Our New Arrivals

Just a very brief update. The hospital's internet restricts access to all social media (blogs, facebook, etc.), so I've run home to let the dog out and upload a couple photos. Know that everyone is doing fabulously well and all will be coming home either tomorrow or Monday.

Timothy Lewis Reissig-Berry was born at 12:19 pm and weighs 6 lbs 2.4 oz and is 19 inches long.

Raiden Anthony Reissig-Berry was born at 12:21 pm and weight 5 lbs 8 oz and is 19 ¼ inches long.

But more importantly, photos!

Raiden

Timothy

And from just an hour ago:

A Sight To Behold

Amanda contends that people stare at her "like I'm a freak show." I think they're merely impressed with her poise and strength as she carries 12 pounds of baby while barely batting an eye (although she does take lots of naps). See for yourself:

She's pretty incredible, no? Five days to go and she's still fabulous. ;-)

Set In Stone

May 7th.

12:00 p.m.

That's it.

That's the date and time we're to become parents.

...oh my...

We had another appointment today. The boys are in fine health. Timothy measured a massive 6 lbs, 4 oz while Raiden tipped the scales at 5 lbs, 11 oz. The doctor referred to them as giant twins for such a tiny woman. While she is exceedingly uncomfortable and finds sleep difficult at best, Amanda's health is also outstanding. Again, our great fortune bewilders (and relives) me.

Given that Raiden seems incapable of deciding if he's going to be breech, transverse or head down, we've opted for a scheduled c-section. I was hesitant about a c-section originally, but my opposition stemmed mostly from Amanda's recovery afterwards. The research seems to show no appreciable differences, after 24 hours, between a baby who comes out the more traditional route and one who comes out through an incision in almost all cases, but there is a slightly elevated risk to the second twin in vaginal births. That's enough for Amanda. Additionally, we really want a particular doctor to perform the procedure who likely wouldn't be available in the case of vaginal delivery.

So there it is. The decision is made, the schedule is set. Barring a sudden change, we know the date of birth of these boys. It's as though we've been climbing to the apex of a massive, never-ending roller coaster's first drop. The cars have slowed to a crawl and they've started to creep over the edge of that parabolic arc, teetering on the vertex as we prepare to commence a seemingly infinite free fall into the great unknown. Each day the mass transfers a bit more to the other side, the potential energy building as the cars slowly ease over. Many other cars have gone on this track before, descended into the unknown and continued on successfully and with great joy, but this is our first ride. We wait on that precipice, creeping almost imperceptibly forward, counting the moments as we prepare for gravity to take over and allow us to slip forward. It's going to be one hell of a ride; the anticipation is overwhelming.

Single Digits

Nine...as in days. As in single digits. That's all that remains.

I think I just pooped my pants.

When Amanda playfully flashed up 10 fingers yesterday, my stomach instantly went into knots and I had the distinct feeling I might pass out. I'm nervous, of course, but for the most part it was because I thought there was still so much to do. Amanda made me take a step back and actually consider what remains to be done and...well, it's almost nothing. I've been on a cleaning and organizing rampage for a couple weeks now. She has helped immensely, but for the most part I insist that she rest. She actually does sometimes, so that must mean that she really needs it. She is uncomfortable as heck, as one would expect, but she is in good spirits. We slept in this morning, cuddling for some time when we awoke. While we're rarely able to do that anyway, the times will become even more infrequent once the boys are here, I suspect. I'll miss that, to be sure, but I can't wait for them to arrive. Surprisingly, I'm less nervous about their actual arrival. I've realized that I have no idea what to expect except a lack of sleep. We've informed ourselves as best as possible. Fearing the unknown makes no sense to me, so I've opted for a state of heightened excitement. Still, my stomach remains in knots.

