32: The "magic" week

Since the very beginning of this twin pregnancy, the doctors have talked about the "magic" number of 32 weeks. It's hard to believe that 3 days ago I reached that magic week. It makes me feel a whole lot better about this pregnancy, knowing that if the girls were born tomorrow, they'd likely be okay (given some time in the NICU of course). I know there's never any guarantees with anything in life, but it's nice to celebrate this milestone after so many bumps in the road in the beginning.

With this milestone brings some changes, as each milestone does. I've started swelling in my ankles and hands, and developed carpal tunnel as a result. Thankfully the carpal tunnel is pregnancy induced and should go away after the girls are born. The carpal tunnel brings numbness to my right hand during most of the day and lots of pain at night when I'm trying to sleep. Go figure- this is what keeps me from sleeping at night! I finally got a wrist splint that I wear at night, which is helping. As far as the cankles are concerned, well, I just laugh about them, wear a few pairs of flip-flops that work and keep my feet up as much as possible. I'm also starting to have a lot less energy than I normally do. If I get a little caffeine in me (either a can of soda or a starbucks caramel frap), then I'm good to go for the day, otherwise I'm exhausted by 4pm. Usually I have a whole list of things I want to get accomplished after Kaden goes to bed, but these days I tend to relax a bit more, which I know is necessary, and I'm okay with that. I feel bad on some days when I can't play with Kaden as much as he wants me to, but I'm thankful I can still be home with him and live as normally as possible with NO bedrest- woo whoo!!

Update on the babes: My doctor measured me yesterday and I'm measuring at 40 weeks pregnant if I were pregnant with a single baby. So all of those moms out there who know what it's like to be 40 weeks pregnant, imagine feeling that way for another 5 weeks or so. Super, huh? :) I'm not dilated at all, and the doctors keep telling me how wonderfully I'm doing, which we're very thankful for. We had our first non-stress test this morning, which I passed, and another full ultrasound, which I managed to get through without any major issues- woo whoo!! Baby girl A weighs in around 4lbs, and Baby girl B weighs in around 4lb, 9oz. So I'm walking around with over 8lbs of baby and have some time to go! We have a scheduled c-section for Thursday, Oct.6, which is almost at my 38 week mark. I DO NOT want to make it that long. My ob/gyn was hoping to schedule it earlier, but the hospital was all booked. She said it's very likely that I'll go on my own before then, which I'm hoping is the case. The high risk doctor today seemed more reassuring that we could move that date if we needed to, and they would keep an eye on things as we progressed and assess it each week.

At this point I have 2 NST's a week, 1 ob/gyn visit a week, and ultrasounds and a visit with a high risk dr. every 2 weeks. Needless to say, my schedule for September is full of dr's appointments. I will be glad when they're all over with, as it gets to be kind of hard finding places for Kaden to go all of the time. Everything is ready to go, and at this point we're just going through each day thankful for the days that pass and excited about what the next month or so will bring.

Check out the enormous 32-week belly! :)

Not the best picture of me, but Andy managed to snap a photo of Kaden kissing his baby sisters, so I had to include it :)

This big brother is very excited to meet his new sisters!

Baby B was most cooperative this morning for the 3D ultrasounds. Look at that adorable face! :)

And of course, the profile view. Again, Baby B was the most photogenic this morning.

A morning at the gardens

On Thursday morning we had a playdate at Frederik Meijer Gardens with Kaden's buddy, Will (and his sister and mom, too!). We didn't renew our membership to FMG this year, so the last time Kaden had been there was this spring when he wanted to run away from the butterflies. He loved playing there last summer, but we didn't think it would be worth renewing our membership this year. It was nice that we could tag along with friends that morning and be their guest. Kaden had such a fun time playing in the Great Lakes, the sand pit and the treehouse and keeps asking when we can go back again. Maybe we'll have to consider renewing our membership again next spring and we can take the girls then, too!

Playing with boats in the water

Playing with Will

Cheese!

Getting wet in the waterfall

Showing off his wet face

Imaginary friends

Okay, so, I always thought it was strange when other people's kids talked about their imaginary friends. Now, my child appears to have them. I'm trying to figure out if they're his imaginary friends or if he just likes to pretend. I'm going with the 2nd option, it sounds better. This all started yesterday when Kaden started talking about his friend, Marcia. Okay, he doesn't have a friend Marcia. I don't think he even knows anyone with that name, so how in the world did he come up with that?!? Yesterday he said, "I'm going to play baseball with my friend Marcia." I thought that was just a one-time random thing.

Today I was loading him and all of my stuff into the van to run some errands. I didn't notice at first, but before he got in his carseat, he went and buckled all of the seatbelts in the van. As I put him in his carseat, I asked him why he buckled them. He said he was buckling his cousins in. I of course found this very humorous, especially because he doesn't have any cousins (except for the 2nd and 3rd ones we rarely see). Before we went into Target, he told his cousins he would be right back. When we got back into the van after our Target shopping trip, he had to go around and make sure his cousins were all nicely buckled in. Seriously.... where do kids get these things from? I snapped a quick photo on my phone so you could see the evidence. It's a little hard to see but you can see a few of the seatbelts buckled. Days like this make me glad I blog, because these are the little stories that I'd probably forget, but won't.

