31 weeks!

Pretty sure my maternity shirts are getting a little short on me.  I refuse to buy new ones, though, so I might look a little hillbilly for the next several weeks.  I just had an appointment with Dr. Anderson yesterday and got some great news...For the time being, both babies are head down!  I'm hopeful that, given their size, turning breech again will prove to be too difficult for them.  I am measuring 36 weeks (shocking, really, I feel like I look about 46 weeks) and their heartbeats were good and strong!  I pestered Dr. Anderson for his call schedule so that I might have some idea of when these kiddos will be evicted if they don't come on their own first.  He said that he likes to deliver all of his own twins, so he gave me his cell phone number to call him if we do go into labor early, and promised that he'll be there if he's available...What a gift!  To (hopefully) have all of our babies delivered by the same doctor is unheard of for army families. We also decided that, if they don't come on their own before, the babies will be induced on September 19th!!  I am so excited to have a date to which I can count down! I CAN DO THIS!!!!!

This week has been more of the same...braxton hicks contractions when I am on the move or when the babies are on the move. Lightheaded spells and generalized weakness.  Sleep has been tricky with a couple of bathroom runs a night and wake ups each time I shift from my right to left side.  I have also been sleeping a little lighter because I am trying to be considerate, giving Nick enough room to sleep.  I took full advantage of our entire queen-sized bed during the deployment, sleeping on the diagonal.  The only benefit of the deployment (well, that and less laundry...) I am lucky if I get out and run one errand a day, lots of days it seems I use up all of my energy reserves by mid-morning.  I completely overdid it yesterday with multiple errands and lots of time on my feet cooking and picking up the house before interviewing a potential housecleaner.  I paid for it with fairly regular uncomfortable contractions for a handful of hours last night.  That was all I needed to remind me why I am as sedentary as I have been.  Nothing is worth pushing through my body's warning signs to get done.  I feel significantly better this morning (even after a fitful night of sleep), although I feel as though I just ran a marathon.  Lucky for me, Nick has a long weekend (YAHOO!!!)  and so I have a very able-bodied person to help with the "heavy lifting" today (i.e. extract Hannah from places she shouldn't be.)  41 more days to go!!! :)

I must say that our Emmy's excitement for the babies' arrival is thrilling.  She asks me daily when the babies are coming (and even approached the subject of how they are going to get here... :-P)  In most of her fantasy play someone is having at least one baby, usually two.  And their names are James and Julia.  She has been very gentle and does a fantastic job circling her play around me on the couch.  Most recently, we were on a boat (the couch) taking refuge from shark-infested waters (the floor) and she nestled each of her toys around me as she was triaging them for their many wounds and illnesses.  I have also been Emmy's lucky sole hair salon client, and have had my hair done every day, which, given how gentle she is, I view it as being a daily scalp massage.  Along the same lines, Sissy has taken up playing cars on my back, which, when she's not banging them, can resemble a good back scratch!  Couch parenting does have some up-sides! :-P