another week gone by

Happy Friday everyone! Sorry I was MIA yesterday; I had a busy day! In the morning we had a meeting with our future pediatrician, and then late afternoon I had another follow up doctor appointment with my OB.

The meeting with the pediatrician went well. We really liked her and she is quite close to our apartment which is nice. We felt a little silly, because all the books say you’re supposed to meet with/interview your future pediatrician beforehand; but we really didn’t know what to ask. I looked a few questions up on line on the bus ride there, but mostly we just chatted with her. We talked about immunizations (we’re just going to stick to the standard AMA schedule of immunizations), breastfeeding, etc. She was very nice and her practice seems great; so we’re pleased.

My OB appointment went fairly well also. My swelling is even worse this week (honestly? I did not think it was possible, but sadly, yes.) but my blood pressure is still great (110/70) and I had no protein in my urine. (Don’t you love getting updates on my urine?) So, no preeclampsia yet! My doctor still thinks I could be at risk for it, since my swelling/edema is so bad, so I will go in weekly to be checked out from now on. She took some blood again just to be safe and I should get those test results back today.

My legs are so crazy swollen. I almost had to ask the nurse yesterday after my appointment to help me put my socks and shoes on, because I was unable to bend my legs- my skin was so tight! Yikes. Also, I gained another SEVEN pounds in one week; and I know it’s mostly fluid because my babies sure didn’t grow that much, and I know I didn’t gain that much fat in one week. So, just more fluid. I really hope I reach a point where I can’t possibly retain any more. I took a cool bath last night, hoping that would help. Online it says swimming helps, so I thought a bath might help too? I don’t have access to a pool, so it will have to do. I might try to take one every night to see if that helps at all.

As promised, here’s where we are with our “to do” list. We’re almost done! I’ll pack my hospital bag this weekend, and maybe do a couple of the other things; but we’re pretty prepared! (You know; as prepared as anyone CAN be for something like this….)

1. Talk to insurance company and get any and all info we need for hospital stay, adding babies to insurance, etc.

2. Take our classes! This is coming up soon, and I’m excited. We start our Childbirth class series on May 1st! This goes for 3 Sundays, and then we have breastfeeding and caring for a newborn in mid May.

3. Find a pediatrician. My OB has one that she’ll have us use in the hospital on the day, but still we need one for after that. Found an awesome one and she’s only about 20 blocks from us!

4. Do some spring cleaning. We need to deep clean the house a few more times (or perhaps hire someone to do it towards the end) before the babies arrive. I also want to do another “purge” of things we can give away to the Salvation Army. Have already had the cleaning lady come once (from my awesome Groupon deal) and have one more. Will probably use it in the next couple of weeks. Not sure if we’ll get to the purge part for Salvation Army, but we’ll try.

5. Buy our cloth diapers and some wet bags. Yes, we do plan on cloth diapering. At the beginning, we’re going to do a mix of disposable and cloth, and slowly move towards just doing cloth as they get bigger/we get better at it.

6. Wash all newborn clothes, crib sheet and mattress pads.

7. Stock up on food, toiletries, cat food & litter.

8. Test out breast pump and make sure I have all necessary parts. Wendy SO generously gave me hers, so I just need to take a look at it and make sure I understand how it works. Still need to sterilize.

9. Purchase a few last minute items like a baby monitor. Mostly we have what we need though.

10. Line up a cat sitter.

11. Pack hospital bag.

12. Make a birth plan.

13. Buy some nursing tanks and bras.

14. Put the bassinet together.

15. Attach the changing pad to the dresser.

16. Make a few meals ahead of time and freeze.

It’s so crazy that SO soon we will have a family of four instead of two- family of five if you count Lucky the cat. :) It could still be four more weeks, or it could just be a couple of weeks away. Wow!

That’s all for now! I’ll be better about blogging next week; it should be a little calmer of a week. Have a lovely weekend everyone!

~M

a sticky situation part deux

Hello everyone! So sorry for the lack of posting yesterday; it was a hectic day and I just didn’t have the time. I promise to be better about making sure I post daily, so you don't think I went into labor. :) (Sorry, Kristin!) Also, btw, if I DO go into labor, I'll do a really short post just so you'll know; I promise!

It’s so crazy to me how close it’s getting to “baby time”! I mean, I’m HOPING it’s not super soon; because I want them to keep growing. But, I’m almost at 33 weeks- so, we’re only like 5 weeks out if I go all the way to 38. That is CRAZY to me!

Ian and I knocked out some more things on our “to-do” list this weekend, including writing a birth plan. I felt weird writing a birth plan, because honestly, I trust my doctor so much. I just feel like she’ll always do what’s best for me. However, I need to remember that I won’t be dealing with her for most of it; it will be nurses instead, that don’t know me at all. So, a birth plan is a good idea. We found a template online for twins and used that. I think ours is pretty laid back compared to others. Did any of you write a birth plan? Did you find it was helpful? I already know that with a birth plan, you also have to be prepared to throw it all out the window, because birth is unpredictable. But I think it will be a helpful starting point.

Anyway, I think our list is getting closer and closer to done. I have a three day weekend coming up, so I’m going to try and get even more done. I love crossing things off of lists!

I have TWO doctor appointments today. First one was this morning, with my hematologist. If you’ll recall, I have Factor V (five) Leiden, which is a blood clotting disorder that causes my blood to clot too easily. So, all throughout my pregnancy I’ve been giving myself injections of the blood thinner Lovenox each morning. Well, Lovenox lasts 24 hours. Since I am now getting close to when the delivery could happen any day, they need to switch me to a thinner that doesn’t last as long, should I need emergency surgery. So, my hematologist gave me my prescription for Heparin today. It lasts 12 hours instead of 24, which means I have to do two injections a day. Boo. I also have to load the needles up myself, which I’m not looking forward to. The Lovenox needles were pre-loaded with my 60mg of medicine, but with the Heparin, I have to actually use an empty needle and load it up with the tiny vial of medicine. Then I get to tap the needle and squirt out the bubbles like they do on TV. I know; exciting. :)

My second appointment is my bi-weekly OB appointment. I’m wondering if soon she’ll switch me to once a week visits. Ian and I made a list of questions we have for her, and I have them all typed in to my phone so that I won’t forget. If I don’t do this, I ALWAYS forget to ask all of my questions.

I’m excited about my week. Tomorrow I have a facial (using a gift certificate from Ian and my in-laws for my birthday), and Friday I have a manicure pedicure (using ANOTHER gift certificate from my friends Wendy and Jamie). THEN, Saturday I have someone coming in to clean my house! I bought two Groupons for 3 ½ hours of cleaning each, so I’ll use one this weekend and another a few weeks from now. So excited for that! I’ve never had someone clean my house before; it feels super fancy. So, I have a week of pampering ahead of me. Yay!

And, because I like to include pictures whenever I can; here is a photo of my disappearing lap, taken on my subway ride home. Not much room left for my purse, as you can see. Or, maybe you can't see. It's really not a very interesting or good photo.

That’s about it! Enjoy your day!

~M