My Version of "Friday"

In my attempt to celebrate another work week conquered (six to go!), I have dredged up that oh-so-horrible song, "Friday" by Rebecca Black. I apologize. However, I have changed the lyrics to more suit my life these days.

"Friday" by Red

Six a.m., waking up in the morning,

Gotta be fresh, gotta find clothes upstairs,

Gotta fill cats’ bowls, gotta feed them treats,

Seein’ everything, the time is goin’ (too slow),

Tickin’ on and on, everybody’s rushin’ (except me)

Blue’s gotta drive me to the train station,

Gotta catch my train, I see I’m going to make it (make it)

Kickin’ in the best seat

Sittin’ in the backwards seat

Gotta make my mind up

Which seat won’t make me wanna hurl?

It’s Friday, Friday,

I made it to another Friday,

Everybody’s lookin’ forward to the weekend, weekend,

Friday, Friday,

Survived another Friday

Everybody’s lookin’ forward to the weekend

Sleepin’, sleepin’ (Yeah)

Sleepin’, sleepin’ (Yeah)

Snore, snore, snore, snore,

Lookin’ forward to the weekend

7:45, I’m ready to crash,

Energy fading fast, I want time to slow

Sleep, sleep, think about sleep

You know what it is

I got this, Blue’s got this

My hubby’s by my left, ay

I got this, Blue’s got this,

Now you know it.

Restin’ on the couch seat,

Dozin’ on the soft bed

Gotta make my mind up

Which is best for sleep?

 

It’s Friday, Friday

Made it through another Friday

Everybody’s lookin’ forward to the weekend, weekend

Friday, Friday

Sleepin’, sleepin’ (Yeah)

Sleepin’, sleepin’ (Yeah)

Snore, snore, snore, snore,

Lookin’ forward to the weekend

Yesterday was Thursday, Thursday,

Today is Friday, Friday (made it!)

We-we-we so excited

We so excited

We gonna sleep in tomorrow

Tomorrow is Saturday

And Sunday comes after…wards

I don’t want this weekend to end

R-B, Red and Blue,

So chillin’ on the couch (on the couch)

On the bed (on the bed)

I’m dozin’, snoozin’ (yeah, yeah)

No need to go down stairs to pee,

Wit’ a bed in our living room now (Woo!)

(C’mon) Makes tick tock, tick tock, wanna scream

Check my time, it’s Friday, it’s a weekend

We gonna catch some z’s, c’mon, c’mon, y’all

It’s Friday, Friday,

Made it through another Friday

Everybody’s lookin’ forward to the weekend, weekend,

Friday, Friday

Sleepin’, sleepin’ (Yeah)

Sleepin’, sleepin’ (Yeah)

Snore, snore, snore, snore,

Lookin’ forward to the weekend

If you've been blessed enough to avoid the actual song so far, here's a youtube video of the original masterpiece:

Baby Yawn

Today I had my now-weekly ultrasound and non-stress test (monitor babies' heartrates and check for contractions). After quite a wait, I finally got in to the ultrasound. Babies are looking great. Baby Girl still refused to show her face, but we got some major cuteness from Baby Boy. During an attempt to get a 3D image (didn't work out, sadly), we caught Baby Boy yawning. It was seriously the cutest thing ever. I think I even teared up. Just seeing our little boy yawning, his little tongue sticking out... he's a real little baby in there!

Here are some play-by-play photos:

Baby Boy, chilling

The start of a yawn

Open mouth, with a little tongue sticking out.

And now we have a demon child.

That last one reminds me of this guy:

In any event, it was way cuter on the screen than it's coming across in these photos.

And they didn't check growth this week. Apparently that's next week. Ah well. Judging by my new stretch marks they are growing fine.

To see for yourself how fat I'm getting, I had my awesome coworker take some more pictures of me this week.

Compare with four weeks ago:

My belly is way wider, I think. It was so cute and round at 27 weeks.

I can't tell as big a difference from the side. Belly might be sticking out a bit more.

