Lets Ring in the New Year with more Pictures!

Alex and Ben got their first baths in a tub instead of just a sponge bath.  It was a lot of fun, mostly.  This is right after we put them in the water.  They weren't super happy about it, but they were okay.  You can see they look A LOT alike.  People ask me how similar they look all the time, and I really don't know.  This picture says a thousand words.  Most of those words are along the lines of, "Wow, they look similar!"

The nurse kindly took a picture of Cody and I washing the babies.  The babies are less happy about their situation, but still okay.

The babies are no longer happy with their bath.  After their bath, I was drying off Ben.  He was still bottomless because I had him in the swaddle blanket I was using to dry him off.  He started crying and then grunting.  I'm sure everyone knows where the story ended.  A giant poo AND pee in the blanket/on Mommy.  Thanks Ben.

Ben stretching out.  You can see how skinny his little parts are.

Ben sleeping. 

Cody holding Alex and Ben.  I'm not extremely sure which baby is on which side.  Ben is probably on the right and Alex is probably on the left.  You can see they were holding hands in the middle.  Well, more accurately, they held hands for a while and then started punching each other.

Probably Ben again.  I don't know why Ben always gets the pictures.  I think it is because I take pictures of him while Cody fiddles with Alex.  By the time I can take pictures of Alex, I need to do someting.

Alex sleeping.

Mom and Dad came up for a couple of hours a couple days ago.  I don't understand why they would drive 4 hours each way to stay for a couple of hours, but that is really all we could handle.  They said that they had a good time.  We did as well.  It is just so hard to deal with having the babies here and guests.  I generally never have my shirt on here.  That can make family gatherings uncomfortable.  Mom and Dad each held Ben.  He was the only baby that was awake enough to mess with while they were here.  This is Grandpa Joe holding his first grandkid (first set at least)  for the first time.

On Demand Feeding

We've made another step towards going home.  The boys are starting on demand feeding.  They are now able to cry and I can feed them when I am here.  This is more like what a normal at home schedule may be instead of feeding at 12, 3, 6, 9, 12, etc no matter what. 

Here is how the day went:

11 am: Agree with nurse to start on demand feeding

12:40- 1:40:  Set up for the feed and tandem feed both boys.  Give them to Cody to burp, diaper change, and reswaddle. 

1:40-2: Me pump, clean supplies, pick up stuff in room that we got out to feed

2:50-3:30: Set up, feed Alex, give Alex to Cody

3:30-4:15: Try to feed Ben.  Wait for him to get over his pooping before he will start. Feed Ben.

4:15-4:40: Pump, Clean, Put things away

I think you can see how well on demand feeding went.  The boys were not on the same schedule on the second feeding of the new method. They got their Hepatitis B vaccine around 3, which is a big reason they were fed on a different schedule at the around 3 feeding, but still!  Life is going to be crazy when we go home.

Alex and Ben are doing well.  Alex gained over an ounce since yesterday and Ben gained almost 2 ounces.  Ben is 4 lbs 13.7 oz, so he should make it to 5 lbs soon.  Alex is 5 lbs 2 oz or so.  They have really learned to cry.  No more little pitiful kitten noises from them!  They are also awake a lot more, so there is quite a bit more crying. 

We still don't have an escape date, but they are starting to talk to us about things that they do closer to discharge.... so we must be getting closer. 

The boys are 3 weeks old today.  Hopefully we'll be home soonish.

Some Pictures and Updates

Alex was getting a bath and a new feeding tube.  Here is a picture of him during the bath with no tube.

 

 

He was not super happy about the bath.

 

Here is Ben before his bath.  He was very calm.  He probably made cry faces like his brother once his bath started.  They don't get bath baths here.  It is more like a sponge bath.  They get a little cold and grumpy.

 

Here is how Cody spent his birthday.  That is Ben sleeping on his chest while Cody played the game on his computer.  Cody didn't spend the entire day like this, but this was probably his favorite part of the day.

