Ellie: 21 months

Now that half of October is over, I suppose I should update about my sweet baby girl who isn't much of a baby at all anymore!

She turned 21 months old (gasp!) on Oct. 1st and seeing as I was in the hospital at the time, I didn't update ANYTHING about her on the blog. And because of circumstances being as they are, I have virtually NO pictures of her for the month! I need to have David take some of her so this month isn't completely lame! ha ha

Here is one pic I managed to get before going on bed rest.

Ellie LOVES to play with her baby. She takes such good care of it and loves to put it "night night" and take it with her everywhere. She also loves to put it in the doll swing we have and push it around in the doll stroller. She's such a girl! :D I'm hoping since she loves her baby so much she'll love her little brothers!!

She is growing up so much and loves to chitter chatter ALL DAY LONG! Don't get me wrong, it's cute, but sometimes I want to just say, Ellie, can you just stop talking for five minutes!? Totally my child! She's rambunctious and very full of energy. She keeps us on our toes most of the time and she's always thinking one step ahead!!

 Pic at the hospital when Ellie and David came to visit me! Daddy even did her hair all by himself. I'm proud.

Here are some notable things about Ellie at 21 months:

• She is about 31.75-32 inches tall and weighs ~24.5 lbs
• She's fits into size 18 month clothes, but due to weather changing we've had to put her in some 24 month and 2T, and while it's big on her, it's not too bad.
• She wears size 4 diapers and size 5 shoes. (And size 6 and 7 and Mommy's size 8)
• She's obsessed with shoes. She loves to put them on and take them off but if she gets frustrated she will scream and bite the shoe or bang her head on the floor. I wish I knew how to stop the head-banging. We've been trying lots of different things, and I think it's getting better somewhat. She just doesn't know another way to show her frustration, darn it!
• She loves to watch shows but boy is she picky. She'll throw a giant fit if you didn't pick what she wanted. She also may or may not know how to run Netflix and the Wii remote...oops!
• She is incredibly smart and pays attention to detail. She likes to organize her blocks in a particular way then knock them down. 
• She's still a picky eater, but we're branching out to some new foods! I need to get her to eat more veggies, but with all the stress that's going on in our family right now I don't want to freak her out more by trying to change up her eating.
• She had her 1st dentist appointment at the end of September and her teeth are perfect! She hated going to the dentist and cried a ton when they were checking her teeth and cleaning them. Poor girl :( Hopefully she doesn't remember the next time we have to go! She at least got an awesome big red bouncy ball for going!
• She loves to make up little songs and hum them all the time. It is super adorable, and if you hum a tune to her, she can hum it back keeping on tune. I'm proud she has my ears and possibly my sense of pitch! Yay.
• She gets very intrigued watching complex things, like someone playing the piano, the Drs. and nurses at the hospital doing anything. She also loves to take pens apart and tries to put them back together. It makes me think she has her daddy's engineering brain.
• She's a champion sleeper most nights as long as she's not feeling sick or teething. Only 5 more teeth before she's done! Hallelujah! She goes to bed at ~7:45 and gets up anywhere between 7 and 8:30. She usually takes a 2.5 hour nap in the afternoon. 
• She loves to give hugs and kisses and will give them to anyone willing to accept! Yikes! 
• She especially loves to come give hugs and kisses to mommy's belly and talk about the babies!

She's a sweetheart, and we love her so much! Despite all the naughty things she's been doing lately, she is handling the stress of everything going on so well. I feel guilty for having to be on bed rest and let David's mom take care of her, but I know she won't remember me not doing things for her and she'll have plenty of mommy time someday again!!

33+5 the end is finally near!

So, I've been pretty terrible at updating the blog lately, and frankly it's because I don't feel like it. Why? I'm not sure entirely but I think part of it has to do with not wanting to focus on the fact that I'm on bed rest and can't do anything I want to do. Bed rest is going as well as it can be going, I suppose. I'm not a fan but I don't really get a choice and the alternative sucks. So, here I sit in bed 80% of my day doing a whole lot of non-productive things.

