The Combs Krewe

A few weeks ago I was dreading the every 2-week and eventually every week doctor visits, but this week I was looking forward to it. I am growing closer and closer to my due date and, being in the third trimester now, am experiencing different things. My feet are sometimes swollen in the evening which is worrisome for a former pre-eclampsia patient but the doctor said that's normal especially when simply sitting upright at the dinner table cuts off the blood supply to my legs because my stomach is pressing down on them! I also am experiencing more frequent and more intense Braxton Hicks contractions. But after a check yesterday, I now know that I am not dilated at all so they are indeed "fake" contractions. It's comforting to have a little confirmation that everything is going remarkably well and that everything I'm feeling is normal, because although this is my fifth pregnancy, I don't have a lot of experience with normal. I also had my monthly ultrasound...

I am 28 weeks pregnant today. Yesterday was my monthly ultrasound appointment. So far I have gained slightly over 40 pounds! I was delighted that my blood pressure was great and that the twins looked awesome as well. At the end of the ultrasound, the technician said, "Well, the babies are getting FAT!" The average weight for a single baby is around 2 and a quarter pounds, each of the twins weighed around 3 pounds. Apparently the girls enjoyed all the yummy stuff I ate over the holidays!  I was not so pleased to find that Twin B was now the "presenting" twin and that she was breech. Twin A was head down but slightly sideways. Of course, I'm only 28 weeks and this will likely change but I'm just really hopeful that they will both turn head down allowing for a vaginal hospital delivery. I am feeling more and more encouraged in the hope that I will have a pre-eclampsia free pregnancy. Everything feels so normal right now. Many people have as...

Today the twins are 24 weeks old! They are probably around 11 inches long and, according to the ultrasound I had yesterday, weigh approximately 1 pound, 7 ounces each. It is a GREAT thing that they each weigh the same. This is a good indication that they are sharing nicely in utero! Thank God for two placentas. (Add that to things you never thought you'd hear someone say.) So here's this week's belly shot: Yesterday when the doctor came in to perform the ultrasound he said, "You got twins in there?! It doesn't look like it." I resisted the urge to tell him that I loved him and simply said, "Everyone else in the world begs to differ with you." Yes, I've gotten lots of comments lately about the size of my stomach. I guess it's kind of nice, actually, it starts a lot of conversations with strangers! I can't wait to see how it looks in a couple of months although I do wonder what in the world I'm going to wear. There's a brand ...

On Thursday we had our "big" ultrasound. I was so hopeful to be able to find out the babies' genders. At both my 14 and 18 week doctor's appointment, my doctor performed ultrasounds and each time the baby on the right was turned in such a way that you couldn't tell. At 18 weeks we were 99% sure that Baby A (who is on the left) was a girl so I was eager to find out her twin's gender so we could tell everyone! At this ultrasound, both the babies were laying across my stomach. Twin A was on her tummy nearer to the top. The ultrasound technician confirmed that she was indeed a she! Twin B was more to the bottom and facing up so it looked like they were talking to each other. Thankfully she was compliant and we could tell quite easily that she was a she, too! She already behaves very different from her sister, however. While Twin A was calmly rubbing her hands over her head, Twin B was turning backflips it seemed. The ultrasound technician kept having to chase...

Yesterday I celebrated being 14 weeks pregnant! Today I had my OB appointment. I was so happy when, after a very long wait, the doctor said, "I'll be right in. We're going to get the ultrasound machine."  She said that at 14 weeks it would be difficult to distinguish between heartbeats simply using the doppler. Plus I think she just wanted to see them which was totally okay with me!  Jathan came with me today and the doctor gave him the first peek. She pointed out their heads and "frog legs." Then I got a looksie.  This is a picture of the twin that is on the right. It was in a good position and the doctor try to determine its gender but felt it was still too early to tell. At 14 weeks boys are easier to spot than girls and this baby didn't have any obvious, um, protrusions, shall we say, but we just couldn't tell for sure. I'm betting on girl, though!  The baby on the left was not feeling so photogenic today. It was imp...

In late July Jackie and I discovered that our family was expanding. We usually wait several weeks just to make sure everything is okay before we tell everyone (usually after I go to the doctor for that first ultrasound) but this time I struggled to conceal my nausea and tiredness. My family was coming to visit and I knew there would be no hiding it from them so on my mother's birthday which I admit I forgot--can I blame baby brain?--I sent her a text of the kids saying happy birthday and told her that her birthday surprise was that next year there would be one more singing to her! After that we let everyone in on the secret. Over the next few weeks I felt much like any other pregnant woman--sick and tired! In my mind those are good things because they mean a healthy pregnancy. I wasn't overly sick or overly tired, but something was different . I had a funny feeling and kept finding myself referring to the baby as "them" or "the babies." I Googled things li...

We were blessed with the opportunity to see our baby via ultrasound today! I will be 28 weeks pregnant tomorrow and because I've experienced pre-eclampsia in each of my previous pregnancies resulting in premature, induced births they are monitoring the baby for signs of growth restriction. Everything looked good today, though. The baby weighed 2 pounds, 13 ounces ( slightly more than the 2 1/4 pounds Baby Center says most babies weigh at this stage--a good thing!). Unfortunately she was facing my back laying on her tummy so we didn't get to see her face but the ultrasound technician did point out her kidneys and her small, round stomach which is just amazing to me because I feel like we kind of think about "fetuses" as abstract little creatures. But that was a reminder that God doesn't think of us that way...He knows us even before we're born and that His Hand is involved in the formation of not only the sweet, soft, cuddly parts but also the microscopic and u...