3rd Trimester

I can't believe it's been over a month since I last posted. Yikes. And I've been horrible about taking belly pictures, too. I keep forgetting until it's too late at night and then I just want to pass out. Lots of things have happened since mid-May, so I'll try to recap.

First up, I graduated from nursing school with highest honors. Yay! I got A's this semester, but because I got an A- in the fall, I didn't get my 4.0 and was not valedictorian. Oh well! But I was completely bedecked in various colored stoles during graduation, and I was elected to Phi Theta Kappa as well. Tzipora loved graduation so much that she keeps asking me to go back (even now), though she calls it "grabuations." It's hilarious.

A week after graduation, we piled everyone into the car and drove to Rochester for a cousin reunion. We had an incredible time there, and the kids are still talking about and asking about their cousins. Even though my kids were the youngest, the older kids were amazing about keeping them involved in the games and playing with them. I wish our cousins lived closer, because it would be amazing to have them together more often. These are pictures taken by my brother-in-law, of course. Though I did take some of my own, I've been too lazy to get them off my camera.


In pregnancy news, I've passed into 3rd trimester and am now seeing my midwife every other week. Yikes! I didn't even realize we had gotten that far until she reminded me at today's appointment. Baby is doing well, though she's smaller than average. Her heart issues are a thing of the past B"H, and I'm feeling pretty well. I will try to get a photo taken today so you can see how my belly has grown. I'm still doing really well on the weight gain part of things, too. My midwife is really proud of me for keeping it under control. Though with my new addiction to Starbucks Iced Chai Tea Lattes (skim milk, of course), that may change. hehe

While I'm waiting to take my nursing licensing exam (NCLEX), I'm working as a real estate salesperson. I'm actually really enjoying it, and it's great to be working with the same "boss" I've had since 2008. Though since we've known each other so long it's hardly the relationship you might expect a broker and salesperson to have - we're really more partners than anything else, and we work really well together in that respect. After 5 years we've gotten very comfortable with each other, so I'm not afraid to speak my mind, and she takes everything I say to heart. It's really great. Though I am looking forward to getting a nursing job, I know I'm going to have to wait until the baby is a few months old to do that, and I'm glad to have something to do in the mean time.

While I'm working this summer, the kids are all going to different day camps. I can't believe my twins are going to pre-school next year and that they're old enough for a real day camp. It's absolutely unreal. Tzipora has also gotten so big, and she talks almost constantly. The things that I hear my kids say could fill a joke book. Tzipora also "graduated" from Early Intervention this past week, so that was a bittersweet moment. Chana and Tzipora usually play pretty well together, and it's nice to see them interacting as sisters. Their pretend play keeps me entertained! And I'm always happy to get in on their fun. My usual roles are as patient while they are doctors or as a spa patron while someone either pretends to give me a bubble bath or combs my hair. Tzipora has this thing about hair... It calms her to play with or stroke someone's hair. Whether it's her own, grabbing a doll's hair, or running her fingers through mine, it's like a sedative. If I'm wearing a snood around the house, she will take it clean off to get at my hair so she can play with it. She's a future shaytel macher (woman who sells, styles and cuts wigs/hair), that's for sure. Though she also enjoys pretending to be my doctor and giving me a checkup, so maybe she'll do both.

I don't think I missed anything huge, and I will try to remember to post more often. It's just difficult when I'm trying to keep the kids from getting into trouble every other second. And if anyone has any tips on getting a little boy to listen and follow directions, I'm all ears.

What Else Is New?

Well, for starters I'll give you my latest belly pic. I feel like some weeks I don't change at all and then others I'm growing like mad. This pregnancy is so different from my other two, it's pretty uncanny. For starters, I began the pregnancy 10 lbs lighter than with the other two. I've also be insanely conscious about not gaining an extraordinary amount of weight. I was very careless with both of my other pregnancies and wound up gaining 50 lbs with each. For someone who started off already overweight, that's just way too much. And then afterward I'm not the kind of person who breastfeeds and loses it all. When I breastfeed, my body holds onto every pound as if it were gold. It's an incredible struggle to lose anything when I'm breastfeeding. *shakes my fist at those women whose weight drops off when they breastfeed* Anyway, I did eventually lose the weight, but it was a lot of starvation to do it. My body can only take about 1000 calories per day if I'm trying to lose weight, otherwise I gain. It's so hard being short...

