January 20th - Inauguration & Bed Rest

January 20th was a major day in history. Our 44th president was sworn in and I was told that for the remainder of my pregnancy I will be on bed rest. Ok, I admit that bed rest isn't quite as historical as Obama's presidency, but it's certainly a memorable day for me.

I also knew that bed rest could be a likely scenario for me. It's very common for multiple pregnancies to have to spend some time on bed rest. However, I really thought I'd defy the odds. I've had a gold-star pregnancy up until this point. I've been feeling great and all my tests, check-ups and visits have been thumbs up. Until the 32 week mark.

The 32 week appointment started with an ultrasound and good news. For the first time ever, both babies showed to be head down which means that I might be able to avoid a c-section. Great news! Then, we got Baby A's measurements and he grew a bunch in the last month. He's at 4lbs, 11 oz which is above the 50th percentile for twins. More good news!

Then we moved on to measure Baby B.

Unfortunately, Baby B grew very little in the last month. He's only weighing 3lbs, 11oz which puts him in the less than 5th percentile for size. Up until now, he has been about 6oz behind his brother, but now the discordance increased to a full pound. This difference caused growth concerned for the docs.

Immediately a new plan was put into action. As of that moment, my mobility would be restricted to the house. The guidelines are that I can shower each morning, go downstairs once, and get up 5 minutes per hour throughout the day. At the end of the day, I can go back upstairs to sleep. And that's it. This news triggered instant tears for me as my mind started racing:

• Will my maternity leave clock start ticking now?
• The babies' room isn't at all ready
• I have a billion errands to do
• Mark is going to have to take care of me

Then the doc told me that she wants me coming in twice per week for non-stress tests, once per week for doc check ups and another ultrasound in 3 weeks. More tears.

Once I calmed down, I was able to calm a lot of my concerns...
Fortunately, the doc is ok with me working from home so the maternity clock is still in tact.
And, more great news... Mark's mom booked a ticket within minutes of finding out our predicament and is flying out here to help next week. What a savior! She will be able to help prepare the babies' room and hopefully knock off some of those errands I'm worried about.

And, Mark has been AWESOME helping me at home. He's taken over the kitchen, dog walking, and my constant requests... without complaint. What a champ! I guess it's good practice for both of us once the babies are here.

Today is Saturday so I've now experience 3.5 days of bed rest. The weekdays were pretty easy. Since I'm still working, the days pass by pretty fast and I get to wear comfy clothes instead of work clothes. Bonus! I'm a little concerned about the weekends feeling long, but I have several projects I want to work on and I increased my Netflix account so I'll have lots of movies to choose from.

All-in-all I want to do what's best for the babies. And, I know that this forced relaxation will be really missed once the babies arrive. So I'm making the most of it and keeping a positive attitude. Plus, I have a great network of friends and family that have jumped into action to help out. I'm very lucky.

These photos aren't the greatest, but here are the latest ultrasound images of both boys. Baby A is very photogenic this time around. Baby B is more curled up and laying face down. Enjoy!