Calm before the storm

Yes, I am still pregnant.

At 38 weeks + 1 day, it is hard for me to believe that in less than 48 hours, all the waiting will come to an end. All the waiting, worrying, and wondering of the last 13 weeks will finally culminate in me cuddling two hopefully very chunky, very healthy newborn boys in my arms. We've been holding our collective breath here, waking up each morning thinking it might be "the day," holding off plans and expectations since January 2nd when I went into the hospital on bedrest.

This is it, the finish line. I feel so incredibly blessed to be here at full term. It was hard at times, of course, but it was much easier than delivering two preemies and spending weeks or months in the NICU. Many women face worse challenges with their pregnancies (twin or otherwise) and don't have the option to hold off labor as long as we did. Those are the women that have my admiration. I thank my lucky stars that all I had to endure was the bedrest and medication, and that everything went smoothly with my husband, Mom, and Bean during that period. We have one final hurdle -- delivery -- and I pray that our luck will hold.

This will probably be my last blog post until Wednesday, unless the babies prefer to come today or tomorrow. The plan: On the 7th, DH and I have to be at the hospital at the crack of 5:30 am. At first I was annoyed at the early hour, but I'm sure I'll be awake most of the night worrying anyway, so I may as well just get up and get ready. The eviction officially begins at 7:30 am, and if my previous C-section is any indication, the twins should be born shortly thereafter. Once all my body parts are returned to their proper locations, we will be sent back to our room... as parents of three boys.

My Mom is going to let Bean leisurely wake up in the morning, and if he feels well enough (he has a cold today), she's going to drop him off at a friend's house for a few hours so she can visit her new grandbabies without distraction. She'll head home to give Bean his nap, then they will both likely come back to the hospital so Bean can meet his brothers. Similar routine on Thursday.

God willing, the boys will be healthy and not need any NICU time. I fully expect to deal with jaundice (Bean had it, as did DH and I as newborns), but hopefully it won't be severe enough to require a longer hospital stay for treatment. Depending on how I recover, we should be discharged on Friday or Saturday. DH hopes to take the next two weeks off, and then my Dad will fly in to provide another set of hands when DH goes back to the office.

I am so {insert any emotion here}. Your thoughts and prayers have worked wonders for us so far, please keep it going for another couple of days. We appreciate it more than we can say.

See you on the flip side...