Luckily I started off this pregnancy with 3 months of nausea. That definitely helped! Not only didn't I gain in 1st trimester, but I lost about 3 or 4 lbs. Baby grew, mommy didn't. Score! Now that I'm hungry all the time, I'm very aware of how much food I'm putting in. I still have to be really strict about my calorie intake, or I'll gain a lb in one day...no joke. Now that I've reached 20 weeks (almost 21) and have only gained about what I lost in 1st trimester, I'm planning on 1/2 lb a week in gain. That way I will have only gained about 10 or 15 lbs by the end, which is appropriate for someone who has started off overweight. Plus the fact that I know how much weight I lose when I give birth - just about 10 lbs per baby, including the baby. So after I had Tzipora, I lost 10 lbs in that first week or so and then plateaued. With the twins I lost about 20 lbs and then plateaued. So if I can gain only about 10 or 15, then I will have lost the necessary baby weight and not have to starve myself down to a normal weight postpartum. YAY!



In other news, we spent last Friday on lockdown so that the Watertown (and Boston) PD could catch the marathon bomber suspect. It was an incredibly tense day, and honestly I was terrified enough to not even want to go outside! So forget about being told to stay in, I didn't want to go anywhere anyway. Of course we had to prepare for the Sabbath anyway, so we were kept busy. We are all so grateful for the tremendous effort that all of the first responders put in. I drove by the Watertown PD today and saw that people had hung up balloons and signs outside the gates. It was such a nice feeling to see that. I know a bunch of people on Facebook wanted to send the police pizzas after the suspect was taken away - and I believe at least one person did. I live in such a great community, can't you tell? You can't keep Boston down!

Exciting Day

I had my OB appointment yesterday, and they started off with me on the tocometer (contraction monitor) for a while. I watched the screen & printout and noticed several little contractions...and even felt one or two (not painful, just annoying). The doc wasn't pleased with the frequency of the contractions and sent me to labor & delivery for fluids and monitoring. Now I've been REALLY good with drinking fluids, but yesterday I got up really late and only had time for a small glass of water. But, she thinks I was dehydrated (I probably was) and wanted me pumped with fluids. She also took another fetal fibronectin test, which came back negative. :-) Anyways, I then proceeded to spend the next 5 hours being monitored and pumped with fluids (3 bags, urgh). It was exceedingly boring! The doctor came in around 8pm and said she liked how the contractions had spaced out, so I could go home. She told me to expect Braxton-Hicks contractions because with my uterus already at full-term size and space at a premium, it's really just doing its job. For now it's not affecting my cervix, so she's not worried about it. She was only worried when they were coming like every 3-5 mins, regardless of whether or not I could feel them. :-)

As for my cervix, it's still closed and beautiful. :-) The doctor's scale says I only gained a half pound in the last week, but I think it's more because I didn't have time for a full breakfast before my appointment. When I got home (after the 3 bags of fluid), the scale showed I gained like 6 pounds from this morning. At first I was shocked and appalled, but then remembered the fluid intake. I asked my hubby and he said that sounded about right from the amount of fluid I had. It's slowly going back down to normal.

