35.4 Weeks

Wow!!! The day is almost here! We are about 9 days away now. Can you believe it?!? We can and can't! haha We will be 36 weeks on Friday.

The delivery date according to Dr. E is May 8. Our surrogate is doing great and the twins are growing right on track. They are about 5 pounds each now and that's great for twins at 35 weeks. Things are right on track. We hope our surrogate Tati can hold on until at least Thursday. We are scheduled to arrive there on Wednesday. Let's hope it stays that way!

We have already packed... sort of. Most things are packed and kinda ready to go if we needed to.

Anyway, we are super excited and nervous and anxious and everything else you can imagine! You name it, we're feeling it! It's crazy!!! Here we go...

Here are the numbers - again, the numbers in bold are the current measurements and numbers after are from the last ultrasound:

Fetus #1
Biparietal diameter: 86.9 mm (3.42 in) 85mm (3.35 in)
Head circumference: 301 mm (11.85 in) 297 mm (11.69 in)
Fetal heart rate: 144 BPM 142 BPM
Abdominal circumference: 299 mm (11.77 in) 272 mm (10.71 in)
Femur length: 66 mm (2.6 in) 64 mm (2.52 in)
Approx weight: 2300 g (5.07 lb) 1900 g (4.19 lb)

Fetus #2
Biparietal diameter: 85mm (3.35 in) 79.9 mm (3.15 in)
Head circumference: 301 mm (11.85 in) 297 mm (11.69 in)
Fetal heart rate: 135 BPM 144 BPM
Abdominal circumference: 318 mm (12.52 in) 272.4 mm (10.72 in)
Femur length: 67 mm (2.64 in) 64 mm (2.52 in)
Approx weight: 2450 g (5.4 lb) 1800 g (3.97 lb)

The next appointment is on Tuesday morning so hopefully I'll be able to update this thing before we head down! 

34 Weeks

We had a ultrasound appointment Monday morning. We both happen to be off on Monday. I did have jury duty that day but didn't have to call in until 11am to see if I had to go in for a early afternoon appearance. My jury group ended up getting dismissed by the way. YEAH! Anyway, it was great we were both there to "attend" one of the last appointments before the twins arrive. It was a nice moment. We got to see our surrogate, Tatiana. She looks great and is doing just fine. Our babies are also doing well and growing!

Here are the numbers - again, the numbers in bold are the current measurements and numbers after are from the last ultrasound:

Fetus #1
Biparietal diameter: 85 mm (3.35 in) 82.6 mm (3.25 in)
Head circumference: 297 mm (11.69 in) 277.2 mm (10.9 in)
Fetal heart rate: 142 BPM 150 BPM
Abdominal circumference: 272 mm (10.71 in) 256.6 mm (10.1 in)
Femur length: 64 mm (2.52 in) 52.1 mm (2.51 in)
Approx weight: 1900 g (4.19 lb) 1090 g (3.76 lb)

Fetus #2
Biparietal diameter: 79.9 mm (3.15 in) 78.7 mm (3.10 in)
Head circumference: 297 mm (11.69 in) 276.7 mm (10.89 in)
Fetal heart rate: 144 BPM 147 BPM
Abdominal circumference: 272.4 mm (10.72 in) 272.4 mm (10.72 in)
Femur length: 64 mm (2.52 in) 57 mm (2.24 in)
Approx weight: 1800 g (3.97 lb) 1640 g (3.61 lb)

Next appointment is on Tuesday, April 28! Stay Tuned!!! 

Preparing...

Will you ever be prepared for a new baby, especially twins?

We are trying as much as possible. We think we have the house/room prepared as far as we know. We have been trying to get things in order, put things away and pack. At least, we're starting to put things aside we need to pack and take with us.

Here is an idea we thought is pretty clever:
Pack things you need to take with you like diapers, formula, wipes, etc. and pack them in a box to take with you. That way, when you use things up, you won't need to take the box with you. You can leave it wherever you are staying and won't have to schlep it back with you when you finally go home. Great idea right? As of now, we have a small suitcase for their clothes and bottles and what not. All other things are in boxes. I'm sure we can get diapers and wipes somewhere while we are there and it might be cheaper even but we didn't want to take the chance not having preemie sized diapers. We got some of those because of twins, we might need them to be smaller diapers. So we're bring those along with Newborn sized. We are also bringing our own formula. We didn't want to take the chance of not having the kind we start to use while we are there, so we packed those in a box as well. We don't know what's happening or what the situation will be like, so we're trying to prepare as best as possible right now. We will for sure (I think) have to go with the flow when we get there.

