You Can Call Me Major Weight Gain

Yesterday was officially 23 weeks, and I had another OB appointment.  The appointment didn't start out great, since I've apparently gained so much weight that the nurse was in disbelief and reweighed me.  She didn't say that, but I could see the surprise on her face when she went to put in the number on the computer and then realized what my starting weight was.  She asked me how many weeks I have left, and I said, "A lot.  I am 23 weeks with twins, so no more than 15."  She seemed less shocked by my weight after that, but my blood pressure didn't recover from the shock quite as quickly.  It wasn't terrible, though.  The doctor didn't express concern about either, luckily.   I asked her about my swelling, since it has started up again as the temps went up this week and I also had company and was outside and on my feet a lot more than normal.  She wasn't super concerned, since elevating my feet tends to relieve it and they were fine when I went in, but she gave me a list of symptoms I should call about right away should they show up.  She also said that it isn't uncommon to see swelling much earlier with twin pregnancies.  Then she measured my fundal height (basically, uterus size), and I was measuring 30 weeks, which she said made the swelling even less surprising.

I have my glucose tolerance test coming up, which I was dreading, because I've had it done at least 4 times before, with two of those times being 3+ hours.   I tend to pass out or become too faint to stand at that point,  since I have reactive hypoglycemia.  No fun at all, and I just don't think that could be good for the babies, either.  I discussed my concerns with her at the last appointment, so at this appointment, she got in touch with the perinatologist and asked if she'd be ok with me doing a regular meal instead of the drink and then testing after an hour as usual.  Since I don't tend to just chug 50g of straight glucose in my every day life, this makes much more sense to me.  The perinatologist was on board, and I am so relieved.  That drink is the devil.

My next appointment will be the fetal echocardiograms with the perinatologist.  I am a little nervous about it, but this is one test I am ok with having them run, since I do want to be prepared if we're going to have a baby that needs surgery right away or something.  I refuse to think about preparing for any outcomes that can't be fixed.  I'm obviously really hoping that we won't have anything to worry about at all, though.

I know 24 weeks isn't a magic number, but I'm feeling relieved to be less than a week away from viability.  I don't know if I'll ever really believe that we are going to be parents to these two babies on earth, but I feel like the closer I get to 24 weeks, the more it seems like a real possibility.  Things have progressed so quickly the last few weeks, and that has helped make it seem more real, too.  I went from not being sure what I was feeling one week, to feeling movement every day the next week, and now only two weeks after that, I'm feeling them and seeing them move from the outside.  It's so weird.  But also a cool reminder that they are alive in there.  I spent the first 18 weeks using my doppler every single week, so scared that we'd lose one or both.  Not because there was any logical concern with this pregnancy, but because it's all I've experienced.  It's so incredibly strange and wonderful every time I see them wiggling on an ultrasound or see my belly move or feel a little hand or foot or elbow jab me.  Soon, it will probably feel like I ate live acrobats, but for now, I am really enjoying it.