Heads Down and Growing

We had 3 doctors' appointments today: an ultrasound, an NST and an OB appointment. The ultrasound today is likely to be our last one, and it went well, except that they could not do any 3-D pictures. We were disappointed about that. But Baby Boy is weighing in at about 5 lbs 3 oz and Baby Girl at a whopping 5 lbs 11 oz! (Save for the 10% margin of error on either side.)

The other big news today was that Baby Girl has followed her brother's lead and now is in the head-down position, also. That means that if they stay in this position, we may have a choice between a c-section and vaginal delivery. We're taking a "wait and see" posture, but will likely be doing a lot of discussing between now and the 25th, which is our scheduled c-section date. I will be a full 35 weeks tomorrow, and that is such a blessing. 50% of all twins are born between 34 and 37 weeks, according to the twin book I'm reading, so we feel so thankful that we've made it this far!

I took another belly picture on Saturday, so I'll post that here. I don't have the ultrasound pictures scanned in yet, so I might end up adding those later. To be honest, they did not turn out as well this time. But still worth a look, so I will get on the ball and try to post those soon.

When Your Wife is on Bedrest

On Monday I will have been on bedrest for 11 full weeks. There have been a ton of people who have helped out during this time - family and friends have been amazing with meals, helping us move, helping us paint, visiting, driving me places, bringing gifts... I could go on for so long. It has been amazing and we could not have done these last 11 weeks (and the 3 more to come) without all of this help.

However, the one who takes the brunt of the bed rest impact is Adam. My dear husband has had to do everything without his partner for the past three months. Think of all the things that go on in your household every day - the cooking, the cleaning, the errands, the driving, the odd jobs and yard work. Adam has done all of that PLUS he has packed and unpacked our household, put together baby furniture, painted rooms, planned his own ordination service, test drove vehicles, installed carseats, assembled misc baby gear. PLUS he has gone to as many appointments as he could, attended to my many needs, helped me in and out cars, assured me that I'm not that biggest pregnant person ever, pushed me around Target in a wheelchair one day (yeah, that was a big outing for me!), read up on baby care and pregnancy, slept on the couch when my snoring suddenly took over our bedroom....

I seriously could sit here listing these things all morning.

Adam does not complain about these things. I mean, he is understandably eager to have his partner back in a few weeks. But what I am saying is, he is unbelievable. I don't think I'll ever be able to re-pay him or thank him enough for all he has done and especially not for how he has done it - unflinching, with a loving heart, a smile and a sense of humor. I have been blessed beyond words, and one little way I can say thank you to him is to post something for you all to read. This way, everyone knows how amazing I know Adam is, and you can all know he's amazing too.

Tag, I was "It" (Over a Month Ago)

My friend Deb tagged me over a month ago with this, hey, tell us about yourself thing, and I never got around to doing it. I know, you'd think being on bedrest I'd be all about it. But, I just couldn't concentrate long enough to actually do this. Well, my concentration is only getting worse. But today, I'm bored enough to try to focus on it. Please forgive me if I actually don't pass the tag along - I think most people that I would tag have already done this. We'll see.

The Rules:
Once you’ve been tagged, you have to write a blog with 10 weird, random, facts, habits or goals about yourself. At the end, choose 6 people to be tagged, list their names & why you tagged them. Don’t forget to leave them a comment saying “You’re it!” & to go read your blog. You cannot tag the person that tagged you, so since you’re not allowed to tag me back; let me know when you are done so I can go read YOUR weird/random/odd facts, habits and goals.

1. I have had the same pillow and pillowcase for as long as I can remember. I have nicer, prettier (and definitely fluffier) onces, but this particular pillow goes with me wherever I go and never gets phased out. I think it's become like a security blanket. Adam named it "Pinkie" when we got married and he discovered its bizarre place in my life.

2. My hidden talent has always been gleeking on command. What is gleeking? I'll show you some time. Or you can ask my brother or my husband, who have both always hated it when I pull it out as a defense to some sort of physical attack.

3. I grew up having dogs and really liking dogs, and I grew up thinking I hated cats. I now have a cat and am kinda afraid of dogs. I'm not afraid of all dogs, of course, because there are many dogs I still love. But I think after some years of doing in-home social work, large dogs feel unpredictable and strong. Cats are just, at worst, annoying.

4. I have not changed skin care products since early high school when I started using skin care products. I use the same face wash and moisturizer that I did when I was 15. I've tried other things, and nothing else feels right.

5. On that topic, I never wear makeup. I mean, I did wear a little for prom and my wedding. And I think when I was in other people's weddings I did, too. But day-to-day, nope. I keep thinking that as a nearly-30 year old person (whaaat? ugh!) I should probably discover some sort of concealer or foundation or something to cover up wrinkles. But at this point in my life, I really wouldn't know where to start.

6. I put sugar on my scrambled eggs. Always have. Don't knock it til you try it.

7. Adam and I were supposed to go to Israel on our honeymoon, 7 years ago, but things became too violent there and our trip was canceled. Instead we went to a great condo up north for about 5 or 6 days, and never really got a honeymoon trip.

8. I tend to volunteer for things when there's silence. My co-workers can attest to this. You know, we're all sitting around a table, and there is a need to speak somewhere, or join a committee, or organize a get-together, or take on some project or group or client, etc. When there's silence, if it lasts long enough, sure enough, up goes my hand. I'm working on this, though, so don't use it against me.

9. I really really like to bake. And I only discovered this a few years ago. I'm not claiming to be a fantastic baker, I just really like to do it.

10. I cry easily. Not in an overly-sensitive way, "you looked at me funny" way. But in a "oh, that commercial for long distance phone plans was just SO touching!" kind of way. My brother's favorite example was the time that I got all choked up over a preview for a Fresh Prince of Bel-Air episode. Yeah, if I cried over the preview, think of how I sobbed through the episode.



