Tired of the PREs

First, it was placenta PREvia (which has cleared!  Hooray!).  Then it was PREterm labor (managed nicely with Procardia.  Hooary!).  Now it's preeclampsia, which doesn't clear up and can't be managed.  In fact, preeclampsia only gets worse until the "cure" which is delivering the babies.  Since I am 33 1/2 weeks, delivery is not in the best interst for the babies right now.

We went in Tuesday for my first non-stress test monitoring in the doctor's office.  I had gained a lot of weight from my last visit (Sign #1), had really swollen feet (Sign #2), I had trace protein in my urine (Sign #3), and my blood pressure was slightly elevated, but not over the limit of 160/90.  Thursday, when I came back from my second NST, I'd gained 2 more lbs, had swolled feet, had +1 protein and a blood pressure of 160/95.  They immediately sent me to the hospital to be admitted and mentioned that it might be time to deliver the babies.  With the pg at  33 weeks 1 day, I started crying.  

In the hospital, they started monitoring my blood pressure which kept going up and down, but we never as high as in the doctor's office and I had to do a 24 hour urine collection (basically peeing in a "hat" for 24 hours).  They also took some blood work and ruled out HELLP. They decided NOT to give me the steroid to  mature the babies' lungs suggesting that delivery was not imminent.  And with my variable blood pressure, they suggested I would be able to go home if I could monitor my blood pressure at home.  Dave bought the best Ormond blood pressure cup he could find, the nurse showed us how to take my BP, and we determined that it matched very well with the fancy one at the hospital.

At this point, I have mild preeclampsia.  The problem is that it can turn to severe preeclampsia anywhere from a few hours to a few weeks.  They have no idea how to predict what it will do.  It is highly likely that I will be hospitalized again in the near future, so they can monitor me more closely.  I am really taking this day by day.  My goal is that we make it to Wednesday, which would start, Week 34.  Then if we make it past that, I hope I can make it to the Wednesday after that, Week 35.  Week 35 is a lot better than Week 34 as far as NICU goes.  But if my blood pressure or any of the blood work comes back bad, they babies will be delivered.

In the strangest occurence of being diagnosed with preeclampsia, I got very perturbed with some friends who told me to stop worrying because preeclampsia is not that big of a deal.  I would like to point out that the vast majority of people are diagnosed with mild preeclampsia either during labor or at term and then are simply induced.  If I was 36 weeks, I would have been induced and would have my babies.  But I am not in that situation.  My babies are NOT in a good place to be born right now and this IS going to get worse for me.  Hearing those friends tell me to stop worrying actually did more than perturb me.  It angered me.  As psychologists say, you should never tell someone "not to feel that way." Especially not someone pregnant with twins and worried about getting the final PRE she can get:  PREmature babies.    

Things are Going On Around Here

The remodel has started!  They are sistering our attic joists so that we can add the second story. (One learns fancy construction terms during remodels).  They have taken the siding off the attic to get the wood into the attic.  And the electricians have been routinely screaming in horror at the not-up-to-code wiring in the kitchen.  (Apparently, two-owners-ago did not pull a permit when he remodeled the kitchen.  They have found dozens of live wires that have been hanging out in our insulation for years and years and years)

It's pretty exciting.  Conor finds it especially exciting.  Have I mentioned Conor's obsession with the DIY network?  Given a choice between Rock Solid, This Old House, Sweat Equity or Desperate Landscapes and any cartoon, DIY wins out.  Our first night in the rental, Conor found a hiding space in a built-in bookshelf and prompty reported that they had not correctly taped the seam.  How many nearly 5 year olds do you know can identify if a seam has been correctly taped or not?  

So in the mornings, when Conor finds out that the "Fix the House Guys" are at the old house, he finds his tool box and runs over to try to help them.  I think he ought to put on his tool belt, but the tool box is definitely more exciting.   (I am trying to find his picture in the tool belt, but I cannot find it)  I have to say, though, it's all pretty cool and it's amazing to see PROGRESS already on our house.  