* * * * * * * * * *

Boys, do you know what you're getting yourselves in to? You're being born into a family with two parents who still don't know what they want to be when they grow up and who have extremely crass, dark and morbid senses of humor, a father who is distracted by any bright and shiny object, suckers who can't let a suffering animal out of their sights, giant nerds who think it's great fun to dissect an argument and see the flaws within, etc. You're both doomed, you see, but also know that we love you more than we ever thought possible. I simply cannot wait to meet you.

And the Doc Says...

Amanda is progressing perfectly. The doctor equated her cervix to an impenetrable wall of steel in that there is no appreciable thinning. How it is that such a tiny lady seems to be made to carry twins is well beyond my understanding. Far healthier, far taller women have struggled through their multiples pregnancies but somehow we've sailed through with no real bumps in the road. She's uncomfortable as heck these days, to be sure, but she's remarkably happy. I'm quite thankful for the ease, whatever the reason.

During our appointment on Thursday, the babies measured 4 lbs 10 oz (Raiden) and 4 lbs 12 oz (Timothy). They're right around the 50th percentile for growth if they were singletons, so everyone is quite happy about that. Consider, however: that's 9 lbs 6 oz of baby. To quote a certain great modern thespian, "Whoah..." In any case, the heartbeats are strong, the movements look great, and the time for them to emerge into this crazy world of ours is nearing ever closer.

An amusing thing happened during the ultrasound: Raiden flipped! After all that discussion of c-sections, traditional vaginal births and breech extractions, that little punk decided to be a gymnast and aim his head downward. Amanda contends that he must be my son given that he can't seem to make up his mind what he wants to do and wants to put off making the decision as long as possible. We had decided that we were going with a scheduled c-section, but this throws the decision into question.

The big (related) news is that the doctors wanted us to set a specific date for either induction or a c-section. We have gone with May 7th, my mother's birthday, as the date these boys will make their debut appearance. We don't know if it will be an induction or a c-section--that decision is up to Raiden, probably--but we do know it will be that day. We're supposed to be at the hospital starting around 10:00, so we'll just have to see what happens then.

Oh my...21 days. We're both emotionally ready and the house is very nearly ready, but I still have a strong feeling that we have no idea what we're getting ourselves into.

Seven Pounds of Funk (& of baby!)

Let me open by welcoming any Fatherhood Friday folks from DadBlogs & Question of the Week folks from Multiples & More.

Glad to see you and I hope you'll stick around! Now, on with the show.

We had another fantastic appointment yesterday, our 31 week check-up. The ultrasounds suggest that the boys are now weighing in at 3 lbs, 10 oz. each. Their growth is actually on track for singletons, but they expect that to start tapering off a bit soon. They both look quite healthy with strong heartbeats and tons of movement. Timmy is still head down, but Raiden seems determined to remain in a breech position.

We have a special affection for one of the doctors. She is about the same size as Amanda (5 feet even) and is extremely nice, but she was quite concerned with Amanda's "tiny torso" when we first saw her back around week 20. She has expressed pleasant wonderment and shock as Amanda's abdomen continues its outward trek, compensating for her smaller torso by demonstrating a fantastic ability to defy gravity. I'll post a new picture in the next couple days to let folks see this for themselves.

In any case, it seems that Amanda's body is handling this twin pregnancy perfectly. The single issue we'll likely face is Raiden's position. As such, we have to make some difficult decisions concerning birth. The ideal scenario, obviously, is for Raiden to turn and for Amanda to deliver both of these guys vaginally. Given that we have no idea if Raiden is going to turn, we're left with a few options:

1) Do a scheduled cesarean section, whether labor begins or not, after 37 weeks (probably May 7th, my mother's birthday).

2) Vaginal birth with Timmy, hoping that Raiden turns or can be coaxed to turn. If Raiden does not turn, perform a cesarean section.

3) Vaginal birth with Timmy and a planned breech extraction (they have someone well versed in breech extraction at our hospital).

