the hospital & some randomness

On Saturday, we took a tour of St. Luke's, the hospital where we will likely deliver.  It was long.  But, good to get better acquainted with the hospital, where to go, etc.  It's about a 1/2 mile walk from our house.  3.5 blocks.  Of course, come delivery day, I won't be walking.  Then it'll be a 0.8 mile drive from the house (assuming that's where we'll come from). 

Fortunately, we are already fairly well acquainted with the hospital.  It's where my mom spent a few weeks a few years ago and where my sister-in-law delivered her twins earlier this year.  I did learn on the tour that her room was one of the larger rooms since she got a corner.  Here's hoping we're that lucky! 

We got a big tease by seeing a delivery room, which is quite nice considering it's a hospital.  We won't grace the doors of this kind of room since we're considered high risk.  We also saw the operating rooms, which is where we'll go no matter what kind of delivery we end up with--just in case. 

It all made me reflect on how lucky we are to live so close to such good medical care.  Our hospital is connected to Texas Children's and if we need a NICU, that's where the babies will end up.  One of the women on the tour lives in New York, but will come down to Houston 4 weeks before her delivery date to have access to the Texas Medical Center.  In most situations, the high level of care isn't necessary, but because we're having twins and because they often come early and with some breathing or other problems, we are incredibly fortunate to have these resources, almost literally in our backyard.  Grateful.

So, I've now gained just shy of 1/3 of my starting weight.  I get winded going upstairs to the bedroom.  Embarrassing. 

I'm starting to train someone at work to take over for me while I'm on leave.  This is becoming more of a present reality.  Now, what in the world should I do with my email inbox?  I fear the thousands of emails that will pile up while I'm gone. 

Good news is that doc said everything continues to look really good.  25 weeks!  Pretty amazing how close it's getting...

the bed

So, I've mentioned the difficulty getting comfortable sleeping, right?  And how pillows have overtaken such that the hubs has practically no place to be.  Well, here's the evidence.  If anyone can invent something that truly makes sleeping comfortable, there's a market out there, I'm certain.

That's 5 bed pillows (hubs gets 1), a snoogle and 2 decorative pillows.

happy anniversary

9 years ago, D asked me to marry him.  8 years ago, we were wed. There are so many cheesy and wonderful things I think and feel about D and our relationship.  Suffice it to say, I love him more than anything.

Brazil honeymoon 2003

3 years ago we had our first miscarriage.  In some ways, that was the beginning of the journey that eventually led us to the ability to have children, and doubly so!

This year we're celebrating our last anniversary sans kiddos.  We are clinging on to the final few months of the life that is soon to be but a distant memory of romantic quiet evenings, intimate adult conversation, and carefree self-indulgence. 

Thank you for being the best husband in the world, Lover!!

swelling and popping

The transformation of the body is amazing.  The swelling of the feet, however, not so amazing.  Mine haven't gotten super huge or anything, thank goodness (at least not yet).  But, just enough so that my old shoes aren't very comfortable.  They do look much more sausage-like at the end of the day or when I've been out in the heat. Sadly, I've also had to retire the engagement and wedding rings for awhile.  I can't complain too much, I've only had minor swelling thus far and I know lots of women suffer much worse.  Of course, I still have July, August, and September to go...

But, probably the biggest challenge for me has been the transformation of my belly button!  I've been an inny all my life.  I'm not exactly an outy now, but the inny is definitely protruding--sort of hard to explain and I'm certainly NOT posting a pic.  In any case, it's causing an identity crisis.  You think you've been something all your life and then suddenly it changes!  Fortunately, continuing the trend of pregnancy and baby products with funny names, I suppose I could always go out and get these...

Or, just hold my chin up and embrace my new identity!!

queen or king?

I have always been a big proponent of the queen-size bed.  In a king, I feel like the hubby and I might as well be sleeping in different beds.  What's the point of that?!  The queen is just more intimate.  Since D has been out of town for past 3 nights, I've had the queen to myself.  I have been sleeping with 5 bed pillows and 2 decorative pillows.  And, I've slept well.  Maybe there is something to be said for the king.  Or 2 queens...  Can't wait 'til you're back, honey!...

imagining the big day

I heard that in the past, hospitals didn't resuscitate babies unless they were 24 weeks old, but now they'll do it at 23 weeks.  (yipee!  We're in 23!)  Don't get me wrong, I'd be happy never knowing the answer to that question, but it is starting to sink in how close we're getting to the big day. 

And it made me start thinking about that day.  That day is scary.  Exciting, but scary.  At some point, I will likely experience something strange (water breaking, increasing contractions, etc.) that means, get your behonky to the hospital!  It will probably be unplanned.  Out of nowhere.  All of a sudden.  I won't be prepared (I mean, I'll never be prepared, right?).  I will be so excited.  I will be incredibly nervous that something will go wrong.  I will feel out of control.  Helpless.  Thrilled.  While I'm going through this roller coaster of joy and worry, D will be the happiest person on this side of the world.  He will be excited, like a kid in a candy store.  We'll both forget something really important.  We won't care.