And we just came back from the high risk fetal and maternal medicine OB.  And we have great news!!  Peanut's placenta is now 3.3 cm away from my os---so there is no placenta previa anymore.  (We did request it see the other doctor, so now we have seen all 3 docs).  Hooray on no more placenta previa.  More good news is that my cervix is over 3.3 cm.  That means that there is over a 95% chance that I will NOT go into labor in the next 2 weeks, even with these preterm contractions.  He does advise me to stay on the meds, but it's more like cough syrup--treating the symptoms instead of the underlying post-nasal drip.  Also, he explained the difference between these contrax and real contrax.  These, which apparently are NOT dilating my cervix, start at the bottom and move up my ute.  Real contrax start at the top of my ute and move down.  I can tell you right now, it is obvious where these are starting.  And that was all very reassuring.

And FINALLY in ginourmous baby news:  Peanut remains at the 50th percentile of weight coming in at 4 lbs 10 oz and Squiggle is now at the 80th percentile mark coming in at a chunky 5 lbs 7 oz.  Folks--I will be 33 weeks tomorrow and I already have 10 lbs of baby inside me!!!

The only bad news is that Squiggle has turned from head down and back to breech, but we're going to work on him getting back in the best position.  (His moving has been absolutely CRAZY.  I wondered if he had switched positions recently)

In any case, the doc today is not mentioning that I could go from 38 weeks to 39 weeks and doesn't recommend that I go any further than that.  Do you KNOW how big those babies are going to be by that time? Lordy.  That's going to be a lot of baby inside me.

I'm hoping that all this means that I might be able to get off bed rest sooner rather than later.  I'm really not going to be able to do a lot, but being able to walk around the house and to go pick up Conor at daycare.  That is really what I want.  

In any case, it's a very exciting time right now.  I'm thinking things look up and are progressing!

  

Ugh

I was going to blog about life lessons from marathoning, which I will do later.  But then a wave of fatigue rolled over my enormous body and I think I may be taking a nap soon.  And when I say enormous, I am not being overly modest.  My feet are currently so big and swollen, I'm not sure I have shoes to wear.  

But let's talk first about Conor.  Conor is begging to go to target to buy the babies a toy for when they are born.  He wants to hide it, which we're trying to explain will not be necessary.  But what other almost 5 year old boy is so sweet to his unborn siblings?  He kisses them hello and goodbye evey day.  He tells them things about his day.  He is adorable.  

And I know the little ones in my belly will be just as adorable, too, in what I am assuming are completely different ways.  I am so excited to meet these little buggers.  Will they be fiesty or mellow like Conor?  Will they have Conor's (and Dave's) giraffe legs or more normal ones like mine?  Will they be as smoochy as we are now or will they want more independence?  I can't wait to meet this guys.  Actually, I can.  5 more weeks.  I'll be just over 37 weeks in 5 more weeks, and I will not be upset if they decide to come then.  Fully cooked and fully wanted.  

Folks, I cannot fully explain how big I have become and much bigger I believe I am going to be.  And my thighs and butt are finally catching up to the size of my belly.  And not in a good way.  I know!  I have to update my belly shots.  I have to find the camera battery recharger and that involves looking around which I am not supposed to be doing.  

Oh and a nap.  Everything involves a nap now.  I cannot imagine how I would be functioning if I wasn't told to be on bedrest right now.  I am POOPED in a way I did not know was possible to be.  

Speaking of which, Scrubs is about to come on TV and it's about time for my afternoon nap.  

Ramblings

God(dess) bless the neti pot. It certainly is not the most attractive thing I've ever done, but boy is it making a difference in this sinus infection.  Yes, the antibiotics have stopped the major infection pain, but it's the neti pot that is getting everything out of my head and, I feel like, healing the underlying problem.  I'm totally talking out my ash, but that's what it feels like I'm doing.

The weird part is how sometimes in the middle of a cleanse, it sort of stops.  I imagining a dam of snot it's working around (and now you are too!) that it finally destroys with its salty ways.  Loves it.  Weird as hell looking, but if you have allergies or sinus problems, you should get one and clean our your head.