Note that the doctors are advising the first option, at least presently. Also note that we will listen to the physicians the moment they say something is very strongly advised, but at present they just seem to be suggesting certain routes.

I worry about Amanda's recovery time from a c-section and Amanda is concerned with statistics that show lower chances of successful extended breast feeding with babies delivered by c-section and we both wonder about the medical profession and its tendency to push for c-sections out of convenience more than medical necessity. At the same time, the idea of a breech extraction scares the heck out of Amanda because of the many horror stories out there. I should note that, while discussing this issue, Amanda reminded me of one of the many reasons I love her by equating a scheduled c-section to cheating in video games. I said something like "Yeah, and it's not even like checking GameFAQs", to which she responded "No, it's totally an up-up-down-down-left-right-left-right-b-a-start kind of a thing." If you're not a video game junkie from the original NES days, you'll probably not get that joke, but here's a link to the reference. Translation: we're both giant nerds and our children are doomed.

In trying to make this decision, we're starting a "pros and cons" list for all options, but we're hoping to get some input from anyone who has birthed multiples or singletons via breech extraction. What was your experience? Would you advise others go the same route or a different one? Any input would be greatly appreciated!

And now because every post needs at least one picture, here's one of Thomas being subjected to torture helping me unwrap my present from the previous post:

He's pretty cute. Amusingly enough, up until about a year ago almost all of his photos were with him barking as he seemed to hate the camera. That phase seems to have passed. Yeah, I think we need one more.

Ok, now I have a proper post.

Again, any input on the birth plan issue would be really helpful. Thanks in advance!

Hardly Workin'

Another cute gift came in today, this one from my mother and step-father. My birthday is on April 3rd, the same day as out baby shower. As is to be expected (and as is greatly necessary), most birthday gifts are likely to have a theme of "soon-to-arrive twins." The gift from these two was certainly no exception.

First, a little background: as you may know from my other posts, I'm a graduate student in philosophy and, as you may guess, the market for folks with MAs in philosophy is rather minimal. I had originally planned to go on to obtain my PhD, but the field is ridiculously competitive--both to get into a PhD program as well as to obtain a full time, permanent position afterwards--and both my passion and my confidence in my abilities are waning. Amanda's job is willing to give her a significant degree of mobility by allowing her to work from home just as she has been doing for the past year and a half. Couple all of this with my own desire to have a trade and be able to contribute more financially and we arrive at a situation wherein we are free to do just about anything. The "anything" we've chosen to do is to move to St. George, Utah, where my brother has a flourishing contracting business. Every time we've visited them, I've gone to work with my brother. We laugh and play while also busting butt and the visits are always such special, wonderful times. Every time we leave, I get pretty teary-eyed and miss him and his wonderful wife and kids. Over the years, he has half-jokingly asked if I wanted to come out and work with him. I think he's still in shock since I asked him if he was really serious about the offer. The point of this long-winded story is to give a little background as to why I'm leaving academia for contracting and to explain this adorable birthday gift from my parents:

Take a closer look.

Pretty darn cute, no? It's a tool belt with a few key work elements and a handful of baby supplies. I can't imagine wearing it while diapering a child, however. I foresee being the one who conducts the bleary-eyed 2:00 am changings and, from what I understand, caulk makes very poor diaper rash paste.

My step-father wrote a pretty adorable poem to accompany the gift:
Speaking of gifts, we had perhaps the cutest card to ever be mailed arrive not too long ago, without warning. We get to see our niece, Grace, only once every few months. She adores Amanda but has seemed a bit hesitant about this whole baby thing. I'm not sure if this card was to her or to the boys, but in either case it had to be shared:

The inside card was just a piece of white paper with the word "baby" emblazoned on it in bold, red letters. Absolutely adorable, needless to say.

We were in a news lull for a bit and I was quite busy, hence my infrequent updates. I expect to return to regular posts again, however, as appointments are growing more frequent and more changes are taking place. Look out for a Fatherhood Friday post tomorrow in which I'm going to give a general update and pose a very serious question about c-sections, twins and breech babies.

