Over another week has passed and instead of writing, the majority of my energy has gone to waiting, waiting, waiting. It is barely believable that I've made it to full term. 37 weeks is such an accomplishment with twins.
So everyone that thought I would make it to the bitter end, well, those people have better instincts than I do regarding my own body. The only thing reminding me how believable 37 weeks with twins is would be my extreme discomfort. I sleep an hour at a time and wake either to heave myself over to the other side, or to use the restroom. I've started to retain water (which is really pretty good for this late in any pregnancy) and my rings are now very tight on my sausage like fingers. My maternity clothes are all too short and nothing covers my entire belly, so I roll around most of the day wearing pre-pregnancy "fat" pants and tank tops with 3 to 4 inches of belly showing. I am constantly hot and it is almost impossible to get up from a sitting position.
The other constant reminder of 37 weeks with twins is the very obvious and incredible movement of these boys. I know they are still probably on the small side for their gestational age, but they feel HUGE to me. My belly has a life of its own, or maybe I should say two lives. I can feel limbs and feet, backs and butts, knees and elbows through my skin. My skin feels so thin at this point, I feel like they could push through my belly button. When I have a contraction, which is frequent, my uterus wraps tightly around each baby and you can see their basic shape and placement in my misshapen belly. Its all very bizarre.
For days I've had contractions for hours at a time, so at my doctor appointment on Monday, the doctor checked my progress. Still dilated to 1 1/2 cm, but I am now almost fully effaced and baby A (he does now have a name but I might as well wait to announce it) is low, low, low. We went ahead and scheduled and induction date of a week from today, May 25th, at 38 weeks. The doctor thinks that if I don't go before this date, they may not even need to give me Pitocin to start contractions, but just need to break my water. I am that close to having these babies.
The irony is that I've been close to having the babies for weeks now, but they are still hanging on in there. John and I had a chuckle this week thinking that I could be one of a very few to experience pre-term labor at 29 weeks only to have to be induced 9 weeks later at 38 weeks. I would love for the babies to choose their own birthday instead of me choosing it for them, not to mention the fact that I am just ready for this to happen, so I hope labor starts any day now. I am fairly convinced that the babies are healthy and if NICU time is needed it would be for something other than being born early.
That being said, I hope my next post comes soon and the subject line includes the word "Birthday." I am ready, John is more than ready, and I think even my little p-nut girl knows something in her life is about to change. In the meantime, I'll just be here waiting, waiting, waiting - at most for one more week.
No comments:
Post a Comment