Nesting...or maybe just tired.

In the last week, I've slowed down. It was actually forced on me. I'm a firm believer in listening to one's body. I'm a believer in it, but don't always do it.

About a week and a half ago, I got really sick. Sicker than I've ever been in my life. I was in bed for three days straight. It was awful. My body had sent me warning signs before that, telling me to move a bit slower and pack less into my day. I didn't listen so it shut things down. Well played body, but did you have to go so extreme?! It took me over a week to get my energy back and even now, a week and a half later, I still have some mild congestion.

On Monday, despite feeling exhausted, I had this intense urge to get my labour bag packed. I also wanted to get the girls' bags packed and their 'gifts from baby' prepped (tote bags that say 'big sister' and are full of fun items). I did a mountain of laundry as well. I hadn't slept well the night before but adrenaline took over and I was surprisingly productive for being 38 weeks pregnant. When I went to bed (at 8pm!) that night, I felt "weird", the only way to describe it really. I had this unusual pressure, as if baby was dropping even lower into my pelvis. It was the first time I wondered if maybe something was going to happen soon. Obviously, it didn't. I'm grateful. I would like him to cook for just a little longer. Come the weekend, I'm good to go though!

A week ago, my midwives came for a home visit. The student midwife took my blood pressure and it was high. Too high for comfort. The midwife was surprised and took it herself with her own blood pressure cuff. It was lower. She said that the student's cuff was likely not calibrated correctly. I was still concerned. My blood pressure had spiked on the day that I was induced with the twins, likely because my body was done with carrying 12lbs of baby, so it wasn't completely out of the ordinary. Nothing like a minor blood pressure scare late in pregnancy to put things into perspective. I was back at the midwife clinic today and fortunately, my blood pressure was normal.

I've been booking less into my days now. I physically can't run around and be on my feet constantly like I was before. Nor do I want to. I actually want to stay home. I actually want to do laundry! I want to rest when my back starts aching. I want to lie on the couch and cuddle with the girls.

It kind of feels like nesting, but could also just be my body placing a limitation on what it can do at this stage. Either way, I'm ok with it!

Tales from a Coconut

It's been a while, I know. I seem to start every post like that now. Fortunately (and sadly for the blog), this pregnancy has been uneventful. My twin pregnancy was too, but with the constant monitoring and the fact that it was a first pregnancy, there as always lots to report. 

I feel incredibly fortunate that things have gone smoothly so far. The little dude always has a nice heart rate and is perfectly sized for his gestational age at each midwife appointment. He's a mover. Clearly, his sisters stretched out his digs because he was constantly doing flips until recently. Now, at nearly 36 weeks, his quarters have become tight so movements are quite as drastic. I'm grateful though because as of Thursday, he was head down. He's strong though. His kicks and stretches are forceful. He lets me know when I'm in a position that he doesn't like. The girls did the same but I think because there were two of them and they were smaller, their kicks didn't stop me in my tracks. According to my weekly email, he's somewhere in the 4.2 - 5.8lbs range and is likely around 18". He is going to fatten up quite a bit before birth, but won't grow much longer.

Overall, I've been feeling pretty good. My sleep wasn't great in the first trimester, but once the fatigue subsided and I started exercising more, it improved. I still have nights where I'll wake and have trouble falling back to sleep, but it doesn't happen more than once or twice per week. I've stayed active with bootcamp twice per week, yoga and dog walking (and the general running around that comes with having two 4-year olds). As a result, the common pregnancy aches and pains have been kept at a minimum. Recently, my lower back has started to get sore when I'm on my feet all day and don't take time to rest (don't tell my Mom!). Once I lie down, the soreness subsides. He is also lying extremely low in my belly, so the pelvic pressure can be intense at times. Changing positions usually alleviates it. I've been getting Braxton Hicks contractions for quite a while now, but they really aren't bothersome.

While I can't wait to meet this little guy, I'm also trying hard to enjoy the last few weeks of pregnancy knowing that it will be my last. I love feeling him kick and watching the waves across my belly. I love the way the girls give him kisses, hugs and constantly ask me how the baby is doing today. At just 4, they take such good care of me. They can tell when I need to rest and will set up the pillows on the couch for me. The three (or four, I should say!) of us have found a position that works so that we can all have a cuddle. When the kicks to my pelvis are particularly strong and stop me in my tracks, I love how Teagan will say, "I know, Mommy. The baby kicks you hard." I'll miss all of that. I'll also miss it being the three of us. Being home with the girls for the past 4.5 years has been a roller coaster. It's been wonderful and I'm so grateful for the time we've had. From the day trips to the quiet afternoons reading and doing crafts to the classes, activities and park visits to cooking and baking to finding new ways to manage fights and tantrums, it's been adventure! In a way, I think I'm also mourning my babies, as the girls become kids who recently started kindergarten. But, that's how life goes and we're onto a new adventure!

