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October 31, 2007
Countdown, Day 9: Last Big Date Night
This might be our last big date before we're a foursome instead of a twosome!
We're going to start with a local Thai restaurant--share some appetizers and an entree. BTW, people keep asking if I got weird cravings during the pregnancy, and I think craving Thai basil rolls is the most out-of-the-ordinary one I've had. There's something so fresh about the basil and mint and rice paper and cold shrimp. I remember ordering some for take-out during my first trimester and finding out when we got home that they gave us FRIED spring rolls instead...I was devastated way beyond the bounds of rational reactions! A few weeks later, I finally had one and it was heaven!!
I hope our babies like a wide variety of foods!
Then we're going to our very cool arthouse theater. It calls itself a barcafecinema--pretty sweet for the one of us who can still drink beer. And we're going to see In the Shadow of the Moon, a documentary covering all nine Apollo missions, with interviews from surviving astronauts.
Update: the movie was terrific!! The interviews with the astronauts were the best--they were a bunch of fun, quirky, brave men!
Posted by Tim and Jo at 02:57 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
October 30, 2007
Countdown, Day 8: 11 pounds of baby!
...which explains why I'm so dang uncomfortable these days.
Today I had probably my final ultrasound until the babies make their debut.
Everything looks good!
We saw Ian practice breathing, as his little chest went in and out. He's still head down and in the lead position.
Elanor turned. Again. She's transverse and taking up a lot of room, while little Ian is all squished in. But as long as he's head down, we can still try to avoid a c-section.
They each weight 5 lbs. 7 ozs., which is great for where we're at. And it's great that they weigh the same.*
The doctor thinks that even if they were born tonight, they would be fine, and every extra day inside is just icing on the cake.
*if they each gain 8-16 oz. a week from now on, you do the math. Good grief!!!
Posted by Tim and Jo at 06:12 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
October 29, 2007
Countdown, Day 7: 35 weeks!
35 weeks today--one of my big milestone goals!
I just hope I can make it through the week okay, I feel like I'll be home free if I make it to 36 weeks. I'm pretty much, well not to be too whiny, miserable at the moment. Every freaking thing I do--sit, stand, walk, lie down, anything in between--is uncomfortable. But at this point, from what I understand, every day inside me is potentially two less days in ICU for the babies, so I try to keep that in mind, visualizing big, plump, red-cheeked, healthy babies.
But on a more positive note, someone on the twin forum I'm in linked to an incredible photo collection on flickr. Apparently the woman who takes the pictures is a maternity nurse. And she's taken a ton of beautiful pictures of twins, and even triplets. It's giving me some great ideas for when our little bits make their entrance.
Movie of the Day: Bride and Prejudice. Apparently the little guys love Indian dance music!
Posted by Tim and Jo at 10:50 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
October 28, 2007
Countdown, Day 6: 2 down, 3 to go
Well, I just heard my sister-in-law had her baby today, an eight-and-a-half pound chunk! Sounds like they're both recovering nicely!!
So, the baby race is just left between my old friend and me. I'm hoping we'll come on the same day and have "triplets"!
She came to one of our showers the other day, and we had a hard time trying to hug with three babies in between us! It's been really fun to live closer to her, and to be able to swap notes along our pregnancy journies.
Today, I really missed our church in Pittsburgh. Everyone would be so excited by now!
Posted by Tim and Jo at 09:29 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
October 27, 2007
Countdown, Day 5
Today, we popped off to a couple of stores to use some gift cards. Some stuff was practical and necessary--diapers, wipes, etc.--but we also found some fun things, like a little Winnie-the-Pooh mobile to hang above their crib. We're starting to feel like the little nest is nearly ready for our two little birds!
And now the phantom blogger takes his turn...
Tim: One reason I love being a music librarian is getting to see the strange, absurd, hilarious things that come into the music cataloging section. For instance, we just got some boxed sets in: one was called "The Goth Box" and was wrapped in a black leather corset. One was a collection of girl group songs from the 50s and 60s and the CDs came in a black and white striped hat box. I recently cataloged a Phi Mu Alpha fraternity songbook and one of the songs was called “Song of the Worm.” (The Worm being a new initiate.) Another piece I cataloged recently was titled "The Smell of Wet Dogs After a Summertime Rain." What a marvelous age we live in: freedom of speech, freedom to create great works of art, freedom to give the most stupid, inane titles to musical compositions. It makes me proud to be an American! I just cataloged a piece by a German composer called “Die schrecklich-gewaltigen Kinder” which in English means “the powerfully shrieking children” (or possibly the “shriekingly powerful children”). You can image the fun my boss had with that one!