It's Always the Season for Nightmares

I'm frantically attempting to close out this quarter as mentioned in the previous post, but I simply had to share a great present we received yesterday. My brother, sister-in-law and my nephew all headed off to Disneyland recently and they brought home presents for all four of us. Like any good former goth kid, I absolutely adore the movie Nightmare Before Christmas and that was the theme of my birthday package to be shared with all.

For me, a set of Jack Skellington mouse ears. For Amanda, a fantastic Nightmare-themed bag that I see as the perfect diaper bag companion to the two awesome, matching onesie/bottom sets for the boys. If you haven't gone nuts over those onsies yet, it must be because you haven't taken a close enough look at them:

They're going to wear these things until they fall apart. So flippin' cute!

We've also received gifts from other family members (thanks, Dad & Sherlene & others!), all of which have been most welcome. I'm glad the shower is coming up soon, though; we're both beginning to feel the stress of the boys' impending arrival and we want to make sure we have all the things we need (and a good number of things we just plain want) prior to their grand entrance.

No News is Good News

I've no real updates to offer today, but I feel slightly odd not slapping together some type of post. Let me fill the void by offering an observation: trying to finish up grad school when you have something as exciting as a set of twins on the way is a nearly impossible task. To call us both distracted would be a severe understatement. I realize the level of distraction will only grow exponentially once they arrive, but it's hard to imagine being even less capable of focusing than I am presently!

It was finally sunny today, so we went outside and took a couple photos of my pretty wife. I think a couple of them are worth sharing, but mostly this reminds me that I used to spend quite a bit of time with photography (albeit physical film, not digital) and I'd like to do so again...but I really need a crash course in Photoshop.

Daddy Also Gets (a little bit) Pregnant

Welcome to Fatherhood Friday! Forgive me folks, but this will be a little light on the funny and a little heavy on the science. Having recently experienced a few phenomena that gave me reason to consider it, I decided to do a little research on the physiological changes male partners experience during pregnancy. I figured there would be a fair amount of research available and I was able to find some interesting data, albeit less than I thought. Join me as we take a whirlwind tour of the research that I've come across that all seems to supports the thesis that, yes, Daddy also gets a little bit pregnant.

Let's first turn to a short historical account of male pregnancy sympathy, then discuss the specific physiological mechanisms for this condition. We'll follow that by turning to manifestations of this condition (including my own purely anecdotal account) and end with some speculation as to why this occurs and consider some potentially fascinating implications.

When people discuss males experiencing some symptoms of pregnancy, they tend to refer to sympathetic pregnancy, otherwise known as Couvade syndrome. "Couvade" sometimes refers to rituals certain societies conduct to have men to either act out or actually experience pregnancy-like symptoms (such as those discussed here), but I have in mind the actual physical manifestation of pregnancy-like symptoms some men report. This is typically the domain of bad 80s sitcoms, not reasoned inquires into biology. In the past, sympathetic pregnancy was only considered in the extreme (if it was considered at all) and was seen as some type of deficiency, an abnormal psychological event typically described in Freudian terms that had outward physical manifestations; it was ultimately seen as a purely psychosomatic event. New research seems to suggest that the overwhelming majority of men experience some form of pregnancy sympathy with their pregnant partners and those with the more severe forms (including those who develop distended abdomens) simply suffer from a more drastic form of the physiological changes most of us male partners experience. In short, it seems perfectly normal at least up to a certain point.

Let's now consider some of the available research on this intriguing phenomena. This article (hereafter called the Storey article, after the primary author of the study) cites an incredible number of scientific studies that verify that men experience significant hormonal fluctuations during pregnancy and after their child(ren) are born, and this hormonal change is most significant in those men who report two or more "couvade symptoms." One of the articles cited by Storey defines couvade or sympathy pregnancy symptoms in a pretty similar manner to how one would describe some of the issues that come along with pregnancy: weight gain, toothache/bleeding gums, heartburn, hemorrhoids, increased appetite, decreased appetite, vomiting, weight loss, pain, varicose veins, spontaneous nosebleeds , etc. (the list goes on, but those are the most commonly experienced conditions).

