Category Archives: Thoughts on Twin Pregnancy

Alternate Title: TOMORROW! TOMORROW! TOMORROW!

That is if the hurricane doesn’t knock out power and down trees.  I’d like to believe that we are safe this far (what, like 800 miles) inland, but the news tends to disagree.  If it does get bad enough to cancel though, I suppose my measly anatomy scan is small bones compares to whatever else happens as a result of the storm.

Anyway!

We are finishing 18 weeks! I can tell that my uterus has moved up out of my pelvis.  The baby kicks are both high and low.  They are really stretching out inside of there.  And it’s weird, because sometimes it seems like they are right on top of each other, and other times they are in opposite corners.  It’s nice though to feel them consistently, and know without a doubt that they are there.
I’m waiting to start feeling them on the outside any time now.

The hernia pain is not constant, thank God, but if I am on my feet for too long, or I lift anything with both of my arms in front of me, it gets out of control and takes hours of rest before I feel better. I try to take it easy, but also, there are so many things that need to be done…it’s hard.  I’m trying.

My heartburn is another story.  I’m getting full on reflux when I’m just sitting around, whereas it usually only bothers me when I’m lying down.  I’m trying a switch to Prevacid to see if it helps.

Hannah won’t sit on my lap anymore because my big belly bothers her.

I am having ridiculous dreams. Dreams that make no sense at all.  Friday night, I dreamed that somehow, we took the babies out at their current size.  We were keeping them in my oval corningware dish, in the microwave, until they were full term.  I don’t even know what to say about that.  It was creepy to say the least.

My mother has decided to throw me a shower, which I think is just dandy.  I feel weird about registering for anything though, because it’s not like it’s my first baby.  And while I gave a lot of things away, I also sold and made good money off a lot of my baby gear.  I don’t want people to feel obligated to buy me big stuff, you know?  So, I do have an Amazon registry, which is really more of a running list for me, and I figure that if someone asks my mom about buying something big, she can direct them there.  Otherwise, I will be happy to celebrate with my family and moon over tiny matching baby clothes.

So anyway…TOMORROW! Can’t come soon enough!

It’s not a secret that I have struggled over the last 18 weeks to eat in general, and eat good things for that matter.  I didn’t really have the healthiest eating habits before I got pregnant to begin with.  I am one of those lucky broads who despite being overweight, has perfect cholesterol, triglycerides, sugar and blood pressure, and I generally eat more junk than I should.  I was also in a pretty good exercise regime before pregnancy (God, I miss Zumba), and put on quite a bit of muscle while losing almost 20 pounds over the course of about a year.

This all being said, I have never had a problem gaining weight in my adult life.  I gained 60lbs in the course of a year in my early 20’s while my thyroid issues went undiagnosed, and even once treated, I had to work my buns off just not to gain weight, much less lose it.  The first trimester of this pregnancy was a lot different than any I’d previously experienced though.  My nausea was out of control.  Even when I started taking Unisom, and it gradually got better, food just didn’t taste good to me.  I was completely uninterested in eating much of anything.  I did force myself to eat for the sake of the babies, but by the time my first trimester ended, I had lost 8lbs–and this was after consisting of mostly Little Debbie Swiss Cake Rolls for at least 2 weeks.

Second trimester hunger hit with a vengeance, but I’ve still struggled with food tasting good.  By now in all of my other pregnancies I was completely overcome with cravings.  Twinkies and root beer, strawberry frappucinos, and onions, for the record. This time though, aside from a few inklings for french fries and vinegar, I have nothing.  I guess I’m lucky that I don’t really have any aversions this time though too.  With Eddie, I could not eat anything that had tomatoes in it, and with the girls I couldn’t handle meat of any kind.  I’ve noticed that bacon tastes like ass recently, and while this is disappointing, it’s not a major disruption in my diet.  What I’m saying is that I can basically eat anything, it’s just that I don’t want to.

When I went in for my 16 week checkup, I had put 3lbs back on, so at least I am making some progress.  Since then, I’ve really been paying attention to what I’m eating.  I don’t think that I will have as much trouble with growing decent sized babies as other twin moms do because I’ve had 3 larger than average babies and my inner lady bits have been stretched beyond oblivion before.  I’m confident they will have room to grow; however, I don’t want to take too many chances, and I’d really like to put some more weight on sooner rather than later.

Of course, I don’t drink milk because I had a childhood allergy and never developed a taste for it, and I can’t eat eggs because they make me sick (unless they are baked in to things), so 2 easy ways to get dairy and protein are out the window. What has been working is some yogurt with fruit and granola in between breakfast and lunch, and drinking a carnation instant breakfast before bed.  Even though I am more of a lunch snacker, I’ve been making sure to eat an actual midday meal. I still need to do more, but these little extras are making me feel a lot better about getting some of the extra nutrients I need.  I’m also taking my prenatal vitamin, a vitamin D supplement, a calcium/zinc/magnesium supplement, extra folic acid, and fish oil, and trying to drink a crap ton of water.

