34 weeks!
Special twin baby books
The joy of playing in the rain
The girls like to eat carrots that still have their tops on like Sven, the reindeer from "Frozen"
This weekend Chad went to the annual EAA (Experimental Aircraft Association) show in nearby Oshkosh. I enjoyed going last year but it was way too much walking for me to attend this year so he had to go alone. I think this actually worked to his advantage so he could spend as much time at the various exhibits without me wanting to move on. He really enjoys all the planes and other aircraft so its great that this huge show is just down the road.
On Monday the twins hit 34 weeks, which is amazing. They have progressed into the "late preterm" category and would be able to coordinate swallowing and breathing, something they couldn't do just last week. Hopefully they will stay in for a few more weeks so their lungs can continue to develop and they can add some fat that will help them maintain their body temperature, but I'm thrilled to make it this far.
That said, I can't wait until they are born. To say I'm uncomfortable is a bit of an understatement; this pregnancy has been much harder than my first two. I'm still doing prenatal yoga twice a week but just moving is getting difficult. For the last month or so strangers would approach me and say, "You must be due any day now!" Recently I must have crossed some size threshold because now I get, "Wow, are you having twins?" At my appointment today I measured the equivalent of 3 weeks overdue if I were having a single baby. Guess you don't see too many women that pregnant walking around.
My marathon appointment today lasted 3 hours as they really like to monitor twins in the later stages. First we did the weekly non-stress test, which checks the babies' heart rates for accelerations while they are moving and decelerations while they are resting. They both performed beautifully which means they and their placentas are still very healthy. Next was an ultrasound that estimated Baby A weighs 6 lb 3 oz and Baby B measures 5 lb 4 oz. My doctor is not concerned about the difference in weight. They are both in the normal range and its not unusual for twins to be 1 lb or more different at birth. In addition, its really difficult for the technician to get accurate measurements at this stage because both babies are so big and intertwined so these guesses may be off by almost 1 lb. Unfortunately Baby B managed to flip since our last ultrasound and is now breech. While its surprising that this baby found the space to perform such acrobatics, my doctor doesn't expect this to cause any problems during delivery. Baby A is lower and will come out first so often a breech baby B will flip to the correct position during delivery or the doctor can flip the second baby once the first is out. Funny enough, today while I was busy with all these tests he was called to deliver twins, the second of which was breech, and everything went fine so I felt very reassured. My blood pressure is still good and I'm not swollen at all so he believes I will go to term or at least very close. So other than my extreme discomfort of carrying 11.5 lbs of baby plus all their placentas and fluids, we're all doing great.
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