It's Induction Day!

*There's a new post below this one as well*

The hospital just called...I go in at 1:30pm. Wish us luck!

38 Weeks and...still pregnant

I was wondering if I would ever have to do a 38-week post. I should have known! These babies were hard to get in me, and they're also hard to get out. Maybe my uterus is just too cozy for them?

I called the hospital this morning at 9:20am because I just couldn't wait any longer. I figured they would call me with my inducement time by 8:00am at the latest, but that wasn't the case. I spoke to a nurse and she said that I was second on the list for being induced, and that they'll give me a call about an hour before I have to come in. If I don't hear from them by mid-afternoon then I'm supposed to call back. More waiting. It's brutal. I'm tired of cleaning, but if I don't clean, what am I going to do?

Jon got up to go to school this morning, but decided not to go after all because he's too nervous. I really don't want to have to wait until tomorrow to be induced because then we have to go through the waiting game all over again.

I'll try to remember to quickly update this blog with our inducement time when I find it out, that way we can have extra prayers sent our way! Hopefully the delivery goes smoothly and two healthy babies are born. That's all in God's hands though.

37 Weeks + Dr.'s Appointment #12 + Fetal Monitoring #4 + Ultrasound #8 Results

Wow, I cannot believe that I'm actually considered 'overdue' now (it's a day past 37 weeks). I can't believe the end is here. We're almost done.

I started this week with an ultrasound on Monday. Here are the results:

DATA	BABY A	BABY B
Heart Rate	137	141
Lie/Position	Cephalic	Cephalic
Est. Fetal Weight	2819 g (6.21 lbs)	3086 g (6.80 lbs)
MEASUREMENTS
Head Circ.	328 mm	336 mm
BPD	94 mm	93 mm
Abdominal Circ.	315 mm	322 mm
Femur	66 mm	71 mm
Gestational Age	36 weeks + 3 days	37 weeks + 4 days

I had asked the technician if she knew the approximate weights when she was done taking her measurements, just in case I went into labour before I would have access to the results. When she told me that the boy was approximately 6lb 3 oz, I nearly died. And then she said the girl was approximately 6lb 13 oz! Here I thought I was going to be giving birth to preemies! The technician went on to explain that fraternal twins typically develop at the same rate as singletons do, because they each have their own placenta to feed off of. Interesting! No wonder I weigh so much now, I have over 13lbs of baby in me! My weight gain so far is 49.5 lbs. Almost at the 50 lb mark. It will be interesting to see how much of that I lose just from the delivery alone. Would 20lbs be asking too much?

On Wednesday I had another fetal monitoring appointment. It went really well. The nurse was impressed at how well she was getting readings of the twins' movements, and kept jumping every time they moved because you could see it in my stomach. She couldn't believe how tight my belly is. She said that you could tell on the readings that there is little fat around my belly right now because every time one (or both) of the babies would move, the contractions monitor would show that my abdominal muscles were reacting. I guess if there was more fat in between the babies and my muscles then the muscles would not react as much. I think it only took about 20 minutes before she had enough readings.

On Thursday I had my last doctor's appointment. Dr. Huckell told me that if I don't go into labour before Thursday, then the hospital will call me on Thursday morning to let me know what time to come in to be induced. If, for some reason, the hospital doesn't have enough room for me on Thursday then I have to go in for fetal monitoring, and then they will induce me on Friday. That's one week from today. This weekend is officially our last weekend as just Jon and I (at least, for the next 20 years or so...or, if you're my parents, probably forever because there is always someone over. Usually me, I know). A Thursday/Friday induction is PERFECT for Jon and I because this coming week is his last day of classes before he has a two-week spring break. That means he gets to be the one to help me out in the middle of the night instead of a family volunteer. Lucky Jon :) This will give him two weeks of spending time with us before his crazy schedule resumes again.

I'm 'officially' done work now, at least in Service Canada's eyes. I won't be going into the office this coming week at all; they're worried that I might go into labour at my desk. If I feel like it I'll put in some hours from home, and then I'll just bank them and get paid out when I switch over to parental leave or when I return next year. Next year. Not working for a year. Crazy. I didn't work much this week due to all of my appointments, but to have it be official that I'm on maternity leave now is crazy. And scary. Makes everything more real, you know? Here's hoping the application process for maternity benefits goes smoothly! I hear that it can be a real pain some times.