I think I am on the right track here, even though it’s slow going.  I’m the type of person who lacks diligence when it comes to following a food plan, so keeping these babies in mind at all times is the only thing that is getting me through.  I’m used to 9 and 10 pound babies, but I am realistic that these 2 will be smaller.  I’m just hoping for the 7lb variety as opposed to the 4 and 5lb variety of small.  I guess we will see.

Snacks, ahoy!

It freaks me out more than a little bit that next week, at 18 weeks, I could technically be halfway done with this pregnancy.  Can you even imagine? Babies here! In my house! 18 weeks from now! hopefully they’ll stay put a bit longer than that.

In other random thought patterns, I’ve been thinking about how I am going to feel to know without a doubt that there will be no more babies for us.  I know it now, but with these actual babies on the horizon, and the fact that I have absolutely no desire to EVER be pregnant again, I legitimately don’t care.  But once they are here, to know for sure that our family is complete–something I have never known before…I just wonder how weird that will be.

I got a letter from my insurance company on Saturday saying that after 12/31, my OB is no longer participating with my insurance plan. I can be grandfathered in due to the pregnancy it would seem by just filling out some paperwork, but I’m torn.  It might be a pain in the ass to switch, but I haven’t been overly thrilled with my level of care this time around.  It’s clear they are spread too thin as a practice.  Maybe I should switch.  Maybe I should find someone more specialized in twin pregnancy.  And, I don’t know why this has bothered me since in my previous pregnancies, I saw midwives and rarely an OB, but I’ve only seen the NP for my entire pregnancy so far.  I sort of feel like maybe I need some more attention.  Anyway, I will see my old OB next week at the hospital, and I’m going to ask for her thoughts and recommendations.

And speaking of next week, we will finally (FINALLY!) have our big ultrasound and know what kind of babies we are having.  I’m beyond excited.  I still have strong girl/girl feelings but it seems that the majority of people I know, Hannie included, think boy/girl.  I can’t wait to know for sure so we can do some real planning.  We still need to figure out our remodeling plan, so knowing what the family dynamic will be is sort of important.

I had my first experience of overdoing it this weekend.  I carried some boxes and bins I shouldn’t have on Friday, and then worked the whole night at our Fall Festival.  I came home and was in excruciating pain.  The same was true on Saturday, where I took it much easier, though did walk around for a bit at an expo where Ed had a booth.  It would seem that my umbilical hernia, that has never bothered me before, is being quite bothered as things stretch up past my belly button.  It only feels ok when I super take it easy, otherwise it throbs.  coupled with BH contractions, it is not at all fun.  Because of it all, I stayed home while Ed and the kids went to the pumpkin patch with cousins yesterday.  I felt kind of guilty missing out, but I really just needed the day to recuperate.

Finally, I wore my skeleton shirt on Friday night and got MANY compliments.  It was fun–I am usually a bit more reserved, so it was weird being on display, but I really like the shirt, and all the kids at school got a kick out of it.  I made Cait take my picture before we left for the evening.

I started writing these weekly updates when I realized there was nothing, and I mean nothing in the way of blogs out there related to twin parenting.  I’m realizing that nothing I’m writing would be particularly helpful to anyone, so, FAIL. But it is a nice record for me, so there’s that.

My 4-month appointment last Thursday was interesting to say the least.  There was much talking about hip pain and forgetfulness and flu and pertussis vaccines.  I got the flu shot, scheduled the pertussis for my next appointment, was assured that I do not have early alzheimers, and got a prescription for  a belly brace to alleviate the hip pain.  Then she started to listen for the heartbeats.

Baby B was cooperative.  She found the healthy heartbeat immediately, and it stayed strong for as long as she kept the doppler on my right side.  Baby A proved to be…difficult.  She kept catching a trace of the heartbeat, and then it would move.  She couldn’t tell if she was still hearing Baby B, or if this was definitely Baby A.  Every time she pressed on my belly, A pressed back.  We could hear the wiley little thing wiggling in there.  Finally, in an odd angle under my left hip, we got a good and solid read on Baby A.  I wasn’t nervous because I could feel the movement, and feel it pressing on the doppler.  The dr. was on a mission though, I am telling you.

She was less concerned than I would have imagined over my weight gain, or lack there of.  I did put on 3lbs since my last appointment, but am still under my pre-pregnancy weight.  She thinks the babies are just fine.  I am eating around the clock it seems though, and I think I should be gaining more.  I guess at this point, I’m hoping the extra weight I was carrying anyway will be enough.

