Tomorrow Is Another Day...

Dive Into the Baby Pool

So, I've decided that since these babies want to play games and be all crazy unpredictable, I'm at least going to have some fun with it while they're in there.  So, I'm starting a baby birthday pool!

Here's what you should know before you make a guess:

1) I've been having irregular contractions for 2 weeks and was 2-3 cm dilated a week and a half ago.

2) Induction is scheduled for Friday, November 2, but if the babies aren't positioned properly, they'll send me back home to wait a few more days.  I also have no idea what time I'll be going in and won't know until about 7:30-8:00 am Central European Time.

3) If we don't induce on the 2nd, I'll go back in a few days later--probably on November 7th, though it hasn't been scheduled yet.

4) There can be some correlation between how long your mother was in labor and how long you'll be in labor.  My mom was in active labor with both my sister and I for around 27 hours each time.

So, even though I'm scheduled for an induction, there are a lot of variables that make the date of their birth unpredictable!  Here are the rules for making a guess in the pool:

1) Since there are two babies being born, you'll get two guesses and two chances to win!  So, pick a date and time of birth for each baby.  You can keep both guesses in the same comment, but be sure to be specific about which baby goes with which date and time.  Example: Baby A November 4th at 8:00 am, Baby B November 4th at 8:15 am.

2) You must place your guesses in the comments section of this blog post.  That will make it a million times easier for me when I'm finding the winner than having to search through comments here, and on Facebook, and Twitter.

3) All guesses must be in by midnight CET on Thursday November 1st, which with the time zone and our recent time change, I believe is 7 pm EST and 4 pm PST. (Time zones are so confusing!)  If by some chance I go into labor before then, all of the guesses up until I make a birth announcement will be valid--I don't plan on letting the world know when I'm heading into the hospital.

4) We're using Price is Right rules, so the winner will be the person who gets the closest without going over!  So, there is a good chance there will be two winners (unless you're a super awesome, amazing guesser that happens to get them both right).

And what will the winner get?  Why a delicious assortment of German treats!  I can't promise I'll get it in the mail the next day or anything, but eventually you'll get a package filled with German chocolates, gummis and other yummy local deliciousness!

There's a pretty good chance I'm missing some important point or rule--I just woke up from a nap and I've never created a baby betting pool before.  But let me know if you have any questions and I'll answer you in the comments so everyone can see the answer.

Happy guessing!

Let it Snow...

I cannot wait to hold it over my girls' heads some day that I was essentially in early labor with them for WEEKS.  Last night, I ugly cried for a while because I seriously don't know how many more days of contractions and pain I can handle.  Angela from 9 months ago would have loved to have found a way to jump into the future and bitch slap present me.  Oh well, evidently I suck at making babies, but I am truly amazing at baking them.  I'm probably the one multiple mom on the planet who would probably make it past my due date if it weren't for an induction.

But, enough of that.  At this point, I'm sure I'll be posting a 37 week update, so we'll probably be revisiting this in just a few more days.
In crazier news, we had our first snow this weekend.  SNOW.  In OCTOBER!  The ground wasn't cold enough for it to start accumulating until right at the end, and then it all melted pretty quickly, but since then it has been freeeeeezing cold outside.  I'm pretty sad that we only got about a month of fall before winter started weaseling its way in, but I must admit that the snow was really beautiful from inside.

So, I lit my pine scented candle and turned on my Christmas music.  If I have to put up with winter coming two months early, I'm going to at least start enjoying the only parts of winter I actually enjoy!
 

36 Weeks

Well, I'm still pregnant.

I have extremely mixed feelings about this.  On the one hand, I am so happy that the girls are still cooking and getting more and more ready for life on the outside each day.  The last thing I want is to see my teeny babies in the NICU with monitors and breathing assistance, so I'm very happy to know that they're in there practicing their little breathing movements and playing soccer with my ribs and pelvis.  That's obviously the most important hand.  But the other, more selfish hand is miiiiiiserabllllllle.  I cannot tell you how wearing it is to hear that you'll probably be going into active labor in a matter of days, and a almost a week later, still be dealing with painful, irregular contractions and over 11 pounds of ridiculously active babies going to town on your insides.

