Still Chugging Along

There still isn't a lot going on, but that isn't enough to stop me from making another list. Just an update on a few things.

• Shae is still chugging along with the baby-growing. She'll be 38 weeks tomorrow, which is already about two more than we ever thought she'd go. Every day the babies stay in there is a good thing, but Shae is over this whole pregnancy thing. I wouldn't be surprised if she talks them into popping out sometime this week. We'll see.
  
  
• We had another rodent sighting. We have confirmed it's a mouse (and not nearly as big and scary as Shae led me to believe after her last experience with them), and I'm pretty sure it's a single little mouse that's stalking Shae. This time Lunchbox saw the little guy and chased him out of the house. We were so proud. Then Shae set a trap and LB almost got his tail caught in it. Quite the hunter.

That's about it right now. Like I said, there just isn't much going on. We're just trying to enjoy our last few days of quiet before the babies change everything. Shae has another round of appointments on Tuesday so maybe we'll have another update then.

What do you mean 2 more weeks?!?!

I had yet another NST and OB appointment yesterday. I feel like I am there almost every day. I guess it is a good thing I was able to buy a monthly parking pass. Anyways, the actual appointments were not all that eventful. Both babies did well on the NST after I woke them up with some ice. During the NST I get my fluid levels checked to make sure there are no leaks. They do this with an ultrasound machine. While she was looking around, the nurse came across Jack's package and said, "Wow, his boy parts are sure getting big. I hope the rest of him is growing too." That's my boy!

After the test I headed across the street to see Dr. Castillo. As soon as I walked into the office the receptionist looked at me and said, "Still? How can you possibly still be pregnant?" I was wondering that same thing. I finally got to go into the room where the AC was cranked up so high that I was actually cold. I have not felt cold in a very long time. It was kind of a weird feeling. Anyways, the ultrasound machine came out and I guess Jack decided he wanted to talk to his sister because they are both head down now. I have a feeling Jack is going to be a handful! My doctor told me that at this point I have a choice of what I want to do with my delivery. We can let things take their natural course and wait for the whole labor thing, or she can go in and take them out. I told her I just wanted them out! We decided to schedule a date for a c-section. It was not the date I wanted. Apparently we were unable to go back in time and deliver last week. Instead, we are going to be scheduled for either the 6th or 7th of October. It just depends when there is an open room. Do you know how far off that is? 2 weeks! How am I supposed to deal with these things inside of me for another 2 weeks?!? I have a feeling it may be sooner. I have been having some false labor at night while I try to sleep. The only remedy I have found is to sleep in the corner of our sectional. If I am somewhat upright I don't seem to notice anything. My doctor was not too concerned and just told me to watch out for the other signs. I guess other than that, nothing much is going on. For the next 2 weeks, we will be sitting and waiting.

No Babies Yet

Looks like they're going to let me watch the Chargers game. I think I'm gonna like these kids.

The Michelin Woman

On Tuesday Shae had yet another doctor appointment. Actually, she had a non-stress test and a doctor's appointment. A few people have asked what the hell a non-stress test (or a "nst" for the cool people) is. Basically, Shae sits in a chair with three monitors strapped to her belly (one for each baby and one to monitor contractions) and drinks apple juice while listening to the babies' heart beats. Every so often the babies kick the monitors and it sounds like someone is smacking a microphone. This goes on for about 45 minutes or so. Very exciting. On the bright side, I got to read "The War Of The Wizards" (don't worry, the wizards worked it all out in the end) and a Scooby Doo story (don't worry, Scooby and Shaggy got to the bottom of the mystery) while I waited.

Anyway, back to Tuesday's doctor's appointment. After the excitement of last Wednesday we thought we might be scheduling a C-section at the appointment so I tagged along again. After dealing with several crazy old guys trying to run me down in the parking lot I finally made it up to the office. Eventually we got into the little exam room and the nurse took Shae's blood pressure and then told Shae to drop trou and put a sheet on. A while later the doctor came in and we got our normal look at the kids (not nearly as cool as it seemed before we started going to the specialist with the good ultrasound). So far, so good.

Then things got awkward. In a scene reminiscent of a bad trip through customs, the doctor threw on some rubber gloves and went under the sheet. Shae's responses indicated this was not a gentle exam. After about 30 seconds of Shae wincing, the doctor's head popped back out from under the sheet and she said, "Oh yeah, he's not head down so you're having a C-section. I guess we don't really need to do that." We did learn that Shae is about 1.5 cm dilated, which I guess doesn't really mean much at all other than the babies could be coming anytime from soon to a few weeks. We could have figured that out without violating my wife.

After the gloves were taken off we got into how Shae's doing. She's swollen, having headaches (occasionally, not all the time), and basically is getting pretty tired of being pregnant. I guess her blood pressure was higher than normal because they made her lie down and then came back about 15 minutes later and took it again. It must have been OK on the second take because the doctor didn't seem all that concerned. As she was finishing up, she just gave us some general instructions: "Continue bedrest and call us and come right in if she experiences headaches or blurry vision, gets a pain in her right side, or she starts looking like the Michelin woman." The doctor put it all in the computer, told us to make an appointment for next week, and said her goodbyes.

