably be born first. She seems to have a bit more of an aggressive--or at least active--personality

Wuh Wa Wa Wa

Okay, I'm sick of people saying I'm cute, and I don't want to be told "You look really good for having twins." I'm huge, uncomfortable, and in fact, sick. My belly is as big as it was when I delivered my biggest baby (Andrew) but I am still 5lbs under that weight. I want to eat, but I have to eat in smaller portions and I don't have time to graze all day. I have gotten so used to being hungry that I don't even recognize my hunger. I want to take care of my babies, but that requires me standing on my feet a great deal longer to fix something significant for myself and my children. It's not that I don't have food in the house, I just don't have convenience food.

Because of poor nutrition and improper rest, I have a major head and chest cold that is a week old. I never have that problem. I have become glad of my pads when I am seized with violent coughing episodes.

Anyway, I was out for the past week because I had to spend every spare hour doing data entry for the Bishop, who owns a number of dental offices. He just bought another one because the dentist died, but everything was hand-written on ledgers, with no computer files at all. Mike and I put over 1,000 names and basic patient information on an excell sheet in four days, in addition to our full time jobs, and trying to keep our house together--missed on the last, but we tried.

I would love to be involved in Christmas. I am missing it. I want to bake--not just have a couple of buns in the oven. I enjoy shopping. I want my house to look nice. I got my tree up, but it has been partly decorated for a week with the remainder strewn about the living room. All of those things are doable for even a pregnant mother of twins, but not one who is working 8 hours a day, five days a week. Today was really rough, though. I am going to talk to them tomorrow about cutting back what I already have on the schedule, because if I work the full schedule, this will probably be my last week. I would rather just scale back, though.

It looks like I am going to have a few visitors when the babies come. I am excited, and look forward to seeing everybody.

Whew!

Mike had an interview on Friday at 8AM. By 4PM he had a job offer. He accepted, and he starts on Monday! Just when the bank accounts looked hopeless... It will pay an okay base salary and have some commissions as well. I am really not sure what he will be doing, but it has something to do with doing setups for tech companies at events and conventions. Getting a company to go with his services is, I guess, where the commission comes in. Maybe he will post a blog to correct my ignorance.

He has not heard word back from Microsoft, which he interviewed with on Wednesday. I don't know what we would do if we did get an offer from them. Just because of the benefits, we might withdraw from the other company, but taking their offer right now is much wiser than waiting on the unknown.