So... I Think We Just Bought a New Car...

A 2009 Subaru Outback!

Right now we both drive little sedans, and when I say little, I'm talking about my baby 1995 Geo Prizm.

::sigh::

I love that car. I really do. It has been so good to me and has withstood my particular brand of vehicular neglect like a true champ. It's 14 years old with a cracked windshield, hail damage and slightly peeling paint. And I still love that car. It probably has a good 100K miles in it if I wanted to give it a shot.

But the simple fact of the matter is that even if I managed to fit two car seats in the back seat and not kill my back schlepping two babies in and out of there multiple times a day, there's no way I'd be able to fit all the accompanying crap that two babies require. Just a double stroller alone would involve an open trunk, lots of rope, and much praying. Ghetto-tastic! So we came to the realization that it's time to upgrade.

Right away Greg wanted the Outback. Fine, but I thought we should also check out other options as well. So through much painful pleading and debate, I finally convinced him to also give the Toyota RAV4 and the Honda CRV a shot. Greg is adamantly, vehemently, pig-headedly anti-SUV so you better believe that was a struggle! But I broke him down to at least consider the other two options.

Our plan was to test drive them all this week-end and then sit on it for a few weeks while we made decisions and haggled prices. Well, we test drove both a manual and an automatic Subaru. Then we hit Toyota for the RAV4. Next we had a horrible experience with the salesperson at the Round Rock Honda dealership. If you're ever there, and a gruff woman named Sophia starts talking to you, RUN AWAY. She was a nightmare! Greg and I are still pissed about it. I want to write a complaint letter to the sales manager, but I just don't know if anyone would care... Whatever.

Anyway, I personally had a slight preference for the RAV4, but not enough to make up for a $3,000+ difference in price. Greg's been on the phone all day with both Toyota and Subaru. Poor Toyota just can't compete with Subaru's cash back and 2.9% financing right now so we're done. Our "three week wait" turned into a 3-day wait. Easy as that!

We sign all the paperwork on Thursday morning, and I get to drive away with my brand new mommy mobile! I've never owned a new car in my life! I have to admit I'm excited, guys!

Gratuitous Belly Shot

Every now and then Greg is so taken aback by my girth that he insists that I pose for a belly shot. This is me at 27 weeks and 5 days (on April 4th). Things are starting to get uncomfortable.

I now live in those Old Navy maternity skirts.

Learnin' New Stuff

We're off to our first birthing class tonight.

Greg is convinced that we'll be one of the oldest couples in the room. We'll soon see...

Doin' Good

I don't know about you, but I pretty much hated high school. Couldn't wait to get the hell out of there & have never looked back. There are only a few people I still keep in touch with from those traumatizing years. One is my friend Zeph, who is all kinds of awesome. He works up in New Jersey for the National Education Association, advocating for teachers. Local boy done good.

Last summer Zeph got hitched to a lovely girl called Myisha. And Myisha was recently on CNN, as a representative of the Black AIDS Institute, to discuss the shockingly high rates of HIV infection and AIDS in the D.C. area. Check it out:



It's a little silly because I don't really know Myisha, but I feel proud. :)

More Pregnancy News

I took the dreaded glucose tolerance test this morning at my doc's office. It consists of throwing back a small bottle of a super-sweet drink that wasn't nearly as disgusting as everyone makes it out to be. I was expecting thick, syrupy stuff, like Gu that I used to occasionally eat when I was training for my marathons. That stuff always made me gag. Glucola is just like Kool-aid with an extra punch of sugar added. No big deal. I highly recommend the fruit punch flavor.

I was told to eat my regular breakfast, take the drink & then haul ass to my OB's office to have a blood draw exactly an hour later. My multiples nurse, however, advised me to eat a protein-rich breaky, and I'm so glad she did. They like to see numbers under 140, and mine was 111. Yay! No 3-hour test or gestational diabetes for me!

I've also determined that the scales at my perinatologists' office are evil. According to my home scale and the one in my OB's office, I've now gained 35 (THIRTY FIVE?!?!) pounds in this pregnancy. At my peri's office, it says I've gained 39! Not cool, guys. Not cool.

Got a quick glimpse of the babes. Right Baby has flipped again so he's now breech. Tease. According to my doc, he could keep flipping to his heart's content for a while because they still have lots of room in there. How that is possible in my huge, tight belly, I have NO earthly idea. Left Baby probably won't flip because he's sitting a bit lower and is more wedged in spot. I think he's just stubborn, like me, and refuses to lose his first place in line. He's not about to give his brother the chance to sneak in there. If Left Baby stays where he is, he'll be the oldest by a few minutes. :)

From now on, I'll be seeing my OB every 2 weeks instead of every 4. I'm not complaining because I like the fact that I'm being checked out often and get progress reports to say everything's a-okay, but man, I've had LOTS of doctor & nurse appointments in this pregnancy. I already see my nurse every Tuesday. Now I'll be seeing my OB every other Wednesday. And I see my peri every 4 weeks but that might become more frequent too. That translates to almost 2 pregnancy appointments every week. Wow...

