Yay! Another monthly update! Okay, what has happened since the last time I’ve blogged…
I really need to spread these updates out because these blog posts are getting way too long. It’s so much easier to read when they’re short and sweet with lots of pictures!!
Not sure if I’ve mentioned this yet or not, but I’ve been going to doctor’s appointments weekly. Ever since I was discharged from the hospital, I’ve been seeing both my OB/GYN and perinatologist on alternating weeks. As soon as my perinatologist appointments stop, which may be in a couple of weeks, my OB/GYN will see me every week until delivery. My husband tries to make it to all of the appointments but there are times where he isn’t able to get off of work because he has so much to do. I guess it’s a good thing I’m on bed rest. I don’t know how my job could handle this ‘baby’ schedule.
In my last post, I had mentioned an on-going yeast infection. My OB/GYN had swabbed and tested me to make sure it was truly a yeast infection or if it could be bacterial vaginosis. It turned out negative for both. It seems that the Crinone and the pessary are what is causing the inflammation and there is nothing to worry about. It is a bit uncomfortable, but I’ll just have to deal with it until I’m told to stop with the Crinone (which would be at 30 weeks, I believe) and when the pessary and cerclage are removed (originally at 34 weeks but my perinatologist wants to play it safe and take them out at 36 weeks).
I’m still experiencing Braxton Hick contractions every day. They are not regular or painful, which is good. Usually re-positioning my body or drinking water helps with getting rid of them. I think their frequency is starting to slow down, or maybe I’m just not noticing them as much. I feel that when the boys are more active they bring on the contractions more often. The perinatologist confirmed that baby movement can cause localized contractions, where my uterus will tighten up in one area but will be relaxed everywhere else. She has checked to make sure my cervix is not feeling any more pressure and she confirmed that everything is good. Now that the babies are getting bigger, the weight is being more evenly distributed to my hips and pelvis rather than just all on the bottom of my uterus and on the cervical opening. This explains why my hips and back are starting to get extremely sore and achy. (I need to find a prenatal masseuse that makes house calls…)
Andrew and I got the car seats installed in the car!! I had reached out to my “cousin’ who is a fireman. (He’s not my real blood-related cousin, but in the Filipino culture all of our close family friends are referred to Aunts, Uncles, and Cousins.) He has a co-worker who has been trained and is a certified car seat inspector. He showed us the proper way to install and use the car seats. We’ll have to visit him again after the babies are born so that he can check on the position and level of the seats. Now that the car is ready for baby passengers, I feel good! 🙂

We purchased 2 of the Chicco KeyFit 30 car seats. They’re rated #1 in safety!

Installed in the back seat of the Jeep!
I’m able to report on a new pregnancy symptom this month… I’ve started leaking. This may be a bit of TMI but I’m going to talk about it anyway. If you don’t want to read about personal stuff, then skip to the next paragraph. 🙂 I was actually sitting on the toilet when I noticed it. I was getting ready to take a shower which was why I was completely naked in the first place. I had to go to the bathroom and so I sat on the toilet. All of a sudden I felt a drip on my belly. First thing I thought was that the water from the shower had somehow splashed out. Wait, there is no possible way that could have happened, it’s not physically possible. The shower door was shut and the water couldn’t “jump” up over the glass because the shower head is below the top of the enclosure. I felt another drop. Then I looked at my nipple. There was clear liquid coming out of it!! I couldn’t believe I was leaking already. This started happening at 25 weeks. I did a little research and found out that this is normal and the clear liquid coming out of my left breast is called colostrum. I have been leaking through my tank tops and t-shirts, so I ordered a nursing bra and some disposable breast pads. I haven’t leaked out of my right breast yet.
Andrew had his Beer & Diaper Shower 2 weeks ago! My brother-in-law, Melissa’s husband, threw it for him at his place. How it works: Everyone that comes must bring a pack of beer for the party and a case of diapers or wipes for the daddy-to-be. We ended up with a good supply of diapers and two huge cases of baby wipes! Mostly Huggies and Pampers with some Honest and Target brand diapers sprinkled in there! All different sizes from Newborn to Size 6! This is great because it gives us a lot of variety to test out what will work for the babies. If the babies, Andrew, or I don’t like a certain brand, then we can just return or exchange them for what we do like.