After she left, Shae and I just kind of looked at each other. Our first reaction was the same: "You're/I'm on bedrest?!?" I'm not sure how Shae missed the memo (I'm blaming her since I've been avoiding most of the appoinments lately), but somehow we weren't aware Shae was supposed to be on bedrest. Of course, her version of "active" is pretty much couch-rest so I think we're OK. It also occurred to us we might have trouble spotting the other symptoms as well since she has headaches all the time (pregnant or not) and the pain in her right side is named Ella. As far as the "Michelin woman", all we could come up with for that is the doctor meant to be worried if she woke up white and puffy. Shae and I both agreed that white and puffy pretty much describes her right now so I'm not sure how we'll tell.

So right now we're kind of in a holding pattern. The babies will be 37 weeks on Monday, which according to Shae is "fully baked" so we're hoping to hold out until then. I'm hoping they make it until at least Tuesday because the Chargers play Monday night and I don't want to watch the game on the little hospital room TV.

Here's a pic of Shae at 36.5 weeks. Still looking great. We also uploaded some new pics of the baby room over in the baby stuff gallery.

Home Invasion

I had every intention of sitting down today and writing up one last post about my pregnancy woes, but something happened the other night that changed all that. We had a home invasion. Before you get all worried let me explain. At 4am I had finally fallen back asleep after a trip to the bathroom when I was awakened by something scratching at our window screen. I was a little freaked out so I turned on the lamp next to my bed. This of course woke Pat up. The next thing I knew, something jumped off our window sill, ran across our floor and took sanctuary under the recliner. I told Pat I thought I just saw a mouse on our window sill. He was groggy and a little upset from being woken up and he told me to just go back to sleep.

A few minutes later I actually saw the mouse run up the air conditioner cord and onto the window sill. He stood up on his hind legs and started scratching at the screen again. At this point, I realized two things. 1. This was either a HUGE mouse with super human strength, or a rat. 2. I needed to close the window or else there was going to be a hole in the screen pretty soon. Pat thought it would be a good idea to take the screen off, wait for super mouse to crawl back up and then he would just go out the window. I thought this was a great idea. Pat spent about 10 minutes trying to get the stupid thing off the window before giving up. During this whole mouse/rat ordeal guess what my awesome watch dog was doing. Absolutely nothing! This dog wakes up to every little sound, but as soon as there is something at our window, he sleeps through it. I do have to give him a little credit. He cleaned up after the monster mouse by eating all its dropping off the carpet. This was definitely not a pregnant mouse because there was a lot of droppings.

Anyways, after Pat got back into bed it was about 4:30 and I was wide awake. There was no way I was going to fall asleep with this stupid rat making a ruckus. I knew both Pat and I needed to get some sleep, so I moved into the living where I thought it would be quiet. Boy was I wrong. First of all, our house has an open foundation with hardwood floors and we are not sure the walls are actually insulated. You can hear every little noise! Our bedroom on the other had was added on much later and is very quiet. It makes me very thankful for our bedroom. Ok, by the time I get situated on the couch it is about 4:45. Do you know what happens at our house at 5am? The sprinklers come on. I never realized how loud they really are. We have 3 stations that are sprinklers go through. The whole thing takes about 20 minutes. At 5:20 the sprinklers finally turn off and I feel like I may be able to finally get some sleep. Nope.

Guess what I saw: another super human strength mouse. It ran across the living room floor and behind the curtains that are right next to the couch. How am I supposed to sleep knowing this mouse man is right next to me. I guess it ended up climbing onto the window sill because it dropped down onto the arm of the couch where my head was. After a few choice words for this evil demon, I decided it was just a mouse and it wouldn't kill me. As I lay there thinking I really need to get some sleep, I realized it had been an hour since I last went pee, so up I got and headed for the bathroom. I finished my business and went back to the couch. I looked at the clock and saw that it was 5:50ish. Shit. in 10 minutes round 2 of the sprinklers would be kicking off. I said @#$% it and turned on the tv. I figured Pat would be up soon anyways since the dog never lets us sleep past 6 because thats what time he eats breakfast. Once again I was wrong. Apparently, he lets Pat sleep in until 7. What the hell is wrong with my dog?! During that hour I think I may have actually fallen asleep for about 30 minutes. Don't worry, I was finally able to get some sleep later because it was football day.

I have a doctor appointment tomorrow so we will probably have something to post on the pregnancy front tomorrow.

Checking The Levels

I've always been a procrastinator. In elementary school, I put off reports and projects as long as possible and then got everything done at the last minute. Things didn't get any better in college, I just had to work a little harder at the last minute. At work it's the same thing. Every task gets put off as long as possible until I end up working on about 10 things at once killing myself to get everything done. Shae's a bit of a procrastinator herself. In fact, sometimes she makes it seem like I'm just an amateur compared to her. She puts off doing every little task around the house until everything is a huge job.

