Lunch with my Boyfriend/Girlfriend

Life has a wonderful way of bringing incredible people into your life.  Time has a funny way of then splitting you apart.

My dear friends Mike and Jenna are shinning examples of this paradox.  I met Mike in 2006 through a mutual friend in Miami.  Mike was down for Spring Break and we were all hanging out in a big group going to dinners and clubs in South Beach.  As we chatted, we discovered we were both moving to New York City later that summer.  Mike was starting his Orthopedic Residency and I was headed to nursing school.   So a few months later, we met up in the city and Mike introduced me to his beautiful new wife who would become one of my closet friends.  We spent the next few years, pal'ing around the city together.  They never made me feel like a third wheel and I came to affectionately refer to them as my boyfriend/girlfriend.

Manhattan circa 2008

Jenna and I in Guatemala circa 2008

Sadly, our run came to end at the same time Mike finished his residency.  The Halls (plus their new baby boy, Dylan) packed up and headed out West to sunny Los Angeles.  We've seen each other through the years.  Mike and Jenna traveled down to the Bahamas for my wedding, and flew to California to meet their new baby, Mila.  While not as frequent, the time we spent together was just as fun!

Thankfully, due to social obligations in form of a wedding, Mike and Jenna were back in the city this weekend.  We met up at Hillstone's Midtown and laughed a couple of hours away.  It was great reminiscing over old times and planning the months to come.  I can't wait for my babies to meet their Uncle Mike and Auntie Jenna!

This week in our lives...

Scott and I had a really eventful week.

Scott flew out to California to sponsor Mike Tyson's one man show called The Undisputed Truth. He spent 2 blissful days with Mike, traveling with him to appearances, grabbing lunch, playing video games and getting to know him better. Mike even told him some new stories about Cus. They were really able to build more trust and strengthen their friendship. 

Meanwhile, back at the Manhattan Ranch, the babies and I had another big anatomy scan. Since Scott was in California, his parents came with me to the appointment. My favorite sonographer, Nagina, showed us so many fun baby parts!  Turns out the babies turned and they are now both head down!!! This is huge news!  If they stay this way (at least Baby A needs to), we can try for a vaginal delivery, which would be a dream come true for me! While, I'm trying to let go of expectations, and just focus on growing healthy full term nuggets, I would still prefer to deliver them naturally. Lots of people forget that Cesearan Sections are major abdominal surgery. It would be less than ideal to have to recover from that with 2 newborns in the house. Both babies being vertex, also means that I have 4 tiny feet kicking me in the belly button. If you recall to my 20 week update, I complained about belly button pain. It's all making sense!  

In other developments, the babies both weigh 1 pound and are in the 50th percentile for growth. I'm so happy they're growing so well.  And then the funniest story that we came away with from the scan involves watching the babies interact with each other. We were looking at our Little Man's perfect little brain when his sister's hand came into focus. We watched in shock as she gently poked him in the eye and then lightly popped him on the nose!!! Looks like our little princess is playing dirty!  When we focused back on our little baby boy, we noticed that he had turned away from her as if to say "Forget you! I'm outta here!"  Ironically that caused him to moon us!!

Check out this cute tushy and those little crossed feet (and that perfect spine)!

And this is Baby Girl gloating over getting more camera time. 

Tuesdays with Marlowe

Meet my new little buddy, Marlowe. He was born on Friday, Sept 26th. I've worked with his mom, Jenny Chen, for about 5 years. Jenny was first a resident and now an Attending Obstetrician. Jenny and her husband Stephan live less than a block from the hospital so I went to their apartment during lunch and got to snuggle with this little munchkin!  He's so so so sweet. And he makes me want to hold my own babies so bad. But they need to cook a little longer. I'll have to settle on holding this little peanut for a while longer. 

21 weeks!

Disclaimer:  it's a chilly rainy day in NYC so I look wayyyy bigger than I really am. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

This week: the babies are as long as carrots. I'm feeling a lot more movement and it's getting much stronger!  My energy is waning a little bit again. My 12-hour shifts at the hospital are getting tougher and tougher. By 4-5pm, I'm ready to curl up next to my patient and catch some zzzz's. 

20 weeks!

Can't believe we're over half way now. Very happy to report that all is going well with mommy and babies. 

The new development this week (besides a huge belly growth spurt) is that I feel the babies moving around a ton more. And (I think) I can tell them apart. Our little man is really low in my belly and it feels like he curls up in a little ball. He also likes to twirgle (yes, I made that word up) his little toes which tickles. Meanwhile, baby girl is up by my belly button. She's picking up a funny little habit of (what feels like) head butting my belly button. I must admit that it kinda hurts!  Imagine someone stretchin your belly button out from the inside... My dad told me that I used to pull similar shananigans. My mom would put a ice cube where I was bothering her and I would move away from the cold. I tried it last night while at dinner with friends but the ice made me more uncomfortable than the head butting. 

Speaking of dinner with friends... Scott and I made a pilgrimage to the Upper West Side last night to one o my favorite restaurants, Josie's. Josie's is amazing and serves all organic foods. I'm obsessed with their black bean dumplings!  Wish I'd had the foresight to order some to go... I could eat another 10 right now!

Birthday Celebrations in Houston

I flew down to Houston this past weekend to help celebrate my best friend, Pauline's birthday. Pauline and I have been friends since the 11th grade and have celebrated the past 14 birthday together.  We seen each other through so many of life's victories and heartaches.

Over the past 3 years, I've gotten to know Pauline's group of girlfriends and have been fortunate enough to be adopted by this amazing circle of ladies. 

We went to an amazing Mexican Seafood restaurant called Caracol. The food was delicious and the service was outstanding!  Our waiter, Andres, was very attentive to my dietary restrictions due to my current state (no ceviche, tuna, sea bass or cocktails- you know, only some of my favorite things... No big deal 😕)

We had fun spreading glittery stars and silver confetti all over the table and ourselves. If you know this group of girls, you know this is a normal activity. 

After dinner, the girls started passing out presents. I thought they were just for Pauline but I was surprised to find out that thy had all gotten me gifts as well. I felt so loved and had to fight back the tears as I read their sweet birthday wishes and opened their beautiful thoughtful gifts. Then came out the cakes and we all somehow managed to find room for a slice of each!

The weekend flew by and leaving gets harder and harder. I miss my friends very much when we are all apart but look forward to getting together again very soon!!

19 weeks! Half way there!!

We're officially half way there!  Since studies show that it's safer for twins to be delivered at 38 weeks, our doctors will be inducing me the last week in January (hopefully I'm still pregnant then!).  That means that in 19 weeks (less than 5 months from now!), we'll have 2 sweet little peanuts to love.  Ahhhhhh!  I. CANNOT. WAIT!