The girls' playroom has been turned into the baby's room and the basement has now become their playroom. The baby is becoming more of a focus in our house as his due date approaches. The girls have been incredible with it all so far. No doubt that the tough part is yet to come, but so far, they're been great. As excited as they are for his arrival, it has got to be hard for them. I do feel anxious about how they'll do when he is finally here, but know that we are going to do everything we can too make sure they feel loved. They are going to love helping out and at 4.5 years old, there's a lot they can do. It makes me grateful for the age gap.

Embarrassingly, I haven't taken any bump photos during this pregnancy, apart from one at 22 weeks. A pregnant friend of mine asked me for a picture the other day, so I snapped a quick selfie. And then for fun, compared it to my twin bump…such a difference! I'm grateful that I was pregnant with twins first!

35 week singleton bump

                                               

36 week twin bump

We recently did a maternity/family photo shoot with my amazing photographer (and childhood!) friend, Lauren. She's been doing photo shoots for our family for the last few years. Her work is amazing and we couldn't be happier with the most recent photos. We'll be back in her studio for a newborn shoot soon!

I'll do my best to get another update in before the little man arrives. I'm hoping that I have a minimum of two more weeks! 

Update!

Where o where has the time gone. October and nearly all of November are deserving of a blog post!

The girls have adjusted very well to JK. For the most part, they are loving it. Their teacher and ECE seem fantastic -- very caring, but also extremely organized. The girls seem to know the day's structure well. It is also posted on the teacher's website, so I can always see what's going on. It's amazing to me that they've learned so much already. I expected the focus of JK to be on social and emotional development, which is for sure. It's great to also see that their writing and reading skills are improving quite a bit. They're constantly writing their names and asking me to help them spell different words. While reading books, they like me to point to each word as I say it.

Teagan's separation anxiety has subsided for the most part. While she is reluctant to go into the kindergarten yard occasionally, she rarely cries and will leave me providing that the ECE is there. I acknowledge that it can be hard, but remind her of the fun that she has at school.

The girls have made lots of new friends. Quinn and her preschool best friend have remained super close, which has been nice to see. It's been great to see them run around with new friends when we stay in the playground after school. I've driven by the playground during their lunchtime recess a few times and have seen them playing with many different kids. Teagan developed her first crush last week! She came out of school and begged me to wait. After a few moments, she ran over to this boy from their class. He is a head taller than she is, so she stood there look up at him. She was beaming and he was smiling down at her. After a little exchange, she came running back to me and he ran out to the soccer field with his friends. She then insisted that she had to say goodbye to him. She ran into the playground and looked around. When she eventually spotted him on the soccer field, she said that she had to give him a hug. She went running across the field. I did have a moment of worry, wondering if he would push her away or ignore her. When she got to him, he wrapped his arms around her and picked her up in a big bear hug. She came running back over to me with a HUGE smile on her face. It reminded me of that scene towards the end of Love Actually. If you've seen the movie, I'm sure you know the one! She talked about this boy for a few days and even said that she loved him. Her crush seems to have subsided now! 4-year olds move on easily!

The girls' school is BIG on parent volunteerism, especially at the kindergarten level. I signed up to be a reader. This means that I go in once per week, if I can, and read with the kids individually. They each have a bag of three books of varying difficulties and choose which one they would like to read to me. I have to keep track of what they read, strengths and areas for improvement in a binder. I've really enjoyed it so far. Most of the kids were extremely keen on reading and wanted to read all three books multiple times.

October also meant a trip to the pumpkin farm! Jenn and I made a last minute decision to go on Thanksgiving Sunday. We had a Thanksgiving dinner planned for Monday, so it worked out well.

We took a wagon out into the pumpkin patch and the girls loved filling it up with pumpkins. We eventually made them each decide on just one!

On Monday, we did Thankgiving dinner at my parents place. The girls came home that weekend and proudly showed us their Thanksgiving project from school that week. Jenn didn't make Quinn's list, which was particularly funny to us given how much Quinn adores her! I found it equally funny that she is thankful for "Mommy makes pies" because I've never made a pie! Teagan apparently really enjoys the outdoors, particularly rocks and wood chips and loves sleepovers at Atty and Grandpa's, she explained to me afterwards. 

Jenn and I managed to escape for a night on our own towards the end of October. The break was much needed. We were both feeling tired and a little burnt out. Earlier in the year, we had done a great job of getting babysitters regularly so that we could go out to dinner alone or with friends, do something fun on a weekend afternoon, do ANYTHING kid-free! etc. So anyways, Jenn and I went down to one of our favourite quick getaway areas, had relaxing massages at a fantastic spa and ate some delicious meals. I also slept for almost 10 hours that night! It was so nice to have that time to reconnect and slow down. 

October ended with Halloween and two extremely excited little girls. Teagan counted down the days until she could trick or treat. By Halloween Day, she was asking every half hour if it was time yet. By 5:45, they were dressed and ready to go -- it was still light out. At the first house, we overheard the owner tell the girls the they were the first trick or treaters!

Trick or treating is serious business...

