Week thirty-six.

Getting antsy here! If it makes you all feel better I will post more frequently about how the shrimps have not been born yet. I was told by the doctor today that this could happen at any minute, and we also made an appointment at the hospital for induction at 38 weeks exactly (April 10th).

I should probably say first of all that almost all of this post is sponsored by my mom- thanks for visiting and getting SO much done:-).

Some of her handiwork from this weekend:

Third generation wicker bassinet is outfitted with a new skirt, liner and fitted crib sheets.

The crib has a vegetable bumper now, with a vegetable coverlet to follow... super awesome.

Shrimps:

• Are 6 pounds 1 oz (Baby A) and 6 pounds 2 oz. (Baby B). Not sure we can keep calling them shrimp at this point. That's 14 oz. gained in a week, while mom gained 6 pounds. If we keep this up and go to April 10th, we could be talking 8 pound twins. Dang.
• Also exciting, somehow Baby B managed to wiggle his way upside down as well... two upside down babies are apparently the best case scenario for a smooth delivery. I just can't think too much about what they're experiencing at this point: upside down, crammed together like sardines inside a wet dark space that is my uterus. Definitely shuddering.
• Have more awesome things, complements to mom and Laura's co-workers (shower this week): more cloth diapers, toys, clothes, etc. 
• Are going to be wearing a TON of Anna's line from Kohl's... we checked out the local store and boy are there a lot of "Jumping Bean" things! So fun to have a sister who can dress babies from afar:-).

Laura:

• Is super excited to set up shelves in the basement and organize stuff! Have a good amount of bulk pantry items now and a nice stock of organizing bins and dividers. Just need a hunk of energy and I will have a ball.
• Is quite tired of trying to fit anything over her belly. People may say I don't look that big but I can guarantee my torso is VERY different from what it was before. I think the best part about mostly working from home starting tomorrow is wearing my robe and/or sweatpants all day. By the way, be sure to call in advance if you are visiting.
• Met with the pediatrician for the first time and is pleased. After the doctor queried as to our stance on various things with child health, she leaned back in her chair and said, "you don't strike me as one of those mom-club moms. I think we'll get along well". She also had a red glittery witch hat in the corner. I think that seems like a good sign. 

36 week belly. That is a maternity shirt I'll have you know.

Andrew:

• Had his annual review for work and is doing great! He got a bit of a raise and will probably get a bonus this summer since they are meeting their goals and the company is doing well.
• Has a very clean car, packed with hospital bags and infant car seats. Gosh do those things take up a lot of room. 
• Has been caught quite often gawking at Laura's belly. You'd think he'd be used to it by now? I feel like about every other day he says something like, "you are just GIGANTIC". I'm hoping this is discontinued once they're outside my body...
• Despite gawking, brought home a little cheesecake for Laura after work, awwww. He wants me to break 200 lbs I think:-) With the six pounds this past week I'm at 196 so I think another pint of ice cream would probably do it.

Week thirty-five.

Shrimps:

• Are doing the ying yang thing- Baby A is vertex (upside down, a good thing), Baby B is breech (right side up, whispers C-section).
• Baby A is at 5 pounds 11 ounces. Baby B is at 5 pounds 10 ounces. That means I have 11 1/2 pounds of pure BABY in me right now. Ridiculous. That's like 3 2L of soda guys. Plus another 20 of baby accessory weight.
• Are both right where they should be in terms of how long they've been cooking and their size. I'd be interested to see the formula they use for this one... the quantitative values they measure include length of the femur, area of the noggin and mass of the torso. Somehow this leads to a measurement of weeks and days? I guess you don't want them growing too fast or slow although I have no idea what either would mean particularly. Except apparently with twins if their growth rate is terribly uneven then they lean toward C-sections.
• Can basically pop out at any time now. Barring unforeseen complications we are out of the nicu zone.

Laura:

• Is super excited for mom to visit this weekend so we can do a last little scuffle of "nesting". I can organize and make things tolerable, but she's awfully good at the more homey touches for sure.
• Feels fairly certain her entire midsection is just baby. All I can feel is elbows and knees and heads and feet it seems. Like two cats in a sack.
• Has the hospital bags mostly packed, now to just figure out car seat installation...