Let me clearly state that Storey admits that the study really only applies to those societies in which males have very direct and constant involvement in the pregnancy as well as in child rearing. Let me also admit that this article is a bit on the dense and somewhat impenetrable side, so I'll try to distill some of the findings down to digestible chunks. Here are a few highlights:

* Males experience significant fluctuations in prolactin production around the third trimester. This hormone is primarily associated with the production of breast milk. Males always have a certain level of prolactin production, but in the third trimester and immediately after the birth of their child(ren), prolactin production in males increases up to 20%.

* Males experience a huge dip in testosterone production right around birth of their child(ren). Storey found that they experience a 33% decrease in the first three weeks following birth. This begins to return to normal levels after four to seven weeks.

* Even when not in a birth situation, it should be noted that increased prolactin production in males almost always corresponds to a decrease in testosterone production in males (and, interestingly enough, to a decrease in estrogen production in females). Whether the exact mechanism for the decrease in testosterone is the increase in prolactin or vice-versa, or if they are carried by some common third cause is still up for debate. In other words, we know THAT this happens, but we don't exactly know HOW it happens.

* Cortisol production also experiences significant changes, increasing for both males and females immediately prior to birth. Cortisol is often associated with stress (although, from what I've read in other research, this connection is somewhat dubious). Storey found that there was a strong correlation between men who had partners who reported a significant reaction to babies crying (specifically, that they felt the overwhelming urge to nurture when they heard the noise) and an elevated cortisol level. Among those males who had partners who did not report feeling a strong urge to nurture their crying children, the cortisol level barely peaked or didn't increase at all. The real kicker here: the females who reported great concern over their baby crying had higher cortisol levels, and their male partners had correspondingly elevated cortisol levels. Furthermore, male cortisol levels among all male participants increased an average of 50% over pre-pregnancy levels. This last finding may not be all that significant, however, because cortisol levels tend to increase in any stressful situation.

* The spectrum of male hormonal changes and the reports of sympathy pregnancy symptoms follow something of a lopsided "U" pattern. They start out pretty high in the first trimester, dip strongly in the second, then peak highest in the third and immediately after birth. My speculation: consider the parallel to women and their reports of discomfort...it seems pretty darn similar to me. Please note that I'm speculating here!

Another article discusses weight gain in male marmosets and tamarinds. This project seems to point to other causes for weight gain among partners of pregnant people than simply giving in to temptation. Note that I don't think that's what is going on in my case. I've put on over 10 lbs since Amanda found out she was pregnant, but I think that's due to my inability to resist chocolate! However, some men have reported maintaining identical diets to what they ate prior to their partners' pregnancy but still gaining significant weight.

A couple other studies, such as this one, have looked at male parent brain structures. Among first time marmoset fathers, researchers observed a substantial increase in dendrite connections in the prefrontal cortex upon birth of their offspring. What does this mean? Well, the prefrontal cortex is the part of the brain that affects planning, proper social relations, decision making, etc. so more connections suggests greater ability in these areas. While I did find an article that contends that this extends to human fathers (the article I cited merely postulates that this is the case), I can't find what I did with the blasted thing. As such, we're left to speculate as to whether or not this situation can be extended to us hairless primates.

A study by Sandra J. Berg (and others) offers some additional data of interest. This study was essentially a follow-up of the Storey study and it largely confirmed the findings of the earlier study while also going a step or two beyond. The Berg study found that:

"* The testosterone concentration was significantly lower in the overall sample of 23 dads than in the 14 control subjects [non-fathers].

* Cortisol concentration was significantly lower in dads than in the control group [please see note below].

* Dads had a higher proportion of samples with detectable estradiol [estrogen] concentrations."

Please note that the second point in the quote above does not contradict Storey's findings. Storey was discussing men who were partners of pregnant women. Cortisol actually builds in women when they're pregnant and is heavily involved in the onset of labor (it's at its highest at that point), thus the increase during pregnancy in the male partner seems to parallel the increase in the pregnant female partner. Berg's study considers people who are new fathers, not those experiencing childbirth. Let it be known that I find the cortisol issue the most questionable of all the issues discussed herein, but that may be because I'm not entirely clear on the nature of cortisol and its role in various biological processes. Any biologists in the house?

As discussed before, in the past men were viewed as somehow psychologically damaged or at least misguided if they expressed pregnancy sympathy. Now we've come to see that there are some underlying physiological changes that might be the causal agent of these outward physical expressions. That does not mean that all pregnancy sympathy-like symptoms ARE actual outward expressions of internal hormonal changes. Rather, I just want folks to be aware that men DO often experience hormonal fluctuations. Here's a pretty interesting article that provides some accounts of men experiencing these symptoms, and here is another.

As for myself, I have no idea if any of my "symptoms" are manifestations of hormonal changes, the result of some type of psychological condition, etc. What I do know, however, is that my teeth have been killing me for the past week or so and my gums have been bleeding like crazy, something that hasn't happened to me since I had a particularly nasty tooth extracted a few years ago. I've also gained over 10 pounds, but as I stated earlier this is due to an inability to resist the siren call of chocolate. I've also been...well, rather moody lately with no idea as to why. I try my best to suppress this, though.

Let me briefly divert the discussion to two semi-related topics. That male and female human beings are very similar is pretty well established. I mean, ask most partners if they understand their significant other and they're likely to express frustration and/or amusement, but on a basic biological level we're remarkably in line. An additional piece of this similarity can be found in, of all places, our nipples. We're pretty unusual in the mammal world in that we have very similar structures under the skin that's under our shirts. Male humans actually have perfectly intact mammary glands, while the males of many other species have either vestigial nipples and/or glands or no nipples at all. Only one male animal in the world spontaneously lactates, that being the Dayak Fruit Bat. However, men can and do lactate, typically as the result of some type of medical condition or treatment (and it happens in babies of both sexes often enough that it has a terrible sounding name: witch's milk). Remember how I mentioned that prolactin is directly related to lactation and how men produce a small amount at all times but a larger amount when their child(ren) are born? Here's something crazy to think about in relationship to that: there was a long-standing disagreement in the medical community as to whether or not the average male could lactate given the right conditions. One camp held that only males with already elevated prolactin levels (either naturally or with hormone supplements) could lactate while the other camp contended that any male could with proper stimulation. It turns out they were both right. The act of nipple stimulation in males actually increases prolactin production, and many males can makes themselves lactate given enough stimulation once the prolactin production reaches a sufficient level. Don't worry, folks. I love non-traditional gender roles, but this one might go a step beyond what I'm comfortable with doing myself. That said, I certainly wouldn't judge a man for engaging in the activity if he and his partner thought it was the best move for their offspring. There have been numerous reports of men doing this exact thing. Pretty intriguing, no?

Speaking of non-traditional gender roles, let's take the biggest possibility head-on: male pregnancy. While this sounds like the start of a joke (or the premise for an especially terrible movie), it's not. Researchers seem to agree that a male human could certainly become pregnant through IVF (in vitro fertilization) followed by implantation somewhere in the abdomen. A uterus is not strictly necessary for pregnancy, as illustrated in the unfortunate circumstances of ectopic pregnancies. But from a couple modern cases, given just the right set of conditions, we can see that a non-uterine pregnancy can be carried at least to the age of viability. But, as is well known about ectopic pregnancies, in almost every case they're life threatening to the mother and often don't lead to viable babies. Basically at this point it's quite possible that a man could carry a fetus (most advisably a male as carrying a female baby would require extensive hormone therapy), but the male host would most certainly die in the process of a modified cesarean extraction because the placenta would intermix with whatever organ(s) it came into contact with, causing massive and irreparable hemorrhaging. Advances in science suggest that either the growth of fetal tissue could be appropriately redirected to non-vital organs, or there's the more drastic (and questionable) measure of uterine transplants.