 

 

 

This was Cody's birthday cake and ice cream.  We picked it up at the convenience store. 

 

Alex on Christmas.

 

Ben on Christmas.  Both of the babies have learned to use their hand to hold the pacifier in their mouth.

 

Cody holding Alex.  You can see he is also using his hand to hold in his pacifier.  They occasionally forget to breathe, but they can keep that pacifier in with the hand they manage to squirm out of a swaddle.  When they are wrapped up in a swaddle like this, the nurses call them baby burritos.  Cody called them a baby cigarette.  The nurse thought it was ... kinda funny.  I thought it was hilarious because Cody doesn't smoke.  He does eat a lot of burritos.  I'm not sure why baby cigarette popped into his head.

 

Things are going well.  Alex is dancing right around 5 lbs now.  Ben is 4 lbs 10 oz or so.  I guess both have gained about a pound over their birth weight.  Nursing is going okay.  We started doing tandem feeding today.  That is when you feed both boys at the same time.  Grandma and Grandpa Beard got me a fantastic twin breastfeeding pillow that makes it possible.  I don't know how I'd balance the boys without it.  They are still not professional nursers, but they have had multiple feedings now where they nursed long enough to get no additional food via feeding tube.  It feels like I never have my shirt on in that stupid room.  I'm pretty sure all of the nurses and most of the cleaning staff have seen me topless.  I'm definitely ready to be out of here.

 

Nursing Progress

Today was an exciting day.  Both boys were able to nurse well enough that they were given less food through their feeding tube!  This is definitely exciting.  Ben actually nursed well enough at the last feeding that he was given no food through the feeding tube for that feeding. 

I was nearing the point of throwing up my hands with it all before today.  We are going to have to give them some bottles when they leave.  The doctors require the boys to go home on either a couple of bottles of formula a day or a couple of bottles of fortified, pumped breast milk.  I had kind of just decided to accept my fate and plan to just use bottles all the time.  Now I have hope that maybe the boys can get this worked out. 

Cody is not nearly as excited about this as I expected.  He has been nursing obsessed ever since the boys were born.  Now that we're making progress, he does not seem impressed.  I'm sure he is very happy.  He is just not that great at showing excitement.

Cribs!

Both of our babies have graduated from their incubators and moved to cribs!!  We are now able to bring in baby clothes and dress them up.  No more naked babies.

Ben

Alex

 



 

Both

Beginning of Week 2: Updates on everyone

Things are moving along slowly here in the NICU.  The boys are doing well. There is no end in sight, but they are doing well with where they are.  They are starting to get really active.  They cry a lot more and a lot louder.  When they have their eyes open, they really look like they are looking around and thinking more than they used to. 

Their feeds are now being condensed and fed on a schedule more like an older baby instead of continuously pumping in a small amount of food.  This is a good step in the right direction.

The boys would be 35 weeks now if they were still in my belly.

Ben has officially passed the 4 pound mark. He is 4 lb 2 oz, I think.  I now have no babies under 4 pounds.  He also lost his umbilical cord on Wednesday.  We are pretty sure he is going to be the cuddler of the two.  He likes holding on to fingers and snuggles in to sleep a lot better when being held. 

Alex is gaining weight well.  I'm not sure what his weight is exactly, but he is gaining well.  Alex seems to be the mover and climber of the two.  He is much more likely to wiggle around while you hold him, and he does a much better job of kicking his way out of swaddles.  He is also much more likely to make progress pulling out his feeding tube. 

The medical staff is starting to talk about putting them in cribs in the next few days.  They both are able to hold their temperatures well, and are getting big enough that this is possible.   Cribs are not really a big deal overall, but it does mean they are accomplishing other goals such as keeping their body temperature up on their own.

We have started recreational breastfeeding.  It is totally hilarious that they call it this.  The whole goal is just to get them used to the idea of nursing.  They are not doing super well with it.  They are definitely treating it as a recreational activity.  It is not expected that they do well right now, so you can say they do as well as they are expected to do.

