Pregnancy tidbits

Heather has been under the weather the past couple of days with a cold that kept her out of work today. She seems to be a little better tonight, even though she watched her Hurricanes lose a close playoff hockey game 1-0. We hope that she can go to work today.

In the past week, we received some real good news, at least for the boys' sake. Last week we had the cribs and dressers delivered. On Sunday, Heather's parents and I put together the two cribs. The dressers were already put together so it saved us a lot of time by not having to put them together.

Then, this past Monday, we got the good news that the chests were finally here. They will be delivered some time in the next couple weeks.

Heather's parents painted our nursery today as Heather and I aren't painters. We tried to paint one room a couple of years ago and it was a total disaster. Therefore, we don't paint anymore. We are very appreciative of this.

We hope to have pictures of the nurseries for you very soon.

Also on Monday, we went to our first birthing class. We were one of 8 couples in the class. The instructor has been teaching these classes for over 30 years. We learned a few things about what to expect with contractions as well as some stretching exercises for the women. We were the only couple that is having twins in the class.

We have another birthing class next Monday.

Happy Easter

Happy Easter to everyone! He is Risen today and it is a great day.

We have had a good weekend. Heather's parents were in town this past weekend. We got a lot of things accomplished. We cleaned out a couple of closets to get ready for the two boys. We also cleaned up and cleaned out the rooms that are going to be used for the boys. Heather and Eileen went shopping yesterday and had some success in getting some maternity clothes.

Doug and I spent some time out on the golf course. We had some great shots, some decent shots, some bad shots, and a lot of uh-oh shots. But we had a good time anyway. It was a beautiful day.

We have a doctor's appointment tomorrow with Heather's OB. We are hoping and praying for some good news. It is hard to believe we have already passed the 23 week point.

A Relaxing Weekend Ahead

We are leaving today for a 5 days, 4 nights stay at Myrtle Beach. We are excited to be returning to the Marriott Resort and Spa at Grande Dunes. Our plans are to go to the outlets tomorrow and see what kind of bargains we can find. I am hoping to get some maternity clothes at the Motherhood Maternity Outlet to get me through these last couple of months. We’ll also check out the baby outlets, of course!! On Saturday night, we’ll of course be pulling against UNC. GO VILLANOVA!!! On Sunday afternoon, Craig has a tee time and I have an appointment at the spa! Then, we’ll relax some more on Monday and who knows what else we may do! We will return to Raleigh on Tuesday! Stay tuned for a new picture soon of Heather at 22 weeks!!!

Another Dr. Visit with the Peri

I just wanted to pass along the latest update from our perinatologist dr. appt. on Wednesday, April 1st. Overall, both babies appear to be doing well and in good health. However, there are two small concerns.

The first concern is related to the excessive amount of amniotic fluid. You know, weeks ago, we were concerned that Baby B did not have enough amniotic fluid. Well, now they both have an excessive amount. So, the dr. wants me to cut back on drinking so many fluids. He asked me if I was drinking a lot because I’m thirsty or because I’ve been told to drink a lot when you’re pregnant. I told him definitely the second. I am not a big drinker even when not pregnant. So, he is thinking that the problem may be that my kidneys are used to processing the amount of fluids that I normally would intake. Now, that I am drinking lots more, my kidneys might just not be able to process it all and therefore, it is building up as amniotic fluid and that’s also why my ankles / feet are already swelling so bad. The primary risk of too much amniotic fluid is preterm labor. He checked the length of my cervix (which if short is also a sign of preterm labor, possibly in my case caused by the excessive weight of the extra amniotic fluid). However, the length of my cervix was long, so that made him not as worried about the excess fluid. If we don’t see a reduction of the fluid at our next appt. in 4 weeks or we see that it has increased and the length of my cervix has decreased, we may possibly have to talk about doing amniocentesis to draw out some of the fluid or about a drug which can help decrease the fluid level. Either method comes with its own set of risks. So, the dr.’s preference is to do neither of these.

The other concern is the difference in size / weight of the two babies. One weighed 1 pound yesterday and one was 12 ounces. So, he calculated that they are 21% different. They don’t like to see them get into the 20-25% different range. So, obviously we are just barely in that range. So, this is something that will definitely be monitored going forward. However, Baby B has been smaller all along. Baby A is slightly bigger than normal now and Baby B is slightly smaller than normal now, hence the 21% difference. If they get too far different, a decision has to be made about whether to induce labor early….thinking that one may be sick and you don’t want the sick one to harm the healthy one. But, then, you have all the additional risks with preterm labor. So, we don’t want to have to make that decision.

Craig and I are very optimistic about things. We know that God has been with us this far and he will be with us throughout. We aren’t losing any sleep over worry about this. However, we would like to ask that you remember our boys in your prayers in the coming weeks and months. Just a short 15 weeks or so away until we all get to meet them! Thank you all for your prayers!

We Bought a Family Mobile!!!

Well, on Saturday March 21st, we spent the day looking at SUVs and minivans. Yes, minivans. We knew we didn’t want a minivan before the search even started. But, we had so many friends / family telling us about all the positives to the minivan. So, we decided that we would at least look at them, test drive, and give them a consideration. We first went to the Honda dealership. We looked at the Pilot (SUV) and the Odyssey (minivan). We test drove both them, making sure to drive them by our house to see if they would fit in our garage. Well, the Pilot fit just perfect, but the Odyssey was too long. It would fit in our garage, but the only way we could get around the car, was with the door up and walking outside the garage.

We left the Honda dealership, had a quick lunch and then went to the Chevy dealership to look at the new Traverse. We test drove it and went by our house and we had the same problem of length as with the Odyssey. So, at this point, we decided to look online at the other vehicles we were considering and compare their length to the cars that we had driven so far. None of them would fit except the Toyota Highlander. So, next we went to the Toyota dealership to test drive the Highlander. It had considerably less cargo room than the Pilot and others at which we had looked. So, we didn’t even mess with taking it by our house. We knew it would fit, but just wasn’t enough room for the two of us and our little ones!

On Tuesday March 31st, we made our purchase!!! We bought a 2009 Honda Pilot – Touring model! We love it!! It has a gray exterior with a black interior. It has been a very exciting week for us, since it had been so long since either of us had bought a new car. Heather had hers since 2000. Craig has had his since 1998. We traded in Heather’s since it was a two door. There was just no way that was going to work with the little ones!