The Reality

It is always funny to me the things that bring reality home so quickly. I feel like my life is this constant state of "surreal," where I know I'm having twins but it still borders on reality in the day-to-day.

The past few days have been a perfect picture of this. I swear I am nesting...23 weeks is a little early but it is true. I am in full-fledged "gotta get this done" mode. (Again, no worries everyone. I am completely listening to my body and taking it VERY easy). We succeeded in putting up both cribs this weekend. Thank you to my trooper husband who really didn't want to tackle the second but sacrificed his beloved Sunday afternoon freedom (and nap!) to assemble Toby's crib after Gabe's was looking lonely since Saturday's assembly. ;)

We also found the absolute perfect paint shades of teal (Pitter Patter is the color name!) and brick red. From there we found curtains and sheets (to make crib sheets out of) in the brick red. Things really came together after we organized the baby room closet and got stuff put away. We shut the door to the closet and Ben walked out of the room. Sam was napping, and I sat in the babies room in the glider rocker by myself and just took a second. This is REAL. We are seriously having two babies. There are literally two cribs set up in the nursery. Even before when the cribs were still in boxes it wasn't this real. No going back now!!!! ;)

I had a doctor's appointment this afternoon, and I have only good news to report! Both babies are doing fantastic. Fluid is measuring even and in range. Baby A is 1lb 2oz and Baby B is 1lb 4oz. They are getting big and growing at the same rate and range, all good news. Strong heartbeats and moving around like crazy in there. Baby B has flipped so he is now head up (yes, thank you baby for repeatedly kicking me in the bladder and pelvis the last few days). Baby A is still head down like before. As far as me, my blood pressure was 122/80 (yay!). The specialist was skeptical of my claim that I wasn't swelling so he did a quick pressure check on my ankles and arms and again remarked how well I was doing! Just the best news. Basically things could not be going better!!!!!

Even still at this appointment, to be honest, I kept thinking while I was waiting, "Are they still alive? Will I see two heartbeats? Is everything still okay?" Worrywart me took over. And then, there they are, healthy as can be, hearts pumping away...and I breathed a little sigh of relief.....okay a BIG sigh of relief. I don't want to think the worst, but still every day that goes by I think, "Is this really happening?" "Are both babies going to make it?" Then I have a great appointment like today and realize I am SO SO close to being at a real viability point with these twins. According to what I've read about twins, the major milestones are 24 weeks for viability (only 1/3 survive without long term problems so this is still very scary), 28 weeks for 90% viability (possible long term health issues), and then 32-34 weeks with NICU time to grow but little health risks. Whew. Seriously? That 32 week mark is LESS THAN 10 weeks away!!!! I actually scheduled the rest of my ultrasound appointments until week 31 today. Now, THAT made me really stop and realize how close we are. So crazy that we are literally WEEKS away from these miracles.

I also remembered this weekend what the c-section recovery was like. UGH. Wish I hadn't remembered! I remembered having to cough and breath into the contraption after surgery and OH the pain!!!!! I was commiserating with April and she gave me some good tips for recovery and things to ask for in the hospital...thank you my personal PT Dr. DeLaquil. ;) Even still, definitely not looking forward to surgery! REALITY...it is sooner than I think.

You would think that with my expanding belly and a variety of other "you are getting very huge" pregnancy effects I would not have any problem imagining myself with these babies. Not true though. Who really thinks of themselves with two babies!??!

All in all, I am just so very thankful that things continue to go smoothly. Who knows what tomorrow will bring, certainly. I consider every day the real possibilities of the road we have ahead and what can come up. But I continue to give the credit to God, for bringing these babies along day by day. What a blessing this has been and a constant reminder of how much we are not in control. And THAT is reality.