I am doing better day by day.  I am able to walk a little faster and get in and out of chairs a little faster.  They are still concerned about my blood pressure from the issues I had that caused their early delivery.  My blood pressure is occasionally very high, so I need to be careful or I'll end up on medicine for it. 

Cody is handling everything way better than he should.  He has been back at work, but it has been hard on him being away from the babies while they are in the NICU.  There's not much he can do though; he has to keep the insurance that pays for the NICU.  I wish he could be here for the babies, for me, and for himself... but he does what he has to do. 

The boys are starting to look a lot alike.  I can't tell which baby is which in pictures until I look at their surroundings for clues about which side of the room the incubator is on.  They make the same faces a lot.  Alex does this weird thing with his mouth that makes him look like a frog.  The nurse said that Ben was doing the same frog face today.  

We really can't say enough great things about March of Dimes.  They have a representative that is here twice a week to talk to us and offer support to the NICU families.  She puts together activities and lessons in things like infant CPR and car seat safety and stuff.  They have also done little things and given the boys gifts.  They had a photo session on 12/12 and gave us a copy of the pictures.  Unfortunately, the boys were still really hooked up to machines back then, so the pictures are not very fantastic.  It is still really nice of them to do.  They also gave each boy a fleece blanket and rubber ducky.  If anyone is looking for a charity to give to before the end of the year, I would really look at March of Dimes.

Here is what you all probably came for anyway, baby pics!!!  Both of these are pictures of Ben.  We really haven't been very good about taking pictures the last few days. 

 

This is a recreational breastfeeding session turned kangarooing.  He was out like a light the entire 2.5 hours I held him after the feeding. 

 

Here is a nice stretch after we put him back in the incubator after being held.

 

I can't complain overall.  We are lucky that the boys are doing as well as they are.  There are a lot of babies around that aren't as lucky.  They are bringing us a lot of joy.  We are also thankful that the hospital social worker found a fund that would pay for us to live in the hospital for now so we can be so close to the babies.  I'm really ready to go home with the babies, but this is the next best thing right now.

We're having a blizzard right now.  Cody has to drive down to Nebraska City tomorrow for work.  I'm really hoping things are okay for him to drive in.  It is quite the drive from here.

First Double Kangaroo

Today was an exciting day!  Cody and I each got a chance to hold both babies at the same time. 

 

When I held them after lunch, they were both calm.  Ben slept the entire time without moving at all after he settled in.  Alex moved around a little, but he mostly stayed put as well. 

 

Cody held them later after work and they were significantly more active.  He had to worry about their little heads flopping around.  Alex has learned that he can push up and flip his head around, but he is not quite strong enough to put it where he wants it.  While Cody was holding them, they both reached out and held their brother's arm.  It was the first time they were close enough to touch each other since they were born.  It was super adorable.

 

 

I did not get a good picture of me with both of the boys.  I took a picture with my phone, but it was too dark to see anything good.  I got  a couple of pictures of Cody with them together.

 

 

In this picture, you can see Ben still has his arm out touching Alex.  Alex had his arm out touching Ben before this was taken.  

 

 

Here is the best picture I got of them together.  I still can't tell how similar I think they look.  Ben is on the left and Alex is on the right.  It seems like their nose shape might be a little different.  I guess is hard to tell with Ben's feeding tube in the way.

 

We are hoping to hold them more often.  They have a few more problems they need to iron out before we can really count on handling them more.  It really is awesome to hold and smell the little babies.  It warms my little Grinch heart.

First Hospital Weekend

This was our first weekend at the hospital.  It was quite a busy weekend!  Both sets of parents/now-grandparents came up.  Do we call them parents now, or grandparents?  Mom and Dad Ruby and Mom and Dad Beard all came up. 

This was the first time the Rubys got to see the babies.  It was a relatively uneventful visit.  The babies behaved themselves.  When my parents came up, Ben was super awake.  He had his eyes open pretty much the entire time, and he held my finger really tightly.  It was super nice to see the boys being a little more active.  They make super funny faces while they are awake.  Alex definitely looked like a frog today.

