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 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 350: Baby shower for X and Y

My sister-in-law Naomi put on a fabulous shower for me today. It was very fun, and I now have at least a small stockpile of diapers and some cute things for the twins when they're born. It was also a good turn out for being a little last-minute. A lot of relatives were out of town, but quite a few FNG gals came, along with my mom and grandma and a couple of others. Thank you ladies!

Day 344: Family reunion

Zaria had fun at the park in the morning with Grandma Dawn and Aunt Katie while Jamin and I went to church with Dad. She also got a new "princess skirt" from the dollar store that she was pretty pleased about.
In the afternoon, we joined up with a fair number of Jamin's relatives at the family reunion. The above photo shows all of Jamin's dad's siblings in birth order. L-R: Ronald, Coral and Knute (they're fraternal twins, a few minutes apart), Alfred, David, Herbert and Richard. They go by Ron, Coral, Knute, Al, Dave, Herb and Rich. They're all very intelligent and had some great stories to share during the reunion. I was so glad we made the trip up. The youngest family member to make it was Ron's first great grandchild, Emery, who was just a few weeks old.

Day 333: Play date with twins

These adorable twin boys, Tyler and Logan, will be a year old this week. We had a play date with them today, and I got to hear their mom's birth story and issues with having them share certain toys. They're sitting on a riding train toy that Zaria brought to their attention, and it's been a major source of contention for Tyler. He's not happy seeing anyone else use the train, so they plan to either get another one or get rid of it.

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 323: Tossing sleep

It's a habit of mine to check in on Zaria before I go to sleep, and I'm usually amused at how much she moves around in her sleep. She takes after me in this, although I probably don't move as much in my sleep right now since it usually wakes up the twins. I've actually gotten more used to their movements and can get back to sleep with them moving, as long as they're not pushing painfully. Now as I watch Zaria sleep, I've been imagining little X and Y sleeping alongside each other in the crib as tiny little peanuts. Zaria's gotten so much bigger, but I'm still glad she's in a crib with all her nightly locomotion-- I think she'd fall out of a bed pretty quickly.

Day 315: Preparing

Just beginning to prepare a few baby boy items for X and Y's arrival. This top drawer has some of the smallest items.
Dave preparing (well, actually, starting) a bonfire for us to enjoy and roast marshmallows on.

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 297: Checking out books

I've made it a habit to check out 5 new board books each week so we have something new to read over the week. Zaria had fun at story time today and I had a chance to talk with a twin mom who has 15-month-old boys that come to story time. Zaria's also getting more prone to tantrums . . . usually the limp noodle and cry type, but it's hard with me trying not to pick her up much. We almost didn't make to to the library today.

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 286: Twins at Como

There was a big Multiple Connections picnic at Como Zoo this afternoon, and though Zaria wasn't too interested in the juggler they had, she had a great time pushing strollers and visiting with various twins. We also checked out the special butterfly exhibit, and I managed to catch a butterfly landing on my mom's head. Zaria had a great time wandering around the exhibit and flirting with little boys that were in line on the other side of the netting.

Happy birthday to Jamin, who was on the road all day today and was missed at the picnic.

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 254: Slippers

Incredibly, Zaria kept her slippers on this evening. She usually has them off after a couple of room crossings. So I put my slippers on and we did some slipper dancing, turning in circles and waving our hands.

I also had an OB appointment today, and X and Y are doing great. In 3 weeks, I have my level II ultrasound, which will be a good time to determine the sex of each baby. But the doctor asked if I wanted to find out today, and I was up for it since the big MOMs garage sale is this weekend. So . . . it looks like one of them is a boy! I'm not sure if it was X or Y, though I think it was Y (I'll call him that since it matches his chromosome, not to confuse the other one if X is also a boy). We're still not sure on X, because X was a little more shy . . . it's likely X is a girl, but we'll make a better determination in three weeks.

Day 239: 13.5 weeks

The bulge is becoming more evident all the time.

Day 232: Twin dolls

Becca and Tricia had these twin dolls-- they're supposed to be the younger brother and sister of Dora the Explorer. Anyway, Zaria noticed them during our visit and totally latched on to them. She did not want to let them go and carried them around with her for a good portion of our visit. Renee noticed this, and not only purged a bunch of their existing toys, but went out and bought these twin dolls for Zaria to bring home with her. She saw them on the table before breakfast this morning, and it was all I could do to try to get her to eat breakfast and wait to get these two out of the box to play with. Hopefully playing with these will also help her transition to being a big sister of two.

Day 225: MF Baby dedication

They had another baby dedication at Mothers' Fellowship today (Zaria was dedicated back in late 2007). I had the chance to hold the little girl at the end, who was less than 2 weeks old and adorable, and I also met Nancy, the woman near the middle holding her two sons in MN Twins shirts. Yes, they are twins and they are fraternal. Talking with Nancy after MF, I'm starting to feel less scared about the possibility that I could be carrying two boys. They'll be fun and a lot of work regardless of whether they're boys or girls.

Day 218: Ultrasound 2

I just found out yesterday that they were going to do another ultrasound, and I was very excited to be able to see little X and Y again. The technician took lots of pictures of both babies, trying to get their extremities and little profiles. There's a fairly good profile of X on the right, and for both of them on the top pictures, showing their heartbeats. The bottom two left images show both sacs, along with a face shot of Y. I think s/he looks a bit like a kitty cat at this point. When we first started watching them, they were bouncing around-- more active than I had expected at only 10 1/2 weeks. Baby X seemed to "know" we were watching him or her because s/he kept waving a little arm as if to say, "Hi Mom!"

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.