The doctor is SO pleased that I've made it to 30 weeks. She said that even though she's happy now, she'll be even happier at 32 weeks and then ridiculously happy at 34 weeks. She said she'll "shut up after [I] get to 34 weeks" (that's a direct quote). lol As for my cerclage, she said that if my contractions are starting to bother my cervix, she'll take out the cerclage around 32 or 33 weeks, but otherwise would leave it in until 35 weeks. She also said that after 36 weeks there's really no overwhelming reason to keep the twins in longer, because the space is so cramped and they probably wouldn't be growing as well as if they were on the outside. She said that they for sure would be here before Passover! :-)

Sorry to Keep Bringing This Up

I know the octuplet mom is the only thing I've talked about in the last week, but I just have to tell you what I heard on the news this morning. Her publicist said something that made me go "you obviously have no idea what you're talking about". She basically said that with IVF you can't control how many babies you get. I was like "errr, IVF is the BEST way to control how many babies you get. Put in two embryos, and your chances of having more than two is slim to none." It made me so mad, because anyone who does not have experience with IVF might actually think the publicist knew what she was talking about and now thinks the risks of having crazy numbers of multiples with IVF is very high. *sigh* When will these people learn?

In other news, I have my next prenatal appointment and ultrasound tomorrow! They should do measurements, so we should be able to see how much the twins have grown and approximately how much they weigh. Should be close to 3lbs now! It feels like my belly weighs 20lbs, though. I'm also not worried about the weigh-in tomorrow, because so far I've been right on track this week. Woooo!

Snowed In

Not me, my mother-in-law. My mother-in-law lives in Louisville, KY...where they generally don't get snow. Maybe a little bit here and there, but a big storm pretty much cripples the city. And they got one! Ice and everything. Her house lost power and heat, so she's living with someone on the next street over. The kicker is that the other side of her street was fine (and, of course, the next street over). Just her side of the street lost power and everything. Oh well, as long as she's safe.

As for me, I had a doctor's appointment yesterday. I was on the tocometer (the machine that records if you're having contractions) for about 15-20 minutes. There was some activity, but nothing I could feel. The doctor did another fetal fibronectin swab, just to make sure. I haven't heard the results from the swab, but the fact that she didn't call me yesterday afternoon probably means it's fine. If it had come back positive, she would've checked me into the hospital immediately to give me steroids for the babies and to try to prevent labor. I'm also going with the assumption that the contractions are Braxton-Hicks type--especially because I don't generally feel them (but I can sometimes sense that my uterus is rock hard), and when I do feel something it's not pain, just uncomfortable. The doctor isn't too worried about Braxton-Hicks, and it gives the uterus good practice for the real thing. Practice makes perfect!

I also gained a perfect amount of weight--3lbs in the last 2 weeks. The doctor wants to see me every week now, and she's VERY pleased that I'm already at 28 weeks. Our next goal is 32!

Irritable Uterus

I went for my ultrasound on Friday and they found that my cervix is down to 1.4cm--not as good as two weeks ago. So, they wanted to make sure that I wasn't contracting and sent me to labor & delivery for monitoring. I had the contraction monitor (long with two heartbeat monitors) connected for nearly 3 hours! They also did a urine sample and a vaginal swab. I have no clue what they were looking for, but who am I to argue? On the monitor they could see little blips. They said it wasn't "contractions" but really just "uterine activity". I couldn't feel the blips, so that's a good sign. However, having uterine activity is not a good thing. They thought that maybe I was dehydrated, so they gave me a full pitcher of water and said "drink up"! lol They tried to give me an IV with fluids also, but it wasn't put in properly and all of that good saline went straight into my arm and puffed it all up. Not a great feeling...and it lasted all that day until the next morning when my body finally had absorbed it all--or at least enough to make it not hurt. Luckily they sent me home before Shabbos. *whew*

On another note, I gained like 5 pounds in 3 days...I hate when that happens and hope it goes away before my Wednesday weight check. I will not be happy to see the look on the nurse's face if I weigh 165 on Wed. I can't even imagine where it's coming from, because there's no way I eat enough calories to gain that much weight. It's just not possible. Seriously, I'd have to be eating bags of cookies and entire pies to make that kind of weight gain, and I haven't had any desserts except dried fruit. Whoop-di-do. If I'm going to gain weight like this, I at least want to have gotten a nice big piece of cake or an enormous ice cream sundae out of the deal. :-)

Big congrats to Nancy who had her baby boy yesterday! Baby is great; mommy is recovering from blood loss, but is still blogging (so that's a good sign). Head on over and give her a mazal tov. ;-)

OB Appt

My husband finally got to join me at an OB appointment! He's working 1:30p to midnight tonight, so I at least got to see him this morning. Anyway, the doctor said no UTI (yay), and there is some yeast, but it's not a ton. She also said that if you look at any pregnant woman, there's going to be some yeast. She gave me a prescription that I can take if I really want to, but she's not worried.

