3D

I don't intend this to become a pregnancy blog. This is why I haven't been very good about writing. Being pregnant is pretty much all I can think about these days.

Anyway, this picture is so cool I had to share it. They take these 3D ultrasound images now. The technology is so amazing. This picture of our two identical twins was taken at 12weeks 4 days pregnant. That was 2 weeks ago.

Comments I have heard about this picture:
They look like they have a lot of room in there
The one on top looks like Ernie
This would make a great punk rock album cover
The top one looks like it's wearing glasses (Anne's comment)

Tell me what you think.

Being Pregnant is Dangerous Business - if You're One of my Cats

Seriously.

Some of you may also read Anne's blog and might remember her recent post about her not so good luck with cats.

Well, I have one to add to her cache.

We all know I am pregnant. With twins. Yeah, yeah, let's talk about something else for a change, please.

OK.

So I also have the World's Worst Cold. When you are knocked up your immune system slows waaaayyyyy down so as not to accidentally kill off the growing off-spring/parasite. Additionally, all of your bodily resources go toward growing those little buggers regardless of what happens to you (well, me).

Many people at work have been out sick. Or have come to work still sick. Or have had to leave work early because they were so sick they couldn't take it anymore. Luckily for me my compromised immune system was looking away long enough to allow me to catch this super-sickness.

Since last Tuesday evening I have been practically confined to bed. Not sleeping. No. Of course not. That would be too easy. I have been confined to bed unable to breathe through my nose because my sinuses are filled with concrete. My throat has been so sore that to breathe through my mouth felt like inhaling fiberglass. My ears complied by becoming increasingly sore and now are just so clogged that I can't hear a thing. Add to those symptoms a slight fever and the non-desire to eat a single thing. Intersperse with hacking dry cough and you have my World's Worst Cold.

Note: When pregnant one must limit the drugs, both over the counter, prescription and recreational that one may take. Couple this with the body's disinterest in curing itself and you're in for a long miserable convalescence.

So I have the humidifier, nasal strips, vicks vap-o-rub from 1953, OJ by the gallon, Stew Leonard's magical chicken soup (thanks mom), saline nasal spray and Shower Soothers. None of these things have done me a damn bit of good.

I tried Sudafed, as instructed by my Doc. No good. Tylenol, helped a bit with fever but that's it. Robitussin did nothing for my cough.

Now to the part about the cats.

Yesterday afternoon I was in bed (duh) and Mrs. Jinx and Godzilla decided to get into bed with me (as per the norm these days, they don't leave me alone anymore). I thought - self, maybe it would be a good idea to keep cats out of bedroom until sinuses return to normal. I then put them out of the room.

Godzilla is the bigger, slower, sweeter of the two cats. He took his time. So, I picked him up and placed him in the hallway and then I shut the door.

Whack.

SCHREEEEEEEEEECHHHHHH!!! MEEEEEEEOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWW!

HHHHHIIIISSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!

Me: Oh SHIT!

I opened the door as quickly as I shut it. Attached to the door frame/jam/whatever was the tip of Godzilla's tail.

AGH! I scream for Ernie and pick up the cat who looks at me like I just castrated him. He is utterly confused and obviously in pain. My poor innocent baby!

I make Ernie take the fur off the door to see if there is bone/cartilage in it. He doesn't think so. We look at his tail and see the damage I had done.

I skinned him.

Took the skin right off. The bone/cartilage is now clearly exposed. It is bloody. It is almost severed. More like a giant indent.

My POOR Kitty!!! He just looks at me with his gigantic eyes like Mommy, why did you hurt me?

I am like weeping.

We take him down to the kitchen/triage center. Ernie puts on his leather gloves and I pour Hydrogen Peroxide into a bowl. Ernie holds Godzilla on the counter while I dip the end of his tail into the bowl of peroxide.

Cat screaming ensues.

His tail then starts whipping around, smacking Ernie in the face and basically soaking the kitchen in bloody peroxide. Nice. I am ready to barf.

Ernie calls his dad who tells him to let the cat lick it and he'll heal himself. I am in the background debating outloud whether or not we should bring him to the vet - on a Sunday afternoon. In a town where we have no vet.

Half an hour later Ernie picks him up again to look at his tail. Of course he had been to the litter box. Now there was litter in the wound. Horror of horrors!

We perform our little procedure again. Only this time I wrap his tail in a gauze pad secured with first aid tape. I taped it so tightly that Godzilla cried.

We put him down and within 5 second he has the bandage off.

Well.......

I kept him in bed with me the rest of his day and told him repeatedly to lick his tail. His tail seemed to have a mind of it's own and when he tried to lick it it would flick itself away. Poor kitty. Eventually I held his tail still so that he could get some good licks in.

Today the wound seems much better and Godzilla has obviously forgiven me, or forgotten the incident entirely. But I still feel soooo bad.

Poor Kitty. Pregnant women are clumsy. This is not a myth. We are also forgetful and absent minded. Cats should know this. They are very easy targets being so small and stealthy.

I only hope this stops when the babies come or we may all be in trouble. Luckily, I think they have already lost their tails.

Emily, Krista, Josette, Melissa, Me...

What do we all have in common? Well we're ALL pregnant!

Since Josette outed herself on her own blog, and she alluded to the fact in her comment here yesterday, I feel that I am now free to make a general announcement.