Of course everything is completely different with the babies. Shae and I have had everything ready for their arrival for weeks. The nursery is ready, the car seats are installed, and the whole house is clean and ready. Or not. To say we aren't quite ready would be an understatement. Of course, we still have lots of time to get everything set up. Or not.

On Monday night, Shae went in for one of her non-stress tests. I guess something didn't look right because on Tuesday we got a call from the doctor's office saying we needed to go in for an ultrasound. Shae had an appointment with her doctor on Wednesday morning and the ultrasound was scheduled for Wednesday afternoon. We figured there wasn't much to worry about, but just in case I tagged along to the appointments.

There wasn't much unusual about the doctor's appointment at first. The doc asked if everything was OK and took a quick look to see what position they were in (Ella is head down, Jackson's not as cooperative and is all over the place). The fun part came when we asked if there was anything we should tell them to look for in the ultrasound that afternoon. She told us that the babies' AFI (basically, the amniotic fluid level) was low and that it might be time to get the kids out. I guess the levels were low for a "normal" pregnancy, but she wanted the high-risk pregnancy specialist that does the ultrasounds to take a look. At this point, we were starting to think there was a chance we could be parents by bedtime. When the doctor said goodbye and added "Maybe I'll be seeing you guys in a few hours" and told us not to worry about scheduling an appointment for next week since we may not need it, we really went into panic mode.

At this point all Shae and I could think about was all the crap we had been putting off that we had to do in the next five hours. I ran into work and tied up a few loose ends, talked to my supervisor, and basically tried to get everything setup in case I was going to be gone. Shae made a run to Babies R Us to pick up some stuff we needed and packed up the hospital bags we would need if we went right from the appointment to the hospital. Basically, we both spent the time before our appointment in a daze of excitement crossed with what I would call "Oh-crap!-ness". It was an interesting day, to say the least.

So at 3:00 Shae and I were sitting in the ultrasound room thinking of all the crap we didn't get done and trying to figure out how we were going to get ready while the tech was looking at the babies. When she got to the part where they check the fluid levels we both got interested and paid close attention. Since the main reason we were there was that the fluid had been low on Monday night, the tech measured a few extra times. I'm not sure what happened on Monday, but the AFI was right where it was supposed to be on Wednesday afternoon (actually, the fluid levels were pretty high which I guess is good) and we didn't have to go to the hospital for a C-section. So after all of our running around and panicking we were right back where we were on Monday morning: waiting for the kids.

We don't know when the babies are going to get here, but we do know it's going to be soon. Shae has another appointment on Tuesday and we'll probably schedule a C-section for sometime in the next couple of weeks (with Jackson not cooperating with his positioning Shae pretty much has to get a C-section). At least now we have time to do all of the things we have been putting off. On second thought, we still have a week or two, what's on TV?

"I want these little $*@&ers out of me!"
--Shizzle (I think she's ready to meet her babies)

Nesting, Leaking, and Peeing

There hasn't been much new happening on the baby front, but I figured I should go ahead and give an update anyway.

Shae hit 35 weeks pregnant yesterday, so it's getting close. The doctor has always said that she'd like Shae to get to 37 weeks, 36 weeks would be nice, and she wouldn't stop them at 35. I don't know exactly what that means except that 35 weeks is way too soon. Between non-stress tests, weekly checkups, ultrasounds, and whatever else I may have forgotten it seems like Shae visits a doctor's office or hospital almost every day. At any one of these they could decide it's time for the kids to come out, so I'm starting to get the impression I'm actually going to have kids. Soon. Shae has a trip to the doc and an ultrasound scheduled for tomorrow so there should be some updated news.

An update on the prego:

• She pees something like 6000 times a day. I've given up ever getting through a TV show without pausing for a pee-break. A movie is completely out of the question. She says it has something to do with two babies taking turns squeezing her bladder.
• About a week ago, Shae informed me that her boobs were leaking. Uhh...gross. That's all I've got on that topic.
• Shae tells me that when we started dating her measurements were something like 36-27-36. Just for fun, she took her measurements a few days back. The results: 40-47-40. Shae thought I should share that.
  
• The other night it almost happened. I almost had to get up and sleep on the couch. I know I snore a bit, but I can't come close to competing with pregnant Shae snoring. At one point I had Shae snoring on my left and Lunchbox barking in his sleep on my right. I kept waiting for them to wake each other up. Never happened. Snore, bark, snore, bark, snore, bark...
  
• Yesterday I came home from work to find the laundry hamper almost empty, the bed covered in clean, folded laundry, and missing buttons replaced on about five of my shirts. I think this is what they call nesting. I've been trying to get Shae to do some laundry and fix my shirts for almost two years. So, all I have to do to get my shirts fixed is put up with constant peeing, leaking boobs, and eardrum shattering snoring. Oh, and spend the next 20-something years of my life taking care of kids. Totally worth it; I was getting really low on shirts.

That's all for now. Hopefully we'll have some more info soon.

"*SNIFF* My cleavage smells like mac and cheese. *SNIFF* No hot dogs though." --Shizzle