It'll be a day we'll never forget.  Although we might edit out a few details from our memories.  :)

i wonder what it's like in there...

Are they squished?  Doc says they have lots of fluid and Baby A rotated so that both are now standing up, so there must at least be some room.

Do they sleep? 

How does that whole breathing in liquid thing work?  Is it like in the Abyss?

Can they tell when I'm happy, sad, stressed, etc.?

What's it like when I sneeze?  Whoooooaaaaaaa, what was that?!

Week 23

The kiddos are now approximately 1 lb. 4 oz. each and everything looks good.  Both docs are now not worried about the umbilical cord issue.  Plenty of fluid and lots of movement (which I didn't need the doc to tell me!). 

Here are a few pics.  The tech tried to get me some pics of the faces, but they kept looking away and were terribly camera shy.  So, if you can figure out what's going on, they look a little like aliens.  The very last photo of Baby B is the best and you can almost make out a cute little face.

This is Baby A.  Her head is to the left in both, I think that might be a ribcage on the right in both. 

In these sonograms of Baby B, you can almost make out a face, his head is to the right.

belly pic

Here's the status of the giant belly on the last day of week 22.  For comparison, weeks 4 and 15 are here.  On our babymoon (almost week 21), I was about the same size as a friend who is preggo with her 3rd child, a singleton, at week 31.  That's amazingly on track to what my doc said, that at week 24 I'll be the size of an 8-month singleton pregnancy. 

We enjoyed a lovely choral, organ, and orchestral concert this evening and I think the kiddos liked it.  They were dancing throughout the performance and for quite awhile afterwards.  Hopefully, they'll get their daddy's voice!

oh what a day

Remember how I was talking about being more nervous about drivers out there?  (here.)  Well, today we had scare #3...  I was stopped at a light in Bartolo, D's brand spankin' new TDI Sportwagon (described here.) and someone plowed into me from behind.  There is only minor damage to the bumper--is there some law about new cars being in accidents?  I was so concerned about Bartolo (the new wheels) that it didn't even occur to me that it might cause any problems with the little bambinos.  I did call the doc, and he encouraged me to come in to his office to get checked out just in case.  He said it didn't sound like there would be any problems since I didn't have any pain or bleeding, no impact to the belly, etc.  He also said it didn't really matter when I went in today since it's so early in the pregnancy, they wouldn't be able to do an emergency C-section, anyway.  ???!!?!?!?!!!  I chose to ignore that last part...  So, I went in first thing, determined to break the spell of getting scary news when D's not around (see here and here.).  Ultrasound looked great.  Babies still moving around unfazed by the big, bad world.  Particularly Baby A, the girl.  She moves around like crazy--kind of drives me nuts sometimes kicking me in the guts.  Both had good heartbeats, too.  Doc wanted me to go home and rest for a few hours and self-monitor for contractions or go to the hospital and let them do it.  Since I was feeling pretty good and hospitals totally stress me out, I decided to just come home and rest and self-monitor.  D came home for a bit at lunchtime, too, which was nice.  Doc just wanted to be sure I didn't have multiple contractions in an hour and said to monitor for 3-4 hours.  He said if we made it through that then we wouldn't have any preterm labor that was caused by the accident.  As far as I can tell, I didn't have any contractions, so we're now in the clear.  Of course, the client I was supposed to spend the day with in negotiations was very understanding.  Although they probably did fine without me, I'm arrogant enough to be a little nervous to hear tomorrow how it all went...  If that's my biggest worry at this point, though, I think we're doing pretty well!  Thank God it was just a little fender bender!!

doc updates

22 weeks!!!  Each week that goes by is a milestone.  It's pretty incredible to think that we're already nearing the time when the babies are viable.  Almost 30 percent of babies born at 23 weeks of pregnancy survive, while about 50 to 60 percent of babies born at 24 weeks, about 75 percent born at 25 weeks, and more than 90 percent born at 27 to 28 weeks, survive. Find out more here.  Obviously, we're trying to let them cook much longer than all that, but it's still reassuring and pretty darn amazing.

For those dedicated readers, we had our heart scan to follow up on this.  We saw a cardiologist who performed a fetal echocardiogram on Friday.  After waiting over an hour (even though they said the entire appointment would be less than an hour) in a tiny room, which combined with the stress of the impending test, etc. did not make me a happy camper, the doc did an intense look at the babies' heart.  He looked at all the valves, the atriums and ventricles and whole lot more stuff that I don't remember from 9th grade biology.  Just like in high school, the discussion of all these details caused me to snooze a little.  Well that and pretty much anytime I'm horizontal for any period of time I tend to take advantage.  The full sum of the appointment is that everything that he can see at this point looks to be normal.  There are some things that he can't see at this point, but he thinks they look good and was fairly encouraging that we won't have any heart issues with the kiddos.  Yay!

