Our journey to be parents: 34 weeks pregnant

Wahoo!! I have survived another week! I definitely feel like I have slowed down a little more mentally and physically. Wednesday I was having a hard time breathing most of the day and I was feeling pretty sore and looking pretty swollen by the days end.

Justin and I went to our weekly doctor appointment and ultrasound again on Thursday and we were both excited because we were finally going to get a growth/weight estimate again on the babies. We made a wager before the appointment about how much we each thought each baby weighs.

Shana did our 21st ultrasound (yes, can you believe we have had that many!) this week and told us we would not be measuring my cervix length any more because at this point it is ok if it starts to get shorter. So, we started with the Biophysical testing again and this time both babies cooperated and we were able to complete all 4 tests within a couple minutes and both passed again with flying colors! I have to say, watching them breathe is so freaking cool!! I could watch that and their little hearts beating for hours. She then did all the measurements to get an estimate of their weights. This includes measuring their head size, abdomen size, and femur size and these measurements some how calculate and give them an estimate of each baby's weight. At this point Shana said the calculation has a +/- 1/2lb margin of error. So what did she say they are weighing?? I couldn't believe it!! Baby A is approx 4lbs 11oz and Baby B is 5lbs 5oz!!!!!! Wow, they are WAY bigger than we both thought, which is awesome! So that means I have about 10lbs of babies in my belly. Holy smokes!

Our first and only 4D picture! That stuff in front of her face is fluid and umbilical cord. Not sure if this is A or B.

Profile of Baby A; she was practicing breathing

Another shot of A

Profile shot of B with her hand above her head on the right

We then headed to see the doctor and he confirmed that we are scheduled, for a c-section for October 3rd at 2pm. He said the babies are still in the same positions, so no change there. I asked him about when the perform the c-section will he know who is A and who is B when they pull them out? I wanted to know because we have named the babies based on how we know them in my belly, so we want to make sure each baby gets the right name. He said no problem, he will know who is who and there won't be any confusion. The doctor mentioned I had a little hint of protein in my urine sample which can be a sign of preeclampsia. I'm not exactly sure what that is, but it can be dangerous he said, but since I am not showing any of the other signs of having it he said we will just wait to see what next weeks sample looks like. He said to make sure I take it easy, keep my blood pressure low, and if I start to have headaches to notify him right away. He said 32 weeks and 34 weeks are major milestones in twin pregnancies, so the fact that I haven't had any issues and I have officially made it to 34 weeks today is huge!! Yay for me!! He did make mention several times during our talk that the babies could come at any time now, so we should make sure our bags are packed and we are ready at any time now.

I asked about the difference in weight between the babies and he said it is a normal range because of the +/- 1/2lb margin of error. He said they are an awesome weight and he thinks they will be anywhere from 5-6.5lbs when born, which is awesome! And if we make it to the October 3rd scheduled date they most likely won't need to go to the NICU, which would be AWESOME! Also, I gained 1 lb this week for a total of 29lbs and my belly is a whopping.......44cm!!!! Yep, I gained 3cm of belly this week! Wow, I never imagined it would stick out 44cm.

I headed out to dinner Thursday night with 3 of my girlfriends to my favorite restaurant. It was nice to put on a cute outfit, be social and just hang out and chat for a couple hours. They also gave me lots of good advice and info and I learned that I might want to ask about pushing my c-section time up to a morning appointment if possible for a couple of reasons, one major one being that you have to fast before the c-section and they said it is easier to do over night rather than starve till 2pm in the afternoon. I will ask about it at our next
appointment on Thursday.

I look like I am smuggling a watermelon!!

Friday, Saturday and today I have been pretty mellow, taken some naps, ran a couple small errands, read some of my baby books, but for the most part just been more low key. It feels nice because I am not sleeping very well at night anymore no matter what I do or what medicine I take, so the best sleep I get is in the morning from about 6am-930am and then my afternoon naps. I also decided to write a letter to the babies, that I will seal in an envelope and put in each of their memory books for them to read sometime in the future. It just includes my feelings being pregnant, my hopes and dreams for them, advice, and some of my favorite quotes about matters of life.

Oh and I forgot to mention my funny story! Justin and I went to Kohls a couple days ago and he dropped me off by the front door and I stood outside waiting for him while he parked the car. While I was waiting this older women walks towards me from the parking lot, walks right up to me and says, "I just want to take you straight to the hospital". Ummmm, I didn't know what to say. I just smiled, looked at her and kinda went , ha.....ha ha. I mean what do you say to that? And who says that to a perfect stranger? Justin walked up and asked why I had a weird look on my face and I told him what the lady had said to me, and he asked if I said back to her, "well, I just want to drive you straight to the old folks home.". Oh, we had a good laugh about it, and I wished I would have thought of that when she said it! People are funny!

Here is the beginning of my 34th week belly photo: