38 Weeks (but only 4 days left!)

Latrice and I never thought that we would still be pregnant at 38 weeks. We figured that the babies would have run out of room by now and would be on the outside hanging out with us. I had predicted that the boys and I would watch the Ag game together on Thanksgiving, but I was wrong. These guys are happy to stay inside of mommy's belly and grow a bit more. We are both okay with it since it means that the boy's lungs should be nice and strong when they come out this Thursday. As excited and ready that we are, we will wait just as long as these two guys come out healthy and strong ready to take on the world with us at their side.

We spent this weekend doing some house Christmas shopping just like we had decided. The house is coming along nicely. The tree is up and the house is taking on that "christmasy" smell. My job today is to put up the icicle lights and decorate the yard with a few items we bought. It is raining right now, so it's going to have to wait until it stops.

I will only be in school 2.5 days this week. Since the boys are coming on Thursday, Wednesday is a half day for me. Once the boys are born, I get 10 days of paternity leave. That is a really good thing that the military does for new dads. So, I will be home making sure that mommy and the boys are attended to and taken care of. That is a job that I am grateful to be home (and not deployed) to be able to do.

Contractions have been on and off for Latrice. They are really strong at night and they do keep her up. The boys do not like them at all. They kick up a storm in protest and that causes mommy more discomfort than the actual contraction. Her feet have also become swollen in the last few days. It is an unpleasant symptom and it hinders her ability to get around or to stand to long. She put on some super tight socks to keep the swelling down and it helped a little. One thing that she has done well though is staying hydrated. I have been filling her water glass quite often and that is a good thing. She will go through a glass and a half throughout the night.

So, we "celebrated" our last weekend together as just the two of this past week. By "celebrating" I mean that we realized that it was our last weekend together and we reflected on our past and our future. We took notice of some of our routines and appreciated them. Our weekend routine is quite simple, but it fits us both.

Next weekend will be hectic. My mom is coming out to help us and I have to go pick her up from the airport. Latrice should still be in the hospital on Saturday and be ready to be released on Sunday. So, the plan is to get mom here on Saturday, get her settled in and ready to receive mommy and babies at home on Sunday. We are very grateful that she is able to come out and take some time out from her many duties at home. My dad and 2 sisters are REALLY going to miss her. She is the center piece of their lives at home and does a lot for them. She works 3 jobs and keeps up with all of housework as well. I am sure she is looking at this opportunity to come out and help us as a vacation compared to her daily routine at home! I think her biggest challenge will be getting here by getting through the airport. She has only flown once in her life and it was with my dad at her side leading her through the process. Airports can be a huge challenge if you are unfamiliar with them. Adding to this daunting task is the fact that she will have to change flights in another huge airport like Chicago and figure that rat maze out by herself. So, she is stressed out about it, but we are sure she will manage.

4 more days! In 4 days our boys will be with us. Words can not describe the range of emotions we are going through as we await their arrival. We spend so much time talking about them, that we are now debating their middle names. Originally it was going to be Jacob Javier and Joaquin Andres. However, I feel like my name should go to the boy that is born first as a "birth rite". We both think that Joaquin will be delivered first, so he will inherit Javier as his middle name. The quandary is that Joaquin Javier doesn't ring as well as Joaquin Andres. However, I also feel that it is unfair to Joaquin that Jacob inherit 2 family names. Jacob's name comes from my younger brother who passed a few weeks after birth. He had a heart defect and died due to complications. So, I want to pass that name on to my son in honor of my baby brother. Thus, Jacob gets that family name. Again, if we name him Jacob Javier then he gets 2 family names and Joaquin doesn't get any. I just don't think it is fair to Joaquin. So, if Joaquin gets Javier, what do we give to Jacob? Andres does not ring well with Jacob either. The middle name for Jacob we are thinking about is Daniel. Latrice thought of that one. I am at a blank. So, we will spend the next few days thinking of a new middle name for Jacob. However, if Jacob is delivered first, then the problem is solved. He will be Jacob Javier as originally discussed. Wish us luck!

~Javier

10 days to go

So I figured I should get a post in here since the time is really winding down. Everyday seems to be filled with more and more anticipation..... like I can't believe tomorrow we'll be down to single digits on days left for the babies to be born. It's surreal.

