house update

As requested, here are a few updated pics of the house...

The living room in it's current state. Finally free from the big pile of baby stuff in the corner! Also, notice the 'new' chair on the right - so exciting to finally have a chair that matches the room! Take a hard right to walk through the room and that wall is totally open, just waiting to put the Christmas tree up later.

The former office, which is now the playroom (but will start out as the babies' room so we don't have to go upstairs right away). The loveseat will normally be in the living room, but we wanted something to sit on in this room, plus make room for the Christmas tree.

The new office. This is the 'open room' at the top of the stairs.

The nursery currently. Needs a few odds and ends completed, but we're almost there! Can't wait to see what the curtains look like when we get them up - made by my mom and I, and we are NOT seamstresses (but she does better with that stuff than she thinks she does...).

The new upstairs bathroom. Also needs a few small things finished, but is very close to being done. I'm very excited for it to be completed so I can decorate with all the fun monkey-themed stuff!

just a little bit longer...

I am SO ready to move on with things and have these babies here! For a while I was getting uncomfortable and of course excited to meet our boys, but I wasn't feeling like I couldn't handle one more day of being pregnant - now I've hit the point where I'm really anxious to just be done with it. I was wondering how in the world someone with one baby can make it to 40 weeks without going crazy, but the doctor reminded me today that I've hit the miserable point sooner than someone with just one baby would.

Babies are doing great and very happy in there - hopefully they don't like it TOO much, and decide to come out soon! The doctor is pleased with how they do during the non-stress tests, and they are growing good. Actually, he did a very rough measurement today (normally he just takes a quick look to check heart rates) and they are probably about 6 pounds each. 12 pounds of baby in there! Yikes! No wonder I'm ready to be done. The doctor had said a few weeks ago that he would induce if I made it to 38 weeks, but after measuring them today he said that if I make it to next week we'll plan an induction for that week (which would be the 37th week). So there IS an end in sight! This could be a long week though...

Baby B is going to keep us guessing. He has flipped around again and is body crosswise and head up. Ugh! I have no idea how he has any room to move around so much, but apparently he's not happy to just get into position and stay there. Whereas Baby A has been locked and loaded in the proper position for quite some time now. I am very curious to see if this is any indication of their personalities - will Baby A be more laid back, and Baby B more active? Maybe B is more athletic. Although, Mike has dreams of them being basketball stars together. :)

We had our very own maternity photo session this weekend - I am really not comfortable in front of the camera! Even though I'm used to directing people, I have no idea what to do myself in that position. I'm really anxious to see how the photos turned out - besides the fact that it's documenting an important time in our lives, Mike and I don't have our picture taken together much, so it's just nice to have that done once. Below is a snapshot taken a little over a week ago - maybe not my best angle at this point...and why do I have to have such a skinny husband?? :) I passed him up in weight probably a few weeks ago, my only consolation is that I'm only 3 inches shorter than him. I shouldn't be too bad off though once I get 12+ pounds of baby out, plus all the other fun stuff that comes along with them!

mindset

Well, the doctor walked in today and knew I wasn't in labor because I'm still smiling. :) But he does want me to start thinking labor! He said it's just nicer if the babies come on their own, rather than getting to the point of having to induce. As long as they keep doing okay he'll let me go a few more weeks, but he doesn't want to leave two babies in there too long and I guess it's debateable on how long is too long. So he's getting a little anxious for things to start happening. I told him I'd like to have at least another week so we can finish up the odds and ends of our house projects and have a few days to chill before things get really crazy - he said as long as I'm thinking that way they'll probably come soon and not give me that time! :)

Both are still head down, and it's very unlikely to change at this point - it's pretty cramped in there, and they're settled into their own little bit of space that they have. We could see on the ultrasound that they are starting to 'breathe' - obviously they're just taking in amniotic fluid at this point, but the doctor said they don't start doing this until a couple weeks before birth and it's a good sign that they are going through that exercise. If there were to start getting stressed in there they wouldn't do it anymore.

So, the house is pretty much ready! Just need to tie up a few loose ends, and the house needs a good post-construction cleaning. Ugh. Thankfully I've got people that can help so I'm not trying to do it all myself! My energy level is definitely very low - even if I manage to get a decent night's sleep. And if I DON'T sleep well? Watch out! I turn into a cranky, emotional pregnant lady. My dear hubby does a pretty good job of handling it. :)

Things are still quite busy farming wise (which doesn't help with my stress level when I'm tired...). Soybean harvest FINALLY finished at the end of last week! What a yucky fall for trying to get crops in. Now it's right on to corn. The ground is wet, and the corn is wet, but they're able to roll with it. Slows things down out in the fields, and the corn will need extra dry time in the bin, but at least they're able to get out there and work on it!

commute

Now is when I'm especially glad that we live so close to the hospital! I get to go 2x a week now - once a week for my normal check-up with the doctor, and once a week for a non-stress test. The doctor wants me to have the NST weekly in between visits to him just to keep an eye on the babies as we near the end and they run out of room to move around in there - it'll be harder for me to tell if they are as active as they should be.

The boys appear to be doing well - we're at 34 weeks, which is great! Let's hope for at least two more weeks before they make an appearence. It's hard to believe that probably sometime within the next four weeks we'll be holding our little babies! I'm not terribly nervous about labor and delivery yet, maybe I just haven't thought about it enough...

Baby B is now head down again. Phew! His body is actually somewhat crosswise, but once Baby A is out he'll probably drop into place better. Or so the doctor says...

I did get the H1N1 vaccine today - I had been on the fence about it, but decided to go for it. Thankfully, my doctor's office had two doses left so it wasn't a big hassle to get it. Now, what to do with two new little babies born in the middle of a flu pandemic?? This will be interesting.

We are down to odds and ends with our remodeling. Hopefully we can pretty much wrap things up this week and maybe have a little time to relax before our lives change forever. :)