In very exciting news, the babies have a birth date! I'm scheduled for a c-section for November 14th at 8am. I believe it's 1 month and 18 days away. And 1 month and 9 days until I'm done with work! Cannot come quickly enough. I've said it before and I'll say it again, commuting is exhausting these days.

And now it's pretty much bedtime. Except I want to catch that new show Elementary if I can stay awake...

Progress in the Nursery

So, as I mentioned yesterday, Blue built the second crib and the changing table on Friday night and we squeezed them into the nursery. I'm not sure if this has come through in previous photographs, but the room is really quite small. Here are the cribs in place:

Somehow seeing both cribs set up makes it SO real.

We have netting over the cribs to try to teach the cats that they are off-limits. Judging by the holes in the netting and the state I often find the netting in (sagging into the crib), my guess is that training isn't really taking.

They are also having trouble understanding that the changing table is not, in fact, an elevated new kitty bed.

Black Cat gives a big yawn as I wake her from a nap. Man, she's cute.

White Cat isn't going to take any crap from me. He refuses to get off the table.

And here is one of both of them, enjoying the sunshine:

Can't bring myself to just lock them out of the room. They love the sun!

If you add all these pictures together, you can see that I've just shown you the entire room. It's tight. Getting to those baskets full of clothes will be difficult at times. The shelving behind the cribs will be for long-term storage as opposed to daily-used items. And the ottoman for the glider likely won't be going into the nursery after all.

But I am really loving the rug I got. It fills the remaining floor space, pretty much, but is oh-so-soft on my feetsies. I can imagine setting the babies down on it for some tummy time. After I vacuum up the fur, of course.

31 Weeks Down, 7 to Go!

So here we are, arrived at another Monday. Another week checked off the calendar. 1 month and 19 days to go. After lying down last night did nothing to relieve the pain in my ribs (aka Baby Girl), the next seven weeks can't go fast enough. It's the most frustrating thing, being able to find no relief anymore. Or maybe it was a one-night thing, and she'll move for me tonight. I can hope...

So this week, the babies are pineapples. Ironically, pineapples are my favorite fruit but I am allergic to them when fresh. Someone up there has a funny sense of humor... But I will enjoy my pineapple babies, at least. They're probably around 3.5lbs, if not almost 4lbs. I'll find out at my growth check Thursday (along with fetal monitoring and contraction testing).

I'm hoping Baby Girl cooperates this week so I can get a picture to show Blue. Shy little girl. No idea where she gets that from, as I was am quite the ham for the camera. I guess she just wants to make a grand entrance at her birth and might keep her cute little face hidden until then. We'll see on Thursday!

We finished setting up nursery furniture, and I have some cute pictures of the cats exploring in there, but that'll be for a separate post later on. Right now, mama wants lunch!

It Is Not this Week!

Grow strong, grow strong! Baby A and Baby B!
I feel in my heart the same anxiety that all moms-to be feel...
A week may come when we have twenty diaper changes a day,
when we have less time for friends and break all pretenses of cleanliness for ourselves,
but it is not this week!
Seven more weeks of achy backs and six pee trips a night, then the time of being a family of two comes crashing down!
But it is not this week!
This week we trudge and waddle!
By all that I hold dear on this good Earth, I bid you grow, babies of Red and Blue!

So yeah, made it through another work week. Enjoy my sad attempt to recreate Aragorn's rousing, passionate speech, original below:

Hold your ground, hold your ground! Sons of Gondor, of Rohan, my brothers! I see in your eyes the same fear that would take the heart of me. A day may come when the courage of men fails, when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship, but it is not this day. An hour of woes and shattered shields, when the age of men comes crashing down! But it is not this day! This day we fight! By all that you hold dear on this good Earth, I bid you stand, Men of the West!

Update on Yesterday's Many Appointments

For a day off, yesterday was quite exhausting. Sleeping in was glorious though, I have to admit. Until the neighbor's kids started playing basketball at 7am. Awesome. I fought through it and slept until almost 9. Or at least dozed.

