The Twinkies

Yesterday was the monthly growth scan, along with my bi-weekly appt.

I am up to 208 pounds. My blood pressure is an enviable 116/78, I “measure” 45 weeks pregnant and the OB described my feet as “quite puffy.” Thanks.

Baby A (the girl) weighs about 5 lbs. 5 oz. at this point, has good fluid levels in her amniotic sac, a good heart rate, and was kicking and twisting with such vigor it was rather difficult to officially measure her responsiveness on the non-stress-test. She has stuck herself smack dab in the middle of the good uterine real estate and is kicking her brother to get him to give up even more space. She seems to have inherited from both B. and I the family traditions of what I shall tactfully call strong-minded women.

Baby B (the boy) weights about 4 lbs. 13 oz. at this point, and is similarly healthy, though somewhat crowded and more amiable to the the NST.

I won’t have any more growth scans; I am too far along and there are no discernable problems. I will keep having amniotic fluid checks and NSTs twice a week until Baby A finally kicks Baby B out into the world, which could, in theory, be any day now. B. thinks it will be in the next 2 or 3 days, I am betting more like 2 or 3 weeks. There is a pool at his office.

Huge, swollen and grumpy. That is the final stage of a twin pregnancy. I keep telling myself that 36 weeks is safe, 37 is term for twins, and 38 is golden. Of course, I’ll end up being one of the people who just goes and goes on until 40 weeks, hostile, huge and healthy.

I am holding steady at a little over 200 pounds, the twins are still head down, and their fluid levels remain good. They are tres reactive at the bi-weekly non-stress-tests, so, though I suspect they are trying to kill me, they are still very very healthy. As am I.

We get another growth scan next week. Until then, their sizes remain a mystery, but based on the bits poking out, I’m guessing BIG.

Nursery Photos:

Me at 34 1/2 Weeks:

Me at 32 Weeks:

I love our giant rhododendron.

I am over 200 pounds, swollen, huge and uncomfortable. I have gone from a size 8 to a size 11 shoe. My hands feel arthritic, they are so swollen; making a fist is a thing of the past. The doctors not only say this is normal, on Tuesday she looked at my feet and said, “Well, you aren’t too swollen.” I gasped and asked what too swollen looked like. All she said was, “I’ve seen worse.”

I am now having fluid checks via ultrasound once a week. So far, everyone has plenty of anmniotic fluid. I also get to have non-stress-tests done twice a week. This may be one of the most boring things I have ever done; I lie on a table and monitors measure how responsive the babies are. Baby B is always very cooperative, but Baby A does NOT like having the monitor measure her, and moves out of the way, making me lie there longer as the technician has to find her again.

It turns out I have Group B Strep, which will necessitate a dose of antibiotics via IV during labor. Happily, one of the OBs let me know that once the drug is in me I can be unhooked so I will still have freedom to move around.

Passed the gestational diabetes test. Ick.

We are taking a natural birth class which B. calls “hippy school.” I have another ultrasounds next week and am hoping to find out that Baby A has turned. If she hasn’t, I’m off to some acupuncturist at XXX and some masseuse in XXX, both of whom apparently have excellent track records in getting breech babies to turn.

We visited the hospital. If one must do a hospital birth, which was certainly not my first choice, I guess XXX is as good as it gets. No mandatory IVs, very supportive of natural birth, etc. The one downside of twins is that home birth becomes a bit more problematic.

The nursery is almost done. The walls are painted, thanks to Chris and Amie; we are waiting on one crib, which should be here in 2 weeks, and have to hang curtains this weekend. Some strange bout of domesticity possessed me and I decided to make curtains. In retrospect, I should have had my head examined.

As of last week, I was up to 186 pounds. That would be a 46 pound weight gain.

I am down to 3 days per week at work, though, other than the constant exhaustion, am almost embarrassingly healthy. I AM huge; I “measure” 35 weeks although I am only 27.