Baby Belly Birthday

Turning 27 has been such a joyous time to remember how healthy and happy I am! Mom came down to celebrate and continue helping me nest, and we celebrated my birthday by going to an Italian restaurant in the next town over. I felt a little like a lame host because I just don't have the ability to go out and about for hours anymore, but I know she didn't mind. I have really slowed down this week as my legs have just about had it with carrying around 40+ extra pounds.

One of the highlights of my birthday week was a prenatal massage gifted to me by Cori, Austin, and Zac. Who knew there were spas that specifically catered to pregnant ladies? I can't remember ever seeing one of these places in any of the various locations we've lived before so I was pretty pumped when I saw this:

It looked intriguing but also looked like a place that I certainly couldn't afford. So when I received a gift card to Baby Belly Spa for my birthday, I was so excited. It was exactly what I needed: the plush robe and slippers, the lavender massage oil specifically intended to reduce swelling, the calming exotic music that took my mind off all I have left to do, and the massage that just melted all that tension and stress away. Ahhh! If only I could have one of those every week :)

 This week's checkup and non-stress test was incredibly uneventful, if not all together boring. After an hour at the hospital getting the NST, we met with the doctor who will be helping our midwife out with delivery and will be doing the c-section if it is necessary. I am measuring full-term, which I guess is reassuring in that it makes me feel a little more justified with the discomfort I'm experiencing. He said he doesn't expect me to go into labor in the next few weeks so they'll wait until then for another ultrasound to give the babies more time to get settled into place. That will probably be when the c-section vs. natural labor discussion becomes decision time. Two weeks seems like such a long time but I know how quickly it will go by and that soon Nolan and Caroline will be here.

Yard Salin'

I have been waiting for the perfect free Saturday morning to go yard saling all summer. It's crazy how quickly summer goes by and I knew I was running out of time. So this morning I set my alarm extra early, got up, and went to the suburbs of Lexington in the hope to find some good baby deals.

The mission: 3 months and beyond clothes for both and baby toys.

The result:

 

58 pieces of clothing and 9 toy items (plus a few cups of lemonade) for $32! I was actually quite surprised how evenly it turned out. I thought for sure I was picking out more girl than boy clothes because those girl clothes are just too irresistable, but I managed to find several name brand boy clothes I was excited about. 

My favorite and most fruitful stop was actually a sale advertised with a sign that read "Moving to Madagascar Sale". This family sold their beautiful house and everything in it so they could move to Madagascar with their three children (6 and under) to become full-time missionaries. Wow--what a brave and faithful family!

Just for Laughs

Zac has taken up a new hobby and somehow he has become the pied piper...

This is what Zac got me for my early 27th birthday present. It has come to this, but ohhhh do I appreciate it!! It is truly a miraculous thing when I can put my feet in this for a half hour and I can actually walk from one room to another without saying "Ouch ouch ouch" the whole way. I'm sure he appreciates it too.

Mego Prego Week 31

It's getting real up in here! Ha! This week I had my first pre-term pregnancy scare that led to a trip to the hospital. I thought my water broke which is one of those things that you never really think people can mistake...well, apparently I did. However, either I was so freaked out that my body thought it better do something or whatever happened really was a signal of trouble, I started having some majorly regular and close contractions while I was there. They give me one little pill and it slowed everything down so that I could go home and rest. Luckily, that is all it took. The next two days I had no contractions at all. Yesterday, the Braxton Hicks contractions came back to about the pace they've been the last few weeks so I wasn't real concerned. I have an appointment on Thursday so the doc can re-evaluate the situation and make sure everything is still going smoothly.

If nothing else, it was a major reality check that:
1) Even though I am feeling good and am seemingly healthy, carrying two babies makes your body on over-reaction mode and I need to take it easy.
2) I am definitely not as prepared for these little ones as I thought I was. I don't even have my hospital bag packed (which is happening today by the way)

3) Zac and I have been so caught up in the excitement and anticipation of these babies that we haven't really stopped to think about how drastically different our lives are going to be. Don't get me wrong...we are both so looking forward to having these babies around that our lives now pale in comparison. But still. So I think we've been a little more attentive and appreciative of each other and our time together this week.
4) Although we are so anxious for them to be here, it is way too soon for them to make their arrival into this world. So for now, I'll be delighted with their kicks and uncomfortable with their arms in my ribs and refreshed by their little faces on an ultrasound. Yes, that will do for now.

