The Twins Virtual Baby Shower

Welcome! Thanks for joining us!

Having moved from VA to TX to VA to UT to MD over the past 11 years, we find that our collection of friends and loved ones are never in one place at one time. How we would love to have you join us in person to celebrate the arrival of these two new Powell babies (and perhaps to even take a turn rocking or changing a diaper (or 2!)). What a party it would be! Rather than dwell on the impossible, Kristen's wonderful Sister-in-Law, Kara Burr, offered to host a VIRTUAL BABY SHOWER. So this blog entry is designed to be as close as we can get to the real thing...and if you need to play crazy shower games (Jamie Morningstar) please go right ahead and get your unlabeled baby food jar or a string cut to your best guess of Kristen's belly size...and spend a few minutes here.

I'll share all the answers to the questions I think may have come up, updates on the Powell family, the Babies, and life in Maryland. And would you consider leaving a comment or two to let us know you were here? We miss you!

First of all, what you really want to know:

ITS A BOY AND A GIRL!!

Twins are considered higher risk and so Kristen gets a sonogram every month to monitor their progress. She's had 5 sonograms so far and everyone is supremely confident that we do actually have one boy and one girl!


At the last ultrasound the tech surprised Kristen by switching to 3D mode and printing out pictures of each baby! The boy was much more cooperative. The girl had her face smushed into something or other and her picture is much less clear.


Two shots of Our little boy!:




And yes, we think he looks a lot like Jack did at birth!

Our little girl:


This is a regular ultrasound view of the twins two tiny heads nestled right next to each other:


Pregnancy Stats (as of June 29, 2011)
Number of grandkids on Jim's side of the family: 9 (including the twins)
Number of female grandkids on Jim's side of the family: Our little girl is the first!
Our kids are still the only grandchildren on Kristen's side of the family. So, first girl for that side too!

How far along is Kristen? 30.5 weeks
Full term pregnancy is 40 weeks
Twins will be induced at 38 weeks because they don't tend to thrive in utero after that point.
That makes Kristen's due date: Aug 21st (38 weeks)On average twins are born around 35 weeks. 60% of twins are born prior to 37 weeks. Having already carried two babies to full term, Kristen's risk for delivering prior to 35 weeks is about half that of a first time mom.

Kristen's belly currently measures 38, which is the average for a single pregnancy at around 38-40 weeks (as in...I am as big as I ever was with Jack or Thomas and I still have 2 months to go!!)
Uncomfortable? yes, almost always.
Hot? yes. I miss the zero humidity of Utah (although my skin rejoices in the moisture of Maryland)

As of the last sonogram on June 15 the twins' size is in the 90th percentile!The boy weighed in at 3 lbs 2 oz
The girl weighed 2 lbs 9 oz
An average baby weighs about 2 lbs 4 oz at that age. Good news, since twins tend to come early, the goal is to bulk them up early on.

Kristen has gained 40 pounds thus far, thanks for asking. Shall we take guesses on total weight gain after 8 more weeks? No? Or we could just take a moment and imagine what I might look like after these babies DOUBLE IN SIZE!! Which I hope they do, but, um, yeah, lets not talk about that anymore... Did I mention that I'm already measuring as large as a full term single pregnancy?? I've grown out of most of my maternity clothes!! Oh, okay, your right, lets move on to something less awkward....like...

What about delivery?The boy is in the Baby A position and will deliver first. He has been head down throughout this pregnancy, so that's a good sign. The girl, as of two weeks ago, is also head down (before that she was breech). This means that a vaginal delivery is a possibility. (72 percent of twins are born via C-Section) As long as the boy is head down, a vaginal delivery is possible. If he was not, they would not even attempt a vaginal delivery.
The drawback to this scenerio is that this baby boy has been establishing himself lower and lower within my pelvis which is painful and contributes to my super-awesome pregnancy waddle. This morning the Dr. checked my cervix (which is completley closed, hooray!) and was surprised to find the top of the boy's head so low. She said that's a major reason for the pain I've been living with and the now frequent Braxton Hicks contractions that I've been experiencing this week.

This is probably also the reason why Jim and I will not be travelling more than 30 minutes away from the two hospitals at which I could deliver. Sounds like the making for a speedy delivery...I guess we'll see. Our local hospital doesn't have a level 3 NICU, so if the babies come prior to 33 weeks, we'll need to make the drive to Sinai Hospital in Baltimore, about 40 minutes with zero traffic.

More Medical Info (feel free to skip all this if its TMI)Starting in 2 weeks (at 32 weeks) Kristen will go in weekly for a Non-Stress Test on the babies (to make sure they are thriving and happy and not getting too squished) and some sort of Amniotic Fluid Test. This will include a brief sonogram too. This is standard protocal for twins...which are just considered higher risk. There are a ton of things that can go wrong with identical twins especially when they share one placenta or are inside a single sac, but with our scenario there really isn't much risk of major problems. But, as we are having twins, we fit the high-risk category.

