24 weeks

A plague has visited our happy home. Gastroenteritis. The pukes and the poops. I and the babies survived it, but Big Daddy G just got started. I have to stay home to rest for a few days longer than I would if I were not pregnant, but I'm okay. I never even had a fever and never lost weight. We were supposed to have a fun weekend with company, but we had to modify that plan because this is really contagious. Yuck. We work in the cesspool otherwise known as pediatrics, so this happens occasionally. I'm just glad it wasn't too serious for me. We're disappointed about the weekend plan change, but it's the right thing to do.

I had my ultrasound yesterday and finally got some really cute profile pictures, but my scanner will not cooperate, and G is down for the count. I will post them ASAP...They weigh 1.5 pounds each. Twice as much as a few weeks ago.

One baby (Baby A/Lower baby) has my profile and the other (Baby B/Upper baby) has Gregg's. This amazes me probably more than it should. Of course we can't know who will have whose hair or freckles. Gregg's face, with red curly hair? My face with thinner brown hair? I can't wait to see. They really seem to have distinct personalities...Baby A seems very busy in there, while Baby B seems pretty mellow. These are our personalities too...Gregg is non-stop and I am non-go. If they really are like this, and one really looks like me and one like dad, they would have the opposite personalities that we do...little me would be busy and baby G would be calm. I wonder...

They really like it when I talk and sing and listen to music. That is, if movement means "like". It could mean, "please god stop". This reminds me that G and I had a fight about a month back about what kind of music the kids should be exposed to. I said, "everything, let them decide" while Gregg wants it tightly controlled to "protect them from sh*t". The fight started when a piece came on NPR about "good, listenable children's music" which went on to highlight some totally annoying stuff, but stuff I thought kids might get into. I said as much and Gregg went off, thoroughly disgusted. We fought. The only thing we could agree on in the end was that NPR almost never features anything we really like on its music reviews. They really work too hard not to offend anyone and include everyone and highlight technically good musicians at the expense of , well, enjoyment. Anyway, one can see how this argument between parents to be can devolve into one about the details of how to influence children to be...and I'm really glad we're not religious, or of different religions...because that must be a really great argument. Luckily, we didn't go there. Are we supposed to go there? That's too deep...

Well, last night I discovered some children's music that will probably please both of us. It's not wonderful, but it's a compromise...The Rockabye Baby series...slow music box lullaby versions of some of the music we're into...The Ramones, Radiohead, The Beach Boys...on and on...It will suffice for calming baby music...that, plus some classical and some folk vocals, Phoebe Snow, Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye, and so much else... That should get us through the first 6 months...

I also finally got a baby ticker widget thing. At first, I put 10 babies in it to be funny, but Gregg though we might have some confused relatives and the media calling. Plus, I put in our 37 week date, because that seems more realistic to me than 40 weeks. I didn't get one before because the images of the early fetal stage made me oddly queasy. Now the image is of a well formed little human...apparently more acceptable to my primitive brain. Weird.

90 days to go. That's nothing.

23-24 weeks

A beautiful thing happened last week. Well, mostly super nice and sort of beautiful. Let me start from the beginning...

Our friends were going to move from California to within hours of us and almost made it when...a job fell through. We were a bit down about it, but feel happy to still have a free place to stay in San Francisco when next we go. The bonus about them moving nearby was that they recently had a baby boy and we were going to get some of their loot. We're still getting some, just not the big stuff. One of the things was an arm's reach co-sleeper. We decided that since they're not coming we were going to buy one. So, during lunch time at work the other day, I was looking them up online and saw that they were on sale, and said, "oh, I'm going to buy this tonight while it's on sale". The next thing I know, a credit card is placed next to the keyboard. It's my boss's. He said, "this is what my family is getting you for the babies and I don't want you to argue" in his broken chinese/tagalog accented english. I cried on the spot, because I'm a crier. What a sweetie. The environment of loving kindness at work in the past 2 months has been so refreshing.

Actually, something crazy is happening at work...we're having a twin boom, just like you read about. I've worked there for 6 years now and in that time we only had 2 sets of twins born. In the past 6 months we've had 7 sets. 7 sets not including ours. They just keep coming. It is totally insane. About 3 out of the 7 sets are a result of IVF, but 4 are naturally occurring. Most have been born at about 36 weeks. I'm in charge of 2 of the sets right now, both naturally conceived fraternal boys. Gregg is in charge of 1 of the sets. Neither of my moms had bedrest and only 1 out of the 4 babies had NICU time and all were born at more than 4.5 pounds. I quiz them extensively, way beyond my clinical needs. The families don't seem to mind it given our similar situation, which I divulge instantly. Most of the sets were born via c-section. Some are breastfeeding, some are not.