Ok, back to the original topic. The specific mechanism for all this interesting pregnant partner hormonal shuffling is still unknown. It has been speculated that pheromones somehow influence this process, a very possible but unconfirmed idea. It's also possible that proximity to pregnant females and/or newborn infants trigger hormonal changes similar to how mechanical stimulation of male nipples increases prolactin production but this, too, has been insufficiently studied. Another study by Berg & Wynne-Edwards suggests that there's no specific correlation between the fluctuations males experience and the fluctuations their female partners experience, though there is still strong evidence that hormonal changes DO occur in men on the birth of their child(ren). This actually pushes a "proximity theory" to the forefront, but only as an intuitive explanation.

Future research will hopefully involve folks like stay-at-home dads, gay couples with children, adoptive parents, fathers who actually dislike the idea of having children, and single fathers with full custody. Perhaps these folks could give us greater insight into the way we males--on a biological level--prepare ourselves to become fathers.

All of this begs a simple question: why? Why would males have their hormonal patterns change at birth? Being someone who is more or less a biological reductionist (meaning I think just about everything can be explained in simpler, more basic biological terms, such as our behaviors reducing down to a set of biochemical responses to stimuli), it seems evident that we males have our testosterone levels dip because we need to nurture at that point and testosterone tends to make us aggressive and competitive. Here's an example of a pretty carefully constructed reductionist view of couvade symptoms. If the story of testosterone reduction giving rise to nurturing behaviors in males holds, this would have an obvious evolutionary advantage. But reductionism is pretty far from a perfectly provable thesis (though I think it's defensible), so I have to shrug my shoulders at this point and say that we may not know why, exactly, and we may not even know exactly how, but we do know THAT this happens, and isn't it pretty damned fascinating?

I'd love to hear thoughts on this, especially from anyone who would contend that they did or did not experience (for men) or see (for the partners) any pregnancy sympathy symptoms. Hopefully you found this interesting; if not, sorry about that! I'll be back next and hopefully I'll bring the funny with me.

From the Department of Weights & Measures

We had our 28 week appointment today, albeit a few days early. The doctor was very pleased with the boys' growth. Raiden, always the slightly smaller one, is weighing in at 2 lbs 8 oz while Timothy tips the scales at 2 lbs 11 oz; both are above the 60th percentile with respect to growth. They're in the 99th percentile with respect to being awesome, but my system of measurement might be slightly skewed due to researcher bias. The amniotic fluid also looks great as does the cervix and, if all keeps going as well as it has so far, we can expect Amanda to not have preterm labor issues. The doctor was also very happy with Amanda's weight gain as she has only put on 23 lbs (she does need more iron though, but I can't get her to eat much protein!). We were told that, at this rate of growth, we could expect a hulking set of twins around 6 lbs each. Both boys are head down presently, but Raiden seems to like to do flips so we'll see if that remains the case going forward.

To call us fortunate would be an understatement; we have had an absolutely ideal pregnancy so far. I'm extremely thankful for that and hope our great fortune continues. The only even vaguely negative thing about this appointment was quite silly: neither boy was in an acceptable position for a good ultrasound picture. Still, we did get one shot that was kind of neat. The two round fields are their heads right next to one another.

