Week 18

It's been a big week, probably one of the most info-packed so far!

Last Friday all of our nursery furniture showed up 4 days early, so we spent the weekend putting it together. We also bought some matresses and worked on decorating the room. We didn't paint or anything, but I did hang up a quilt behind one crib and these little cloth pictures behind the other.

This also gave me the change to unpack the ton of baby clothes we've accumulated. The dresser/changing table has 3 drawers of newborn and 0-3mo clothes. hehe The only things left that need to be done in the nursery is hanging a ceiling fan and fixing up the closet. We bought some items from Lowe's but forgot the all-important brackets.

Monday was the Big Reveal at the MFS's office. We have two healthy boys cooking! The whole time the technition was trying to check their vitals, they kept wiggling, kicking, and punching each other. Everything looked really good, including their brain development, spine, arm/leg bones, skull, nose, bladder, stomach, and heart. The technition also checked their circulatory systems, both in their bodies and in the umbilical cords. Their heart rates were both in the 160's, which is good. They weigh 8oz and 9oz, which is slightly more than the 6-7oz a normal single baby would weigh at this point!

She then checked me to verify that I wasn't showing any early signs of preterm labor. Apparently I'm locked up tight with no visible indicators that I'm letting these boys go anytime soon.

One thing we've learned about having twins is there's always some new thing to worry about. We've beat Vanishing Twin and both boys are in their own bubble, eliminating any chance their cords could get tangled. What we didn't realize until Monday is that they're sharing the same placenta (meaning they're probably identical!). We were told early on that they each had their own, but apparently that's not the case.

There's a condition called Twin Transfusion Syndrome (TTS) that can affect about 20% of babies that share a placenta. This is when one baby gets more nutrients from the placenta than the other. You can tell it's happening if the fluid around one baby is much more than the other, or when one baby is getting bigger than the other. So every Monday I'll be going into the MFS's office to get the boys measured. So far there haven't been any indicators that this is happening, but constant monitoringing is the only way to catch it early. There are a couple of different treatments that can help if they do get TTS.

My doctor has also reduced my hours at work from 40hrs/wk to 20hrs/wk. Starting last week, I have every Monday and Friday off, plus every other Tuesday. This is because of a couple of things. One is I'm getting pretty tired by the end of the workweek now. Also, the babies are about to kick it into high gear as far as putting on weight goes. Resting and getting enough water is what would help them the most.

We met with the director of the last daycare place we wanted to check out. It's a private business that will have construction completed in August 2009. She showed us all kinds of information and samples so we had a really good idea of what it'll be like. J also quized her on everything from where she was recruiting her staff to their teaching philosophy. In the end, both J and I felt like this was our best option if we go the daycare route so we've reserved two spots. Tuition is about the same as the other places at $2,000/month for both babies.

This week I've been going through a lot of growing pains, mostly on the sides of my belly. The scale this morning busted out in laughter at my almost 19lbs over pre-pregnancy weight. Any doubts I had about catching up to the 20lbs by 20wks goal have disappeared. Now it's more about trying not to turn into a whale. Last night we went to a Mexican restaurant and J told me "When you run out of your own food, you can just start eating mine." Apparently I wolfed mine down pretty fast. hehe

It's also very obvious that I'm pregnant. This was the week where everyone at work went from "Maybe she's letting herself go?" to "Woa, she's pregnant." There have been lots of congratulations and stories about their own kids as babies.

It was a good week.