Now, it's the other things we need in order to get back home. If you don't know yet, we are going through surrogacy through a agency here in the U.S. and they are working with a clinic in Mexico. That means our surrogate is in Mexico. We have to go there to pick-up the babies and go through a exit interview/process. We have a ton of paper work to do for the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City (U.S. Passport, Affidavit of Parentage, Application for Consular Report of Birth Abroad and Social Security). We already started some of it. One of our coordinators, Joe, thought it might be a good idea to at least fill out what we can fill out. Joe has been great as he is facilitating and guiding us in what we need to do in order to get in and get out as fast as possible. We also just started the DNA testing stuff on Thursday afternoon. I can't remember exactly how long it took. I think maybe about 45 minutes to an hour for both of us. It involved doing a thumb print, taking a photo and four cheek swabs and of course, a little paper work. Overall, it was actually really simple and straight forward.

We had a ultrasound appointment yesterday morning. Things look great according to the doc. We were able to both be home yesterday morning so it was great for us to be together to "go" to the appointment. Babies are doing just fine and growing. Our surrogate is huge! lol She seems to be doing well though. So, that's good news too! I'll post more later when we get the report back with the numbers.

Baby Shower - Part 2: the NBC Bay Area Baby Shower

We had a second baby shower from my good good friends at work! It took a lot of coordinating due to everyone's schedules: spring break, Scott's sporadic work schedule, Easter, vacations, days off, etc. You name it, it happened in the span of the month or so we were trying to figure out when to have it. It originally was going to be on Monday, April 13 at 1pm. It was perfect. Scott was off and most everyone would be at work. We were going to have it after work since the majority of everyone at my job ends their day around 1230pm. I work at NBC Bay Area News and work for the morning news. Yes, it's all LIVE and most of us start really really REALLY early in the morning at around 330am, give or take an hour or two or four depending on what newscast you work on. So we planned for that Monday. Cut to a few days later, word comes down the Giants Home Opener is that Monday afternoon so we (mainly Laura who was planning the whole thing with Michelle) knew it couldn't happen that day. Why? A live morning show broadcast. Since NBC Bay Area is the "Broadcast Home of the San Francisco Giants" we go live with our anchors and morning weather anchor for NBC Bay Area's Today in the Bay. The station is based in San Jose which is about 40 miles south of San Francisco for those not familiar of the Bay Area. So that meant half of the folks would be out in the field at AT&T Park at around 2 or 3am to set-up and the other half would be at the station. That wouldn't be so great because if half are down in the south bay and the others are up in SF. It would be too much of a crazy morning and rest of the day if on top of all of that, we threw a baby shower?! Nope! We ended up changing it to Tuesday, April 14. Unfortunately, Scott had to work that day. So we had to do it anyway because we didn't want to do it later on. Just in case.

Sidebar: 
I'll give you a little peak behind-the-scenes of the morning before from the live broadcast of Today in the Bay live at AT&T Park for the Giants Home Opener. For those of you know don't know, I'm a newscast director at NBC Bay Area News and also take on the role of Assistant Director, audio op or floor director for the morning and midday newscasts depending on staffing for the day. I asked to work out in the field that morning since I haven't worked out in the field for a live broadcast in maybe seven years or so. I felt like a fish out water because I didn't really know what to do but I tried to make myself as useful and pitch in as much as possible pulling cable, moving stuff around, setting up whatever needed set up, etc.

Call time for me was 2:30am. This first picture was at 3:40am as you can see on the clock to the right of the picture. EARLY! We were doing tech checks (making sure the control room could see and hear us) and I was sitting where the anchors would be sitting holding a white card so the photographer (note: never call a news camera man a "camera man" they are called "photographers" or what we say in the biz, "photog" for short) can white balance the camera and get the shot that would look good. 

