29 Weeks

Well, we're at 29 weeks today.  This is our last week in the 20's.  I have to say that I'm looking forward to the 30's.  Our babies will be here no later than 38 weeks, so it's crazy to think that it's just over 2 months before we see their little (still unnamed) faces.

We had an ultrasound yesterday.  The good news is that both babies are still head down.  I'm very happy about that, because that means that we can try for a vaginal birth (which is better for the babies).  It's also neat to know that the strong kicks I'm feeling around my ribs are in fact kicks (versus punches).  The ultrasound tech said that our baby boy's foot is all the way up under my ribs.  I have no idea how he can actually get his little foot all the way up there, but I guess their amniotic sacs must run the full length of my ever-expanding abdomen. 

The not-so-great news is that they're in the 34th percentile for twins at their gestational age.  They weigh 2 lbs. 9 oz and 2 lbs. 8 oz.  I was disappointed to hear this, considering how much protein I've been eating.  I was hoping that they would be bigger.  The ultrasound tech said that that's really nothing to worry about unless they are under the 10th percentile, which is good news.  She wouldn't have even pointed this out to us, but Jason was watching the monitor very carefully and asked her about the "34%" that he was seeing.  A regular singleton would weight around 2.9 pounds at this point, and our babies are 2.5 pounds, so I don't think that this is really anything to be concerned about.

We have a doctor's appointment next week, so I can ask her more about this then.  I should also get the results of my glucose test, but I assume that there aren't any problems there or they would have already called me.

Here's how the three of us look at 29 weeks:

The babies are about 15 inches long now.  Their muscles and lungs are maturing and their little heads are growing to accommodate their brains, which are developing billions of neurons.   Billions of neurons... wow... so I have 2 times some billion neurons growing in there...

I can't remember whether I've written about this already, but the babies have a tendency to bulge out.  I'm not talking about a foot or an elbow - I mean the entire baby's back and butt will bulge out on one side of my belly.  It's almost uncomfortable, but it still makes me smile.  When they do that, my belly looks completely deformed.  I have no idea how they are strong enough to do that (you would think that they would have to be pushing against the opposite "wall" with both of their arms & legs full force to create that much tension in already tight skin).  Sometimes they do it at the same time, and it feels like someone put a clothes hanger inside me - both butts sticking out opposite sides.  We're going to have to try to get a picture of it.