tarot reading

i had a tarot reading last night at j's office holiday party. i actually took it seriously and concentrated on a key question while shuffling the deck. my question was what our birth experience would be like and the results were very affirming. the cards read:

1. you are in control of your boundaries: meaning there won't be any emergencies or situations that i can't make decisions about. i will be able to set the course of action for the birth (i.e. drug-free, etc).
2. clear your past: i need to free myself of any fears or worries i have from past experiences or thoughts. this is an interesting one, especially because we learned that most women will have at least one time during labor where things aren't progressing and their doula or midwife will ask them what they are fearful of. once they confront this and let it out, their labor progresses!
3. back to basics: we'll have a labor and birth that is exactly that - back to the basics of what women have been doing for thousands and thousands of years.
4. use your spiritual guides: that i'll have my spiritual "helpers" gathered around me for this event and i can call on them for strength and guidance.

i love these affirmations! i'm going to keep them close to me from here on out. since so many unexpected things happen during labor and birth, it will be interesting to compare what really happens to this prediction.

30 weeks and going strong

i look forward to going to the doctor every week for my dose of peace of mind. this friday was no exception - everything is looking great! i'm steadily gaining weight (about a pound a week), my blood pressure is good, babies' heartbeats are going strong and my cervix remains long and closed (this is very important in terms of pre-term labor). my belly is now measuring 36 weeks, so i continue to consistently look about 5-6 weeks ahead of where i'm really at. i have to say that this was my biggest fear early on in the pregnancy - i literally had several panic attacks thinking i would be gigantic at this point. i'm sure i'll get to the point where i feel like a beached whale, but so far i've avoided the obnoxious comments from strangers like "you must be about to pop any minute now," etc. if anything, it's been the opposite - most people say, "you don't look that big considering you have two babies in there." and believe me, when i hear that i feel very, very grateful and lucky.

this week i altered my work schedule so i'm now telecommuting 3.5 days a week. it's nearly impossible for me to make it through a full day at the office, and if i try, i really pay for it. again, i couldn't be more grateful for my bosses and their understanding and flexibility! i get tired and uncomfortable pretty quickly now, especially if i'm on my feet or sitting for a while. my body really likes being horizontal! also i noticed last night that my feet have grown about 1/2 a size. i put on my favorite (new mind you!) heels to where to j's office holiday party, and they were clearly too short. drats! i'm also occassionally getting some reflux in the middle of the night and have to take a few tums for relief. i'd say it happens a few times a week, so not too bad in the grand scheme of things. and this morning j pronounced after a stretch mark inspection that the linea nigra finally appeared! still stretch mark free, but i can't imagine coming through this totally unscathed.

no book has ever mentioned this one!

i've entitled my funniest and strangest sensation to date "hiccups in the butt." enough said.

these boys are crazy!

i know i've talked about the boys' movement before, but it's borderline ridiculous now. and i thought as you got further along in your third trimester and they started running out of room, their movement would decrease...silly me! they're vigorously trying to make more space for themselves - especially baby a, who has now taken over the crown of nutball from his brother. sometimes i feel like that carnival game where as soon as one head pops up, you hit it down with a hammer to find another popping up somewhere else. the more heads you hit, the more points you score. with the boys, one foot will all of a sudden stick out from my stomach, and as soon as i put my hand over it and rub it, another limb sticks out somewhere else! it's comical and delightful, and sometimes quite uncomfortable, especially when they hit an organ.

dreams

i'm a vivid dreamer as it is, but i have to tell you, nothing comes close to the dreams i've had since these babies entered the picture. last night i dreamt we went to the hospital and checked into the labor and delivery room. it was like a mcdonalds from the late 70s, all burnt orange, mustard, rust and brown. i was a little taken aback by the decor, but once i saw the giant hot tub, separate shower and another bath tub, i was pretty psyched! i started to unpack, which mainly consisted of finding a mini-fridge for all of the farmers market produce jordan had brought. we're talking the most beautiful red peppers, eggplant, and celery you've ever seen. i was in my glory knowing we had all these beautiful veggies to cook during our stay. in scoping out the place, i also managed to find a breast pump and my curiosity got the best of me. i put it together, hooked myself up to it and turned it on - and magically milk was coming out (mind you i hadn't even had the babies yet). i was so thrilled! mom and jordan then came into the room and i had this sudden realization that this might all be premature - i hadn't had one contraction yet, and here we were in the hospital. i started to get concerned about this...and then i woke up. bring on the interpretations, my friends!

