Thursday, April 27, 2006

In the middle of the night...

I woke up in the middle of the night (nothing strange there) feeling hot (also not unusual). I rolled over to look at the clock, which said 350, and I thought, “well, that’s why I feel hot.” And then I woke up a touch more and realized where I was. And then it was 3:51.

Other than my ridiculously interrupted sleep (and bizarre dreams) pregnancy is mostly going well. I have perhaps more than my fair share of aches and pains, but the babies are growing nicely (and doing their fair share of kicking) and my perinatologist told me I have a fantastic cervix. Really. So far, it seems despite what it took to get to this point, my body is doing surprisingly well at this whole pregnancy thing. Except for how uncomfortable I am. And the heartburn. Oh, the heartburn. But that’s me, and not the babies, so I’m counting myself lucky. 24+ weeks and counting.

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A while ago, I wrote about the weird experience of going to the Moms Parents of Twins club. Last week, we went to our first prenatal education class, which was also weird. This was actually an Infant CPR class, and a very small group - one other couple, plus a single woman. I puzzled over the other couple - clearly not pregnant (actually, I don’t think the single woman was, either, but that was less clear initially), fairly established looking, and strangely familiar. After studing them across the table for a minute, it came to me. The woman, G, was one of the moms I met at the Twins club meeting - she’s the one expecting twins via a surrogate. We didn’t talk much during the class itself, though she and I both reacted to the initial training video (horribly anxiety producing), the somewhat creepy training doll (it had replaceable faces that pulled off for each couple), and the confusing steps we had to practice (is the child responsive or not? blocked airway? is the chest rising?). After the class, we chatted with them for a bit - J stayed with her husband, and she and I headed to the ladies’ room. “We’re doing the expectant moms going to the bathroom thing,” I said, and she smiled. What? She’s an expectant mom too. (I suspect that’s not obvious to a lot of people, though.) While we were gone, the guys apparently had a nice chat. Her hubby, V, shared that they used IVF, obviously (uh, yeah, actually it is obvious) and J noted that we did too. So we’re all on the same page there. They’re a bit older, and perhaps more financially stable (though after who knows how many attempts at IVF and finally a surrogacy, well, who knows?). In any case, we have our first set of twin-parent-couple-friends. I hope. I didn’t get their info or anything, but I’m sure we’ll see them at a twin club event at some point or another.

(I meant to write more about the Infant CPR class itself - it really was quite bizarre. It started with this video that was really terrifying - like, here are some examples of frightening situations you may or may not be able to do anything about, but we’re going to show you what you can try anyway, just for kicks. The training doll not only had a peel off face, but a peel-open chest -- so you could see the ribcage. And the practice routine depended largely on how focused the instructor was at any given moment. Still worthwhile, I think. But not what I expected.)

4 comments:

  1. Your comment about the expectant moms going to the bathroom thing was sweet and I'm sure she appreciated it. For once she probably felt included instead of left out.

    Peel off faces? Now that's just freaky...

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  2. I do hope your little comment went a long way with her.

    Good for you too, for getting the CPR class out of the way, I'm still procrastination central.

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  3. Maybe she's just not used to others thinking of her as an expectant mother but I would imagine it was a nice thing for her to hear.
    The peel of faces/stomach is very creepy.

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  4. Yoikes, that is kind of creepy (the peel off faces and ribcages). I imagine that will be figuring in your strange dreams some time soon. Glad to hear you're feeling good other than the heartburn. LOVE you for being instinctively inclusive with the non-pregnant expectant mom.

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