It’s getting serious now. Ladies and gentlemen, we have crossed into the realm of viability. Well, they have anyway.
Now, of course you don’t want to have your babies this early because the consequences are too often dire. But something happens in your brain when you realize the tiny creatures duking it out in your belly could potentially get along without you. With tons upon tons of medical technology in that case, sure. But the idea that they can potentially survive without you, well, that’s a tad bit mind blowing.
Wanna see what they look like? Sure you do!
That’s my boy Bing. I’m telling you, he’s got my nose. I can tell. At the time of this ultrasound he was 1lb 8oz.
This is my other bundle, Doot. Look closely. You can see the chambers of his heart! It’s that area with the dark kidney bean looking thing sort of to the right, midway up. It’s big and powerful, just like his Dad’s. He’s 1lb 8 ozs and a real kicker. Kapow!
So what did my boys accomplish this week?
- Faces! See? That’s how I know Bing has my nose.
- Fingernails!
- Testicles! Say it with me now – Testicles!
- Lungs! The wee airbags keep growing and here’s where we want a lot of good progress.
- REM! No, not as in “It’s the end of the world as we know it” but rather the whole rapid eye movement thing itself. Why this matters, I can’t say. Are they dreaming? Can you imagine what their dreams would be like? Woosh, woosh, poke, kick, growl, float, poke, woosh. That’s all I can come up with.
- Still moving a lot in there. Especially after meals, when just maybe I’d rather they chill so my squashed stomach has a fighting chance to do its job. Right now my poor gut feels like a mishapen shrunken ziploc half turned inside out and stuffed in the corner of a shoe that’s got someone else’s foot in it. Not good, in other words.
How am I?
- Um…
- Trying to keep a good attitude, but with the chronic pain thing, it’s not easy. I am always on and on about my back pain so I feel like a dolt recounting it here, yet again. Let me just say it’s not better.
- How about pain in my left side and the top of my abdomen? Can I talk about that? The top of my belly, just under my boobs, on the left side feels so tender to the touch – like I got punched there. Hey – maybe I did! I feel like I’m being ripped apart sometimes.
- Hello, Braxton Hicks! I’m beginning to notice these painless “practice” contractions a lot now. Enough so I’m tracking them because as I mentioned above, I do NOT want these guys to come early if I can help it. I started noticing these often enough that I called the doctor’s office (“Hey, it’s me again! How’s it going?”) They are not worried, but said if I get more than 6 in an hour, to call back. I haven’t.
- Thinking about going out on leave early. Why? Pain. I had planned to work until the bitter end, finish my grants, and then cut loose. But I’m finding that a) I don’t think that’s possible given how I feel. and b) It’s not at all necessary.
- The more I do, the worse I feel – it’s that simple. If I can be mildly active (you know, walking all by myself to the john, showering, and maybe *maybe* doing a load of dishes) and then lay down a lot during the day I feel best. I felt bad about this – like I was lazy or something – until I got this book: When You’re Expecting Twins, Triplets, or Quads, Revised Edition: Proven Guidelines for a Healthy Multiple Pregnancy. According to the doctor expert in this book, they recommend many women pregnant with multiples leave work at 24 weeks, and most by 28 weeks. My doctor(s) haven’t talked at all about this yet, but given how awful I feel just sitting half a day at a desk, I have to say I am all for it. My boss is all for it too and that simply ROCKS. Now I just need to see what my doctors say when I go back next week. God, I hope they’re for it too. It’s not that I can’t work from home. It’s that I can’t THINK very well about work right now. I just want to rest and keep myself mildly entertained. Is that too much to ask?
On top of all of this, I have to tell you how relieved that I live in NJ! Why? I am eligible for Temporary Disability Insurance for all the pregnancy medical related stuff (we pay into it like unemployment insurance here) AND up to 24 weeks of combined Family Leave from the federal Family Medical Leave Act and the extra oh so special NJ Family Leave Act for after the babies are born. ALL WITH PAY AND BENEFITS.
I love, love, love you, socialist NJ. Now if only we could work on the traffic around here.
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They’re adorable! Congrats :]
I have the same pain, on my right side though. I was kinda worried about it, but I’m glad? to read someone else has it too :]
Those are my boys! And sorry about how cramped they’re making it. Soon enough they’ll give you some room and then it will be your external physical space that seems more crowded (Legos on the kitchen floor, baseball mitts on the stairs). Yeah, I know, we have ways to go with the crawling and diaper stuff before we get to model rocketry, but it keeps me going to think about it.
And I want to say publicly here at least once: Thank you. It means everything to me that you can do this, are willing to do this, and want to do this. As I’ve mentioned, I really would carry one for you if I had the equipment. That’s not how it worked out this time around. So you do what you have to do. I’ve got the other stuff covered.
*gush*
Awwwww…..you guys could not be more cute if you tried. Your parents are pretty adorable too.