Getting dressed is exhausting.  Trying to run errands for a couple of hours is exhausting.  Going to the hospital for check ups is exhausting.  Even sleeping is exhausting--I was up three times between 11 and 1 last night to go to the bathroom and rolling over or getting out of bed takes Herculean effort.  The swelling in my legs, ankles and feet by the end of each day is revolting.  And the pain, not just from the contractions and in my back, but I never expected this awful pelvic pain.  There are times where I actually have trouble standing and walking because the weight on my pelvis is so incredibly painful.  I really hate that I'm complaining about this, because I wanted to be pregnant for so long, and every time I think about what a miracle it is that we've been blessed with two seemingly healthy girls, I just want to shut right the heck up.  But really, I've been carrying the equivalent of a full term baby since about 29 weeks.  I'm worn out.
But.  Enough moaning.  If we make it to 37 weeks or beyond, I should count myself lucky and just suck it up.  I signed up for this, so here we are.  My 36 week appointment was great.  The girls jumped from being around the 54th percentile in weight last week to the 45th, measuring at 5 pounds 10 ounces each.  This far along in my pregnancy, the weight estimates can be off by as much as 1-2 pounds just because it gets harder and harder to measure all of the limbs and organs since they're so squished in there.  But that's a great number to hear, and even if the estimate was high, if they gain a half pound each week like my pregnancy email said and I make it to my induction date, I would think they'll be at least 5-6 pounds at birth.  Much higher than we were expecting!

And speaking of an induction date--we have one set!  One week from today, Friday, November 2nd, should be the big day.  There is a variable though--unfortunately, Charlotte, who has always been perfectly positioned head down at my pelvis throughout the last half of my pregnancy, decided to scooch over just a bit to the right so that her neck was at my pelvis at Wednesday's appointment.  If that's still how she's presenting on Friday, we'll have to postpone and schedule a c-section for the following week.  Evidently, the stress of a vaginal birth can help the baby's lungs develop, so my doctor would feel comfortable delivering that way at 37 weeks.  But if it's looking like it will be a c-section, he'd want to give their lungs a few more days to develop and get closer to 38 weeks.

So, basically the waiting is on.  It could be tonight.  It could be next Friday.  It could be in two weeks.  This past Tuesday, I started doing two Non-Stress Tests a week, and at my second one this morning, the ladies were still looking good, so we're all just hanging around, waiting to meet each other at some point!  My next appointment is following my NST on Tuesday, and then after that it's just the countdown to the big day.

Until then, head down vibes would be GREATLY appreciated!!

It's A Shoe-Off!

Help!!!  It's been a while since I turned to the internets for help making a fashion decision--mainly because all of my fashion decisions lately have revolved around the question "Will this fit over my stomach?"--but I am in search of some new fall shoes and am paralyzed with indecision.  It's a common state for me.  Decisions ain't easy.

So, here are the criteria: Mainly, I want them for wearing under bootcut jeans.  But I'd still like them to be cute if I decide that wearing them with jeans tucked in doesn't make me look like the Goodyear blimp from the waist down.  I also really want them to be comfortable, which is hard to tell from a picture, but I'm mostly taking heel height into account for that aspect.

Let's meet the contenders (all are Steve Madden):
First up, Stables with a 1 inch heel and distressed leather upper.  I like the distressed leather because when I inevitably scuff it up as I stumble along, the marring won't be so obvious.  I also really like the solid heel on this one.
Next, lovely Miss Neena.  I love the slouchy look--I can see this working really well with jeggings, but I wonder if the bootcut style would get caught in the wrinkles?  I'm also a little worried about the 1.5" heel being higher than I like, but I dig the tiny zipper and the stitching details.
And finally, Ilenee, also with a 1 inch heel and a precious tassel.  This one looks just a little dressier than the other two, but I like that it has the lower heel (although, is it just me, or does it look like it's higher than the Stables heel?).

So, help a girl out, I'm in love with them all, but the budget just doesn't support three nearly identical black booties at the moment!

Who's the fairest shoe of them all?
	STABLES
	NEENA
	ILENEE
pollcode.com free polls

Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On

Well, as of midnight last night, I had no idea if I would be preparing to write my 35 week update or a birth story today.  We had yet another exciting, contraction-filled evening, this time worrying us enough to end up in a late night/early morning visit to Labor & Delivery.