Interestingly, the parents of the twins in the practice present themselves as more capable than a lot of the singleton parents I've cared for. I don't think I'm projecting my desire to be confident when our babies arrive...I thought about that possibility. They just seem more prepared. They seem battle-ready and really confident. One of my sets only had extra help and hubby home for a week and was like, "I was ready to do this on my own within 4 days!". I was like...ummm...I've never even heard a singleton mom say that. I think our practice needs a twins club. I saw one of the sets of twins born last summer recently for a sick visit, and quizzed mom about her stroller choice. She said that they had a 50 pound twin stroller that wouldn't even fit into their new minivan. She couldn't even lift it anyway. They returned it. I don't remember which one it was...but I'm feeeling glad that I don't have my heart set on one of the 40+ pound strollers. They traded the monster for a svelte 29 pound model.

I try to read about childbirth, but it makes me crazy and nervous. I'm not going to be able to take any classes...I've been to some as a clinician, and have attended several births, so I think I might be alright. I think that the books would be sufficient if I could get through them without panicking. With twins, if the baby closest to the exit is head down, you can try for a vaginal delivery, but run the risk of having a c-section anyway if the other baby isn't head down or has trouble of some kind. That could mean one baby vaginally, then the other c-sec. I'm not opposed to this yet, but might be at the time. We shall see. I had a dream early in my pregnancy that I was in the delivery room and the nurse yelled out "they're vertex/vertex!!!", and hope it was a premonition. ("vertex" sort of means "head down").

Ultrasound Thursday. Also 24 weeks Thursday..."viability" day...wow.

Dear babies, please stay in for 13 more weeks!

22 weeks

Nursery decoration excitement! The one and only piece of advice the OB gave me was that I really needed to get my physically intensive baby shopping done prior to 24 or 25 weeks. He said, "you are going to slow waaay down, and you won't be able to help it". We took this advice seriously. So, last weekend, we went to IKEA! YAY! Crib? Check! Rocker? Check! Shelf/Changing area? Check! Funky kid linens? Check! Meatballs? Check! It was really fun.

I am so glad I did this now because the doc was correct...I'm slowing down. I'm not fatigued per se, although I have been known of late to fall asleep without warning in the early evenings. It's just that my body feels heavy and un-agile and my legs hurt from the excess weight. I'm awaiting the arrival of some compression hose to try to combat the leg swelling. The wedding rings are off for the long haul. I'm slooow. When we're holding hands Gregg has to drag me behind him like a stubborn puppy on a leash, except that I'm not stubborn. Just large. 33 pounds in 22 weeks is a little more that I expected at this time, but all for the best.

I actually went to a doctor's appointment this week which seemed sort of perfunctory, but yielded some ultrasound jelly for my home doppler, so was worth it. The doc didn't laugh at my joke though, so I got some extra jelly on the sly. He said, "how are you feeling?", and I said, "I feel like I've been stuffed into a snow suit, and the snow suit is me". If he had laughed, he would have 3 more packets of jelly in that exam room, so really, it's his own fault. Gregg, my love, laughed his head off. He laughs at my jokes, and that's why he's nice.

The boys seem to have pretty predictable sleep/wake cycles and the kicking is stronger all of the time. Gregg can feel it and is delighted. Such a sweetie. The kicking is so hard that my shirt jiggles.

Our office was taken over by generation X on Jan. 1, a change that has been incredible. It was previously run by a man who must have been the very last born of 'the greatest generation', a workaholic who thought chaos was unavoidable in pediatric primary care and also thought that overworking meant better working. There were actually no office policies. Frightening. Our work week shortened from 50+ hours to 40. We got raises. There are policies and procedures and staff meetings! Less interoffice chaos! Less stress! Patients have noticed how much calmer the office is. We're seeing more patients and have longer office hours and weekend hours even though we're working fewer total hours! Working smarter, not harder, you know? This will definitely help me stay at work longer. My goal is to work until May 1 and have these babies between May 27 and June 2. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.