Baby #3 & #4: 35 Weeks

I'm 35 weeks and can happily say that we've made it! Hitting 35 weeks is a big deal as that means that I get to deliver at St. Anthony's instead of having to deliver at a bigger hospital with a NICU department. This was Eric and I's first major goal we wanted to hit as we got closer to delivery.

What a week week 34 was! The day after hitting 34 weeks, I went in for my Non-Stress Test. I never had any of those with Madison, so I was curious what exactly they were like. It turns out they just strap some heartbeat monitors and a contraction monitor on your belly and leave you alone for 20 minutes. Easy peasy! I will say the babies were not fans of the monitors. As soon as she put the first monitor on, one baby let out a big ol' kick that moved my entire belly ha!

I met with Dr. Haller after that and she said that both babies did very well on the NST and that I wasn't having any contractions, which I didn't think I was yet. Dr. Haller said that at our next appointment (which ended up being on Wednesday this week- so check that out a little farther down) we will start talking about delivery. Exciting stuff!

And just an update on my cold. Friday things were definitely worse. Sooooo many kleenexes are in the trash can ha! Dr. Haller didn't seem too concerned about it at my appointment, so I guess that that's a good thing. I pretty much laid on the couch with my water, gatorade, and kleenexes the rest of the night. By Saturday morning things were looking better, but I still spent most of the day sleeping. Sunday I had some bad ear and throat pain, so off to Urgent Care I went. They thought I might have strep, but thankfully all those tests came back negative. But the feel better train was in full motion and by the end of this week I feel almost totally back to normal, minus a slightly runny nose still.

On my drive home from work Monday, I was in so much pain in my back and right ribs. I could not even make it home without having to get out of my van to walk around and stretch and try to feel better. I was in so much pain that Eric wouldn't let me go to work on Tuesday at all.

Wednesday I had my next OB appointment, and I think that Eric was pretty positive that if I told Dr. Haller what had happened that she would put me on full bed rest. I even brought Everything home from work I would need to finish working from home until the babies got here. But she pretty much told me that I was SOL, and since the babies were so smushed in there together, there would be times I was just in a lot of pain. If you think having one baby under your ribs is painful, try having two!

Both babies are still breech (surprise, surprise), so a c-section is now officially our option of delivery. There's no way either baby has space to turn between now and possibly three weeks from now. Baby A had a heartbeat of 146. He was measuring about the same as he was two weeks ago- 5 pounds 4 ounces. The tech did fully admit that these measurements are not the most accurate, especially since he is so crammed up in there that she wasn't able to get good measurements on everything she needed to get his weight. Baby B had a heartbeat of 161 and was weighing in at 5 pounds 5 ounces. I somehow lost weight between last week and this week- I'm guessing it's more water weight I'm losing as my swelling has really gone down? Right now I'm up a total of about 30 pounds, give or take a few. And since we are getting down to crunch time with only a max of three weeks left, I wanted to record the circumference around my belly. So at 35 weeks my belly is measuring 44 inches!

And I just had to share this picture of a compilation of some ultrasound pictures. Remember when I said that their heads were right next to each other- and both under my right ribs? I have the ultrasound pictures to prove it- starting around 18 weeks! I've decided that they will either always have to be near each other and will love each other so much, or they will be so tired of being right next to the other one that there might be some animosity once they are born. Only time will tell ha!

Baby #3 & #4: 34 Weeks

We just hit 34 weeks, so here's a little recap from all that happened during week 33!

A day after hitting 33 weeks I had my next doctor's appointment. Baby A's heart rate was 144 beats per minute, and Baby B also clocked in a heart rate of 144 beats per minute. Baby A is currently hanging out breech in the bottom right corner of my stomach, nice and squished up in there. The tech said that this makes it extra hard to get precise measurements of the baby, but according to the measurements she did get, Baby A is weighing 5 pounds and 6 oz! And true to how she's been the entire pregnancy, Baby B is now a little more diagonal across my stomach, still breech with her head on the right side, but taking up all the room in my stomach that she wants. She weighed in at 4 pounds 15 ounces.

I lost two pounds since last week, and I'm assuming that that's some water weight that is still shedding from my swelling. Dr. Haller seems impressed with how things are going and has scheduled my next appointment with a Non-Stress Test instead of an ultrasound. I'm not gonna lie, I'm bummed I won't get to see them in our 34th week.

That Sunday we had our niece's (and now officially our Goddaughter's) baptism right after church. Emily did so well, hardly making a peep the whole time!

After her baptism we went back to Dan and Theresa's for some lunch and lounge time and I caught Eric and Emily napping together. I think my heart exploded in that moment. He's such a natural, and to think that in a few weeks (a maximum of 4 to be exact!) he'll be doing this with our babies.

The day of turning 34 weeks I came down with a nasty cold that has had me attached to a kleenex box. So, don't judge how bad I look in this week's picture ha! We will see how that pans out in the next few days!

Baby #3 & #4: 33 Weeks

Well we are getting into crunch time, so I thought it was time to start doing weekly posts until babies get here! We just hit week 33 today, and I have to say that week 32 didn't disappoint.

This past week was full of cover wars with Eric at night. We have so many pillows in our bed now to keep me comfortable at night (which isn't always successful), that our covers seem to barely fit the bed. I roll over and pull the covers towards me, which uncovers Eric. Then he'll roll over and pull the covers towards him, which of course uncovers me. It's a constant battle all night long, especially with how many times I'm up to use the restroom or roll over. I think at this point we should maybe each get our own set of covers so we both stay covered up. It's not like we are cuddling at this point anyways ha!