I've been noticing more and more contractions over the past week.  Some come with a menstrual cramp-like feeling, some are just the painless Braxton-Hicks.  I didn't think too much of it until last night when a couple of them took my breath away.  They started getting more frequent while we were all sitting down watching our back-log of Hulu shows, and I finally decided to start keeping track around 10:30.  Between 10:30 and 11:30, I'd had seven contractions--some with the crampy feeling, some not.  But we decided to call L&D and see what they recommended since my doctor had told me to come in if I had more than six in an hour.
Unfortunately, when I called, the nurse on the phone told me that he couldn't triage over the phone, but if I felt concerned enough to call in, he'd recommend I go ahead and come in for a check up.  At this point, it was close to midnight, and I hemmed and hawed over whether everyone needed to get loaded into the car for what was probably nothing.  But Colby was pretty adamant that he was in favor of going in, so I went to wake my mom and let her know that the baby bus might be leaving soon if she'd like to get on board.  I had packed most of my hospital bag last weekend after Scare #1, so I just had a few last minute things to round up and throw in, and by 12:05 we were on our way to the hospital.

We made it through the gates after a short stop for a random vehicle inspection (of course!) and got settled into one of the labor rooms.  They strapped on two monitors to keep track of the babies' heartrates and another one to measure my contractions.  It was simultaneously fascinating and wearing to watch the monitor over the next 30 minutes.  Every time I had a contraction, we could watch it climb to the peak and then fall again, and there was a definite difference on the screen between the painful and painless ones.  I also got anxious every time one of the girls' heartrates would suddenly drop off, though it was just due to their movement.  I can't imagine laying in that incredibly uncomfortable bed with the itchy straps on my stomach for hours on end, listening to and obsessing over all of the monitoring.  Ugh.

After my 20 minutes of monitoring, they on-call doctor came in to do a quick ultrasound and cervical check.  One of the girls is head down or "vertex" still, but the other one has flipped back up to transverse after being head down at my last two ultrasounds.  This led to a short conversation that has me very worried that I'll end up with a C-section if transverse baby (we're pretty sure it's Annabelle, although he didn't refer to either one as Baby A or Baby B during his check) doesn't flip back down for go time.

He did tell me that I'm 2-3 centimeters dilated, 50% effaced and that the vertex baby is already at a -1 station.  She was so low, he couldn't find her head on the ultrasound monitor.  In case that is all gibberish to you, which it would have been to me a few months ago, 2-3 cm is how wide my cervix has opened--a woman who's ready to push out a baby will be 10 cm.  50% effaced refers to the thinning of my cervix as the baby begins to drop and essentially stretches out the muscle.  And the stations are just markers for where baby is positioned in relation to the pelvis.  It's measured from -5 to +5.  A 0-5 station is a baby whose head is engaged in the pelvis and +5 is when the baby is crowning.

So, while I've known lots of girls who stayed 2-3 centimeters dilated for days or weeks on end, the combination of factors seemed to make my doctor think that things were definitely brewing.  He sent us back home and told me that I could continue with normal activity as I felt comfortable, but said that he'd expect things to progress over the next couple of days.  I woke up through the night with a couple of contractions, and have had plenty of Braxton-Hicks this morning, but so far nothing that's making me overly anxious for the short-term.
We're heading out to run some errands today, and I'm planning to get the nursery as organized as possible this afternoon, but hopefully they'll give us a little more time to get ready, and themselves a little more time to develop.  I have two Non-Stress Tests this week, one on Tuesday and one on Friday, and I have my next growth scan with my MFM on Wednesday, so we'll see how far we make it!

The Final Hurrah

As I mentioned in my previous post, this past weekend one of my very sweet friends hosted a beautiful shower for me.  It was a very special day as my mom was able to attend and meet many of my new friends, and we all got to take part in a fun crafting activity while we ate and gabbed!
The hostess had the very creative idea of inviting a local artist over to lead us in cutting, gluing and painting to make absolutely precious wooden blocks for Charlotte and Annabelle.  Each block has one of the letters from the girls' names, a picture from a German children's dictionary that represents each letter, a number with the spelling in German and English, and brightly decorated sides featuring flowers, birds and butterflies.  They are so stunningly beautiful, and extra special because they were handmade by my sweet friends.  I'm going to have a very tough time allowing the girls to touch the blocks, let alone play with them!  It'll have to be highly supervised play, I think.

