O'Malley Christmas 2008

Here's a photo summary of our Christmas Day so far for our families who we couldn't be with. We miss you all and love you and can't wait to see you in the coming weeks!

I'll start with last night. We went to the Christmas Eve service at church which is quite possibly the only church in the entire country that doesn't have a candlelight service and sing 'Silent Night'. We then came home and feasted on the Ortiz traditional Christmas Eve meal of tamales, homemade beans and sopa. We bought the tamales from a local Mexican store, they were quite different than my family's homemade tamales, but still good. Then we opened one present each.

This morning, I woke up at 4:30 and couldn't fall back asleep so I took a shower, surfed the internet and started cooking breakfast at 7:30. Mom, you'd be so proud of me. I made the strawberry shortcakes, from a box but still... Then we opened the rest of our presents and stockings. We took a nap and then headed over to our friends, the Verhey's. They were kind enough to invite us and another young couple from church over to their home for an early Christmas dinner. Both the couples had young babies so that was fun for us to be around. We even tasted pheasant! They had a really fun, but excitable, dog that Brandon played fetch with. We read from the Bible, had some good fellowship and prayer time, got some more advice about babies, and had a white elephant gift exchange.

We just got home and called our families and are about to watch Home Alone and eat leftover tamales. All in all, not too bad for a Christmas spent on the opposite coast from our families. We can't wait for next year, though, when we're all together and our boys are nearly a year old :-)

Brandon got me an awesome massager. I think he was trying to send me a message that he's sick of me asking for massages every single night. Silly Brandon, don't you know that there's no substitute for your massages though?

Here's Brandon in the sweatshirt I got him

Our unborn babies had at least as many, if not more, gifts than Brandon and I under the tree. Those babies sure are blessed already to have such loving grandparents and aunts and uncles!

Thanks for the 'fun money' Gary and Sari!! The frames are adorable too, we'll hang them in the boys' room.

Here's a picture of the families we had Christmas dinner with.

And here's Huck and Emma enjoying their Christmas feast, we got them some special food treats ;-) They're still roaming around the house looking- and begging- for more.

Merry Christmas!

Today, we celebrate that Jesus was born to save his people from their sins! Praise the Lord!

"And the angel said to them, 'Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the City of David, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord'... And suddenly, there was with the angel a multitude of heavenly host praising God and saying 'Glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace among those with whom he is pleased." ~ Luke 2:10-14

The King of Kings salvation brings, let loving hearts enthrone Him!

Santa IS real!!

Check it out! Google and Norad are tracking his journey all over the world. As I write this, he's currently over St. Petersburg, Russia. Click here to see where he goes next!

P.S. They even captured videos of Santa and his sleigh! Is there anything Google can't do??

Happy Birthday to my dear, sweet Shauna!!

Love you forever!!!

Love,

Your BFF

Another boring day at home...

I have nothing new to write about, but I figure I better try to post every day so nobody thinks I went into labor or anything.

I never once left my apartment today. I ate breakfast, took a nap, watched a movie, wrote a letter trying to get out of a $250 parking ticket I got last week, made a grocery list for Brandon, wrapped the rest of my Christmas presents, and finished the rest of my thank-you notes. Now, I'm just sitting here waiting for Brandon to get home from the store.

Only ONE week left!!!

Pregnancy Update

Another doctor appointment this morning, nothing new to report though. The babies were both awake during the non-stress test and I had several contractions so it was pretty short this morning. Their heart rates, fluid levels, and placentas all look good still. My blood pressure is still within the normal range which is great considering the amount of swelling that I have going on.

After the appointment, I treated myself to some pancakes at IHOP and ran to Target for some last minute Christmas stuff. Now, I don't plan on leaving the house for several days. Still no snow here, although I wish it would. It was bone-chillingly cold today with lots of wind but clear skies.

That's all, like I said, it's rather boring around here lately. It's just a waiting game now. 8 days or less!

Merry Christmas!!

Love, the O'Malley Family

Consider this our Christmas card this year, we're ummm trying to be environmentally conscious... and fiscally conservative. We'll have a better one next year, but in the meantime, does it get any better than cats in Christmas hats?? I don't think so! And just because they're so darn cute and hysterically funny, here are all the takes from our family Christmas photo shoot. Do you have any idea how hard it is to get two grumpy cats to look at a camera?

