Silverbabies Are Coming!

Hi there, it's not Tracey -- it's Anne. Typing for Tracey who's on the other end of the phone! Here's what she says:

We're all set in the hospital -- the doctor decided to induce. We started pitocin around 2pm this afternoon and should have our Silverbabies with us tonight or early tomorrow morning. Yea!

(Note: Tracey sounds totally calm, and Jordan's getting there.)

sleeping, eating and burping

the life of a newborn, no? well in my case, i think i've regressed to these very basic functions dominating my life. i'm sleeping a lot, at least 10 hours a night, and i wouldn't be surprised if i start adding naps to my daytime routine. i just can't get enough zzz's. hey, i'll take it while i can get it! i'm thinking my body is also storing up energy. and speaking of energy, i'm still able to eat quite a bit. while i definitely feel the boys high up in my ribs and stomach, it hasn't relegated me to super-tiny meals. so i'm trying to give the boys lots of protein in these last few weeks and me lots of good carbs for the marathon that can be labor and delivery. as far as the burping goes, this has been by far my funniest symptom and i've had it the entire pregnancy. i've become a champion belcher and have even achieved the coveted burping-and-talking-simultaneously status that all teenagers strive for. what's even funnier is that, just like a newborn, the action of moving to a vertical status forces them out. so while i'm laying on my side, i'm pretty benign. but watch out when i stand up!

big boys

we had our 35 week ultrasound yesterday and the boys are bigger than we anticipated - a baby is 5lb 12oz an b baby is 5lb 7oz. yipee!!! i can't believe i have over 11 lbs of baby in me, but boy my body sure believes it. i can really feel the weight of these guys in my stomach and my muscles that surround them are super-fatigued when i move/walk around (which isn't much!). also, my belly is stretching so much now that the skin is getting pretty itchy. so i'm lube-ing up with vit. e and cocoa butter more than ever. when i go to the doctor now, everyone says "maybe we'll see you next week." i still have this feeling that we'll reach our 36 week goal, but it's truly starting to sink in that these boys can come any moment now and we are thrilled beyond belief!

almost to 35

on tuesday we hit week 35. it seems so surreal and both jordan and i have this sense of calm about the possibility of labor happening any day now. the boys have their growth ultrasound on tuesday, but i know they are big and strong enough that if they were born today, they'd be just fine. my guess is that they're at least 5 lbs each now! i had my last "twin" appointment at the perinatal group on thursday, and while my cervix is still closed and long, laura noticed it had softened quite a bit. the next morning, i lost my "plug" - essentially a ball of mucusy snot that covers your cervix during pregnancy. labor could still be weeks away when you lose your plug, but still it marks good progression! i then saw dr. love friday afternoon and he seems to think i'll go into labor in the next week or two. my blood pressure is still borderline high, but he's being very calm and non-reactionary about it (thank god!). if it goes up dramatically, or if i have any preeclampsia symptoms (protein in urine, headaches, blurred vision, etc.), we'll need to talk about inducing labor and having these babies. the good news is even if this does happen, it won't affect us having a normal vaginal delivery. i still have some loose ends to tie up at work, so i'm going to try and finish all that today, just in case these boys decide to come this week. i know i'll feel much better heading into week 35 and 36 with nothing hanging over me.

wilson!

i have officially named my belly wilson. remember the volleyball that was tom hanks companion in that weird but oddly captivating movie "cast away?" yes, that's right, my belly has a remarkable resemblance to that character. just the right size and proportion, and decorated very similar. i know this isn't the most pleasant image, but i have some broken blood vessels and yes, finally some stretch marks, that radiate upwards from my ballooned belly button - just like wilson's hair! so while i'm stranded on preggo island, i have my friend wilson to always keep me company and keep me (relatively) sane. and while sometimes when i look in the mirror i'm tempted to hurl my wilson out the window, i know, just like tom hanks, i'd be lost without him.

ice storm 07

our 34 week goal is punctuated by some pretty wicked weather today. freezing temps mixed with any precipitation makes a pretty nasty combination in austin. no one quite knows what to do, except to shut down the city and stay cozy warm at home. and you wouldn't want to venture out because the folks who are out have never driven in winter weather before. so today we are very happy - we have reached a very significant benchmark with the boys and we get to celebrate it by just relaxing and watching it snow and ice outside. what more could two chicagoans living in texas want?!

