We've set a date!

Once our ultrasound results came back, the perinatologist met with Sean and I to discuss when we'd schedule the c-section. Suzanne's preference is for 32 weeks because we know that the survival rates are excellent and the babies will do well for several weeks in the NICU before coming home. I lean toward 34 weeks because I want the girls to get the most out of being in the womb while they can. Some very small studies show that mortality rates start to climb back up again at 34 weeks because the babies get bigger and compress the cords out of sheer size or the compromised cords can't supply them well enough when they get that big. But those studies are only of about 40-100 babies, so who knows if a single mortality in that group was an anomaly or a trend - there simply isn't enough published data to rely on it one way or another.

All along Sean had talked about getting to 34 weeks, but when Suzanne was there he suddenly changed his tune to 32. Wha?? He even went so far as to say that if something were to happen because we waited until 34 weeks he wouldn't want to blame anyone. *ahem* The ultimate guilt trip. I had to pause a moment, go out to the hallway and ask a nurse to remove the knife from between my shoulder blades. Jeez.

So, since their anxiety level was much higher about leaving them in, I ended up agreeing to early 33 weeks. We originally suggested June 9th (6/9/9) but both slots that day were already full, so we had a choice between 6/8 and 6/10. We thought 6/8/9 was a little cooler (seriously, these are our thought processes at this point) so we booked it.

Charlotte and Lilah will be born on Monday, June 8th, 2009. 32 weeks and 6 days. 7 weeks early. That's 9 days from now. Wow.

Day 38

Well, we had what is likely to be our very last ultrasound today and the results were....outstanding.

I am 31 weeks 1 day and in the last three weeks, the girls went from 1 lb 12 oz and 2 lb 1oz to 2 lb 11 oz and 2 lb 15 oz! They gained nearly a pound each (give or take). They also are closer in size, an 8% difference compared to a 15% difference, which means that one isn't compromised to an extreme degree. This is all VERY encouraging. They are not only growing steadily, but also evenly! They're still around 2 weeks behind, but that has been consistent throughout the entire pregnancy.

This means that they'll get to stay in mama longer. How long? We meet with the perinatologist tomorrow (she swung by tonight but since Sean wasn't here we wanted to wait until we planned anything) and talk about dates. There are still some risks if we wait too long, but we're leaning toward the longer end of things as much as possible.

One of the odd things is that the bigger baby has been the one on my right, but this time the one on my right was head up and the one on the left was bigger. It isn't very likely that one baby could have caught up to and then surpassed her sister's growth during this time frame, so the only explanation is that they switched places and positions. The first thing I asked was, How on earth could they have moved so much - there isn't possibly enough room in here for them to maneuver that much! Which is almost exactly what Sean said when he heard, too. I mean, I've had some seriously uncomfortable moments, but I had no idea they were pulling a Parent Trap and switching spots! (*Note to self - gotta get that Haley Mills version)

How did they grow so much all of a sudden? The only thing that has changed is that the weather turned nice and I started spending time out in the sunshine. Maybe they're solar powered like their mom....

Day 30

So, why haven't I posted lately? Truth is, there hasn't been much to say. Every day is pretty much the same with some slight variation and that seems kind of lame to write about. But I may be able to come up with something today.

I am currently 30 weeks, 0 days pregnant and the main developmental feature of this time period is that the girls should be growing, growing, growing. *fingers crossed* Our next ultrasound is a week from tomorrow and if they have continued to grow well, we'll keep them in as long as possible and schedule the cesarean for around 34 weeks. If their growth has plateaued at all, then it's better that they come out and avoid potential complications of not having the right nutrients and bloodflow and the cesarean will be around 32 weeks instead. Either way, we'll soon have a timeline!

Saturday was an absolutely gorgeous day and Sean brought Roscoe with him for his visit. It's the first time I've seen the puppy since I got here and I was so happy to cuddle with him. I met Sean in the back parking lot and Roscoe got so excited that he tucked his head under and turned the front half of his body upside down while getting petted. Then he got over it and was more interested in smelling or peeing on everything along the Montlake Cut, but that's how it goes.

Sarah came later in the day and brought a decoupage craft project for us. We decorated wipes containers with pretty paper and she even managed to find twin-related stickers!

And the big news: We finalized the names! I had a few favorites early on (Dessa, Avery, Kenley), but Sean used his veto power for various reasons and I was pretty apathetic about the remaining ones until I came up with one more. Sean mulled it over for a few days and last night as he was leaving, he rubbed my belly and said, "Goodbye, Charlotte. Goodbye, Lilah." It was his way of telling me that he liked the name! So they will be:

Charlotte Doreen Sparks
Lilah Choriene Sparks

Charlotte is Sean's mom's mom's name, Choriene is Bud's mom's name, and Doreen is my mom's mom's name. Yay!! It's so nice to have real names to call them instead of Baby A and Baby B all the time. We still don't know which is which, and probably won't make that assignment until we see them, but it's nice to know they will be named.

Sean has been working so hard on getting their room ready and he's doing an outstanding job. It takes so much detail work for all of the chair rail and trim, and he's really starting to master it.