9 Days!

That's right, we're in single digits now, people!! The sleeplessness is getting worse, which many people tell me is preparing my body for more sleepless nights after they're born. Oh joy! :-/ I am going to try to rest as much as possible this week though to make up for not sleeping so well at night. Last night I woke up at 4:30 and couldn't fall back asleep until 6:30, after a hot shower and a bowl of Cheerios. So this morning, I slept in until 10 am and stayed home from church. For the past 3 hours, I've been resting on the couch and drinking apple juice - my new favorite drink!

This is a very boring post, sorry, I don't really have anything new to report. I just want this all to be over with so I can walk/sit/sleep in relative comfort again. 9 days seems like an eternity right now, but I'm sure it will probably fly by and before I know it I will enter a brand new, exciting stage of life - motherhood! It still freaks me out, it seems so surreal. I almost don't believe that we'll be parents in 9 days or less. How do you wrap your mind around that??? I don't think it will sink in until I'm actually holding my boys in my arms. And, knowing myself, I'm sure I'll be freaking out even then!

Is this for real??

Is it seriously snowing in Las Vegas? How can the entire rest of the country be having snow storms but DC doesn't get any at all?? A white Christmas would seriously improve our 'just the two of us' Christmas celebration. I hope it comes soon - and then melts away by the 30th before we have to drive to the hospital.

36 Weeks!

Well, technically tomorrow I will hit 36 weeks but I'll be working all day and won't have time to blog. One more week and I'm considered full-term, one and a half weeks and the babies will be here! Crazy! Here's a picture of fraternal twins in the womb at 36 weeks, I still have a hard time believing that's inside of me!
I'm continually amazed that I can still grow larger. Well over a month ago, I thought that surely I couldn't get any bigger. Boy was I wrong! I feel like I grow another inch every day! The doctor stopped measuring me this week because my uterus is lodged so far under my rib cage that she can no longer feel the top of it. I guess that's a sign that I've grown as large as can be lengthwise and can only get wider from here on out. Thank goodness there's not long left!

I can tell I've hit the homestretch because the exhaustion has returned and the heartburn and discomfort have hit new levels. Not only do I wake up 3 times each night to go to the bathroom but I've also started waking up because, even though I'm exhausted, I can't sleep due to the discomfort of lying there. Even sleeping on my side is no longer comfortable since I have to prop pillows under my stomach to hold my belly up. Poor Brandon, he's practically falling off the bed due to the 5 pillows that I now sleep with, wedged all around me. One to prop by belly up, one behind my back, 2 for my head and a huge couch cushion between my legs. I was lucky enough to be in the extremely small minority of pregnant women that didn't have any problems sleeping on my back until recently, now the weight of my belly makes that too uncomfortable as well. I've begun waking up at 3 or 4 am and taking a bath to relieve the itchiness and to relax so that I can fall back asleep. The hot water relieves the soreness and muscle aches and the oatmeal soothes my skin rash. This usually helps alot and afterwards I can crawl back into bed, arrange my pillows all around me, and finally fall asleep.

Not too much longer now though, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel! In just 12 days (or less) I will be a mom!!

Another Brandon Quote

We're currently sitting on opposite couches each using a laptop (I have a work computer at home for the next couple of weeks)

Me: "Hey, will you hand me the camera out of my purse?"

Brandon: "In a minute. I have to take the 'What would Reagan do' quiz on Facebook first."

Pregnancy Update

So I had another doctor appointment this morning. Actually, it was more like 3 appointments. First, I had my last regular sonogram. I will actually get sonograms at each of the next appointments but not full ones where they measure the growth and everything. They will do just shortened sonograms to see the positions the babies are in, check their amniotic fluid levels, and check the placentas. Anyways, first I had a sonogram and the babies are still doing absolutely great. Baby A is estimated to be at 5 pounds, 12 ounces and Baby B is at 5 pounds, 13 ounces. It's hard for them to get exact weights now since they have such a hard time seeing them at all. I stared at the screen the entire time and couldn't make out anything at all. I saw part of a spine once... I think.

