Berry Berry Busy

welcome

Our twin girls arrived a little early at 33 weeks and 4 days. They're getting bigger day by day since they blessed us with their arrival. This blog is to document their amazing feats since we know they'll grow up entirely too fast.

Week 31 Doctors Appointment


Sonogram:
Can you believe the girls are still changing locations!  Baby A has shifted to a breech position with her feet constantly dancing on my bladder and her noggin is angled to my left side. Baby B is oblique transverse and is folded in half with her head angled toward my lower right side and bootey around my belly button.  The girls had lots of fluid in their sacs still, but are definitely cramped for space.  It was really hard to get a decent picture of them since they are so smushed, but we were able to see little A berry kick little B berry in the noggin.  The sibling rivalry is back in full swing!

Sibling Rivalry pic

Baby A Face
HB 135
Weight 3 lbs 14 oz

Baby B Face

HB 153
Weight 3 lbs 8 oz

Visiting with the Dr.:
The doctor was quite pleased with the way things are looking.  My cervical length hasn't changed since he last saw us, which is great news!  We were a little worried since the past week had been pretty busy.  He said that now that we're past 31 weeks he'll still be checking the length, but we're past the point he was really concerned about :-D  He was happy with the weight gain and my blood pressure.  We talked to him about the braxton hicks contractions I've been having.  They happen several times a day, but nothing's been painful (just uncomfortable).  He told us what to look for that might indicate something more and told us to give him a call if any of those things happen.  All in all things are great.  Momma berry is a little more tired each day, but she gets two more weeks of going to work (which means I get two more weeks with the girls after their born - so yippee!!!)

Next appointment is June 7th at 3:30pm (one month from D-day) :-D

Dallas Shower


I have got to say we have the most wonderful, generous, and talented friends in the world.  We had so much fun at our shower this past weekend.  They had a woodlands theme for us and coordinated everything wonderfully around that theme. 

Food:  All the food was labeled according to the theme (like the punch was the Fox's watering hole - how cute!).  There was even a hedgehog shaped cheese log!  All the food and drinks were wonderful.  They even had a little yogurt parfait bar!  Miss Emily Tillman was even commissioned for the cupcakes - oh she makes the best cakes/cupcakes in the world!  What a treat!

Activities:  Since my mobility was a little restricted I got to mainly sit in the most comfy Ruggle's chair and visit most of the time.  They had some really fun activities though - a onesie decorating table, a baby food in diaper game, a guess who this baby is game, and a team relay that involved putting diapers on a Raggedy Ann doll and then pushing the doll in a stroller through an obstacle coarse.  Everyone seemed to have a great time socializing and participating in all the fun.

My mom was able to fly in on Friday for our shower too, which was awesome.  Grandee (as my mother would like the girls to call her) had so much fun getting to meet everyone.  She also enjoyed washing all the little girl clothes you all generously gifted us with while she was here :-D

Everyone was so very, very generous!  Our little girls are already so very spoiled (not only by your gifts, but by all your kind wishes and prayers for them).  Thanks to you all we're almost ready ready for their arrival.  We were so happy to see everyone.  All of the Tberry family is so blessed to have such a wonder base of support.  We'd like to send out a special thank you to the lovely hostesses - Annita, Elizabeth, Michelle, Racheal, and Randi - it was one of the most special days we've ever experienced.  We love you all!

31 Week Belly Profile Pic


Hospital Tour


This past Sunday Seth and I were able to take a little tour of the maternity ward at Presby Plano and were really happy with what we saw.  Since the tour was over an hour long, I had to swallow my pride a bit and let Seth push me in one of their wheelchairs to make sure I didn't overdo it.

General hospital:
As far as the general location of the hospital it is West of the Tollway, South of Parker Road.  Our tour started in the main lobby where we would enter the hospital (provided the girl's arrival wasn't an emergency situation).  The emergency entrance is located on the East side of the main campus, off of Communications.  Parking is free at the hospital (unless you opt to valet - that's $4).  They also have a free parking garage off of Parker Road if covered parking is desired (it's free as well).  The hospital has a security system set up to ensure that the babies don't leave with unauthorized people so that is reassuring.  There's ample waiting area and some places for children to play while people wait on all of the floors (it looks like the 4th floor area has the most kid friendly areas though).  They have a level 3 NICU which is comforting (hopefully we won't need it, but it's nice to know that they have one should we need it).  Also we were told that the cafeteria has been rated and should actually have some decent food available :-D

Third Floor - Mother's Store, Antipartom, OR, and Labor and Deliver rooms:
The labor and delivery rooms are very nice and quite roomy.  It is my understanding that we will start out there, head to the OR for the girls' big entrance, and then return to my labor and delivery room to recover for a few hours before I am transitioned into a postpartum room.  They will get almost all of their tests and treatments with us in the room.  On this floor there's even a Mother's store run by the lactation consultant that is supposed to have lovely gifts as well as all the nursing accouterments you could ever desire.

Fourth Floor - Nursery and Postpartum:
The postpartum rooms are all single rooms which should ensure our privacy and minimize the hospital staff coming in and out of our room.  They were considerably smaller than the labor and delivery rooms, but still quite nice and provide Daddyberry a place to sleep too.  Some of them have had the interiors redone recently, but that just depends on what tower your room is in.  The hospital encourages the parents to have their babies 'room in' so the girls will be with us the entire time.  The nursery is on the  same floor, but is empty most of the time since the preference of the hospital is to give the babies as much time as possible to bond in the room with you.  They really only take the babies to the nursery for procedures (like circumcisions and such - which our little girls obviously won't need) or at the doctor's or parent's request.