Yes and the one I received from my ENT at the last visit really points out the differences between eastern and western approaches to medicine.  A neti pot is a nice gentle cleanse of one's sinuses.  My ENT was all excited about the bottle he gave me so I could shoot the saline solution up my nose.  "It uses a lot of pressure" is excitedly assured me.  

Yeah.  Thousands of years of gently rinsing one's nose vs. powerfully shooting water up my sinuses.  Nothing like using a bomb to solve a problem that a gentle stream of water was doing just fine with. 

Fine.  I'm just ready for it to all clear up.  I think we're getting close.  

In other news that occupies my mind. are those of your outside of NC hearing what those of us inside NC are hearing about our former governor?  His wife and son have used campaign vehicles for their own personal use.  Some dude was letting him use his plane as a campaign contribution without reporting it.  And the ex-gov's wife had an $800,000, five year,  adjunct teaching/admin job at NCSU for which a national search was cancelled so she could be hired.  I've mistakenly thought our state government was ethical.  Now I think, we've been Blagojeviched.   Just throwing that out there on the blog.  It's bizarre to open up the local paper and learn of yet another bizarre unethical allegation against our former gov.  

Finally, our remodel should be starting today.  The carpenters are supposed to be stopping by to frame up the attic and they are supposed to be digging the foundation for the small addition.  So far, I see no activity.  But our financing is FINALLY completely in place and they are ready to go.  I'm ready for them to get going. 

New pictures of my enornmous belly and what Dave's done so far on the house coming soon.  I need to recharge the camera so I can download the pics.  

Off to work on finishing up an NSF grant.  I'm pretty psyched.  Over the last two months, I will have submitted and/or completed two book chapters, an NSF grant, a few journal reviews, my first PhD  student's qualifying exams, and published an undergraduate journal.  Not so bad for working in bed, eh? 

Progress

Yesterday was another visit to the regular OB. I came away feeling very reassured. 

First, she has strong confidence that the doctor was correct in diagnosing that my placenta previa is gone.  She also completely agreed with me in seeing the third doctor and if they don't agree on what is going on, that I should tell them to get together and work it out.  

But her opinion right now is that we're heading towards a vaginal delivery sometime after 36 weeks---whenever the babies want to come.  

I am also measuring 39 weeks now.  That means that I look like someone with a singleton pregnancy who is about to pop.  I feel like I'm about to pop.  I look like I am incredibly pregnant.  

At the party last week, I walked across the room.  I saw two of my friends staring at me slack jawed because I was shuffling like an old hag who never gets off her sofa.  (A description not too far off)  And the babies are really hanging out low and forward so the pressure on my pelvis is a lot worse than it ever was with Conor.

Speaking of Conor, despite Vince Shlomi's recent run-in with the law (and a prostitue), ShamWow remains a big hit with the under five crowd around here. Conor actually cleans up his bathroom every night with his mini ShamWow, wiping down the sink and the cabinets.  Last night, I caught him wiping the floor up around the bathtub with his shamwow.  As this is not a behavior he has learned by observing anyone in our household, we can only assume that the ShamWow's powers of absorption are so impressive to our little guy that he will keep a cleaner bathroom than we do, just to use this product.  BTW, Consumer reports says to just buy sponges to get the ShamWow effect.  Nonetheless, I cannot imagine a sponge having this much of an impression on a 5 year old.  Thank god(dess) we only watch DIY around here and not any of the kids' shows (besides PBS).  Commercials are pretty dang powerful.  

But back to me, I now have a hideous sinus infection.  The doc gave me some antibiotics yesterday and I've been using my neti pot constantly.  The good news is that my cheek no longer hurts when I smile.  The bad news is that I am sick of feeling shitty in the pregnancy. I have been waiting so long to be pregnant, and I am so excited to meet the babies who are growing in my belly. But the last 5 weeks have not been all that fun.  And the next 5-6 weeks do not show promising signs of being much better.  