At least I can rest assured that if anything starts going downhill, I'll know about it quickly. But so far so good. All my docs are happy. The babies are happy. It's just mama that's starting to feel like poo. But it's a small price to pay if it means the boys are healthy. (Stop whining, Larisa!)

Miscommunication

The kitties are very confused.

I'm writing at home & the boys are very active so I thought I'd pull up my shirt & catch the show for a while. It's awesome. I keep seeing bumps pop up on my belly. And once I saw a bump move from my left side, all the way to the right.

As I'm sitting here, laughing and talking to my belly, both kitties come running up and stare at me. I don't think they understand that I'm not talking to them. It's also 4:30, an hour before dinner time, so they are begging and bugging the crap out of me. Maybe they took my talking to be their cue that they're about to be fed. Sorry, kitties. One more hour.

In the meantime I'm going to sit here and jostle my belly a bit more. This is so cool.

Dissertating

This is what a miserable grad student looks like.

Please note the aforementioned double chin...

Bump Progress: 27 Weeks

It has been TWO months since I last posted a bump picture. You'd think that since this is my first (and probably last) pregnancy that I'd have a whole series of weekly photos to document the entire process. But then you'd be wrong.

As you can see there has been significant progress in the bump expansion department. But I feel the picture above doesn't adequately capture the magnitude of the beach ball that is my belly.

So how about some nekkkkid pictures?! :)


And here is where I freak out my friends who haven't been pregnant...


See that dark line that's traveling down the middle of my belly? Don't panic! That's the linea nigra, another one of the weird perks of pregnancy hormones. It goes away (or so I've been promised) after the babies arrive. I have a really bizarro one that sometimes looks like there's also a bruise around my belly button. Normal but not as common.

No stretch marks yet. (Thank you, thank you, thank you) My mom never got any in the course of having 3 BIG babies so I'm hoping I'm in the clear on that one. No swelling yet - unless you count my chubby cheeks. (I was referring the ones on my face, not my booty, but I guess that applies as well.) I gain weight like a damn chipmunk so one of the first things I get is a fat face. In fact, I've recently seen evidence of a double chin. Lovely.

I've since gotten used to maneuvering my body. No more crushing the babies by bending over because I forget the bump is there. There's no forgetting this puppy anymore! Since the weather's warmed up, I'm on a strictly flip-flop shoe regime so Greg's been spared from helping me dress in the mornings. I can still roll myself over in bed, but the movement must be accompanied by a grunt or two. Good thing Greg's a heavy sleeper.

One of the very cool things I've noticed this week is the fact that my belly MOVES! I mean, if the boys are kicking, especially Left Baby - he's definitely more squirmy than his brother, I can sit back, look at my belly and actually see my skin bounce from all the kicks & punches & rolls! It really is amazing. And I'm loving every minute of it.


p.s. In case you were wondering, my 27-week belly is the equivalent size of a singleton mom's 34-week belly! That's almost FULL TERM, people! And we still have a long way to go. I'm going to need a crane to move myself around by end of this...

Camera Shy

Another Ultrasound: Week 27

Yesterday Greg and I got to see the babies again. Have I mentioned before how much I looooove my monthly ultrasounds? :)

They're both head down now, which is a bit surprising given my possible bicornuate uterus problem. Until now they've always been in the opposite orientation. And because of this, I've always taken it for granted that I'll need a c-section. However, if they're both head down by delivery time, I could actually try a regular birth - something I hadn't really considered until now. Hmmm... Maybe I should be looking into those breathing classes after all...

Anyway, they're both doing so well! One is 2 lb, 8 oz and the other is 2 lb, 7 oz. They're actually measuring about a week ahead of schedule - and that's by singleton standards! Cheryl, our ultrasound tech, said this was wonderful news because there could be some growth restrictions later on down the road when things get REALLY tight so this way they have a little bit of a head start. I don't know - Greg and I suspect we're going to have two 7-pounders on our hands by the end of it.

Anyway, on to the good stuff...

Both babies' heads - they're conspiring and telling secrets.


Left Baby, who is still in pole position, gave us a wave...


...and a quick profile shot.


While Right Baby was posing for a while so we could get a good look at his face.



I swear I saw him blink! I just read that's a new trick they're learning in this week of their development. My babies gots skillz!

So the excellent news is that if (heaven forbid) I were to go into early labor right now, the boys' lungs are almost mature enough to be okay. They'd definitely spend some time (at least a month!) in the NICU, but their prognosis would be good. Of course, I'm hoping to make it at least to week 36, but it's very reassuring to know that with each developmental milestone that they're getting closer and closer to having a healthy start.

Grow, babies, grow!