That’s right – another doc appointment and all is exactly as it was last week. That’s a good thing. More growing means healthier babies!

I am stopping the anti-contraction meds this week (per the doc’s orders), and things may progress. However, the extra rest and time off my feet may buy us time until our originally scheduled delivery of Nov. 1. Guess we’ll have to wait and see.

It is a bit frustrating to be so helpless, but fortunately I have help around the house. I know that staying off my feet for 99% of the day is for all the right reasons, but it doesn’t make it any easier to have to point and plead for the littlest things. I won’t be the only one happy when I can be up and around again.

We’ve passed the point where the doctor was worried that they would be too early. She has assured us that they can arrive any point now and she is not as concerned as before. Of course, the more cooking time, the better. Some of their last developments are their abilities to feed and breathe. Pretty critical skills – and skills that could keep them in the NICU and keep them from coming home with us right away. I’m getting kind of used to them being with me all the time, so I would hate to have to leave them behind, even for a couple of days.

Next week we get another sono, which means we get to see how much more they’ve grown. Here’s hoping we make it to next week!

Next Appointment: October 23

This week we had a bonus sonogram that showed two babies growing bigger every day. Baby A was 5 lbs 6 ozs and Baby B was 5 lbs 7 ozs. Yep, that’s a lot of baby! Another reason I have to fight gravity.

My blood pressure issues also became more serious. After three days of going in for the nurses to check my numbers, the doc has instructed me to stay horizontal. So the bedrest gets a little more serious. When I sit up, my blood pressure jumps up to hypertension zone, and when I lie down it comes back to normal.

She will be keeping me on the anti-contraction meds until next Tuesday (10/16). After that it’s up to the Bentley Twins to decide when they would like to debut. If they don’t come on their own before Nov. 1, then I will show up for my scheduled c-section.

We’re finalizing names (hard to do with two babies and surprise genders), and I’m doing a lot of pointing and saying please and thank you. The nursery is 90% done and my hospital bag is packed. We’d like another week to be more confident that the babies would be big enough to come home from the hospital with me, but we’ll take what we can get.

I’d better get back to being horizontal…

Next Appointment: October 16

Not much new to report except that gravity is still not my friend, nor is sleeping (I figure that’s God preparing me), or being comfortable 90 percent of the time. Not a bad price to pay, I suppose!

I have dilated a tad more and the doc and I have agreed that five days at home is a better plan for my work schedule. I am going to the office tomorrow to work out the details and pass some projects along to my teammates. I will still be able to do about 95 percent of my job from home and save some valuable vacation time for after the babies arrive. I am still having some swelling and blood pressure issues, but I truly believe most of that is related to the effort it takes for me to get from point A to point B and not necessarily the work I do when I get there. So point B will become the couch with a laptop for the next couple of weeks.

The doc scheduled an extra sonogram for next Monday to get a look at the babies one more time. I had one scheduled for Oct. 25, but she is afraid they will already be out and about by then (oh my!). It will be nice to see how much more they’ve grown, and an extra peek never hurt anybody!

The nursery is coming along beautifully. It is painted and polka-dotted thanks to some wonderful help! The furniture arrived yesterday and hopefully big, strong Brian will get it arranged soon and I’ll post a pic for those who are just waiting on the edges of their seats! I know you’re out there…

Next Appointment: October 8

Yesterday was another doc appointment, and this one included a sonogram. I have been so lucky to have monthly sonograms, but it felt like it had been ages since my last one. I guess that’s because of all the excitement we had last month. The thought that these little ones could come sooner rather than later made me wonder just how big they were and how they would do. Fortunately yesterday’s appointment cleared some of those worries.

Baby A is weighing in at 4 lbs 12 oz, and Baby B is 4 lbs 9 oz. For you math whizzes out there, you’ve figured out that I’m carrying almost nine and a half pounds of baby! This helps to explain some of my “complications” lately. It was explained to me yesterday that my body can tell there is a nine and a half pounder in there and it thinks it’s time to let go and deliver. My body doesn’t realize it’s actually two smaller babies. So I am working on defying gravity.

The doc was very encouraged by the babies’ size, although she’d like them to be bigger and wants at least three more weeks if I can give them to her. I’m on board with that, now we just have to convince my body. My blood pressure was a tad high, so she’s watching that again. It’s just hard work to grow babies.

The doc did another preterm labor test and the results came in negative again. Remember, that’s positive. It means there’s only a ten percent chance I’ll go into labor in the next two weeks. She cleared me to continue on my three days working at home and two days in the office as long as that’s ALL I do. Of course, she’ll change that if my blood pressure continues to rise, or if I start to dilate again. I am still taking anti-contraction medicine and it seems to be working. The contractions are minimal and mostly happen when I am doing too much activity. Duh! I guess it’s harder for me to slow down than I thought it would be. Who would’ve ever thought walking from the kitchen to the bedroom would be too much activity?!?!

