Friday, December 30, 2011

33 weeks!





Pregnancy Highlights:
How Far Along: 33 Weeks

Size of babies: 17.2 inches long

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Gained 51 lbs

Maternity Clothes: Yes and wide shoes!

Gender: A boy and a girl :)

Movement: Yes, but they are running out of room and the movements come a little less often. But every once in a while I get a strong kick from someone. And they both try to stretch out and that means I usually get her up into my ribs and him down on my bladder.

Sleep: Not so good lately. It's hard to get comfortable and I'm having an itching problem (more on that later)

What I miss: Being able to wear normal shoes. I'm now permanently in house shoes or slip ons. I can't even fit into my trusty old Ugg look alikes because my ankles won't squeeze into them.

Cravings: Nothing really, but I still love my Oreos

Symptoms: My legs, ankles, feet, toes, and hands are all swollen. And I can no longer bend over.

Best Moment this week: Seeing the babies at our ultrasound on Tuesday and getting some much needed rest after work almost every day (and only having to work 4 days this week!).

We had our weekly check up on Tuesday and it was a little chaotic. The ultrasound went fine. They didn't measure the babies' sizes so I have no idea how big they are now. But the doctor is guessing that they total over 9 pounds together now. But they did check to see if the babies are practicing their breathing, and monitored their heart rates. They also measured their amniotic fluid and the blood flow in their umbilical cord.
The Dr. checked to see if I was starting to dilate and I wasn't, so that's good news because that means I don't have to go on bed rest.
But he was rushed out right after that because he had to go deliver a baby. But he called me later to discuss some concerns I have. The main thing is the itching. I itch constantly all over my body all day and night. It's keeping me up and night and I'm uncomfortable wearing clothes!
Well, I first just thought this was a side effect of the Iron pills I was on for my low iron. Then I thought it was because of all of the swelling in my feet and hands because it's mostly on the bottom of my feet and in my palms. So when I mentioned this to him, he immediately wanted me to come back in for blood work.
It turns out that I possibly have something called intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy, or bile salts built up in the liver.
Cholestasis is a very rare illness and occurs in about two out of 10,000 pregnancies in America. So of course I have to get it, right?
I'm not exactly sure what it all means for me and the babies, but what I do know is that they need to try to get the babies out as soon as their lungs are mature enough. Usually, with one baby, they want to induce by 37 weeks, so of course with twins it's earlier than that.
What happens now:
I start taking a medication today called Actigall - this is something to treat the bile salts and enzyme levels in the liver.
Then I have an ultrasound on Monday to measure their breathing, heart rates, and amniotic fluid. I will also get to meet with the doctor after this to talk about it all and find out what his plan is for sure.
Then I go back to the Dr.'s office on Tuesday and Wednesday for steroid shots to help speed up the development of the babies lungs so we can prepare for them to come early.
Then I go back for another ultrasound on Thursday to monitor them again and check the sizes.

I'm hoping that the babies are growing and developing enough that after all the monitoring next week the doctor will want to go ahead and do the c-section at the end of the week. I'll be exactly 34 weeks and that's supposed to be the "safe zone" we've strived for.

This is all very scary for me just because I don't know what it all means, for me and the babies. I don't know the risks or the side effects or what could happen because of it. But I'm trying to stay positive and just trust the doctor and the specialist. They have taken immediate action and that does make me feel better.
I'm also trying to look at how far I've come. I'm 33 weeks and I haven't had to go on bed rest and haven't had any major complications up to this point. And we are so close that I'm confident they will be ready to come next week and we won't have to drag this out much longer.
My main concern is the health of my babies and I trust the doctor is going to do what he thinks is the best for them.


Thursday, December 22, 2011

32 weeks!








Pregnancy Highlights:
How Far Along: 32 Weeks

Size of babies: 16.2 inches long

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Gained 44.8 lbs

Maternity Clothes: Yes, but I mainly wear leggings every day!

Gender: A boy and a girl :)

Movement: Lots of strong kicks all the time!

Sleep: It's good once I get to lay down. I fall right to sleep until it's time for me to adjust to a new position or get up to go pee.

What I miss: Being able to put lotion on my legs, and putting on my socks and shoes on by myself (btw...I've cut all the elastic out of my socks)

Cravings: Oreos

Symptoms: My ankles have disappeared and I now I have club feet.

Best Moment this week: Getting to rest a little bit each night after work instead of working on something. But now I'm behind on wrapping all of my Christmas presents!


Tuesday, December 20, 2011

The Playroom Tour

I decided to put the babies in the same room for now and just make the other bedroom close by a playroom that would hold a glider, a day bed, and a tv. The main reason for this is because there was no room for a glider in the nursery with 2 cribs in there. And this way, if one baby is up and the other is still sleeping, I can rock that baby or feed them and catch up on my dvr and not disturb the sleeping baby. And the daybed is going to be for long nights when I don't want to disturb David by go back and forth across the house and getting in and out of bed.
But I also got a Pack N Play with a bassinet for our room for them to sleep in at first if necessary.
So here's the tour of the playroom:




I made this artwork above the day bed. It was kind of a last minute thing just to fill the space on the wall. I had left over fabric and I was trying to find something to do with it. So I wrapped a canvas in the fabric and then used stencils for the letters.

A lot of things in this room are handmade...by me...and some by David. For example, I made all of these pillow covers except for the gray ones. I ordered them first and then realized that I could easily make them!

I also made the drapes. Sooooo easy to do. I just cut rectangles for the size I needed and added some drapery backing and used Steam A Seam to put it all together. Then I just used drapery hooks to hang them.





This is a picture of my grandma that passed away when my mom was little and her twin sister, my Aunt Dean that passed away a few years ago.


David made the book shelves for me and we both painted them. I found the idea on Pinterest. I knew I wanted a book shelf but I didn't want anything too big and bulky and in the way, so this was the perfect solution. And they were so easy to make! We even had Home Depot cut the boards for us so all we had to do was nail them together how we wanted them and then paint them with left over paint from when our house was painted.






This is the closet in the playroom, full of more baby stuff, hidden away for now but I'm sure it will be all over the place soon!

And this is the view from the playroom into the hallway that leads to the nursery:

I'm very happy with how it all turned out. I figured I would be spending a lot of time in these 2 rooms so I wanted them done exactly how I imagined them and I think they came out pretty close. David helped so much. He would look at me weird every time I told him about another idea I would have for the rooms, but he would listen to me and try to get it done the way I wanted it and then he would realize what the vision was I had in my head. I can't wait for the babies to come home and see it all!

Monday, December 19, 2011

The Nursery Tour

The nursery is about 97% complete. The only thing that isn't finished is something to go above their cribs with their names, but since we don't for sure know names right now, that's going to have to wait until after they're born.



So for now...This is the nursery tour:





























Next time I'll reveal the playroom. This is the view of the playroom from the nursery: