Things I will miss about being pregnant…

As it gets closer to delivery day, I have been reflecting on all the things I love about being pregnant and I get sad thinking I won’t be pregnant in a couple of weeks.  Don’t get me wrong, I CANNOT WAIT to meet Graham and Gage and have them here safe, but here are the top ten things I am going to miss…

10. People going out of their way to let me go first (lines in the bathroom, lines at the store, lines at fast food places)  Selfish much?

9. Weekly visits to my doctors office (I asked Dr. Mac if I could still come in and see them even though I won’t be pregnant, ha!)

8. Close parking spots!

7. Putting my feet up while Jared cooks, cleans, and does laundry.  This may never happen again!

6. Jared making me a big breakfast every Saturday morning, whatever I wanted!

5. Reading all my pregnancy books and learning about what stage the boys are in each week!

4. Eating whatever I want whenever I want (including Celebrity cookies, potato chips, and milkshakes)

3. Having pregnancy dreams about what the boys will look like.  Planning what I would do in every situation that could happen when they are here, even though it will go nothing like I plan! (When I am awake every morning at 3:00, I usually make a plan of what my day with the boys will be like.)

2. Having a perfect spot to hold my food (close to my mouth)

1. Feeling the boys’ movements, kicks, rolls, and tackles and sometimes looking lopsided because they like to hangout on my left side!

I have enjoyed everything about being pregnant and really have tried not to complain because I am so thankful.  I could not have asked for a better pregnancy.  In just a few short days, we will get to meet these boys and we are so excited we can hardly wait!

Spring Break pregnant feet vs. Working pregnant feet

     About two weeks ago, I discovered that not just my hands and wrists and face were swelling, but also my feet.  Every day the past couple of weeks, by the end of the day, I could not even get my feet into my regular shoes, let alone, my flip flops!  So I knew I needed to start coming home and immediately prop them up for the night.  Even when I would wake up in the morning, the swelling had gone down but I still could not find my ankle bones.  I always joked, before pregnancy, that I had cankles because I have big ankles but with all this swelling, my old ankles were tiny compared to these stumps! 

Since I have been on Spring Break, and bed rest, my feet almost look normal, almost!  Here are the pictures comparing them. 

35 weeks pregnant working feet

36 weeks pregnant Spring Break feet

Right ankle is still swollen but such a difference!  In about 10 days (or less, depending on these boys) I should be able to find my ankle bones again, however my bunions will probably still be there!

Is today “THE DAY?”

   What a day! Slash morning! I went to bed last night, ready for a good night’s sleep and woke up at 1:00 AM feeling nauseated.  I went to empty my bladder, because I do that every hour now, and went back to bed and started feeling a contraction.  I thought, no big deal, when it passes I’ll go back to sleep.  After all, I haven’t had more than one or two contractions in one day, no big deal.  And then another one came and all of a sudden, I noticed I was having contractions back to back for an hour.

  All sorts of things were starting to run through my head… Am I ready for this?? Is this THE DAY??? Surely not, my bag is not packed (not sure why my type A personality hasn’t let me pack my bag), my dad is in Chicago and won’t be back until Wednesday, my doctor is out of town until Wednesday night, this CAN’T be it, right?  Besides, I promised my doctor I would put myself on bedrest until I knew he was back in town and ready to deliver our boys.

So, I decided to wake Jared up at 2:00 and tell him what was going on.  He was obviously out of it, but told me to let him know when I had another one.  As soon as I did, he checked his watch and we started timing them.  In thirty minutes, I had 10 contractions!  We called the doctor on call and she told me since I was 35 weeks and 5 days and having twins, I should come in to the hospital so they could check me and the boys.  This woke Jared up real quick.  He grabbed our bags out of the closet and started asking me what I wanted him to pack.  “It’s 2:30 and I am having contractions, I don’t REALLY care!  Let’s just go!” 

   We pulled up to the hospital at the same time as another couple, with whom the woman was clearly in labor too.  The nurses ran up to both of us and started asking us questions.  “How far along are you?”  with which the other lady said “35 weeks, 4 days” and I responded “35 weeks, 5 days with twins.”  They put us in wheel chairs and reacted quickly.  My friend Heather (from church) just happened to be working that night and jumped at the opportunity to wheel me up to my room. 

After I got in my pretty hospital gown, they hooked my up and started monitoring everything.  The boys heart rates were good and I was having contractions every 4-8 minutes.  After four LONG hours in the hospital and two cervical checks (OUCH!) they decided to discharge me since I wasn’t dilated past a 1 and my contractions weren’t getting worse.  I was soooo relieved to leave the hospital, in hopes that I can hang on a few more days until my doctor (and my dad) get back in town.

So now I am home, on bed rest for real, and the next thing on my list of “to-dos” is to PACK OUR BAGS!!!  And, not go into labor for a few days, if that is possible.

Valentine’s Day!

I used to LOVE Valentine’s Day as a little girl because my mom would always wake us up a little early on V-Day morning and bring us in the kitchen and give us our presents.  She usually got us a card, candy and, for me, jewelry.  My dad would always bring some flowers, either carnations or roses to my mom, Julie and I. 