* * * * * * * * * *

We finally got our baby shower invitations out the door on Saturday so now we're trying to plan the decorations, games, etc. While we have some pretty good ideas about how we'll decorate--one idea is to use the colors similar to these plates and build from there--we're having some difficulties with the games and activities. We both want the games to be fun for all in attendance, even if they're a bit cheesy, by blending traditional and non-traditional. Does anyone have any advice? Here are some ideas I've stolen from more creative folks come across on the internet. Please note that I'm not sold on any of these nor am I against any not listed (the only game I can say I'm actually against is the whole 'melted candy bar in the diaper' one); I'm merely putting these out there for consideration:

* Game 1: Poker tournament, as described here.

* Game 2: Diapers for Two, a timed game where contestants have to diaper two dolls, one after the other, without putting either doll down, all while pretending to talk on a cell phone.

* Game 3: Make a Baby! Not as twisted as it sounds. Contestants are given Play-Doh and told to make a baby from it, and the results will be judged.

* Game 4: Story Time. For anyone who wants to, write down an amusing/horrifying/notable child-rearing incident. Use no names or identifying characteristics. See if the person/couple can be matched to the story.

* Game 5: You Don't Say... Instead of the typical "don't say baby" I think it would be fun and relevant to have the word "twin" be verboten. Amanda borrowed the neat idea of using the monkeys from the Barrel of Monkeys game as the method for tracking the winner. If you say the forbidden word, anyone in earshot can take away your monkey(s) and the person with the most monkeys at the end of the day wins.

* Game 6: This is more of an open activity than it is a game. Set out a case of diapers and a permanent marker with a sign that says something like "Late night changes are quite the chore. Leave us some messages on the bums of these diapers that will bring a smile to our faces and provide some much-needed perspective in our many hours of need."

Any feedback? I'd especially love to hear from folks who have held or have attended successful coed baby showers.

Next post (Friday, I think): "Daddy Also Gets (a little bit) Pregnant"

Hell Hath No Fury Like a Woman Pregnant

Before I'm accused of whining, let me state that I knew, going in to this, that hormonal fluctuations were going to be par for the course. I expected a higher degree of sensitivity, a peak in my wife's (sometimes substantial) temper, perhaps a few tears and a little bit of yelling. I was hoping it wouldn't be quite like the experience of her first couple Depo shots (imagine a few months worth of PMS rolled into two days), but I was prepared to take verbal lashings given that my body wasn't the one enduring all of these changes.

I got just that, at least in the first trimester. Her rationality, usually one of her many beautiful qualities, faded to a distant memory. In its place was a woman driven by pure, raw, unfiltered emotion. I was relatively certain that she hated me for those first couple months, and I'm quite certain that she loved the dog more than me at that point. The second trimester saw the extreme peaks level out substantially, though not without occasional dips and spikes. You can see some evidence of this in my post Top Ten List of Universal Maxims for Partners of Pregnant People (and on a related side note, I've taken to blurting out "Rule # 8!" when especially confused and confounded by her behavior).

Now that we're on the cusp of the third trimester, my wife has returned to me suddenly. What is incredibly odd, at least to me, is that she still initially reacts to stimuli with the same degree of emotion as she did before, but instead of continuing with a particularly unreasonable tirade or spontaneously bursting with tears, she suddenly...laughs at herself. All the time. It's as though she has been given the ability to scrutinize her behavior with perfect objectivity and most of the time she finds her little outbursts of irrationality absolutely hilarious. I do not know where this came from and I will not expect it to continue, but let me say that I'm treasuring every last second of it while it's here.

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Here's an updated shot of Amanda's growing belly from Friday. The incredible rate of growth probably made this picture outdated five minutes after it was taken.

My step-father told me I ought to be more alliterative and, instead of calling them "belly shots," refer to them as "pregnancy profiles."

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We have another appointment tomorrow morning, which is always exciting, so I should have some new ultrasound scans and news to share. But for now it's back to the reality of grad school, which has become far less interesting than thinking about and planning for the arrival of these little ones. Post-Kantian ethics ain't got nothin' on these two boys.