We didn't get to go into the NICU or the OR's for sanitary reasons but the areas were pointed out to us and are in logical locations.  Overall we were impressed with the facility and are really happy to have our girls starting their journey of life there

We've been really happy with everything at the hospital so far and really feel like it's the right place for us.  I'll update you all on the cesarean section class (which we had last night) and the breastfeeding class (which we have tonight) as soon as I have the opportunity.

Week 29 Doctors Appointment:


Sonogram:
So the girls keep shifting around - not quite sure how since they don't have a ton of room.  They're still looking great.  Baby A had a heart beat of  136bpm and Baby B had a heartbeat of 145bmp.  We managed to get a couple of pictures of them and got to see our little Berry B give us the biggest cutest yawn in 3d.  Too bad we couldn't have recorded that!  It was beyond adorable.  The girls are kind of oblique at this point with their heads down on my left side and their feet up by my upper right rib.  No wonder I'm getting lots of punches in the bladder and kicks in the ribs (boy are my ribs sore)!
Baby A Profile

Baby B Yawny girl
Meeting with the Dr.:
Basically he said I narrowly missed being put on bed rest.  So I bought myself two more weeks before another appointment.  My cervical length had dropped 1 millimeter, but he was confident that if we could keep it to that for each week we'd be fine carrying the girls to the date we want to.  I am to continue on the restricted activity that I was on this past week that essentially means I can go to work, but I need to be laying down on my side when I am home.  We can go out on occasion, but I'm not to do a lot of walking around while we're out.

He suggest that if I have any of the symptoms that might indicate that I might be headed into premature labor that I should call him and let him know.  He suggested we have an 'itchy trigger finger' when it came to anything like that.

So for now - Yeah for two more weeks!  Now I can go to Revit training at work and we should be able to go to our breastfeeding and cesarean section class at the hospital :-D  We have opted to miss our last two operas (Madame Butterfly and Moby Dick) since it won't really allow me the opportunity to at least put my feet up.  It's a small price to pay though to keep the girls 'cookin'.

Our next Drs. appointment is Monday May 24th.

49 more days till the 7th of July!

30 Weeks and 3 Days Belly Profile Pic


29 Week Belly Profile Pic


Baby knitting


I bought some yarn at dfwFiberfest a few weeks ago and picked up this pattern from the knitting fairy.  Here's a quick snapshot of my progress on the first one:
I just love the way they are knitting up!  The second one will have the same colors, just not at intense.

Also here's a picture of my first knit diaper soaker -
I used the free CurlyPurly pattern (pdf):
Number two is in the works!

Week 28 Doctors Appointment:


Sonogram:
Our little berries aren't quite berries any more, or at least they are the biggest berries I've ever seen!  Baby A measured at about 2 lbs 14 oz with a heart beat of 143 (puts her in the 53 percentile) and Baby B measured at about 2 lbs 10 oz with a heart beat of 136 (puts her in the 36th percentile - that's up from 28th percentile).  They both have plenty of fluid in their sacs and seem to be quite happy.  Man are they wiggly too, despite their cramped quarters :-D  It's definitely harder to get good pictures of them since they don't have as much room, but we managed to capture a few pictures.  The Dr. said he was very pleased with their development, especially since their size discrepancy had gone down from 9% to 8%, which he said is fantastic (anything below 15% for twins he said was good).

Baby A 3D - Snugly little girl

Baby B - Smiley little girl :-D

Meeting with the Dr.:
So after the Dr. said how pleased he was with the girls he moved on to a different subject.  Something I noticed during the sonogram, but didn't quite realize how much had changed.  Apparently my cervix has shortened to a point where he wants me to come back in a week for him to check it.  If the rate that it is shortening continues he will put me on bed rest starting next week - boo!

To give you an idea of the change - we started out around 16 weeks with a measurement in the 50's.  By week 24 it was down to 37.  By week 28 it's down to 24.  The Dr. said that there are two camps of doctors when it comes to cervical length, one camp that will call for bed rest at 25 and one at 20.  I'm fortunate that he belongs to the 20 camp - although, he said with the twins he was really teetering on the edge of going ahead and putting me on bed rest...

So at this point, bed rest isn't necessarily a matter of if - it's more a matter of when (and where since he wouldn't speculate whether or not it would be home or hospital bed rest).  I guess it all depends on how I measure next week.  For now my activities have been limited, so no more walking, weights, yoga, or swimming for me.  I can go to work, but I need to keep my feet propped up and when I'm at home I need to spend the majority of my time laying down on my side.  In the meantime I am talking to HR at work and trying to get things set up for my absence (which is a little earlier than I was anticipating).  I don't know at this point if I will be able to work from home or not, they said they would tackle that hurdle when we get there.

So that's what's new with us.  As surprising as this development is, ultimately we're just happy to have two happy and healthy little girls.  We'll do whatever we can to keep them that way.  I may just get to spend more time knitting soon.

As far as our date is concerned, we talked to the doctor about July 7th and he said we shouldn't have any issues making that work :-D  Hopefully we can keep the little girls in for that long.  I'm feeling pretty positive about it.  I just need to relax for three now and enjoy my little wiggle worms while I get to have them close.