After they left, Cody and I went up again to drop off milk and hold them before bed.  I had Alex and again he was super active.  He kept rolling his head up and back so he could look around.  He had the hiccups for about 25 minutes.  I imagine it was exhausting for that little baby to hiccup so long.  Cody held Ben who mostly just slept the entire time.  It looks like today was my day to experience the boys being up and aware. 

It is hard to believe that they will be a week old tomorrow.  I wish the poor little guys didn't have to spend their first week in the hospital.  I guess the week did go by pretty quickly, but it seems like forever until they will maybe come home.

Anyway, here are some pictures from the last few days:

Alex:

The cotton ball and tape on his head is from where he had an IV in his head.  Seeing all of the tubes and wires on the baby is hard, but it was really sad to see him with an IV in his head.

 

Ben:

 

Here he is holding on to my finger.

 

 

Day Three and Four at the Hospital

Day 3:

The boys were still getting phototherapy throughout the day. We were then surprised by some more positive test results from Ben indicating he was able to come out from under the lights. Since he was off the lights, we were finally able to remove his eye/face mask.  This was the first time that we could get a really good look at them.  The nurse decided this was a good time to give the boys their first bath.  Giving a bath in an incubator is not exactly easy or fun, but it does a nice job of keeping the baby warm while you fumble around as a new parent.  Cody took the lead mostly because he enjoys being first at everything.

Here is Cody washing Alex.  The first step is getting these little dry cloths wet and dripping water over the baby.  Of course, you start at the cleanest parts and work your way to dirty parts.  Cody is dripping water over Alex's face and head.

 

Once they are wet, you can use water with soap and additional cloths.  There is just a waterproof pad under him to catch whatever water was dropped.  They really handled it quite well.  You dry the body parts off with burp cloths as you move your way down the baby to keep them warm.

 

Here is Ben getting his hair cleaned.  He was not super happy with it, but it gave us a good chance to see his pretty eyes begging us for mercy.  I was mostly taking the pictures, but we did do this together.  I stood on the other side of the incubator working with Cody.



 



 

Day 4:

 

Today we got to do Kangaroo Care again. This is basically skin to skin time to help calm the baby and to help the mom's milk supply.  It was the first time that we were able to get Ben out to be held.  I held Alex and Cody held Ben.  They have you take your shirt off so you can get the real skin to skin benefits.  I'm not usually rocking the hospital gown nowadays, but I'll do it to hold my boy.

 

Here is me and Alex:

 

 

 

I didn't get a picture of Cody doing the Kangaroo Care because I was already sitting with Alex, but the nurse took one of us for the NICU.  Here is a picture of a picture sitting on my counter, so it is not very good... but it is cute.  They got us a second recliner so we could talk to each other while we held the babies.

 

 

 

They are still hooked up to the monitors while you do this.  It can make holding them difficult, but you just have to work around the wires and stuff.  They did really well in general.  Their alarms went off a couple of times, but it was usually because their positioning got in the way of one of the monitors.  Cody had no hesitation about holding and manipulating Ben.  They were snoozing together on the recliner in no time.  They both slept with their mouth open and drooling.  At one point, Alex's monitors started really going off, so Cody jumped up and got Ben back in his incubator and was dealing with Alex before I could even prop myself up.  He is proving to be a very involved and helpful dad. 

Overall, they are doing very well.  They are on all room air, which is a big deal.  The problem requiring the phototherapy is pretty much over, but it is very common in babies, even in full term babies.  They are having some minor feeding issues, but nothing that is unexpected.  They are hoping that my milk helps with some of the problems and a little maturity fixes the rest. 

I am doing okay.  I'm having quite a bit more pain.  It feels like the front of my body is going to melt off.  It doesn't help that my milk is starting to come in, so things are even crazier here.  I am getting discharged tomorrow, so we start a whole new part of our journey.  I don't know how we'll be here for the boys, but we'll do what we can.

