This time tomorrow!

First I’d like to start off by thanking everyone who has sent us encouraging emails with their support, love or advice. I may not have responded to you all, but I read them and then read them aloud to Mike and vice versa. It’s an amazing feeling to know so many people care about you even if we haven’t seen each other in ages or live oceans apart. Thanks again everyone! And we can’t wait for you to meet the new additions!

I guess I have one more post in me before the pea pods are here. I had the amnio this morning. Ouch! It hurt! And then I kept bleeding which didn’t help my squeamish side. Afterwards, they monitored me (another NST) to make sure there were no ill effects from the procedure. Fortunately, they only did the amnio on one baby. They chose the one that was most accessible and that was girl. Everything went well and the doctor thinks they’re ready judging from the color and particles of the amniotic fluid (remember, this is their pee they’ve been breathing and drinking). Even though we’re not ready for them gear-wise, I’m ready for them to come out. It’s been sooo hard lately – heavier belly, increased number of contractions and constant pressure down there.

The NST was hard, the nurse couldn’t get a decent reading on their heartbeats. Boy is deeply embedded in my pelvis so the nurse was getting the same heartbeats on the monitor from the girl. It took a lot longer than usual. Then once she got the heartbeats, they decided to go to sleep so she had to wake them up with the buzzard again. Girl did not like that at all, she either punched or kicked my belly hard in protest!

Some of you have asked why we’re delivering so early. A couple reasons - mainly I can’t labor. I had extensive uterine muscle removed a while ago while having fibroids taken out. Since I don’t have very much muscle left, the doctors are concerned my uterus may rupture if I labor and/or push. And secondly, my doctor will be out of the country beginning Wednesday for WHO (World Health Organization). Even though I’m nervous about meeting them, I’m ready for them to come out. I’m starting to swell and losing the small amount of mobility I had left. Oh and one more thing, its bad enough knowing I’m going to have surgery. And I can’t eat or drink anything past midnight. But I just found out today that I probably won’t get to eat anything until the day after, Wednesday! OMG! They want me to go from eating 6 small meals a day to cold turkey! I’m worried how I’m going to handle the no food part. (Kelly – I’ve been having a root beer float every night for the past week!)

As it is, I had a bit of a scare on Saturday. The nurse administering my NST said I was having frequent contractions. I told her I didn’t even feel most of them but she felt the doctor on call would want me to go to L&D. I panicked when she told me that. I kept thinking ‘my hospital bag isn’t packed’, ‘the babies’ bag isn’t packed’, ‘laundry isn’t done’, ‘I need to wash my hair’ and a multitude of other trivial excuses that seemed very important at the time.

So this time tomorrow, I hope to be in my hospital room holding our babies. You know, since we did IVF we know exactly when they were conceived and now we know exactly when they’ll be born. I was talking about technology with an old friend (who’s also expecting a baby via IVF on 2/16) and we are both so thankful we live in a time where these medical advancements help us have the family we wouldn’t otherwise have. Pretty cool, eh?

For fun, and if you’re inclined, I’d like to hear what people’s guestimate will be on the babies weights. The one who is closest will have the baby named after them (not really, but we may use a letter or two from your name). Feel free to note it in the Comments. Ok, now I’m really signing off. Hopefully I’ll be back in a week or so.

xoxoxo
lisa