Today marks 27 weeks of my fifth pregnancy. It also means we are 10 weeks or less from meeting these little misters who have made things so exciting lately. Our 3 year old, B, has been asking lately when her brothers will come out so the younger girls and I made a paper chain today to count down the days until the babies arrive. I chose ten colors of paper and made seven strips of each so that we can see the weeks pass as we count down the days. Let me tell you, 10 weeks seems like a short time when you think about preparing to care for two newborns but when you see 70 strips of paper stapled in a chain it looks like an awful lot of days to carry this big belly around!
I started measuring this big ole belly a few weeks ago. I don't remember why I started measuring but for the first few weeks the measurement stayed at 41 inches around at the roundest spot and then last week went up to 42 and this morning was just about 43 inches. So if you happen to see me these days don't hesitate to marvel at my rapidly expanding waistline because I feel every bit of how huge I am. At my OB appointment today the ultrasound student who measured the babes said they each weigh about 2 pound 4 ounces, which accounts for that growth. Not only are they packing on the pudge but they are now far too big to hide within my ribs and hips in any way so they've obviously had to expand towards the front.
Last week we saw Dr. B and it was the most boring appointment with her yet but in the best possible ways. The boys blood flows look great and they are doing everything two perfect twin babies are supposed to do. The only tiny concern is that Cooper had a little less fluid than he had two weeks previously but it was still within totally normal amounts and didn't bother the doctor in the least. She said that she had just spent a day at a meeting all about their new recommendations and protocols for TTTS patients and she was thinking about us as they spoke about stage I and II. I guess I did also note that my cervical length was shorter than it has been in the past but again still totally not at a point that anyone worries about, just something I'll be keeping an eye on to ask about if it changes again.
My OB appointment today with Dr S was one of those rites of passage for pregnancy. The dreaded glucose tolerance test! I was thankful to be handed the lemon-lime flavor today. Having done this 5 times before I have had the displeasure of tasting a few different flavors and the most recent was an awful fruit punch that gave me terrible heartburn and left me feeling gross during the whole one hour waiting time. My favorite was the orange flavor but I had that one twice during my third pregnancy so I no longer have fond memories. The first time I took that glucose challenge I didn't know it was coming and ate a big sub and large cookie right before showing up to the lab. Oops! Thankfully my midwife at the time caught that I only failed by one point and knew my health history well enough to question why I might have failed and only asked me to repeat the one hour test instead of sitting through the standard 3 hour follow up. I was starving before I even got there today so I can't imagine how awful I would feel during a 3 hour test, though I know that my hunger today was all in my head because I knew I couldn't eat anything for an hour before and the hour during the test.
So before our next visited to Dr B we'll hope not to hear any bad news about glucose. And I'll ask you all to pray that these boys will start to consider putting their naughty little heads downwards. Today they are as far from where I need them as they could possibly get. Based on the way they can/tend to maneuver they can't just simply slide into position. Both boys will need to first turn ass over tea kettle so that their heads get to the left side and then they can shift down OR Cooper can fold in half (because he is stretched out straight, which is not really my favorite act of these sharp little babies) and get into position while Lincoln flips and folds and shimmies down a little. Whatever has to happen, it would really be nice if it could happen soon before they get themselves too comfortable and too wedged in there. Plus it would really help my anxiety to have one less thing to worry about at all times!
I'll be back next week to let you know how things go. Thanks for following our journey and caring about these babies. You'll never know how much it means to us that you (yep, I'm looking at you) are reading and caring and thinking good thoughts for us. Thank you!
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