Names?
We have short lists. I can't usually pick out a name until after seeing the baby, so I imagine we'll go to the hospital with 2 or 3 options for each. We are going with mostly traditional simple names (like Jack and Tom) but we have a few crazy "out-there" names that have made the cut. But, it is hard to have a "Wren and Beckett" as siblings to Jack and Tom, so I'm sure the more traditional names will win out in the end. (oh, and those aren't actual options...but you get the idea)

Jack and Thomas are excited!We talk about "the babies" often. Jack is fully aware of what's to come, or as much as he can be. And Thomas, at 2.5 years, seems to understand that there are two babies in my tummy who will at some point come out and then he will "rock 'em and sing to 'em and hug 'em and read 'em books" (now read that by switching the "r" sound to a "w" sound and saying "hog" instead of "hug"). Jack is 4.5 and starting to enjoy the "helper" role (sometimes) so I think he will be a help. He seems to think of the babies as a really positive thing and talks about playing with them and teaching them things.

We are trying to prepare them a little for crying and less attention. Both boys will start preschool after labor day. Jack will return to the same sweet little school he was in last year for 3 mornings. We have the option of sending him for 4 or 5 mornings and he could even stay until 2, which we may do, at least at first. Thomas will start in a two year old class that meets twice a week for 1 hour and works up to 2 hour days. He's been dying to go to "cool" (school) all winter/spring and asked every time we dropped Jack off if today was the day for Tommy to go to "cool" too?

The Nursery:
Pale but cheery green walls in a shade called Lime Sorbet (the same as Jack's room in Utah). Two Jenny Lind style white cribs. I'll be using the bedding I had for the boys (green/brown/white) and have picked out bedding for the girl that is pink/brown/white). We're going to hang a giant paper lantern light in the room and do some kind of mobile/ceiling hangings of smaller paper lanterns in white/green/brown. We will probably have one crib in our bedroom at first, and we think both babies will share one crib until they get too big to do that.

Life in Maryland:
Our house: We wanted to move out of our three bedroom townhouse into something with bigger bedrooms or even a 2nd full bath before the babies arrived, but nothing came up and by now I can't even imagine trying to relocate. So we are here until next spring/summer at least. We like our house, but the kids bedrooms are TINY. The upside is that we have a wonderful, large, finished and carpeted basement with french doors that walk out to our back yard and we use that entire space for a really great playroom. And to compensate for staying in such close quarters we bought a new washer dryer which is now my favorite possession (Jim and I were laughing about what a funny life-stage we are in when our conversation sounds like this, "Ooooh, I cannot WAIT until we get the new WASHING MACHINE!!! I cannot think of ANYTHING better that I would rather have than THAT!"

Jim's job: Jim loves his position as Pastor of Worship and Ministries at Crossroads Community Church here in Westminster. He oversees every aspect of the worship service other than the sermon/teaching and really enjoys crafting an environment that is welcoming to all and authentic and focused on Christ. He leads worship frequently and has had several opportunities to preach/teach. You can listen to his sermons online. I highly recommend the one on Fear. He also oversees the Youth Ministry Team, Youth Worship Team, and many church events. The folks at church are happy to have him on board and he really feels like he is doing what God made him to do. Its a great fit.

Maryland vs. Utah
There are lots of bugs here. All kinds of different bugs. You Utah folks think you have some bugs, but no...no, you don't really.
Humidity...yes, lots of it here. Not great when I'm hotter than I can ever remember being in the last 4 years in Utah and the actual thermometer only reaches 86 degrees. However, the flowers here are BEAUTIFUL and everything is GREEN like you don't really see anywhere else. And we left our potted basil outside on the deck over our 5 day vacation with no water and it did not shrivle up and die. So, there are some things I like about the humidity.
There are only 2 ice cream shops in town. Did you hear that my Utah friends?? ONLY TWO! And none of them are drive-thru! As in, what's a pregnant lady to do when she just needs to drive-thru and get a real authentic Iceberg milkshake without having to park the car and waddle into an ice cream shop with her two rambunctious boys?
There is no Pirate Island Pizza here. Jack keeps asking when we are going to fly back to Utah so we can go there. Poor guy.



Prayer Requests
Kristen's body...I have a lot of pain in my legs/pelvis/back almost always. I need to rest quite a bit to prevent excessive braxton hicks (plus, I am just simply tired) and that is quite a challenge to do with Jack and Thomas on hand. I am such a "do-er" and simply cannot physically do the things that I need/want to get done...this is frustrating and I'm recently feeling more anxious about all the to do items that someone (Jim) must attend to before the babies arrive. I need to relax and trust confidently in the Lord's timing for these babies and his ability to provide help to our family as we need it.

Several people from church have been so gracious to come over and clean, paint the nursery, help organize, and just play with Jack and Thomas. We are so greatful for their help and willingness to serve us in this way.

Jack and Thomas and the transition to a family of 6. That they will view the babies as blessings and good gifts and that we will be able to ease the transition for them. That God would physically protect the babies from our potentially aggressive boys (Jack tried to drum on Thomas when he was an infant...)

We would like to hire someone to help us for a few months (Aug-Oct, maybe?) for maybe 20 hours a week, to pick up the older boys from school and take them out and about and help with housekeeping and laundry, and maybe help us to sleep a little more if we can. Would you pray for finding the right person with the right skill set who would be a blessing to have as a part of our family for a time? We feel like this will be an almost necessary investment in our survival during these first few months...

Life after birth...please pray for our family, the health of the babies, Kristen's physical recovery, sleep, baby schedules, that the boys would feel loved and valued, and for Kristen and Jim's relationship in the midst of what everyone reports to be total madness and chaos (apparently this goes on for between 2 weeks to 2 months depending on which twin parents you talk to).