32 Weeks and Counting

Y'all.  We have officially made it to 32 weeks with these twinsies, my belly is measuring 35 weeks and my poor feet think they must belong to a very large, elderly woman.  My tailbone is also killing me.  I have ridiculous heartburn, and don't even get me started on these allergies that continue to plague me.  Regardless, Monday was my 32 week doctor appointment and these kids are doing well.  I can't ask for anything more than that!

LOOK @ my shadow.  That's how I feel!
Someone asked me Friday night if I was "holding them up".
Um, yes.  Yes, I am "holding them up", because when standing for a while, I literally feel like they are going to fall through my belly at any minute!

On Saturday, our sweet friends from Community Groups past and present hosted a shower for us.  It was a cozy event with ahhhhmazing food and fun fellowship.

Fellowship like this...Jon Madill with a few boys beneath and on top of him!

You know what's good about low turnout?  The pregnant lady gets to take home all the leftover sweets! Sunday evening when Jarrod came home from studying at the school, he found me on the couch watching TV with a bag of Hot Tamales.  An intervention was required.  Pouting ensued.

But really, how precious is this?!

In addition to the food, we received some great gifts.  Much needed diapers and other sweet presents.  Everyone has been so great to remember Collin, I think he's going to hope for more babies in the future just so he can receive presents as well!  He is now the proud owner of a few hand-knit hats to match the ones his baby brother has received.  He never wants to take them off!

 

He also received an awesome book full of "quiet activities".  He wanted to try a few out when we got home from the shower, so I let him open it up in the nursery while I was putting things away.  I left to go make lunch, and he was still at it.  At one point, Jarrod became so concerned about the lack of noise, he rushed into the nursery and found Collin peacefully stringing beads and sorting paperclips.  Shout-Out to Leigh Ooms for this magical gift!!

I'm also really excited about the homemade gift we have coming from our friends Jon and Gail Madill.  It involved some wood-burning and seeing just how OCD people can be when trying to "write" with a foreign utensil!  The Madills took it home to "finish", so I'm excited to see how it turns out.  Pictures to come soon :)

Thankful for these ladies and their friendship

Sunday afternoon we made a run to Target in Little Rock.  Ok, full disclosure...two Targets in Little Rock.  Sometimes one Target just is not enough!  However, I now feel better and more prepared with the "basics".  Carrying twins is overwhelming for a lot of reasons, but the biggest one for me has to be the fact that I have no idea how big they might be when they are born because I also have no idea when they might be born.  When people ask me what my due date is, I just look at them while trying to decide what to say!

My due date is December 15 (which is 40 weeks).  I'm scheduled for a c-section on December 8 (which is 39 weeks).  According to the experts, on average, twins are born at 35 weeks.  37 weeks is considered full-term for twins.  So provided that these guys stay put, we are looking at anywhere from the middle of November to the beginning of December.  

I only care that they are big enough to come home with us from the hospital and don't require a NICU stay.  Thus, the Hot Tamale binge...I'm doing my job to combat low birth weight!  (Too bad it can't work like that, huh?!)

And last but not least, in case you didn't catch it from the picture above, our babies have officially been named!  At least until one of us freaks out again and changes something...just kidding, Mom!  Sort of.

Atalie Morgan and Grady Cave.  More later on where these came from and what they mean!

Is it time to get nervous?

I had a doctor's appointment last Monday - my 30 week appointment and ultrasound.  Jarrod and I got to see these two little munchkins for the first time since we found out there were two instead of one.  

My first thought was that they looked so squished!  I felt bad for them, and Jarrod said he was feeling claustrophobic :)  I'm going to try not to take it so personally from now on when one of them is stuck in my ribs and it hurts to breathe!

Little girl was pretty cooperative this time but little boy wanted to stay bunched up in a ball.  The tech pushed down on my tummy a couple of times with the probe in an effort to get him to move, and he literally kicked the probe a few times without moving into a better position.  I keep saying he is going to be ornery!  He's typically very active, and I have been able to kind of grab a hold of his little feet a couple of times as of late. 

Both babies are head-down with their feet up at the top of my bump.  They are angled diagonally with their feet more on the left of my bump and heads sort of angled toward the bottom right of my belly.  Little girl presents first and little boy is up higher - which is probably why I feel him the most.  Little boy's heart rate was around 140 and little girl's was 133.  He weighed 3lbs 1oz and she weighed 2lbs 15oz, so they are pretty close in weight and spot on for where they should be at 30 weeks gestation.

Little girl

Little boy

I was 30 weeks last Monday (so 31 weeks today) and my belly was measuring 34 weeks.  (My wardrobe can attest to this.  I'm pretty much wearing the same three shirts these days!)  

Jarrod and I both breathed huge sighs of relief when leaving this last doctor's appointment!  Praising the Lord for healthy babies and no complications on my end, thus far.

With this appointment out of the way, I have been able to think about the next calendared item...my shower this coming weekend.  A few of our sweet friends from church are hosting a shower for us on Saturday, and it will be my only shower since we live so far away from our families and other friends in Texas.  We're excited to spend time with people and really celebrate this little boy and little girl who are finally starting to feel like a real presence in our family.

We've already received a lot of clothing - sizes are all over the place and since these babies will likely be pretty small, who knows if the things we have will line up seasonally.  I foresee lots of playing dress-up, and I'm okay with that!

We have car seats - in Texas!  Both sets of grandparents have been great and will help get these to us, but for now they're in Texas :)  We have one crib - Collin's old one, so we're on the hunt for another.  We also have a bassinet and a pack-n-play, so we will finagle some sort of sleeping situation for these two when they first come home!  
Oh, and we have this many diapers and wipes :)

1. I've clearly ignored all of those posts on Pinterest about stock-piling diapers in various sizes throughout your pregnancy..
2. It occurred to me when we were at the store this past weekend that we should probably start working on this!  Now you see why I asked if it's time to start getting nervous!!


Things we have an abundance of:
Anxiety, anticipation and allergies.

My allergies are off the charts.  Please pray for these to get better.  Not a lot of rest happening for me right now as a result.

Collin's level of anticipation is adorable.  A friend recently had her baby girl and when I told Collin, he immediately looked at my belly and asked if it was Thanksgiving yet!  ("Thanksgiving" is what we've given him to hold on to as a time frame for when he can expect his brother and sister.)

Both Jarrod and I are anxious.  Jarrod is super busy with school, and wonders how it will all ever work itself out.  I'm anxious about my level of discomfort (greatly exacerbated by these allergies).  I find myself thinking, "I have SO long to go", and then I look at the changing table with two packages of diapers and an unfinished nursery and think, "We ONLY have a little time left!"

I know it will all work itself out, and we are so fortunate to be anticipating the arrival of these babies.  This is just where we're at lately...


I haven't been very good at posting a lot of pictures, so here are a few...

Stretching out a t-shirt my co-worker sent me.  It's going in the drawer until after these babies get here!!

Um, compression socks...

Back at 26 weeks

Sitting on the floor in the kitchen before we moved, sharing some cookie-dough ice cream