 

 



Days 1 and 2 at the Hospital

Day 1:

Well today was the first full day at the hospital.  I am feeling a lot better already.  I was able to get  up and walk around.  My parents and my grandparents Beard were able to come up and see us today.  They only stayed for a couple of hours.  Just enough time to see the boys really fast and eat some semi-ok hospital cafeteria food.  It was very nice of them to make it up.  Everyone was really excited to see the boys.  They brought some beautiful roses and some balloons. 

Alex and Ben are doing quite well.  They both have been taken off the CPAP machines and are on high flow nose cannulas.  I'm still a little out of it, so I'm not completely up on the terminology yet.  The lovely nurses at the NICU are letting us get in on the action and take temps, change diapers, and do little things like repositioning the boys.  It can be overwhelming, but it is nice to see the boys.  We are not able to hold them as long as they are on the lights, so we have to wait until they come off to hold them again.

Here is Ben.  He looks like he is just chilling under the lights.  He is just working on his sun tan.

 

 

I believe this foot is also Ben's.  Both of the boys seem to have gotten my monkey feet.  They have really long toes that they like to use to grab at wires that are hanging around nearby. 

 

 

Day 2:

I am feeling a lot better.  My feet are swelling up like crazy and I'm pretty sure Cody has forgotten that I had major abdominal surgery just a couple of days ago, but we're doing alright.  Our fantastic friend Amy has kindly taken Shep in.  That poor dog.  I'm sure he is living it up at her house.  We will totally do what we can to make it up to Amy when we can.

The boys are still doing okay.  They are talking about weaning them off of their lights and they are talking about pulling back on the high flow nose cannulas.  I don't completely understand how it all works, but I know that none of this means the boys will come home soon.  They say that it is best to count on the boys coming home around their due date.  I'm really hoping that is not the case, but what can you do?  So far, they have found no major issues with the boys.  They are just going through what babies at this gestation usually go through. 

I can't say enough great things about the people here.  My nurses have all been amazing.  The people in the NICU have been awesome and supportive.  They do their best to tell you what is going on in terms that you can understand.  There is a social worker that is working on getting us some sort of housing near the hospital to transition to while the boys are in the NICU and I'm on driving restrictions.  I guess as long as I'm breastfeeding, the hospital will feed me for free while I'm visiting the boys in the NICU.  I have a lactation consultant that stops by to help me get things going.   I really am thankful for all of the help that is being offered right now.

Here is Alex cuddling with his binky.

 

Here is Ben.  Usually, he has his arms wrapped around his various cords and he uses his toes to hold separate wires.  He is just like his mommy.



 

The nurses in the NICU comment all the time about how funny their super long toes are.  These boys have big feet already and like to use their toes to grasp things. 

 

It is hard to get good pictures because they are both being kept under those lights.  We will try to keep this updated, but I imagine there won't really be much news day to day.  I do miss being pregnant, but I'm happy we have Alex and Ben in our lives now. 

2 New Rubys!

Edit with Additional Info:

 

Cody wrote the picture descriptions while I was hopped up on morphine.  He did a fine job, but his lack of explanations make things seem worse than they are.  I'll do a more full birth story later, but here is a summary:

 

On Sunday, December 9, I started to have extremely bad pain in my ribs and back.  Eventually at about midnight on the 10th, Cody made me come up to the hospital.  It was a good decision because I was diagnosed with severe preeclampsia.  The babies had to come out.  They called my on call MFM and the boys were out by 530 am on Dec. 10. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Benjamin Ruby (3 lbs. 12 oz.), seen here moments after delivery with CPAP

 

 

 

 

Benjamin, getting his blood pressure measured and blood samples taken.

 

 

 

 

Alexander Ruby (4 lbs. 2 oz.), seen here with breathing tube minutes after delivery.

 

Alexander, sleeping after a long morning.

