A New Breed…

From the Twin-Daddy:

We are at Twin Week number 14!!  This Thursday is week 15 and our OB-GYN appointment.  If we are lucky, there will be an ultrasound and the possible identification of baby gender parts.  (No promises on this one but expect us to post here immediately when we find out for certain.)

On Geeks

There is a growing recognition that the word ‘Geek’ is no longer entirely perjorative.  Instead geeks are people who express great enthusiam for a specific subject and take joy in discovering and debating the minutia of a topic.  Geeks take some pleasure in expertise over a subject.

For example I am a sword geek.  Being a sword geek, I read about swords, practice with swords, and then argue about swords on the Internet with my friends.  The saving grace of being a sword geek versus something less mainstream, like say a Star Trek geek, is that swords seem cooler than Star Trek to most normal people.  (For the record, I’m a Star Trek geek as well.)

The other thing is that the geek’s behaviors tend to carry into other areas of life.  When a geek becomes interested or enthusiastic about a subject you can expect information binging to occur.

Pregnancy Geek

Being the husband of a pregnant lady is hands on work.

My wife and I were walking around town when she turned and sleepily leaned into me and pressed her face onto my shoulder.  My comment was, “Wow… you’re much warmer than I am.  It must be because of your increased circulation since you are pumping about 40% more blood than I am.”

That’s when I realized that I had become a pregnancy geek.  Yes… I delight in the details and the learning that goes with it.  We make charts and look endlessly for that new piece of interesting information.  I cruise the Internet reading about what is coming next.

I’ve started fantasizing about my Daddy-bag filled with diapers, wet wipes, two spare changes of baby clothes, a collection of books and toys, a small first aid kit, infant fingernail clippers, 4 binkies (1 for each twin and spares), and various manly things in the same category.

WifeWatch 2010

Food

Mary’s food cravings have been slowing down and the temptation would be to fall back into our normal routine.  Without getting feedback from her about apetite I have had to remind myself to push her to eat regular snacks.  We’ve stocked up on quick pregnant foods that she can easily make herself if I’m not there as well.

• Peanut Butter and Jelly
• Total cereal
• Cheerios
• Oatmeal
• Low-sugar yogurt
• Hamburger refried bean dip stored cold in the fridge

On top of that she is trying to increase her daily water intake to stay hydrated.  She has been getting some of the predictable pregnant lady heartburn, and we’ve been countering that with candied ginger which has been working really well.

Mood

With the first trimester gone, Mary’s symptoms have also diminished.  She actually found herself missing some of these because they were reassuring to her.

There is one amusing item; we were planning on keeping Mary’s pregnantial state a secret until her birthday March 3.  That sounds great but when you see the pictures of her at 12 weeks, you realize how silly that actually was.

Pregnant? Me? Why would you say that?

Sleep

Yesterday Mary didn’t need an afternoon nap.  She doesn’t think that she will need one today either which seems to place us fairly well into the honeymoon phase of the pregnancy.

Babies Countdown – The Double Header

178 Days until September 9

I am adding one new item to this list.  Around 4 weeks after they are born we can expect to see our first baby smiles. I personally like that so it is going on my list.  (You can make your own list and put whatever you like on yours… mine has projected baby smile dates on it.)

• Thursday, March 18 is Twin Week number 15 and is the next OB-GYN appointment.  (There is a good chance we can learn the gender of the twins here if they give us an ultrasound.)
• Thursday, April 1 is 17 weeks and we are expecting ultrasounds about every two weeks after this to watch out for twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome.
• Thursday, April 8 is Twin Week number 18 and Halfway Home Day.
• Thursday, April 22 is week 20 and we should be feeling regular baby kicks by then.  (By this time we should also know the gender via ultrasound provided the little ones have not been shy.)
• Thursday, May 7 and the twins become viable as early as 22 weeks.
• Thursday, May 20 and 90% of twins born at 24 weeks survive and that number only gets better from here on out.
• Thursday, August 12 and we hit our goal of 36 weeks minimum.  From here on the twins could come at any time.
• Thursday, September 9 and we hit 40 weeks.  This is our due date even if we expect the twins to possibly come sooner.
• 4 Weeks Post Delivery – Look for baby smiles.
• Sometime After the Delivery – 4.5 months of the Twinsanity Interval.