Not to whinge on excessively, but standing up while I use the neti pot causes my feet to look a sumo wrestler's.  And just standing in the shower, while feeling wonderful, wears me out enough that I need to take a nap afterwards.  I can't walk.  I can't lie down comfortably on the sofa.  I don't want to spend my entire day in my bed, but I just can't understand why the one thing I crave after breakfast is a nap.  

On the good side, though, the contractions have plummeted, my blood pressure is amazing for someone carrying twins, the previa is gone and the babies are healthy.  All of these are really good things.  Now if I can just get some sleep and permanentely check a few things off my work list, I'll be very happy.  Then I can nap in peace and not feel so damn guilty about it.   

Lucky Me

Last night, we had a party at our house.  

Actually, my colleagues in the PhD program I teach in came over for a combo end of the year party/baby shower for me.  They came in, brought a ton of food, set up our house for the party, came and talked to me on the sofa, had fun themselves (I hope!), cleaned up the house, and left us a ton of food.  

It was the highlight of my last 5 weeks of hospitalization and bed rest, if not longer than that.  I did take the full dose of anti-contraction medicine before they come because I knew I'd be excited and probably contract.  I actually only had a couple of contractions during the party that I could obviously feel.   But otherwise, I didn't feel like I needed to be concerned.

Instead, I had fun.  I saw my friends and colleagues.  I saw live people.  And it was wonderful.

Lucky me.  

Previa or Not Previa: That is the Question

When we last left our Mother Thing, I was in the hospital under observation after the babies and I crashed while I was lying on my back.  Checked into my room (a labor and delivery room because the Special Maternity ward was filled the other Charlotteans pregnant with twins and triplets), everything was looking good.   No contractions at all and the babies' heartbeats were looking great.

I slept for squat that night due to the leftover terbutaline, but whatever.  

The next morning, I felt fine and was ready to go home after a visit from my regular OB and my high risk OB (to check my cervix and placenta).  Then they started monitoring me and noticed I was still having contractions.  Not wanting to risk the whole terbutaline problem again, they started nifedipine/procardia, an off label use of a blood pressure medicine for pre-term contractions that has fewer side effects and is safer for the babies.  The main side effects are headaches, dizziness, a flushed appearance, shaking, and insomnia. Trust me on all of those.  And that's *better* than the side effecs ot  terbutaline! Yeeha!

About mid-morning, we got to to see the high risk OB, Dr. #3 as we call him as he is the third partner in the high risk OB clinic.  A quick check of the babies confirmed that Baby A continues to be on track at exactly the correct rate of development (she always measures whatever day of my pg that we go in for the measure) and Baby B is a giant (measuring a week + ahead of the pg).  Then the doc checked out my previa.

Now, I cannot recall if I have been talking here about visualizing my uterus growing and moving the placenta away from my cervix.  I joke with everyone about it.  So Dr. #3 took a look and had some great news.  He is convinced that not only do I not have a marginal placenta previa, the placenta ends about 2.5 cm away from my cervix and that a vaginal delivery is perfectly fine.  

Good news, eh!?  Except the nurse (Dr. #1's nurse) asked for clarification that something she saw wasn't the edge of the placenta and didn't it touch the cervix.  Nope! Dr. #3 disagreed.  That's not part of the placenta.  No problem with placenta previa and my cervical length is still strong at 44 or 42 mm.  The nurses did not look convinced about the previa and when she took us back to my room suggested that my next appt at the high risk OB, I request Dr. #1 for my ultrasound.

My first thought was the Dr. #1 and Dr. #3 need to get together and work it out because while I think that it's fully possible for my placenta to move away from my cervix, I'm not convinced it moved 2.5 cm in one week.  So is someone wrong?  I don't think so.  Dr. #3 is new to the clinic, but headed up a high risk OB research clinic previously, so no slacker there.  Is Dr. #1 reallllly conservative and happy to recommend a c-section if there's even a chance of a problem? Could be; I don't really know.

