34 Weeks

We are TWO weeks away from reaching our goal of 36 weeks and roughly three to four weeks away from meeting our sweet baby girls!  It feels like we’re so super close and yet so far away all at the same time.  We’re just trying to take it one day and one week at a time because we know the big day will be here soon!

This past week, we saw both Dr. Weiss and Dr. Parnell.  Both appointments went really well. 

Dr. Weiss was pleased with the girls’ growth and confirmed once again that there’s zero evidence of Twin-to-Twin Transfusion Syndrome (which means both girls are continuing to grow at equal rates, which is very important for twins that share a placenta).  We’re scheduled to see Dr. Weiss one more time – at 35 weeks – for another fluid check.  At this appointment, he mentioned that he’d also perform a Fetal Non-Stress Test on the girls.  He’ll place heart rate monitors around my belly to track the girls’ heartbeats along with a third monitor to track any contractions I may be having.  From what I understand, he’s going to check how the girls’ heart rates respond when they move.  Ideally, he wants to see their heart rates increase when they move and decrease when they’re resting.  This type of response will tell him whether or not there is adequate blood flow and oxygen getting through the umbilical cords to the girls.  If they pass, then all is well and he’ll let me continue the pregnancy for another two weeks.  If they fail, and he sees that the girls aren’t responding accordingly, then my guess is he’ll have to report what he finds to Dr. Parnell and together they’ll have to come up with a plan to make sure the girls either stay in safely or decide if it’s time to take them out.  Dr. Weiss said he doesn’t anticipate finding any issues given how well the girls have been doing thus far.

Our visit with Dr. Parnell went well also.  He measured my belly and said I was “Texas pregnant” – thank you doctor, ha!  Thankfully my headaches from the previous week have gone away, but he asked that I continue to rest as much as possible, which means he’s continued my modified bed rest orders.  Because I nor the girls have had any medical issues throughout the pregnancy, Dr. Parnell mentioned having me wait until after 38 weeks to deliver.  I’m not going to lie, I was pretty annoyed for the rest of the day.  Even though it’s just one week longer than what we’ve talked about before, I’ve been counting down the weeks and days until 37 weeks.  Finding out that we may have to wait an additional 7 days was definitely not something I wanted to hear.  After about a day though, I got over it and decided that I will hold on as long as possible if that means it will be the most beneficial to the girls.

And now, our weekly update (as told by the girls)…

Sleep: Ugh, sleep.  Getting comfortable is getting a lot harder.  And when I wake up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, I have close to a 0% chance of getting comfortable (again) and falling back to sleep.  This has lead to me laying in bed, staring at the wall for about 45 minutes to an hour while wide awake because I just can’t fall back to sleep.  The couple times that this has happened, I also realize that I can’t fall back to sleep because I’m hungry!  Like super hungry!  So I end up getting up, eating a piece of toast with peanut butter with a glass of chocolate milk, and then laying on the couch in the living room until I eventually fall back to sleep.  This whole process typically starts around 3:00am with me falling back to sleep around 4:30am.  I suppose this is just more practice for when the girls come and they’re waking up for their middle of the night feedings.

Cravings: I’ve started to crave chocolate milk again.  Especially when I wake up in the middle of the night and can’t fall back to sleep.  After drinking a mug of chocolate milk (and eating a piece of toast with peanut butter and honey), I feel full enough to go back to sleep.  At least long enough to get me to breakfast time, ha!

Symptoms: My symptoms haven’t really changed from last week: Since being on sort-of bed rest, I’ve noticed that the swelling in my hands and feet have gone down some, which is awesome!  My headaches have gone away too – woop woop!  I’ve also noticed, however, that the tightness in my belly has increased.  I think it may be because I’m resting more, which means the girls have more energy than before, which means they’re moving and pushing out on my belly more often.

How we’re growing: Dr. Weiss performed another growth scan on us at mom’s appointment.  We’re getting bigger and Dr. Weiss seemed really pleased with our growth.  He told mom she was doing a great job – we agree! :)

Baby A is weighing around 4lbs. 4oz. (although Dr. Weiss was pretty confident she weighs a little more than that – Baby A was hiding behind Baby B so it was difficult for him to get a really accurate measurement of her.).  Baby B is weighing about 4lbs. 12oz.!  The average size of a singleton baby is ~4lbs. 3oz.  Even with an inaccurate measurement of Baby A, both girls are still measuring ahead of schedule. :D

We’re both about 18 inches long and have even more fat on our bodies that will help us regulate our body temperatures after we’re born.  Our central nervous systems are also maturing along with our lungs.  Mom and dad are happy to know that if we’re born anytime from now on, we would most likely do really well, especially in the long run.  We’re almost ready to make our debuts mom – just hold on a little longer!

Best moment of the week: Getting to see our sweet baby girls in a sonogram with Dr. Weiss, even though they’re getting so big it’s hard to make out the images anymore.  Dr. Weiss clearly knows what he’s looking at, but Henry and I are only able to make out certain images.  Regardless, we’re just excited to know that both girls are doing well and that we’re so close to our goal of 36 weeks!

What Mom & Dad are looking forward to this coming week: Another week of our baby girls growing, and getting one week closer to our goal!