Holidays

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone! I know I'm a little late posting an update, but we've been visiting family in Boise for the past week and for some reason every time I am down here, it is like a time vacuum. I totally lose track of time.

Anywho, I am now 30 weeks. Still growing like crazy. The girls have been moving a ton and I love trying to imagine what the heck is going on in there.

To catch you up a little bit...My glucose test came back A-Ok, which means I do not have to do the much longer extended test. Yay! I had my Dr. appt last week (on the 23rd) and it was a pretty quick little meeting. Mostly just to check in. I was prescribed the splint for my right hand due to pregnancy carpal tunnel. Unfortunately the place I had to get it from was closed and would be for the holidays so I was unable to get it before we left for Boise. Boo to that. Otherwise my appointment went smoothly. I am doing really good. My weight gain is right on target, the girl's hear beats were strong (no ultrasound this time, just a Doppler), and all in all I am a textbook healthy pregnant person.

I did mention that I had a few braxton hicks contractions (or at least what I thought were bh contractions) but I wasn't sure because my whole belly didn't get hard. And also that I had a little pressure down in my pelvic area. This caused my Dr to make a face that I was certain does not indicate anything good was about to come out of her mouth. And I was right. "When are you leaving for the holidays?" she asked. "First thing in the morning." I replied, although it came out as more of a question than a statement.

She told me that she wanted me to run over to the hospital after I left her office for a non-stress test, just in case. Um...just in case what? She assured me it was no big deal but before she sent me off on a 6 hour drive, she wanted to be positively sure that I was not having pre-term labor. Well, that sounded reasonable, so off to the hospital I went for my first NST.

When I got there, I had to register. Which, I found out, is something I have to do every single time. This is going to be a pain in my ass because I have to start doing these twice a week. Can't they give me an "unlimited rides" wrist band or something? Ugh. I am impatient and the registering is annoying to me. But anyway, about my test. They hooked up a heart rate monitor to each baby (on my belly) and then another monitor to watch for contractions. Then they handed me this handheld button thingy and I was told to push the button every time I felt the babies move. I kind of felt like I was on a game show and it was fun at first, but the test took a full hour and it was about 75 degrees in the room, I was laying down and had a very long day. It took all I had to stay awake that last half hour. When I mentioned this to the nurse at the very end, she said, "oh, honey...you could have taken a little nap - lots of women do". Well, thanks for telling me now. I thought this button pushing thing was super important - had I known I could have napped, I would have fallen asleep in the first five minutes. Grrr.... The good news is I didn't have any contractions and the babies were fine. I was given the green light to proceed with my trip.

I am finding that the third trimester is a bit different than the second. I still feel really good, but I am getting tired really easily. And sleep is something I fear I will never have again. It is quite a task to roll over at night and frankly sometimes it hurts from all the weight and round ligament pain. Plus, when once everyone used to ask me "how are you feeling?", now I am constantly asked if I'm "ready to be done yet". I guess pregnant people get to a point where they just want to be done. I'm not saying that won't happen to me, but I'm really sad that this went by so fast and even the uncomfortableness I feel off and on still doesn't make me want to be done. Keep in mind, I am measuring at 35/36 weeks - so it is possible closer to the end I will be "ready to be done", but for now I'm still enjoying this wonderful journey.

Ok, that's about all from this last week. I have a NST this Friday (New Year's Day) and then the next week I'll have 2 more, an ultrasound and a Dr. appointment (the u/s and appt are on the 6th, so I will update after that).

Oh, and I almost forgot - Go Vandals! They are playing in the Humanitarian Bowl today and while I am cheering my heart out for them, I decided to do it from the comfort of my parent's house while Bobby, my sister, and my dad are braving the cold. 7 and 1/2 months pregnant, hard cold bleachers for hours....no thanks.

And finally I will leave you with this: a picture of myself with my sister-in-law Jodi. She is due exactly 1 month after me (with a girl!). Can anyone tell a difference in our belly size?