I also had a repeat trip to Dr. Haller's office for the swelling in my legs again. I noticed a brighter red spot on the side of my calf that seemed warm to the touch, so she had me come in check it out. After looking it over she decided that it wasn't a blood clot and the other calf, though not as red, was just as warm as that side. She pressed her finger into my leg and I don't want to admit how long the indention staying on my leg. She asked if I was still working to which I replied yes. And the very next thing she said was- "Do you wanna know what I think?" Of course I knew what she thought, she wanted me to quit working. But I have SO much to do at work still to finish wrapping up my time there I was able to convince her to only drop me down to half days for the time being. We'll see how long that lasts. For now you can find me either in the morning or late afternoon with my feet up and my bottom on the couch. The things we do for our children!

This week I finally got my Tdap shot and am attending probably my last game of Eric's before the babies arrive (so maybe until next year haha!). I also took off my rings this week, they were getting a little snug, and I wanted to get them off before it got too hard to get them off on my own.

So if you see me out and about the next few weeks, expect to see me waddling around in a pair of black leggings and some cheap black tennis shoes that are a size bigger than I wear not pregnant, probably holding either the under side of my belly because our son likes to hang out in my pelvic bone, or the right side of my upper stomach, as our daughter likes to nuzzle her head into my rib cage. Boy pregnancy sure is glamorous! But I can firmly say I wouldn't trade this for the world. Here's to another fun filled week!

Baby #3 and #4: Weeks 31-32

What another exciting two weeks! The end of Week 30 brought a full day of freezer making meals with momma- what a task! We made 8 different meals, with at least two pans from each meal going into the freezer. We should be stocked up for a while! I can't thank my mom enough for helping me do this. When I needed a break to sit down and rest, she kept trucking. Whether it was washing dishes, browning meat, mixing ingredients, she didn't slow down the entire time she was at our house. I'm forever grateful for her and her helping heart.

The end of week 30 also brought a trip to the hospital for an ultrasound- but not of the babies. I really noticed during our freezer meal day that my legs HURT. The inside thigh and calf of both legs had been tender for a few days, but that long day on my feet made them hurt even worse. I called my OB's office to see if it was normal, and while they didn't think it was a blood clot since I was hurting on both legs and had no warmth or color change, they did want me to get scanned for blood clots just in case. It's amazing what technology can do! I'm happy to report that both legs are clot free, though that didn't solve the mystery of my hurting legs.

The babies helped us ring in the New Year with some awesome friends, including some interesting games of slap jack, uno, and go fish. And as a bonus we were in bed before the ball even dropped! I have a feeling that we will have many more New Years Eve's like that in our future and I can NOT wait.

The beginning of week 31 brought on another doctor's appointment and ultrasound! Bot babies continue to look good in there. Baby boy had a heart rate of 153 beats per minute, weighed 3 pounds and fourteen ounces and measured one week ahead. Baby girl had a heart rate of 155 beats per minute, weighed 4 pounds and three ounces and measured one week ahead. I gained about 6 pounds since my last appointment, putting me up a total of 25 pounds so far. I'm totally blaming the holidays and all the yummy food on that one! And on another note, both babies are still transverse across my belly, making the likelihood of a c-section more and more likely. We shall see what happens in the coming weeks!

On the 4th we had fancy dinner party with Brian, Mara, Doug and Ashley and boy does that thing never disappoint. Cornish game hens, homemade rolls, and a panna cotta chocolate mouse dessert that was to die for. The company wasn't too shabby either. I love this yearly tradition of ours!

This past week it was back to the old grind for me- we had our teacher's institute on the 6th and then our first day back with kids on the 7th. I wish I could say that the first day back was a breeze, but that would be a lie. You see, since about Friday night, I really noticed that not only did my legs still really hurt, but now they were really swollen. Like skin so tight, I only have one pair of pants that fit me now tight. I ended up calling my OB's office on the 7th and they wanted me to come back in and get checked out.

So I made the haul to Effingham to get a urine and blood pressure check- both of which came back normal. While I was there they went ahead and drew some labs to check for pre-eclampsia just in case- which also came back normal. And while I'm thankful that there's nothing "wrong", that wasn't the answer I was looking for. I mean, my legs are so swollen that it hurts to walk- I can hardly even bend my legs. I have some compression socks coming, and I'll be spending the next however many weeks pushing even more water than I was and trying to keep my feet elevated as much as possible. Fun times!

At least after wearing the compression stockings for a few days, I do feel like I'm slightly less swollen than before. And I can actually walk and move around without the high amount of pain I was having earlier in the week. Two thumbs up for progress!

Baby #3 and #4: Maternity Pictures

Our maternity pictures are done! I can't thank my bestie Kendra Crane enough for taking these for us right before New Years. She's been able to capture some of the most important moments in our lives, and I wouldn't have wanted anyone else to capture us in this stage of life.

The day called for absolutely no rain, so of course when we headed out to Sam Parr it was sprinkling. We waited it out and snuck in about 30 minutes of pictures before it started back up again. So don't mind my flat hair in all the pictures- it was beautifully curled and fabulous before the session. But if that's the biggest hangup on these pictures I really can't complain. After all, who cares what my hair looks like when Kendra was able to capture so much love and connection between Eric, myself, and our growing babes (and now officially an outie belly button). Enjoy my favorites!