I have had more contractions in the past few days and I went in on Monday morning because I woke up with a lot of contractions and cramps. There were no changes though, and I'm still sitting at a 3 and 80% effaced. I feel like a ticking time-bomb really, because I went into labor with Ellie when I was barely a 2. The Dr. I saw on Monday said that at this point they probably wouldn't stop my labor since I am so close to 34 weeks. I had my normal appointment on Tuesday where I had a NST, Ultrasound and normal check-up. 

The NST went well and the babies are doing really great. I didn't really have contractions while I was on the monitors, but yet I had them later and all evening. Silly. The Ultrasound went well too and here are the baby's stats:

• Baby A is weighing in at 4 lb 9 oz and I think the Dr. said he is in the 40th ish percentile.

• Baby B is weighing in at 5 lb 7 oz and is around the 60th percentile.

• Baby A is still head down and is sitting on my left side.

• Baby B is transverse with his head on the left.

• They're both squished in there and I'm not confident that B will be able to turn since there is seriously NO room for them! 

• I'm carrying 10 lbs of baby. Wholy moly, no wonder my body is trying to be done!!

The ultrasound tech was having a hard time getting a good abdomen measurement on baby A since his brother is basically laying on top of him so there could be a small margin of error in his weight and he could be closer to his brother's weight. Guess we'll see! I'm kind of afraid of how big they'll be if I make it to 36 weeks!!

I'll answer my weekly questions then update more at the bottom with everything else.

 
How far along are you: 33 weeks 5 days

Maternity clothes: I have 6 shirts that still fit somewhat, but mostly I wear David's t shirts since mine are all waaay too small.

Sleep: Is very hard to get and I toss and turn ALL night long trying to get somewhat comfortable. I'm up at least 3 times a night for various reasons, and I'm not anticipating this getting any better soon!

Best moment this week: Hearing that they won't put me back on mag if I go into labor!

Miss anything: Feeling normal!

Movement: All the time, really.

Food cravings: Steak, comfort foods, sweets.

Anything making you queasy or sick: Getting dehydrated.

Have you started to show yet: This question is officially banished...

Gender: Two boys. Baby A = _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Alan Grigsby, Baby B = _ _ _ _ David Grigsby :)

Belly button in or out: bulging and sore.

Labor signs: Daily contractions, but never more than 4/hour, lots of pressure and random cramping here and there.

Wedding rings on or off: On! Still no swelling!

Looking forward to:  Hitting 35 weeks in a little over a week and not worrying if I'm going to go into labor.

My ideal day for when they arrive is November 1st. I will be 1 day before 36 weeks, the babies shouldn't need any NICU time at that point and then all my kids will be born on the 1st! How fun is that? ha ha. Really, I just want to avoid Halloween. Not a fan of that being their birthday, however, then all my kids would be born on a holiday. So there could be a lot of fun days for them to be born. Just as long as they're born the 26th or later, and no longer than the 2nd ha ha. I'm picky, huh!?

I'm anticipating that everything will continue how it's been going thus far and I will easily make it to 35.5 weeks.

The Dr. I saw yesterday said that if they're born before 36 weeks then I should go to medical center to have them, just to avoid having one or both of them be transferred to the NICU and having me stuck at Franklin Woods Community Hospital recovering alone. He's the ONLY Dr. who has said this. All the others say they can handle 35 weeks and beyond just fine at Franklin Woods. So, really I'm not too worried if they come before 36, as I trust they'll do great considering I've had steroid shots to mature their lungs. However, I do realize that having them as close to 36 weeks as possible is best, and beyond would be even better, if it wouldn't interfere with when my mom is coming!! She's coming on the 4th/5th (late night flight) and is leaving on the 18th. So if I make it to my c-section, I'm stuck in the hospital until the 12th, and I only have help from my mom at home for 6 days. Not OK. Which is why they need to come on like the 30th or 1st, so we maximize our time with my mom helping me out with the babies at home! Keep your fingers crossed for me & thanks to everyone for the prayers, well wishes and help you've given us at this stressful time in our lives!

