Day 366: Still at hospital

Getting a little cozy. Today is Labor Day, but it looks like we're out of the danger zone of actually going into labor today. So I tried to enjoy my "room service" and watched a "Jon and Kate Plus 8" marathon on the TLC network. I've been told for a while I should see the show since I'm expecting twins, so now I finally know what it's all about. Thanks be to God I am not having sextuplets.

Day 365: Magnesium sulfate

I forgot my camera at my mom's place when we rushed to the hospital at midnight, so I guess the end of my year will be captured with my camera phone. Today, magnesium sulfate is my lot. Kinda nasty stuff. It makes me very thirsty and my hands and feet and head feel hot. Not sure how long I'll be in the hospital, but for now this IV is working to stop the contractions. We'd like to hold off on the twins' birth, but I'm also hoping they'll let me out of here by my birthday.

Day 364: Bed rest on moving day

After a few hours at the hospital in the wee hours, I was ordered on bed rest today. So I didn't get to be part of the move today at all. Since both of our places would be in moving chaos, I went to my mom's house while she and Dave were out of town and slept there. I slept a lot, partly from barely getting any sleep during the night. I felt bad leaving everything to Jamin, especially since he didn't get much sleep last night either. Later in the evening when he got home, I had a lot of contractions again and this time I was actually admitted to the hospital to stop premature labor.

Day 351: 29 weeks

Still growing! I'm holding up a matching pair of little boy suits I got from Marla at the shower yesterday. I have a few identical outfits, so I guess we'll have to use name tags if the boys are identical twins.

Day 326: 26 weeks

No stretch marks yet! *fingers crossed* I had a nice doctor that said I may not get them since I didn't have any with Zaria. That was a relief since I thought it would be automatic with twins. I'm definitely feeling the pull of gravity and am carrying them low, which I believe would be the correct old wives' tales way of predicting a boy. Does that double with two?

Day 319: Disappearing feet

As I was preparing to go over our small group book, Pedaling Tandem for the Long Haul, I looked down and remembered that I can no longer see my feet. It's actually been that way for a while now, but here's a glimpse from my perspective.

Today is also the first official day of Sonshine. *sigh* We decided not to go this year since it would be too costly for Jamin to take the time off work, and I certainly don't feel up to going without him. As it was, he barely made it to small group tonight and then he had to finish dealing with a load after small group.

Day 312: 24 weeks' size

I'm definitely feeling the largeness these days. I took a tape measure out to check, and I am actually slightly larger from this angle (sideways) than straight on now, so no use in turning sideways to get around things, though I still do it out of habit.

The boys are progressing nicely-- my last OB appointment measured them at 1 lb 5 oz. and 1 lb 6 oz., and everything looked great. I'm getting more excited at the prospect of having two boys. They'll be a lot of work, but a lot of fun. Zaria also seems to like playing with boys and I think she'll have fun being a big sister to them. I'm having a tougher time sleeping, and they're definitely pushing in some painful ways, but I've also enjoyed feeling them move individually and knowing both X and Y are special and unique, even now. Y seems to be more acrobatic and moves all over the place, while X tends to have subtler movements except some occasional hard pushes.

Day 291: The beach and beach ball belly

I felt adventurous and it was a beautiful day, so I took Zaria to the beach. We didn't bring suits, though it ended up being warm enough that I wished I had. Zaria has lots of fun playing in the sand and wading in the water. I only did minimal chasing after her, really, but I was exhausted after about 90 minutes (including lunch time). Next time I'm not going as the only adult.

Later in the evening after small group, I tried on some dresses to find out what I could wear to Kristie & Josh's wedding this weekend. It was fairly hard to find a good fit that looked OK on me. Below is my beach ball belly in a dress I decided to pack but not wear to the ceremony. It'll be a little better if I get something over it, I figure. Am I really only half way there on this pregnancy? The twins are at 21 weeks today.

Day 277: Dentist

My lovely clean teeth, a few hours after visiting the dentist. I did, unfortunately have one "occlusion," so I'll have to be back for a filling. *sigh* I also have a terrible case of pregnancy-induced gingivitis. At least we know what the cure for that problem will be, and it shouldn't involve any Novocaine or drilling.

Day 276: Family ultrasound

Jamin, Mom and Zaria all came with for the big Level II ultrasound I had today. It was a long one-- definitely over an hour, but it looks like we have two healthy little boys on the way! Yup, it turns out X and Y both have both of their nick-namesake chromosomes. I still am not sure if we'll name each with a name that has an X or a Y in it, but we'll give it a shot. I've had trouble finding names with X that I like, but I'm open for suggestions. Anyhow, they're both about 9 inches long today and I'm feeling them move a whole lot more often. I also can tell which one is moving after all that time today determining where each sac is located and where their placentas are attached. X is in my lower left quadrant and Y is somewhat in the middle upper abdomen, and will be poking into my ribs more than his brother. I am a little scared about two little Jamins running around, but I'm trying to get used to the idea.

Day 272: 18 weeks

Day 239: 13.5 weeks

The bulge is becoming more evident all the time.

Day 212: 10 weeks

Still growing. It's definitely becoming easier to remember that there are twins in there. At 10 weeks they should be just over an inch in length and approximately 0.14 oz. From research I've been doing, twins do actually grow a little faster than a singleton would. It seems to be a natural response to the usual need to come out sooner than 40 weeks. But they're probably not growing faster quite this early. Next week I have my first real neonatologist appointment and can find out if there are special things I need to know about this pregnancy.

Day 199: In the Waiting Room

Here's Zaria in the waiting room at the car dealership while we got an oil change. She was pretty good about staying in the room, but here she's considering her mobility options.

Below are X and Y in the waiting room. For anyone unfamiliar with how early pregnancy shows, 8 weeks is pretty early, but I'm definitely sticking out more than I was 2 weeks ago. It's common for a second pregnancy to show sooner than a first, and from research I've done, I will look much bigger than the mother of a singleton as the weeks go by.

Day 190: Ashes and visits

We had a special Mother's Fellowship today, an Easter celebration service. One of the activities we did was to write down our burdens and nail them to a cross. Then, without looking at what was written, a couple of the leaders pulled all the slips of paper off and brought them outside to be burned in the fire pit outside. There are some large windows that look out into the garden area that includes the fire pit, so we were able to watch as our burdens went up to God in smoke. It was amazing. I wept a little, probably partly due to pregnancy hormones kicking in. I am just so grateful to God that instead of the possible horror I was dreading of an ectopic pregnancy, I am blessed to have two healthy growing babies inside.

In the evening we had a chance to visit Jamin's folks along with Dan, Naomi and Gwendolyn. Marla pulled out a box of musical instruments, which were fun to bang around with for both Zaria and Gwendolyn, but I think they enjoyed playing a "duet" on the keyboard even more.