Both babies are still breech, as expected, and the fluid levels are looking great. They did see the beginning of a calcium build-up on the placentas which is normal with twin pregnancies at this stage. One of the biggest reasons why twins come earlier than singletons is because their placentas start lagging behind in nourishing them by week 37 or 38. Apparently, these calcium buildups indicate that his is beginning to happen. However, they said it's totally normal right now and have no reason to expect that I won't be able to carry them until the 30th.

Next, I had another non-stress test with the plastic discs strapped on. The babies were sleeping for part of it this time so it took longer than last time, but in the end they told me that everything looks great. They both have strong heartbeats even during contractions.

Finally, I had my regular doctor's appointment with a weigh-in, blood pressure and urine checks. All of those are great, "super-fantastic" I believe were her exact words. Even though I was pretty sure I didn't have it after the swelling went down, it was still a huge relief to get all of this finally checked since they all can indicate preeclampsia. No signs of it though! Yay!

I also found out that my c-section is confirmed for noon on December 30th. A while ago, I was absolutely terrified of birth (both vaginal birth and c-sections) but now I'm so ready for this to be over with that I'm actually excited for it! The 30th can't come soon enough!

Christmas Tree

Well, we finally put up our Christmas decorations (way late, we know) and tree yesterday. It doesn't have a ton of ornaments on it, but I figure that we can build our ornament collection over the years, we don't have to have everything now.

We decorated it last night and sure enough, the cats started playing with it right after we went to bed. Last year, they knocked the entire tree over while we were in California and Washington. Last night, though, as soon as we heard the tell-tale signs of the cats batting at the tree, Brandon shot out of bed. I heard alot of yelling and crying on the cats' part and some very stern "No's" on Brandon's part. Then he came back to bed and said, "Well, they won't be messing with the tree any more." I just laughed because I thought it was impossible to keep the cats away from the tree without locking them in the bathroom overnight, but sure enough, they didn't touch the tree once the entire rest of the night. They came and slept with us and are still in bed with Brandon (very unusual as they normally get up with whoever wakes up first, hoping to be fed) and nowhere near the Christmas tree.

Yesterday afternoon, I overheard Brandon's lecture to Huck (who was clawing our loveseat). It went something like this:

"Huck, you know you aren't allowed to do that. Now I have no choice but to punish you. It's for your own good, Huck, so you will learn obedience. I still love you." He then holds Huck in front of the loveseat, swats his butt a few times, and says "No" over and over again.

What a good discipliner my husband is! Now I get to be fun Mommy and he gets to be stern Daddy with the boys. J/K, I will discipline the boys too, although I'm sure I'll still be the favorite parent ;-)

Disclaimer: Yes, we know our cats probably can't understand everything we say to them, but we do know they understand their names and the word "No." Everything else is more of a joke amongst ourselves, he does it so I will laugh. Sometimes, to prove this point, Brandon will say in his sweetest baby-talk voice while petting and cuddling with the cats: "You're the stupidest cat in the world, Huck, yes you are. I don't even like you, the only reason you're still around is because your Mommy loves you so much." That never fails to make me laugh :-)

I really wish...

that I was making homemade tamales with my family right now! I may just have to go out and buy some this year because I can't miss out on tamales on Christmas Eve! Christmas just wouldn't be the same!

I'm very happy to report that after nearly 36 hours straight with my feet up, about 10 gallons of water, and a foot massage from my wonderful husband, my feet are almost completely back to their normal size! (And by normal, I mean only moderately swollen)

I literally sat on the couch for all but an hour or two of yesterday and most of this morning too. What did I do that entire time? I wrote 22 thank-you notes, did a little office work, blogged, read other blogs, sewed buttons onto two sweaters of mine (I've been putting this off for over a year), ate French Toast and an entire box of Macaroni & Cheese, watched 2 Christmas movies, and read The Baby Whisperer. The time that I was up on my feet was spent hanging up my clothes (from last week's laundry) and finishing packing my hospital bag. Brandon even brought home some pizza for dinner so I didn't have to cook. This morning, Brandon also took the car to be vacuumed out so it's all ready to have the car seats strapped in on Monday. What a guy!

All of this time spent lying down has also helped to dramatically decrease my contractions and soreness. My skin rash is also healing a little after many, many oatmeal baths and slathering all kinds of aloes and lotions on it. All in all, I'm feeling much better in every way. Now I'm just wondering: why didn't I do this before?

