Ouch

"Well at least I was man enough to do it without drugs!"

This was the comment that Mr. W heard at work today as the room busted out in laughter.  One of his co-workers just found out he is having twins and apparently he's turned it into some sort of competition.  WTF?  This comment, needless to say, pissed Mr. W off.  His response?

"You need to educate yourself.  If you had any clue at all you'd know the man has nothing to do with it anyway."  The room got very quiet.

Mr. W didn't realize that retelling the story to me would bring tears to my eyes.  I reminded him of the fact that the only reason we needed drugs was because my body wasn't working properly.  There was nothing wrong with him in the first place.

Guys can be such douche bags. (I'm not upset with Mr. W...just his douche bag co-workers.)

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An older comment heard at Mr. W's job when it was announced that we were having two boys:

From the boss with only girls, "Yeah, that's just because you weren't man enough to knock the balls off of 'em!"

That one cracked me up!

Quote of the day

"I work on fucking jet engines for a living.  Installing a carseat should not be this difficult!!!" ~ Mr. W

Doctor's Appointments?

At what point in a twin pregnancy do most people start seeing their OB weekly? 

I know this pregnancy is going pretty damn smoothly, but it doesn't look like they'll start weekly appointments with me until I hit 35 weeks.  The midwife and ultrasound technician both think I'll go into labor by then!  WTF?  I have another appointment this coming Thursday so I'm going to flat out ask her why I'm not being seen weekly, yet.  I also want to know why they're not planning on starting NSTs or BPPs until 35 weeks.  Sure my cervix still measured 5cm at 29 1/2 weeks, but the boys are big!  Approximately 3lbs 9oz each..66th percentile.  That's one to two weeks ahead.  Luckily their fluid levels are back to normal, though.  But still!

Plus, I think I'm having contractions at night.  I wake up 2-4 times a night due to pain in my hips, abdomen, and belly.  I've mentioned before that I've got an issue with that gotta-go sensation so I don't typically wake up at night until my bladder is wayyyy too full.  I think this is contributing to whatever is going on with my uterus at night.  And of course, only laying on one side or another is causing the hip pain.  But it's the pain in my belly that's concerning me.

Oh well.  Like I said, I'm going to talk to my doctor about it next week.  Or if things get worse at night, I'll call and talk to her.

Visitors...yay.

My MIL and her Mom are in town.  Don't get me wrong, I very much like my mother-in-law, but...  Of course there's a but in there.

Last night we all ended staying up until 1:00 am.  I was already exhausted and had been trying to go to bed for a couple of hours, but didn't want to be rude when she was still telling me stories.   Then I wake up this morning a little before 6:00 and can't get back to sleep because I keep hearing water.  A toilet flushes.  Water runs somewhere.  A toilet flushes again.  Water runs somewhere else.  My first thought was "We're not eating Sonic's again for a while!"  Then my stomach started to rumble so I decided to venture to the kitchen for a quick snack, then back to bed.

Guess what I found downstairs.  If you guessed my MIL cleaning the bathrooms, you're right.  She'd been up for almost an hour already.  While I greatly appreciate the cleaning help, I am a very light sleeper and the cleaning could have waited until a more decent hour.

At least she waited until 8 to start cooking breakfast (which I'd mentioned making the night before...but again...the help is appreciated).

Can I just tell you all how happy I am to not have caffeinated coffee in my house?  Could you imagine this woman hyped up?  (As I type all of this Mr. W is installing baseboard in the kitchen...see where he gets his work ethic and energy level?)

Oh yeah, remember my whiny post about my MIL coming when the boys are born?  Well, Mr. W's apparent way of handling this was by mentioning in passing to his mother this morning that my Mom is coming for a week when the boys are born.  Um...I don't think she'll even think about that when she's ready to visit.  I've never had anyone in his family actually ask if there was any reason they couldn't stay with us.  They usually just give us 24 or less hours worth of notice that they're on their way.  Ugh.

Just in my MIL's defense, although I'm bitching right now I'm happy to see her and even happier that her Mom was able to come.  Mr. W's Mammaw has never seen our house.  He is flat ecstatic to have her here and that makes me very happy.

Now if only I can figure out how to get my house quiet enough for me to get a nap.  My baby shower is at 2 and I'm mean without sleep.

[polldaddy poll=1013625]

Maternity Pics

Click on any picture to see it.  Click on it again and it gets even bigger!

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Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day: Take Action

October 15th is National Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day in the United States. More than 25,000 children are stillborn in the United States every year leaving mothers, entire families and communities devastated. Estimates of the rate of occurrence of stillbirth make it at least as common as autism.

Stillbirth is not an intractable problem. Greater research would likely significantly reduce its incidence, but good research requires good data. H.R. 5979: Stillbirth Awareness and Research Act is under consideration by Congress. This proposed bill would standardize stillbirth investigation and diagnosis, thus providing more data for the needed research. Better research means fewer children born still.

On October 15th, remember the thousands of unfinished children lost and the families who remain to grieve them. Honor them by taking action. Let's help pass H.R. 5979.

Action Steps:

Step 1. Write your Representative!!
-Follow this link to get instructions on how to write your Representative asking them to co-sponsor this bill.  The more co-sponsors the bill has, the more likely it is to pass.  Please note, this is for the House of Representatives only.  Do not contact your Senators at this time.

Step 2. Use Your Blog to Enlist Others
-Copy the contents of this entire post and publish it on your blog immediately.

