33.5 week doctors appointment

I had to reschedule my doctors appointment because of what happened below, but luckily I was still able to get in later that day.  I was very nervous about the appointment because I was afraid the accident had done something to the babies or may have sent me into early labor.  I'm still very thankful that the airbag had not gone off!  That is grounds for hospitalization and tons of mandatory tests for us pregnant folk.

The perinatologist measured the babies and Zane is weighing in at 5lbs 3oz and Lily is 4lbs 8oz.  Lily is behind, again, so I need to eat more, rest more etc.  She seems to be a very sensitive little baby, anytime mom gets stressed, so does she.  Bad mama.  I'm working on that stress level :)

Crash Crunch Bang

While driving to my doctors appointment on Thursday, my car was hit.  Here's what happened.  A delivery truck, brown, was taking a right hand turn into the Texas Women's Hospital parking lot.  The delivery truck negotiated the turn incorrectly and had come to a stop.  The car behind it, black, was apparently annoyed by this so she decided that she was going to go around it.  But, she was too close to the truck so she needed to reverse in order to pull around.  Unfortunately for me, she didn't bother to look behind her when she threw her huge SUV into reverse.  I was stopped behind her, silver, and there was a car, blue, that was stopped behind me.

As the lady put her SUV into reverse, it started coming back really fast.  I looked in my rear view mirror and panicked because I couldn't back up either.  So I laid on the horn but she didn't hear me (I think she was on her cell phone) and just kept coming back.  The next sound was awful, crunching scraping and my car getting smushed.  Once she hit me she finally stopped and then pulled forward again with more ripping sounds.  It was a very sad sound.

I got out of my car and you should have seen the look on her face when she realized she had just hit an 8 month pregnant woman.  She asked if I needed an ambulance and kept apologizing over and over.  She didn't have a current insurance card, so I called the police to get a report.  It took the police over an hour to arrive.  So it was noon, in Houston, about 95 degrees, on a black top parking area.  I was soaked from head to toe in sweat and very upset.  It is not very fun to try and make small talk with some lady who just crunched up my car for over in hour in the heat.  I'm starting the whole insurance claim process and is definitely not something I need right now.  yay for more stress :)

Below are pics of my poor little car:

32 weeks and dropping

ok ok..the belly is dropping. Very evident in the latest picture here. Why? Because my pants line used to be pretty straight across, now it's pulled way down. If I pulled the back down to match the front you would see a lovely plumbers crack. The babies have stopped growing so much in length, and now they are concentrating on laying down fat to keep their little bodies warm outside my body. So the belly growth is more of a fullness rather than growing out. If you could feel it through a computer, it would feel like a volleyball, you can squish it if you push real hard, but for the most part its hard as a rock.

Jason snapped a full pic of me, so I made sure to put it into black and white, trust me you do not want to see a full color version of a pregnant lady. There's still a skinny person under that belly, and she will return shortly :)

Needed: more ninja turtle skills

So what's it like to be 32 weeks pregnant with twins?

Well, at 3 am, when you're getting up for about the 10th time to go to the bathroom, you wish you had turtle skills like this.  This little guy gets it in 2 attempts, it takes me about 5 to get out of bed.

A stressful non-stress test

I woke up to a strange feeling this morning.  Nothing.  Normally I awake to a feeling like the Aliens are writhing around inside of me ready to burst through my skin at any moment.  But alas, there was nothing.  I thought, hmmm, nice.  

So I took my shower, got dressed, ate my breakfast, did some work, and then went into work. After lunch, it hit me, you know, I've felt Zane move around here and there, but nothing from Lillian.  Hmm.  

I pushed around on my belly, trying to aggravate her enough to move...nothing.  Drank some Sprite, normally the bubbles get her squirming...nothing.  Hmm. 

The past couple of days I've been having terrible Braxton-Hicks contractions and aching that goes all the way from the middle of my back down to my knees.  I've tried not to think too much of it because, well, I'm in my last trimester with twins.  These things happen.  But combining this feeling, with the lack of feeling from our little girl, made me pick up the phone and call the doctor.

I've prided myself on not being "one of those" new moms who calls the doctor with every twinge or racing heart beat.  So it was hard to break the pattern but I'd its better to know.  I was expecting a "well just take it easy and if nothing changes by tomorrow we'll schedule you an appointment".  but I got a "come right in" we're going to perform a non-stress test.

(not me, some other preggo's pic I stole of the internet)

This test measures fetal movement, heart rates, and contractions.  I lay down on a table and had the technician strap two disks to my belly (one over each of their hearts) and then one in the middle (to measure my own uterus).  I was given a button, like the ones on jeopardy, and was told to press it each time I felt a movement.  I watched the little paper spit out of the machine plotting their heart rates that went from 130 up to 170.  All over the place.  But each time I felt a thump or a bump, I would push the button and it corresponded to a spike in a heart rate.  I learned that this was a good thing.

But I still never felt Lillian move.  The monitor was crackling indicating that she was moving around, but I couldn't feel it.  This went on for 15 minutes and then I was sent in to see the nurse practitioner.  She said everything looked good and I probably couldn't feel Lillian because it felt like she is underneath Zane and facing my back.  So she's moving and kicking away, but her brother is absorbing the movements.   When I feel him moving, it could be him or her pushing him.  

During my test I had two small contractions.  So the NP did a quick pelvic exam and my cervix is still closed up tight and long.  yay.  My Braxton Hicks are probably coming so frequently because I am not "resting" as much as I'm supposed to and I seem to be a bit dehydrated.  So more rest and more water.  

I'm glad I went in, and I don't feel silly...but all in all, I'm so relieved all is well with the babies.

Bigger babies

Back from the doctors visit.  Babies are doing great.  Heartbeats are excellent.  Lillian is vertex (head down) on my left and Zane is breech (head up) on my right.  Lillian weighs 3lbs 13oz and Zane weighs 3lbs 12oz (that is seven and a half pounds of baby in me).  As you can see from the chart below (a few entries down) these babies are huge.  Good for them, bad for mama.  Currently we're scheduled to deliver June 27th...that is in 7 weeks.  7 more weeks.  Did you get that? SEVEN more weeks.  At a weight gain of 6-8oz a week for each of them that is 6-7 more pounds of baby.  By the time I deliver, they will have doubled and size and I will be giving birth to 14 pounds of baby.  

I'm already so stretched out and uncomfortable (breathing while lying down is always an adventure) I can't even imagine what its going to be like. ...exhale...

30 weeks

Yes, well, there haven't been many updates have there.  There are no words I could put on here that could accurately describe how busy I have been the last two weeks.  The doctor has cut my work hours at work from 8 down to 4.  Which means I work from home for 4 hours a day, then go into work for 4 hours.  The only problem is, that these two weeks are grant season.  My job is basically defined by these current two weeks, and I've been put on half time at work!  I try to do the most I can here at home, but all the programs I need and info is at my work computer.  So even though my hours have been cut back, I've found myself working almost 12 hours a day.  It's just nuts.  But it will all be over by next Tuesday.  woo.   hoo.

I have a looooong doctors appointment on Thursday (I don't have time right now!) but lets just all keep our fingers crossed that things are going well.

Here is my updated belly picture.  People keep telling me my belly is dropping, but I don't see it.  I think its just something people say when they're stuck in the elevator with a pregnant person to make idle chatter.