First up was the anesthesia consult. He just took a brief medical history and cleared me for the anesthesia. I did get to see the L&D ward so that was cool. Although, apparently the hospital has a bit of a parking situation. When I got there, there were NO parking spots available. None. Zilch. Not in their patient lot nor in their visitor's lot. The attendant was in the midst of telling me to go find metered parking on the street, when luckily he saw I was preggers and had me pull up to the valet station. I handed over my keys and trusted they would find a spot for my car somewhere. Which they did. In the aisle of the patient lot. Whatever. Not my problem. Bonus of being pregnant! They all seemed quite amused by my car, too. It looks like this:

It is tiny and zippy and cheerful and I love it. And no, I don't know how we're going to fit two carseats in there either. I already know a double stroller won't fit. Luckily we also have a CR-V...

But I digress.

So next up was the fetal monitoring/contraction testing. Half hour hooked up to little sensors that the babies kept trying to knock off. I should have brought a book... But their heartrates were fine, no contractions, all was well. A quick ultrasound confirmed they still had lots of fluid around them, and two other things:

1) Baby Boy has no modesty. Spread eagle, proudly displaying his manhood. No doubt that he's a boy. It even made the tech laugh.

2) Baby Girl is a future gymnast or something. Her head is down. Her feet are down. Which means she is folded in half. Which makes me wonder exactly WHY my ribs hurt on that side if she's not kicking them... unless this was a temporary position just to hide her face... I haven't seen her sweet little nose in over a month now! She's apparently very shy. Unlike her brother.

Next week I'll get growth updates on them.

Then it was on to lunch (I was starving!), then my regular OB appointment. She said everything seemed good, and I even got a lower score on my glucose test redo! Go me! So no gestational diabetes for me, and hopefully she doesn't make me re-re-do it. She filled out the paperwork for a c-section for November 12th, so we'll see what we get. She did try to get me to switch to an old-fashioned birth, or at least reconsider, but I'm pretty set on the c-section. Judge all you like. Let the mommy wars begin. Don't really care.

And then today I had a dermatologist appointment, at which I discovered my doctor gave birth to her twins right at the point I'm at now -- almost 31 weeks. Just what I want to hear. They spent some time in the NICU but are now three years old and thriving, so I guess that part was good to hear. Just funny that both my rheumatologist and dermatologist have twins. Fate?

So that's the update. Back to work with me now.

Afternoons

Lately, afternoons suck. I can't seem to get comfortable in my chair at work. If I sit one way, baby girl is in my ribs like crazy. If I lean back, my back starts hurting plus I'm not terribly productive. I get super restless and have ADD like whoa so I take frequent Internet breaks. Headaches aren't uncommon. All I can think about is 4:30pm and getting out of here. But then I have the trek to the train station, and the train that I can never fall asleep on anymore because my back/ribs/name your body part hurts. But then at the end there will be Blue, picking me up by the stairs, eliminating the long walk to my car I'd have to do if I drove myself. Best. Hubby. Ever.

So it boils down to this: When I'm sitting I want to stand and when I'm standing I want to sit. Actually, in all of the above cases I'd much rather be lying down. ::commence fantasizing about sleeping::

But mornings are generally fine. Weird.

1 hour and 15 minutes to go... and I have tomorrow off for doctor's appointments. Thank goodness.

So, tomorrow:

12:30pm: anesthesia consult for c-section. woo.

1:30pm: check on babies and contraction testing

3:30pm: seeing my doctor, plus cervical check.

I guess I'll get lunch between the last two appointments...

Woo. 1 hour and 13 minutes to go! I killed 2 minutes! I welcome any and all entertaining links to amuse me...

30 Weeks, 8 to Go!

Somehow having a 3 start the number of weeks along I am is just so exciting. Babies are born in weeks starting with 3. My babies will be born in a week starting with a 3. Hopefully they stick around to week 38, but they could come sooner. Eight weeks to go, tops. One month and 26 days, according to my Facebook countdown. This never ceases to excite and terrify me. Babies. Two teeny, tiny babies. Holy crap.

Another thing that brings this into a sharper reality is the fact that it's feeling like fall lately. I'm quite chilly when I wake up, as it's under 60 degrees outside and we leave some windows open at night. My body craves pumpkin coffee and apple orchard donuts from Dunkin Donuts, and I start planning warm toasty crock pot meals for dinner. I love fall. Blue and I got married in the fall, almost two years ago, because I just love it so much. And for the past 30 weeks, fall = babies. So here we are. Fall. Babies. Holy crap.