I spent way too much time on Friday going to medical supply stores to find my brace.  One place had it, and said they accepted my insurance.  When I got there, they did not.  The next place said they had it, but they actually had a different one that alleviates vag pressure and not hip pressure, so they sent me to another store.  This place had it and accepted my insurance, but my entire insurance company was in a meeting, apparently, and she couldn’t get through.  She ended up letting me take the brace, and called me that evening after finally getting through to my insurance company.  They covered 80%, so I only had to pay $14 for the illustrious Prenatal Cradle. And it works! It makes my hips feel a whole ton better, though when I completely threw my hip out on Sunday, it was no help at all.   That’s ok though.  It got me through apple picking over the weekend, and I’m sure it will be helpful as I accompany 60 2nd graders to the pumpkin farm tomorrow.

Ed and I are back on the Melissa discussion, not that we know if either of the babies is a lady baby.  Yesterday, he finally said what I knew he’d been thinking–Melissa is the name of his dead sister (she died at birth when he was little), and he wants to use the name to honor his (both deceased) parents. I don’t think I feel strongly enough against the name to compete with that reasoning, though we did have quite a debate about it last night.  I was surprised to find that he thinks that I was the one who named the girls–I did suggest each of their names, but he was fully on board.  I consider that naming together.  And we each chose one of the girls’ middle names.  So anyway, he is on the “I name one baby and you name one baby” train, and I just don’t really know if I care anymore.  Maybe I should just find an acceptable and somewhat current nickname for Melissa, and be done with it.

In any case, we will have the big reveal and know what the babies are 2 weeks from today, and as much as I really feel at this point like they are both girls, I’m going to try and not think about names at least until then. (Ha.  Hahahahaaa.)

This was supposed to post yesterday, when I was still 15 weeks, instead of today when I am 16 weeks.  WordPress was being a turd though, so here it is today.

I think I’ve finally gotten that pregnancy glow.  Here are exhibits A and B.

I feel pretty good, is what I’m saying, and I think it shows.  I mean, don’t get me wrong, I have a long list of complaints but I’m trying to be positive.

The babies are very wiggly now, and I can feel them higher up in my belly.  I am hungry 24/7 and nothing really satisfies me, or tastes really good even.  But I am eating, and according to my scale at home, I’ve finally gained 2lbs.  We’ll see what the dr’s scale says on Thursday.

Yes, Thursday.  My 16-week appointment, and the dreaded flu and DTAP shots.  2 kids in Hannah’s school have already had pertussis this year though, so as much as I don’t want it, I’m going to get it.  And I will surely proceed to whine about it later.

I have a whole list of complaints for my doctor which include shortness of breath, hip pain and locking, and extreme forgetfulness.  All things I’m sure she will tell me to just suck up, but I think are worth mentioning anyway. I also want to ask how long I can realistically expect to work and be up and around.  Only because of the sheer girth of the belly already–I just worry that it will be sudden, and I’ll run out of time to do things.

Of course, I will probably forget to ask all of these questions.

We added to our growing arsenal of baby gear and have 2 brand new (matching, obviously) car seats.  I feel really good about having the gear.  Really, we just need a place for them to sleep, and clothes and we will be as set as we are going to be.  I’ve also started research in to cloth diapers, with the help of Marie Green.  This is overwhelming, but so cost effective especially when we are talking about 2 babies and $40 on disposables a week. I’m determined to muddle through.

I believe I have made Ed see the light in the Melissa discussion.  If he gets to have full naming rights of 1 baby, then so do I.  And that means that if it is 2 girls, I get Georgia.  He feels strongly enough against Georgia to give up on Melissa, and so I think he finally gets it.  Although this means that I definitely lose Georgia, it’s still a win.

I think that’s about it for this week.  We’ve made it to 4 months! We’ll know who these babies are in just a few weeks! It is going quite fast.

I can’t believe it! I’ve taken a few pictures over the last week.

The first is a frontal shot of my belly while sitting at my desk, because I couldn’t believe how big it looked.

This is a picture of my very luxurious pregnancy hair.  I washed it, ran a brush through it and let it air dry.  This is just how it looks.

Finally, this  is a full length shot of me from last night.  I have worn and loved these jeans through all of my pregnancies, making them almost 10 years old.  LOVE. I tend to believe that I look better pregnant than not.  I’ve got those babies in there stretching out all of my flab.  I look a bit more than 15 weeks, wouldn’t you say?

Although, this was me with Hannah at 15 weeks…I think I might have been bigger! I still have that shirt; I should try it on for comparison.