As I got older, as in high school and college, and I was never dating anyone on this holiday, I really was not too fond of it, in fact I hated the holiday!  Of course, since I have met Jared, I love it again.  This year, I was super excited about Monday, February 14th!  Maybe because it was our last V-Day before the boys get here and I was realizing we may not go on another V-Day date for about 18 years?  Anyway, after a long day at school (I mean who doesn’t love a holiday party on a Monday to start the week off right) I came home to this…

 

Comfort for this pregnant girls’ feet!

A digital photo frame that will soon be full of pictures of Gage and Graham!

Yes, that says Jared “Bieber.”  He has been hit with “Bieber Fever!”

No flowers this year.  He knows I am not the biggest fan of flowers because they always die so quick, so this year he went with this plant and I love it!  Hopefully it lasts longer than a week! :) 

So thankful for Jared and the love we have for each other.  So glad he is my Valentine and I look forward to having 2 little Valentines next year!

30 weeks of 30 blessings

At 30 weeks of pregnancy, I have so much to be thankful for thus far.  Here are 30 reasons God has given me to be thankful for this pregnancy.

30. Making it to 30 weeks! (I consider this a milestone with twins!)

29. Dr. Rodriguez (and Linda and Laurena) who helped us through this process and introducing us to Dr. Mac

28. Dr. MacDonald (OB) and his nurse Jackie for answering my 1000s of questions weekly

27.  Sleep/rest that gets me through each day (it’s not always the greatest sleep, but always thankful when I do get some sleep)

26. The Wedge pillow (recently discovered)

25. All four of our baby showers where we were overwhelmed with love and gifts

24. The family members that drove in from all over to make it to my showers and spend time with Jared and I (Linda, Brittany, Braden, Camden, Mom, Jules, Angie, Phyllis, Grandma Hogg, Jana)

23. The weekly pictures of my belly (RT told me to do this and I am so thankful I did because it is neat to see how much I change every week)

22. All the advice I get from strangers when we tell them we are having twins (it’s not always encouraging, but we appreciate their thoughtfulness)

21. Sprite- you got me through the whole first trimester when I felt sick and through the third trimester to help with heartburn

20. Zesta saltines- you got me out of bed every day in the first trimester and helped with the nausea

19. Speaking of heartburn, Rolaids has been and is a “must” in my purse

18. Being pregnant in the winter-I am not used to being hot in the winter. Can’t imagine being this pregnant in the summer in triple digits

17. Maternity clothes that fit- as my belly gets bigger, it is getting harder to find shirts that cover my belly

16. Being a teacher and having a week off at Thanksgiving, 2 weeks off at Christmas, and having the first week of February off (thanks to the snow/ice)

15. Playing with all the boys’ stuff in their nursery

14. Washing their clothes for the first time in Dreft

13.  Getting a sonogram every time we have a doctors appt.

12. Hearing two heartbeats when I was 6 weeks pregnant, what a wonderful surprise!

11. Seeing two “boy parts” on October 29

10. God’s timing for this pregnancy

9. Feeling the boys move-even their kicks and tackles that make my whole belly move in the middle of the night

8. Katie and CC praying over my fertility calendar daily

7. Prayers over these boys (from day 1)from their Honey, Papa G, Granna, Easy and the rest of our family and friends

6. Zoey being extra needy- won’t leave her mommy’s side, knowing something big is about to rock her world

5. Jared- my wonderful husband, who has cleaned the house every week so I don’t breathe in any chemicals. 

4. Jared- for putting up with my emotions and food cravings that change in a matter of seconds

3. Jared- for nesting early and making me clean and organize places in our house that I wasn’t ready to tackle yet

2. How peaceful and worry-free God has made this pregnancy

1. For Gage and Graham- we cannot wait ( we can wait, we just want you to continue to grow in my womb as long as God has planned for you) we look forward to holding, cuddling, kissing, and meeting these precious personalities that we see at the sono’s and feel playing inside of me!  We love you and pray for you daily and know God has a wonderful plan for each of you. 

“For this reason, since the day we heard about you (both of you) we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding.  And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light.”  Colossians 1:9-12

Stir Crazy but not complaining!

Monday afternoon, I decided to leave my bag at school because I knew I wasn’t going to grade Monday night.  Little did I know that we would not have school the rest of the week!  So, needless to say, school work is put on hold for the time being.  Not complaining though!

  What did we do this week?  Well, Tuesday I did absolutely nothing and I was okay with it.  Jared had to go to the office, so Zoey and I sat by the fire all day.  Wednesday, I decided to be productive, and I worked in the boys’ nursery, wrote some thank-you’s, and baked some Christmas cookies.  Thursday, Jared got to stay home and he took me to get my eyebrows waxed, my hair cut, and to Hobby Lobby to get some crafts to keep me busy for the fourth day of no school.  Again, not complaining! Friday, we finally got some snow, 6 inches of it, so we got out of the house and played in it!

  I have, however, caught up on my sleep/rest.  For the past two weeks, I have not slept well at all.  Until Sunday.  Jared bought me The Wedge pillow and it has changed my life, and sleep! 

It’s wonderful! I don’t know why we didn’t discover this earlier, but so glad Jared brought it home for me.  I think secretly, he was hoping it would fix my snoring, but it hasn’t, so he is not sleeping very well because of me.  I keep reminding him, the snoring will go away when I have the boys.  Then, neither one of us will get sleep anymore.  Not complaining though!