Here's a nice little image of fall, with my boy/girl scarecrow twins and a bunch of pumpkins I grew in our garden this year. Yes, I grew that mother of an orange pumpkin, mainly through benign neglect. But I'm proud of it anyways. And we got seven little white ones, the rest of which are in the house.

So at 30 weeks, I'm still waiting for the famed pregnancy insomnia to set in. Other than getting up to pee three times a night, I'm still sleeping great. I'm not uncomfortable, usually, and nothing aches so much it keeps me awake. ::knocks wood::

This week, the babies are cucumbers. They are likely over 3lbs by now, if they are gaining the usual 1/2 pound a week. So possibly 7lbs of babies. No wonder I look full-term...

thebump.com

The cool thing this week is they are now strong enough to grasp a finger. They've been practicing by grabbing their own hands, umbilical cords, etc. And we all know how strong a baby's grip is! Looking forward to having them cling to me and Blue's fingers once they are born (just leave mama's hair alone!).

So there ya go. 30 weeks. 8 to go.

Holy crap.

I Rule!

Made it through another work week!

Baby Size Update!

So yesterday I went in for my fun cervical check and baby growth check. Everything looks good with me, so I get to continue to trudge in to work (my new motto: slow and steady wins the race. Or at least eventually makes it to the office, winded and likely sweaty.)

The babies are looking great. They were very active, as usual. I even felt Baby Girl move and saw it at the same time on the screen. She was NOT a fan of the ultrasound wand. Every time the tech would put it over her and push a little, she would punch right at it as if trying to knock it away. I think she's got some 'tude. She also is apparently directly facing my belly button. Weird. She's looking very healthy at 2lbs14oz, so nearly 3 pounds! The tech confirmed that she seems to have a smaller nose than Baby Boy (sorry dude), and kept calling her a "dainty lady." I like the sound of that.

Baby Boy seems to never stop moving, which means he doesn't sleep much (although he seems quiet right now...shhhh). I hope this isn't a sign of sleep issues to come! He's weighing 3lbs exactly. I got a good shot of him, but not of Baby Girl.  She looked like a mutant in her photos because she was moving so much.

They were both in the 40th percentile for growth, so not too big and not too small! Sounds good to me. They will likely double in size before birth, if they make it to 38 weeks. 

I am just so excited to meet them and see if I recognize their personalities from their movements and seeing them at appointments. Plus I'll then finally be able to come up with color names for them for this blog! (Sorry, no real names will be shared on here.)

Guess What?

That's right! We're having one of each gender! Baby A is the boy (and is the one who kicks me all the time) and Baby B is the girl (the one I'm convinced is going to break my ribs one of these days). Baby B is the one who seems to have my nose (phew) and Baby A may or may not have Blue's nose. We'll have to wait until they are born to see! It was so much fun revealing the genders at my second baby shower, with Blue's family, this weekend. Everyone was genuinely excited and it got kind of loud for a few minutes. The rest of the shower was great, too, and I say again that these are two lucky and loved kids. Many thanks to my sister-in-law and mother-in-law for putting it together!

Our house is currently quite the sight of mayhem with all the bags and boxes from the shower strewn about. And half our stuff is currently lodging at Blue's aunt and uncles house! Time to get serious about organizing! That will be a little easier now that the nursery floor is DONE! My stepdad rocks. He even set up one of the cribs (the other is at said aunt and uncle's house) and it's so cool to see it really look like a nursery. Pictures to come once it's more set up.

We moved the guest bed into the living room, which is a bit weird and will take some adjusting (although the cats seem to enjoy it there), but it's just awesome to not have to trudge down and up stairs four times a night. The bathroom is mere steps away! I am hoping my fitful sleeping the past few nights is a fluke and not a now-regular thing. 

So, this week makes 29 weeks along. Holy crap. Nine weeks to go until eviction, unless they come earlier of course. My baby newsletters say they will start moving less and less as they run out of room, but it certainly seems they are kicking up a storm in there! Apparently they will triple in size by birth, but I'm not sure if that holds true for twins (lord help me if it does).

