Style File: 28 Weeks and some thoughts.

Well, I made it to 28 weeks. At this point the babies can blink their eyes and flutter their eye lashes. All essential organs and structures have formed and essentially they're just developing their lungs and packing on pounds. They are about as big as eggplants and are close to 15 inches long. They're getting big! 28 weeks is also a "milestone" in that babies born at this point have a 90% chance of surviving, of course with lots of medical help. I think all moms, but especially twin moms with increased chances of pre-term labor, celebrate a little when they've made it to the third trimester. I obviously want the babies to stay in there much longer, but after this point if labor happened the babies would likely live even if they spend months in the NICU. 

 Today it is only 80 degrees out and I am SO HAPPY. I even busted out my jeans because I won't die of heat exhaustion if I wear them. The top is another Old Navy stuff and save deal. It's super comfy but I like it because it has a bit more oomph than a regular old t-shirt. You can see it better in the next picture, but I especially enjoy the crocheted neckline. Makes me feel fancy. What does not make me feel fancy is that now that the belly is getting bigger...I've discovered cute floaty dresses and shirts look more like a mu-mu. FUN TIMES.

 My appointment today was a bit long and annoying, but everything checked out. It was tDap shot day as well as just a normal check up (and man, my arm is SORE). They put me in a room and I sat there for 25 minutes before they came in to let me know my doctor had been called to the ER so they're trying to find someone else to see me. Great. The only person immediately available is a midwife and she's not technically allowed to do anything with me because I'm "high risk". Thankfully another doctor (that I've seen before) was available and came to see me shortly there after. Babies look great. Baby A is still breech but baby B has moved down closer to her sister and is now vertex. We just need Baby A to flip to vertex. Once I hit 30 weeks we'll start getting more nervous about the presentation of the babies. The bottom line is that if baby A is any version of breech, c-section is a must. With two babies an external version can be risky and since she's in the frank breech position it's probably not a good idea to even attempt a version. C-section is definitely not my preference. If you're the praying type, I would appreciate prayers for babies to get into good positions before they run out of room to do any major gymnastics.

The doctor I saw today said a couple of times that I'm doing so well, she's really not nervous for me at all. That was reassuring to hear because a lot of doctors get all gloom and doom about how twin pregnancies are "lucky to go beyond 34 weeks". I even managed to get out of the manual cervical check (yay!). There was a tiny bit of concern on the part of the doctor I saw last time because, as she explained it, there is an internal and external opening of the cervix. When you start effacing they kind of melt into one another and there's only one 10cm opening when it's time to start pushing. Anyway, I'm not effacing at all, but the external opening was opened about a fingertip. The internal part was completely closed. It's not a GIANT concern-- in fact a lot of women after they've had a baby walk around like this all of the time. It's probably happening to me just because of the pressure of two babies-- one of which is very low and is literally sitting on the cervix. But it was concerning enough that the other doctor put a note in my chart to do a check at every appointment (boo!). Thankfully, the doctor I saw today was unconcerned and I skated out of it! Early cervical checks can increase your chance of infection as well as put you into labor early so my philosophy is that you shouldn't go around poking it unless you absolutely need to. Since I've had no bleeding, cramping, or contractions of any kind I'm not too concerned about the cervix.

 This post is getting kind of long but I also wanted to share some thoughts about preparing for the babies. I think the second most asked question I get asked is "Do you feel ready/are you nervous/are you excited?" I think they're all kind of the same question. Yes I am super excited, yes I'm super nervous, and can you really ever be ready? I mean, yeah, I'm excited to meet the babies but I'm also very scared. Both of which are normal, in my opinion. I'm scared because when we started our journey to start our family, I wasn't really counting on getting two at once. I often wonder how I'll cope with two infants. What if I break them? What if I can't deal with two crying babies? What if they get on opposite schedules and tag team me all night long? How are finances going to work out? Dare I say it, what if I don't want to give up being able to go to a movie whenever I want to? There are a lot of things I'm scared of, but I also think it's just a normal part of transition to no-kids to having kids. I'm under no illusion that it's going to be "easy", but I'm confident it will be worth it in the long run for the first couple of months (years?) to be really hard. Things are definitely going to change a lot in the next 10 weeks, but that's ok. This type of transition doesn't (usually) kill people. :)

P.S. The first most asked question is "Do twins run in your family?" I usually just say, "Not really" and that's the end of it, but occasionally I get a totally shocked person who goes on and on about how strange it is that I got twins with no genetic influence...blah blah blah. I just smile and nod and wonder where those people have been for the last 20 years. They must have been living under a rock to miss the fact that fertility drugs are pretty common these days.