I'm still feeling really good, for the most part. I definitely am more tired than I was a month ago...but it also doesn't help that I haven't been working a consistent schedule so I'm sleeping in some days and not others. Last night I didn't fall asleep until after 12:15am, and then woke up at 4:30am wide awake. I started doing some kakuros (math puzzles, sort of similar to sudokus) to put myself to sleep, but started getting hungry at 5:00am. I got out, made myself a peanut butter and jam sandwich, poured myself a glass of milk, and climbed back in bed (yes, with the food...Jon's a deep sleeper) to continue my puzzles. By 5:30am I still wasn't feeling the least bit tired, so I decided that I might as well just go to work early and then I could always sleep afterwards. Unfortunately, I wasn't tired until 4:00pm at which point I climbed in bed to "rest"...just because it's more comfortable to lie in bed than on the couch, and I fell asleep. Until 5:30pm when Jon came home. SIGH. Exactly what I did NOT want to do. When I sleep for too long in the afternoons or early evenings it throws my sleep cycle off, and that is exactly why I am typing this post at 11:45pm, wide-eyed. It's going to be another messed-up sleeping night. I'll just have to set my alarm so that I wake up on time in the morning and then be tired all day. I have 6 days to get my sleep cycle straightened out and to be perfectly rested before the babies come. And then...well...then their sleep cycle becomes my sleep cycle.

Here is my 37 week picture:

Anyways, I think that's all I was intending to say in this post. My stomach is telling me that it is yet again hungry, so I shall make myself a sandwich in hopes that it keeps me satiated until morning. And not 5:00am morning, but 8:00am morning. We'll see. I'm not counting on it.

6 days...but hey, who's counting?

36 Weeks + Dr.'s Appointment #11 + Fetal Monitoring #3

Here's what all happened since last week's post:

Wednesday - Fetal Monitoring
Went really well...the nurse laughed at how active the babies were. She figures that Baby B (girl) is the one that instigates all of the playing/fighting because her heart rate was always the first to increase when there was movement. Baby A was more active though, which could be a reason as to why he is a little smaller. I had a braxton hicks contraction while I was there so it was neat to see the line on the paper slowly ascend, and then descend.

Friday - Doctor's Appointment
My blood pressure is still perfect and both babies' heart rates were good. Dr. Huckell is quite impressed at how well I am doing. She says it doesn't happen very often where women with twin pregnancies are doing as well as I am. If everything continues this way and I haven't had the babies before my next appointment (Thursday), then she'll set up a time for the hospital to induce me the next week. Won't be long before they're here!

My mom is definitely getting impatient, which makes each day funny. Long gone are the days where she would wait on me hand and foot so that I wouldn't go into labour early...now all she talks about is sending me for long walks to Two Ee's. Too funny.

Anyways, Jon wants to go in the hot tub (oh man, can't wait to do THAT again!), so I'm going to finish up with a picture:

Maybe THIS will be the last picture?

35 Weeks + Dr.'s Appointment #10 + Fetal Monitoring #2

Fatigue has set in. No matter how much I sleep at night, I find myself yawning as soon as I get up. I'm working 4 hours each Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday, and have all of Wednesdays off. It's a good balance right now. I'll probably follow this schedule for another week and then will re-assess.

Jon was at Fleetwood Park until 9:00/10:00pm every night this week. I think I ate at my parents' house every night this week as a result. I always struggled to find the desire to cook, and now, with the increased fatigue and only having to cook for one, my desire is even less. Thankfully, my mom doesn't mind to cook for one extra :)

I've also started to have swollen ankles and feet for the last week or so. I wear flip-flops to work because my dress shoes are too tight. I still manage to fit into my runners when I have to leave the house for appointments. I had Jon take a picture last Saturday:

The babies were much more active with this second fetal monitoring appointment. They were almost too active! I couldn't leave until they saw each baby have at least one minute of 'down' time, where their heartbeats were relaxed. The entire monitoring took about 30 minutes, which wasn't too bad. My next fetal monitoring appointment is on Wednesday (and I will continue to go every Wednesday until I deliver).