I was thrilled to receive a large number of items that I'd been panicking about not having already on hand when I thought there was a chance I might be going into labor the night before.  There was the perfect balance of fun, adorable gifts and practical items that we really need.  From diapers, wipes and snot-suckers, to precious sweater dresses, tights and little booties, I felt so spoiled and lucky to have such a generous group of girls who seem almost as excited about the girls as we are!
I think that'll probably be it for me as far as big outings go.  Just getting dressed was absolutely exhausting, and by the time I got home and into my comfy laying-around-the-house clothes, I had horribly swollen legs and feet and my blood pressure seemed really high.  I have a feeling that if I actually make it to my induction, these last couple of weeks are going to be preeeeetty ugly.  But I'll save the moaning about that for another blog post, and instead end this one with a cute picture of me and my pretty momsie!

The Storm Before the Storm

Well, we certainly had an eventful weekend around here.  We spent Saturday afternoon running around trying to find a replacement for my mom's computer that had decided to die on her a few days ago.  In a frustrating turn of events, a few months ago, a new regulation was put in place that lithium batteries can no longer be shipped to APO (overseas American military) addresses.  And pretty much EVERYTHING electronic has a lithium battery.  That means that we are basically restricted to what we can find in a store on base or on the economy.  Unfortunately, unless you want an iPad, there are about four options for tablet computers in the stores, and as hard as it is for me to accept, my parents just aren't Apple people.

Just as we were giving up hope, I remembered my old standby--German Amazon.  I did a quick search and lo and behold, they had the tablet she wanted and the docking station in stock--unfortunately, for a lot more than most American stores thanks to the exchange rate, but we aren't in much of a bargaining position.  So, we made the order and all was well.

Except, all day I'd been feeling a little off.  Achy.  Tired.  Crampy.  Lots of Braxton Hicks.  So, when we got home, I put my feet up and tried to relax for the rest of the evening.  Then, just as I was getting ready to go to bed, I felt something new.  An intense cramping feeling low in my stomach combined with the feeling of my uterus tightening up.  I brushed it off, but about 15 minutes later, the same thing happened.  So, I hesitantly told Colby that I miiiiight be having real contractions.  Over the next 3 hours, the contractions continued, some with the achy, cramping feeling, and others that didn't hurt.  I went into panic mode around midnight and decided that we needed to do ALL OF THE LAUNDRY so that I could pack my hospital bag.

At 2:30, Colby convinced me to go to bed, and I was woken up twice with the painful contractions, but I had my last one around 4:30 in the morning on Sunday.  Since then, I've had a fair amount of Braxton Hicks, but fortunately, nothing painful.  It did light a fire under me to start knocking out those final "to-dos" on my Get This Done Before Babies list, but it seems like for now, the ladies are pretty content staying inside for a bit longer.

Happily, this also meant that I was able to attend my shower on Sunday where I had a great time eating yummy snacks, doing a fun craft and opening prezzies!  Last night, I made a massive Amazon and BabiesRUs order, using up all of my gift cards, and at this point, everything that we're going to "need" when the babies arrive is either in the house or on its way.  So, I'll feel a lot better once everything arrives, but I feel good knowing that at least we know we'll be getting it shortly.  

And in the meantime, I'll just keep reminding Charlotte and Annabelle that they are much more comfy and cozy swimming around in amniotic fluid than they will be out in this big, crazy world.  No need to make an entrance too soon!

An American in Deutschland: Mario Kart

Now that I've been driving in Germany for almost five months (FIVE MONTHS?!?), I feel very comfortable on the roads.  Dare I say it, I even prefer driving here to in the States.  But when we first arrived, I was nearly petrified with fear at the thought of winding my way through the tiny German villages or contending with the autobahn.  The only experience I had was from our vacation here last summer when we rented a hamster-powered Citroen C1, and spent almost all of our time in the right lane going about 50 mph.  I drove on the autobahn once during that trip, and it was stressful enough that I spent the rest of the time cowering in the passenger seat.

So, yes, driving is a very different animal here, but now that I feel more comfortable with the rules of the road AND have a car that will accelerate above 60 mph, I really quite like it!  I think there are a lot of misconceptions about German driving--I still hear them even over here.  That German drivers are crazy on the road, speed constantly, and are generally unsafe.  But let me tell you, since moving here, I have seen one--that's right, ONE--accident on the autobahn.  I've yet to see an accident on any of the village roads.  That's not to say they don't happen, and my evidence is purely anecdotal, but so far my experiences have led me to believe that driving is a safer endeavor here than many other places.

