Back in the Saddle

Jeepers cripes, things have gotten busy around here. I do most of my posting at work, and in the past couple of weeks I've actually had an explosion of job-related activity that has eaten into my posting time. I can't complain, but I have missed feeling connected to the land of the online.

The good news is that the twins are still on the inside and doing well. They were monitored last Monday and the heartbeats were strong and steady. I've been having these fears/feelings that our girl is tricking us and is actually a boy, so I asked both docs to do double-check the sex. It was a no-go, though. The boy was flashing his naughty bits with reckless abandon, but our girl was blocking ultrasound access to her privates. I go back in for a monitoring session today. We'll see if she's better positioned this time. I'm 35 weeks, one day today, which means three weeks and two days from c-section time. Crazy.

I've also now had two baby-related dreams. In the first one, we were at the hospital getting ready to take the babies home . . . in the trunk of my parents' Honda Accord! This seemed to be the way everyone did it; the nurses were helping us pack them into the trunk and wishing us well. (I think I need to call the police station about getting our carseats installed.) In the second dream, I was at the hospital (again), getting ready to go home (again), but only the girl had been born. The boy was still inside! The nurses were assuring me that this was normal and that I could just come back in a week or so when he was ready to come out. This seemed like a fine plan to me.

So, work. Yeah. I'm interviewing for my boss's job tomorrow. I'm excited about it and I think I have a good shot. Should I get the job, I should also get a significant boost in pay and my own office (with a door and everything! All the better for pumping breastmilk.) I'll also get to test my managerial wings and take on some additional responsibilities in a place that's familiar, and a place where people know about GH's illness and are incredibly supportive of my need to be with him at appointments, etc. There are many things that I don't like about my workplace, but for now, staying someplace familiar feels right to me. I have enough big change coming my way and I think it might push me over the edge to think about going back to work at a totally unfamiliar place come October.

Between setting up interviews, submitting my resume, talking to HR, etc. AND dealing with getting some projects wrapped up before I go on maternity leave, it's been a busy time around these parts. Luckily I've gotten some really positive feedback about the big project that I have due this week (four storybooks for third graders) and the other things I need to finish up are minor. I'm on the downhill slide.

Things on the cancer front have been relatively good. GH had a full-blown, all-drug treatment last Wednesday and he's holding up beautifully. His platelets were really too low (60K, for those of you who, sadly, know about these things) to give him all his meds, but his doctor was willing to treat him because she knows this stuff is working and she'd rather risk him needing a platelet transfusion than hold off. The best thing about last week's treatment, though, was that the staff at the clinic gave us a surprise baby shower. It moved us both to tears. Balloons, cake, gifts . . . it was so thoughtful. We are spoiled, the babies are spoiled. It was lovely and ever-so-thoughtful.* GH was in bed (they gave us a big room with a bed!), eating cake, getting his infusion, holding court in the hospitality suite. It was about as good a day at chemo as one could hope to have. Let's just hope that today's blood test shows that he has some platelets left.

Memorial Day weekend was wonderful, if too short. We took a quick trip up to Maine for some R&R. We pampered ourselves with good food and spa treatments (foot soak, foot and leg massage, head/neck/shoulder massage). We also did more Christmas shopping at some of the cool galleries and shops in Portland. Planning ahead for when there will be twins and no time for dealing with such things!

That's about the long and the short of it. A few weeks ago, I was having a lot of anxiety about the babies, but in the past week or so that's dissipated into excitement. It's tinged with nerves, to be sure, but mostly I'm just very much looking forward to meeting these guys. I think the sunny summer weather has helped my disposition. Today is a good day.

*GH and I are now trying to come up with a good way to think the staff for their thoughtfulness. I had thought about getting some flowers for the nurses' station, but some people are allergic and the smell might bother those getting chemo. Then we thought of catering in a lunch, but that seemed a little over the top. I'm now leaning towards baking brownies and bringing those in with a nice thank-you card. Thoughts, anyone?