I do know this this is not a trivial discrepancy, at least to me.  I'm thinking of this in terms of Alpha/Type I error vs. Beta/Type II error, because that's the way a research psychologist thinks.   

Alpha error is that there is not a relationship, but your research says there is.  That is the possible error Dr. #1 is making:  there is no prevai, he thinks there is.  The result is that  the babies are needlessly delivered before they are ready to make their debut and I have a c-section when I don't need to have one. I want to give them the best chance in this world and let come when they and my body think it's time.  

Beta error is that there is a relationship, but your research says that there isn't.  This is the possible error that Dr. #3 is making: there is previa, but he says there isn't.  The bad outcome here is excessive bleeding and putting my life and Baby A's life in danger.  Obviously, this is bad. And one would want to avoid making a beta error in this case.  However, being too conservative and deciding that an Alpha error is better puts my babies' health at risk needlessly.  

I brought this up to my regular OB at the hospital and he refused to get involved in my discussion about the differences in diagnoses.  (What's the equivalent of the thin blue line that can be applied to doctors?)  I don't think that either doctor is "wrong" or "bad."  I know from my own experiences that data (even hard data with objective numbers) can be interpreted multiple ways.  Both high risk OBs have pointed to same gray, fuzzy parts of the pictures to prove their points.  It meant absolutely nothing to Dave and me.  I do think it shows that this is a lot more subjective analysis than people might believe.  There is no blood test with standardized numbers to compare and make a decision.  The placenta is not waving a flag and going "Over here!  Over here!" 

So am I such a Negative Nancy that I cannot accept the good news that I don't have placenta previa any more (and possibly, never did) or am I such an Objective Olivia that I want the data to add up and make sense to me?  I don't know, but we've decided to request Dr. #2 at our next visit in two weeks to see what he has to say.  He doesn't have a dog in this fight (I have seen both #1 and #3 earlier in the pg), and we might request a group meeting for them to hash this out.   

Thinking that there *might* be a problem is no reason to assuredly say that there *is* a problem.  But then again, I don't want Baby A or me to die. Thank god(dess) for my doula team to help me figure out how to go forward with this.

In the meantime, I continue to visualize my ute moving my placenta up.  And I am curious to see how the next ultrasound goes.    And I'm counting contractions to see if I need to be taking my Procardia.  I'm on the minimal dose now and things appear to be going well.

An Exciting Weekend

It sure has been a busy and exciting last 3 days.

Saturday was great.  Our church sent over about 35 volunteers who, in two hours, dismantled our deck, weeded my garden, weeded our perennial beds, mowed both yards, and moved all our baby supplies from the garage to the new house.  And then they made lunch for every one.  

It is  an awe inspiring and humbling experience to have all these people come help us out.  Truly, I cannot imagine something more generous than a community swoop-in to help out a family. 

I might have ended up pushing myself a little much on Saturday though.  I made Dave drive me over to the old house so I could see what it looks like without the deck. I confess I walked around and stoopd up a bit more than I should have.

I bring this up because Sunday ended up being a tour through Contraction City.  The contractions  started almost as soon as I woke up, but I didn't start timing them until 10:30.  And from 10:30 to 2:00 or so, I had contractions every 15 to 20 minutes continually.  I called the doc who said not to worry until they either got more intense or moved to every 10 minutes for an hour.  I then decided to go drink a lot of water and lie on my left side, which should stop all contractions normally.  I even started my Hynobabies sesseion to stop preterm labor.  Ironically, all of these efforts to stop the contractions (water, left side, hypnosis) occurred about the same time that my contrax started coming every 10 minutes or less. 

So we called the doctor again and went in for a look-see at the hospital. We dropped a thrilled Conor off at a friend's house and scurried to the hospital.  We were much less stressed this time because I know they can (usually) fix pre-term contractions and I wasn't bleeding.  Bleeding is scary.  

So we arrived and they set us up in the hospital triage.  They started monitoring the babies (looking great!) and my contractions (happening when I thought  they were happening).  With no other signs of labor, they decided to give me a shot of terbutaline and the nurse assured me I would be able to go home after they observed me for a while.  

