Friday, December 6, 2013

Non Stress Tests

I had my first NST on Monday.  I was told to expect it to take anywhere between 20-60 minutes, depending on how active the babies were.  They put one strap on to measure contractions, and then two more straps for each babies heart beats.

I don't think I was even there for a full 20 minutes because the babies were so active and Dr. P saw what she wanted to see!  Apparently they look for a spike in the heart rate that corresponds with movement and they want to see this happen at least twice in a 20 minute time span.

Dr. P must have forgotten our conversation from last week when I had asked her if it was reasonable for me to expect to be able to work until the 19th, because she asked me if I was still working.  She shook her head and told me I was setting the bar high for all other pregnant women.  I told her I didn't mind being the one to set such a good example!

On Thursday, I had my second NST, but met with a different doctor at the clinic.  I really liked him, but I don't think he had any experience doing an NST with twins before!  He thought he was supposed to be able to hear both heartbeats at once, but I explained to him that while it records both heartbeats, you only actually hear ONE at a time from the machine.  He spent a lot of time trying to figure it out.

It didn't help that the babies kept moving around and hiding from the monitor!  Both the nurse and Dr. H had to chase the babies around trying to pick up their heartbeats because they were moving so much!

On Monday and Tuesday, I felt really, really good.  So good in fact, that I was thinking that maybe I could even work beyond the 19th!  But then Tuesday after work, I took a few things back to Target and exchanged them for some other needed items.  I also had to shop for a baby gift for a co-worker.  I was in the store on my feet for about an hour and a half.  By Tuesday night, I hurt so bad!  My feet were pretty swollen and my back was killing me.  Not to mention my hands.  My hands hurt so much from this stupid carpal tunnel.

I totally missed my first client Wednesday morning because I apparently turned my alarm clock off instead of pressing snooze.  I woke up at 6:24am, which was 9 minutes past the time I should have left my house!  By the time I got dressed, ate something quick, threw some snack foods together, and warmed up my frozen car, it was 6:45am and my first appointment should have been starting.  It was just a cardio workout for my client and I knew he could handle it on his own, but I called to have the front desk person let him know I would be late.  I got there just in time to help him with his cool down.  Sigh.

Wednesday evening, we went to the high school girls basketball game.  Several girls from my softball team play basketball, and we like to go support them as much as we can.  We live in a small town, and of course everyone wants to stop and talk to us about the babies and find out how I'm doing.  It was kind of fun to see everyone and get so much attention, but it was exhausting for sure.  The boy's team played right after the girls. Hubby wanted to stay and watch it, but I told him I had to go home and get my feet up.  We drove separate just for this reason.

By Thursday, I was pretty much wiped out.  I fortunately had a quick workday with only 3 clients.  Then had my NST appointment, then came home and just crashed.  I hadn't had a nap in weeks and it felt so good. My feet are still swollen, which I think is probably a pretty permanent thing at this point, but I feel so much better.

It would be awesome (financially) if I could work beyond the 19th, but I'm not so sure I'll be able to.  We will see.  I'm glad to have today off and get some things done around the house, while also being able to spend a lot of lazy time.

Hubby is actually home today as well, which never happens on a Friday, but we woke up to this today:

The view out our front door
He attempted to go to work, but he didn't get very far without sliding around a bit and decided to just come home.  It's not a lot of snow, but it is frozen underneath.  We don't tend to get very much snow here in the valley, so I love to see it when we do!  I am looking forward to the day, in a few more years. that we will be able to take our kiddos out and play in it!

16 comments:

  1. girl you made me tired and yawn just reading your post! hehe! I live in Southern Illinois and we got over 9 inches in my town today. I typically do not like playing in the snow, but was thinking today that when I have children, I will LOVE to take them out in in and then make them hot chocolate when we are done :) You will be able to do that soon! How exciting!!

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    1. I know our measly little snow and 25* weather doesn't remotely compare to a lot of other places. I LOVE your vision of playing with the kids in the snow and then bringing them in for hot chocolate. Hopefully that will become a reality for us both :)

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  2. Are NST a normal thing or is it because you are having twins? Just wondering...

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    1. I believe they are pretty normal, but not usually quite so early and often. Starting last week, I go in twice/week for them.

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  3. I'm glad the babies are doing so well, but it is a bit concerning that you had to explain the doctor how to do the test ;)
    As for the rest, take it easy if you can. Maybe there's a possibility to do small breaks in between so that you can still mostly-work?

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    1. I just don't think that particular dr. has had twins before! I sit a lot of the time while training my clients, so work isn't really too bad. It's that in addition to everything else throughout the day that just adds up! It just gets tiring.

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  4. I LOVE the snow picture and glad that you both got to play hookie because of it!!! We had snow spit on and off all day but around 3pm, HUGE flakes and it accumulated fast and is beautiful!!! Love hearing the babies are being so ambitious!!!! Maybe they will need to rest a lot after they are born!!!
    Let Mommy and Daddy sleep then! Love, hugs and prayers! Good luck with your goal for working but remember to rest!!! Even if those twins don't!!! LOL Auntie

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    1. We didn't have ANY big snowflakes at all, but it spit lots of little snow most of the day. Everybody tells me to rest. I rest when I can but I can't just sit on my butt all day long either! Besides that, I hurt the most when I am lying down and that is no fun.

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  5. All I can say is nap as much as you can!! I remember those lazy days of afternoon naps and miss them terribly! Nap, nap, nap mama. It's good for you and those babies.

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  6. Glad you are doing well! Hope many weeks are you! I think I will be doing one NST a week if I make it to a certain point, but I was thinking they only do then for twins and women who are 40+ weeks with one. Have a relaxing weekend!

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  7. So glad your husband decided to come back home. Icy roads are horrible to navigate. Even with my four wheel drive and going slow I almost slid off the road one year.

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  8. You are a stud! BUT don't overwork yourself woman. :)

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  9. You're incredible how much you're doing. I'm so glad that both babies are doing well. Rest up girl! You're going to be running around enough when they arrive. ;)

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  10. This made me laugh a little. You can still see grass through your snow! I'm in Minnesota, so there's no way we'd get a snow day for that little bit...but take advantage of it for sure!

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  11. I love pictures of snow, but I'm from TX and have never experienced REAL snow. The closest I've gotten was when husband and I lived in NC for a 3 yrs and it snowed there, but nothing like your picture- just a couple inches if that. I hated it lol. I'm glad your NSTs went well!

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