Praise the Lord that I have such a wonderful boss who allows me to have such a flexible schedule at such a busy time!

Pregnancy Update

Thank you for the comments and advice from the women who have recently been pregnant! It is so helpful! Although I was looking forward to today being my last day at work, I decided to stay home today so I can keep my feet up and go into the office sporadically next week for a few hours here and there. I think this might be better than a long 10 hour day at my desk and walking around. The swelling in my feet has gone down a little but they're still much larger than they were a few days ago. Also, my right foot is somewhat more swollen than my left foot.

I looked up the symptoms of preeclampsia online but I don't think I have any of the other symptoms. I was starting to get really anxious yesterday, but I think that may have been a result of stressing out over my bad driving and worrying that something else was going to go wrong. I had my blood pressure and urine checked at my last appoint on Monday and they were both fine. I haven't had any light-headedness, dizziness, or nausea. They did warn me that a twin pregnancy automatically puts me at higher risk for preeclampsia so I will watch my symptoms carefully and if I develop any more, I'll go straight to the doctor's office.


For now, I'm just hoping that lots of water and keeping my feet elevated will cure the swelling. It will be nice to be at home with my cats and my Christmas movies and not having to wear my too-tight maternity pants all day. I also hope to get at least a dozen thank-you notes written today and to get the grocery service all set up and finish packing my hospital bag. I ordered the diaper service yesterday and our new health insurance will kick in on Monday so I'll call the hospital with the new information then. I'm slowly but surely crossing things off my to-do list, these babies will be here before we know it!!

Again? Are you kidding me?

So we went to the office Christmas Party last night and had fun... too bad it took us 1 hour and 45 minutes to get there... and too bad that I got into two accidents on the way there :-/ Don't worry Mom, both were minor. The first one was about 30 seconds into my journey, I was still in the Senate parking lot on the phone with Brandon telling him I was on my way to pick him up when I backed into a wall. (Hmm, maybe there is something to those 'no cell phone while driving' laws after all?) It was a pretty loud bang but it was pouring rain so I decided not to get out and survey the damage.

Then after a very, very long drive in hellish traffic out to the Senator's house I started to accelerate but then at the last second changed my mind and stopped suddenly and the car behind me clipped our bumper again. This time, we pulled over and Brandon got out and talked to the guy. The damage wasn't too bad, some missing paint and a small crack in the bumper but we were pretty certain that was from earlier when I smashed the car into a wall so we didn't exchange any info. This one wasn't entirely my fault since I was the one who got rear-ended, but I probably shouldn't have started accelerating and then slammed on my brakes.

For some reason, these two-a-day driving issues seem to plague me. When I was 16 and had just gotten my license, I accidentally backed into a mailbox and knocked it to the ground. I freaked out and just drove away (yes, I know that's a terrible thing to do). Later that night (it was coincidentally the first time I ever went over to Brandon's house and the first time I met his Mom) I backed into my friend Gavin's car in the driveway. I was driving my parent's suburban and there wasn't even a scratch on it, but poor Gavin's car was totally smashed up. I blamed this one on my parents. After all, if I hadn't had such an early curfew I wouldn't have had to leave before everybody else and try to maneuver a huge suburban out of Brandon's driveway, right?

My senior year in high school I was driving up to Seattle, in the suburban again, when I hit a curb pretty hard and ricocheted off it into the oncoming traffic lane and had to slam on my brakes to avoid driving into a ditch. Lucky for me, nobody was driving in the other lane. I just waited for some cars to pass and then backed up and got back into my lane again. Once I got there, I pulled into a parking garage and suddenly heard this awful grinding/scraping sound and then my car just stopped moving even though I was still pressing the gas. I got out, looked up and saw that I had totally demolished my parent's plastic luggage holder which was strapped onto the top of the car. I had had the radio on too loud and hadn't heard the luggage rack hit the warning signs as I was pulling in. It was lodged in between two cement beams and I couldn't have driven any farther if I had tried. Some nice parking attendants ran over and somehow unscrewed the thing from the luggage rack and pulled it down. They loaded it into my car and then I had to drive home and show my parents what I had done- not fun.

