36 Week Update

Good news, we’ve made it to the point where the babies are fully cooked, now getting their extra oven time to plump up! Last week’s appointment was frustrating, but I may have had my expectations too high. I didn’t have a measurement sonogram so I don’t know how big they are compared to their size on July 3…I didn’t have a pelvic exam so I don’t have any reassuring signs that these babies are on their way out…I saw another doctor in the group who seemed overly casual about this whole labor and delivery thing. I think she sensed how frustrated I was and appeased me by setting a c-Section date so I at least had something to look forward to.

What we do know is this: baby girl did her gymnastics and moved to be head down! This is a good thing since she’s “Baby A” and will be the first to come out. I could have the option of a normal child birth with her positioning. Baby boy did not want to be a male gymnast or a swimmer and continues to be transverse(horizontal). This presents an interesting predicament to the labor and delivery. If Baby A is head down and delivered normally, a few things could happen to get Baby B out:

1. Baby B could thrive in all of that space, do his gymnastics, and also be delivered head first normally. Ideal situation.
2. Baby B can continue to be stubborn and not move, but the doctors could go in and pull him out  breech. Not as ideal.
3. Baby B can continue to be stubborn and transverse and require a C-Section to get him out. Not making momma happy with pushing AND surgery. One or the other, kiddos!
4. Baby B can go nuts without his sister in there, have a change in vitals, and require and emergency C-Section to get him out.

 

Unfortunately, there’s no indication of what can or will happen. And it doesn’t help the situation that Baby B is slightly larger than Baby A. If B was the smaller one, it wouldn’t be such a challenge to deliver, turn, or pull him out breech. Since he’s bigger (as of July 3 anyway…) it would make a second delivery difficult. What really vexed me from the last appointment was that we are scheduled for another appointment this Thursday but there’s no sonogram. So there’s no confirmation that baby boy is/isn’t moving into position, no confirmation on if he’s still bigger or by how much…what is the doctor going to do when I am there? If she starts the conversation with “so, what questions do you have”…I’m going to lose it. I don’t have anymore questions except when and how are these babies going to come out! Although they do have their eviction notice so they'll be coming out next week regardless of position or size!

Outside of OB appointments, we’ve been making progress on other pieces too. We met with the USF pediatrician group – seemed very nice, knowledgeable, and very experienced with twins (makes sense since they are part of the doctors group that does reproductive medicine). We’ll stick with her and if we want something closer to home or in a different place we can always switch. Only downside to them is that they are based in Tampa General or on Davis Island, so the annoying-ness of the parking garage and hustle/bustle of TGH may get old pretty quickly. Unless they’re fine and healthy babies, then we hopefully won’t be at the doctor very much.

We also started looking at child care for starting in January. I seriously don’t know how we are going to afford this or where we’re going to place them. I looked at a listing of care centers and then did a Google Street Map view…I’m NOT sending my kids to some dirt bag places, and even those cost over $160 per week! There is a FANTASTIC place in downtown but it’s over $1,000/month per infant. I also asked my neighbor with twins and she said she uses an in-home nanny and pays $12/hour plus bonus for 40 hours per week, which would still be the $2,000 per month! If I had an extra $2,000 per month I wouldn’t be living in the suburban ghetto of Seffner.  The other places I liked and we’re looking into are around the $185-$200 mark per child per week . Really hefty, but these are reputable, clean, and actual establishments, not hole in the wall houses or ghetto. I've asked around the Mothers of Multiples (MoM) group and most MoMs there are stay at home MoMs or use an in-house nanny. I’m starting to see how it will be difficult to balance finances with wanting the best for our kids. So shout out and THANK YOU to my fabulous parents who never made it look like there was a choice between finance or wanting what's best (even though I'm sure there always was one)...you found the best that you were able to afford and we were none-the-wiser on the financial piece.

It’s going to be a significant life change for Todd and I to make child care work. We’ve reviewed the budget over and over to see if it makes more financial sense for him to be a stay at home/work from home parent but he loves his job too much and has been there so long (and we get 75% off Outback…) it’s a really tough decision. Luckily we’re in the situation where one of our paychecks won’t go entirely to child care so it is still on the positive $$ side to continue working. Please pray for us as we start narrowing down these choices and reeling in our budget and spending; it will not be easy. I’m still secretly hoping that a little old lady (or young lady, no preference) will come up to me in church and say “I’m so bored during the day I would love to come to your house and watch your kids for $500/month”. Hey, God does miracles, this could happen?!

Overall I’m still feeling pretty good – still going into work everyday for the full 8 hours (although wearing the same outfits 2x per week or wearing Todd’s shirts), generally tired but not unable to function. My upper back has started hurting and I’m getting terrible heartburn but nothing that some Tylenol and Tums aren’t helping me cope through. Still can’t complain about the journey we’ve been on and wouldn’t change a thing about our process. And we’re very excited that there’s 1 week left before we jump off the pregnancy tram and move onto the parenthood jet. :)

 

And I know that friends and family are excited to finally know what their names will be in 1 week! I’ll narrow it down…it’s not “Frank and Bea”, “Bonnie and Clyde”, “Jack and Jill”, “Edward and Bella”, “Wally and Sue”,  or “Luke and Lea”.