So how is my pregnancy going?.......

Not too bad, but I'm ready for it to be over. Obviously, I'm bigger and therefore feeling heavier. I have a really exaggerated waddle now. It's just too hard to walk normal and it hurts to lift my feet very much. I'm having some sporadic sciatic pain that shoots through my right or my left butt cheek. Picking things up off the floor is a real production and usually I leave it to someone else if I can. I've been sleeping on the recliner for at least a week now and though it's not easy, I am at least able to get a few hours of sleep at a time. Sleeping on the bed is just not an option at all. It's impossible for me to turn over and almost impossible for me to get out of bed unassisted. Driving is uncomfortable, but still manageable at this point. I've reduced a lot of my trips out of the house. Breathing continues to be a challenge at times, especially when Jacob tries to get his head underneath my breastplate. My appetite continues to wane as I lose space for food to fit in my stomach. Fatigue is my constant companion. I've never felt more tired in my life. And though these all may sound like complaints, I am in pretty good spirits. I'm grateful that I'm still able to get around, run errands, and do pretty much what I need to do. Other mothers constantly remind me that I'm lucky that I wasn't put on bedrest for any reason. I'm glad of it too. 

The next 10 days are going to be spent taking it easy, doing any last minute prep stuff for the babies, and just waiting. We are spending Thanksgiving at a friend's house that lives nearby. She is cooking most of the food. I'll be making cornbread dressing, greenbean casserole, and pecan pie. I'm taking a ham that I'm going to buy tomorrow from Honey Baked Ham. I usually make my own ham, but I'm not feeling up to the job this year. I am so excited to eat some good Thanksgiving food. After that, we'll just be waiting for the boys to arrive. My heart is filled with much joy.

~Latrice

11 days to go

Today is our 37th week of pregnancy. We are now really excited and are spending our weekend doing some Christmas shopping for the house. We have decided to decorate our home (inside and out) like we have never before. We are not going to "Griswold" our house, but we are going to make it a lot more festive than we have in the past. So, here is a picture of our living room, BEFORE we decorate it next weekend.

Latrice is getting pretty uncomfortable now, but she is still getting around very well. It is a lot slower and with some challenges, but she is managing. On the right is a picture of her getting dinner ready for us. We are both very grateful that this pregnancy hasn't limited her abilities to get around and that she wasn't put on any sort of bed rest.

Yesterday when we were out, I felt like I was traveling with a celebrity. People were just staring and were very friendly and talkative. Every SINGLE cashier asked about the due date. One of the cashiers asked for permission to rub her belly. People were rolling down their windows in the parking lot to talk to Latrice. At the

Korean restaurant we went to for dinner, the ladies came out of the kitchen to talk to us about the pregnancy. The owner and our server BOTH offered to make Latrice some seaweed soup for after the delivery. They were very adamant that she needed the soup and that I have to drive down with a huge pot for them to put it in. We were quite the attraction yesterday.

Today we plan on going out and doing some more shopping. I have a test tomorrow that I have to study for and then we have a 3 day planning exercise going into our 4 day weekend. I had some friends over yesterday to watch the football game. All of them have kids and they all had the same advice. Enjoy the peace and quiet while we can. One of our friends brought up the point that we should do date nights as often as we can because it is a lot cheaper since we don't have to pay for a baby-sitter. That was really a cost that I had not thought about. So dinner and a movie can run about $150 once you pay for the baby-sitter fees and such. Boo!

This is "scheduled" to be our last full week together as 2 peas in a pod. It is quite intimidating to think about it. On the following week we will become parents FOREVER and our lives will change forever. It will be our responsibility to ensure that our children are happy productive citizens in our society. Their actions will reflect on us and our parenting. We have no doubt that they will shape and influence our lives as much as we will theirs. We are very excited and looking forward to our days and lives ahead with our boys. We got so excited about our first Christmas with them, that we already hung their stockings along with ours. We love you Joaquin and Jacob!

~Javier

We have a DATE!