My fundal height measured 31cm today (which would correspond to 31 weeks if I were having just one baby). So I'm basically huge compared with the number of weeks I am. :-) But I only grew 1cm per week for the last 3 weeks, so that's not too bad. As the babies put on more weight at a faster rate, I'll probably get bigger faster. Eek!

I know you're all dying to hear about my weight too. I gained 2lbs in 3 weeks, and I ate breakfast (and drank about 10oz of water) right before my appt, so my weight gain was probably only about a pound or 1 1/2 lbs. I was actually aiming for 3lbs. I swear I'm not dieting either! I eat when I'm hungry, but I try not to eat anything that's really bad (like candy, cake or chips). I do have a popcorn addiction, but I eat Smart Pop, which doesn't have too much fat or too many calories. And it's much better to eat a bag of popcorn than to eat a bag of cookies. :-) My hubby knows not to bring junk into the house, because if it's here, I'm going to eat it. So, I'm doing great! Once the babies start gaining a 1/2 lb a week (around 32 weeks), my goal will up from 1lb a week gain to 2lbs a week in order to accommodate appropriately. My overall goal is to be between 170 and 180 when I deliver (aiming for a 36 or 37 week delivery). That would be a 30-40lb total weight gain from my pre-pregnancy weight, and because I started my pregnancy about 35lbs overweight, that is a perfect goal (according to my OB).

I did forget to take my picture last night, so I did it today and posted it as well.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

22 Weeks

Yay! I made it to 22 weeks! For most this isn't a milestone, but for me it means my babies start having *some* viability. Of course, being born at 22 weeks is a very bad idea and the babies would have less than a 10% chance of survival, but less than 10% is better than 0%. And they each weigh about a pound (maybe a teensy bit more), which is excellent.

Speaking of weight, I think I gain all my weight in one day a week. I'll be going steady at 157 for a good solid 5 days and then BAM 159. It's rediculous! After watching the Biggest Loser finale last night, I was having visions of me at 200lbs and it ain't a pretty sight. But if I go on gaining 2lbs a week (or 3), by 32 weeks I'll be at 180+. And that's with the babies each gaining about 3oz a week till 28 weeks. After that, they start gaining more than 5oz a week until about 32 weeks. Then, it's about a half a pound a week until the end. So if the babies are gaining more weight, mommy's going to gain more weight. Ewww. As much as I want them to be born at 37 weeks, the fat girl part of my brain is going "dude, I want 'em out before I blow up like a blimp." :-) I seriously wish I could do something about my appetite. If I could be satisfied with three meals a day, I'd be fine. But right now I get hungry so often it turns out to be more like five meals--plus snacks. Oatmeal w/ banana & raisins for breakfast, a yogurt for lunch, maybe a bag of microwave popcorn for a snack, maybe some celery w/ peanut butter for another snack, maybe some tomatoes or an apple, a "Tasty Bite" Indian meal for supper, some chicken w/ kugel for dinner... It doesn't sound too bad on paper, but when you're getting no exercise and enjoy having a cookie or two for dessert, it's too much.

Anyways, enough of the weight complaints. I had a dr's appt today and so far so good. My fundal height is 28cm and growing (as you can see by the new belly pic I posted yesterday). I have an ultrasound scheduled for next week, so we'll get to see how my cervix is holding up. I'll be having my gestational diabetes test in a few weeks and possibly a fetal fibronectin test as well to see if I'm at risk for actually going into labor.