double twin labor

i've made friends with two other expecting twin mamas in austin. we're all having boys...imagine that play date! both are being induced today, one at 37 and one at 38 weeks. i'm sending them both all my thoughts and energy for a wonderful labor and the safe arrival of their beautiful babes! these mom's are incredible women and sitting here at 29 weeks now, i'm in absolute awe of them each carrying two babies this long. woot woot!

last week's drama

before i say anything more, we're all doing great, feeling good and thriving. so the story has a very happy ending, which i'm writing at the beginning.

last sunday i felt a strange pain in my right lower side. upon laying down and prodding a little, i realized it was pretty darn tender. so i called my doc the next day, which i've learned to have no hesitation about (mother's instinct?), and he wanted me to come in immediately. after the examination, he was very concerned about appendicitis (i also had a fever of 100 - but felt fine other than the tenderness), so off i rushed to get blood work and to see a surgeon. my white blood count was on the high side, but the surgeon wasn't convinced i had a problem with my appendix, so i was released home but told to come back the next morning. more blood tests, urine test, and another exam the next day, and i was given a clean bill. whew!

the good thing that came of this is i learned what excellent care i have. my ob was all over it, and called me several times on my cell phone to see how i was doing. the surgeon was incredible and actually gave me his home phone just in case i worsened over the night. i just didn't believe doctors were like that anymore! we all are feeling much better now and i believe the tenderness is just due to these munchkins smooshing and scrunching all the organs in my belly. the sacrifice a mother makes...

welcome isabel!

last night our sister-in-law jen (jordan's brother's wife) went into labor. today we welcome their baby girl isabel sophia into this world! she weighs 6lb 3oz and is 19 inches long. mom, dad and baby are doing wonderful. we can't wait to meet this precious silverman soul and are sending all our joy and love. boys, you now have a cousin!

third trimester stretch

we had our 27 week ultrasound and perinatal appt. on tuesday and i'm pleased to report that me and the boys are doing great! the boys are both head down and growing like weeks, weighing in at 2lb 3oz (baby a) and 2lb 6oz (baby b). they are measuring right where a singleton baby would be! all of their legs and feet are concentrated in the upper part of my belly, which explains all the crazy movement i feel above my belly button. i can imagine them playing footsie with one another - how cute! my belly is measuring at 33 weeks and i've now gained a total of 37 pounds, thanks in part to our recent vacation in chicago. the doctors are thrilled with my weight gain, as it's common to actually lose weight in the last trimester, so you need a good reserve. from here on out, the boys will each gain between 6-8 oz each week. i can't believe that we are already in the final stretch. most doctors won't let a twin pregnancy go past 37-38 weeks, and most mom's deliver twins in the 36 week range. that means we're just about 2 months from meeting our babes!

sweet home chicago

even though j and i call austin home now, we will always hold a very special place in our hearts for chicago. we couldn't have asked for a more perfect trip, being that this is the last one we will take before we become parents. the weather was gorgeous - sunny and 55 every day. we spent quality time with our parents, mark and laura, the mohrlein-anderberg clan, aunt moe, al, and my best friend brandy (and ed, of course!). j and i also took a mini vacation to the city and stayed two nights at the belden-statford, the hotel we stayed at the night of our wedding. we hit all our favorite restaurants, including the fabulous hemmas (the best indian), went to the field museum and aquarium, and walked to cafe brauer in lincoln park (where we were married). it felt magical and j and i got very nostalgic being in our old stomping grounds. chicago is an amazing town and we can't wait to introduce the boys to this place.