The growing pile of diapers at the shower.

What we ended up with. I wonder how long these will last. 🙂
I had my glucose test last week at 27 weeks with my OB/GYN. I was kind of apprehensive about doing this test. I kept reading how dreadful the drink was, if you failed you’d have to do the horrible 3-hour glucose test, and how the results could affect the rest of your pregnancy. I even googled: “How To Pass The Gestational Diabetes Test” on several occasions. What to eat and drink during the weeks and days before they draw your blood. Truth is, you can’t really do anything to fix the results you want. You either have it or you don’t. It depends on the way your body handles sugar, not what you eat or drink. The instructions said to avoid sweets, fruits, and sugars for at least 6 hours prior to testing and DO NOT EAT OR DRINK ANYTHING 1 hour prior to drinking the glucose beverage. This would be easy since my appointment was at 9:30 in the morning and I just didn’t eat breakfast. Once you start drinking the glucose drink, the bottle had to be done within 5 minutes. Then no food or drink (except water) until blood is taken at exactly an hour later. The drink wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. It tasted exactly like Fruit Punch. I was pretty hungry anyway, so gulping it down wasn’t a struggle. I showed up to my appointment and they withdrew 2 vials of blood exactly 1 hour after I finished the drink. It was around 11:30 when the rest of my prenatal appointment was done and I was able to leave the doctor’s office. I should’ve brought a snack with me because I was dizzy with hunger on the drive home. I kind of scratched the wheel of our new car pulling through a drive-thru as I was hurrying to get something to eat. I got a call 2 days later with the results. NO GESTATIONAL DIABETES!!! Yay!! The only concern they found was that my hemoglobin was a little low and they said I was slightly anemic. They suggested that I take an iron supplement and stool softener daily. But I’ve been doing that since I was discharged from the hospital. So now, I’m taking my iron supplement in the morning and my prenatal vitamins at night because the calcium in the prenatal vitamins can offset the iron.

The glucose beverages that my doctor’s office carries; orange or fruit punch.

I chose to drink the fruit punch flavor. It tasted pretty good. 🙂
I have a date now! My scheduled C-Section (if the babies don’t come early) is November 7th at 7:30 AM!! I’ll be 38 weeks and 1 day. I am so excited. Now my mom and step-dad (who live in Houston) and Andrew’s dad and step-mom (who live in Little Rock) have an actual target date to be in town by. My mom has actually offered to get a temporary job here for a few months so that she can help out with the twins. She’s a traveling registered nurse and already has her license in our state so it’ll be fairly easy for her to find work. After talking to Andrew about this, we both agreed that it would be good to have the extra help around the house while we get used to caring for two babies. Plus, these babies will be her first grandchildren and she wants to spend as much time as she can with them. She’ll stay in the guest bedroom until she goes back home to my step-dad.
Something else big happened… Andrew’s cousin wrote a book about pregnancy and it released this month!! It’s entitled “The Wonder Within You.” It goes through each week of pregnancy with great detail and real-life mommy stories. How does this book differ from all of the other books about pregnancy? There are great 3D ultrasound images within its pages, there are web links and QR codes that take you to the website filled with incredible 4D ultrasound videos, there’s space to put in your own notes, and above all else: I know the author!! It’s on sale at all major bookstores. I ordered mine early through Amazon.com and got it in the mail last weekend. Just in time, too, because my 3D/4D ultrasound happened last Tuesday and it was at the same place where all of the images from the book came from! I got my book signed by both the author and the person responsible for all of the great 3D/4D ultrasound images the day I went in for my session! The twins weren’t really cooperating for the ultrasound. For most of the time they had their backs facing out. We have a lot of great pictures of their butts!! Towards the end, at about an hour or so after we started, Baby A started facing towards us. We got some pictures of his face, him yawning, and even of him opening his eyes! Baby B was shy and didn’t want his picture taken at all. Great news is that we found out that both babies are head down! Yay! They just need to stay like that from now on. 🙂 We left the imaging center with a CD of all of our pictures, a DVD of the entire session, and 2 gift bags (one for each baby)!!

