35 weeks

Last Friday I had an appointment with my regular OB. I'm measuring 42 cm, which is like being 42 weeks pregnant with a single baby! My OB ordered me to ask for more help with the kids during the day. He said I should be doing more laying down and doing nothing. With my uterus being so big, my body will think it is done and try to go into labor if I try to do too much. He wants me to make it to at least 36 weeks so that their lungs will be developed. Each day I make it after that, the healthier the babies will be. My parents and Dan's parents are taking the kids during the day this week. That is such a huge help and I'm so lucky to have such great family willing to help out!

We had an ultrasound yesterday. Baby boy is measuring 6 lb 6 oz (big boy!) and baby girl is 5 lbs 1 oz. When we had our ultrasound at 31 weeks they discovered a fluid filled cyst in baby girl's abdomen/pelvis. It was about 1 cm in diameter. They said at that point it was so small that we wouldn't worry about unless it got bigger. Well, it got a lot bigger. Yesterday it measured 4.5 cm, almost golf ball size. It looked huge to me on the ultrasound. They think it is probably on her ovary but won't be able to tell for sure until she is born. The doctor said sometimes they will dissolve after they are born, that it could be my hormones that are causing the cyst. Otherwise they may need to operate on it after she is born. We have a consult with a pediatric surgeon on July 7 and then we will know more.

Fun with the slip n slide

34 Weeks... and growing more massive by the minute

Not much to report this week except that I think I've officially gotten my first stretch mark or two. At first I thought maybe it was just another one of the veins on my belly but now I think it's a stretch mark on the bottom of my belly. I'm kinda bummed about it. I managed to get through my other two pregnancies without any stretch marks, but I kinda of knew it would be inevitable this time. I was still hoping that I could make it without getting any though... I'm still having a lot of little contractions on the non-stress tests but I think that is just normal for me. I finally saw a contraction show up that I could actually feel yesterday and those are HUGE on the monitor compared to all those little ones. I get those big contractions every evening now about 8-10 minutes apart for a few hours. My cervix is still closed though so that is great news! Less than 4 weeks left now! I can't wait to meet these two!!!

33 Weeks

Last Wednesday I had my first non-stress test. They monitor the babies to be sure that they are moving enough and that when they move their heart rates accelerate. They also monitor for contractions. The babies did great on their part of the test. I apparently was having a lot of contractions. I didn't even feel most of them. I do have contractions many times a day that I do feel and that are uncomfortable but during the test I only felt maybe one or two. They seemed concerned so they sent me across the street to the hospital over to labor and delivery to be monitored.

They said I was for sure having a lot of contractions. They did some sort of test called a fetal fibronectin test that tells them if I will go into labor in the next 2 weeks and that came back negative. They checked my cervix and said that it had thinned out and shortened quite a bit but has not really dilated as a result of the contractions. It is only about a fingertip dilated. They sent me home and told me to get as much rest as possible and to limit my activities. Easier said than done with a five year old and a three year old.

The non-stress test that Friday went much better. The contractions slowed down quite a bit. Today I had another test and I was having a lot of little contractions, which again, I couldn't feel. The tech said to make sure to drink more fluids since dehydration can cause an irritable uterus. I'm taking it one day at a time right now. Everyday they stay in there at this point, the better. I'm pretty confident that I will make it a few more weeks though.

32 weeks

Last week we had our 31 week growth ultrasound. Baby girl weighed 3 lbs 8 oz and baby boy weighed 4 lbs 4 oz. They were bigger than I thought they would be! They are very squished in there now so we were not able to get any good pictures of them. They gain about 1/2 lb a week now so I should have a total of about 8 lbs 12 oz in my belly at this point. I can't believe I have 6 more weeks to go. How are these babies going to fit in there as they keep growing? So far, I still do not have any stretch marks, but I'm sure by the end I will. I keep reading all these horrifying stories of having twin skin for the rest of your life after the babies are born from the skin being stretched beyond normal limits. It's all worth it for healthy babies, but I may need a tummy tuck after all this!

I have three doctor's appointments this week. I start non-stress tests on Wednesday and they will do those twice a week until the babies are born. I will also see my regular OB this week.

Audrey has been having trouble falling asleep at a decent time lately. It's so bright in their room, now that it's almost summer, that she stays up and plays in her bed until 9:30 or so. Owen is so tired (he doesn't nap) that he falls asleep at a pretty decent hour and he sleeps through all of Audrey's shananigans. The other night I went up to check on the kids and this is how I found Audrey. She fell asleep wearing Mr. Potatohead's glasses. Silly girl! :) She loves wearing those glasses. The other day she put them on and said, "Look Mommy, I'm you're grandma!"