My favorite thing is that they actually enforce rules about not cruising in the left lane, leaving it open for passing, and slower vehicles keeping right, making the flow of traffic much better.  Rarely has it happened that I'll be stuck behind a slow truck in the right lane, but unable to pass because Grandpa Schmidt is out for a Sunday drive in the left lane.  I have seen people cruising on the left, but it's almost always Americans--shame, shame!

(Sign we spotted in a parking garage in Kaiserslautern--I'm not sure if I should feel priveleged or segregated!)

Also, the vast majority of the autobahn is not the racing speedway free-for-all that I imagined.  Most of the autobahn does have a speed limit--typically between 100 and 130 kph (~60-80 mph) which is frequently enforced with speed cameras.  Even in the unrestricted sections, it's recommended that drivers not exceed 130 kph, and if an accident occurs, regardless of who is at fault, if it can be proven that one of the drivers was exceeding 130 kph, they are held liable.  Of course, we see plenty of cars flying by MUCH faster than 130 kph.  The fastest Colby and I have ever gone is in the neighborhood of 150 kph (~90 mph), and even then we've been passed like we were standing still.

Then there is the complete opposite experience of driving through the village roads.  Obviously, the villages have been in place for years and years--long before the invention of the automobile and the need for paved roads.  So, like in many old towns, the roads were just put down wherever there was a path.  This leads to very narrow two way roads, which in many cases cut down to one lane where a house or shop bumps out into the street.  On top of that, parking lots are few and far between, so most of the time, people are parked on the road.  When you come to a long line of cars parked in your lane and are faced with oncoming vehicles, you just have to pull over behind the parked cars and wait for the oncoming cars to pass.  It is absolutely crucial to be paying attention when you're behind the wheel here--not that it isn't in other places--but if you zone out for a second while you're driving, there's a very good chance you'll end up inside someone's car hood.

But the rule that really wigged me out the most, was the one about priority roads and cars coming from the right in unmarked intersections having the right of way.  So, as long as you're on a priority road (marked by a white sign with a yellow diamond), you're pretty gravy baby.  You don't have to worry about other cars too much.  But if you aren't on a priority road and you get to an intersection without any sort of yield or stop sign, you'd still better slow your roll and check for vehicles coming from the right, or you're going to end up in a nasty T-bone incident.

We've taken to joking that driving here is like playing Mario Kart--you're constantly weaving around obstacles and vehicles, zooming down autobahn straitaways and nearly being spun around by how fast another driver passes you.  It's a very intense experience, but I've really grown to love it, though I do still get nervous driving Colby's Honda Pilot down some of those narrow roads.  But I'm already dreading our return to the US interstate system where trucks fly down the road at a bazillion miles per hour and Myrtle the Turtle pokes along in the left lane for 100 miles!

33 1/2 Weeks

Y'all.  I am seriously sucking at blogging regularly lately.  I can't even say that I've been going out and doing such exciting things.  Colby has been gone for a week now, and my mom and I have been working like crazy on the nursery.  Really, I have to blame nesting for my extended absences.  I feel like the only time I sit down is when we eat and when we crash in front of our television shows for the evening.

But panic has well and truly set in because one month from today is the LATEST that the little ladies will arrive.  ONE MONTH!!!!!  And I still have nothing hung on the walls in the nursery, no hospital bag packed, I haven't even begun to think about a birth plan (Have babies.  Can that be my plan?), I only have one package of diapers and I still have a pile of books to read that I'm CERTAIN will teach me all I need to know about taking care of two babies (ha) (HAHA).
As absolutely not ready as I am to bring these babies home yet (We haven't even decided where we want them to sleep!), I AM ready for them to get the heck out of my uterus.  The last two weeks have been rough.  And I don't foresee it getting any easier over the next month.  My pelvis is so sore--I constantly feel like I've just gotten off a horse after a looooong trail ride.  My hips ache.  My feet and legs are almost always swollen.  I get winded and exhausted after the slightest exertion--just taking a shower and getting dressed wipes me out.  My stomach feels so heavy and Charlotte is just bouncing along on my cervix while Annabelle kicks me in the ribs.

