29 Weeks!

I was talking with my friend Arly the other day (the one who is 11 days ahead of me in her pregnancy...she's also having a boy, named Nathan, ha ha ha!) and we couldn't help but marvel at the fact that we're already in our 3rd trimesters, when it seems like just yesterday that we were totally excited about being 10 weeks along!

Sorry this post has been so long in coming, but I'm really getting to the point where I can only sit up for so long before my ribs, sides, and back start hurting like crazy. Tylenol and a heating pad are the only things standing between me and going slightly crazy. As it is, I've taken to sleeping most of the night on the couch, simply because there I can wedge myself halfway between sleeping on my back and sleeping on my side, which seems to take pressure off of my hips. I've finally convinced Nathan that this isn't a personal thing, that I really would like to sleep next to him in our bed, and that it's actually pretty normal for pregnant women to be more comfortable sleeping somewhere besides the bed.

Our appointment on Tuesday with our OB here in Baker went really well. I think he was really surprised to see us back, but in a good way. The good news is that they are able to do the fibronectin test here in Baker, as well as keep an eye on my cervix, so we won't have to be driving to Boise every two weeks. I'm now on modified bed rest which, as Smithson put it, means "take it easy". Works for me, there's only so much moving around I can do before I am needing to be horizontal with my heating pad again.

Smithson seems to think that these boys won't stay in much past 34 weeks, and I can't help but agree with him. For some reason, I actually think they're going to show up sometime between 32 weeks and 34 weeks. Which would mean...we have 3-5 weeks to finish preparing to bring two baby boys home with us! If we make it to 34 weeks and everything looks pretty straight forward, Smithson said he wouldn't have a problem with them being delivered here. Any time before that, we'll be going to St. Luke's in Boise. Sounds like a plan to me.

As for the boys themselves, I think Levi is still head down like he was at our last ultrasound in Portland, and I'm pretty darn sure that Asher still has himself wedged across my tummy and up in my ribs. So I'm really hoping that Asher will cooperate in the next couple of weeks and shift around to be head down also...a natural delivery sounds better and better, as long as it comes with a side of epidural. Don't think less of me for so easily resorting to drugs...let me see you push two big boys out without drugs and then I will listen to your opinion. If the boys are still growing at their last rate of about 1 oz/day, then they probably now weigh right around 3 lbs 2 oz or so...each. Then again, don't babies put on weight faster in the 3rd Trimester?

I am still absolutely loving being home, where I can be as relaxed as possible and where Nathan can be a part of this last bit of pregnancy. I just have a couple of concerns: first, there is only one more childbirth class offered in Baker this year. It's a series of 4 classes, starting Oct 6th and ending Oct 27th....somehow I'm not sure the boys will still be unborn by the time those classes are over. Second, we were planning on buying a breast pump at Emanuel after giving birth....I'm sure we could do the same thing at St Luke's if we end up going there, but what about here at St. Elizabeth? Because if we buy it through a hospital, our insurance will cover 80% of the cost, whereas if we buy it anywhere else, they will cover less of it. And third, how the heck do we register for giving birth if we really don't know where the delivery is going to happen?

Thankfully, I think these questions may be able to be answered when we take a tour of the birth center at St. Elizabeth this evening. Who knows if we'll actually deliver here, but at least if we do, we'll know what we're walking into! As for making a "birth plan"....ha ha ha, good luck making any sort of plan when everything is so up in the air! I think this is just further driving home God's lesson that He has everything in control and we're in control of absolutely nothing.

In other news, yesterday Nathan and I went to my work to pick up my pay stubs and ended up talking to my boss for a while...at which point he told us the awesome news that I have currently received over 2 months worth of donated leave from the three departments in our building! And he expects more to be coming in!!! Combine that with the paid leave I still have left, and that's right around three months worth of paid leave at this time...wow! I can't even tell you how huge of a burden that is off of our shoulders! And the really exciting part...that means that I should have enough paid leave to get me through to the end of the year, making it possible for me to spend the holidays at home with my new family, which is something I've really been praying could happen. Talk about being provided for. It's pretty humbling to think of the generosity everyone has shown us through this whole thing.

So all in all, life is very good.