Whew. 10 is a lot. That was really hard. Probably doesn't make it better that I tend to ramble on when doing things like this.

I'm not officially going to tag anyone, but if you're reading this and come up with you own list, let me know cuz I'd like to read it. (Gwen? Sarah Zuidema? Anyone?)

The Reverend and His Wife

This video might possibly be the least flattering of me - ever - but it's one that Adam created for his blog and I thought I'd put it on here too, for those of you who don't visit Adam's blog. (It's ok, it's not a competition.)  

Adam was ordained as a specialized minister yesterday! Pretty big event in the life of the Navis Family. Because of my bed rest I wasn't able to go, which we both are sad about. But we have a VHS video of it, so I was able to see it afterwards. Plus there was plenty of leftover cake, so I got to eat that too. (Not all of it. Seriously.) We also have a couple of video clips that our friend took with our digital camera that you'll see here.

I'll let Adam speak for himself on the whole ordination thing.

As for a pregnancy update - I saw my OB on Friday, and she was concerned at how puffy and swollen I am. You might be too, after seeing my face in that video. Anyway, she had my blood tested for toxemia, and had informed me that if they were positive, I would have to be hospitalized and either be observed for a day or two or there was the chance that if it was bad enough, we'd have to deliver the babies. Well, clearly, since it's Monday and I'm not in the hospital, the results on Friday were within the "normal range." The nurse put it as "high, but within the normal range." So they will re-test me today when I go in for my NST. I was also reminded that I am on bed-rest, and need to stay that way.

All that to say, it was a bit of a wake-up call for us. Since things have been going smoothly, I think we've lost touch with the reality that our precious little ones could come at any time.  Tomorrow I hit the 34 week mark, which is fantastic, we are so happy about that.  We'd really like to make it about 2 more weeks. My wonderful OB is working on scheduling us a c-section for around July 24 or 25, so we know it won't be later than that! 

OK, and final piece of news.... You might know that we've really struggled to commit to a boy's name for Baby Boy. We've had Baby Girl's name since, well before we knew she was a girl. But we had a hard time with Baby Boy. Well, we're happy to report that both babies have names! We're still not telling you what they are, though.

New Ultrasound Pictures

We had an ultrasound again on Friday, and in my 32nd week, these are the fantastic pictures that we got of Baby Girl and Baby Boy Navis! It was very special to see them, as we had not had 3-D ultrasound in awhile, and this is definitely the first time we were able to get a better look at our babies' features.

Aren't they beautiful??

Here's Baby Girl


And here's Baby Boy


You might wonder what little Boy's cheek is pressed up against. The answer is - his sister's head! Look at them being all snuggly already in the womb! They both are growing well and both weigh in at about 4 lbs.

The other good news that we got at the ultrasound is that my placenta previa has resolved! None of my restrictions have changed yet, though, unfortunately, but at least we can relax a little bit, and not be as fearful of having a major bleed. I see my OB again on Wednesday, so if any restrictions will change, we would find out then. The specialist that we saw said he would not recommend any changes, but he wanted to leave it up to my OB.

Soooo.... Big and Pregnant

I am 31 weeks pregnant and measuring well over 40 weeks. This is fine and dandy, I take that as meaning that I have two healthy little ones in me that are growing and that are making me grow.

But as this is my first pregnancy, I feel that I have a right (or a responsibility maybe) to admit... This is not how I thought I'd look pregnant. Now, I would not trade my pregnancy for anything, because as you know, I wanted to be pregnant more than anything, and I am SOO thankful for this. But the truth is, before you're pregnant, we all think we're going to be Angelina Jolie. (For the record, I'm not a fan, but we will get into that another day. I choose her because she is currently pregnant with twins, and going to deliver this summer, I think.)

But back to my point, before our first pregnancies, I think that we all think that we're going to be Angelina - walking around, about to give birth to twins, but besides a bulging belly, looking like ourselves. You know, you look at Angelina, and she still has her jaw line, her eyes aren't puffy, she can still wear her jewelry. Not to mention (and admittedly, this might just be me because of my bedrest situation) she's still walking around!


Now, the problem is, we all know real-life people like this, too. If it were just celebrities, we could chalk it up to another unattainable celebrity body. But the fact is, there are these women that we all know and love who look fantastic all the way through their pregnancy. Not that I hold it against them. It's not their fault that nothing seems to swell except their cute basketball stomaches.

So, I'm just saying.... we all think that we're going to be that woman. I admit that I thought I could be. But now I know.... it's not in the cards for me. Maybe it's the twins... Maybe it's that I'm measuring at the point where most people get to deliver and start getting their bodies back. Or maybe it's just the way I was designed.

And I'm ok with that now. Sort of. Today I'm ok with it. We can talk again tomorrow, and we'll see how I feel.

Until then, just remember, I'm VERY thankful that I'm pregnant, and I'm MORE than willing to go through body changes for the end reward. Take this post as in no way saying I would change my situation. Because I wouldn't. Not for anything in the world.

But here, here are a couple pictures. One was taken last week. The other was taken last summer at this time. The face in the first one is the face that I somehow expect to see when I look in the mirror, it's my face. The face in the second one is the face that exists in the mirror, and it's more unfamiliar to me, and sometimes catches me off guard.

Yet, the second face does have a new look of mommy happiness.

Don't Worry, Potok, You Get to Come With

Of course, preparing for babies isn't enough, we also are going to move. SOON. In fact, if we have our druthers, we would move next weekend. Anyway, I could ramble about that for awhile, but really, what I want to post is our cat trying to ensure that we don't leave without him. I've never been one to carry around pictures of my pet or anything, but these are cute.