23 week belly shot.

LIfe update.

Things are going well here....other than having a blood pressure scare yesterday. I've been checking my blood pressure at home. It's been better than ever. Work on Monday and Tuesday was NO FUN. Finally, after both my lunch breaks were given, I sat down at my friend, Liana's, demands to have my blood pressure checked.....no good. It was 160/71. Higher than it's ever been. So, I call my doctor's office and wait to hear the plan. They tell me to go home, lay on my left side and drink lots of water. Along with the increased blood pressure, my fingers and toes are sausages. Luckily I still have my ankles.....
Anyway, I'm a little emotional...not sure why, other than to blame pregnancy hormones. I head home to set up camp in bed. Unfortunately, Chad is planning to fly out of state for work. I call him to let him know what's up. Of course he doesn't want to leave. I tell him I'm being proactive rather than reactive and the office could have easily told me to head upstairs to OB triage. Luckily they didn't.
I check my blood pressure once I get home and upstairs. Amazingly, it's 115/65. I spend the rest of the night in bed, laying on my left side as much as possible.
This morning, I had a doctor's appointment at 9:30am. My blood pressure is 132/82, weight is up 13 pounds from prepregnancy weight. She's not too concerned. I ask about work, and she wonders if I can hold out until I'm 24 weeks. There is no possibly way I can do that. I've been struggling through the shorter shift as it is.....luckily she agrees to take me off work. I need to speak up for the babies! I need them to cook as long as possible. So, I'm off work, waiting for the paperwork to get FMLA and short term disability rolling. I called my boss and explained things to her.
Why is it so hard as a nurse to advocate for your self yet it comes as second nature to advocate for your patient? I've never understood that about nurses, and I definately fit into the category. Since I have two little ones to watch out for, it made it easier to speak up. Otherwise I think I would have continued to suffer through work and pay the price once I got home each night.
My laptop is acting up, or I'd share some pictures. I think it's been overheating. I ordered a cooling tray, so hope that helps matters.
Later,
Jennie

At least I don't have c-ankles.....yet.

I woke this morning to very swollen fingers, so swollen I cannot remove my wedding ring. I knew I should have removed it before going to bed last night. My toes are even little sausages, darn it! My blood pressure is up slightly, so will have to keep an eye on it. I've been drinking lots of water to hopefully flush out the extra fluid. No luck yet.
On top of the swelling, I'm having carpal tunnel symptoms of both hands while sleeping. I'm so glad I had surgery to fix my right carpal tunnel, or I'd be ready to cut off my hand. The discomfort is nothing compared to what I was dealing with before surgery. Hopefully wearing a brace will help.
I'm still tired. No surprise, huh? The six hour work day is going ok, though not sure how much longer that will be possible. Time will tell. Luckily the budget is worked out and things will work out in the end.
Chad is taking a nap and I'm going to snuggle down for one, too. I'll share pictures next time.....
later, Jennie

20 week update.

I had a doctor appointment today with my regular OB. She said things look great and I see her again in 4 weeks. Let's just hope the babies behave! Both heart beats sounded great, one a bit faster than the other. The baby with the faster heart rate was moving around a bit, too! Do you think the decaf venti iced white chocolate mocha had anything to do with it???? Luckily I'm not feeling any affects of the minute amount of caffeine in the decaf espresso.
I took a few belly shots. I think I'm finally showing some baby belly. My fundus is RIGHT below the bottom of my xyphoid process (the pointy part at the bottom of the sternum). I guess that's why I'm not all that hungry and I'm more burpy than normal. I'm measuring 24 weeks right now.....it will be intersting to see how far ahead of normal I measure as the pregnancy progressed. At my last appointment, my fundus was right at my umbilicus, so it's grown a ton already!
My mom asked how big the babies were and I read last night where they should be. They should weigh about a pound and the size of a Barbie doll. The whole reference to a Barbie doll kind of confused me.......Maybe a pudgy parbie doll, huh? :-)

I discussed work options with the doctor. Luckily, I am not unstable and can still work. We are going to look into cutting back hours and possibly getting a different position (either for 40 hours a week or part time in the OR and part time at a different position). I'm going to talke to my supervisor tomorrow to see if I would still qualify as a full time employee if I work six hour days. I'm sure that would make a huge difference in how I feel. Need to increase the days I'm taking iron, also......just don't enjoy the side effects! But, since my hemoglobin is normally low normal, I need to try to get ahead of the game a bit.

Friday Chad and I head to the high risk OB for the level 2 ultrasound. Should be an interesting appointment. I'll update again after the appointment!

Later, Jennie

Thanks x 2 to Sharon!

I returned home today to a package at the front door! What a great surprise when I opened up the box. My online scrapping friend, Sharon, sent these beautiful baby blankets! Aren't they beautiful? I may add some pink or blue ribbon to each to keep track of Baby Boy and Baby Girl's blanket!
Thank you so much Sharon. I love them and they will be cherished for sure!
Jennie

Half way there......

It's hard to believe I will be entering the twentieth week of pregnancy on Friday. Where did the time go???? Things are going well. I did enjoy some nice Braxton Hicks contractions starting around 1:30pm at work yesterday. I got home, took a nap on the couch and enjoyed some more contractions.....no fun at all. Oh...and I slept about 12 hours yesterday. Still tired......

I see my OB on Monday, so will see what she has to say about the progress.

We will have a level 2 ultrasound on May 11th. During this ultrasound, an detailed look of the major organs will be taken to ensure Buford and Matilda are growing as planned and without any problems. Chad is taking a half day off work that day, so will join me for the show. I'm expecting it to take 2 hours, depending on how the babies behave.

I'm tired, so very tired. You haven't heard that before, have you?

Not sure if I've mentioned it, but my husband deserves the husband and father-to-be award of the year. You would not believe how lucky I am to have him. When I apologize for not having energy to help him around the house, he tells me it's ok, I'm growing two babies and giving him children. How sweet is that?

Ok, someone is jumping on my bladder.....need to take care of that. I don't even know which one to blame!

later, Jennie