Andrew:

• Came to this week's sono wearing his "real men make twins" t-shirt but chickened out and didn't take his jacket off during the appointment. Awwww.
• Gets to help with a friend's non-profit fundraiser on Saturday... I think he's also pretty excited to possibly miss inevitable shopping that will occur with mom here:-). 

Just an update.

Couldn't think of anything catchy to use for a title, it happens sometimes.

We had a great weekend and got a lot accomplished:

• 2 lovely trail runs for Andrew in actual spring-like weather
• Work for both of us
• A bit of a date Saturday night at Famous Dave's where I got to watch Andrew eat spareribs like a swarthy viking
• Cleaning and organizing
• Taxes finally knocked out
• A visit on Sunday from an elderly sister and brother that grew up in our house; they were having a family reunion and had not seen the place since the 70's. I think there were 20 people in the house! They did call in advance and we did say that they could come, fyi...
• Irish dinner, board games and ice cream with Jessie

While I wasn't particularly pleased with the 8" of snow over the past 24 hours, having an almost empty building to myself today did seem to inspire me to extra productivity... now to make sure I don't burn myself out today and have to recuperate for the rest of the week. 

I feel like ever time I look down I can see less of my feet/lap... quite ready to move on to the next stage! It is pleasing though that it's taken me this long to feel particularly whiny about the process though. A month caps at the really uncomfortable awkward stage. The worst part is anything to do with bending at the hips; I can no longer make an acute angle unless I position my feet ridiculously far apart. Feels kind of like I'm a giraffe taking a drink.

The Vogel Bed & Breakfast & Babies

Dear honored friend or family member,

Consider a reservation at the Vogel Bed & Breakfast & Babies! This lovely historic getaway, just a short trip away from the nation's capitol, is sure to be the highlight of your year. 

Our newest attraction will arrive by April 10th we hope; be sure to book now so you get your preferred spot!

Check in time is tentatively between 4:00 am - 7:00 pm; if your schedule inhibits you from arriving during this timeframe, please be aware that the B&B&B owners may have passed out from exhaustion.

Your "Knotty Pine Paneling" suite includes a guest room with full-size bed, a tv and dvd player if the B&B&B owners or newest attraction become overwhelming, and two closets to hide in if they are beyond overwhelming. Elsewhere in the house you will also have access to a modern pine pull-out futon, a mid-century full bath, a washer and dryer to get those spit up stains off, a partially stocked kitchen and fully carpeted cat tower.

Breakfast is served at your leisure, by your very own self! Scavenging our pantry will yield masterpieces such as:

• Hot water, hopefully with tea or coffee!
• Stale cereal and almond milk
• Eggs (you have to clean out the skillet from the night before first)

Upon request, other meals may be included if they are cooked or purchased by you.

Don't miss a minute of the exciting activities offered by the Vogel B&B&B:

• Constant crying (may be babies or mom)
• Adorable wrinkly newborns that you can hold while the B&B&B owners take naps
• Contemplating whether babies look more like mom or dad
• Diaper changing, sometimes includes a cute little sprinkle on your person!
• Clothes washing for both newborns and yourself after a diaper change
• Household chores that mom no longer has the mental capacity for
• Enchanting evenings with adorable wrinkly newborns while the B&B&B owners escape the house for a couple hours
• Errands around the burgeoning metropolis to pick up things like ice cream and diapers
• Soothing jealous cats

We hope you come soon and enjoy your stay!

and Babies!

Week thirty-four.

Shrimps:

• Are starting to look less like aliens in the sonograms! See exhibit A above... head horizontal to the left with forearm covering top of head and eyes closed.
• Have flipped yet again, with Boy A in vertex and Boy B in breech. They are slowly running out of room so we'll see where they get stuck... in the meantime the sonogram technician thinks B will be the alpha child, he's been squashing and rolling himself around on A and poor A just kind of curls up and takes it for the most part. 