 



 

Alexander experiencing his first skin-on-skin contact with his father.



32 Weeks: First Fetal Nonstress Test

On Friday, the boys and I had the first fetal nonstress test (NST).  They passed after about half an hour or so of being monitored.  Since they passed the NST, the ultrasound tech did not do a full biophysical profile.  She did tell me that unofficially they would have passed with a 10/10 based on what she saw while she was doing the ultrasound to set the probes for the NST.  I'll give you a quick summary of the appointment.  This machine is something that in generally used during childbirth to monitor the baby, so you may be more familiar with it than you realize.  The only difference is mine is measuring 2 heart beats.

When I got there, the tech gave me a more detailed explanation of what they were looking at and when the readings would result in me getting taken to labor and delivery for further monitoring.  Basically, they set a probe over each baby's heart that measures heart rate.  They want to see 2 episodes of heart rate accelerations of greater than 15 beats per minute for longer than 30 seconds.  They want to see the two episodes happen in under 40 minutes or so.  The tech does a quick ultrasound to find where each baby's heart would best be monitored.  Zeus is down low on my right side.  His probe kept slowly sliding down the giant mound that is my belly.  He is the one that took longer to pass, but it was mostly because his probe kept drifting down my belly.

Here is me hooked up to the machine:

I marked the probes with the corresponding baby being monitored.  I left my face in this one, because I believe it very accurately displays how I felt at the time.  Internet weirdos, enjoy.  (Wow, my belly sure looks huge)

After the probes were set, I just had to lay there.  I couldn't move very much because if I moved Zeus's probe started its march down my belly bump.  It was not very comfortable, but at this point no position is actually comfortable.  The tech came in and out to check on the results to see if they had the accelerations they needed.  Leonidas got his 2 episodes in under 10 minutes.  Zeus took a while longer.  The tech did say that Zeus took longer to do them, but when he did them he really went all out and had big accelerations.

I did take a little video of the machine during my test.  You can see the heart rate digitally displayed as it is registered for each baby.  I'm not sure exactly whose heart beat you can hear in the audio.  It seemed like she could switch between the babies, or maybe not.  That is a question that I didn't think to ask.  Maybe I'll ask during one of my two tests this week... or the two next week... ugh.  Here is a link to the video:

http://youtu.be/jvLjwL68DOg

I didn't do the best job taking the video.  I couldn't see what I was recording because of the angle.  You get a general tour of the printout, the front of the machine, and whatever else was going on.  The number in the 100s on the left was Leonidas and the number in the 100s on the right was Zeus.

That is the general overview of my appointment.  There was no doctor involved.  I was there for about 45 minutes total.  I'll have a full round of appointments on Tuesday to see how they are measuring and all the other fun stuff.

32 Weeks: Stats

We now most likely have 2-4 weeks until the babies are here!!! 

Since my 31 week pictures were taken a couple of days ago, there is probably not much change. 

Here's the belly:

 

Zeus has moved way up and now has his head over my rib cage.  This picture sort of shows what I mean. (I can not explain why I'm sitting in a sports bra on a random Wednesday evening.  This is why it is important to tell us ahead of time if you plan to stop by!)  That giant bump where my belly meets my chest is Zeus's head.  It feels like this giant hard ball.  I very accurately drew out how I imagine him using paint.  If you are wondering why he looks so weird, I gave him boxing gloves and shorts. 

 



How far along? 32 weeks !!!

Baby's size?  2 squashes!  (They are each about 16.7 inches and about 3.75 lbs on average)

Total weight gain:  26 pounds (8 pounds over the last 2 weeks) 

Wow!  That seems like a lot.  It is probably a lot of water.  That explains my Vienna Sausage toes.

Belly circumference:   At the belly button:   47.5” At the maximum:   47.75"

Belly Button Status: It is as out as it will ever be.  Apparently I have almost no belly button, it mostly just looks swollen and puffy.  At least it doesn’t show through my shirt I guess!

