It's time.

So much going on the past few days. I've been running around and no time to post.  (It's actually taken me three days to finish writing this post)

After we had the scare on New Year's Eve I realized I had to get my shit together!  I called the NY OB office and they told me they had not received any medical records yet. They also let me know that if we did not come in for an appointment by Jan 14th, the OB did not feel comfortable taking Wife as a patient. 

At first I was PISSED!  I think mostly because I was scared. How DARE he make us an ultimatum like that?!   Doesn't he realize where we live?! Doesn't he know I work?!  We aren't possibly ready yet! I can't take off work yet! What are we going to do in NY and with me off work for so long?!

Then I got to thinking...

That's 34 weeks!  

This year I've had friends deliver their twins at 31 and 35 weeks.  

34 weeks is only 6 weeks from a NORMAL due date. 

We have to drive ACROSS THE COUNTRY. 

Holy shit, that's 34 weeks! We are almost there!

The more I thought about, the moser I realized he was being really, very reasonable.  And it was time. 

We had an OB appt two days later and every thing was fine.  We discussed the impending trip an he was like "oh my, we are almost there aren't we". So I'm not the only one who didn't realize things were so far. I think because she hasn't had any problem and I think he honestly expects Wife to go to term.  

So we are (I am) busy running around like a chicken with my head cut off. I had a call schedule in place so my last shift is on the 11th.  We still don't have everything we need. We have a shower tomorrow (good timing!!) 

I've been busy doing laundry and packing as well I can. We elected to bring The Boys with us. They are just too old and don't really do well without us any more. Plus they have so many meds that have to be managed on a daily basis. The last three times we have left them at home they have gotten sick or had medication errors so it will actually be less stressful to have them with us. 

The trip is about 900 miles. In normal conditions it is a 11-12 hour trip. We decided a few years ago that we are not as young as we used to be and usually make the trip in 2 halves. With the dogs and the uber preggo wife we are budgeting a half day to pack and 3 full days to drive. If it doesn't take that long then great!  But we want to be able to take it slow and not be stressed. 

Mainly this weeks has consisted of me running around doing laundry and trying to figure out how on earth to pack for two adults, two dogs and two baby humans who aren't even here yet.  This has been moderately successful. I have three small bags packed and one living room completely covered in clothes. 

Today work threw us a shower. This was a huge blessing.  A bunch of really awesome ladies got together and we all had lunch and then got lots of much needed baby things!  We probably doubled the amount of baby things we have!!

I probably won't be blogging much the next few days until we leave but the plan right now is:  OB appt tomorrow morning to ensure we can travel. And then three days of work, one day of packing and then leaving on Monday. 

Wish us luck!!

False Alarm

**DISCLAIMER: everything is fine**

Well we were really shocked that we had made it this far with a twin pregnancy without a SINGLE problem. So before 2013 left she had to give us a shake. 

Today we decided we needed to get on it and get a rocking chair. We went out to three different stores and did quite a bit of walking and not enough drinking water or resting. 

Around 6pm tonight Wife started having contractions.   I knew they probably were Braxton-Hicks contractions or "false labor". I started pushing Wife to drink lots of water after an hour I contacted a doc friend of mine. We agreed to monitor and wait an hour.  After two hours of contractions all three of us got nervous enough that we decided it was time to go to the hospital. As soon as we made that decision, the contractions stopped, for about 40 minutes. Then she had one last one while walking down the hospital hallway. 

Wife got checked and she continued to have no contractions. we were in and out in under 3 hours, so that pleased us. 

Plan tonight is more water and bed rest for the next 24 hours. 

Lessons learned: we are not Ready. Not physically or emotionally. I was freaked out. I was scared, until I got to the hospital, then I felt better. Also, now we have a bug-out bag. I packed in under ten minutes thanks to having just done the laundry!

I have a fire lit under me. I need to get everything ready, including working out with the NY OB what the hell is going on. 

I was joking that I had told the girls they couldn't be born in 2013 but 5 minutes into 2014 isn't exactly what I meant!!

Happy new year!!

Pics as promised!!

Ok so maybe a day late.  I was at work so late yesterday all I did when I came home was go straight to bed and fell asleep!  