The doctor called and she wants to deliver the babies early. She suggested next week, we freaked and told her NO that we could wait 2 more weeks and so we will. She will be on leave during that week, so we are going to get another doctor to deliver. We are going to meet him on Dec. 1st and also do a monitoring session afterwards.
We are now scheduled to deliver Joaquin and Jacob 10 days before our due date. If all goes as planned, we will deliver them on December 4th around 8:30 a.m. So, the countdown is on. We changed the baby meter on the web page to reflect this new date. We are really excited and are anxious to see if Latrice does not go into labor before then.
The babies are doing fine. They are really active and getting bigger. The ultrasound revealed that they are in the breech and transverse position. It looks like they are going to remain in that position.
The monitoring went well on Monday. Latrice has been having a lot of contractions lately, but they are expected. She is now really uncomfortable at night, but she has been getting around pretty well during the day. There are days when she is tired all day and then there are days when she is energetic. It is hit or miss. Latrice feels that the babies are going to come before the 4th and she bases this on the way she has been feeling lately. You can't argue with a mommy's instincts...
That is all for now. The time is near and we are very ready and excited!

~Javier

Ultrasound Update

On Monday, Latrice went to a monitoring session and it went well. Jacob and Joaquin are happy in mommy's belly. It took a while to get it done, but it was due to a busy day in the Labor and Delivery Unit for the nurses.

Yesterday we went to get an ultrasound to see how the boys are progressing. This time we got a different tech because Latrice was not pleased with the one we had assigned to us. So, they gave us their most seasoned tech and she was quick. We were in and out in 30 minutes. This is the same process that took our other tech up to 2 hours to do. Huge difference!

Anyway, the babies are progressing well (in my opinion). Latrice feels that the boys are a little small for their GA, but she is using the metrics for a single baby. According to the books, a single baby would weigh approximately 5 lbs 8 ozs. Joaquin weighs 4lbs 10 ozs and Jacob weighs 4 lbs 13 ozs. If you all recall, Joaquin used to be the bigger baby, but now Jacob has surpassed him in the last month. Jacob weighed 22% less than Joaquin and this was the reason Latrice had to start monitoring them. Now he is all caught up and past his brother. However, the weird thing is that Joaquin's measurements are bigger than Jacobs and his "estimated gestational age" is 1 week older than Jacob. I don't know how the machine estimates weights, but it just doesn't make rational sense to me. Another quirk is that the margin of error for this weight estimate is +/- 11 ozs. 11 ozs is a LOT when you are taking about 4 or 5 pounds!

Latrice has officially moved to the recliner to sleep at night. I moved the recliner from the living room into the bedroom next to the bed so that we can at least be in the same room at night. She is getting some much better rest. Her belly is also growing and it looks like a nice round shelf. Take care!

~Javier

35 WEEKS!!

We made it to 35 weeks! Every day that "Big Boy" Joaquin and "Baby" Jacob spend in mommy's belly makes a difference. They are doing good and they are developing their respiratory system. Lately we have been watching a lot of baby shows and are focusing on the ones with multiples. Wow, it is truly a 2-man job minimum for 2 or more. The 3-hour feeding cycle is relentless! It seems that by the time you finish feeding them, burping them, changing them, and then bedding them down that you get about 30 minutes to rest before you have to do that again. However, this vicious cycle goes on for a few months! A lot of the dads expressed that work was actually a BREAK from the madness. Crazy!

The week went by pretty uneventfully. I spent a lot of long days in school and came home mentally exhausted. However, I'm now in the middle of a 4 day break. Yesterday we went to D.C. to join the local Aggie club for the football watching party. The game was absolutely atrocious! I have never seen a Texas A&M football team as bad as we currently are. However, the company was good. We get to do our Aggie War Hymn and eat Blue Bell ice cream. It is also nice to be around Ags and it gave Latrice and I a chance to get out of the house for a while.

Today has been pretty slow. I volunteered to go to the Officer Candidate School to "mentor" some candidates for about 2.5 hours. It was interesting. A lot of the candidates had pretty general questions and I was amazed by how young they looked. I graduated from OCS over 10 years ago, so it was hard to remember some of the details about OCS. I basically told them to keep their head up and that time would pass. My secret for OCS was 1 meal at a time. I would make it to breakfast, then get to lunch, and etc. until we graduated. OCS was not a fun time but it was necessary.