Then, my freshman year in college I was driving home from Spokane to Seattle for Easter and got pulled over twice on the way there. Once was for changing lanes without using my blinker and once was for running a stop sign at a freeway exit. Lucky for me, I got out of both tickets :-)

The time where I only drove into the oncoming lane but didn't get hit may not count, but as you can see, I clearly have a pattern of two driving issues a day. I often go years in between any incidents at all. Then all of a sudden, BAM! I have two in one day.

The bright side though, as I told Brandon last night, is that if my pattern holds true, it will be at least a year before I get pulled over or crash the car again :-) He didn't seem as encouraged by that as I'd hoped he'd be...

Ahhhh!!!

My feet and ankles suddenly and SEVERELY swelled up yesterday. It seriously looks like I have a broken ankle. I thought it would go away after a good night's sleep with my feet elevated, but no such luck. They're just as bad - if not worse - today. I freaked out and called my doctor's office but they told me this is 'normal' and to just drink more water and keep my feet up.

I swear, I could call with literally any medical problem under the sun and that's their solution: drink more water. I already drink between 80 and 100 ounces per day and with every new complaint of mine, they're constantly telling me to increase that. My hands and face look slightly more swollen but my feet and ankles are just unbelievably huge. They're not just cankles, they're more like a 2nd set of knees. I'm not exaggerating at all (as hard as that might be to believe), they literally might be the size of my knees. It's grossing me out, I can't even look at them.

Apparently, sitting and standing is the worst possible thing for them, but unfortunately I'm still stuck working today and tomorrow. I won't be able to put my feet up until Saturday so I guess I just have to deal with it until then. Even then, the nurse said it could take several days completely off my feet for them to go back to their normal level of swollenness. Sick!!

On to a better subject, my boss and his wife had us over for dinner last night. They are the parents of 4 year old twin girls and gave us lots of advice and answers on raising twins. It was also fun to hang out with their kids for a while, they're adorable!

Tonight is the office Christmas Party at the Senator's house. It should be fun, although very bitter-sweet at the same time. The office is currently filled with movers packing everything up so it's really sinking in that we'll be closing in a week. But I'm still looking forward to tonight, I just wish I could rest for a few hours beforehand. Too much work to do though, I'm so close to finishing, I can't stop now!

To Do List

Thanks Becky! Your comment reminded me of another item to add to my to-do list: make a phone tree for when the twins are born. I will make sure Renee calls you guys! Here's the rest of my list:

1. Finish packing for the hospital
2. Have the carseats installed by the police department (I have an appointment for this on Monday)
3. Buy more sheets (I didn't realize how many sheets are recommended when twins share a crib!)
4. Order the diaper service
5. Make a phone tree
6. Pre-register at the hospital with our new insurance (we have to switch to Brandon's health insurance now that I'm about to be unemployed)
7. Figure out how to use my new breastpump :-) It looks impossibly complicated.
8. Finish my thank-you notes before the twins are born!
9. Arrange for a grocery service to deliver groceries for a few weeks (Brandon's not the world's greatest grocery shopper)
10. Most importantly: Name these kids!!

Hmmm, I hope I'm not forgetting anything else!

Pregnancy Update

So, I'm at 34 weeks and 5 days now. I had a doctor's appointment yesterday, the first of my now weekly appointments. The first part was a 'non-stress test' where you just lie in a lazy boy for an hour with three little plastic discs strapped onto your belly. One measures your contractions and the others monitor the babies' heartbeats. It can apparently take a lot longer with twins since the babies have to be awake and moving around for at least part of the time in order to get an accurate reading of their heartbeats. You also have to experience at least one or two contractions during that time so they can see how the babies react to them.

Lucky for me, both babies were awake and kicking and I had several contractions in a half hour so I didn't have to stay long. And boy did they kick! They really did not like those plastic discs pressing on them because they kicked violently against them. Every few minutes, I'd see one go flying up and I'd have to make sure it didn't slide out of place.