GOAL: Enlist 10 of your readers to spread the word

Step 3. Use Your E-mail to Enlist Others
-E-mail 5 bloggers and ask them (nicely and in an unspammy way) to publish these action steps on their blog. Consider contacting celebrity bloggers, political bloggers, medical bloggers, or bloggers who are not part of your reading community.

GOAL: Enlist 3 bloggers outside of your normal blog sphere to spread the word in other online communities.

Step 4. Help Pass the Stillbirth Awareness and Research Act
-By October 15th, publish a post on your blog supporting H.R. 5979 Stillbirth Awareness and Research Act. For maximum impact, title your post: "Stillbirth Awareness and Research Act."

GOAL: 1,000,000Google results on October 15th when that term is searched for. Currently, Google only returns 20,400 pages - most of which have nothing to do with the bill.

Screw you blogger!

Blogger isn't working so none of my comments are saving.  Grrrrrr....

I am slow (and update and non-pg question)

No really, I am.  I've been having mid and upper back pain for over a week now that, at times, is horrible.  I blamed it on everything from not moving enough to heartburn.  I finally figured out what was causing it.  Both boys have turned transverse.  They both have their heads on my left side and their feet on my right side (duh...if their heads are on one side and they're transverse...).  Baby A is sitting as low as he can go; my bladder and cervix don't love him.  Baby B on the other hand is as high as he can go, i.e. he is attempting to relocate my lungs and ribcage.  It just hit me today that when my breathing is most difficult and my ribs are hurting the worst, my back begins to hurt.  It really took me this long to figure out that when Baby B is pushing out on my ribs, my back (you know...the part connected to these same ribs) hurts.  I'm now reduced to laying propped up with pillows for many hours, breathing as deeply as possible (to push him) and physically pushing down on his little bottom as it pokes at my ribcage.  I love these little boys but would be much happier with them if they would turn a little.  Or at least use their available uterus space (what's up with my damn near empty middle ute?).  Crazy kids.

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Thank you all so much for your support on my last post.  It meant a lot to me to know that you were all thinking of me. 

I had an appointment with my midwife (love her, BTW) yesterday.  She spoke with the MFM and he is pretty convinced that the only reason the boys have extra fluid is because "they're big babies and big babies make more fluid".  And apparently it's not a phenomenal amount of extra fluid anyway.  The chance of fraternal twins both having a genetic or structural defect is so slim that it's been ruled out.  The chance of infection is less than 5% so he allowed me to have some blood-work done to rule it out and ease my mind (thank you doc!).  Mr. W's take on the situation is that everyone in his family is on the small side and everyone in my family is very average so our boys want to prove them all wrong and be big.  Of course, as he says, no one will believe they're his kids if they break 5'10" (he's 5'5").  Haha!

There had been a decrease in movement from both boys over the days preceding my appointment so I mentioned it to them.  Apparently this is something that I was supposed to call about immediately.  I wasn't that concerned, though. 

I was almost positive that the boys had turned (and were transverse).  Baby A was head down at the previous appointment and Baby B was breech.  I knew that Baby A had turned breech a few days later because I could feel his super kicks in my cervix (ooouuuuccchhh!!!!).  A couple of days later everything felt different and I no longer felt strong kicks anywhere, nor was I feeling any movement the same...but I could tell they were still in there.

Anyway, they did a quick scan and revealed that they boys had indeed turned sideways so their kicks were flying into Baby B's placenta instead of into my soft spots.  Just to err on the  of caution they hooked me up to the monitors to make sure they were behaving as they should at this time.  I was a little miffed about their turning until they hooked me up because I didn't know which baby was which anymore.  When they tried hooking the lower baby up, he showed that he was Baby A just by how uncooperative he was.  It took the nurse a total of 15 minutes to get him hooked up.  (she tried for 10 minutes the first time, gave up, hooked up Baby B, tried for 5 more minutes, then finally got him.)  Baby B was as cooperative as ever.  He stayed in place and had the proper accelerations just like the good boy he is.  Baby A, little devil he can be, didn't have an acceleration for almost 20 minutes.  Of course, to show up his brother I'm sure, he threw a little party at that time.

So my discomfort aside, everything is going very well!  The boys are doing wonderfully.  I went to visit my parents and friends in Asheville and had a good time (and relaxed) last week.  Then I drove to Charlotte and visited my Grandma who wasn't doing well; it was a wonderful visit.  My Grandma smiled so big and was so happy to see me.  She also enjoyed seeing the boys ultrasound pictures (now up on her picture board).  I even managed to convince my brother to drive to Charlotte and see her so we now have a picture of the three of us (haven't had us all in front of a camera together since my wedding).  Mr. W will be home either late tonight or early tomorrow morning.  Life is pretty damn good!

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OMG!  Anyone have experience with a dog with allergies?  I'm pretty sure my Australian Shepherd mix has allergies and don't know what to do.  I've switched her food to a grain-free fish based food and it seems to have helped a tiny bit, but not completely.  She got fleas at my Aunt's house (grrrrr) so I've given her medicine, but she won't quit scratching.  She has pulled out so much of her hair from the base of her tail...it's so sad.  My poor little girl is miserable!  She will run from spot to spot in the house trying to find a spot where she can get away from the itch.  It's like something is constantly biting her and she can't get away from it.  I've heard that her breed is sensitive, but this is getting out of hand.  My poor poor little girl.  :-(