Charlotte and Lilah's room creation

Day 23

My always incredible husband has been doing great work on the girls' room while I'm away. Once we got the bedding a few weeks ago, I could pick out the paint color, which is the green accent on the quilt. (I don't do pink.) The shade of green is the exact color that is in our living room, so it seemed sensible to use it again, but it was a little dark for an entire (small) bedroom. The answer: wainscoting!

So, Sean has painted the room and is in the process of putting up the white wainscoting over the last few days*. The next step is to add the chair rail and baseboard - both of which are slightly easier projects. And after that, he'd like to put up crown molding, possibly with a gap above it for rope lighting that can be on a switch. That's a big task all by itself!

*Thanks, Dad, for letting us borrow that finish nailer 2 years ago!

After all the big stuff is done, Sean will move the dresser in and put the cribs together, which gets them out of our lower living room and finally frees up some space! When I get home, I have a wallpaper border that matches the bedding and I'll probably hang the quilts up somehow since we're not supposed to use them until the girls are older.

I like the way this works - I pick everything out and Sean is my work crew. I see big potential here.

Day 21

Before the pregnancy my waist was somewhere around 30-31 inches. 13 days ago what used to be my waist was measuring at 42 inches. Today (28 weeks, 5 days) I'm measuring at 44 inches!
That's a lot of growth in less than 2 weeks! Hopefully the girls are growing like crazy and it's not just me : )

Day 18

We had another ultrasound today. Unfortunately when you're inpatient, you're no longer a priority for scheduling these things advance, so you're pretty much at the mercy of the radiology staff. We tried to ask them to give us an afternoon slot so Sean could be there, but they came to get me at 11 a.m.

Both of these babies seem to turn and shift every time I have an ultrasound (which has been nearly every day lately because their hearts are hard to find for monitoring if they're always in a different spot) and this time Baby A is laying across my belly with her head on my left, her body across my belly button and her legs on my right side and angled down. Baby B is on my left side, head down, with Baby A's head resting on her belly. B's head is on my spinal cord and her feet are up by my rib cage on my right. So complicated!

Their measurements came back and I'm reluctant to read too much into them until our perinatologist can talk to us on Monday, but here are the basics:

We're currently at 28 weeks 2 days. Baby A is measuring 26w6d and B is 25w5d. This isn't unexpected - every ultrasound has showed them about 10 days behind. We even discussed with our perinatologist a few days ago and she said that she figured we'd come in small: "You guys aren't big yourselves. These babies aren't going to be in the 90th percentile". (I was 2 weeks late and still 7 lbs.) Baby A is about 2 lb 1 oz, B is 1 lb 12 oz. That's a 15% difference and they don't usually get concerned until at least 20%. A is in the 28th percentile and B is in the 15th percentile.

*Side note - How can I only have 4 pounds of baby inside me? I'm HUGE! And I have another 4-6 weeks left! And they're supposed to start gaining 1/2 lb a week soon....

The ultrasound also showed a few other things I haven't seen before. I saw their ears and even hair on their heads! The waxy coating on their skin sloughs off, sticks in their hair, and that's what shows up in the ultrasound. It's about 1/2 cm long, and, I'm guessing, blonde. We didn't get great shots because we ran out of time when the tech had to do the Doppler on the umbilical cords to see what the flow looked like.

Here is baby A's head laying on B's belly. See the hair at the back of the skull!

Hee hee!

I love Bizarro.

Day 13

One of my biggest pregnancy fears has always been a C-section. It was the absolute last thing I would have wanted. I had several surgeries when I was born and already had scars on my belly from those. In fact, I didn't wear a two-piece bathing suit until I was about 21 because I was so self conscious about them. The last thing I wanted was more, and the thought of being cut into yet again terrifies me. So when I found out that mono-mono twins automatically eliminated the possibility of a natural birth, I was crushed.

There is something about the birthing process that brings the whole experience full circle. The initial contractions, telling someone that your water has broken, breathing, pushing - all of it to bring a little life into the world. It's all part of the experience and all something I'm going to miss out on.

So, in order to try to stay positive about all of this, I give to you....

Top 10 reasons to have a C-section (other than the babies' safety, of course)
10. Apparently vaginal birth can lead to crazy hormone changes. Sean doesn't need more crazy.
9. I hear contractions hurt.
8. All those blood donations I've made seem very karmic now.
7. The babies' heads stay spherical instead of conical - no hat cover-ups.
6. 15 minutes versus 48+ hours.
5. No pooping on the table during the delivery. Did you know about that?
4. No episiotomy, pelvic floor damage, incontinence or hemorrhoids (maybe that's 4 separate reasons).
3. Sean's head size being passed to his daughters is no longer a concern.
2. Scheduled delivery. I am a planner, after all.
1. My girl parts remain in their vintage condition!

Day 12

They changed the rules. It's now gloves, gowns and masks for people entering my room. It's to protect them from me and my possible germs, at least until my nose swab results come back.

Sean was quickly sweating.