Getting Close...

I can't believe in just a couple of days I'll be 36 weeks. With the way things were going for a while I really didn't foresee me lasting this long. We are so fortunate to have made it this far and are hoping that when the babies are born that their days in the hospital are minimal. Our due date is one month from today. As much as I'd like to finally meet our babies and smother them with hugs and kisses, I can't help but think that technically most other babies go another month before being born. This encourages me to keep going. My doctor told me to expect 5-6 pound babies. That's fine with us as long as they're strong and healthy.

The nesting mode has definitely kicked in to high gear! All their clothes, blankets, and sheets have been washed and put away. Their pack n' plays (one downstairs and one in our bedroom) have been assembled and stocked full of diapers, wipes, lotions, creams, etc. And it is mandatory to keep the house spotless- with my Gregy, this has not been an easy task. =) In my crazy head I can't imagine bringing home our babies to house that is not prepared-- not that I feel prepared AT ALL! I am SO excited and looking forward to finally seeing our babies, but I have this huge fear that I'm going to give birth and they're going to hand the babies to me and I'm not going to know what to do with them!! What is wrong with me? Is this normal? I hope there's something internal that just kicks in for the rescue!

Everyday I become more and more uncomfortable. It just tells me that I'm getting closer- yay! I've added a couple more "discomforts" to my list, however, I'll spare the details. It's such a chore to lift my belly up and roll over to my other side in the middle of the night. Actually, it's down right painful! My belly must be getting bigger for sure. The babies are still pretty active though, despite being told that they are out of room. Greg described all the movements to be similar to the chuck e cheese game where you hit one spot (a gopher, I believe?) and another bump shows up in another part of the belly (but, obviously, we aren't hitting the bumps in the belly!). It's so true and so funny now when this happens! =) This past week my belly has become very lopsided. I don't know what they're up to in there, but it's pretty painful when it happens. I try my hardest to "guide" them back to their spot. I almost think that it's Evan turning and laying on his side. That or Ella is coming over for a visit. Not sure. I've always wanted to capture a picture of how lopsided the belly can get, but when I get up to find a camera, they usually wiggle back to their original spot. The other night, though, Greg was able to catch the tail end of what the lopsidedness looks like. I wish I could have captured a better picture, but you can kind of see it in this picture. Silly babies. =)

Greg loves the belly and likes to look at it and rub it to say hi to the babies. He thinks it's so funny that I can't see anything below the gigantic belly. He likes to put some fingers under my belly and ask me, "How many fingers am I holding up?" He gets a big kick out of that one, especially when I tell others about his little game. =)

We still continue to read to the babies (although we've missed a night or two lately). We've now introduced some Christmas books to them. Christmas in the Manger seems to be the favorite now- lots of kicks and wiggles were received with that one! =) I keep telling the babies that they are so lucky to be born this time of year; the same time of year that baby Jesus was born. How special is that!

The other night I couldn't go to sleep. I kept thinking of the babies and all that I had to do to prepare for them. I finally went into their nursery and grabbed a couple of their blankies. I snuggled up with them in bed and quickly fell asleep. I've continued to sleep with them for a few nights and Greg and I have been taking turns switching them off to get our scent on them to comfort the babies later on. I know some people may not believe this to be true, but it worked for me one time while watching a baby just a couple of months old. The poor baby would just cry and cry, but as soon as I put one of his mommy's shirts on and held him, he became instantly settled. Coincidence or not, it makes Greg and I feel closer to our babies while holding on to the blankies that they'll soon be snuggled up in.

I go to the doctor's on Wednesday for a regular check-up. It is then that he told me he'd schedule a date for the c-section for two weeks from then (assuming Ella-girl is still breach). It'll be so exciting to have a date! We know that I could go into labor and have these babies sooner than that (supposedly 36 weeks is the average time for twin pregnancies), but it'll be nice to know that by then we'll have sweet babies to hold and love on. I could really use that to help me persevere and hang on that much more even though I feel so done.

I'll let everyone know the potential birthday date as soon as I find out! =)