me at 26 weeks:


cafe brauer, where we got married!



mark and j:


the althans clan:


the wonder moms:


aunt moe scarfing more of dana's cake from the shower:

showered bliss

j and i had an amazing trip home to chicago for thanksgiving. both moms, dana and aunt joanie threw us a beautiful babies shower the day after our arrival. we feel so blessed to have spent the morning with our wonderful family and friends, including aunt diane who came in from california, aunt moe who came in from cincinnati, and mark and laura who drove in from minneapolis. of course i got all weepy at the end of the event, but it truly overwhelms me how much love and support surrounds us and the arrival of our lil' guys! thank you to everyone who attended and for all of the incredible gifts and love showered on our boys.

i wish i could post all of the pictures, but here are just a few to give you a taste.

mama nancy, angela, me, judith, mama alina and jeri:


here is dana's wonderful cake creation (the boys' room has a snoopy theme!). for those of you who don't know, dana is our dear friend who also happens to be one of the most talented pastry chefs in the chicagoland area:



and of course, dana didn't forget jordan and his fixation with her chocolate mousse. how appropriate!



cousin paula, aunt diane, cousin brenda and me:

ode to matlida

this is my new favorite picture of our girl, matilda. we often wonder how things will be different for her with the arrival of the boys, if she'll love them or growl at them, protect them and lick their feet and toes. she's had issues in the past with little munchkins, i think more out of fear of not knowing what they are (aliens, perhaps?). we got a clue into her amazing, gentle demeanor when jake stayed with us. mati was so good with him, so curious but respectful. and when he left i think she really missed him. i think mati will be an amazing dog for our boys, as they're babies but especially when they are old enough to really interact with her. i see her always being by their side, watching out for them, making sure they are safe. wanting to play and lick their hands after they eat. sleeping in front of their crib. but no matter how she is with the boys, one thing is for sure...she'll always be our girl.

graduation

j and i took a fantastic childbirth class with my old neighbor and friend, marcela. marcela is a doula, massage therapist, childbirth educator and overall wonderful person. we loved it! we learned about the technical aspects of labor and birth, creatively tapped into our strengths and fears, and generally had great conversation about the process of childbirth. needless to say, we learned a lot. there were several exercises where we were asked to draw our perceptions and reactions to different situations. j invariably drew pictures of me in labor with our babies coming out of me catapulted in the air towards him or the doctors. hmmm....

here is our graduating class, minus two couples (one couple is also having twins and is further along then us and couldn't make it; the other couple had their baby early, only after two classes). we loved sharing this experience with everyone and can't wait to see them again at our reunion with all our babies!

little things

i realize there are so many little things i want to capture about this experience and haven't. like how j talks to the boys. it's the funniest thing. he goes into this deep darth vadar form of speech and always starts out with, "hello boys...this is your father talking...can you hear me...i love you" (or whatever it is he wants to tell them). it never fails. i wonder if our boys will have some sort of revelation when they see star wars for the first time and think that darth vadar is really their father!

tumblers

feeling babies move in utero is truly one of the mircale experiences of being pregnant. and i feel blessed that the boys give me plenty of opportunities to feel them throughout every day. in fact, my hands are on my belly so much that j recently asked me if i thought i would habitually keep touching my belly after the boys are born!

baby a has pretty much stayed in the same position (head down), but he wiggles and thrusts his arms and legs about constantly. he does handstand pushups against my bladder and flutter kicks his legs like he's swimming which i feel higher up. i often wonder what it must be like for him to be upside down all the time and if he's going to miss this position when he's born!

baby b makes more wholesale movements and completely somersaults his body around. he's usually butt down, but last weekend during a movie i felt some major tumbling going on and suddenly realized he had flipped his position to be head down. the extra space in my upper belly was fantastic! a few days later he flipped back (bummer). i have a feeling that won't be the last of it.

