Monday, August 13, 2007

hitting that third trimester wall? 31 weeks 4 days

Well I had a fairly full weekend. My mom was here again, so we were back to tackling my to-do list. Fortunately this time it involved returning a bunch of stuff – duplicates from baby shower gifts, and returns of a few other misc purchases around town. We figured that by the end of the day, between returns and purchases, I actually came out ahead $4 on the day. Well – except for the new refrigerator I bought. But Sea.rs was having an appliance sale this weekend, so I got a really good deal on the fridge. And I’m very much looking forward to getting that delivered in two weeks!

I am basically done with my baby shopping – all we have left is car seats, which we will decide on after our class this weekend. Otherwise – I’ve got it all. My mom was such a huge help – she started washing all the baby stuff for me this weekend, I think there’s only one or two loads left. Gosh it seems like I have so much stuff, but I do have to remember that it is for two babies, so I do need more than normal. But even with my efforts to be somewhat minimalist, I feel like we have a ton of baby stuff. Everyone was so generous with the shower gifts, I really have hardly bought any clothes, but I have so much from gifts. So now I just have to work on putting all the stuff away and getting organized. And then there’s nothing to do but wait for these babies. (well, there's still those thank you notes....)

We had another growth ultrasound this morning – and these are going to be some big babies! Baby A is estimated at just about 4lbs, and Baby B is estimated at close to 4.5 lbs. I can't believe they're so big now - and we still technically have more than 6 weeks to go. A is still breech of course – the ultrasound tech actually wrote “footling breech” – which means that it’s the baby’s feet that are presenting first. You didn’t have to tell me that there are feet on my cervix – I can feel them! The ultrasound doc said that Baby A’s fluid is ‘mildly decreased’, but the OB said it’s nothing at all to worry about, and still in the normal range. I think we’re definitely headed for a c-section though – the chances of A turning at this point are pretty small. And even if it did turn – because B is measuring bigger, the doc said that this might warrant a c-section anyway. But – with as big as these babies are growing, I’m getting more and more ok with the idea of just deciding on a date to get them out. I don't really want to be carrying around a couple of 8 pounders! We’ll discuss this in more detail with our OB next week. We didn’t get to see our OB today – he’s on vacation this week – so we saw one of the other docs in the office. But everything else is still looking great. Cervix is a little shorter – but it’s still 3.6, which is still awesome.

So here’s a funny story – my grandmother has been making quilts for the babies. And now she has names for them! She says that one baby is named Jamie Lee, and the other is Jennifer Lynn. She says that she has Jamie Lee’s quilt done, and now she’s working on Jennifer Lynn’s. This just started a couple days ago – up until now she would just say that she was making quilts for the “the girls” – she’s always thought they were girls. We can't figure out where she came up with these names (sounds to me like she's been listening to too much country music!). Poor J is terrified that she thinks we will use these names. And then this morning my mom told her the babies weights, and so grandma says that Jamie Lee is the big one, and that Jennifer Lynn is smaller. Isn’t that funny? I hope she’s not too disappointed when we don’t name them that…

I've heard people refer to 'hitting the wall' in their third trimester. And I think maybe I'm startng to get a taste of that. Honestly though - I'm still in much better shape than most poeple at this stage. But since about the middle of last week, I have definitely noticed a change - I get out of breath much easier, and get very tired very quickly. I'm feeling more discomfort with the stretching belly. But again - I won't complain, because I know of so many people that have it much worse than me. When I take it easy and hang out with my feet up, I do still feel pretty good.

I'm also really noticing that these poor babies must be getting really crowded - because now when they move, it is major! My entire belly changes shape as they move, and their kicks feel very intense. I guess there's just nowhere to go in there, except for pushing out on my belly. Sometimes I expect some kind of scene out of an alien movie - like my belly is going to burst open and these things are going to come crawling out. Watching this belly move is really like watching a very strange freak show!

oh - and did I mention that I felt like I was having a growth spurt last week? Well - a week ago my fundal height measured 37cm. Today it was 39cm. But I lost 1/2 lb.

6 comments:

Bea said...

Those are some pretty cool names right there. Thought of using them on the birth certificates?

Bea

seattlegal said...

Isn't such a weird and wonderful sight to see your belly move like that? I loved it!

That's great that your cervix is still so long! I wish mine could have been so good!

Sarah said...

i'm glad you haven't at least slammed head first into the wall, even if you may be casually approaching it.

and jamie lee sounds bigger than jennifer lynn to me too ;)

Anonymous said...

Great weights on the babies! And watching the belly bump and ripple is one of my favorite things!

Heather said...

Glad to hear things are going well and that your mom is helping with the to do list. Lots of luck in these last few weeks. I was a "one-footling" breach, so I resemble the one baby.

GLouise said...

Jamie and Jennifer! LOL!!! Gotta love Grandmas!