I had the usual side effects pretty qucikly: a racing heartbeat and getting a bit warmer.  The contractions also stopped immidiately.  Hooray!!

Then.....

I got very, very nauseaus, dizzy and hot.  I was so hot.  I started sweating all over my body.  My hair felt damp and I could feel my belly and legs sweating.  I told Dave and he asked if she should get a nurse and I said yes.

When she came back in, I asked if this was another side effect of terbutaline.  Not really, she said.  And I kept feeling worse.  I thought I was going to pass out, which have been an amazing trick as I was lying down in a hospital room.  I closed my eyes to keep everything from spinning and focused on just trying to breathe.  I do remember thinking "If this is a side effect of this drug, there is no way I can take it for the rest of the pg."

Then all hell broke loose.  I don't really remember what happened, but all of a sudden a lot of nurses appeared in our small room. Dave said it was 5 nurses and he tried to scrunch up in a corner and be as small as he could while the nurses did their work.

I realized something was wrong when the nurse said "Baby B's heart beat is really low." "It's always low," I muttered.  "Nobody's heart beat should be this low," she said.  That's when I got the clue that something was really wrong.  (Dave says at the this point, the babies heart rates were in the 40's.  Very, very bad)

Then they turned me on the side and started oxygen.  Somebody grabbed my right arm and jabbed a needle in it (taking 8 vials of blood and starting an IV, Dave told me later).  I heard my main nurse call to get my pre-natal records.  I realized they were preparing to go to the OR for an emergency c-section.  

I started focusing on breathing deeply and willing/praying for my babies' heart rates to get higher.  I knew this had to do with the drug and was not a "real" problem once we can get everything under control.

"What's their heart beat?" I mumbled through the mask.  "In the 80's," they replied.

This not is good, I thought.  I breathed deeply and willed/prayed some more.  Nurses continued to more around doing all sorts of things.  

Then I began to feel better.  "Hey! I feel a lot better now!"  I said somewhat cheerily.  No one gave a shit.   I kept breathing, willing. and praying.  

"What are the babies' heart beats?" I asked again.  Baby A is 130, Baby B is 113.  Muuuch better.  Breathe.  Will.  Pray.  

Both babies' heart rates reached over 140 and kept climbing into recovery mode.  A nurse later told me that the whole episode was two minutes long.

"Congratulations!" our head nurse said. "You just bought yourself 24 hours in the Presby Hospital Inn!"  

The OB  from our practice showed up a little bit later.  Even though she was not on the scene deuring the "episode" as it came to be known by my nurses, she was doing her work behind the scenes.  One thing she had done after the episode had resolved was call my high risk OB for his perspective about my  very, very unusual reaction to this drug.

He said this was not related to the drug, but more likely an event of supine hypotension or inferior vena cava syndrome.   Basically, the terb may have made the dialation of my veins and arteries more likely, and then in the position I was in on the bed, Squiggle squished my vena cava and prevented the blood from the lower half of my body from returning to my heart.  This is why pg women are not supposed to lie on their backs.   The dizziness, the heat, the sweating, and the nausea are all signs.  If my blood pressure cup had still be on, they would have seen my blood pressure plummet. All I needed to do was roll over. (Which if they had done that when I first complained would have stopped the whole problem!)

In any case, I wasn't going home Sunday night. Mom and twins crashing at a hospital tends to cause them to gat a little more attention.  We were checked into a room.  Dave went to get Conor from our friends (and promptly put Conor, as I would have, in our bed for a comforting snuggle), and everything was fine for the rest of the night.  No contractions for me and excellent baby heartbeats.  The adrenaline stole my ability to sleep, despite an ambien, but knowing they were ok and I wasn't contracting any more was wonderful.  

Tomorrow, Day #2 at the hospital:  To Previa or Not To Previa:  That is the Question. 

Finally!