Movie of the Day: Dog Day Afternoon [yep, Tim picked the movie today!]
Posted by Tim and Jo at 11:40 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
October 26, 2007
Countdown, Day 4
I can't wait for you guys to come out because I can't wait to see this guy as a daddy!
No Movie of the Day, just fun activities:
*My last research trip to the library for awhile--I found some great material. Nice to have a productive last research day, as I try to wrap things up enough to put my dissertation away for awhile.
*Our last last shower, put on by Tim's work. Pictures and details to come later!
*Finished one more round on the baby blanket--two more to go and I'll be done!
Posted by Tim and Jo at 06:15 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
October 25, 2007
Countdown, Day 3
I can't wait to have my arms (and heart!) full of babies, especially when they're happy, sleepy, or not crying. I've tried to imagine it, but I don't quite have a visual picture of how I'll deal with two fussy babies at once, especially if it's at a time when I don't have Tim or other help around.
I had the privilege to spend time with my bro's babies when his twins were a few weeks old. There's nothing like the feeling of having two snuggly, sleepy babies in your arms at once!
Movie of the Day: A Girl of the Limberlost
Posted by Tim and Jo at 11:48 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
October 24, 2007
Countdown, Day 2
I love the fact that the babies already appear to have distinctive personalities, even in utero. Ian, in general, tends to be a little more laidback (though he's still a wild child at times), and Elanor definitely has a will of her own. I can't wait to see how their personalities develop, and if these pre-birth tendencies turn out to be patterns in the long run
Good news--they've both turned. Once again, it looks like Elanor was the instigator--Ian's been on the bottom for the longest time (laying sideways), and it appears that she pushed him out of the way and into the right position, and even put her head in place to come out first! Hopefully (we're praying!) they'll stay in their head-down position.
I saw their personalities earlier this week when I was having frequent but thankfully (as it turned out) false contractions. I had to go in to get monitored for an hour or two. They strapped on three monitors--one for contractions, and one for each babies' heartbeats.
The babies did not like the invasion of their privacy! Elanor--as usual--squirmed away from the monitor. The nurse had to come in and push it down on her, ticking her off enormously. Her heartbeat shot up, she squirmed away (again!), and started pounding on me.
Ian didn't waste time pitching fits. He just systematically and persistently tried to kick off both his monitor and the contraction monitor. Tim and I watched as he precisely kicked the monitors over and over again. I have the feeling Ian is going to have Tim's personality. Tim doesn't usually waste much time getting upset over things, he just pitches in and does what needs to be done.
Exasperated at all the warning signs the babies were creating on the monitor, one of the nurses finally came in and asked, "Are they like this all the time?!?"
Pretty much!
Movie of the Day: Wizard of Oz
Posted by Tim and Jo at 04:25 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
October 23, 2007
Countdown, Day 1
Okay, so over these past few days, I've gone from feeling like "oh, this pregnancy thing isn't so bad" to "how am I going to get through these next few weeks?!?!" I just feel uncomfortable and exhausted.
There's only 2-3 weeks left, and even though I don't feel like having them in me for that long, I definitely want them there so that they don't have to go into ICU in the hospital. I see pictures of babies with all those tubes in them, and it makes me really sad. So, I'm just going to try to take it easy and keep them in as long as possible. Any suggestions for nice movies (nothing blood and guts, and something preferrably with at least a somewhat happy ending) to while away the time would be appreciated! And I'm going to try to finish the blanket I'm making for them.
Someone suggested doing something like a baby advent calendar for them. So, I'm going to try to write something each day in this blog, either about something fun (or funny) about being pregnant with them, or something that I'm looking forward to when they come out. Maybe I can show them these thoughts when they get older. So for today...
Especially over the past few weeks, they've started doing something I call "lumping out." One of them will stick their little butt* (or other body part) out as far as they can, and my whole belly will go lopsided. It'll look like a giant growth sticking out of one side of me. Sometimes they'll both do it. One lump or two?
Movie of the Day: Persuasion
*remind me of a Simpsons episode where the doctor is looking at an ultrasound of Bart and says, "I think he's trying to moon me!"
Posted by Tim and Jo at 06:03 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
October 15, 2007
Twin humor
Someone linked to this video on the twin forum I'm in. I can't quite put my finger on why it's so funny.