Just like the last sono, we weren’t able to get any good pics. Too many limbs in the way. Baby B is breech again and Baby A is just waiting to jump out. Baby A appears to have some hair, but Baby B is still a bit bald. Amazing stuff to see!

The nursery is coming together nicely. It’s pretty motivating to hear that I only have five weeks left – at the most! Can’t wait to meet them!

Next Appointment: October 2

We’ve had quite a bit of activity since the last post. All of my posts are sunshine and roses…babies are so big…I’m puking and I don’t care…all the fingers and toes are there…blah, blah, blah. Well this week it got exciting!

Last week I had some bad headaches. It happened last month, and the doctor gave me some drugs to shake it. This time the drugs weren’t working. Apparently I have stress and tension in my life. I don’t profess to be the most stressed out person with the most stressed out life. Puh-leez! Frankly, I’ve had it fairly easy. But apparently my “easy” stress is easy for my body to handle when that’s all it has to worry about. Add growing two babies to the list, and my body fights back with headaches. Headaches lead to high blood pressure – I don’t care for pain – and that lands me at the doctor on Friday to figure out what the heck is wrong.

Her first solution was that it might be time to stop working. What?!? I started to cry – not because I feel a deep dedication to the CPAs in Texas that far surpasses my commitment to healthy babies, but because I wasn’t ready to stop working. So we talked and compromised with a three days at home, two days in the office schedule. I still have to hammer that out with the powers that be, but so far it looks workable.

But even after that negotiation, I still had a headache and blood pressure to deal with. So she sent me to labor and delivery for a shot of demoral and an hour of watch and wait. If the demoral kicked the pain and the blood pressure came down, I would be free to go to enjoy my weekend of no stress. Good news – demoral kicked the pain and my blood pressure came back into a normal range. It was still high compared to my norms, but not as bad as it had been. So all better, right? Not exactly…

About an hour after the demoral shot, the nurse came in and asked if I was feeling those contractions. Yep, I was. I was blocking it, but they were there. And not only that, after my doc stopped in to check on me, I learned I was also dilating. Cue the blood pressure.

The doc admitted me for the night so they could give me hourly shots to stop the show for a while. By 2:00 Saturday afternoon I was given the all clear to come home, but put on strict no stress bedrest and given pills to take every 4-6 hours to keep labor at bay. I had to wait until my Tuesday appointment to see if this was doing any good.

So I tried to lay low. I did a pretty good job. My office sent over a laptop so I could relax by feeling like I had a handle on some deadlines I left on Friday. I was able to work while reclining on the couch. All the while saving some valuable vacation time. My house is a nice, quiet, stress-free zone and I did everything I could to keep it that way.

Yesterday I went to visit the doc. The blood pressure is still high for me, but ok by “normal” standards. I haven’t dilated any more since Friday, and the pills seem to be doing their job. She did one more test to tell us what my risk of preterm labor would be in the next two weeks.

Today the results came back negative – which is positive! That means I only have a 10% chance of going into labor in the next two weeks – if I mind my p’s and q’s. She approved the three days working at home and two days working in the office, and instructed me to chill out any time in between that. My appointments are now weekly and she’ll check my progress next Wednesday to be sure I’m still in the clear. Her plan so far is to leave me on the meds with this new schedule and the goal of eliminating all stress from my life until week 35 (October 11). After that, it’s up to the babies to decide when they would like to make their debut.

If you’ve made it through all of this commentary, I applaud your dedication! Thank you for caring about us. Brian and I have had loads of people offer to help, and we appreciate every offer. Hopefully the next couple of weeks will be low key and the next post will be short and sweet!

Next Appointment: September 19

Last week brought another visit to the doc. At the time of the visit I was 28 1/2 weeks pregnant. Both babies are measuring 30 weeks in size (about 3 pounds each) and my belly is measuring at 34 weeks. Yikes! The doc says I could measure up to 45 weeks when this is all said and done! 40 weeks is the “normal” pregnancy with one baby. She also made another “scary” prediction – that these babies could be up to 7 pounds each! Watch out…I’m seeing years of “do you have any idea how big you were when you were born and what I went through to get you here?”