I had a doctor's appointment on Thursday, and she said everything is looking good. She figures that if I were to deliver now, the babies would both be able to go home with me right away, which is good! The longer I can keep them in me, the better (for them! They're starting to reek havoc on my skin...Jon pointed out some stretch marks under my stomach that I couldn't see! Oh well, I guess I shouldn't be complaining. I didn't honestly expect to come out of a twin pregnancy with no stretch marks).

I gained 4 pounds since last week, making my weight gain at 45 lbs. I now weigh the same as Jon. He nearly died.

I'm pretty comfortable for the most part. I do get tired of lugging around my stomach every now and then, and I look forward to clothes actually fitting me. It's nice to have a large selection of 'comfy' clothes to choose from, because they're pretty much all I wear right now.

Can you believe that in less than 3 weeks, they'll be born? I can't. Jon can't. It's a little bit scary. We'd both be fine with another 3 months. Maybe by then we'd feel ready for what's going to hit us!

Hmmm...what else? Oh! I know! Pet peeve: people who park their car too close to mine! How do they expect for me to climb into the driver's seat of my car when they only give me 1 foot to open my car door?!?!?!? Also, it's become difficult to sit on the toilet. I find I just have to stand in front of the toilet and drop, hoping my butt lands on the seat. I can't do it slowly because I can't see the toilet seat anyways, and my muscles aren't strong enough to prevent me from just dropping. Luckily, there's no room on either side of the toilet for me to miss. It would be pretty funny if Jon woke up in the middle of the night to me sitting beside the toilet lol.

I'm still in the process of giving our house a good clean. I wiped down and cleaned up the fridge today. On the list for this week is: wiping down the freezer in the fridge and washing the walls in the bathroom. I think the latter has been on my to-do list for 4 months. I'm running out of time to get it done, so I'm hoping by telling everyone that I'm going to do it will keep me accountable to actually doing it. I also intend to make a pot of soup tomorrow.

Here are my 35-week pictures:

3 weeks left...but who knows, maybe this is my last pre-baby post? I'm quite enjoying being pregnant, so it will be sad to not feel them moving around anymore. Maybe if I hadn't have had such an easy pregnancy I would be more 'ready' for them to be born?

33 Weeks + Dr.'s Appointment #9 + Ultrasound #7 Results + Fetal Monitoring #1

So, this is pretty late...I'm practically 34 weeks now, but I was waiting to get my ultrasound results back and have Jon upload some pictures before I posted.

Here goes...

Things continue to go well, which is great! I'm still working and still coaching, which I'm very happy about. Last Monday (the 7th), I was starting to feel really cramping at night and my braxton hicks contractions were coming pretty frequently so I went to bed right away, at about 8pm. I took the next two days off of work, until my next doctor's appointment. By then, things were back to normal. Phew! We were a little worried. Dr. Huckell figured it was because 1) I had had a busy day on Monday and 2) my uterus is 'full-term', but it doesn't realize that it can't deliver yet because there are twins. Since then, I've slowed down quite a bit. I have so many sick/personal/vacation days banked at work that I don't have to be working for financial reasons...so I'm definitely putting the babies (and myself) first. Starting this week, I'm only working about 20 hours a week, and am taking Wednesdays off. Jon has been really understanding and is the first to tell me to stay in bed longer in the mornings and to take the day off.


Speaking of Jon, he has been putting in super-long days at Fleetwood Park (usually staying until about 9pm) so that he can be as far ahead as possible in preparations before the babies arrive.

I went for my first Fetal Monitoring appointment today. The babies weren't overly cooperative, but the nurse (who had kids at FVC when my younger siblings were there) finally managed to get enough data on them. I have to start monitoring their movements daily myself, timing how long it takes for me to feel 6 movements from each baby. If I don't feel 6 in two hours, then I have to call the hospital. I also have to go for a fetal monitoring appointment every Wednesday now.

The babies' movements have really changed the past few weeks - they are less 'kick-like' and more 'movement-like'. I can tell they are getting really squished in there because it's getting really easy to tell what part of the body I'm feeling, whether it be a foot, or a butt, or the head. Hiccups are also a daily occurrence, at least for the boy. He has less room to move his head, so every little 'jump' is easily felt. The girl likes to stick her butt between my hip and ribs on my right side, so often you can see a bulge sticking out.