both boys also have times during the day where they make really smooth movements with their arms and legs, like they're cat stretching or doing an arabesque. i'll feel a gentle push and when my hand reaches it, i feel a distinct body part, like a heel, knee or elbow, through my belly. we also play tag at least once a day where i tap on my belly and they tap back. we can usually go back and forth for about a minute!

they both have definite periods of activity throughout the day and always respond to food (about 30 minutes after i eat they start at it), sweets/sugar, and movies. going to the theater is quite an experience - i think it's just so loud and gets them all excited. i don't feel them so much at night, but that may be just me being such a sound sleeper (i know, take advantage of it now!). they start rustling in the morning about the time that jordan wakes up at 6am - i think they miss their dad sleeping next to them.

my left foot

no, we didn't just watch the daniel day lewis flick...it just perfectly sums up my tribulations of late. about a week ago i got this shooting pain in the middle of my heel, which i would learn is plantar faciatus (sp?). it's basically the ligament that runs under your foot and mine is a wee bit upset at me lately. sudden weight gain (i.e. pregnancy = me) can bring it on, as well as lots of activity (running, etc. = not me). i don't think the recent flats i bought with no heel or arch support helped. it's getting better with stretching, yoga and general rest, though.

the trials of my left foot don't stop there, however. a few days ago i opened up the fridge to find a beer flying off the side door and bursting into a thousand pieces in front of me. oh, the irony of not being able to indulge in a beer for the past 7 months and then having to smell the bock for the next 20 minutes while i clean it up! well, i must not have cleaned it up good enough because later than day i managed to step on an ever-so-tiny piece of glass. j couldn't find the glass in my foot, but i knew one had to be in there when i woke up the next morning and couldn't bear any weight. so with a sliver of glass wedged into the ball of my foot and my heel killing me, let's just say i was pretty ineffective! i got it out and all is better now. my left foot is either a short-term curse or it's god's way of distracting me from other things - she's a smart one, after all!

live action!

i finally figured out how to post a video to the blog! here is a clip from our 20 week ultrasound where baby a was dancing on baby b's head. the thin membrane that you see baby a pushing off from is what separates the two boys.

a good place at 22+ weeks

we are finally all settled in with our doctors. we had our first appointment with our new ob - get this, dr. love - and we love him! he has a great, laid back demeanor, and spent tons of time with us making sure all our questions were answered. we also got a quick peek at the boys and they were both head down, one directly on my bladder (which i could definitely feel).

today we also visited our new perinatologist and are enrolled in their special "twins program." we got a full sonogram and again the boys look fabulous. they are 1lb 3oz and 1lb 4oz and still measuring about 1 week ahead. i'm measuring at 27 weeks. here i am!

it seems that everytime i go in for a sonogram, i've just eaten and the boys are wiggly-worms after getting some food energy. it's so amazing seeing them moving around, though! today, baby b had moved into breech position but baby a was still head down. even though it doesn't seem like it, they've got lots of room to move and flip about. it won't be until 32-34 weeks until they run out of room and their positions will be more or less set.

on the whole, i feel really good! i have pretty bad sacroilliac (back) pain, but that's about it. i'm doing prenatal yoga and walking. the yoga feels terrific. we also have been taking a childbirth class and have met some really great couples. we watched a birth last night of a midwife in mexico. during labor she went into this trace-like state and looked totally possessed. it was a little unsettling thinking i might look like that, and at one point i looked at up at jordan and asked him if he was going to be able to handle seeing me in labor. it was REALLY intense!

it's actually really fun being pregnant and i absolutely love feeling the boys move around. i feel them all throughout every day now, especially after i eat. and they either love or hate mexican food, because they go crazy when i eat it! i had a great experience last weekend at yoga with the boys. it was the end of class and we were in shavasana. the boys hadn't moved the whole class, but i put a hand over each of them as i was relaxing and sent them a bunch of love. at the same exact time, they both kicked into in my hand. it was absolutely amazing and affirmed that i have these beautiful people growing inside of me and that they know how much i love them.

