35 weeks, 3 days

We made it to today, the average gestational period for twins in the US--35.5 weeks. Hooray! I only wish I had known we would make it this far way back when I was in the hospital in NYC and being asked to make "choices" about the babies if they had been born that day, February 28.

At my doctor appointment this week I weighed in at 222 pounds. I am now heavier than most people I know. I will not embarrass those I know who weigh more by calling them out here, but you know who you are. I probably weigh more than whole families in India or sub-Saharan Africa. Still, I have no stretch marks! It's amazing what a body can accommodate. I think part of the reason is that I followed the advice of my great multiple pregnancy book (http://www.amazon.com/Youre-Expecting-Twins-Triplets-Quads/dp/0061803073/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1305380470&sr=8-1) to gain weight early, stop exercising, listen to my body and instincts, and take bedrest seriously once I was on it.

Even better than my record weight is that my doctor believes the babies are at least 5.5 and maybe as much as 6 pounds each. I am so proud of this. Also, in a complete reversal, everyone at my doctor's office now believes I am going to go until 38+ weeks based upon how high I am still carrying and the fact that nothing has changed in such a long time. Of course, since I defied their expectations for 10 weeks that I would deliver any day, I feel this new expectation will somehow work against me. I am superstitious like that. But they are very healthy, moving around as much or more than ever, and doing everything they are supposed to be doing. My mom believes that a bad stomachache I had about a week ago caused them to turn around like my Aunt Rita 30 years ago, because on the non-stress test (fetal monitor test) this week the nurses finally got both babies' heartbeats down quite low in my belly. The scheduled sonogram next week will tell us for sure. It would be funny if baby A really had turned head down! I don't really believe it, though, because I haven't experienced any rib kicks in at least 5 weeks and feel lots of cervix and bladder kicks. But we'll see! I am so uncomfortable much of the time that it's hard not to wish for it to be over, but the babies would still benefit from more time incubating. Only 20 days until my scheduled cesarean birth, so the discomfort seems finite and tolerable.