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!