Nesting-27 Weeks

I breathe a small sigh of relief as I enter into my third trimester. Some might say this small sigh is more of a gasp as I'm continually out of breath at this point, but call it what you will. Jeremy and I have both been warned that with the third trimester comes the nesting instinct. This is the idea that we have to do all we can now to get ready for these babies, so that their arrival at home is the best it can be. For me, it seems to be more about control. I have no control over how and when these babies will arrive, but color-coding their onsies, organizing the garage, cleaning the refrigerator twice in a week, all is totally within my control. Either way, the nesting took over this weekend after a nightmare of a week last week. The furniture was delivered last week and it is the wrong color, we ordered a lighter wood. At this point they are saying they can order it (again) and fix their mistake, but it would take 14 weeks and honestly, we don't have 14 weeks, so we are going to make it work. Here is the week in pictures...

Last week the grandmothers got highlighted, well here are a few of the men in Lilly & Addy's life, Jeremy is on the far right, with Grandpa Dave on the left and Grandpa Ian in the middle. This is at the US Open last weekend (yes, that's the real trophy). Jeremy later told me that this was the best day of his life--after some quick deliberation, he recanted and said it was the best day of his life after our wedding day and the day we found out we were expecting :-)

The nursery!27 week--belly shot!

Father's Day Anxiety

Dear Aimee's Road to Motherhood,

As the "Babies Daddy" I have kept my mouth shut as much as possible during this whole pregnancy. I've done my best to be overly supportive when it comes to breathing exercises, rubbing my wife's back, picking and painting girly colors for the nursery, knocking off items on the never ending "nesting" list, and spending (yet not complaining) thousands of dollars on baby paraphernalia. The bottom line is that I am doing this for a woman whom I didn't marry. The woman I married, Aimee Elizabeth Ash, was smart, sexy, and was my favorite drinking partner of all time. The woman that currently lives in my home is demanding, forgets everything, and is only somewhat* attractive.

With all of this said, I would like to vent about some of the small anxieties I have developed over the course of the last couple of weeks. If you don't know me, when I become anxious or worried I have very vivid dreams. Aunt Julie will easily be able to define these dreams and if you need more details Julie.....just let me know.

After we found out that we were having baby girls, I had a very weird dream about disciplining these two precious little girls. I dreamt that we were on Geist Lake on an early morning canoe trip. I was in the back and the two little ones were up front. They were so cute with their little "armies/floaties" and miniature oars. Addy thought it would be hilarious to start shaking the canoe. I quickly told her to stop and explained to her that if she continued to rock the canoe, we would easily tip over and she and her sister would get all wet and have to swim to the shoreline. She listened but began whispering to her sister. They then began to laugh hysterically at me and both began to grab the sides of the canoe and rock it back and forth. I became furious at this point, raised my large wooden oar above my head and slammed it into the side of the aluminum canoe. This of course made a shattering "clap" which echoed across the quite lake. Addy and Lilly immediately began crying and sobbing and wanted their Mommy. Bottom line.....I have a serious anxiety about disciplining these little girls. Mom will have to be the "enforcer."

An even weirder dream....Aimee and I were at a Chinese restaurant having a night out. She was late in her pregnancy and was "as big as a house." This place was a typical (in my mind) Chinese establishment with red booths, red walls, with a huge mural of a yellow dragon (the kind you see at Chinese new year). That was my ADD kicking in....any way I got up and went to the bath room and when I came back Aimee was laying on her back in the booth with one leg over the top of the booth and the other in our general tsaos chicken entree. I was amazed to see Mr. Miagee crouched over in front of my wife pulling out Addy and Lilly with chopsticks. I know what your thinking....DISTURBING.....but the disturbing part of the dream was that I vividly remember thinking that Mr. Miagee couldn't even catch a fly with chopsticks in Karate Kid......he sure as hell shouldn't be using chopsticks as forceps.

Happy Father's Day,

Jeremy "The Babies Daddy" Ash
*somewhat attractive is defined by a hot woman with a huge belly

Below is a picture of Aimee & the soon-to-be grandmothers before the shower in Pittsburgh and a belly shot at almost 26 weeks!