20 weeks

i'm sitting here updating the blog on my new birthing ball (aka stability ball). jordan picked the ball up for me this weekend and i love it! it takes the pressure off my back and keeps my pelvis nice and balanced, plus i can do stretches with it and use it during labor. he's such a thoughtful hubby.

i've hit 20 weeks and feel great. my belly is big! here i am (i spared you all the skin this time):



as far as the ob saga, i have good news. we went on a fantastic dr. interview this afternoon. it was like night and day compared to our other ob. he doesn't require an epidural at all and didn't try and use scare tactics to encourage one. he was very pro-natural birth and gave us lots of different options and alternatives to having a full-on epidural, like a no-or-low dose version, should we choose. he also was very accomodating with labor and birthing positions and said however i was most comfortable, given that they could still monitor the babies effectively. he also had lots of great stories of mothers who birthed twins w/o interventions in the labor and delivery room. he said that as long as baby a was vertex (head down), we didn't have to deliver in the OR. It was VERY reassuring to meet with a doctor who was on our same page!

we had a fantastic ultrasound last thursday and the boys are perfectly healthy. they are growing fabulous - both at the same rate and right at 20 weeks. the ultrasound lasted almost an hour and they had a big screen that everything was projected onto, so we got to see the boys up close and personal. they were both super squirmy, but baby a definitely won the crazy award this time and at one point he was kicking his brother in the head! we were assured that this would not hurt the baby though. they videotaped the whole thing, so we'll try and figure out a way to get some footage onto the blog.

here's boy b's face:

and here's boy a's profile:


right after the doctor appointment we picked up our dear friends dana and mark from chicago and their gorgeous baby boy jake. we had the best weekend with them (see our regular blog for all the deets)! dana and i went to babies-r-us (scary!) and she basically walked me through the entire store and we did my registry. i had no idea what 75% of the items were for! she was truly a godsend and i learned so much about why different features of various products are important. it was also so wonderful having jake in our house. it really helps me to be with babies and kiddos right now - keeps my eyes on the prize!

we also made a very important decision this weekend - we're doing the boys nursery in a snoopy theme! we can't wait to get started.

poppage

i officially no longer have an inny belly button. it's kind of like i have no belly button anymore. well, there's a little part of it that sticks out like an outy, but the rest of it is just flat. it's the strangest thing to run my finger over it and realize that it no longer indents in! i wonder if it will really pop out like i'm a cooked turkey? i wonder if after i shrink down to normal size, if my belly button also reverts?

j noticed my lack of belly button last night, which makes perfect sense to me, because this past week we've witnessed yet another growth spurt (i know i need to stop saying things like "another growth spurt" - silly me). my belly is really getting big! we have an appointment tomorrow with a specialist, a perinatologist, who will be performing a comprehensive ultrasound on the boys. dr. barry will measure the munchkins and look at every organ, nook and cranny to make sure all is well. apparantly the office has a killer ultrasound machine with a big screen that the images are projected onto. so cool!

we are also on the hunt for a new OB. we really do like our current OB, but we're not all on the same page when it comes to birthing philosophies. she requires an epidural and i don't like that one bit. when it comes to twins there are all sorts of challenges and potentially complicating factors. i understand all that. we have about a coin-toss chance of having a vaginal vs. a c-section birth, and in the case of a vaginal birth, i'd like the option of not having an epidural. now that's not to say that i won't get to labor and decide that an epidural is the greatest idea since sliced bread; it's the notion that i wouldn't even be able to decide with our current doctor. for those of you who would like to know, if my pregnancy progresses well, and if the presenting baby is positioned head down, we can go for a vaginal birth. but if baby a is breech or sideways, we'll have to schedule a c-section. it's that simple. i have faith in myself and our babies, and if possible, i'd like as intervention-free of a birth as possible.

i promise i'll post some pictures of our progress in the next few days. i'm holding out for some killer baby pictures tomorrow. also, i had j take some belly shots of me last night and they were hideous! i don't know if i really do look that huge or if it was just a really bad angle. anyways, we'll do another photoshoot maybe tonight and see how they come out. there will be no fugly pictures of me on this blog, no matter how enormous i get!