With all these great measurements I asked the doc if she thinks I’ll make it to our scheduled c-section date of Nov. 1. After a smart quip about her lack of a crystal ball, she told me my first milestone to hit is 35 weeks (October 11). Once I hit that target she’ll watch my blood pressure and be sure one baby isn’t “stealing” nourishment from the other and then we’ll have a better idea on how long they’ll stay put. The good news there is that my blood pressure has been great, and so far both babies are exactly the same size. It is not uncommon for one twin to show dominance and start “stealing” all of the food. Unfortunately, the only way to stop that behavior is to deliver the babies. We’ll hope they both stay oblivious to each other and keep growing like only children. As long as they don’t behave that way when they arrive!

The downside to bigger babies is that the sono pics aren’t good anymore. There isn’t much room for them to strike a pose, so we’re left with some odd pictures of limbs covering faces. Both babies are now head down, which means my ribs are taking a beating with each kick-fest. Not a bad price to pay.

My glucose test came back great – no gestational diabetes – bring on the donuts! My iron was a tad low making me slightly anemic, and I’ve had to add an iron supplement to my diet. No biggie in the grand scheme of things.

Another good report from the good doctor. Two more every other week visits and then we move to weekly visits. I guess I’d better get started on that junk room we’ve been calling the nursery!

Next appointment: September 11

Ok, so it wasn’t really that I wanted a tour of the labor and delivery area last Sunday, but it was nice to get a sneak peek. How’s that for looking on the bright side? I woke up last Sunday having some minor issues. Had they occurred on a weekday, I would have simply visited my doctor for a quick look-see. However, problems on the weekend are addressed by the on-call doc who tells you to just go to labor and delivery to be monitored. All was well and all continues to be well. The nurses and my doctor assured me that I did the right thing by calling and told me to do the same thing if I need to. Let’s hope I don’t need to. Poor Brian had to endure my panic from California. That’s when we realized how far away he really is every weekend. After eight hours, lots of baby heartrate monitoring and a bonus sonogram, I felt much better. There I go again, looking on the bright side!

I visited the doc last Wednesday for my glucose test. I was also supposed to get my Rhogam shot (for being Rh-), but that was another bonus I got last Sunday at the hospital. So I drank the yummy orange drink and now I’m waiting for the results. Each baby is now over two pounds, and Baby B has inched into the lead at 2 pounds 4 ounces.

Mom came up for the weekend to pick fabric for the bedding. It sure is going to be cute! The room that will be the nursery is still a wreck, but everyday I get a little closer to being motivated to get in there and clean it out. I better get myself in gear soon! Time is flying…

Next Appointment: August 28

Last week brought another visit to the doctor and another good report on Baby A, Baby B, and mom. We saw our first signs of sibling rivalry during the sonogram as Baby B literally rubbed it’s tiny baby butt on Baby A’s head. Luckily they are separated by a strong membrane, but Baby A was doing its darnedest to get out of the way.

The sono tech told us that twins tend to grow a little smaller than singletons because of space restrictions. Apparently this rule of thumb does not apply to the Bentley Twins as both are growing as if the other one wasn’t there at all. That’s a good thing – the bigger the better. I can say that because I’m having a c-section. Each baby weighed in right under two pounds. And according to the gender-secret-keeping sono girl, their organs and other measurements couldn’t be more perfect.

Baby A was very cooperative when it comes to having pictures taken (must take after me), but Baby B is facing my back so it was a little tougher to catch the little butt-rubber and get good pics (must take after Brian). You’ll see that one of the sono pics shows the end of Baby B’s spine (the booty) and the top of Baby A’s head. Nice.

Next came mom’s check-up with the doctor. Even though I am 25 weeks pregnant, my tummy is measuring at 29-30 weeks. That is NOT because of the ice cream, Sonic burgers or chocolate donuts. That is typical of a twin pregnancy – especially if the babies are growing as well as ours are. This helps explain why pregnancies with multiples are usually shorter than singleton pregnancies. So what does that all mean? The doc would like me to make it to week 37 (as opposed to week 40 in a “normal” pregnancy). This moves our expected arrival date back into October, but I keep telling the twins to hold on as long as they can! Luckily my job doesn’t require alot of heavy lifting or physical exertion (other than occasional trips to the deli downstairs for some ice cream), so as long as I pay attention and take it easy I should have no problem making it to week 37.

My visits to the doctor run about three hours on average. She’s in high demand and worth the wait, but sometimes it means Brian can only stay for the sonogram before he has to head back to work. This time he was able to stay the whole time and hear the heartbeats. That was very cool! He also made sure the doc referred to the twins as Dirk and LeBron during his visit. What a good sport she is!

Our visits are now scheduled for every two weeks until we get closer to the big day. I still only get sonograms every four weeks, but that’s more than most mommies, so I’ll take it! Next time I have my glucose test (better watch those chocolate donuts for breakfast) and my Rhogam shot (for being Rh-). Sounds like a party, huh?

Until then, enjoy the latest sono pics!

Next Appointment: August 15