Baby Basics Class

Every Tuesday during the month of June, Jeremy and I are attending a "Baby Basics" class hosted at St. Vincent's hospital. This week was session #2. We learned about the various stages of labor, watched the labor and delivery video (during which Jeremy "needed" to use the restroom", and discuss other anxieties with other expecting parents. The woman that teaches the class is old--she was a labor & delivery nurse for 50 years and retired in 1998. She drinks about a gallon of diet coke during each class (which explains why she can't make a point) and swears like a sailor. By the time we were closing the class with relaxation methods, Jeremy and I couldn't stop giggling. He was supposed to be pinching me and I was suppposed to be breathing through the pain--seriously? This is supposed to simulate labor? I couldn't stop laughing. Apparently if we were graded in this class, Jeremy said we would have received an F.

Sitting through class after sitting through work and my 80 minutes in total commute time has become too much for Addy & Lilly to handle. They decided last night they would take out their frustration by using my ribs as a cool new playground. They'll be taking their first long road trip out to Pennsylvania this weekend and I'm not sure my ribs are ready.

Shower Weekend!

Here are some of the girls who made it in for the shower (R-L, back row, then front): Gretchen, Stephanie, Me, Jenny, Michelle, Erin, Kristina & Becky I have spent the day recovering from yesterday, the shower was so much fun. It was an amazing combination of people. Girlfriends from high school, college & graduate school, girlfriends of Jeremy's, mothers of some of Jeremy's closest friends, women I have worked with and family. Some people traveled from as far as Tennesee (Stephanie) & North Carolina (Jenny). It was obvious that these little babies have a lot of people awaiting their debut into the world! Thanks to Michelle for hosting and all who helped, attended or who couldn't attend and sent well-wishes!

We are now going into our 25th week and I'm feeling pretty good. Me and my entourage (Jeremy and the soon-to-be Grandmas) all went to the doctor on Friday and we graduated from the specialist! He said that if my pregnancy continues on this road there is no reason for me to be seen by him and so he passed me back to my normal OB. He called me "boring" and to us at this stage in our pregnancy, boring is very good! The babies each weigh 1 pound, 9 ounces each and were both very active during the ultrasound.

Jeremy and I started our Childbirth Preparation classes last week, we have 3 more to attend and they make for some good mid-week entertainment, so I'll write about them later this week.

24 weeks

Hooray! Anytime you talk to women pregnant with multiples, there are 2 major turning points in your pregnancy. I thought it was quite an accomplishment to get through the first trimester, apparently, that isn't a bid deal (easy for docs to say who weren't spending time over the toilet). Anyway, these major milestones come at 24 weeks and 30 weeks. The 24 week mark is when doctors begin to use the word viable. This is a cold and horrible word, but what it means is that the babies are now big enough and their internal organs are developed enough to survive in the "real world". Now don't get me wrong, we don't want them arriving anytime soon, a delivery between 24-30 weeks is dangerous and they would spend the first part of their lives in the NICU and have some long-term complications. But 24 weeks is a great sign. The next obstacle is 30 weeks. Our personal goal date of August 21 is still 6 weeks beyond that, but 30 weeks means that the babies would be born with minimal complications (decreased lung development, asthma, etc) and it would be an easier ride.

It seems bizarre to talk about our little girls in this way as they are so real to us. (Especially when they are boxing at 3 a.m. and waking me up. I woke Jeremy up on Saturday night and told him that if I wasn't sleeping he shouldn't be either. His quick and witty, middle of REM, response was "I'm not sure what the policy should be for that.") But we are trying to be as cautious as we can as the doctor has said these next 6 weeks are VERY critical. He has me on "limited activity" which means no heavy lifting, no exercising (which is good cause I eliminated this when exhaustion took over about week 10), and no s#% (again, good because it is what got us in to this in the first place and not necessarily what is on your mind when you are toting around an extra 30 pounds).

Anyway, I'm hoping to work another 10 weeks, so keep the prayers coming, they seem to be working. And the big news of the week is it is baby shower week! A few of my Indianapolis girlfriends and mother-in-law will be throwing me a shower on Saturday and I'm so excited. Some of my very best friends will be flying in and I'm sure we'll have a blast. I'll get pictures up next weekend.