Still waiting

We’re getting a lot of calls on the home front: “What’s the news?” “Any action?”

Nope. Still pregnant.

Early on it seemed like everyone in my family had a bet to place: Birthdates were chosen to reflect favorite numbers, national holidays, and lunar phases. All of those dates have come and gone.

Twins have a tendency to come early, and everything in my third trimester gave me Braxton Hicks contractions. A month ago I stopped going for walks, sweeping floors, and lifting my 30-lb daughter and took to doing a lot of back-porch sittin’. My tan this summer rivals the one I had in the 1999 when I was fresh out of high school and working as a camp counselor. The comments made by my nurses about it are not meant as compliments, but I’ll take what I can get.

For the longest time I celebrated every week that the babies stayed inside. Thirty-three…. thirty-four…. thirty-five…. I crested up to the top of the gestational curve with cramping and diarrhea at 36 weeks and felt sure they were on their way. I became unable to tolerate heat, noise, or human company. All I wanted was to sit alone in the darkened basement and watch Netflix: A sure sign of impending labor.

Then, un-ceremoniously, all pre-labor symptoms quit. Two uneventful weeks have since passed; the only change being that my once large but taught belly has started to droop like an anemone left hanging too long at low tide.

Twins are funny; they are premature right up until they are overdue. The modern standard is to induce during week 37 when babies are barely full term but before complications arise. Fortunately, the only complication I have is my feet, which have swelled to resemble a mantee’s flippers:

I find myself in territory that twin moms haven’t encountered for thirty years: Week 38 and counting. We’ve rounded over the top of the normal curve and are headed downward into highly unusual. My doctor is keeping a close eye on these babies with twice weekly heart rate monitoring (see above photo). Everyone is doing great.

So far I’ve fought hard to skip induction in favor of natural labor. I also don’t want to screw up their astrology: Cancer or Leo, kids? Which will it be?

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