But they are worth the wait!! (And I'd like to wait another month ok girls? )

Baby A, despite spening the last 4 months or so head down (vertex), she apparently flipped over in the last 2 weeks and is now but down (breech)  this resulted in some very cute head-to-head shots.  Apparently the girls wanted to talk to each other.  Unfortunately, if she does not flip around, this makes our chances of delivering vaginally about 0%.  This is something Wife really wants to do, but we realize the safety of the girls is paramount and we will do whatever is needed.  It might, actually, make the OB in NY feel better if he can plan a c-section.  Who knows

Baby A

Baby B is flexing for the camera with her beefy arms!

Baby A "please no more pictures"

Baby A smiled for us while in 4D mode!! so awesome to watch that face scrunch up!!

Baby B, you can see Baby A's head next to her head

Baby B's very cute ear if I do say so myself

More excitement means more posting!

Also, got up early this morning before our morning appointment and added a few more items to the nursery that we picked up yesterday.   Yesterday at WalMart we picked up some hardware to hang up a wet bag on the changing table/dresser.  A wet bag is a waterproof bag that holds soiled diapers and keeps the stink and any "wet" in the bag.

We also picked up some cute jumbo clips to hand diapers on the wall.  No I'm not going to use the extra diapers for decoration.  We are planning on 'rotating' at least two diaper covers a day with the girls (more if they get soiled).  This way there is always a completely ready clean diaper available for changes, just remove the old diaper and put on a new diaper like you would a disposable.  Important to stream line the process when there are twice as many bumps involved!  The clips will allow for the two (one for each girl) diapers to be stuffed and ready and "airing out" if needed and in easy reach from the table.

Great Ultrasound Appointment!

31w4d today and we went in for another growth Ultrasound.

Man are they ever growing!!  2.5 weeks ago when we had our last growth ultrasound the girls were measuring at about 2lbs 13 oz and 3lbs 2 oz.  Today they measured 4lbs 3oz and 4lbs 6oz! Wow!  Not only have they both gained over a pound but Baby B has started beefing up even more and is closing the gap.  The babies are officially big enough that they could fit in our car seats if they were born today!

Obviously we are not hoping for any babies any time soon!  We are starting to make preparations to pack up around the 35 week mark.  I have not yet heard from the OB in NY to hear if he still has cold feet, and/or when he wants us/Wife out there.   Wife's cervix is still closed shut like a trap door and long like it should be so no signs of impending labor.  She has not had a single contraction and the babies have tons of room still (i.e plenty of fluid),

We got lots of very cute pics of the girls which I will upload as soon as I get home.

Busy busy day!

Lots of excitement and very busy day!

First off we are 31 1/2 weeks!

Yesterday we treated ourselves to a really nice day. We went and saw Trans Siberian orchestra in the afternoon which was phenomenal. On the way back home we stopped at a Christmas store and got our yearly personalized ornament. This one was the best yet!!

Then went to a hole in the way tavern for some of the best pizza!

Got up early today and cleaned up the house quite a bit because a friend came over to take pregnancy pictures!!  

She is the same photographer that took our wedding pictures and she's awesome!! As usual we had more fun than is strictly necessary but we got lots of good shots. I can't wait to see the final product!  Hopefully in a week or two I can post a few!

After photos I spent several hours doing laundry and organizing (again) the kids room. We had amassed a large bag of clothes and diaper covers so I decided it was worth running a load. I spent about an hour cutting tags off! Wtf?! One hooded towel/washcloth st had OVER 20 plastic whoozits holding it together!! Some one was really worried about that thing getting undone!  I then spent quite some time putting clothes away. This entailed reorganizing the nursery over and over since I can't truly decide where anything goes till we have all the stuff!!

Currently the nursery looks a bit like this:

Tomorrow is yet another day off! (We haven't had two days off in a row together in almost 3 months since she just finished school and I've been working tons of overtime so we can make ends meet when I take time off for the babies and travel.). On the list is: nothing!!

I'm not crazy (well maybe a little)

Spoke with one of the family law lawyers again yesterday. Discussed the (very few) changes that have happened in the state and any help (or not) recent cases might be. 

The lawyer did say that he thought if worst came to worst, he would be able to get us both parental rights. It sounds like he has done this once before for a lesbian couple in our EXACT scenario. However, he did say that legally we would have more rights if we went to NY and got parent-parent birth certificates. If he were us he said he would go to NY. 

SO. We wait to hear from the OB an hope that he will take us on as late-term patients.  He is currently reviewing the chart. I hope to hear from him after the holiday maybe Friday or Monday. 

If he says no, we may be back to square one. Or back to showing up at a hospital in labor x.x