June 24, 2010

Jordan Keiko Bockol (pictured on the right)
8:25 PM
6 lb, 10 oz (3010 g)
19 1/4 in (49 cm)

Casey Mariko Bockol (pictured on the left)
8:35 PM
7 lb, 9 oz (3420 g)
20 1/2 in (52 cm)

We are home and doing well. The girls did not need NICU time, and both were breastfeeding within hours of birth. This was a successful VBAC of twins (Baby A, vertex; Baby B, footling breech). Labor was ~10 hours from start to finish. I had a membrane rupture induction (failed), pitocin induction (successful), an epidural, a “small” tear, and NO SURGERY.

Thank you for your positive thoughts and prayers. Will talk more soon.

Sometimes, when easily distracted, I find it useful to take on a small project with guaranteed good results. Enter bead stringing kits! Our tiny town has a sweet bead shop, Glass Garden Beads, and I wandered in there last week, birthday money in hand, to see if I could score a quickie.

And score I did!

The large beads are murky green, the smaller beads are shades of gold and green, and the seed beads are muted blues, pinks, and greens. It’s not a combination I normally would be drawn to, but it made me think of old tapestries, damask wallpaper, and flocked upholstery. Kind of museum-y colors, if I had to take a stab at describing it.

This was a kit that had everything included (beads, findings, instructions, everything but pliers). Actually, the instructions were minimal – literally just a b/w image of the final product. I had to search teh Internets for tutorials on making wire wraps, how to apply crimping beads, what to do with those strange C-shaped beads (turns out they are covers to go over crimping beads), and so forth. I like that it doesn’t look professionally made, esp if you look near the closures, but it doesn’t look like a fifth-grade craft project, either. I feel pretty wearing the set. (That last bit is saying a lot, frankly, as my body image has taken quite a beating with this pregnancy.)

I’m guessing (though I don’t really know) that the kit was not a bargain – in the spirit of full disclosure, I paid $30 for it. But I didn’t have to design anything, I don’t have any leftover supplies that I don’t know what to do with, and it sated my appetite for a rapid, eye-pleasing item that I will probably wear for years. I know it would have been considerably more expensive if I’d purchased a handmade set like this at a craft show. Likely down the road, I will look at the jewelry and remember that I made it in the days preceding the birth of my two daughters.

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Speaking of the twins, we have achieved a major milestone. As of today, the pregnancy has gone 37 complete weeks. The girls are, quite literally, full-term babies. Who would have guessed, way back in November, when I was forced into sick leave after having emergency procedure after emergency procedure, that I was capable of this? (ETA – Sorry if the above text was misleading. I was on leave for ~2 wks but have been working FT since.)

I was in line at a Chipotle over the weekend, and a young woman (late teens, perhaps?) ahead of me literally did a double take as she saw me ambling toward her. She said to me, “Your stomach is SOOOOO big!” I eyeballed her and said “Yes.” And then I added, in case she was a moron, “I’m pregnant,” in a slightly peevish tone. She asked, “Is it twins?!?” I nodded. “That’s why you are sooooo big!” (Seriously?)

I know I keep wearing the same clothes for these pictures — I hardly have anything that fits now!

A funny thing has started happening to my body, actually. Although my overall weight has stayed roughly the same for the past couple weeks (about 38-40 lbs gained [47" belly]), I am rapidly losing bodyfat. My cheekbones are back. My double chin is fading. My wedding jewelry fits on my fingers again. I’m still cramming 4 or 5 smallish meals down per day, but I’m clearly not keeping up with the babies’ caloric demands – they seem to be eating me up from the inside out.

Hmm, is that a spider on the ceiling?

People who have not seen me regularly seem genuinely surprised by my appearance, and a lot of women are exclaiming about how GOOD I look for someone so far along in a twin pregnancy. Honestly, I feel like a lumbering whale and am in constant, fairly severe pain (the ligaments that normally hold my pelvis together are failing in a dramatic way), so although I admit the praise seems somewhat odd, I also find it very heartening. I suppose it’s something like running a marathon and hearing strangers lined up on the street, cheering you by name.

This 1976 photo of me resurfaced recently from the family archives… Since we just celebrated Meredith’s second birthday (plus, my birthday is today, woo), I thought it would be fun blog fodder for a follow-up post. Almost makes me want to do a Young Me / Now Me photo… Maybe when I find that perfect yellow dress (*snort*).

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In work-related news, I am pleased to tell you the very first book that I edited has now been published! Presenting…

If you go to the Amazon preview (click on the picture of the book to be magically transported to Amazon), on page ix, you will see my name acknowledged in the Preface, along with many others from my work group who busted some serious booty last year to get this book to its top-notch form. In the era of .pdf files and electronic communications, I must say it is so cool to hold this book in my hands! It is relatively small (compared with other board review books), but it still has a nice hefty weight to it. :) Go team!

Thank you for all your kind birthday wishes for Meredith. It really was a happy day for all of us.

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We went to a restaurant over the weekend and I had the embarrassing experience of being too big to fit into a booth table. I sat down facing outward and tried to swivel in to face Matt… Nope. Could we slide the table over at all? No, it was bolted to the wall. Shucks. We asked to be reseated, and the manager or someone came out to find out why (ie, was there a problem with the server?). I was mortified. Hi, me and the watermelon I’ve shoved under my dress are too big to sit here. It’s not you, it’s me. We were quietly led to a new table, and it was fine after that.

We met with the OB on Wednesday and also had another ultrasound evaluation. The OB says the girls are good to go, that I can go into labor at any time and they won’t try to stop it. I had read that intrauterine growth for twins typically slows after 30-33 weeks (I just finished 35 weeks), but my babies are measuring unbelievably large.

Based on the skull cross-section dimensions, abdominal circumference, and thigh bone length, the estimated weights as of yesterday are 6 lb, 2 oz for Baby A and 6 lb, 15 oz for Baby B. That’s more than 13 lbs of baby! (For the record, I’ve gained 38 lbs [right on target, yay me] and have a “waist” circumference of 46.5 inches.) They each are measuring larger than singletons of the same gestational age (65th and >90th percentile for A and B, respectively).

The ultrasound tech warned us that size measurements at this late stage are not particularly accurate, but he said he was fairly certain he was within 8 oz of the actual size. (The OB also said that the margin of error for weight measurements was about 10%.) Given that the average size of twins at birth is 5.5 lbs, I think we’ve done pretty well here! I am really pleased and kind of proud of myself. I’m still hoping for bigger babies, so they do have some growing to do if they’re going to meet my (mostly arbitrary) goal of 7.5 lbs – the avg weight of a newborn singleton – but I feel very lucky that we’ve come this far. As far as how I’m feeling, I’m in a lot of pain (“discomfort” doesn’t even come close to describing the searing crotch pain), but it’ll all be worth it if we don’t have any NICU time when they are born.

My little girl is now two! What a privilege it is to be her mother and to be a shepherd in her blossoming life. Please indulge in me as I travel briefly down memory lane…

June 2009 – first birthday

July 2009 – learned to stand by herself (and learned to walk just a few weeks after that!)

August 2009

September 2009

October 2009

November 2009

December 2009 – did NOT like being in the snow

January 2010

February 2010

March 2010

April 2010

May 2010