Here are the results from my ultrasound on February 7th:

DATA	BABY A	BABY B
Heart Rate	137	141
Lie/Position	Cephalic	Cephalic
Est. Fetal Weight	2064 g (4.55 lbs)	2088 g (4.59 lbs)
MEASUREMENTS
Head Circ.	310 mm	299 mm
BPD	86 mm	82 mm
Abdominal Circ.	275 mm	283 mm
Femur	59 mm	62 mm
Gestational Age	32 weeks + 1 day	32 weeks + 0 days

Looks like Baby A (Boy) has a Vander Ende head and Struik legs. haha. Although, we are talking about measurements in mm...so they're VERY close!

Sleeping has continued to be pretty easy for me. I've added an additional pillow under my head (so now I sleep with two), but that's only because it raises my head higher which helps with my nasal stuffiness at night, and gives me more air as Jon's fan (on the other side of Jon) is the only one we're using right now. I get about about three times each night to go pee, which is the result of 1) drinking a lot of water before bed and then after each time I get up, and 2) a squished bladder. Most of the time I'm able to fall asleep again right away, thank goodness! Jon has yet to wake up yet when I'm getting up, which makes him pretty confident that he'll "conveniently" sleep through each time the babies wake up crying during the night. We'll see about that :)

I'm waiting for Jon to come home from Fleetwood Park (it's 9:48pm...he must be coming home soon!) so that I can post a couple pictures. I think I'll just add them in the morning, so make sure you check back. I'm going to post this and then help myself to a warmed brownie topped with vanilla ice cream, and chocolate and caramel syrup. YUM. I'm going to miss not eating extra calories! Have a good night!

As promised...here are the pictures taken at 33 weeks (last week)...wearing one of the few 'nicer' shirts that kinda fit...and now looking at the pictures you can tell it is being stretched!

31 Weeks + Dr.'s Appointment #8

Nothing much new.

I had another doctor's appointment yesterday and everything is looking good. My blood pressure is still perfect, so I'm still able to work and coach basketball, which was music to my ears. I've been really nervous for each appointment since 2011 began because I don't want to be put on bed rest. I think I would go crazy! Plus, it's too soon to leave work. Almost all of my duties have been trained away, but we're super busy so I don't want to leave them just yet. Luckily, I don't have to yet!

Baby A (boy)'s heartrate was between 145 /150 bpm, and Baby B (girl)'s heart rate was between 150/155 bpm.

I'm now measuring 40 weeks. Yikes. I still have 7 more to go. Yikes. Actually, it's not really that bad. I don't feel big at all...to be honest, I even forget that I have an extra large belly sometimes.

The babies continue to move around like crazy. It's not a visible from the outside as it was a few weeks ago (I could actually see what looked like arms move across my stomach), but my stomach is definitely always moving. I've noticed that the boy (Baby A) has really increased his activity this past week. He woke me up a couple nights ago because he was moving around so much. I swear he was actually jumping in my pelvis. I sent him "go to sleep" thoughts, and he calmed down. It's been nice that he's been more active because I thought he might not have had enough room to move around. Now I know he does. Whenever he moves it causes me a little more discomfort/annoyance because of the tight quarters he's living in. A few times I've let out a little "oh!" due to the sudden feeling of him moving. The girl's favourite place to move around is right underneath my belly button. All I have to do is touch my belly button and I can feel her move around....and eventually push up under it. It's surprising that my belly button hasn't popped out at all.

I've really started to notice my increased body temperature. I'm used to being really cold during the winter, but now I never am. I'm so glad I'm not this pregnant in the middle of the summer because I don't think I could handle it. I start to go a little crazy even now because I feel like I can't breathe because it's so warm. It's gross. Luckily, it's not 24-7!

Total weight gain so far: 35lbs. Not bad.

My next ultrasound is on February 7th, doctor's appointment on February 9th, and then a fetal monitoring appointment on February 16th. I'm looking forward to seeing what that will be like.

I'll post an update with an updated picture again in a couple weeks.