A Resemblance?

Here's a recent picture of my sister-in-law, Laura, with her six week old bundle of love, Madelynn.

I saw that picture and thought Madelynn really looked alot like a little fellow I know. I found this picture of Brandt when he was also six weeks old.

Don't they look alike?

34 weeks 6 days

It was on this day in my pregnancy with the boys they were delivered. Yeah, this has been on my mind all day long. On one hand, I feel like, "Hey, the boys did great when they were born this early. So if she comes at any point now, that's a-okay." On the other hand, the thought of delivering another baby and recooperating scares me to death. So much so I've been having full blown panic attacks about it. The first week I knew I was pregnant, it felt like a death sentence and this fear has returned now that her arrival is so close. I've been reassured by all my doctors that this is a completely different pregnancy and I shouldn't go through what I did after I had the boys. The only problem, though, is that no one could pinpoint why I became pancytopenic. My bone marrow shutting down is not a normal symptom/complication with endometritis. The thought keeps crossing my mind that what if that's just how my body responds to having a baby? And then that thought turns to what if it happens again but this time I'm not as lucky? I know that's horrible thinking, but I tell ya, I'm pretty anxious about this birth! I just don't have a very good track record.


That aside, I've been wanting to write down the big comparisons with carrying twins versus a singleton. I feel so blessed to have been able to do both!

• Carrying a singleton has been much easier on my body. It's only been until recently that I've become more uncomfortable. I just remember near the end with the boys that just getting up and going to the bathroom really wore me out!
• Feeling the baby move is completely different. With the boys, I never really knew who I was feeling or what possible body part it was that I could feel. With one, you can tell what position the baby is (and if I don't know, Eric with his doctor knowledge can feel the baby and tell me...pretty neat trick he has!)
• The entire pregnancy with the boys progressed so much faster than with just one baby. I felt pregnant earlier. I showed earlier. I delivered earlier.
• I was monitored more with the boys. Although I've still received more ultrasounds with this pregnancy than most do, it still feels weird not to be monitored as much!
• Overall, I had more intense symptoms with the boys. Worse morning sickness, numbness/pain in hands, swelling in hands and feet, shortness of breath, dizziness, even being emotional. If I had it with the boys, it was way worse than with this pregnancy

And here's the ultimate comparison...me at 34 wks 6 days with both pregnancies:

Yeah, I had a way bigger belly with the boys!

Baby Girl Groen at 34 weeks

Yesterday I had another ultrasound done to monitor Little Girl Groen's growth. For having such a messed up placenta, it's doing it's job well and she is continuing to grow. Her estimated weight is 4 lb 12 oz. Based on that, I'm guessing that if I go 39 weeks, she'll be a 7 lb baby. She is already head down (not that it matters because I'm having a c-section), so everything seems like it's right on track and we're just cruising right along to the end:).

My c-section was rescheduled for December 14th. I can't imagine going that long since the boys were born so early, but we'll see! I was a little bummed the surgery got pushed back a day, but oh well :).

During the ultrasound, the tech got really excited because she was able to see the baby's eyelids in 2D. She said she's seen that maybe 10 times since she's been doing ultrasounds. She switched to 3D to get a better look at our little girl. Here she is! I think she's getting pretty cute. Before, I thought she looked alot like Brandt and the Parish side, but here I think she looks more like Carter. We're getting pretty excited to meet her!

Happy Halloween!

This year, we opted to not do costumes for the boys again. I feel slightly bad about it because somehow I feel like I'm depriving the boys, but in reality, they are still too young to appreciate it. I didn't know where to take them, anyway, for trick or treating, so we just didn't do the whole costume thing.

However, since Eric was home, I did do a Halloween themed dinner. It was really fun. My friend Nicole does it every year and it always sounds like so much fun. She even made an awesome dinner this year with only a hotel stovetop to cook on. Anyway, I found that once you get into the mindset, anything you make can be Halloween-y.

Since this was my first time, I just googled Halloween recipes and this was the menu I came up with. Although it was good, I'll have to work on making a more healthy dinner next year :) We had:

• Mummy Dogs (hotdogs wrapped in crescent roll dough)
• Goblins' fingers (green beans)
• Congealed blood (rasberry jello)
• Moldy mac n cheese (regular mac n cheese that I dyed green by adding green food dye to the water. I ended up making it more green after I added the cheese sauce stuff by adding blue dye (I'd read a tip that you add blue dye because there is already yellow dye in the cheese powder))

Carving Pumpkins

We had a lot of fun carving pumpkins this year. It was a little hectic trying to keep tabs on the boys while we gutted and carved, but for the most part, the boys were really intrigued with the whole process which made it fun. We did it outside so the boys could run around and we wouldn't have to worry too much about the mess.

Oh, while Eric was home and we had the camera out, I had him take my picture. This is where the belly is at in the pregnancy. This was at 33 weeks. I'm pointing to the big gap that is definitely getting more difficult to cover up. While my mom was here, there were numerous pics taken with my belly hanging out! This is a maternity shirt, yet I've got a big section (and this was after pulling up the jeans and pulling down the shirt so as not to show skin) that isn't really covered up. I'm definitely missing clothes with real waistbands :).
Look who I was able to get a quick pic with!

My pumpkin carving game face

Showing Brandt the pumpkin guts. He liked picking through to get the seeds.

Eric's creation. Didn't it turn out good?

My pumpkin...very original :)

And then you know what? We completely forgot to light them at night. Oh well!

Bengston's Pumpkin Farm

While my mom was here, she, Eric's mom and I took the boys to a local pumpkin farm. We'd heard so many good things about this farm. We thought we planned it right to miss the crowd, but unfortunately, we went when all the kids who were on field trips were there. The farm had a ton of different stuff to do, but for the most part, the boys are still a little young to take full advantage of the farm. The highlights for the boys, though, were the petting zoo, seeing baby animals, and running through a huge field where you could pick out your pumpkin.

The boys with their cute pumpkin hats. Too bad they won't keep them on for very long!

Brandt being so excited about the pumpkins.

Carter on his quest for more "sticks" (pumpkin stems that had fallen on the ground). He thought it was so cool when we showed him he could store them in his sweatshirt pocket.

Trying to get a posed picture....

More attempts at a posed pic. It's so hard with wiggly toddlers!

Fun in the field....

Mom comes to visit!!

My mom came to visit and was able to stay with us for a WHOLE week. It was pretty awesome. Sometimes you just need your mommy to come and cook for you and make your life just a little bit easier :). It was also a good crash course for her to get used to taking care of the ninos again for when Little E arrives and I'm in major need of help taking care of them. **This has been a huge source of anxiety for me lately. You know how those first few weeks of having a baby is everything you can do to keep yourself and the baby alive? Yeah, I'm basically going to need a full time babysitter to help with the boys so I can concentrate on recuperating and taking care of Elina. And, because I won't be able to lift the boys for six weeks. Ayayayay!**

Waking up the boys before going to my OB appointment. Even though they hadn't seen her in months, they still recognized her and wanted to snuggle right away.

I love this picture. Doesn't my mommy look so pretty? We went to a local pumpkin patch one day (that deserves its own post), but here she is with her little man.

Running after her little man again.

Carter loooves to snuggle with his grandma.

Another wake up snuggle session :)

Brandt loves to steal Carter's pacifier.

Thanks for coming, Mom! Can't wait to see you in a few weeks when Little E comes!