What I’m Wearing:   I bought some super cool men’s long sleeve t-shirts in way bigger sizes than I’d normally wear.  I won’t look very good, but at least they will cover the bottom of my belly when I‘m  wearing them.  Cody can wear them when I’m done if he wants, but I doubt he will.  One is a Nebraska Cornhuskers shirt and one is a Wisconsin Badgers shirt.  I’m pretty sure he will not support another team on purpose.

Symptoms:  The back pain is getting worse and it occasionally feels like the bottom of my belly is going to rip open and spill out all my insides…. But otherwise I’ve been pretty good.  I do have some funny looking swelling in my feet.  My toes look like little Vienna sausages.   

Baby Movement:  They are back in an extreme movement stage.  There is no room for kicking or punching, so it feels like I have two snakes swimming around under my skin.  It is really creepy and exhausting.  They both like to push their entire bodies out on opposite sides of my stomach at the same time.  That definitely hurts.  I know there are a lot of movements I can’t feel because we watched them move a lot at the appointment yesterday and I didn’t feel anything.  They also have started up their night time dance parties again.  Silly boys! 

Cody was feeling my belly a couple of days ago and one of the boys was pushing back against his hand when Cody would poke him.  So Cody would poke the baby and then the baby would poke Cody back.  That was a lot of fun.  The babies are also starting to get the hiccups, I think.  It is some sort of rhythmic thumping that lasts for a while at least.  Cody got to feel that a few days ago.

How I'm Sleeping:  If I manage to not have to get up to go to the restroom, if the baby that is on the bottom is not pushing out causing pain while I lay on my side, if I get all of the pillows set up just right, and if the temperature stays really cool….. I sleep okay. 

Cody has started waging war on the body pillow that I try to sleep with.   Our bed is too small for the pillow, Cody, and me every night, but I’ll try to sneak it in when my back and hips really hurt.  Cody seems to take offense that the pillow gets to sleep between us.  He whines, but in the middle of the night I sometimes have to kick his legs off of it because he is using it. 

Things I miss:  I miss walking at a normal speed and a normal posture.  I definitely have the pregnant belly push out posture and I have to walk super slowly.  I’m sorry general public…. I’m doing the best I can!

Best moment this week:  We had a nice Thanksgiving.  Amy and Andre invited us to join them and their family.  Amy is a super good hostess and so we had a much more grown up Thanksgiving than I would have put on for us if we had stayed home.  Andre’s family was in town, so we got to meet them.  Cody spilled a glass of homemade wine on Amy's grandma's real silver serving tray.... the usual Thanksgiving stuff.

Upcoming Appointments:  I will be up there every Tuesday and Friday (at least) until delivery.  Friday is another appointment like the one I just went to.  Next Tuesday is another one of those appointments plus a growth scan to make sure they are still growing okay and that their growth discordance is still acceptable.  I might have another appointment with a doctor then as well.

What I'm Looking Forward To:  We made it to 32 weeks!  Now I’m looking forward to making it to 35 weeks as the next milestone week. 

I’m now buying things from our registry that we still need.  It is always fun to get those packages in the mail.  We have pretty much everything I can think of that we will need immediately.  I’d still like to buy some swaddle blankets (the kind that you just Velcro, not the kind that you have to wrap yourself) and finish up the newborn cloth diaper supplies.  

I decided that it would be a good idea to get some embroidered hats with the name of each baby to make it easier for us and family to tell them apart quickly and/or from a distance.  I definitely cheaped out after seeing how much it would cost to have someone make them for us.  Sorry boys, your mommy doesn’t like to spend that much money on infant caps.  I’ve been exploring other options now.  It is probably going to be hilarious and end up costing more than just getting the hats made… but whatever.  Cody and I get a kick out of me and my crazy ideas.  I did suggest just using a Sharpie to write the names on the hats…. Maybe duct tape?  “Hi, my name is” stickers?  Those iron on transfers for making weird t-shirts using your regular ink jet printer?  I’m really excited to work this out.