The post Hubby has been waiting for...
( No its not the birth story yet, sorry=)
Dear most wonderful husband in the world-
Thank you for being by my side and giving me such wonderful support through out this pregnancy. I never would have made it this far without you (OK I would have but it would have been much more torturous without you). Thank you so much for all of the wonderful things you have done for me and the sweetie pies during this time, some of which I'm sure my pregnant brain can't remember.
I cannot thank you enough for the many breakfasts you prepared (you know how much I love racing around in the morning with the added stress of being large, slow and dealing with morning sickness), the lunches you packed and dinners you made when I was too nauseated or exhausted to lift a finger after work. Sweetpea and Pumpkin were well fed because of you and I was able to survive work for as long as I did because of you. You ventured out many times after 10:00p.m. whether it was to get me an assorted plethora of anti-nausea items, the only thing that remotely sounded edible during my most horrible week of nausea (coconut creme pie-what was my stomach thinking) , random items I seemed to have a craving for, medicines to alleviate my symptoms from colds, or an assortment of creams to help with the horrible rash.
You were by my side through all the doctor visits except the very first (sorry about not changing it-who knew the crazy and exciting news we would find out) and you let me humor you a bit by surprising you on the news of pregnancy and twins. You read magazines tiredly more than I do on pregnancy and parenting (I hope you can remember the details once our sleepless nights make an appearance) and have completed more projects than I can name to help make our house a cozy home and something we can all enjoy once the babies are here (I tried to help as much as I was able but the timing prevented me from doing much except cheer you on) - painting the downstairs, the kids bedroom, laying the wood laminate flooring, landscaping the back yard, putting the cribs together. You arranged for Sweetpea and Pumpkin to send me flowers for mothers day and you put up with my many complaints of aches, tiredness, and nausea, listening patiently and telling me I still look beautiful through it all and offering to do whatever you could to help.
But of course the best part is that you have always by my side sharing in this wonderful experience of us starting what is to be our family and I know you'll be just as wonderful of a father as you are husband. I couldn't ask for anything better. I can truly say as I always do "I am the luckiest!". I look forward to the days when Sweetpea and Pumpkin race to the door in excitement because "Daddy is home" much like Nutmeg adoringly does now. They too will soon find out that they are also the luckiest in having such a wonderful father.
Love,
Your adoring wife
Count down
Well, I have survived another week. This one was one of the hardest with the PUPPPS taking over my life. Most of my days (and nights) were spent attempting to alleviate the awful burning itch that would appear anywhere my skin was touching something. Fortunately I found some solace in the babycenter.com community where there were plenty of others (sadly) echoing my sentiments in regards to this awful thing. It can only best be described as one person wrote: 10 times worse than poison ivy, the cause of many sleepless nights, a cause for heading to insanity, a horrible distraction from enjoying a wonderful pregnancy and something that definitely would have a cure now if men became pregnant. I hope no one out there has to ever understand where I'm coming from!
It was like one bad cycle: Get up, take a shower, slather on lotion, avoid touching anything which means attempting to stand and distract myself from the itch by attempting to complete the rest of our must do list. Then the back ache would kick in and I'd have to sit down. The itch would kick and and I'd slather what ever else on and repeat the cycle again. I've had several nights of 2-3 hours sleep. The rash is pretty much everywhere except the soles of my feet, the palm of my hands and my face (I guess I should be thankful for that).
Yes, I have tried everything: cortisone cream, prescription steroid cream, Aveeno lotion, sarna lotion, Eucarin cream and spray, oatmeal baths, aloe vera and the one thing that actually helped distract me the most: icy-hot. Word to the wise-do not, I repeat, DO NOT slather the icy-hot on arms and legs after a luke warm shower and expect to lie comfortably in bed. I have never felt so cold in my life (OK at least in CA). I started shivering uncontrollably, teeth chattering and begged Hubby to go get the biggest comforter he could find. It only took about 1/2 hour before it wore off. This coming from a track athlete who used to put it all over my legs at track meets (but then would go warm up with layers of sweats in warm weather). Yes that last part is crucial. But if you want something that will help with the PUPPPS, I highly recommend icy-hot or something similar and to put it on one area at a time, preferably in a warm environment (which for me is 70 or warmer). Oh and one more thing. Don't wait too long in your pregnancy to schedule a pregnancy massage for you and hubby, for fear the dreaded PUPPPs could strike. I decided that asking the masseuse to come out with brillow pads on her hands or letting her take one look at my skin to freak her out wouldn't be a very good idea. Hubby, however enjoyed his much deserved massage.
I did break down last night and took a benadryl and got a bit more sleep and it even seems as if the PUPPPS is starting to wear its course. I've itched less now than I have in the last weeks so I'm hopeful this is a solid trend if I'm lucky (fingers crossed). Thanks to everyone who sent me hang in there e-mails. They are really appreciated and I enjoy hearing from you!
I did manage to get most of the babies room stuff done and changing stations set up and am completing some things on the to do list. Feels good! I'll be posting baby room pictures soon.