The babies are currently the size of a squash, I'm guessing of the acorn variety.

It is absolutely insane that they could weigh nearly four pounds! I'm thinking more like 3, based on where they were at my last check, but really I have no idea. I will find out tonight at their last ultrasound growth check. I'm so excited to see how big they are! People keep telling me I'm pretty small for twins at this point, but I do have two months to go...

You Know You're Getting Big When...

There was a thread on one of my twins message boards with this subject line, and it led to some pretty hilarious comments, most of which I could identify with. I thought I would share some of my favorites with you as a bit of a fun Friday activity.

...the hostess asks if you'd like a booth or a table and when you say "booth" she looks at your belly like, "Are you sure about that?"

...you can't get close enough to the bathroom mirror to see to pluck your eyebrows cuz your belly hits the countertop.

...you have to lean into a turn if you are walking quickly.

...the maternity clothes you bought for this pregnancy are already getting too small. 

...your boss, who knows it's twins, asks if you're SURE your due date is the end of November. (that one is mine)

...you drop something on the ground and seriously have to consider whether it is worth trying to pick back up.   

...your 2 year old hugs you around the legs and you cant see any part of her whatsoever! 

...you misplace your phone but JUST had it. Then it rings and you find it out of sight in your lap. 

...you hit your belly with the door coming out of the bathroom stall. You just can't seem to slide by it anymore. (seriously, this is a problem)

and perhaps my favorite:

...you are excited that a favorite red, navy, and white striped jersey dress still fits as a tunic. You wear it all day and then catch a glimpse of yourself sideways in the mirror. You realize that you look like a flag, waving in the wind. 

 

Latest Doctor Visit

Just wanted to pop on and update on my doctor's latest appointment! I had to redo my glucose test just to be safe, so here's hoping I pass again. If I remember my weight correctly from my last appointment two weeks ago, I'm down two pounds. The doctor didn't say anything about it, but perhaps I'll start having an Instant Breakfast every day again. I've been stuffing my face less lately, perhaps because the babies are taking up so much room.

I asked her about how things will go from here forward, since I'm less than ten weeks from delivering these babies (cue screaming). After Monday's ultrasound and cervical check, I'll switch to doing weekly contraction tests along with quick ultrasound checks of the babies (I'll be 30 weeks at this point). They want to make sure I'm not contracting like crazy without realizing it. So far I have had a few Braxton Hicks contractions, mainly when I overdo it or am dehydrated (they are practice contractions that don't advance labor or anything).

She's paranoid mainly because of the stress of my daily commute. It's eased up a bit because Blue drives me to the train and picks me up, but there is still the super sweltering subway and walking between work and the subway. I caved and took a cab one afternoon this week -- I just couldn't take doing the subway. Each day I make it home gets me one day closer to babies and is one less day on possible bed rest. And each Friday I send up a silent "thank you" for getting me through one more week of being able to work. As much as staying home sounds awesome, I know I need my leave AFTER babies arrive and want to keep as much vacation time available for post-baby doctor appointments. And, you know, maybe a small vacation next summer.

Cervical checks will be done weekly by my doctor in her office (joy). I'm hoping I can roll all of those appointments into one day and perhaps take Thursdays off from here on out. My doctor only does appointments on Thursdays, which makes it fun when my rheumatologist in the city also seems to only do Thursdays... will need to finagle my appointment with her.

Then when I hit 34 weeks, they'll start adding fetal heart checks onto the contraction test appointments. They'll want to make sure they aren't stressing out and that there is still enough fluid around each of them. Speaking of hearts, today Baby A had a heart rate of 147 and Baby B was 151. So they are both staying strong!

We also discussed my delivery. I'm opting for a C-section for several reasons, so I was wondering about scheduling one versus waiting until I go into labor on my own. At my next appointment in two weeks, we'll schedule a section for 38 weeks, which will be around November 12th. I'm not sure what days she is available to do them, so it may be a few days sooner or later. 11/12/12 would be rather easy to remember though. If I go into labor sooner than that, they'll do one when I get in to labor & delivery. My next task is to make an appointment for a consultation with the anesthesiologist, which I assume is to go over the risks and sign consent forms for the medication they give you. Good times there!

