Countdown: T-minus 94 Days to Julie’s due date
Tanner is big. Tucker is bigger. And Julie is the biggest of all! And all three are healthily getting bigger by the minute. Julie had an ultrasound with a perinatologist to take a closer look at the boys and get some better measurements. Well, everything is going great and… huh, whuh… wait… what’s this Tanner and Tucker stuff?????
My boys have been duly named! Introductions if you please: Baby A is Tanner; Baby B is Tucker. Don’t get them confused, because they already have very distinctive personalities thank you very much. At least that’s what two extremely excited and loving parents think. Here are a few mugshots.
What you can’t see from the pictures is that Tanner (that’s Baby A, in case you’re keeping track) has flipped over and is now “standing” on Tucker’s (Baby B, remember?) head and Mommy’s bladder. Julie thinks Tanner ran a marathon on her bladder the other night which was actually just Tanner getting back at his brother for a couple of months worth of mugging for the ultrasound and hogging space in there. We actually got to see them in action, and Tucker was actively fending off Tanner with his arms. Both are doing wonderfully. The ultrasound yesterday showed they are both growing ahead of schedule. In fact, Tanner (A) is two weeks ahead of normal and Tucker (B) is three weeks ahead. Tucker has been consistently measuring 1 week bigger than Tanner. Right now, Tanner’s weight is estimated at 2 lbs. 7 oz. give or take a few ounces, and Tucker is estimated at 2 lbs. 15 oz give or take. Since Julie is only 26 weeks pregnant, this is fantastic progress. She has gained 28 lbs which is also perfect for a twin pregnancy at this point. The babies should triple in size/weight by her due date (Julie hopes she doesn’t triple!), so we are on track for some big babies, but then again, that was probably a safe bet anyway, right? Big is good news to hear now given the most common complication for multiple pregnancies is early labor and low birth weight. Oh yeah, did I mention Tanner has a full head of spiky hair already, and Tucker has just a little bit of fuzz up there too!? Look here for my predictive last post and you’ll see I still think it’ll pan out to be true especially in light of this new hairy information… Just kidding of course, I’ll be more than happy if, and I hope, they both take after my beautiful wife.
Speaking of my beautiful wife, Julie’s “bed rest” is going as well as could be expected. She gets a little stir crazy but is doing a wonderful job napping and is obviously taking good care of the boys. Julie was worried this week about gestational diabetes because of a family history and the size of the boys. Her doctor tested her for it on Monday and she spent the last few days worried it would be her last chance to eat candy and chocolate… i.e. she ate it all in the last few days (I mean really, I don’t think there’s any more chocolate in the greater Kansas City area!) Well, the test results came back negative after a few days which is really good news because now she can pace herself.
So, what have I been doing?
I’d be lying if I said it was back-breaking work, just not very fun. In fact, I shoveled after two whole snow storms… before getting smart and paying the little neighbor kids to shovel for me. 
More soon,
Love to all,
Roland, Julie, Tanner & Tucker