Now, fair warning. I have always told myself that I would not under any circumstances put a picture of my bare belly on my blog. I get slightly annoyed when others do it every week, I know some people are grossed out by it (such as my sister), and really...it's just not pretty. However, this is just really too laughable to pass up. Zac and I went swimming at his dad's house for the 4th of July and this is what resulted. Yikes.

Nursery Sneak Peak

Here are some pictures to give you a little preview of what I've been working on the last few weeks. Enjoy!

Baby Store Redemption

Zac and I have decided that a) all this baby gear makes us otherwise pretty intelligent people feel really stupid and b) Babies R Us might just be the best company we have encountered when it comes to returns.

Three examples:
1. Zac's aunt and cousins gifted us with our twin bassinet pack n play for the shower which they thoughtfully got delivered directly to our house. Zac put it together before I got home this weekend and admittedly did so without reading the directions. Somewhere in the process of making part J snap into part Q, it broke. I packed it back up and dragged it back to BRU  truly dreading the complicated explanation (and perhaps white lie) as to why I needed to return it, where they exchanged it with no problem.

2. A few months ago, we thought we'd get ahead of the game and buy our car seats early. After the sticker shock that ensued at BRU, we went for two economical seats that seemed to fit our needs. We brought them home where Zac did the first-time dad ritual of trying to install the car seat base by jamming his knee in the middle of it, pushing down on it until his face turned red, then pulling on the straps with all his might. We weren't real satisfied with the fit but figured it was due to our own stupidity and put them away to be figured out later. Last week, we decided we better make sure we could make it work and after numerous Youtube videos, we realized we had done everything in our power to get them to fit and they just weren't going to work. The dilemma: we had two car seats with no boxes as well as a double stroller that matched the car seats with no box. What kind of store is going to take all that back after three months? Babies R Us!!

We loaded it all up into two shopping carts, pranced right in and emerged with $400 in BRU store credit which we then used towards two more highly reviewed car seats. We ended up buying the double stroller at this consignment shop today, and , thanks to my BRU coupon revelation (see below), were left with a nice size chunk of change. All is well that ends well!

3. Mom and I realized the other day that BRU will let you stack coupons. This was quite an epiphany because those mile long receipts and loads of coupon mailers from BRU I had been loathing and promptly throwing into the junk pile soon became quite valuable. Getting 20% off virtually every product in the store took BRU from being over-priced to actually being cheaper than Walmart. Who knew?!

Dr. Update

This week, we had our bi-weekly doctor's appointment coupled with an ultrasound. The babies are growing perfectly with Caroline at 2 lbs. 14 oz. and Nolan surpassing his sister at 3 lbs. 2 oz. It's hard to believe there are 6 pounds of baby in my belly! The babies are both breech so we're hoping they do some major somersaulting before they start running out of room. Our midwife said I am the picture of good health and that if anybody could carry twins to full term, it would be me!

Last night I thought that idea was coming to an end. Zac decided to treat me to a dinner at PF Changs with his credit card reward points since we've tried to cut our budget down in preparation for the expense of daycare. I started having contractions one right after another on the way there so we started counting them. The rule is if I have 6 contractions per hour for two hours in a row, then it's something to be concerned about. Well, after I had 5 within 25 minutes we really started worrying. We got seated at the restaurant (quickly--thanks to reservations) where I had 3 more within the hour. I chugged four glasses of water and attempted to eat my honey shrimp, although my belly was too tight to really consume much. I think the water must have been what I needed because the contractions pretty much stopped by the time we left the restaurant. A few laps around Babies R Us later, I was feeling back to normal! Let's hope not too many more of those evenings happen in the next six weeks.