I went back to my primary doc today.  He still found the umbilical cord attachment described here.  So, he printed a couple pics that I took over to the perinatologist (the other doc I've mentioned before).  I dropped them off so that she could see what he found since she was unable to find the attachment.  He still thinks we shouldn't worry about it and he doesn't recommend surgery to fix it.  We'll be back to see her next week and since she now has the pics, we'll get her opinion as well. 

Having the two docs with very different approaches has been really good in some ways and less ideal in others.  I like hearing the views of both a very conservative doc and a more laid back doc.  Gives me some perspective as we navigate some of these issues.  Also helps me realize that there is a lot of art to this science.  Since we're probably somewhere in the middle, it's nice to hear the conservative perspective with the assurance of the laid back one.  Unfortunately, there's some confusion as to who's quarterbacking all this and coordinating to be sure that the right tests are done and information is communicated freely is complicated.  I'm learning that I shouldn't assume anything.  All that being said, I think all my doctors so far have been great and I have full faith in them.

The kiddos are still kicking like crazy, which D loves.  I think the hubby being able to feel the babies kick is what makes this whole thing seem more real to him--whereas I've gotten all kinds of reminders of the reality of being pregnant for awhile now (fatigue, heartburn, aches, it's pretty hard to ignore it all).  The giant belly is somewhat convincing, but feeling the babies move around and be alive has been a fun experience for him.  I love the look on D's face when he gets to feel the little guys moving around.  It's the look of delight and discovery that you often see on kids, but rarely on adults.  I adore that guy.

babymoon

D and I had a marvelous time in Chi-town for our babymoon (2nd definition) over Memorial Day weekend.

–noun
1. A planned period of calm spent together by a just-born baby and its parents; A "honeymoon" for new parents and their infant.
2. A last vacation taken by expectant parents before a baby is born.

Before learning we were having twins we had pondered more exotic and exciting adventures that we won't be able to do again for awhile, but the doc recommended that we not travel far, we not travel at all beginning in June, and we go to a place with good hospitals, all just in case.  It turned out to be a wonderful choice for us.  Short flight, superb hotel, lots of fun things to do that I could sit and enjoy.  All in all, great.  Highlights were Second City for an afternoon of comedy, two Cubs games (including a win by the Astros!!), concert in Millennium Park, architecture river cruise, and a visit to the Art Institute.

name game (take II)

The hubby and I have always enjoyed discussing possible names for our children.  Even before we were convinced we wanted children, we had a list of names that we tossed around.  That list has changed over time as we add and delete names with the changing winds.  Here's what we thought on the topic 3 years ago.  

We've pretty much settled on Baby A's name (of course we reserve the right to change our minds at any point).  She will be Sylvia Mar Vassar.  Sylvia is David's paternal grandmother's name and Mar is a variant on my paternal grandmother's maiden name.  Sylvia means forest and my grandmother's name means horse.  Mar also means sea in Spanish, so we like how well they fit together (forest/horse, forest sea).  L will also be pleased that we didn't pick Soraya, which has been on the list or any other name that sounds similar to a disease...

Now, Baby B's name has been much more difficult.  Seems that boy names are either super commonplace or totally wacko.  We're looking for something in the middle.  We also are trying to keep in mind my German/Chinese roots and the hubby's love of all things latino.  Plus, our kiddos will have Mexican, German, Chinese, and East Texan/Louisianan relatives, so we are trying to find a name that everyone can pronounce.  I also have a hangup about names that are super common.

So, here's our short list for the time being.  The number is the ranking of the name for babies born in 2010 according to the US social security administration.

Gabriel         #21 (3.2/1000)        God is my strength (Hebrew)
Lucas          #35                       Man from Lucania (Greek); Bringer of Light (Latin) 

Nicolas        #162 (w/h #38)    Victory of the people (Greek)
Diego           #85                      Supplanter (Hebrew)
Leonardo     #150                    Strong as the lion (Germanic)
Rafael          #257                    God has healed (Hebrew)
Stefan         #869                     Crown (Greek)

The hubby also really like Sebastian, which I adore if pronounced the way it sounds by Spanish-speakers, but not so much by 'Mericans.  And since I'm the one writing this blog entry, I'm leaving it off the list.  :)  I also think it would practically be simpler if the kiddos had different initials and since I'm not as much into the matchy matchy as some, I sort of veer away from S names.

We have gotten some interesting suggestions from friends and relatives alike.  One cousin's wife suggested Barbara and Kenneth (Ken & Barbie).  Another friend is determined to find a name that begins with V, possibly so that he can throw the double peace sign, which is, of course, #35 on the list of "Stuff Asian People Like."

Any thoughts?  Votes?  We of course reserve the right to ignore anything you say, but we are interested (unless we disagree).