Speaking of going into labor, one of my IRL friends is! :-) She's been in the hospital for a few months (not pregnancy related), so we hope that giving birth will help her and maybe she'll get to go home soon! I can't wait to find out if the baby is a boy or a girl and how her labor went. I'll let you know when I know.

Not Much

Nothing really doing. My mom and her boyfriend were here for Thanksgiving and the weekend. Thanksgiving dinner went well even though there were nearly no carbs on the table. :-) They left a few hours ago, and I hope they are having a dry trip home.

Even with watching what I'm eating I still seem to be gaining too much weight and it's driving me batty. *sigh* What am I going to do? As much as I hate exercising, I wish the docs would let me do something because I'm sure as heck not burning enough calories. It doesn't really work to eat 2000 calories a day and be sedentary--even when you're pregnant with twins. Well, at least I'll be able to exercise when I'm breastfeeding and hopefully I'll be able to lose the baby weight (and thensome).

I must say this is really obnoxious, though. I thought I would be able to stop thinking about my weight when I got pregnant, and now it's all I think about because I'm terrified of gaining 75+ pounds during this pregnancy. It's just making me miserable!! :-(

OB Appt

In all of my craziness, I forgot to tell everyone about the OB appointment from last Tuesday. I gained WAY too much weight--again--so the doc wants me to cut out carbs. No carbs? That means no pumpkin pie, no stuffing, no cookies, no fun. :-P But hey, I'd rather cut out carbs and not finish this pregnancy at 200+ lbs, you know? So it's gotta be protein, fruits, veggies, dairy, etc. Seriously, I want to go in two weeks from now and not have gained a pound (maybe even have lost a few). It's gotten waaaaay out of hand, so even though you're not supposed to diet while pregnant, seems like I have to diet anyway. lol

Now before you all jump on me and say "BUT YOU CAAAAN'T DO THAT!" let me remind you that from Sept 10 to Nov 25 I gained nearly 20 lbs. Yes, thats right--20. And for someone who was already 35 lbs overweight when she started this pregnancy, gaining 20 lbs at the beginning of 2nd trimester is unreal (and disgusting). The vaaaast majority of that is fat, not baby, not amniotic fluid, not uterus and not placenta. The babies weigh less than 1 lb each, so if you add up two babies with all their extras, they probably weigh a total of 4-5 lbs together. And even if you factor in a pound or so of extra blood volume, it still doesn't come close. I don't need the extra fat lol. So, I gotta get rid of some of it while still making sure the babies are well fed. Trust me, if I go back in for my next OB appt and am 2 lbs lighter, I don't think the doctor will frown at me.

Aside from the weight gain, both babies are doing great. Awesome heartbeats and a closed up cervix. Woo hoo! We have another ultrasound in a week and another doctor's appointment in two weeks, so we'll get more fun baby updates then. In the mean time, have a piece of pumpkin pie for me!!!! :-)

I'm so boring

Sorry for the lack of posts, but I haven't done anything *so* interesting in the last few days. I had a doctor's appointment yesterday--I gained 7 pounds in the last 3 weeks ICK! I think it was due to the Jewish holidays and rediculous amounts of unhealthy, fattening food. But, what can you do. I just have to watch myself to gain weight, but not go overboard. My fundal height is 20cm, which is equivalent to about 20 weeks in a singleton pregnancy and is perfect for where I am in my twin pregnancy (15 weeks). The babies heartbeats are going strong, and I can definitely feel them moving around in there. It's kinda creepy, actually. lol

I also got a flu shot. If you are pregnant or TTC, PLEASE go get a flu shot!! Some doctors don't want you to get one during 1st trimester, which is why I suggest it to my TTCers as well. If you have some time to go before you hit 2nd tri, definitely ask the doc what you should do. The flu is NOT FUN and isn't good for your baby either. And the immunization is safe!!

This past Sunday I spent all day with my friend Melanie--first playing an awesome computer game and then watching "Iron Man" with her and her family. Movie was ok, but I would rather have spent those 2 1/2 hours playing more of the computer game. lol I'm such a NERD!