"Deliverance" Delivery?

(I'm a bit behind on posts due to both a pre-term labor scare which landed me in the hospital - I'll report on this soon - and my attempts whenever I'm online to figure out what baby gear we need. I wrote this post a month ago but haven't gotten around to posting it until now.)

I felt Twin B (the girl) kick during Road House and then after that Twin A (the boy) enjoyed kicking me all week. Mark got to feel it too. However, I didn't feel Twin B kick again the entire week so I contacted my doctor. She said it was so early in my pregnancy it was probably nothing to worry about but that if it would alleviate my worries I could come in since she hadn't seen me in awhile. What nervous mother-to-be wouldn't say "yes"?

I had thought that the boy was on my right and the girl was on my left. That's sort of true but they're still migrating to those positions. Right now the boy is in front of the girl. So apparently that's why I feel him kick much more often. Since the appointment I will notice the girl once in a while get a good kick in on her side.

I also heard their heartbeats for the first time. The boy's was unmistakable and really loud and fast. Because the girl is behind the boy I couldn't really make out the her heartbeat (though I saw it on the ultrasound), but the doctor could. I thought it sounded like a static-y CB radio.




Membrane between the twins. I'm not sure about that random sphere.
How'd that 80s plasma ball get in my vagina?!

80s plasma ball, don't hurt my lady parts.


When the doctor and I watched the ultrasound, she said the twins were swimming around with their heads next to each other "kissing."



Both heads next to each other, possible kissing. Insert Dueling Banjos joke.

I told Mark and he said we're going to have to make them stop doing that when they come out. I suggested we name them Luke and Leia. He said it should be Angelina Jolie and whatever her brother's name is.


Real Angelina and her brother.

Fake Angelina and her brother on Saturday Night Live with their love child, Kerplixik.

Nobody Puts Baby in a Coroner

I already know this post will be more about Patrick Swayze than the babies...


I felt kicking and it was during the worst movie ever made!

I was supposed to feel kicking between weeks 18 and 22. And for a week I'd feel a little shudder at times but thought it could just be my stomach gurgling. And then Sunday night (halfway through my 20th week), I felt it again but slightly more so. And then I looked down and saw my stomach move!

We were watching Road House at the time. You see, my birthday is the same date (different year of course) as Patrick Swayze so I decided to celebrate my birthday "Swayze style" by forcing my friends to watch watching Road House with my friends for the first time. Mark got me a cake that had Swayze written all over it, and Lila gave me a musical Dirty Dancing Christmas ornament that repeated different quotes from the movie. Brendan put together a game where he took pictures of Patrick and his brother, Don Swayze's co-stars and made them virtually unrecognizable with Photoshop filters. We all had buzzers and tried to see who could first identify the co-star (each person had four levels of obfuscation from crazy hard to none). Here's the awesome game (which is on the verge of taking Facebook by storm).


My Swayze cake perched on my baby bump.

Brendan was so inspired by Road House that he made a website:
Everything I Needed to Know I Learned by Watching Road House

But I digress.

Patrick Swayze was probably kicking ass and taking names, shirtless no doubt, when Twin B (the girl) started kicking. I twice put Mark's hand on my belly to feel it, but Twin B felt performance anxiety and stopped.

I've felt kicking daily since then. The first kicks during Road House were from Twin B, but it's usually Twin A (the boy) kicking up a storm. Mark has felt them kick many times now. I read that baby kicks feel like butterflies, but I thought they felt more like flutter kicking in water.

This party was in August. And two weeks later Brendan and I sang a karaoke duet of She's Like the Wind. Sadly, Patrick passed away a week later. That day I received three condolence gmail chat/text messages. Here's the transcript of me learning the news on Gmail chat:

5:30 PM Brendan: my sincerest condolences on your loss.

me: what loss?

Brendan: <>

i can't bear to break the awful news.

5:31 PM me: not swayze!

In case you're interested, here's my Patrick Swayze decor:



This sign still hangs in our living room.

I think in total I hung 20 pictures illustrating Patrick Swayze's moods. Again, they are still up. A few are below.

Yeah, this post was about 95% Swayze, 5% babies. Sorry.