On the Friday before Halloween, there was a big kindergarten parade. Parents were invited to line the halls while the kids walked through the school. I was shocked to walk into the school to find the halls packed. Kindergarten parents are very supportive! It was clearly overwhelming for the little 4/5 year olds to walk out and see the crowds! The girls teacher had them lined up nicely and had reminded them to be quiet (hence the finger over the mouth!). 

On the day before Halloween, it was discovered that my pregnant sister-in-law, Kelly's baby was breech. As a result, a c-section was scheduled for the following Monday. They were both disappointed to find out that baby was breech, but after processing it, became excited to meet their little girl. After a very smooth and uneventful c-section, they welcomed their little one into the world on the afternoon of November 2nd! She is absolutely adorable. At just 6 days old, her cousins got to meet her. The girls can be a little bit wild, especially around my brother, but managed to understand the importance of being calm and gentle around Kelly and the baby. They both held her, with assistance, and gave her many kisses. It definitely made me feel more excited for their baby brother's arrival in February!

We've been having some challenges at home with fighting. It amazes me how the two of them can be beating each other up one minute and then be best buddies the next. On one particular morning recently, I found the fluctuations completely exhausting. Two minutes before this picture was taken, they were yelling with tears streaming down their faces! 

And then they walked to school like this!

One of the funnier moments recently…I hear Quinn tell T to be a horse and look over to see this! 

I often try to think about what it would be like to be with one person 24/7. As twins, they know nothing else, but it still must be exhausting! Funny enough, when I try to separate them, they resist! 

In early November, the girls and I met one of my old friends and her baby at the Royal Winter Fair. I've taken the girls to it for the last few years now. It's always a blast. We watched the Super Dogs perform. The impressive pups ran through various obstacle courses, which included leaping high over bars, running through tunnels and zig-zagging through thin pylons. It was quite entertaining to watch! Each year, the main attraction for the girls has been the petting zoo. 

The girls watched several older kids riding the mechanical bull and decided that they wanted to try it. While waiting in line, Quinn backed out. Teagan was still determined to give it a try. She was by far the smallest kid in line, but did get onto the bull. I think that it was higher than she thought so she quickly slid off. Sadly, I wasn't able to capture a photo before that happened!

Hockey is going extremely well for the girls. They are really enjoying it and improving quite a bit. Teagan was quite excited to shoot the puck for the first time a couple weeks ago! 

As with anything that Quinn does, she likes to skate as fast as she can. She's working on stopping! 

We were lucky enough to experience some unseasonably warm Fall weather (here and there!) in Toronto. This meant more time outside! A few Fridays ago, I got a call from school that Teagan wasn't feeling well. I went to pick her up after lunch and as suspected, Quinn came home too. I questioned the sickness since she was running around with friends collecting worms when I arrived. It was a gorgeous day so we decided to take the pups for a walk. I took photos of all 6 of my children. Note the "sick" one in photo one ;)

And of course, no update would be complete without talk of the littlest member of our family! See the bottom-middle photo above! 

The little man is growing well. So far, I have been fortunate enough to experience an uneventful pregnancy. The third trimester is officially underway (28 weeks now). Overall, I'm feeling pretty good. My only complaints are some sleep disturbances (occasional insomnia) and occasional heartburn. I'm up a few times per night to go to the bathroom and sometimes have a lot of trouble falling back to sleep.  If I'm awake for more than 30 minutes or so, I usually just get up and head downstairs. I accept it for what it is but am usually exhausted and slightly cranky the next day. The heartburn stays in check providing I avoid certain spices. I learned it the hard way! I'm starting to actually feel pregnant, despite looking pregnant for quite some time. The second trimester is truly blissful in the sense that I didn't have to slow down. Now, my growing belly forces me to take a step back. It's hard though because I generally move pretty quickly. I've experienced a few sharp, sudden pains that were a definite warning to slow down! 

My anxiety during this pregnancy has been much higher than the last one. Surprising, I know. But, as I told my midwife yesterday, in my twin pregnancy, everyone did the worrying for me. I had constant monitoring so there was little room for something to go wrong without it being discovered quickly. As I mentioned, this pregnancy has been uneventful so far, so I feel extremely fortunate for that. I try hard to not worry and have faith in my body and the little baby growing inside me. His movements are incredibly reassuring. He favours my right side but is large enough now (around 14 inches long and roughly 2lbs) that he often stretches across the bottom of my belly too. 

I've tried to keep active. I'm doing a prenatal bootcamp twice per week and yoga once. I would love to up the yoga, but at this point my schedule doesn't permit it. I also walk a lot during the week between the kids and the dog walking. 

A few weeks ago, we toured the new Toronto Birth Centre. I'm hoping to have the baby there. This does mean a natural labour and delivery with no pain relief. It's something that I feel like I can do and want to do for myself. We have hired a doula to help both Jenn and I during labour and will have our two midwives too. 

Spending time with Rob and Kelly's little girl has made me very excited for the little man's arrival! The girls are excited too, particularly Teagan, who talks to him and kisses my belly constantly. I'll post some proper belly photos soon. I'm embarrassed to say that I've only taken one at 22 weeks!