We went to a Whitecaps game on Sunday. Dan got some tickets from his work. We were in the 5th row right behind home plate. The kids (especially Owen) LOVED it. Audrey mostly liked watching the mascots. It was a little too hot for me. I was pretty miserable by the end of the game. When we got home I took a cold shower but I ended up having 9 contractions in an hour. You're supposed to call the doctor if you have more than 6. I drank 3 huge glasses of water and that slowed them down a ton. I must have just been dehydrated. I was NOT ready to have babies yesterday! They need to stay in there for at least 4 more weeks (I'm hoping).

We went to my Dad and Cindy'a house in Grand Haven for Memorial Day. We had a perfect day. It wasn't too hot or too cold out there. The kids played outside most of the day!

30 weeks

Last week we bought a minivan. Not real exciting to buy a minivan, but there is no way we could go without one. We do really like it. It is a Ford Freestar. I'll have to take a picture of it one of these days and post it. It feels good to have that checked off our list of things to do before the babies get here.

Dan and I celebrated our 8 year anniversary last week. Dan's parents took the kids over night on Saturday night. We were going to go to Leo's downtown for dinner, but I've had a bad cold and still could not smell or taste very well. I didn't want to spend that much on dinner if I couldn't fully taste it. We went to El Burrito instead. Then we went to see Water For Elephants. Sunday morning we slept in (if you call 8:00am sleeping in, it is for us) got some Panara bagels and just relaxed, then did some shopping later in the day. It was a nice relaxing 24 hour with no kids!

Monday was my last day of work. It was hard to leave in some ways. I'm really going to miss all the friends I've made there. It's going to be really weird not going back. It will be good though for me to have some time before the babies are born to get things organized, try to rest, and just enjoy being a mother of two for a few more weeks.

Ok, now I'm going to complain. I feel huge and uncomfortable! I can't believe I have 8 weeks to go. My hip has been killing me and my pelvis feels like it's broken. It's getting hard to walk. After I walk up the stairs I have to sit down because I'm so out of breath. I certainly don't get ANYTHING done around here as fast as I used to. I did have an appointment with the cardiologist and my heart is doing great! I'm just tired and out of breath from carrying around two babies I guess. Ok, complaining over. I really have been lucky during this pregnancy to not have any problems so far. I just hope it stays that way and these babies stay put until my scheduled c-section on July 18.

My sister in law, Beth, threw me a baby shower a couple weeks ago. It was so much fun! She did such a nice job putting it all together. We got a lot of our big items, like the car seats, double stroller, highchair etc. I feel a lot more prepared for these babies now that we have that stuff! We also got a lot of adorable baby clothes! It was so nice to have everyone together to celebrate the arrival of these babies!

Playing a game where you had to match up the baby socks as fast as you could.

Adorable matching outfits!

28 Weeks.

I've started to feel their hiccups now. Their movements are so strong now that sometimes it takes my breath away! I can watch their arm or foot going across my belly. They've got to be getting pretty squished in there now. They seem to be especially busy in there while I'm trying to sleep, which is something I'm not getting very much of anymore. I have my baby shower tomorrow! Looking forward to it!

We had another growth scan last week at 27 weeks. They also did an echocardiogram on both of the babies. Thankfully both of their hearts look normal. Baby girl was estimated to weigh 2 lbs 3 oz and baby boy 2 lbs 2 oz. They are both 45 percentile which my doctor said is really good. You don't want them both to be around 90th percentile or you would be carrying around 2 10lb babies at the end, and anything less then 10th percentile they start to worry about the babies. So right in the middle is perfect.
My cervix is still looking good so they are not checking that every two weeks anymore. They are actually letting me go 4 weeks in between appointments this time. I go back at 31 weeks for another growth scan and then at 32 weeks I start going for Non-stress tests. I saw my OB this week and got my c-section scheduled for 38 weeks, which is July 18 (assuming I make it that long). Here are some pictures from the ultrasound.

Confirmed the genders again.

Baby boy in 4D. We didn't get any good 4D pictures of baby girl. She had her face smushed against the uterine wall, had the membrane over her face, her arm in front of her face and her brother's butt and legs were in her face. No good pictures with all of that going on! :)
Baby boy again
Baby girl

Audrey also had her 3 year old check up recently. She grew 4 inches in the past year! She is now 39 1/2 inches (92nd percentile) and weighs 32 lbs 2 oz (70th percentile).

We had a great time for Easter this year. We started the celebrations a week early. On Palm Sunday we went over to my Dad's for a wonderful brunch and then the kids got to do a fun Easter Egg hunt.

Audrey searching for eggs.

Heading upstairs to find more eggs.

Checking out their loot.

We dyed Easter Eggs at our house the day before Easter. The Easter bunny came and brought the kids all kinds of goodies. On Easter Sunday we went to church and then we went over to my mom's. She made a very yummy brunch. Audrey took a nap over at my mom's and then we headed over to Dan's parents for Easter dinner. It was very good! The kids also got to do another Easter Egg hunt at their house.
Checking out what the Easter Bunny brought him. A football!
Audrey got a jump rope (among other things) that she was very excited about. She has been wanting a jump rope for a while.

All dressed up after church. (Owen got a butterfly pin at church.)