Maybe it's because I can imagine similar conversations going on inside me at certain points in the day (I'm sure they're not fighting--they're just playing, right???). I've got some *crazy* babies in there!
Posted by Tim and Jo at 11:10 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
October 13, 2007
A Tale of Two Cakes (and some chocolate)
Just to show some of the creativity in my family, here are a couple of pictures from the shower they held for me earlier this week.
One of my aunts made a diaper cake, with bits and pieces that she and my mom had found. It was so cute that we couldn't take it apart, and we now have it displayed in our kitchen--at least until the diapers and pacis and toys are needed. She made layers out of rolled up diapers, and then used little rings to attach the baby bric-a-brac
My mom made the cake for the shower, complete with babies and toys modeled from frosting. We're trying to dry out the babies now to see if we can save them. If you look real close, you can see our babies' names!
I loved this unposed picture of my cousin waiting longingly for a taste of the chocolate fountain. He stayed at the shower until he got food, then went over to hang out with the guys watching football at an uncle's house. And ate more food.
Posted by Tim and Jo at 04:20 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
October 11, 2007
8 months/32 weeks!
Another milestone!!
Okay, so I'm posting this picture...but only if you understand with an extra baby+the babies measuring extra big+an extra placenta+an extra sac, I'm carrying way more than a large full term baby at this point.
Understand?
Okay, here it is!
Behind me is the adorable twin pack 'n play that my family gave us at our shower on Sunday. It has two bassinets right beside each other, so they can be close to each other without being able to whack on each other at night. More on the shower in a later post.
Upcoming milestones:
*33 weeks: lungs will be stronger
*34 weeks: lungs should be fully developed
*35 weeks: another high-tech ultrasound
*36 weeks: considered full-term for twins
*37 weeks: unless our boy turns head down, the OB is going to schedule a c-section for this week. Still praying that he makes his flip!
Other baby tidbits:
*I can tell that they've gone through a huge growth spurt over the past couple of weeks. Their kicks, punches, wiggles, etc., are huge. It's gotten to the point that some of their movements are visible from across the room.
*They've decided that dinner time is play time. Often, as soon as I've gotten the first bite in my mouth, they start horsing around like crazy. It's like a tornado in my tummy. It's amusing at first, but sometimes it's making it hard to eat (especially with less room in there anyways). I feel like a seasick landlubber on my first ocean voyage (or like Horatio Hornblower on his first trip, hee!).
*There are occasional battles for territory in my stomach. Sometimes I join in, especially when the area vied for is within my rib cage. Someone told me that a strategically placed ice pack can encourage them to move down, so I used that when our girl was way too far up in my ribs. She hopped down, but then there was a huge skirmish as they each struggled for the occupation of lower regions.
Posted by Tim and Jo at 09:49 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
October 04, 2007
One down...
...and three (or four) to go (depending on whether you're counting babies or mommies).
Sister-in-law's sister had her healthy, 7 lb. baby girl yesterday. It sounded uncomplicated for mommy and baby. Hurrah!!
Posted by Tim and Jo at 09:01 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
October 02, 2007
Old rivalries
I can't wait for Tim to come home and see what I found for our little boy (btw, I found a great thrift shop with baby clothes for an unbelievable price)...
For some reason, Pittsburghers have never forgiven the Braves for knocking the Pirates out of the pennant race so many times (especially in the '80s), hehehe....
At the same time, I do have a fondness in my heart for the Pirates, and have unforgettable memories of attending their games. Like the first time I heard fans booing their own team, even tossing a sneaker out onto the field, I suppose to see if the outfielder did any better catching that than the balls coming to him. And the first time someone threatened to toss me over the side for cheering the wrong team (see above photo!) too loudly...
But there was so much more than the game to experience...
It was taking a ferry over
to get to a stadium almost at the apex of three rivers (see the bright lights on the left),
hanging out with friends afterwards
and sometimes fireworks over the riverfront.
Posted by Tim and Jo at 03:28 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
October 01, 2007
Countdown
I have three other childhood friends due in the next few weeks! The countdown has begun!!
Sister-in-law's sister: due in 1 week
Sister-in-law: 3 weeks
Good friend Sarah: 4 weeks
And hopefully (keeping fingers crossed) I'll outlast them all--as long as I can make it another 5 weeks, I'll be happy, though 6-7 weeks would be ideal.
It'll be so fun all having babies around the same age!!
Posted by Tim and Jo at 10:29 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack