Thursday, July 19, 2007

Weekend in San Diego - 28 weeks!

I left Thursday evening for my last trip before the babies arrive. Thursday I was at 27 weeks. And as of 28 weeks (today!) I’m grounded.

I had a great weekend. It was fairly mellow – not nearly as much of the activity and running around that we usually do when I go to visit – we just spent time hanging out and visiting. We had dinner outside every night, the weather was perfect. We had lobster one night, which is always fun, and messy. And a couple of nights we even had s’mores around the firepit on the patio. Yes, our family events always tend to revolve around food.

The baby shower was loads of fun. It was just a perfect size and nice combination of people – a couple of my old friends from high school and college, some family friends, and some family. The food was yummy – tea sandwiches, dips, veggies, chips. And of course cake!

I got some great presents for the babies – two baby bjorn carriers, two really soft bears that have the thing inside that plays the sounds of the womb, some dr Seuss books, and lots of great little outfits and basics for the babies – gowns and onesies and sleepers. Of course it's all green and yellow, because we don't know the genders. But that's just fine - those are the colors I wanted. I have another shower here in Seattle next weekend, and after that I will sort through everything, see what else I still need, and then start washing and putting things away. Fun!

The only bad part of the weekend… I somehow ended up with a skin infection on my ear. Saturday morning I woke up with my ear all swollen and red and hurting. By Sunday morning it was really red, and had little tiny blisters on it. So off to the urgent care I went – and it was diagnosed as a skin infection. Not serious yet, but definitely something you don’t want to spread. Not sure of the cause, the doc said sometimes these things just get hold and you don’t fight them off as well. They gave me some antibiotics, which have definitely helped. My ear almost looks back to normal, although I still feel like my body is working to fight something off.

I got home Tuesday late afternoon, just in time to make it our third multiples baby & birth class. We were supposed to get a tour of the birth suites in this class. But we ran late - so many questions - that we will get the tour next week.

Other updates from the past week…

Follow-up from my appointment last week – I passed the 1 hour glucose test – so I do not have gestational diabetes. So I’ve got that going for me, which is nice. ;-)

I think these babies have changed roles – because Baby B seems to be the busy one now. She is just constantly moving. Her movements are more gentle though – like she’s gently swimming around in there. Baby A doesn’t move as often, but when she does it’s more strong kicks. I had started to think that maybe baby A had turned – because I hadn’t felt any of those really strong kicks down on my cervix and bladder in a few days. But, those kicks are back, I had a few last night and this morning – so I think I’ve still got some feet down in there where a head should be.

I’m really having a hard time eating. Nothing sounds good. I don’t feel sick, I just don’t have much of an appetite. I get hungry, but then I can’t figure out what to eat, and I’m really not motivated to fix myself something. It was easy while I was in SD for the weekend, because food was just made and served to me and I didn’t really have to think about it. I continue to be amazed that I’ve never had strong pregnancy food cravings, or even very much of an appetite – because I’ve always been a big eater, and always had strong opinions about what sounds good. And now I have the added problem that my stomach is starting to get squished, and so I feel full really fast. Ah well, on the scale of pregnancy complaints, I think this is pretty minor, so I am dealing with it.

The part they don’t snow on the the dis.covery channel…
I may have said before that I’m somewhat addicted to the baby & birth programs on cable (what J calls the baby channel). And I guess I should have known that they edit out the gross parts – I mean it is TV after all. In our class on Tuesday night, the topic was labor and delivery. The labor & birth part wasn’t surprising – I’ve seen that a million times on the birth shows. But the delivery of the placenta???! Eeeeew! That was disgusting! They definitely don’t show that part on tv. I looked around the room and I think we all were having the same reaction about that particular scene. Gross! And I have to have two of those things come out of me?? I guess maybe you’re so enamored with your newly born baby – that maybe you don’t really notice this gross thing coming out of you? Please tell me that’s true.

I’m not sleeping well. But not for the typical reasons – it’s not because of belly discomfort or acid reflux or back pain or other things people complain of. It’s because of snoring. Extremely loud snoring. So loud that I wake myself up. I am super congested – but even on nights when I have used nose spray and am breathing fine through my nose – I still snore like a freight train. Last night I was breathing fine, but just as I would doze off, I would let out a very loud snore and wake myself up again. It’s like the snoring is coming from my throat – not my nose. About halfway through the night I thought maybe it would be better if I was a bit more upright, so I added another pillow. I think that might have helped a bit, but I’m not sure. Poor J. He sleeps with ear plugs, but I’m not sure how much they really help. He may have to move to another room soon, just so he can get some sleep.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Actually I sleep with earplugs because I wake myself up snoring. You might want to try it. Use the foam plugs.

beagle said...

I haven't had much chance to offer you pg wisdom or advice, since I've never been there, but I have attended a number of births in my days as a nurse and I can promise you that not a single parent in my memory noticed the placenta.

You'll be too busy adoring your two gems and smiling/crying with your hubby over the miracle of it all.

I promise.

GLouise said...

I am glad you are back, and that you had such a lovely time in SD. You deserve it! I also love yellows and greens on newborns...

Jaimie said...

I'm glad you had such a wonderful time! I am totally with you on the eating. I can't eat much anymore and if I have to put effort into it I would just rather not eat. I think I ate more this past weekend when we were going out for meals than I did the whole week. At that I was still leaving at least meal behind.

Honestly, the whole placenta delivery thing is hardly noticed at all. The hard work is over and mom and dad are focused on baby(babies). They aren't the most pleasant looking things but at least the better side is facing the baby.

abby said...

I've woken myself up a few times with a weird snorting sound too. I know what you mean about it seeming to come from the throat...what a strange pg symptom! Earplugs for you may be just the ticket.

The eating thing is weird too, I am feeling less hungry and eating less snacks than I was earlier in pgcy. Unfortunately my sweet tooth hasn't gone away so I still have to have my nightly treat :)

The trip sounds like it was wonderful, yay!

Heather said...

Glad to hear you had a great trip. Too funny about watching the delivery of the placenta. I wish I was warned about that ahead of time. I guess I noticed because they took my baby away so quickly for the doctors to check her out (she was 4 weeks premature). All of a sudden the doc was telling me I had more to push out! I was exhausted and didn't want to. It'll be fine though. Good luck on the upcoming weeks.

Suzanne said...

congrats on 28 weeks chica! isn't it exciting?? i'm so glad you are doing well! and totally envious that you can be home, getting your house ready and "nesting"! ;)

Sarah said...

uh-oh, the food and appetite things sounds like the first tri all over again. not looking forward to that!

my friend who just had a baby had no idea the placenta was delivered. her husband, who watched, said it was disgustig yet sort of intriguing, but she was oblivious.

Jen said...

Glad that you had so much fun in SD & that you had lobster, I'm jealous, we don't get good seafood like that in MN! :)
Sounds like you got some awesome stuff for the shower, you must be getting so excited.

Well, glad you made it home safely & that all is well with you & the babies!