A New Post (Finally)

I've been absent for a while and I know it and I have no excuse other than I've been tired and caught up in the whole Christmas rush. Things have been fine with us but I'm running out of steam really fast these days (not complaining) and not able to do as much as I did before. I would rather spend what little coherent time I do have offering support and keeping up with what's going on with some of the other blogs I have been following. Rushing around to do the normal Christmas things and shopping and trying to get ready for Righty and Lefty (my DH's nicknames for the two girls) has kept me very busy this year. I was so far behind that I didn't have time to put up the tree or decorate like I normally do (gasp) and I definitely didn't get any baking done except for a few batches of biscotti.


I will be glad when work winds down for me - only 4 more working days to go! It has gotten really difficult for me to sit down all day and by the early afternoon I am just squirming around in my chair and standing or squatting to continue working. I have definitely popped but people still say I look small for carrying twins. Since I have been very lax in posting belly pics, here are the latest ones, the first one at 24 weeks and the second one taken just this past weekend at 28 weeks.

24 Weeks:

28 Weeks:

The girls have definitely been making their presence known which is a comfort. Righty tends to sit high on my right side and likes to wedge her butt and her two little legs right on top of my ribs which can be very uncomfortable at times. We confirmed this during my last ultrasound done on Christmas eve and she even turned her head to look right at the u/s wand as if to say "What? I'm comfy here!" I can always tell when she's trying to creep back into that little pocket of space because the area gets rock hard and I get sharp pains that radiate sometimes as far as my back. Ouch! She usually moves after a little while though and if it's really painful I try to encourage her to move down a little by gently massaging her in a downward motion. Lefty is sitting much lower down and we were told that she would be the first one born if I did give birth vaginally. My left side bulges more than my right side so it makes sense that she is sitting down there. Right now, Lefty is quieter than Righty but I do feel them both moving about and kicking and it changes from week to week which one is the more active one of the two. Both girls continue to be head down which I am very grateful for because that is the best possible position for me to attempt a vaginal birth.

I just found out that my doctor will not let me go past 38 weeks and if I haven't gone into labour on my own, he will induce me. He believes that the increased risk of going to 40 weeks is not worth the incremental growth they will have in the last 2 weeks of gestation so I will be holding my two little girls in my arms by the end of the first week of March! Very exciting but kind of terrifying. I've been spending a lot of time thinking about the kind of parent I want to be and hoping that I won't mess them up with all of my good intentions. I've had a lot of family stuff swirling around me lately but that is a topic for another post some other time.

I also just found out that I am a tad bit hypothyroid (or hyperthyroid?). My last two blood tests revealed slightly lower than normal TSH and T4 values. My TSH was 0.32 and the acceptable range is 0.4 - 3.8. My T4 was 11 and the acceptable range is 12 - 21. The only record I have of this being tested was back in 2007 and at that time, my TSH was 1.2 and while normal, this is still on the low side. I wonder if this contributed to our IF? I am booked to see a specialist on Jan 13th so I will find out if this is anything I should be concerned with but the nurse at my OB's office told me that she's seen results like this many times before and they always choose not to treat it. Something to file in the back of my mind for the future I guess.

We haven't yet set up the nursery and that is causing me some concern because we are down to the final 10 weeks. A few rooms have to rotate in my house to achieve this. The study needs to move into the guest bedroom, the guest bedroom needs to be moved into the room that is currently holding all of the baby stuff (too small for a nursery) and then we can set up the nursery. We still have grandiose plans to paint and decorate but we'll see how far we get. We've started picking up some clothing, diapers and we bought our infant car seats as well so at least we can bring them home from the hospital if they arrive earlier than planned.

Right now, I feel pretty good other than being extremely tired. I'm hoping to hang on for the full 38 weeks but we'll see. I started seeing a chiropractor to help me with my back pain and that seems help but I am sore after the deep tissue manipulations he did. One weird pregnancy symptom that I have is that the area right at the top of my abdomen is numb. The doctor tells me that this is normal and is due to the nerves being so stretched but it's a strange sensation, almost like someone gave me a shot of freezing there like when you get a tooth pulled. It's all good and normal (or so I've been told). One more weird pregnancy related thing and probably TMI but my nipples are really big. They're so big that if I don't wear a heavily padded bra or if I don't add a nursing pad to some of my other bras, it looks like I'm high beaming everyone. The funny things you learn about your body while pregnant!

I'm off to take a nap - will blog again soon (I swear!).