After that, I had the regular weekly check-up. My blood pressure is fine and I only gained two pounds in the last two weeks. Yay! She also told me I could rub on Benadryl cream for my skin rash so I made a beeline for the drugstore immediately after my appointment. I feel much less itchy today even though my skin is still covered with red, splotchy bumps :-)

Today has been a little weird, though. I woke up feeling extremely sore and could barely walk at first. The pain and stiffness in my pelvis gradually lessened throughout the day, but it still hurts alot (I've been getting alot of strange looks as I waddle around the Senate at a snail's pace). I also had an abnormally large amount of contractions today, very uncomfortable almost-painful ones too. It got so bad during the afternoon that I started marking down the times because I was afraid I was going into labor. Don't worry, though, they were pretty frequent but still totally irregular. I haven't had one for over an hour now.

However, it completely freaked me out so I got to work cleaning out my desk and throwing away files. I made a big dent in it and will hopefully finish the bulk of it tomorrow. I am also going to go home and pack my suitcase tonight, just in case. No matter how good of a list I made for Brandon, he wouldn't be able to get every specific item I wanted from home because he can't read my mind. If I wrote down my "my favorite socks," he wouldn't know what those were or where to find them. So, I figure I better pack them now and have my bag ready and waiting. Hopefully, I won't need it until December 30th but at the very least I will have some peace of mind if I get such intense contractions again.

Just when I thought it couldn't get any worse...

I've developed this itchy skin rash over the past few days. I googled itchy skin and pregnancy and have diagnosed myself with 'pruritic urticarial papules and plaques of pregnancy,' also known as PUPPP. I really don't think the name could be any longer but I'm convinced that this is what I've got. It apparently shows up in the third trimester and is characterized by itchy, red bumps and a hive-like rash on your belly. It's also already spread to my thighs, chest and arms. It says that only 1% of pregnant women get it, but that it's more common in women carrying twins and women having their first baby (check and check).

Darn!! I feel like I've got the chicken pox! The article says it's harmless for the babies but that it itches like crazy... it sure does!! I've been taking oatmeal baths for the past couple of days and then slathering on oatmeal lotion. This seems to help the itching, at least temporarily. Tomorrow, I have a doctor appointment so I'm going to ask her to prescribe some safe anti-itch medicine. I can hardly wait for some relief!

Well, in the meantime, I'm off for another soak in the oatmeal bath... which looks like dirty dishwater by the way. Gross!!

Much Better

I saw Twilight again tonight and it was so much better the second time!! No laughing cynics or shrieking teenage girls. I was able to enjoy the movie (and Edward) in peace. I have a newfound appreciation for it since I could actually hear it this time around. I can't wait til it comes out on video!

P.S. I half-jokingly threw out the name of Cullen for a boy - but Brandon nixed that one with his very next breath. I do think it's a good name, though... maybe in a few years after Twilight fever has worn off and nobody would think we were naming our son after a fictional vampire.

An actual quote from Brandon:

"There just aren't any names that are good enough for my sons."

I just about peed my pants laughing after he said that.

The Name Game

Hey, remember when we said we weren't going to tell anybody the names we'd decided on until the twins were born? Well if you're one of the people who were mad about that (Rachel, Renee, & Anna), don't worry, we still haven't settled on one single name. We have a list of like 15-20 that we've been throwing around, but we can't seem to come to consensus on any of them. He's vetoed a couple of my top names, I've vetoed a couple of his top names and the rest we're just kind of lukewarm on.

Boys are so much harder to name than girls! You can't be quite as creative or unique with boys names and you can't do as many creative spellings either. We want something that's not too common, not too wierd, not too soft-sounding, preferably a Bible name or a name that has a good meaning to it, and one that flows with our last name. This is turning out to be much harder than we thought.

Brandon took me on a date last night and we talked about names at dinner for over an hour. We came up with... nothing. And don't even get me started on middle names, we'll deal with that hurdle when we come to it - after we've finally picked out first names.

*Sigh* I always thought this would be so easy when I made my 'name list' in high school. Don't laugh... I know every single girl reading this made a name list in high school too. I just never actually thought about having to compromise with my husband. More than most people, I like things to go exactly my way. This is a huge character flaw of mine, I know it and I'm working on it. But it still isn't any easier to choose names with a man whose name choices are so much different than mine.

Anyways, these kids will have names by the time they're born. We will find the two perfect names and will agree on them 100%. I just hope they stay in there for a few more weeks to buy us some more time ;-)

Me, after reading an online article: "Did you know that my skin is stretched so thin that the babies can open their eyes now and actually distinguish between light and dark?"