Laura:

• Is starting to get a belly gap in the old clothing... my maternity pants have given up stretching and now just slink down over my belly given the slightest reason. Which makes long shirts like the one in the picture rather airy underneath.
• Is now having weekly appointments with a sonogram and doctor just to see when I'm about to burst. Have officially been given the handout of who and when to call in the case of labor. 
• Needs to work on timing bursts of energy to achieve maximum impact. Earlier this week I pulled up the hall carpet staple by staple, swept, mopped it with murphy's oil, and applied lemon oil (original wood floor) but then could accomplish nothing the following day at work. Meh. 

Andrew:

• Officially has Maryland plates, hurrah! And has switched over insurance to the same state... nice getting these tedious, brain-requiring things done before we move on to fixating on what goes into and out of babies.
• Has been able to use his office this week thanks to some help from the visiting Vogels (and Albrights) over the weekend. He's gonna need somewhere to hide pretty soon, so all the better.

Tour de hospital

Might as well have been tour de france, I think I'm finally recuperated after a day and a half. Should have taken the offered wheelchair at the beginning... walking and standing around for an hour is not my forte these days.

We went on our official hospital tour Thursday evening which was really nice! It seems they know what they're doing with babies. The nurses said they deliver ~2 sets of multiples a week which is more than I've done. They allow flexibility for all the areas that lamaze folks get their panties in a bunch with these days: using a variety of labor positions, birthing balls and bars on hand, "natural birth" options (although their rate of epidurals is like most places... 90+%), holding the baby right afterward, etc. There was one lady on the tour who was super disappointed that they had no tubs nor could you rent one and bring it with you... how do you get a tub into a hospital room? How would you fill it? Strange.

Other fun hospital things: I get to bring popsicles with me to supplement ice chips during labor OH BOY. As a multiples pregnancy we get dibs on one of the big rooms. Once the babies have made their grand entrance, you get moved to the maternity ward where a typical stay is 2 days... if there are any complications however it can be up to 5 days. I also asked about the support person's accommodations; Andrew's face just fell when he heard he might be spending most of his free "vacation week" sleeping on a sofa eating trail mix.

Last night we watched through a number of lamaze videos and I think absorbed some good information between laughing hysterically. I'm sure labor positions are super helpful but you can't tell me they don't look terribly awkward.

Week thirty-three.

It strikes me that these weekly posts in some ways seem written from a prison cell... which then reminds me of this video that you should watch:

Shrimps:

• Were identical blond girls in a dream last night. Which was surprisingly irritating to Laura in the dream, given that we have a bunch of boy clothes and so forth.
• Continue to stretch and roll around and jab Laura's right ribcage. They are still in a "bunk bed" position, both sideways with heads to Laura's left, feet to Laura's right. 
• Have plenty of fluid to float around in (I go in for this measurement weekly now), and heartbeats are looking good.
• Had their pictures taken at this week's sonogram, will have to scan and add here even though they look a bit scary.
• Have mattresses, a diaper bin, and a number of other items that came this week- our friends and family are awesome!

Laura:

• Magically survived managing the big annual symposium at work last Friday, with 80+ participants and 4 speakers... although she did sleep 12 hours immediately upon returning home from said event. This week brings an assistant/temporary replacement for fmla- about time.
• Is now 30 pounds above normal... we'll see how much higher it goes. My pelvic floor muscles are sad.

Andrew:

• Has his MD plates for his car, hooray! While this is not exactly baby related, it was on his list of things to complete beforehand so still good.
• Is riding the tidal waves of Laura's emotions pretty well. During dinner tonight he mentioned that he anticipated quite a beating during labor, and that he would probably just end up standing in the corner. I suggested he try holding my hand and I would smack him away if I didn't want to. Ah, such love. 

Fun things from Birth Day:

• The average obstetrician faces 2-3 major lawsuits in their career for a birth that went awry. This increase has resulted in less doctors attending births, and more trigger happy use of c-sections if anything is out of the ordinary.
• Queen Victoria was less than five feet tall, and gave birth to nine children that were, "wonderfully strong and large." Needless to say she was a strong supporter of the early use of chloroform. 
• It was thought at the time by those opposed to pain relief for labor that using chloroform or the like would unleash an uncontrollable female sexual frenzy.