The mortgage/renovation loan has been approved and we're finalizing the date for closing. The appraisal came back on Friday and it was still about $20 less per square foot than our appraisal in 2006 (which was considered highly conservative).  I know that folks may be thinking that is normal for this time, but our neighborhood is considered one of the few in Charlotte where prices are considered stable since 2006.  And, adding insult to injury, it's still about $70 less per square foot than a similar house on a smaller lot three blocks from our house that sold 6 weeks ago.  Phhht.  We had better not get the same appraiser at the end of building.  Otherwise, I'll be opening up a can of sleep deprived twin mother whoop-ass on those people.  It will be even uglier.

In any case, we should start the remodel/rennovation last week. Yippee!!!  I will be able to pick out fixtures and tiles from pictures online and from samples Dave brings home.  I trust Dave with the things that cannot be sampled (e.g., toilets).  And on Saturday, a huge posse of volunteers are coming over from our church to help us demolish the deck; we took on that project to save a couple of thousand dollars, but with me laid up at the new house, I'm not able to do as much as I thought (i.e, nada).  Therefore, our church has asked for volunteers to help us, and they got a really big response.  

I don't talk much about religion on here or our religious beliefs.  It's a lot like telling strangers your weight.  People are going to make judgments which may be quite out of touch from your own reality.  So, I'll just say that we joined a new church in January and love it and are stunned by the outreach they've given to us since I entered the hospital.  (Conor loves this church, too, which makes a big difference) 

So, they are coming over on Saturday and I think that means, we're actually starting the remodel.  Finally.  

We are very, very excited.

Happy Happy Joy Joy

We went back for a level II ultrasound yestrerday and received mostly great news.

The babies are looking fantastic.  Peanut (the girl) is at the 55th percentile of weight.  Squiggle (the boy) is over the 70th percentile of weight.  I asked for clarification and found out that, yes, these percentiles are for singleton pregnancies.  So my twins weigh more than at least half the singletons do for their gestetational age.  It also means that at 30 weeks, I'm carrying about 7 lbs of baby in me, but I don't care.  The nurse even said that it's like I'm carrying two single pregnancies at the same time, the babies are doing so well. 

!!!!

More good news includes that my cervix remains at the very same length as it was 6 weeks ago.  Because it's so long adnd healthy (the doc joked that I have the cervix of a 24 year old!) that means I am highly unlikely to go into preterm labor.  Yay!!!

Of course, this doesn't mean anything changes for the bedrest.

The bad news is that I still have marginal/partial placenta previa.  The good news is that it's not even close to being complete previa.  But it's still there and they are still worried about placental abruption, etc. etc.  So even while I'm doing great and the babies are doing great, I still have to be on bedrest and as the doc says " better" on my bedrest than I've been.  I have been better today, although I'm not really sure what all that means.  

We also found out that both babies are now head down.  Peanut is no longer transverse and that horrible pain in my belly I felt in the hospital?  That was Squiggle turning around. We had a clue when we couldn't find his heartbeat at the regular place and ended up moving to an entirely different quadrant.  The kicks under my right elbow were also a clue.  

What a waste though, huh?  The babies are in perfect position (only happens 40% of the time) and we have to have a c-section.  

Well, that's life and life is better if both of the babies and I are alive after delivery so C-section it is.   We're now just all pulling for a c-section towards the end of my 36 weeks and not the beginning.

But the news is looking great (for the most part) and I am thrilled about it!

How Big Am I?

"Honey, do you know how I can tell my belly is really, really big?"

"Because you can't get into the bathroom closet anymore?"

"Nope, that's not it."

"Because you can't wear my large pajamas and you can only wear my XL pajamas if the drawstring is not tied?"

"Nope, that's not it."

"Becuase of the gravitaional pull, there are small objects orbiting your belly?"

"Nope, that's not it!"

"Because there are tides in Conor's bath water when you walk by?"

"Nope, that's not it!!"

"Then how can you tell that your belly is really, really big?"

"Because I feel like this picture makes my butt and thighs look thin.  The enormous proportion of my belly is throwing off my body image!"