Six Months Old

My boys are six months old already. Twenty six weeks. Half a year!! Oh my, things move quickly!

They have really changed a lot recently into "big babies." They are alert and curious and get excited and distracted by all sorts of things (which I find fascinating except when trying to nurse.) Things that are mundane to me are new to them, which opens my perspective.

They are mobile beings, rolling easily in both directions and as soon as they are put down! A crawls backwards and sideways, too. This has resulted in bsbies being far away from where they were placed, and very quickly! This has also reduced the available places I can put them down when I need a moment to do laundry, wash bottles, etc. They do tolerate the bouncers for a short time, but they are not in love with this activity yet. 

We are working on sitting, still only happening with assistance. We chose to follow baby-led weaning, and while they have both brought foods such as okra and cheese to their mouths, not much eating has happened yet. I don't think they are quite ready as they aren't interested in what's on our plates, but we will continue to work on that. Also, we plan to bring out the high chairs soon to facilitate inclusion at the dinner table.

The boys are now in pack and plays in our room. They do not always sleep through the night, so usually someone ends up in the bed during the night (often due to teething pain.) But only one baby at a time, which has helped immensely with quality of sleep. Hopefully their two teeth will pop all the way through someday, so we can have a break until the next ones appear. These are coming through so slowly! 

Life is quite busy as I now work full-time again and we are selling our house and looking for a new one. Somehow we are not insane yet, but the stress level is high. Really wish we had family locally sometimes so we could have a couples' night out. We have a good babysitter recommendation. Maybe we can start with her watching the boys while we are at home. 

Six Months Old

My boys are six months old already. Twenty six weeks. Half a year!! Oh my, things move quickly!

They have really changed a lot recently into "big babies." They are alert and curious and get excited and distracted by all sorts of things (which I find fascinating except when trying to nurse.) Things that are mundane to me are new to them, which opens my perspective.

They are mobile beings, rolling easily in both directions and as soon as they are put down! A crawls backwards and sideways, too. This has resulted in bsbies being far away from where they were placed, and very quickly! This has also reduced the available places I can put them down when I need a moment to do laundry, wash bottles, etc. They do tolerate the bouncers for a short time, but they are not in love with this activity yet. 

We are working on sitting, still only happening with assistance. We chose to follow baby-led weaning, and while they have both brought foods such as okra and cheese to their mouths, not much eating has happened yet. I don't think they are quite ready as they aren't interested in what's on our plates, but we will continue to work on that. Also, we plan to bring out the high chairs soon to facilitate inclusion at the dinner table.

The boys are now in pack and plays in our room. They do not always sleep through the night, so usually someone ends up in the bed during the night (often due to teething pain.) But only one baby at a time, which has helped immensely with quality of sleep. Hopefully their two teeth will pop all the way through someday, so we can have a break until the next ones appear. These are coming through so slowly! 

Life is quite busy as I now work full-time again and we are selling our house and looking for a new one. Somehow we are not insane yet, but the stress level is high. Really wish we had family locally sometimes so we could have a couples' night out. We have a good babysitter recommendation. Maybe we can start with her watching the boys while we are at home. 

35 weeks

I am quite grateful that at this point of a twin pregnancy I feel this good. I read about others at this point and they seem to fare much worse. I am well enough to go to work, the gym, and stores. I can still make light meals. Though huge, all my weight gain (50 pounds) is belly and boobs so the rest of my body does not even look bad. Somehow I still do not have stretch marks. 

But...a lot of things do suck right now. My feet are permanently swollen. I cannot  even sit or lay for long without it getting worse. When I am at home I raise them above my head to provide relief, but it is hard to lay on my back for long and it hurts to switch from one side to the other. Which is why sleeping sucks. My shoulders and hips hurt from the weight of my body - even if pillows are under me. My back stiffens up so quickly that I dread turning or getting up. The pain almost takes my breath away. My stomach is so large that I cannot turn over sometimes and I get stuck halfway through the process! And my fingers, wrists, feet, and ankles swell overnight and become nearly arthritic for the first hour after getting up.

Ok now that I got all that out... I have noticed some subtle changes over the last one to two weeks. My stomach has hardly any room anymore. I barely eat at this point, and when I do, it is tiny portions. My stool is always loose and is basically diarrhea. I have a few contractions a day, nothing painful and only in my lower abdomen. Occasionally I feel menstrual type cramps, especially at night, which have no timeable frequency. 

The boys have never been frequent movers (kick counts would never have worked for me) but they are moving less than ever. I do feel something from them every day, but I think they are just so squished. Baby B I believe has tried to move toward birthing position a few times because I have noticed his head toward the side. But I think he runs out of room to rotate and/or faces opposition from his happily breech brother, and cannot complete the movement. I will know more tomorrow. Looking forward to finding out their measurements and receiving confirmation that they are ok. Because I still worry. The anxiety between ultrasounds always builds, and crescendos, right before appointments, and now at this point, I allow myself to think of NICU, birth defects, cord accidents, and all kinds of horrible things.