32w3d

I think I will stick with a bullet list of all my random thoughts.

• I am up a total of 30 lbs at 32 weeks.  Is that bad??  I've slipped a bit on the sweet eating.  I blame it on leftovers from the shower last week.  The good news though is my blood sugars seem to hold steady when I eat sweets.  It's only the breads and pastas that screw up my numbers.  Here is the belly shot for the week.

• Kara and I were a bit worried on Friday night.  I woke-up on Friday morning with quite a bit of swelling in my legs and feet.  This is actually abnormal as I have been blessed to have very minimal swelling this pregnancy.  I think partially because I am not up on my feet.  Anyhow I went about my day as normal.  I decided to step on the scale on Friday evening and I quickly realized I was up about 10lbs from our appointment on Tuesday afternoon.  Yikes!!!  I started to get a bit worried that my blood pressure was elevated because the swelling had come on so suddenly.  Kara was scheduled to work until 10pm so I decided that I would wait until she got off of work and then have her take me over to the grocery store to check my blood pressure.  Isn't that what everyone does on a Friday evening?  The first time we checked my blood pressure it was 136/91.  A bit high.  We decided to sit down and relax as I knew my blood pressure could be elevated simply from walking from the car to the blood pressure machine.  We took my blood pressure a couple of more times and the final reading was 120/90.  The top number seemed to be going down.  I still thought at this point that I was going to give the doctor a call.  We went home and I stepped on the scale and my weight was already down a few pounds.  We made the decision to wait until morning when my mom could bring over her blood pressure cuff.  If my numbers were still elevated in the morning (and my weight was still up), then we were going to call the doctor.  Needless to say I did not sleep all that great that night.  I woke-up on Saturday morning and my swelling had decreased significantly.  I stepped on the scale and my weight was back to normal.  I checked my blood pressure in the morning and it was back to 120/80.  Perfect! We now know that if I start to swell at a rapid pace we really need to keep a close eye on it.  I still have no idea what brought that episode on.

• We have everything we need to bring the boys home from the hospital.  I think??  I am sure there is something that we are missing but we worked this week on getting everything put away that we received at the shower and we purchased the remaining items.  The UPS man loves us!!  I am becoming quite proficient at ordering items online.  Fun!!!  Our house now looks like we are a family with children.  I love it!!  All the clothes and most of the newborn diapers have been washed.  We just need to sterilize the bottles and put them all away.  The car seats are installed in the car.  And the Fisher Price RNPs (where the boys will sleep in the beginning) have been set-up in our bedroom.  We have a baby doll in the the RNPs in order to get the dogs use to the changes.  My hospital bags are fully packed.  The only thing we have to do is pack a bag for the boys but I'm not going to do that unless I get to 36 weeks.  It is so surreal.  

A picture of the installed car seats!!

• I am starting to get very uncomfortable.  I am fighting a rash on my hands and knee that annoys me at times.  My acid reflux is out of control.  Remember when I didn't like TUMS??  I can throw back TUMS now like I am eating gummy bears!!  It is getting super difficult to sleep.  I am up every hour and when I get out of bed I am stiff as a board.  I'm starting to experience a bit of insomnia.  I usually get up in the middle of the night and go and sit in the chair in the nursery.  It helps make some of the stiffness go away and it also relaxes me.  I just try to imagine that room with the boys asleep in their cribs.  I have been taking naps more during the day to compensate for the lack of sleep at night.  I am still getting contractions.  But I am trying not to take any medication unless I start to get "real" contractions more than six times an hour.  I think some of my swelling / rash issues might be connected to the medication.

• I have this image I keep in my mind all the time.  I imagine Baby A is wearing a super hero cape because he is the one that has been looking for an exit for so many weeks now.  I then imagine his brother, Baby B, grabbing onto the cape and telling him, "Not yet!  Momma will get mad at you."  I think I am going to have to buy Baby A a cute little super hero cape when he is born.  

• I really want the boys to stay in my belly for at least another four weeks but I am not embarrassed to express that I am over this pregnancy.  I told Kara the other night that the only thing I am going to miss at this point is feeling them kick and move around in my belly.  I am just ready to move onto the next phase of our life.  It is very difficult to be on bed rest for 6 weeks.  I cannot believe that I have not worked in 6 weeks.  It is a beautiful day today and I get sad when I look out the window thinking of all that I could be doing at the moment.  But then I feel a swift kick from one of my boys and I know that I am doing the right thing for them.  I'm just so ready to meet them!  

• We have a NST on May 1st and an OB appointment on May 7th. 

Please keep growing boys and stay in my belly for a few more weeks.  We are so proud of you!!!

Mary