Brandon: "Really? That's kind of creepy." (He then closes his eyes and shakes his head to get the image out of his mind).


A few days later...

Me complaining: "My stomach is so big and so stretched out that it feels like the babies just might poke a hole through and come out."

Brandon (with eyes wide open): "Can that actually happen???"


Oh, how I love my husband! :-)

Preparing for the babies

I don't feel like starting my work yet, so I think I'll do two posts in a row.

First of all, thank you to everybody who wrote back with advice on diapers. You all really helped to confirm and set my heart at ease about doing cloth diapers. I had been leaning this way and wanting to try it, but was afraid because it is so much less conventional and seemed like alot more work.

Brandon and I have decided to order the cloth diapers for 4 weeks and see how we like it. If it goes smoothly, we will continue on with the cloth diapers. I will have them delivered sometime next week as they recommend delivery about 2 weeks before your delivery date (they don't charge for this early delivery). However, we have also bought a few packs of the Pampers Swaddlers just in case the babies are too small for the cloth diapers, if we take them out of the house for the day during the first 4 weeks (I really don't want to transport smelly, poopy diapers in my cute little diaper bag), or any other unexpected things arise. We're ready for anything!

I've also been working hard to prepare myself for breastfeeding twins (if you're male and don't want to read all about breastfeeding, I suggest you skip the rest of this post). I knew absolutely nothing at all about breastfeeding before I got pregnant. I didn't even know how often newborns have to eat, I thought it was 3 times a day like me. Boy, was I wrong! Good thing I started looking into it!

There's a wonderful (and free!) breastfeeding clinic downtown and I've attended a couple of classes there during my lunch hour. They were specifically geared towards breastfeeding twins and were amazingly helpful. I learned so much! I am so glad that I went because I feel much more prepared for any problems that might arise. I naively thought that breastfeeding came so naturally and that you just automatically made enough milk to sustain however many babies you are carrying and that the babies would always want to/be able to breastfeed.

I learned, though, that while it is the most natural way of feeding your babies, it's not always easy and may not come naturally to all moms and babies. Some babies (especially twins) are too small and aren't strong enough to suck effectively. If that's the case, they won't get enough to eat and will lose too much weight. Also, if babies have jaundice or fall asleep too easily, they won't get enough milk either. There are ways to correct these problems, but if you're not prepared, you might just assume that your baby couldn't breastfeed and stop trying.

Also, every woman has different breasts and therefore will have different challenges to breastfeeding. I won't get into all of these, but I had a breast assessment at the center and was told that I might experience some problems getting my babies to latch on correctly at first. Now that I'm prepared for this, I won't freak out if/when they don't latch on and will get help immediately.

I also learned how you can tell if your baby is getting enough to eat, how to pump to increase your milk supply (this is absolutely crucial for twin moms), how to encourage your baby to enjoy breastfeeding, and how to troubleshoot a multitude of other problems. Once I get the hang of nursing one baby at a time, I think I'll even try to do both at once. Eeek! Wish me luck with that!

The director of the center is apparently referred to around town as the 'breast whisperer' and I plan on having her come to our apartment for a home consultation a day or two after we get out of the hospital. She can help me with any specific issues I'm having with breastfeeding and show me how do it more efficiently. There are so many different factors that affect breastfeeding (the size and shape of your breast, the size and shape of your nipple, the size and shape of the babies' mouths, your milk supply, your hormone levels, what type of delivery you had, your stress level, your diet, the health and strength of the baby, etc.) that I'm sure it will not be a cake walk for me. I'm really glad to be so well prepared before birth and to know that I have somebody I can call for help after birth. I'm excited for the challenge!

34 weeks and counting!

I have been experiencing major pelvic pain and soreness beginning yesterday. It is often so bad that I can barely walk. It's worst in the morning (when I first start moving around) and in the late afternoon/evening after a long day at work. I brought home some work last night so I am staying home this morning to rest a little more. I can't even begin to explain how excited I am to be done working next Friday. Only 6 more days!!

