31 weeks.

I had an OB appointment today.  As always, I entered the doctor's office with a huge list of questions, and slight trepidation.  Mostly I was worried that I was going to be thrown into the hospital, or put on bed rest.  That wasn't the case AGAIN!!  Hooray!! I get to attend my baby showers which will be happening next weekend.  AWESOME.

So, here's what is new.
1. We had a surgical consult and there is not a way for them to remove my gastric pacemaker at the same time that they take out the babies.  (this was a little bit of a bummer at first, but once he explained what had to happen to remove the thing, we decided it was definitely for the best.)
2. I've been having a lot more contractions lately.  Sometimes up to 6 an hour.  Apparently in a twin pregnancy, increased contractions are pretty normal.  As long as there are not 8 an hour, I can just be miserable at home, avoiding a phone call and a trip into get checked out.

3. The doctor told me to listen carefully to my body.  I asked if I could keep swimming and walking.  He said that I just needed to do things that felt good and made sense.  He also reminded me that "carrying twins is a workout of it's own."

4. They listened to the babies heartbeats this week with a Doppler.  For the first time, I didn't have an ultrasound.  They'll be doing another growth ultrasound on the duo in two weeks--this is the really long one where they take measurements of both babies and try to estimate how much they weigh using a fancy equation.  They'll have a good idea if they're still growing, and make sure that I look fine.

5. I'm exhausted, and feel like I could die from heartburn in the middle of every night.  The past 3 nights I've had to wake up to puke one or more times.  This is both miserable and exhausting.  The doctor said that this is something that will probably get much worse before it gets better.  Sweet.  He also mentioned that the last month of a twin pregnancy often feels like it lasts a year.  Ugh.

I think that's all I've got to report.  I'm going to include some maternity photos that my friend, Heather Clauson, took back when I was still "cute pregnant"--as opposed to where I am now, "miserably tired pregnant."  I have another couple photos to share, but these are most of my favorites.

And finally, I have surpassed the waistline measurement of Steve-o (my step-dad) officially.  I'm 40.5" around now, as of last night.  We always tell him that he looks like he's going to give birth to twins any minute.  Now, we realize--his belly isn't quite large enough, he'd only have preemie twins I guess.  Ha!!

Thanks for your prayers--we're so thankful for God's faithfulness and for these miracle babies!!
brelin