Week 23: Chaos! Twin Class, Doctor's Visit and the Big Move!

After a few missteps I’m finally sitting down to get some writing done!! We don’t have any Wi-Fi at the house yet so I had to get out to be able to get some computer work done. I meant to get over here earlier in the day but I had to wait around the house all day for a guy to come from Lowe’s to measure all our windows for blinds and after he came and left I had to walk the dog which wore me out so I had to lay on the couch for a while and then I got hungry so I had to make some food! And then once I got here, I realized that I had forgotten my wallet so I couldn’t pay for my tea but the sweet barista told me that I could just pay for it next time which just totally tickled me because he has no assurance that I’ll come back and actually do that but of course I will and I appreciated the gesture so much.

I’m slowly trying to process all the events of the last week or so which have been plentiful!! We had the second half of our Twiniversity class last Wednesday evening. It was lovely and my overall reaction to the class is that it’s more catered to someone who doesn’t have much, if any experience with pregnancy, labor, birth and caring for newborns. Hubby took copious notes so I think he learned A LOT which is fantastic but a lot of this class covered things like how to make a formula bottle, burping, paced bottle feeding, changing diapers, supplies you’ll need and how much of each item, etc. I was texting with a friend, who is a twin mom, after the class and we had the following exchange which I loved:

Contents of our Swag Bags from the Twiniversity Class 

Her: You guys will rock this parenting thing anyway. I have no doubt

Me: My plan is mostly just to wing it. I’m feeling pretty good about that tactic

Her: Anyone who says they aren’t winging it is lying anyway

Me: So true! I think I’m just embracing it more wholeheartedly and sooner than most

Her: Totally and I love it!!

Changing pad that we won in the raffle at the end of class!

It was reassuring to hear a seasoned mama approve of my parenting approach and also liberating to admit that I will have mostly no idea what I’m doing and that I honestly feel pretty comfortable with that! Call me insane, but I feel like I have the basic instincts to get me through this. I know it’s going to be rough, the hardest thing I will ever do. But I don’t think any amount of preparation will truly prepare me so I’m starting now, embracing the fact that everything is entirely out of my control, which I believe is true of parenting as a whole but certainly for us not knowing when our babies will be born, under what circumstances they will be born, the status of their health at their birth, how long they’ll have to stay in the hospital, and the list goes on and on! And truly no one really knows any of these things but we know for sure that we won’t know these things with lots of advanced notice which may give the false impression that we can be prepared for these unknowns but I’m reveling in the uncertainty, starting today! Or really, starting a couple of weeks ago!
Last week we also had another ultrasound and surprise, the babies are still absolutely perfect!! Everything continues to be right on track: their growth, blood flow in their cords, biophysical profiles, whatever else they’re checking at all these ultrasounds. The doctor and tech both expressed being extremely pleased with how well these babies are doing. My mom and aunt got to join us for this appointment and we got such a great view of the babies. One of them was very obviously drinking and swallowing amniotic fluid. They were kicking around and encroaching on each other’s space as always. We got a 3D look at each of their faces which are just beyond perfection and Baby B decided to give us a great big smile!! They have the most amazing little jawlines and button noses. Their darling little cheeks are even starting to fill out. It was really unbelievable. Another interesting milestone was that for the first time I could actually feel the movements corresponding with what we were seeing on the ultrasound! For me it was a very surreal experience to be feeling the movements that we’ve been watching on the screen for 10+ weeks now. We will have another check up this Friday (9/21) and we will also finally go check out the area of the hospital where I will be living! I chatted with a lovely nurse from the unit today and she said we should pop by and someone would be more than happy to tour us around and answer all our questions. And we scheduled the rest of our visits up until I will be admitted to the hospital which is now less than 2 weeks away. So we’ll go for ultrasounds on 9/25 and 9/28 as well before reporting for duty on 10/2!!

Maisy enjoying her new front porch :)

The final piece of our crazy puzzle this last 2 weeks is our big move! We signed the final documents last Thursday and celebrated acquiring the keys to our brand new house with loads and loads of ice cream. All day Friday and Saturday, with the immense help of our parents, we worked on packing and moving some loads of stuff to the new house and the movers came on Sunday morning. Movers never cease to amaze me. They are so incredibly fast and efficient. They had our whole condo loaded up and unpacked into the new house within 3 hours flat. Color me highly impressed!! And we have spent every minute since then unpacking, settling in, coordinating closet installers and the cable and internet provider and window treatment installers and the builder finishing the punch list. It’s been a little chaotic and part of me feels like I should be out in the world enjoying my last few days of freedom before going into the hospital and then having to lug two kids around with me to get out of the house but mostly it feels pretty good to just be at the house, picking away at projects and getting settled. I’m a little surprised by just how comfortable I feel in the house. I thought it would be this big weird transition but overall it feels like a very natural step. On Sunday when we moved in, a Puerto Rican band was playing in the little park down the street and I walked down there to listen for a minute and my eyes just welled with tears all the sudden as I felt filled with so much gratitude for the opportunity to move into such a beautiful house in such a vibrant neighborhood with such gracious neighbors. Everything in our world is changing but I can’t help but just let the changes wash over me with gratitude and acceptance in my heart.