33 weeks (plus 2 days)

there's an interesting similarity between the first and third trimester where you become an obsessive day counter. early on, the days can't tick by fast enough until your out of the first 12 weeks and in the safety zone. now the days can't tick by fast enough until these boys are out of my belly and into our arms (safety zone again!). 34 weeks is a huge benchmark for us, as the boys will be well-developed and could very safely arrive if they so choose. in fact, once we hit 34 weeks, our doctor wouldn't stop labor if it started! now we also have a personal goal for team silverbabies to get to 36 weeks - jan. 30. this is considered full-term for twins and chances that we'd be able to take the boys home with us are very good.

i see the doctors twice a week now - early in the week is my "twin" appointment at the perinatal group and fridays i see my regular ob. since my blood pressure has been on the high side, i'm getting biophysical profiles of the boys every week. this is very non-invasive and includes monitoring their heartrates for about 15 minutes and then a quick ultrasound to check amniotic levels, breathing, movements, etc. we had our first one last tuesday and the boys passed with flying colors. i think as long as they look healthy and continue to thrive, my doc won't do anything drastic about the blood pressure. of course i LOVED seeing the boys again and they are both head down still (literally "butting heads") with their backs facing my belly. this is the perfect position for delivery, so keep your fingers crossed they're comfy and stay there.

physically i'm uncomfortable but definitely hanging in there. i'm still measuring at 39 weeks and my pubic discomfort has let up a little (or i'm just tolerating the pain more). because of my high blood pressure, i'm laying down a lot. it always drops to normal as soon as i hit horizontal. i feel best in the mornings, so i try and take advantage of this to accomplish most of what i need to be upright for. all in all, i'm doing very good, my spirits are high and i'm so optimistic about finally meeting our lil' guys!

good friends

here's a pic from my shower in austin. i love these ladies!

belly at 32 weeks

we had our 32 week "twin" check up yesterday and i'm now officially measuring at 39 weeks. my belly is almost at full term (but trust me, it feels beyond full term to me)! everything is looking good and the boys hearbeats sounded great. my blood pressure has increased a bit over the past few weeks and my diastolic is now around 80, where it used to be 60. everything else is fine, though, so the docs aren't worried about hypertension. keep your fingers crossed we continue to sail smoothly for another 4 weeks. our goal date for these guys is january 30, which is our 36 week mark. anything after that will be gravy! here i am in the boys room - i'll take more shots of their room and post soon. it's almost finished, thanks to mom doing an amazing amount of work washing their clothes and linens and organizing over christmas, and dad's work-of-art hand built changing station (see below). but i really need to sing the praises of j, who put this fantastic room together pretty much single-handedly. he's already an amazing dad and the boys aren't even here yet!

our new years eve tradition

j and i started a new years eve tradition 4 years ago in chicago as an alternative to the frenzied new years scene. we cook live lobsters and indulge in a decadent dinner and then relax, reminisce, watch a movie, etc. this year we took it to a new level and added alaskan king crab legs to the mix. i think we hit the jackpot. here's the evolution of our dinner (i'm missing 2004 for some reason).

our first year in chicago (2003):


2005 in chicago celebrating with j's mom, nancy:


2006 in austin:


we can't wait for our 2007 feast with our boys!

remembering 2006

it is especially exciting for us to welcome 2007 knowing that this is the year our boys will be born! we say goodbye to 2006 - a year certainly full of all sorts of joy and celebration, but also some times of uncertainty and transition.

we moved into a new house in july and not more than 2 weeks later our special cat samson was gone. sam was amazing. we were brought together when i was in grad school in oregon and i swear, it was like we lived a past life together. definitely more dog than cat, sam would come when called, liked to go for walks (to the corner grocery even!), and just had this totally cool demeanor that defied characterization. you could bring him anywhere and he would adapt. he was a total lover, an awesome hunter (at one point he raided a possum's nest and i was cleaning up baby possums in the yard for weeks), matilda's best friend, and even jordan will admit, the man of the house. we called him sammy, samurai, samsonitis, sam the man, handsome samson, sam sun son and sweet sam. sam was my constant companion from living in oregon, moving to dallas, austin, st. louis, chicago and back to austin. he saw me through my 20s and made sure that i ended up in a great place, with a wonderful husband and two lil' guys on the way before leaving. our new house backs up to the greenbelt and there have been numerous coyote sightings and cats missing around us. we choose to believe this is how sam moved on - the circle of the life. i truly miss our "little man in the fur suit" and am forever grateful that he blessed our lives for as long as he did. we'll never forget you.

samson althans silverman, september 1996 - july 2006


if losing sam wasn't enough, we also had the scare of losing matilda in 2006. after our move i noticed a small pea-sized lump on her side. thinking it could be anything, i kept my eye on it over the next month and noticed it doubled in size. the vet did some tests and it came back as a mast cell tumor, a particularly awful and invasive cancer. they did surgery right away but the lab analysis came back showing they hadn't removed it all. another surgery later, the lab came back clean and mati's been great ever since. we keep a close eye on her body looking for any signs of more growths and so far so good. she handled the surgeries like a champion, bouncing back from them usually in a day and back to her energetic, happy self. her frankenstein scars have taken a while to fade and for the hair to grow back. she's as beautiful as ever now, but we'll never forget this crazy time when we were unsure of what was going to happen to our girl.



we hope 2007 is full of health and happiness for you and all of the wonderful animal souls that make our world a much better place!