Oh, and she's ordered me to buy new shoes for more support for my back. Gotta go shoe shopping. Darn! Maybe that's something my mom and I can do on Saturday while my stepdad is finishing up the nursery floor and making built-ins for the second closet area in there.

So that's where things stand! It's so crazy that they will be here in less than 10 weeks. So much left to do! I might pack up a hospital bag in the next two weeks, just in case. Maybe by being prepared we won't need it until mid-November!

And a small addendum to say that I have indeed finished up our honeymoon album! Today I also finished writing our thank you cards for the wedding (yes, the wedding that was almost two years ago). Profuse apologies were given and forgiveness begged for. It really was just ten or so people that we truly meant to send cards to long ago, but we saved them for last because we knew they'd be most understanding (and because we see them a lot). Still don't feel great that it took us this long. Off to start baby shower thank yous now! And beginning to wonder if our wedding album will ever get done. I have ten weeks, right?

28 Weeks, aka 7 Months!

aka, am I done yet? It's probably just today's weather (muggy, humid, gross, take your pick of descriptive words), but I'm feeling ready to be done baking babies. I know they need more time and I will keep on truckin', but I really hope fall hurries up and gets here. Today I'm just too tired to be happily pregnant. It happens.

So, the babies are now eggplants. In my mind, that makes them pretty big. In reality, they are still hovering in that 1.5-to-2.5-pound range. This comparison definitely conveys length better than, say, a cauliflower, though.

They are now developed enough that if, God forbid, they were born today they would have something like an 80 percent chance of surviving, with proper medical care. Crazy. Let's keep them in there a few more weeks or even months, though. We still have work to do on the nursery, after all.

Babycenter.com actually has an image of what fraternal twins (or identicals who split SUPER early in the process) look like this week in utero. Kind of cool!

This is about how mine were at last check, with Baby A being the one on the right of the image (and the right side of me) and Baby B being the one on the left of the image (and the left side of me). I've been feeling Baby B moving around more, so the anterior placenta is becoming less and less of an issue. Unfortunately, still feeling Baby B using my ribs as a punching (or kicking) bag. Can I lie down now?

I can't remember if I mentioned this last week, but we found a pediatrician for the babies. She was super sweet, has kids of her own, and I think will be a good fit. There are other doctors there we can see as well, so we might try a few out before definitely settling on one as their primary. Plus the doctor's office is pretty much across the street from the daycare, which will make appointments easy peasy.  One more thing off our checklist!

Nursery Floor Is In!

With a three-day weekend upon us, Blue decided to see if he could tackle putting in the laminate floor in the nursery himself. Our family member isn't available until next Friday, so we figured if we couldn't do it, he could still come and bail us out. Can't wait to tell him he can have his Friday night back!

With episodes of "How I Met Your Mother" playing on his iPad, Blue got to work Saturday and quickly had this done.

Today he managed to finish off the rest of the room. Here's almost done!

I can't wait to see cribs and everything in here. For now, the guest bed will be going back in for my parents, who are visiting this weekend. Here's the view from the door:

And here's a shot of the end of the room cribs are going to go in:

And another shot of the shelving end of the room, now housing all the crap in the room:

We just need to put in the trim and it's done! Hoping my parents will help with that, or at least get us started by giving us tips on how to do it.

Super proud of Blue for doing this himself! This room (heck, this house) has walls that curve and all sorts of other quirks, so there was a lot of cutting planks on a curve and all that good stuff.

All I did was stand on pieces when he was hammering them together so they wouldn't move. I'd be in our room working on our honeymoon album (two years later, I know) and he'd call for "baby weight!" and I'd go stand on a piece. I also helped hold planks while he was using the circular saw on them. So I wasn't completely useless!

And the honeymoon album would be done by now if I hadn't run out of little mounting squares. Figures. But at least the floor is mostly done, and that's a huge load off my mind. Best hubby ever!