The 35th week of our TWIN pregnancy, Check!

Friday
May 18, 2012


Monday started my 35th week of this twin pregnancy!  I can't believe we have made it to 35 weeks!! This week has been one of the busiest weeks in pregnancy by far.  The week started out with my regular OB appointment on Wednesday!  He checked my weight and all the normal boring stuff of pregnancy and we spent the rest of the appointment talking about what to talk during the upcoming c-section.  He put a lot of my fears to rest and let me know all of the million things that COULD go wrong, too.  That's my least favorite part, sometimes I'd rather not know.  He also told me to expect roughly 12-16 people in the room for the surgery.  I will have one team working on me, one team for baby A, one team for baby B, and another team ready in case I need a blood transfusion.  This is a precaution since I was so close to getting one when I had Ryder.  Better safe than sorry.  If the girls are doing well and do not need to go to the NICU, they will get to stay with Joe while the doctors put me back together!  I will then spend 2-3 hours in recovery with the girls (provided they are strong enough to be with us!).  If they need any assistance, they will go to the NICU and Joe will go with them.  I'm praying we don't have to be separated and we can all be together... 


After my OB appointment, my doctor sent me over to the hospital for my first round of steroid shots.  Since we are delivering in my 36th week, I am getting 2 doses of steroid shots to help develop the girls lungs.  Before I could get the shot, I needed to get hooked up onto the monitors and do a NST with the girls.  Everything went great!  For the first time ever, the girls were super cooperative and the nurse got both babies right away.  We watched them for 20 minutes and then I got my shot.  (Right in the butt).  Everyone talked about how bad it hurt but I thought it was painless!  I don't know if it was the steroid shot or not, but I went home and couldn't sit still... I was in baby mode!  I did their remaining laundry, opened up diapers and put them where they needed to be, organized and cleaned!  I just couldn't stop!  (7 weeks of preserved energy all came out at once!)


On Thursday, I needed to go back to the hospital for my 2nd dose of steroid shots.  I went in, got checked in and the nurse came in to hook me up to the monitors.  Well, the babies were NOT cooperative.  The nurse found Baby A right away (she's always so cooperative).  She tried for almost 30 minutes to find B and Baby B would not stay put.  She kept moving off the monitors and they couldn't get a good reading. I wasn't allowed to leave until they could get her for at least 20 minutes.  She had me lay on my left side, my right side... we tried everything.  Finally, she said, "I've got to get another nurse!"  Another nurse came in and found B pretty quick.  She was so high up into my ribs.  The nurse said, "I didn't even think the uterus could go THAT high!"  She joked that if she was any higher she'd have to strap the monitor on my boob.  lol.  I guess this explains my horrendous heartburn!!!

Baby B is up high on the pink strap, the blue one is for contractions and Baby A is being monitored below my pants, lol

During the NST, i was having contractions every 2-4 minutes.  They are definitely becoming more painful and requiring me to breathe through them.  She said if I had already gotten both steroid shots before today, we'd be delivering today.  I told her this didn't feel like anything other than my regular contractions and I felt like I could deal with it.  They gave me the option to go home or stay.  I said, I'll go home!  THey gave me a big list of TO-DO's (or NOT TO DO's) and when to come back.  They gave me my steroid shot and sent me on my way.  YAY, I was free for another day, so I headed straight to Target.  I still needed to buy  diaper cream, thermometers, nasal aspirators, etc.  Fun times!  When I got home, I tried to rest but I just couldn't.  I don't know if the steroid shots give you an extra "umph" or if I'm just kicking into high gear knowing these girls are coming in less than a week, but I came home and continued checking off the TO-DO's for their arrival.  By the end of the night, I knew I had over done it, when I noticed my new Fred Flintstone Feet:

Normal ankle

HELLO CANKLES

 Luckily, after a good night of sleep, they went back to their normal size but I notice if I spend more than 20 minutes on my feet, they return!  Just 5 more days....


Today (Friday) was our LAST ultrasound!  This felt like such a HUGE milestone for us!  There have been so many doctors appointments and ultrasounds that I have come to know the staff and truly feel like their offices have become my 2nd home!  Today's ultrasound went great!  Both babies dopplers and fluid levels look great!  The measured them and I'm officially toting around two 6 lb babies!!  WOW!  I am so anxious to see how accurate these techs are on Weds.  The icing on the cake after the tech scanned me, my FAVORITE MFM walked in (she had been out for maternity leave).  She gave us a great chat and reminded us why this is the right time to deliver our babies.  She congratulated us on making it this far and it was just the perfect ending to our ultrasound journey!  The babies are too big and too squished so we didn't take home any pictures today... BUT... we did get ONE LAST picture of me getting my ultrasound.  This will be the last ultrasound I EVER have!!!  I'm really excited about that!

35w4d with twins- last ultrasound before delivery :)

I can't believe that the next time I see my doctor will be as we are walking down to the operating room!  This has been a long journey to say the least and I'm really looking forward to the next chapter!  Bring on those babies!!!