Panoramic shot of our set-up when we were all done setting up.

Sometime during the 6am hour. I was the floor director out in the field for that morning. It was really cold! 

Shot of the other local station set up along side us. 

Selfie with Laura (anchor) after all was said and done! How cute are we!?! 

Selfie with Sam (anchor) after the show. He's really tall! Like circus tall! If you ever read this Sam, I say that with love!!

Our amazing and efficient crew putting our gear away and cleaning up post-broadcast. I didn't see him at the time, but I think that was Larry Baer, President and CEO of the SF Giants, walking away as I took this picture. 

end sidebar

Thanks for indulging me with that sidebar! Back to the work baby shower:
We had it at Sonoma Chicken Coup in San Jose. It's the one close to the station. It was really great to get out and meet up outside of the station which we all hardly ever get to do because of the crazy crazy hours and shifts we have. The theme, and there always has to be a theme, was Sock Monkey. My good friends at work Laura and Michelle came up with the theme and did so much; Michelle made cupcakes, favors, she made up a couple fun games and put together a really creative way to sign a guestbook. She somehow found these little mini paper clothes and micro sized clothes pin and she made everyone write a message and sign it. Then everyone got to hang it up on string so it looked like a clothesline. It was pretty creative if you ask me. I should have done that for our family one! Laura got a whole bunch of appetizers and what not. It was perfect and really fun to hang out with everyone outside of work! 

Photos Courtesy: Mike Inouye
Thanks Mike!

Guest List:
Laura - Host
Michelle - Host
Adrian
Sami
Gabrielle
Caitlin
Willie
Mike
Sam
Erika
Kevin
Eva

Thank you to all of my co-worker friends who came to the baby shower! You guys are the best!

Almost There!

But not quite...

Did you think it might have been "the time?" Not yet! Hopefully not until May. I was really referring to the almost completed nursery. We got a hybrid side table/shelving unit from Ikea. We gotta put our drinky drinks (or phones or whatever) somewhere right? hahaha  It's the same finish as the cribs so it looks to go all together. We can finally put the lamp somewhere that Alissa's sister Brandi gave us. Stacy gave us a couple wood carved animals: a giraffe and a elephant. Those fit nicely in the two shelves. There is storage on the other two shelves with the colored yellow and green baskets. Not sure what we're going to put in there... toys? diapers? books? I dunno... TBD.

Stroller/Car Seats and Everything Else

Stroller shopping! We chose the Baby Jogger City Select stroller. We looked at all kinds of strollers online and at Buy Buy Baby since it's pretty close to us. We chose that stroller because of it's versatility. It can be used from infant to toddler age. The car seats "click connect" right to the stroller and then you can add a second seat to it, or use it as a single stroller. It's pretty easy to convert. We ended up getting the stroller back in November because buy Buy Baby was having a huge sale, which they have only once a year according to the employees, on most of their strollers. It was a hundred dollars off and the second seat for when they are a little older was free. Basically, a $200 discount off of a stroller for twins. It was awesome!

Fast forward to April. We have car seats and stroller all under the same roof. We thought we should start to figure it all out. So out comes the stroller and out comes the car seats from the boxes. It actually took us a while and a trip to Buy Buy Baby to completely figure it all out. There is a set of car seat holders you have to install on the stroller. We got one figured out and then turns out we didn't get a part so we had to go get that part to put the second adapter in. We quickly put it all together since we were already experts from putting the first one together the day before. While we were at Buy Buy Baby, we saw a lady with infants with the same stroller with the car seats! It was great seeing the stroller "in action" so to speak. So we checked it out to see how it all looked and asked the new mom of twins how she liked it. She was super nice and loved it. So we thought we made a pretty good choice early early on after that. We get home and finally put the remaining parts together. We put the car seats on and they don't fit. What?!? What do you mean they don't fit?! Yup, every single combination and configuration of positions (car seats are supposed to be facing you when you're pushing) possible, it just wouldn't work. We go through the steps several times of installing the adapters. Nothing. Still won't fit. We eventually give in and Scott calls the folks at Buy Buy Baby. They said to bring in the stroller. We thought maybe the second adapter we bought was defective somehow. We get to the parking lot and unloading the stroller and one of the employees was coming back from her break and recognized us from when we were there a little while before. She asked us why were were back so soon and said we needed help figuring out how the car seats fit in with the stroller. She looks at it and immediately says, "Let me fix your adapters." So we go in and within one minute she fixes it!!! WHAT!?! HOW!?! Turns out there is a small bar on the adapter that was already attached in the box. Part C. That (dumb bar) was the ONLY thing getting in our way. Nowhere on the directions for the assembly on the adapter says to take off the bar! Remember, we went through the instructions over and over. Hence, out shock and awe when she simply takes the Part C bar off and viola! The car seats fit just nicely! Man! That was kind of embarrassing but also very relieving and thankful because that part of it was solved. We were happy about that.