Doo-do-do-dooooooooo (Trumpet sound)...

Emily is due in April. It will be her second.

Krista is due beginning of July. It will be her first.

Josette is due in beginning of August. It will be her third.

Melissa is due beginning of September. It will be her first.

I am due end of September. It will be my first and second.

When all is said and done there will be 6 new babies among us.

How exciting!

The funny thing is that we are all so separated by geography.

Emily is in Brooklyn.
Krista is in Manhattan.
Josette is in PA (near Harrisburg)
Melissa is in Switzerland.
I am in Connecticut.

However, I still think we will be able to arrange play dates and various get togethers.

Another cool thing to note is that we are all above the age of 30! Go us!

Congratulations girls. I don't know what we've all been drinking but I've evidently double-dipped.

Glad to know I'm not in this thing alone.

Trying to Gain Weight

For once in my life isn't easy.

Really.

They tell me that with twins I should gain 50 pounds. Huh?! Did you say 50!? Yep. 50.

To date I have gained 0. That's zero pounds. Nada.

I have been eating the following, daily:

2 eggs on toast or bagel
one serving steel cut oats
16 oz. OJ
24oz. Milk
Poly-O String Cheese
1 hard boiled egg
1 apple/orange/kiwi fruit
2 servings Cottage Cheese
Left-over dinner (for lunch)
Mixed Nuts
Pint of Milk
16 oz. V8 Juice
Baby carrots
Dinner
More milk!

Plus add the occassional pickles, marinated garden salad, peanut butter and jelly sandwich or ice cream and you have my diet of the past 3 odd months.

Have not gained a single pound. Not one.

I don't think I can eat any more. I mean really, 3 eggs a day! I am already at the point where if I even look at an egg I want to vomit. I have never been particularly fond of them in the first place. But they say you need all of this extra protein, yada, yada...

I ask you, those who know me, has this ever been a problem for me in the past? Have I ever had trouble GAINING weight? Uh...NO! Just the opposite quite frankly.

Could it possibly be the absence of a nightly glass of wine from my diet? Those extra calories must add up. There must be something bad that I was eating before that I have since given up that was helping me to pack on the pounds. Brie? Nah.

It probably doesn't help that with twins you automatically increase your metabolism by 25%. Now that's something to be proud of. I don't even have to go to the gym! My body gets a 24 hour workout even if I just sit still. Nice.

But this still doesn't help me to gain any weight. Where exactly is that 50 pounds supposed to come from anyway? And just exactly where is it supposed to go once it gets here?

One piece of comfort I received was from my Dr. at our last visit, she kindly reminded me that I wasn't "malnourished" to begin with. Ernie heartily agreed.


Thanks.

The Big News Everyone Already Knows

Here goes.....

I am pregnant.

Knocked up.

Expecting.

In the family way.

Got a bun in the oven...

Actually, I've got two buns in my oven. Two identical buns. Either boy's buns or girl's buns (is that four buns or two sets of buns?). We don't know yet.

The question on everyone's mind? Is Ernie flipping out? Well, not actually. He is taking it pretty well. We both are now that the reality has finally sunk in. We are both really, really excited to have an instant family!

Originally, we saw one heartbeat and one baby. That was back in January.

At my second doctor's visit - the one that Ernie stayed home for - they OOPS! discovered a second heartbeat and a second baby. Equal in size to the first.

Excuse me?

My thoughts exactly.

Ultrasound doesn't lie. Two distinct heartbeats - 183 and 174 (something like that).

Wow!

Please give me a print out of that to show my husband. Thanks, I will drive home now and try very hard not to run anyone down.

Me to husband - well, before you drive me to the train to go to work I have something to tell you.

Husband - something wrong?

Me - well....not sure how to tell you this. There are actually two in there. Here's the picture to prove it.

Husband - huh?

What?

Are you kidding me? (hand in pocket pulling out cell phone to call mother)

Me - Uh, nope. They were big too.

He - Holy Shit.

Me - IDENTICAL

He -

Me - exact twins

He -

This went on for a while until the phone calls began. Mother/father, other Mother/father. Boss (hello boss. I will be a little bit later than I thought this morning because um, well, I just found out that I am having twins). Sister, brother, best friend.

Two days of euphoria passed. The thought of two sisters or brothers nestled up against one another in my belly was too much to bear without tearing up. They are already bonding. They don't know the world without the other. Amazing.

Followed by one and a half weeks of self-torture. Books. Books = Bad. Too many scary things in books about babies. Especially books about multiples pregnancies. Panic ensues...

Fast forward to next doctor appointment. Husband comes with this time. Damn straight.

Babies do a show for daddy. Twin B does a series of flips over and over. Later Twin B bashes into the membrance seperating him/her from his/her sibling. Slam dancing in-utero. Priceless. Twin A dances in place, does some kicking and head bobbing, but no flips. Cool.

We hear each of their heartbeats on Doppler (just like Acuweather!). Loud! Fast! Boom, Boom, Boom.

Both heartbeats are strong. Good babies.

Now we are in the blissful stage again. I have "dropped the bomb" at the office. Everyone in the world seems to know now. Many of those people have been praying for us since the beginning and we thank you all very, very much. Keep up the good work.

How do identical twins occur? Not hereditary. They are a "fluke" of nature that nobody understands for sure. My sister's theory is it is because we were trying too hard.