Baby B’s precious little hand!

Baby A’s cute little butt!

Baby A was all about the spotlight but Baby B was too shy to get his picture taken. 🙂
Thursday was a very busy day for me! We had another perinatologist appointment with a complete growth scan and we had a “Meet and Greet” with a potential pediatrician! The growth scan went well:
Baby A: measuring 27w3d, 2lb4oz, 151BPM
Baby B: measuring 28w2d, 2lb8oz, 147BPM
This is the largest gap we’ve seen so far with the twins. We were told that this is normal at 28 weeks. Since they are not identical, their differences will start to become more apparent. Baby A is definitely way more active and Baby B is starting to grow faster. Both are healthy and have a good amount of fluid! The pediatrician was only across the parking lot from the hospital so it took us 5 minutes to get there from the perinatologist office. The practice was recommended by my OB/GYN because they are affiliated with the hospital that I’m delivering in and she’s familiar with them. I picked one of the two male doctors to interview. The waiting room and office was pretty nice with colorful walls and lots of space. The women behind the front desk were friendly. The pediatrician turned out to be a very nice, personable guy and answered all of our questions. He has the same views as Andrew and me on circumcision, breastfeeding, and immunizations. I think we’ve found our pediatrician!!

How far along: 28 weeks (7 months)
Total weight gain: I have gained 37 lbs!!! THIRTY-SEVEN! I’ve been weighing myself and recording everyday since the very beginning. Once I hit 27 weeks, my weight gain has dramatically increased… at least 1-2 lbs a day! This is great news, but if I keep gaining at this rate, I’m going to be HUGE!!
Maternity clothes: Same old frumpy clothes while I’m on bed rest. I’ve totally outgrown all of my maternity bras, so I ordered and started wearing nursing bras. I’m also wearing breast pads for the boob leakage.
Stretch marks: Not yet. I’m putting on extra tummy rub oil during the day because I know that my belly will start getting bigger faster.
Sleep: Not too much trouble sleeping. I’m starting to get more fatigued during the day. Up to this point, I have been able to sleep on my back. Now it is starting to hurt and I have trouble breathing when I switch laying from one side to the other.
Best moment of this month: Seeing my babies in 3D!! 🙂
Miss anything: I miss my old body. I used to be able to run up the stairs, touch my feet, breath easily, and move without pain.
Movement: They’re twitching, rolling, punching, and kicking all of the time. Earlier in the month Baby A seemed to be facing down and was punching all of my lower organs. (The bottom of my uterus where the cervical opening is, my bladder, my rectum, my intestines… It was so uncomfortable and sometimes painful if he got a good jab in.) Now, they are both kicking me up in my ribs and in the middle of my belly where my belly button is located.
Food cravings: No weird food cravings.
Anything making you queasy or sick: I think I’m starting to get acid reflux if I eat too much at one time. I don’t feel queasy or sick but it feels like food wants to come up because my stomach is too full. This also makes it difficult to breath sometimes.
Have you started to show yet: My belly is measuring at 43 1/2″ this week.
Gender: My two growing boys!!
Labor signs: Still have random Braxton Hicks contractions.
Belly button in or out: Ummm, neither? It has basically just flattened out.
Wedding rings on or off: They are still on. I hope I don’t start swelling up during this last trimester.
Happy or moody most of the time: I think I’m good and happy most of the time, but I get irritated so easily. My body is just achy and sore, so if anything makes me more uncomfortable I start getting moody.
Looking forward to: Maybe start working on getting the nursery finished… It’s started and looks good, but there is still a lot to be done. We have everything we need; we just need to start bringing it all together. Once it’s done, I’ll take pictures and include them in a separate post.