On Friday afternoon, we talk to our firefighter friend Mike to help us install the car seat bases in Scott's car. The directions were a bit overwhelming. I read them but it was crazy confusing. At least it was for me. So we decided we were going to meet up with Mike and Stacy for a early dinner since I had to go to work early early the next morning. We get to the EMS station in Oakland at Jack London Square to meet up. He showed us how to install the bases when we get there. It was actually really easy! Since our cars are newer, they have the hooks already ready to go integrated in the seats which makes it super easy to install. We were sorta kinda nervous about the whole process but it was a quick quick install. Yeah! No more dealing with just the seatbelt and having to tighten that and what not. Here's a little tip though: kneel on the base and put your whole body weight on the base to make sure it's nice and snug and make sure the base does not move. So simple right? We think so.

Here is a look at what the nursery looks like. We got the changing table on Friday from Scott's brother Brian. So I think we are almost there. We need a small nightstand or small table. We have a small lamp Alissa's sister Brandi gave us. We would like to use that. Plus, we need a place to put our phone, drink/food or whatever when we are in there haha!

32.3 Weeks

We are at 32 weeks - 33 weeks on Friday! Wow, hard to believe the babies will be here soon! In just about a month! CRAZY!!! 

We have the nursery mostly set up and we have most things we think we need. We mainly need bottles and more formula to take on our trip to pick-up the babies. We need to start packing stuff so we're ready to go on a moments notice. Hopefully, it won't be that way, but babies do tend to surprise you. We need to wash the clothes and blankets and what not so we can pack those. I will have to try to start that when I get back home. 

We had our 8 month ultrasound appointment this morning. I ended up taking the appointment this time because I would already be up at work and it was early at 7am our time (9am Mexico time). I left the newscast a few minutes early to set-up my laptop in one of the edit bays. Glad I did. I forgot I didn't have Skype on my computer so I had to get it all downloaded and logged on. Our surrogate Tati was running a bit late so it all worked out in the end. She looked great and Dr. E says the babies are looking great and everything is normal. So, so far so good! Let's keep it that way babies so you two come out nice and healthy! 

Here are the numbers - again, the numbers in bold are the current measurements and numbers after are from the last ultrasound:

Fetus #1
Biparietal diameter: 82.6 mm (3.25 in) 68.2 mm (2.69 in)
Head circumference: 277.2 mm (10.9 in) 244 mm (9.61 in)
Fetal heart rate: 150 BPM 163 BPM
Abdominal circumference: 256.6 mm (10.1 in) 232.6 mm (9.16 in)
Femur length: 63.7 mm (2.51 in) 52.1 mm (2.05 in)
Approx weight: 1706 g (3.76 lb) 1090 g (2.40 lb)

Fetus #2
Biparietal diameter: 78.7 mm (3.10 in) 76.1 mm (3.00 in)
Head circumference: 276.7 mm (10.89 in) 254.3 mm (10.01 in)
Fetal heart rate: 147 BPM 156 BPM
Abdominal circumference: 272.4 mm (10.72 in) 222.6 mm (8.76 in)
Femur length: 57 mm (2.24 in) 53.3 mm (2.10 in)
Approx weight: 1640 g (3.61 lb) 1094 g (2.41 lb)

The next appointment will be in about two weeks or so. They were going to schedule it after our appointment and let us know when it will be. Until then, I'll try to post a little more often. No promises though!