22 week belly, but looking much further along!

Well it has been quite a busy week in all aspects of my life.  Physically I feel like my body is changing dramatically every couple of days, mentally I feel drained, and life in general has just been packed full of events and appointments this week.

The week at least started off relaxing and I spent Monday lounging in the lazy river at the pool with my friend Melissa.  It felt great and was really nice to feel weightless for a couple hours.  My back has also been hurting really bad on the left lower side due to some muscles that are locked up, so I decided 2 visits to the chiropractor this week were necessary, so I saw her Monday and again on Wednesday. She also continues to work on my feet and they seem to be stabilizing.  They still hurt, but the pain isn't getting worse.

We had our last multiples class on Monday evening, which I said in my previous blog we weren't really anticipating learning anything worthwhile, but made ourselves go anyway just because we had already paid quite a bit for the class.  And I am actually glad we went to the last one because it was the most informative and the scariest all wrapped into 3 hours of fun!  The first half of the class we talked about epidurals and multiple births and we learned that no matter how you want to deliver your babies, if you are carrying multiples, you HAVE to get an epidural even if it is never activated.  This is for the safety of the babies and me.  But don't be confused, I WANT an epidural with all the pain medicine they can give me no matter which way they are delivered!!  I have been through enough pain with this process as it is.  We then watched 4 birth videos.  The multiple births were both c-sections.  Ok, wait let me say the class watched 4 birth videos, I sat with my head down most of the time, because I just couldn't watch!  I did look up at one point, and the 2 seconds I saw were enough to scare the crap out of anyone! Let alone someone having multiples, who knows they have to go through the process twice!  I mean come on why put those scary scenarios and pictures into my head, no thanks!!

The second half of the class was the best part of the entire 3 weeks! They had a neo-natal pediatrician who has her own set of triplets come in and talk to us.  She was very upfront and mostly talked about ideas and suggestions for when the babies get here.  (This is what I thought the entire class was going to be about!!)   She said get a system set up ahead of time, with people, your home, meals, and a schedule for the babies.  She suggested having a point person who can help organize your helper people, and instead of me having to organize everything, that person can do it.  The reason being is if I am spending all this time organizing when help is going to come, it will take so much time I might as well just do everything myself, which I DON'T want to happen.  I want as much help as is offered!!  I don't want or think for even a second that Justin or I can do this on our own.  It's going to take a village!!  So for the first time in my life I am admitting that I will not and can not do this on my/our own, so I am asking and hoping for lots of help! Wow, you have no idea how hard it is for someone like me who always just does everything herself to admit that! Big step!   Other very helpful things the doctor talked about were color-coding each babies things, being flexible with sleeping arrangements for them, feeding at the same time always, sleeping blocks of time for husbands and wives, and yes she said if you can afford a night nanny, GET ONE!! We are definitely going to look into this for the first couple months.

Tuesday morning I woke up at 530am for no reason and couldn't fall back asleep.  Then at 7am, I had this overwhelming feeling again and I ran into the bathroom and threw up.  Ugh!! What the heck? So random! I spent most of the day Tuesday laying in bed, feeling very tired and crappy.

Wednesday morning I babysat for my friend Maggie's baby Charlie for a couple hours.  I was a little scared at first, but realized it was pretty fun and easy and I am capable of taking care of a baby for a couple hours at least by myself! Ha!  Wednesday evening I had my monthly girls dinner, which I get very excited about because I don't see my friends as often right now.  It is great to just get together and hang out and chat.  I look forward to it every month!!

Thursday morning was our doctors appointment with the big ultrasound at the hospital first.  Ummm, let me just start by saying, it was awful!!  The ultrasound tech was nice enough and we started like normal but for some reason I couldn't get comfortable on the table and kept getting dizzy and nauseous like I was going to throw up.  We had to stop the ultrasound like 3 different times because I had to either sit up, walk around, or lay on my left side to avoid puking.  Then to make matters worse, this tech was so compulsive about getting everything so precise, it ended up taking 2 hours and 15 minutes to complete the ultrasound.  Man, was I glad to get out of there.  But our results were.....everything looks perfect! The babies have all the parts they should have, and they are big and healthy.  Their estimated weights are: Baby A, 15oz and Baby B, 1lb 1oz.  So baby B is 2oz bigger than Baby A which is completely in the normal range.  That means I have about 2lbs of baby in there! Wow, can't believe they are that big already!  Ok, on to the doctor appt....and since we were late from the ultrasound the doctor bumped us and we didn't get into a room until 12:20pm!!  He finally came in at 12:40 and said everything looked great with the ultrasound results.  He said I had gained 2 more pounds, so I am at a total gain of 8lbs.  He said he isn't happy that I haven't gained more, but that he wasn't going to say a word because the babies are so big and healthy.  He just said keep eating as much as possible and the throwing up was normal and maybe take one of the pills from the prescription he had given me earlier to avoid throwing up. He also said the swelling in my ankles and feet looked normal.  He measured my belly and it was......29inches!! Holy moly! That means my belly is measuring over 7 weeks ahead or 29 weeks along.  I told him I was traveling to Denver to visit my mom the next day and he did not like hearing that.  He gave me some tips for flying on the plane which included taking 400mg of ibuprofen before flying to prevent contractions and drink lots and lots of water.  He said Denver was not on his favorite list of places for pregnant women to travel because of the altitude.  More on that in a minute.  The last thing he mentioned was that we should have my bag packed for the hospital at 28weeks.  So I have 6 weeks to get that together.