30 weeks

Now that we're approaching the arrival of these girls at a much faster pace, I figured I should post more belly pictures than I did towards the beginning of my pregnancy. I'm 30 weeks pregnant and hoping for 6-7 more (for the sake of the girls, that is). I can do it!! Kaden of course had to join in the picture with me.

How I feel: I started getting puffy ankles and hands this past week. I can't wear my wedding ring any longer and some shoes don't fit. Thankfully it's flip-flop season and they tend to be forgiving. I also realized this week that I can't stand at the kitchen sink easily anymore. It's very awkward since my belly bumps into the counter, which makes it hard to rinse dishes. Besides the usual sleeping issues and discomfort that comes with such a large belly, I'm hanging in there.

We finished up a twin class through Spectrum, which was really helpful in getting us to think about bringing home 2 babies at once. The to-do list of baby things is getting pretty short. Their room is decorated and prepped, laundry is washed and folded, drawers are organized, stroller and car seats are ready, diapers are stocked beyond belief, cribs are ready, and 1 rag quilt is completed (pictures to come soon). Yet to do is finish (and start) the 2nd rag quilt, work on their baby books and pack my hospital bag. I like to be prepared, and as we get closer, the doctors warn that we should be ready at any time. Plus, I figured my energy and mobility is only going to get worse in the next few weeks, so I might as well do what I can now!

We have 1 doctor appointment this week, and then the following week starts the craziness of my high risk doctor, OB/GYN and 2 non-stress tests all in the same week. Hoping things continue to go well. We'll keep you posted! :)

Family Reunion

Last weekend we headed up to Big Star Lake to spend time with Andy's side of the family for the annual Stuive Reunion at his aunt and uncle's cottage. As always, we had lots of fun spending time with family, relaxing, and enjoying the cottage life. I could definitely get used to it! :) Kaden kept asking when we were going to Auntie Cobie's cottage, and he loved it up there this year. Even though this was his 3rd summer there, he enjoyed it so much more than in the past. He's already asking when we can go again!

Fishing off the pontoon boat with Daddy

Enjoying the water

Jumping with Daddy and cousin Clara

Jumping off the floating dock to Daddy

Relaxing

Pushing Daddy off of the dock

Taking a very funny-looking paddle boat ride. I loved watching them. SO cute! :)

More fishing

Talking to the dog. It was so cute watching this, too. He went up to the dog and started talking to it... "Do you want to go outside doggie?"

Fighting over the swing with Clara

Mommy's turn for the swing!

Kaden decided he needed to help push me on the swing.

On the swing with Mommy. This was rather awkward.

Mommy and Kaden

Having fun with Daddy

Artist in residence

Kaden loves playing with his easel and paint that he got for his birthday a few weeks ago. He loves sitting in his little adirondack chair by the doors downstairs and either finger painting (it took awhile to convince him that it really was okay to get his hands dirty and that the paint washed off!), or painting pictures. I love how he looks when he concentrates, and when he finishes, he's so proud of himself! (Note: he is not a lefty- not sure why he's using his left hand to paint in two of these pictures. He usually uses his right hand!)

Capturing conversations with a tech-savvy generation

Yesterday after Kaden woke up from his nap...

Kaden: I have to go downstairs for something, Mom.

Me: Okay.

(3 minutes later he came back upstairs...)

Me: What were you doing down there?

Kaden: Just checking my email.

Me(trying to hold in the laughter): Who were you emailing?

Kaden: My friend from school about my project. (Um, he doesn't go to school yet).

Hilarious.

TODAY-

Kaden sits down at the kitchen table and opens the laptop.

K: Mom, I need to check my email.

Me: Who do you need to email?

K: My friend from school about the basketball team.

I guess he does notice that I'm on the laptop a lot! :) A much different generation than when I grew up! Thankfully, the only thing he actually does on the computer is turn up the volume and ask for YouTube videos of "Go, Cubs, Go" or the trash truck that "eats" a couch and basketball hoop.

Today I was able to quickly capture this one with my phone:

You know you're a true hockey player when...

You fall asleep at naptime with your hockey stick in your bed and your gloves on. Minor detail that real hockey gloves have been substituted for mittens.

Sew crazy

I've been tackling my sewing list like crazy over here. Of course it helped that I took a 3-week sewing class, which finished up last week Thursday. The sewing class definitely provided motivation for me to sew over the past few weeks and tackle some of those projects on my sewing to-do list. There are lots more projects on the list yet, but I'm tackling them one at a time. Here's what I've been working on..... (for all of my crafty friends who really care).....

Rag quilt for Baby Girl A (Baby B's to come in the near future)

Burp cloths for the girls

PJ pants for myself (this is what we worked on in our sewing class... learned how to use a real pattern versus things I read on the internet and I used a serger... woo whoo! :). Let me also add that these will fit better postpartum... haha! )

Zipper pouch (I finally learned how to put in a zipper!)

I love the details on the front of the zipper pouch!

The pouch will probably be put in the diaper bag for all of the essential random baby things

Next on the list for this week:

-Make a curtain for my mom's bathroom

-Make Baby Girl B's rag quilt