For now, since I felt half way decent today, we took more pics of me (don't look too closely at my arms). Yes, my belly is still growing. For some strange reason, I kept thinking that it would stop now that I was done with work. ???? Anyway, here I am:
34 going on 35 weeks pregnant
Pregnancy Symptoms galore into my 40ith+ weeks
If I had been blessed with just one honey pie in this pregnancy, I probably would've breezed through like a champ with very few annoying symptoms and probably would have been able to work up to my due date. However, I have been blessed with two and more challenges are appearing as I head into the uncharted territory of being beyond 40 weeks in size.
The day has arrived to finally throw in the towel for work (not that my doctor hasn't been humorously urging me for the last few months to let him know when I've had enough-barring any serious issues). Well, I pretty much decided that during my irritating flu, I would not have the energy to treat patients after I spent a week earlier than planned finishing up my paper work. And since we really don't have any option of doing just paperwork forever, and two weeks ago I was getting fatigued after treating 2 patients in a row and then feeling like I needed to take the rest of morning off to get my energy back, my SI joint was being yanked out, and I've had way fewer contractions being less active, I'm now "resting" at home.
I say that with tongue in cheek, because just in time, I've been blessed to come down with what only 1% of pregnant women acquire (I'm such an overacheiver, right?)- PUPPPS or essentially a nice itchy rash that starts on the stomach and gradually spreads to the rest of the body. I had the rash already on my belly -( i got yelled at by some guy on Thursday at Walmart, in the aisle way across from me who thought he was being cute to STOP SCRATCHING MY BELLY.) And Friday I saw the tell-tale signs of it spreading bit by bit to my arms. Well by today it has made its way on arms and legs for sure. And it itches and pretty much nothing will resolve it until after the kids are born. That is, in MOST people it goes away after birth. I'm hoping I am one of them as for some it lasts several weeks or months or even returns sometime after. Ugh! I also suspect I still have a bit of the remenants of the flu and a possible infection so it's off to the doctor tomorrow. Sigh. Hopefully this is as bad as it gets =) Other very tolerable syptoms I've been having for a while-the swelling in the hands and feet and heart burn that just made a recent appearance. My wedding ring and fill-in ring are long stored away after not fitting and my calves are sporting pretty white spots from circulation issues.
Currently, I can't go anywhere without being stared at or questioned. You know, the casual glance that turns into-that lady is going to give birth right here, right now look. And being about 34 weeks pregnant means that your business becomes everyone elses. I get asked all the time when my due date is etc...or as in the case of one guy: When was I due, what were they? was it natural? what work did I do? where was I from? I'm hoping he was just practicing his pick people up skills and I looked like good practice-you know being married, preganant and all. I think I'm finally getting over my shyness and not wanting to be the center of attention.
The best part of course is that Sweetpea and Pumpkin are growing like weeds. I can't believe that they are 5-1 and 5-7 at 33 weeks. Maybe its a good thing I'm heading for c-section territory. They are more wiggly than ever especially at night and I'm having a hard time figuring out where they are finding all this room to stretch. I'm glad that all of the weird and annoying pregancy symptoms are just with me and they are doing so well!
Up hill finish line
I have never been one to not meet a challenge head on. And life seems to always throw those lovely twists my way so I get plenty of them. You know the BIG life challenges. The ones that really count (job, house, love of your life, family) and can't be solved without going through agonizing processes.
Examples:
1. A 1 1/2 year long distance relationship and lots of traveling to meet and court my honey 1300 miles away (not too bad, he's really cute)
2. Job difficulties in a crowded career field just after I have finished my Master's degree in field of choice causing me to scrape for work for a year and live in less than ideal living conditions depleting my excitement of graduating and moving to a new state with endless possibilities.
3. Or moving again and going through more job issues causing more endless stress for several months. This leads to us having to delay in buying a house and then getting kicked in the butt for "waiting" to buy a house (mostly the reason we moved) as the market crept out of range.
Fortunately me and my honey conquered these problems by PERSISTENCE, giving a good fight and a little luck. And when it comes to those major life issues (career, buying a house, having a family), I will gladly take all the luck I can get on having a family even if it means suffering a little more in the other areas. So I must say that I am VERY thankful that us starting a family has been perhaps the easiest thing we have ever done and nothing has ever been THAT easy for us. It seems issues always come up with the big LIFE issues and yet there were hardly any here. Amazing and true-someones watching over us =). Even if it is TWINS and I'm measuring at 41 weeks now with a horrendous cold, when I think of the outcome, it is very worth it.
But of course, let me vent just a bit, after all this is REAL LIFE and I am pregnant with twins, measuring at 41+ weeks and attempting to work as long as all is healthy. Ugh! This flu/cold is kicking my butt and there isn't a symptom I haven't had: runny nose, sore throat, chills literally, fever (fortunately not too high), vomiting (only once but that could be related to the pregs. stuff), head ache and more body aches added into my regular ones. Ugh!! I can't wait until this part is over so I can again enjoy the two wiggly little ones in my belly. Fortunately there is perspective. I will take the little ones however I can get them no matter what is thrown my way.
Here I am at the beginning of 32 weeks (taken last week).