I won't have another ultrasound until December 15th, but according to the baby sites, they should each weigh a full 5 pounds now (about the size and weight of a cantaloupe). My babies usually weigh in a little bit more than the sites say they should, however that may be slowing now since they're twins. Either way, I now have at least 10 pounds worth of babies in me!!

I've been experiencing alot of Braxton Hicks contractions lately. However, the last time I went to the doctor this didn't seem to be affecting my cervix at all, which is good. (The less contractions I have, the less my cervix shortens, and the lower the risk of pre-term labor). I wouldn't describe them as painful yet... more like super-uncomfortable. My whole belly tightens up and feels rock hard and it becomes really hard to breathe while they last. These are usually more common at the end of a long day or if I've been walking or bending over too much. I try not to do much of either, especially the bending. Not only is that painful in itself, but it usually triggers the contractions.

I was surfing the internet this morning and found a new website that actually had a picture of fraternal twins in utero. The picture below shows what twins would look like at 32 weeks (2 weeks ago for me). They have another picture showing them at 36 weeks, if I'm still pregnant by then I will post that one :-) Isn't that crazy?!? I almost died when I saw the picture, I can't believe that's inside of me right now!!! No wonder I can feel every little movement of theirs, they look so squished! I bet they're as excited as I am to get out! To be honest, I don't really care if they come a little early, but they need to stay in there another 2 weeks at least. Otherwise, they'll have an extended hospital stay and that wouldn't be any fun. Maybe this makes me less maternal/more selfish, but as long as they make it to 36 weeks and have fully developed lungs, I would prefer them out of the womb.

Happy Birthday Ne!!

Here's a little photo tribute in honor of your 24th birthday!

The classic "Renee face"

This picture just melts my heart!!

I love this one of us :-)

I have at least 3 more where this came from!

HAHA

Does anybody still do bunny ears anymore besides Renee?

Shauna and I impersonating Renee, complete with the infamous Gap sweatshirt, Keds and Big Dog!!

These pictures made me snort at first and then cry (good thing nobody was home to witness either). So many memories!! I love you and miss you Ne.

Happy Birthday to the bestest best friend I could ask for!!!

4 Cats!

That's right, I said 4 cats! We "cat-sat" over the Thanksgiving weekend for our friends' kittens. They're only a few months old and they look nearly identical to our cats, they could have been related. One was girl called Jane and the other was a boy called Le Mister. Seriously, his name is Le Mister- with a French accent. Brandon called him Le Gay, I just called him Mister.

Huck and Emma did not like the other cats invading their space. They hissed at them and hid in the bedroom for the first 3 days but by Saturday, they finally started behaving. It was pretty funny to see our two fully-grown cats keeping their distance from some harmless little kittens. The kittens actually wanted to play with them, but Huck and Emma wouldn't have any of it. They're not the most social of cats. However, the kittens brought with them some canned food which Huck and Emma never get. They went wild!! I thought Huck was going to make himself sick, he was eating so fast! That won them over :-)

Success!

We did it! Rachel and I cooked a fantastic Thanksgiving dinner if I do say so myself. It was much harder and more time consuming than I expected though, it took us almost 5 hours from start to finish. And the only thing we (I) ruined was the pumpkin pie which is funny because that's the only thing I had ever made before. Here's some pictures of the finished product. We feasted on a perfectly cooked turkey, mashed potatoes, (semi-homemade) stuffing, asparagus. homemade cranberry sauce, cornbread, and my mom's jello mold. We also worked really hard to make homemade gravy but realized once we sat down to dinner that none of us even liked gravy! Haha, oh well.

Clearly, we were more concerned with taste than presentation.

My plate. I stayed true to form and, despite being pregnant, didn't even finish half of it. Why are my eyes always so much bigger than my stomach??

Brandon's enjoying his dessert, a heaping bowl of ice cream of course! If you look closely you'll see that he's eating it with the piggy ice cream scooper my Mom got him for Christmas last year :-)

All in all, we had a pretty good Thanksgiving considering it was just the three of us. On Friday, we went shopping of course and got some fantastic deals! I finished all of my Christmas shopping, normally I haven't even started it at this point! I also bought some really cute post-maternity sweaters that were 50% off at Banana Republic, how could I pass that up??

Thanks for coming Rachel! You made Thanksgiving so much better!!