Day by Day

Because of recent developments,  we might not be looking at having the twins in the 3-6 week timeframe - as we had last thought - but rather, sometime within the next couple of weeks. We would be extremely lucky – and grateful – if our boys made it to 34 weeks. Regardless of when they come, though, it’s inevitable that they will need to spend some time in the NICU.

We won’t be able to take our kids home with us. Carrie might not even be able to hold them after they are born. What’s worse is that I would have to follow the first kid to the NICU, leaving my wife alone in the operating room to give birth and recover. As mentally ready as we might be for these possible eventualities, there really aren’t any words of consolation that can be said, no comfort that can be offered, that makes up for the enormity of what is to come.

For right now, we are treating each and every day that our sons are in the womb as a gift to both us, and to them; perhaps that will be one less day that they spend in the NICU, one day less that they spend away from the place that their loving parents call home, one day less that we, their loving parents, won’t have their kicking, cooing, cuddling, crying selves safe with us in our happy abode.

Boujey, part deux

A couple of weeks ago, I (halfheartedly) lamented my own slide into the depths of the poor-man's yuppiedom that had been accomplished with the single act of hiring a cleaning service on a biweekly basis.

I still had further to go... ;)

Before the two of us started going out in 2007, Carrie had subscribed to an organics delivery service called Pioneer Organics. They were bought out by Spud! shortly after we suspended our deliveries due to our changing tastes, and the fact that we wanted to be a bit more flexible when it came to our purchasing of food (we didn't want to have to plan what we were going to eat a week ahead of time).

Fast forward two years and two (rapidly approaching) births later, and we've rethought our position on the matter. See, my schedule these days pretty much consists of getting up in the morning, going for a run, grabbing a quick breakfast, going into work, getting off at 5, coming home, getting the house (and Axia) tended to, making dinner, eating dinner, and going to visit Carrie in the hospital, getting home around ten at night. I just don't have that much time to spend on shopping and making complicated meals, especially since my weekends are spent getting the house ready for our kids.

So, we decided to, not only go back to ordering organic fruits and vegetables through Spud!, but also order entire meals through Designed Dinners. That way, all I have to do is reheat the simple meals from Designed Dinners while preparing veggies (I like to stick  to collards or chard, with the occasional bit of spinach thrown in) and starch (tonight, it will be potatoes). I don't have to spend a lot of time gathering ingredients together.

Okay, maybe not so boujey after all. Maybe the slide hasn't started even yet.

One can hope...

Nicu Tour

Yesterday, Carrie and I took a tour of the NICU at Swedish. The person conducting the tour did a lot to help assure us that, in the unfortunate case that our kids end up there, they will be well taken care of, and that the staff is used to dealing with babies who have been born as early as twenty weeks. It was still a pretty emotional event, seeing all of those really small children in there. However, I’m not personally too worried about either one of our kids ending up there; Carrie is at 30 weeks, and our kids are well ahead of the curve when it comes to both size and weight.

Only time will tell, though.

Thirty

30 weeks down - eight more (at the most) to go!

Carrie’s been in the hospital for the past couple of weeks. For a couple of days, she’s had pretty severe contractions, but the staff at Swedish has managed to get it under control by adjusting her medication. She’s due to go in for an ultrasound on Friday; if everything looks fine, there’s a good chance that she’ll be coming home this weekend.

Both of the kids are doing fine; both are close to being 4 pounds apiece, which, for twins at this stage, is pretty amazing! They’re becoming more active, and even responding to music; I’ve yet to expose them to Miles Davis, Dave Brubeck, People Under the Stairs, Ministry, King’s X or Rush, but so far they do move to Emmylou Harris and are kind of blasé when it comes to the White Stripes.

Single Digit Midget

Yesterday, we passed a pretty signifigant milestone - and we get to pass another one next week!

Normal pregnancies are said to last 40 weeks; however, since Carrie is having twins, two weeks are deducted from that figure since carrying around two good-sized babies presents a risk to the mother, and babies can be born that early anyway (normally) without complications.

So - yesterday, we broke the "Ten weeks remaining" mark, and passed 29 weeks, which means - nine weeks to go, at the most!

This has been a hard and stressful time for Carrie. She's been in and out of the hospital, and has had to accept significant changes to what she had previously depended upon as being her daily routine and normal surroundings.

But - even more importantly - we can't wait to see our two beautiful baby boys! Before too long (and it could be as close as five more weeks), we'll get to hold them in our arms - two squealing, cooing, crying humans who will be forever linked to and loved by the two of us.

In case you are wondering about the title, when I was in the Navy, some of my shipmates (particularly if we were stationed at a horrible posting or they were getting close to either retiring or getting out) would eagerly count down the number of days they had until they were able to leave. When that number was less than ten, they would refer to themselves as being a "Single Digit Midget".

Correcting the disconnect

Yesterday,m when Carrie read my post, she said that it seemed to be disconnected - an opinion that I agree with, since, in my laziness, I had mashed an update on her condition with an existing draft regarding my latest runs. Not the most seamless of transitions.

So...

Currently (and forever, I hope!!!) , Carrie is doing well.  She had been bleeding on Friday night, which raised enough concern that I took her to the hospital for her to get checked out. She was admitted early Saturday morning. There were issues with her cervix length and the amount of amniotic fluid present in twin 'A's gestational sac. She had an ultrasound yesterday that showed an improvement on both fronts, but the doctors want to keep her in the hospital for a few more days until they can be sure of stability in both areas.

She is currently at 29 weeks. We both have a feeling that the doctors may want to keep her in the hospital until 34 weeks, which is the safest point at which the twins can be born. That means in five weeks, we could both be meeting our beautiful children in real life for the first time!

We've gotten ultrasound pictures of both kids. From what we can see, twin B has a lot of hair (just like I did when I was born), and has the mother's chin, while twin A may or may not have hair, but has the father's chin. I personally think that they both have their mother's nose, but that's just me ;)