That said, I honestly thought I would be a lot worse off at almost 34 weeks pregnant.  I'm still mobile, I've been sleeping a little better than I was a few weeks ago (probably due to sheer exhaustion from all the NESTING) (and a shoutout to my new best friend Tylenol PM), no gestational diabetes, no signs of preterm labor or preeclampsia.  I really do feel incredibly lucky.  I know an awful lot of singleton moms who've had far more difficult pregnancies than mine has been, so I do feel a little bratty complaining about the normal aches and pains that come with the territory.
I had my 32 week appointment last week and it went very well. My mom came with me, and it was nice to be able to introduce her to my doctor and ultrasound tech. The girls were both head down (HOORAY!!!!!), and are getting so big! Annabelle was 4 pounds 13 ounces, and we could see her hair wafting in the amniotic fluid and little fat rolls along her sides! Charlotte was just slightly smaller at 4 pounds 6 ounces, and she's so ready to come bursting into the world that they had trouble checking my cervix because she was right on top of it and not budging. Both of their heartbeats were a bit fast at the beginning--in the low 170s/high 160s range--but they slowed down toward the end, so the u/s tech thought they were probably just annoyed at being woken up by the jabby ultrasound wand!

I think I forgot to mention in my last update, but Annabelle's placenta has a small cyst on it which evidently could be a problem if it were bigger, but it's quite small and hadn't grown between appointments, so no one seemed very concerned. Unfortunately, once more, no good pictures. Both girls kept facing toward my back and didn't seem too interested in performing for us. We'll just all get to be surprised when we see them for the first time!
My next appointment is on the 19th with a regular OB as opposed to the high risk doctor I've been seeing. They want me to meet another doctor since there's always the possiblity that mine won't be able to be there for my delivery, and we'll just be doing a quick check up instead of the hour to hour and a half long growth scan. Then, assuming the babies are still in utero, we'll go in the next week for another growth scan and do a Non-stress Test. I think that's also when we'll officially schedule the induction, though my doctor told me it would probably be some time between November 5-7th since that's when he'll be available.

So, that's about all the news that's fit to print this go round. I can't believe I'm staring down the barrel of labor and delivery already. I feel like I was just writing my big announcement post, and here we are, all these months later, gone by in the blink of an eye.

Fall Has... Fallen?

I cannot wrap my head around the fact that today is the first day of October.  It is officially fall.  One of my all time favorite seasons, made all the more special by the fact that it is the season in which MY BABIES WILL ARRIVE!!!  It's so unbelievable.  And so wonderful.  And so terrifying...

Last week was pretty hectic with trying to get the house in decent shape for my mom's arrival.  I've gotten to the point where just running the vacuum cleaner on one floor just about does me in, so I've been majorly slacking in the "cleaning house" department.  I've got to get serious about finding a cleaning lady.  I try to keep up with the dog hair tumble weeds, run a dust rag around every week or so, and wipe the bathrooms down with a Lysol wipe when they start getting scary, but this place definitely needs a deep clean before I bring the girls home.  But happily, my mom made it in safe and sound and is firmly ensconced in the basement.  We're not going to let her leave for a very long time... and I promise the basement is actually very nice!

The first couple of days she was here were pretty yuck, but fortunately the sun decided to grace us with its presence starting over the weekend, and we've had some beautiful days since.  Friday, we had some friends over for dinner.  Then on Saturday we enjoyed the beautiful, crisp weather at the Gartenschau Pumpkin Festival in Kaiserslautern.  We walked around the park, admiring the award winning pumpkins, beautiful flowers, pumpkin sculptures and, of course, the food!  I had to try the pumpkin soup, and my mom and Colby each had a wurst and there was flammkuchen for all.

The theme was "Under the Sea" and all of the sculptures were made out of a vast assortment of pumpkins and gourds, with accents of rocks, wood and wicker.  At one point, while we were walking around I was "accused" of trying to smuggle a pumpkin out under my shirt... oh, people are just hilarious!

Sunday was more of a bummer, as we had to drop Colby off at the base to leave for an eleven day trip.  We're very happy that due to some scheduling changes, he won't be gone a full two weeks like we'd originally thought, but I'm still not thrilled about him leaving so late in the pregnancy.  I'm sure there's still plenty of time before there are any signs of imminent arrival, but he installed the carseats before he left, and we've been giving my mom driving lessons, just in case we need to head to the hospital before he gets back home.  But hopefully they'll stay in there baking for a few more weeks!