Whew!!  I spent Thursday afternoon with my hair goddess, Trish, who made me super relaxed after my stressful 4 hour morning ordeal.  Thanks Trish!

So it is Monday now and I flew to Denver Friday morning and had no issues on the plane and when I touched down I felt fine.  But.....I woke up Saturday morning and it was a whole new ball game.  It is really dry here and super hot right now so I woke up with a  super dry throat and chapped lips, a stuffy nose, and wow, swollen swollen swollen from my toes to my lips! I now understand why the doctor doesn't like pregnant women traveling here!!  My mom and I went and got massages that morning and it made me feel a lot better and this massage lady was amazing! I hate to say it, but even better than Gary and she did the massage laying on my sides which I really liked.  I only wish she lived in St. Louis!!

Sunday we took my aunt to the New Age trade show and honestly I wasn't feeling good from the moment I got up that morning.  Not sure if it is the altitude, the swelling, the heat or a combination.  My left side had an ache in it all day that wouldn't go away, and I was swollen and tired.  I feel like I have jumped from my first trimester to my third trimester overnight!  After a couple hours of walking around the convention center I was done.  This morning I went to my step-sister Caroline's horse riding/jumping lesson.  It was super cool to watch but the enclosed arena was pretty stuffy.  After about 20 minutes I looked down at my feet and hands and felt my lips and I was SO swollen and swelling more by the minute, so we left right away and came home.  We have decided to just take it easy the rest of the time I am here and try to stay indoors as much as possible to avoid the heat which I am sure in some way is contributing to my tiredness, swelling, aches and pains.  Learning to take it easy is my new lesson to be learned.

Well I hate to complain so much this week in my blog, but already having a belly measuring at 29 weeks I honestly feel like I only got a week or so of what you would call the good part of the 2nd trimester and basically jumped from the first trimester to the 3rd.

I will be in Denver till Wednesday and then I head back to STL to my hubby and my furry babies whom I miss!

Whew, that was a long week to recap!  I am exhausted from just typing all that and my fingers are swollen from typing so much, he he!!

Below are my belly pictures and ultrasound photos:

Thanks mom for taking my picture! Wow, look how big that belly is!!  Babies are the size/weight of papayas and the length of spaghetti squashes

Here is one with the "belly hand hold"

Baby A profile hand by face

Baby A sucking thumb?

Baby A lips (directly in the middle of photo, top lip on right)

Confirming Baby A is a girl

Profile of Baby B, not sure what that other stuff on the left is, maybe hands or legs?

Another Baby B profile

Baby B's foot

Confirming baby B is a girl

Alien face of Baby A, Ahhh!!

How far along?  22 weeks, but measuring 29 weeks!!
Total weight gain/loss:  8 lbs
Stretch marks?  Nope!  Yay!
Sleep:  This last week yes, but not so much now that I have been in Denver
Best moment this week:  Finally getting some real, helpful information of how life is going to be with twins and how to take the best care of them possible
Miss Anything?  My ankles, rolling out of bed with ease, eating large meals
Movement:  Yes, all the time.
Food cravings?  Oh, I wish!
Anything making you queasy or sick:  Same as it has always been, more things make me queasy than sound good
Labor Signs:  No, and hopefully not for at least 14 more weeks!
Belly Button in or out?  The top part is curling out which makes it look as though it is sticking out through my shirts. Darnit!
Wedding rings on or off?  Off, and the fake one I bought is super tight here is Denver!
Happy or Moody most of the time:  Happy, but tired.
Weekly Wisdom:  Ask for help!  It is ok to!
Looking forward to:  Hopefully, my swelling goes down when I return to STL, and hoping I am not too big and immobile by the time the furniture arrives and it is time to decorate the nursery.  Might have to ask for help, Mom!!??

Jenny & Justin +5