Showers of Love

The past two weeks I have been busy spending time with friends and family at my showers. I am overwhelmed with the generosity everyone has shown us. I want to send out a big THANK YOU to everyone who helped make these days special for us.

In the picture above, I am at the most recent shower. I'm 31 weeks with a nice big belly. Can you believe that my once little body has gotten so big!! Well, only good things will becoming out of that belly in hopefully 7 weeks. Just imagine, the boys are not finished growing and neither am I.

Another Point of View

Hi Everyone,

Each time you read a blog entry, you only get to hear my point of view. But Glenn is very much involved in this pregnancy too. Though his belly is not ever expanding, nor are his hands and feet covered with sausages instead of fingers and toes, or he doesn't have to hear the daily comments about how uncomfortable he looks, he is highly involved.

Poor Glenn has to deal with a shrinking bed. 7 months ago, we had a queen sized bed. Today we each barely have enough space for our bodies. Between my growing body and all the pillows, it is amazing that there is still space for him. He may say that there really isn't any space and the dog gets more space than he does. Oh well, in a couple of months he will hopefully have a bigger bed again. If it isn't bigger at least he'll be way to tired to notice. :)

Also, once upon a time Glenn had a great wife who would cook, clean, and grocery shop. Now, he has to pick up dinner, clean, and yes, go to the grocery store for essentials. Sad thing is, this may not change after the boys come to stay.

I'm sure if Glenn were sitting next to me right now he would have more to add. But I have to admit even though my body and mind are going through all the changes, I wouldn't want to do it next to anyone else! He has been the best through all this! I can count on him to get our home projects done (on his own time) and he is as helpful as can be with me. (Especially lending a hand or arm when I need help getting up off the couch.) Though when Father's Day rolls around this year he will only have officially been a father for a very short time, he will have earned the title throughout this pregnancy!

Thanks Glenn- I Love You!!!

Nesting

There is a phenomona called nesting that is a primal instinct for femals. I'm not sure if this is considered nesting or just simply getting ready to have two new family members. I'll let you decide. For months, Glenn and I have been discussing our playroom. (Better yet, what will become our playroom.) The ideas have ranged from recarpeting part of the room while tiling part to getting shelving built into the nook area to simply rearranging the room. Well finally we decided what to do. We went to IKEA and bought shelving, rearranged the furniture, and got it all set up. (Thanks Grandma Sue and Grandpa Larry for your help!) While shelf building was happening downstairs, Grandma Sue began helping by cleaning spots where Maisie had accidents. (The poor dog is sick right now with a UTI and bladder stones.) All the while, we rearranged the nursery for the 10th time, planned out the decorations and tried to get the valance up. The nursery should be complete by this weekend. Now, I ask you is this nesting or just being prepared?

In addition to our home preperations, I had a great week off during spring break. I finally got everything done that I wanted to get accomplished. We attended 2 delicious Passover Seder's. (Thanks Wendy, Les, Irma, and Basile) Hopefully we will survive the next year so that we will see Jerusalem.

The most exciting part of the week was Friday's doctor appointment. We went to my Perinatal doc and saw the babies. A is 3 lb 4 oz while B is 2 lb 14 oz.  I have over 6 lb of baby in me AMAZING!!! The two were moving, kicking, opening mouths, and giving us a little show! I never get tired of looking at the babies. I just can't wait to see who they are once they are born.

Meetings with doctors didn't end there. I met 3 pediatricians and think that I have finally chosen the doctor for our kids. I also had an ob appointment where I listened to their heartbeats again! Ahhh a refreshing sound.

Below is a picture of Glenn and myself at Passover. I know you can't see the belly so well, but we just got a few professional shots that I'll add to the blog after we get a copy of them.

Happy Passover!

Now that my belly is so big strange things have begun to happen.
1. I can't see my toes.
2. I try to "squeeze by" but there is no squeezing with this belly.
3. Trimming my toes or removing polish only ends in puppy dog eyes saying "I NEED HELP"
4. I can balance a plate or Hagada on my belly.
5. I find it completely odd that my belly rests on my legs, there is NO lady like position to sit.
6. I thought pregnant bellies were round. Mine is egg shaped and way off center.

I've never made it any secret that Passover is not my favorite holiday. Growing up it was hours of complaining leading up to the first night of passover only to secretly have a good time with all our friends each year. In good tradition, I have kept up my complaints about having to go to the seders again and following in suit with the past I secretly have a good time. While we were at Wendy and Les' house singing Dayeinu, the boys began kicking along. Thier kicking sent me into a fit of laughter. I still get so tickled when they bop along with us. They stopped after I stopped singing and didn't join in again for the remainder of the evening. I'm not sure if it is because they were asking me to STOP singing or if they were enjoying themselves.

I will update again this weekend after my next ultrasound Friday.

Patterns

As a teacher we teach our students to look for patterns. Patterns in math, with friends, grades and so on. Well looking for patterns does not stop when school stops! I'm still looking for patterns. What makes my belly hurt? How do I make it feel better? How much movement do I feel at various parts of the day? These are all patterns I look for throughout the day.

The last couple weeks were rough. I realized that the boys were growing and in turn so was my body. (Imagine that!) I had that great "sunburn" sensation of my skin stretching and an awful pain under my belly. According to the nurse, as long as it is constant it is good and it will only get worse as I get bigger. (Good to know!) Well as luck had it, my time in the pool helped me feel better as well as a belly support band. Pressure was taken off my belly and the baby probably also moved off the offending spot! What a relief! This week I feel GREAT! Back to myself or back to my pregnant self.

Another pattern that is funny and difficult to get used to is how good I feel, yet how slow I have become. I can't get ANYTHING done!! I go to work, home, and usually the pool a couple times a week and that's it for me. No errands, grocery, or cooking gets done. If it does I'm passed out on the couch. It has been hard to accept the need to slow down in advance. Now, I'm there. I can only assume that this somehow gets me ready for later on.

"OH MY GOD!" Yes, that is what I hear daily from many people around me. You may see me daily and see this belly expanding quickly but you are still in shock by the shear size of it. To those of you who don't see me nearly as often you would be saying it too if you saw me! This belly is huge! Many tell me that I'm carrying high or only in front of me. That is great news! Someone actually didn't realize I was standing in front of them, because I didn't look pregnant from the back. Those are dream words! Thank you kind person who said that to me!

Well, next week we get another sneak peek at the little boys who are actively bouncing around. If we are lucky we will be able to have a 3-D ultrasound. I never get tired of seeing their little bodies moving around and waving hello. Soon enough we will meet these little boys.