What 12 lbs and Optimism Can Do for a Very Pregnant Mom-To-Be...And a Babies-In-The-Belly Picture or Three.

I'm officially 31 weeks and 3 days today! We're so close to the safe zone in the world of preterm deliveries. I've been told that if you HAVE to have a preterm baby, 32 weeks is as early as you want. I believe that these little buggers are snuggled in until at least 36 weeks. That's MY goal...no NICU whammy, no NICU whammy, no NICU whammy.

The good news is that they're both head down, and have been for about a month and counting. That increases my chances of a vaginal delivery without intervention. My doc is willing to do a version or deliver breach, but we'd all be happier if it could just go easily and normally. 4 weeks and 4 days of no change are all I'm asking for here. I feel optimistic!

I've been a little lax about posting recently. I've been really tired, and because of this, having a hard time thinking of fun things to share. We've just been chugging along at getting the babies' room ready, and I've had a lot of appointments for babies recently. We've reached that point in the pregnancy where I go every week to measure my cervix and monitor babies. I start with my weekly non-stress tests on Thursday (at the 32-week mark!!!) to make sure the babies are co-existing well these last weeks of pregnancy. I can't imagine it will be difficult to get a good reactive strip since it's Fight Club in there 20.25 of the possible 24 hours available.

In other good news, my cervix has remained 4-5 mm for the past month. I may have been a little rushed in pointing fingers towards my giant tayta for being responsible for my disappearing cervix. I can say this with great certainty because my tayta continues to grow in size and weight, along with my babies (all three are a little heavier than 4 lbs each, based on some rough measurements...the babies by a perinatologist and my tayta by my best estimate), while that blessed little slice of tissue remains at 0.2 inches. I asked my midwife about how realistic it would be to postpone induction until closer to 39 weeks (my doc is insistent that twins don't go beyond 38 weeks), and I believe she was doing everything in her power not to laugh at me and point out the obvious...I have 0.2 inches of tissue (and slightly heavier than 4 lbs of tayta) separating 8 lbs of baby from my arms, and more than 4 weeks to go before said 8 lbs of baby should be IN my arms. Again, though, I'm feeling optimistic. As you can see, I've garnished this post with belly pictures. I took one from each side so you could see each baby. The top picture is baby boy, the bottom picture is baby girl, and the middle picture...well, is both. Baby girl has given me my first pregnancy-related stretch mark. So, naturally, baby boy is already my favorite. I love how I always choose laundry day and my finest sweat pants as appropriate back-drops and attire for picture-taking.