Mono Mono Memoires

When I was a younger man I had heard about this new thing called 3D Ultrasound imaging.  I thought that this would be a really neat thing to do.  We had our first one of these things yesterday.  Brandi and I were at the perinatologist's office for our regular 2-week checkup.  Brandi's parents had accompanied us there this time.  Ray, my father in law said that he had never seen an ultrasound before.  It was really fun to watch their reactions to the girls' movements as their images showed up on the ultrasound monitors.  All of a sudden the tech changed the type of ultrasound to one of those 3D ones.  Brandi was excited.  She has wanted to do one of these for a while.  I, on the other hand, was sitting on the fence about them.  Even though flat, black-and-white ultrasounds are amazing, they don't show everything and they maintain the integrity of the mystique of pregnancy.  Not so with the 3D.  Wow... they show a lot. ...

Today marks Brandi's 22nd week.  I still continue to feel that we're in a continual race against time as our girls develop and grow.  Tom Petty said that the waiting is the hardest part.  I think that I'm with him on that one.  We went to the perinatologist this past Monday.  Our girls are weighing well at 15 ounces.  We saw that both were breach.  So Brandi was right... they have been doing the River Dance on her bladder.  Taking my sister's advice, we found a great deal on one of those strollers that are supposed to be fantastic for twins.  We bought it.  It's huge.  I saw a lady in the store today.  She was navigating the grocery aisles pushing something similar in front (with twins) and pulling a grocery cart in tow. I guess that we're in a holding pattern waiting for the viability of the 24-Week mark.  Brandi and I continue to be happy and find joy in God's gift of each other.  I don't know that there's anyt...

In my practice of psychotherapy I'm learning the power of positive psychology.  I've had a notion that many times people forget to smile, especially when they are plagued with depression and/or anxiety.  A few years ago I went through a very painful event that changed my life.  The grief of loss was so profuse that I found myself forgetting to smile.  In response, I decided to take daily pictures of myself smiling.  I was leaning on the old adage of "fake it till you make it."  I certainly did not feel like smiling, but I would make the biggest, cheesiest smile and take a selfie.  It helped me remember that life is only dominated by sadness and grief if we allow it that power.  That statement is a relatively sound Christian thought, too.  God gives us joy in Him if we are born again.  Like Peter stepping out of the boat, we can sometimes lose sight of the joy of Christ when the tempests of life seems overwhelming.  Don't forget to...

Taking my sister's advice about shopping for the girls, Brandi and her mother went out on a shopping spree yesterday while I was at work.  I came home to a house full of pink and lavender.  Brandi loves thrift stores and consignment stores.  One thing that they discovered was that it's hard to find matching outfits from one of those type of stores.  We're not planning on dressing the girls alike all the time, from the looks of what they bought, we will seldom put them in matching outfits. While we don't have a small house, I'm suddenly feeling the need to expand our living space to accommodate all the outfits and baby stuff.  I've an idea of building two rooms off of the living room, one for the twins and a laundry room adjacent to it.  Our current laundry is downstairs in the basement.  Having it on the main living floor would help Brandi (and me, yes, I do laundry too) not have to go up and down stairs as much.

Monday was a big day.  We had our second appointment with the perinatologist.  While the initial visit took about 2 and 1/2 hours, this one too about 40 minutes.  They checked on both girls, took measurements, listened to heartbeats, and listened to the umbilical cords.  Both girls checked out just fine.  The doctor pronounced both to be in good health and growing at a good rate.  Brandi also checked out just fine.  We were elated.  To celebrate, we went about a five minute drive up the road to one of our favorite Indian restaurants, Bombay Palace.  Brandi said the girls really liked the Indian food because they were dancing around in her belly.  We had a good time.  About an hour later I was in the E.R. (No, not because of the yummy Indian food). Let me back-track just about 14 hours.... 3:00 am I woke up with a really bad pain behind my left shoulder blade.  I felt as though I had been impaled.  Brandi had to push me t...

I've always wanted Brandi to be able to stay home and work as she pleases with sign language interpreting.  She interprets for the Deaf that attend our church and it has been a dream of hers to be able to do so as a vocation instead of volunteer.  I can't say that I was quite prepared for the suddenness of her leaving work, but per doctor's suggestion Brandi filed for FMLA and ceased working.  She has stayed at home taking it easy, resting, and trying to eat 3,500 calories a day.  She said that she never thought she would ever come to a place in her life where she would be tired of eating, but she's arrived.  And feeling tired of eating, she's decreased the goal to 3,200 calories.  She's doing pretty good at it.  The thought of having twins, hospital bills, doctor bills, specialist bills, etc was daunting enough with two incomes, but now having just one was a bit overwhelming.  Amid the many prayers that we send to God about the girls, Brandi ha...