Any day now, huh?

No, Mr. I've never met you before and why are you talking to me and asking about my ginormica belly (which mind you is ONLY 38 cm...plenty of people prego with singletons get bigger than I am now...) while I sit and wait for my food at Five Guy's!!!

Seriously, biggest reason I'm GLAD I'm on bed rest. I surely could do without all the "any day now" comments and, "oh, looks like you're gonna have another baby real soon". 

I get it. I'm large, you're curious, so you make a comment. So I explain, "No. Not any day now, because I'm having twins, and I need to make it for a while longer." Yes, twins usually come early, and full term is considered different with twins. Oh, you want to know my life story now, well guess what?! I don't want to share it with you but I will so you stop talking to me. 

My answers to the most annoying questions I get WHEREVER I go:

• Yes, twins run in my family. If you want to know how many twins are in my family, then you're gonna have to sit down with me for an hour because there's a ridiculously large amount.

• No, I didn't think I would ever have twins even though they "run in my family"Who thinks they're REALLY going to have spontaneous twins? Anyone?? P.S. if they're identical, then guess what, it was by chance, not genetics. That status will be determined after they're born.

• YES this pregnancy was planned. Thank you for asking, wanna know the details!? Obviously you can't "plan" for twins unless you're doing IVF or some other fertility treatments, which we did not. Also if it was a singleton like we of course imagined it would be then my first and would be second child would have been 23 months apart. i.e. ALMOST 2 years. We wanted it that way. But because it's twins it's not going to be that way and I'm thankful no matter what. 

• Yes, I have a 21 month old daughter at home. Thanks for the mortified look on your face after that response.

• Yes I am going to "have my hands full". Thank you for telling me.

• Yes, I'll probably have more children, but I haven't even decided that one yet and why does it matter to you, Wal-Mart check-out lady?! Geesh, I'm pregnant with twins, do we need to be discussing this right now, especially since I don't even know you!?!

• I'm having twin boys, and yes they can tell what gender the babies are "these days".

• I'm due in November. This is my easy answer and if I tell you my "real" due date, you'll look at me like I'm huge and I'll have to explain myself and tell you my life story and you'll probably ask all of the above questions, so I'll just leave it at I'm due in November.

This week alone I have answered almost all those questions to people who I've never met and who frankly in my opinion shouldn't be asking me such personal stuff. The maintenance guy who came to look at our fridge said as he was leaving the house, "Looks like you'll be havin' another baby real soon, huh?" I just left it at that. I felt like I didn't need to tell him anything else since he was on his way out.  

I'm not writing these things to be rude or anything, but seriously I don't want to be asked any of these things by people I've never met before! Thank goodness nobody has tried to touch my belly, because I guarantee if they tried they'd be sorry and I'd be explaining to some manager or security personnel why I punched them, smacked their hand away or any other method of keeping someone from invading my personal space. Also, NO pregnant woman no matter how big she is or how miserable she looks wants to hear ANY FORM of, "You gonna have that baby yet?". Trust me.

So as I said before this is one reason I'm glad I'm on bed rest and don't have to deal with this much anymore. All I get to deal with are people in my OB's office that look at me like I'm ready to pop. At least they don't say anything. Looks are much better than obnoxious conversations with strangers.

Sorry, I had to vent since yesterday after my appointment when David and I grabbed lunch at Five Guy's some guy in his 40s had to make the "any day now" comment and I had to give him my life story including answering his question about how far along I am and him saying, "Oh, there's not that much longer until you're full term then, right?" Well actually full term is still 37 weeks, and that's another month away from 33 weeks... Ugh. People. I'm not a people person when I'm pregnant. Well, I take that back...I'm not a stranger people person when I'm pregnant, or actually ever.