Latrice is doing good. This morning we were reflecting about how well she has been able to get around. We are also both very happy that she hasn't had to go on bed rest. She has been pretty mobile and hasn't had any weird food cravings. Her appetite has actually gotten smaller during her pregnancy. Her allergies are non-existent and her thyroid hasn't been an issue. Her energy level has also been on the up and up lately. Her biggest complaints have been uncomfortable sleeping positions, stretch marks, an active bladder, and over active baby boys.

Life is good. Tomorrow we have a monitoring session and on Wednesday we have an ultrasound. We will update then. See ya!

~Javier

39 days to go! (at MOST)

It is hump day again and this week is going by well. Yesterday, Latrice went to her 2 week appt and everything went well. The doctor checked her and they spoke about the baby's positions. Joaquin and Jacob are still not in the "head down" position and the Dr. said it is highly unlikely that they will position themselves in the head down position before Latrice goes into labor. So, when we go in for our next appt on 17 Nov 08, we have to schedule a "C" section for the week of Dec 8 (her 39th week). However, we don't think she is going to make till then, but we will schedule it anyway.

Latrice and I are both nervous about the "C" section. Although it seems to be a "routine" procedure, neither one of us feels comfortable about it. There are just to many variables involved during and after the procedure that can go unfavorably. I am not thrilled about a surgeon taking a knife to my wife's belly and pulling out our boys. I have seen "C" sections performed on TV and they look so barbaric! The way the doctor reaches into the belly after the incision reminds me of a fishing technique where the fisherman reaches into the water to pull out a fish barehanded. It is just so quick and deliberate and little action is taken to be tender and caring when yanking the kid out by his legs. It's just NOT a pretty sight for the faint-hearted!
The boys are still really active and very reactive to my voice and now our touch. If the boys are in hyper mode, Latrice rubs her belly and they calm down. If they are just chillin', I rub her belly and they start kicking and moving around. I am still reading to them at night and they really seem to like it. Latrice enjoys it as well since I am now reading one her of her favorite books, "The Road".

Recently we went shopping at the mall and we got our boys their Christmas outfits. We plan on using these outfits to take family photos when grandma and grandpa Garcia are in town for the holidays. We also went into the portrait studio and got "spun-up" on the process. We are ready save for our "Christmas" sweaters.

Things are well for us. Last night was particularly exciting as we closely followed the presidential race on TV. Both of us were actively engaged in following the candidates and we both voted absentee about 2 weeks ago. Today went to the movies and then afterwards we went out to dinner and talked. Now, we are hanging out and in particular I am stalling on my homework! Meanwhile, our cat (Bonita) has been very cuddly these last few days and has us wondering if she knows what is coming for our family. Enjoy the update!

~Javier

34 Weeks

Wow, I can hardly believe I'm 34 weeks pregnant. The time is flying on by and it feels like any day now, we'll be meeting our boys.

I continue to grow bigger. I'm really feeling bigger every day and the boys are still as active as ever. Javier still marvels at their strong kicks. It feels like their trying to bust out of jail. I just hope they stay in there a little longer.

The fall weather change has been nice. Most days it's a bit chilly, but this weekend has been beautiful. The trees are changing color and the leaves are falling.

Not much has changed as far as my pregnancy is concerned. I get tired more easily and I've got achiness and soreness here and there. For the most part, I feel good and I think I'm still getting around fairly well.

Yesterday evening, Javier attended his school's Marine Corps Birthday ball. Normally, we always go together, but this year, I just wasn't up to it. Javier understood and agreed to go unaccompanied. I knew he was going to be with all his classmates, so I didn't feel like he was going to be lonely. Anyway, he got all dressed up in his dress blues and I took a couple of pics. When he moves around, his medals sound like jingle bells. I have to admit that he was looking quite dapper and I was a little sorry not to be his date that night. I love seeing him in his dress uniform.

There really is something about a man in uniform.

Today is going to be a quiet day for us. Javier has a test to study for and I'm in a relaxing type of mood.

My next doctor's appointment is this coming Tuesday and I suspect that all will be well. I'm sure I or Javier will update about it anyway though..... for our handful of regular readers.

Until next time, we hope all is well with our friends and family.

~Latrice