When Enough is Enough

I'm currently 29w5d along. I'm so close to hitting the 30's!!

I'll pick up where I left off with my last post...I had a few more shifts to work last week aside from the 12 hour I posted about. By the end of the week, I was left sore, uncomfortable and swollen. I was experiencing a constant pressure feeling low in my uterus, and this had me very worried. My feet were so swollen, while I was walking, the velcro on my Ale.gria shoes (pic on right) blew open a few times and I had to have a co-worker velcro the straps back shut because I can't bend over these days. My compression socks couldn't keep my unruly swollen feet under control! Now those are some swollen feet!

My husband (for those of you who do not know this incredible man) is calm as the day is long and harmonious. He never (honestly NEVER) gets upset and only rarely has an opinion regarding what I should do; he's always supportive of my ideas and thoughts. (Yes, he is real and exists. Yes, I know I'm lucky.) Well, this guy told me he didn't want me working any more after he saw how the shifts last week affected me.... Really?!

His words made me stop and reflect on what was going on and how I was feeling. I'm the type that will push through the pain and discomfort and I didn't realize how much I was actually pushing myself until he said something. We do our schedules at work about a month ahead of time and I originally wrote myself in to pick up shifts through Aug. By the middle of August (at 32 weeks) I had cut myself back to one 12 hour shift a week. When I scheduled myself, back in late June, I was feeling invincible!! Well, that went away by the middle of July, so I spoke with my supervisor regarding taking my leave after Aug 6 (and he was fine with it). Now I was thinking about bumping that date up by two weeks, however, I was quite conflicted.

I've worked since I was 15 years old. That's almost 15 years in the workforce (yikes I can't say I'm in my 20's for much longer). Sure, I've had breaks in college and when we've moved states where I didn't work, but for the most part I have always worked. I've often had more than 1 job at a time as well. Obviously when the babies come, I'll be on leave, but thinking about taking leave early had me at odds with myself. I kept worrying about what other people would think about me taking leave a month before I have babies. Why?! I don't know, it's just how I am... My husband was entirely supportive and sparked the conversation and honestly, it only matters what he and I think, but that's not how I always think.

Anyway, after taking a few days to discuss the situation and get some rest, we decided if my OB agreed, I'd start leave early. Why am I making myself physically feel horrible? Is it worth a few extra dollars? Sure, I like money as much as the next person, but we've been planning and saving for a while so financially we can make this happen. Also, we have worked very hard to get to this point, and rest is optimal in a multiples pregnancy, so why not give in and do what's best? We're most likely not going to have any more children after this, so why not enjoy this time and try to let these kids cook as long as possible?

Now on to the OB appointment. I'm still feeling a lot of pressure low in my uterus so I was anxious for the appointment. My husband was out of town (his last work travel until after I have the kids. Boy, was I nervous about going into labor while he was gone!!) and this didn't help with my anxiety. We spoke about my work schedule (I've cut back to about 25 hours a week and she was pleased I cut back) and although she didn't physically see anything wrong with the pregnancy currently, she agreed rest was a positive thing at this stage and agreed to write a note to my supervisors. So that's it!! I'm on leave 2.5 weeks early! I feel like a huge weight has been lifted from my shoulders. No more night shift. No more 12 hour shifts. No more struggling to stay awake with an aching back and feet. I'm going to have time to concentrate on growing babies, resting and getting ready for their arrival. It hasn't entirely sunk in yet, because this all happened today, however, I am grateful for this opportunity.

Aside from the working world news, the 'honeymoon' phase of pregnancy has passed in the past 2 weeks. I've become very swollen, tired, sore and uncomfortable all of a sudden. Sleeping has become a joke. I have insomnia every night and flipping from side to side is not an easy task. I don't know what happened, well, maybe it's growing 2 babies that happened, but it changed so fast! I was feeling like I could conquer the world one day and the next doing a load of laundry seemed as difficult as running a marathon. I guess it comes with the territory...but I'm so lucky and blessed to be experiencing everything.

My cervix is still long and closed (measuring at about 4 cm). The babies are still in the 50th percentile. The boy is weighing in at 3 lb 2 oz and the girl at 3 lb 1 oz. They have flipped positions and the girl's head is now up and the boys down. His head is right on my cervix. No wonder I'm having so much pressure and discomfort low in my uterus!! He was all stretched out and looked comfy. The tech commented on how much the girl was moving around. My husband remarked how we've heard that at every ultrasound and how 'dad' was worried about his active girl. I teared up when he said that; to hear him call himself dad was purely beautiful. I've managed to pack on 7 pounds in the past two weeks! Sure, some of it can be attributed to the fluid (my feet are always puffy all of a sudden), but I got a cheer from my OB over the weight gain. I'm up a total of 28 pounds!! Yeah!!

So that's that. No more work for the time being. Babies are growing and moving around nonstop. That sums up everything at this point. We're going to get a 3D ultrasound next week. I am extremely excited to see what these babies actually look like!! Keep cooking babies!!!