27w4d

I had my appointment with MFM on Monday to do an anatomy scan of the boys and check my cervix.  The cervix is back to the normal range.  Woo-hoo!  The plan moving forward is to stop all ibuprofen, continue modified bedrest and follow up in 2 weeks.  Dr P did say that if I have a lot of contractions, I should take some ibuprofen to calm it down.  The boys have doubled in size since last scan!  Baby A is breech right now (stinker!) and his weight is estimated at 2 lbs. 11 ounces.  Baby B is vertex right now and his weight is estimated at 2 lbs. 12 ounces.  All of their organs are growing appropriately, and they have the right amount of amniotic fluid.  It was fun seeing how big they have gotten.  My blood pressure is still under control with the 2 x a day meds. 

The babies are moving around A LOT now and I love feeling it.  (That is when it isn't painful!)  Last night I thought I felt Baby B have hiccups.  It was a lot of what felt like rhythmic bouncing. :)  I am starting to be able to distinguish between kicks/punches and rolling movements.  Every once in a while, a baby will do something and if I'm watching my belly I can see my belly move.

Our doula search has gone well.  We met with 4 doulas of varying ages and experience levels.  We found our doula last week.  After she left our home, we looked at each other and both said, "she's the one!"  We finished our final interview on Monday of this week just to make sure that last week's doula was THE one.  She is!  I'm really excited that we'll be working with Kate.  She is the right mix of care, compassion and practicality that we need.  Hubby is attending a class she is teaching next week that is for partners only all about support methods.  We are tentatively scheduling our first prenatal appointment with her for the week before Thanksgiving.  She suggested we get both of our prenatal appointments done before 35 weeks, just in case the babies make their appearance around then.

Yesterday was my 33rd birthday and it was nice.  I spent the day relaxing at home.  I had many phone calls and emails from friends and family wishing me well.  It was nice to have down time to reflect on the last year.  Every year for the last 11 years on my birthday my "birthday wish" has been to be pregnant or have children soon.  This year I didn't have to wish for that, and it was wonderful.  My wish this year is that my body will be strong enough to grow these babies to term.

I've been keeping busy with crafts as well.  I have a baby shower gift to finish for an online shower I'm participating in.  I'm also finishing the quilt my mother-in-law pieced for our children before she passed away.  I have a winter quilt to finish too.  I will post pictures of the projects once I get them finished.  So far since I stopped working, I've finished 3 baby quilts.  It takes me a bit longer now, as I have to rest after being upright sewing, but I'm confident I'll get them done soon.

Cervix Update

I had my re-check with MFM today to check the length of my cervix.  It was good.  It is a bit longer than last week.  My Dr wants to start seeing me every 2 weeks if next week's anatomy scan is fine.  She is having me continue with the meds and modified bedrest "couch potato rest."  I'm glad that these changes have helped the cervix.  The boys looked great and are not having any negative side effects from the meds.  Baby A moved out of his head-down position that he has been in since week 10.  He was transverse!  Baby B was also transverse.  Both of them have their heads on my right side and feet kicking the left side.

Ffn test came back negative from last check.  They will re-do it at the anatomy scan.  AND I passed the 1-hour glucose test, which is a huge relief.

25w3d Update

I'm feeling the babies move all the time now!  It's great!  They both are active and usually are active at the same time.  It's crazy that they are getting so big and strong to the point that sometimes I can see their movement in my belly. :)

I did my repeat 1 hour glucose test yesterday.  I think I will get the results at my OB appointment on Thursday.  I'm hoping that once again I've passed it.  We shall see.

I had my bi-weekly MFM appointment yesterday.  I'm glad I did.  Over the weekend I felt a lot of vaginal pressure and had a bunch of contractions.  The appointment was a quick cervix u/s and blood pressure check.  Blood pressure is doing well with being on the meds 2x a day.  Cervix is not doing so well.  It has shortened quite a bit since the last u/s 2 weeks ago.  They did a FFN swab to check if the cervix is also softening and I found out today that the test was negative, which is good.  Dr P prescribed 600mg of ibuprofen 3x a day and resting with my feet up as much as possible to combat the shorter cervix.  She said that this *could* be the start of pre-term labor, so we need to watch it closely.  I have an appointment for next Monday to do another cervix check.  I hope it's the same length or longer.  I NEED to keep these babies in as long as possible.  Oh- and all the pressure I felt was most likely because both boys are head down and fighting to be on top of my cervix.  In fact, Baby A was pummeling my cervix with his little fist during the u/s.  What a stinker!

24w2d

I haven’t blogged at all about meeting with my new OB (now that the midwives can’t cover me) because I’m still quite upset about it. All I will say for now is that she was what I expected, and not at all what I had hoped for. With that being said (hubby thinks I may have gone into the meeting with too many hormones running around) I’m sure she will be able to get me safely delivered and hopefully I’ll be able to have some of the things I’d like done as well.

Last Monday we had another anatomy scan at MFM. Both boys look great. They are each measuring about 1.5 lbs. We finally were able to get all of the heart measurements on Baby A, and all looks well. Baby A for now is head down and Baby B is transverse with his head on Baby A’s feet, so he received a lot of head kicks during the ultrasound. My blood pressure was high at the Dr's office, so I've been bumped to taking the beta blocker two times a day now.  Here are some adorable pictures of my boys:

Baby A profile



Baby B profile



Baby B 3-D face



On Thursday my two sisters, my parents and my grandmother arrived for a visit and for my baby shower. It was so nice to see my family again. We had a great time together. They were super helpful. They cleaned my whole house- twice. They helped my husband finish putting together the nursery. They pampered, spoiled and took fantastic care of me. One sister left last night, and the rest left this morning (about 20 minutes ago.) I miss them all already.

Baby Shower! My two BFF’s threw me a wonderful open house baby shower on Saturday. It was perfect. I’m not a baby shower game person, and they knew that, so I wasn’t exposed to that ridiculousness. I was able to chat with dear friends and family. I was extremely showered with gifts. It was fantastic. Our little guys have plenty of clothes to get them through their early months. It was overwhelming to look at the stack of opened gifts. I am so very blessed.

Now that we have the nursery mostly put together and clothes for the boys, I’m having a hard time not freaking out. I’m concerned that somehow, I’m jinxing the pregnancy or the boys’ health by doing these things early. At this point I’m not to viability and I’m still a wreck. I had a mini breakdown right before the shower and then a couple after the shower, but luckily, I have a great husband that can talk me down from my anxiety produced freak outs. I know that it isn’t logical to feel this way, but it lurks in the back of my mind.

This week we interview our #1 choice for a pediatrician. She has come highly recommended by several people. I am familiar with the practice as well (the girls I nannied went there) and it’s close to home which is great. I hope that our meet-and-greet goes well and we will have one more thing checked off of our “get ready for baby” list.