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.

Scans, Showers, and Swelling

The past few weeks have gone by so fast!  I have so many updates, and fortunately, most of them are good. First, we had our anatomy scan earlier this month, and everything looked normal.  I was so incredibly relieved.  It also confirmed that we have one little boy and one little girl in there!  I still struggle to believe that these are our babies.  On the way home from that appointment, I told Matt that every time we have an ultrasound, it feels like I'm looking at someone else's babies.  It's just so hard to believe.  He said that seeing them on the anatomy scan was the first time he really thought of them as people.  Our children.   I've started to feel movement multiple times a day, which is reassuring and pretty cool.  I'd felt movement a week or two before the anatomy scan, but I wasn't sure I was actually feeling babies.  It felt like fish flopping around in my belly, so I didn't know what else it would be, but I guess it seemed unreal that I'd actually be feeling them move.

Here are a few pictures from the scan!

Baby B (boy)

Baby A (girl)

We left the day after our anatomy scan to head home to Mississippi for a visit and two baby showers that were thrown for us.  I know it's early for baby showers, but we knew I wouldn't be able to travel for much longer, and our sweet families were excited to throw them for us anyway.  I'm glad we didn't wait!  It was not a very comfortable ride, but it was so worth it to see our families and friends for a couple of weeks before we buckle down and start working on getting the nursery ready.  One unpleasant and unexpected surprise on our trip was that I had major foot and ankle swelling.  I hadn't had that problem until we got to Mississippi, and it made me a little nervous, but I felt find otherwise, and my blood pressure was normal.  So much for wearing my cute little sandals, though!  Now that we're back at our house, my feet are back to normal.  We had a lot of fun despite the swelling, though.  Our showers were so awesome, and I can't believe how lucky we were to have so many people helping with it all and sharing it with us.

Shower #1

                               

Shower #2

Spending our last night at dinner with this beautiful view.

The baby kicks and rolls and punches have become stronger, and Matt got to feel them for the first time.  He said it felt like goldfish in a bag.  Haha!   It's still somewhat subtle, but it's picking up!  I'm starting to feel the nesting phase coming on, which is great, but a tad late for me.  I think a lot of people with singletons feel good at this point in their pregnancies, but I started vomiting and dry heaving again this past week, and my back pain is nothing to mess with.  So, I do a little at a time and feel like I'm not making a dent in anything.  Hopefully once our downstairs is all put back together and we can clear out the room that will become the nursery, it won't feel so overwhelming.

Last week with my swollen legs/feet and looking sweaty and tired at 21 weeks.

And an update for my last post:  I was wondering how my uterus was measuring.  At 18w4d, it was measuring 24.5 weeks.  OB says that's normal, and now I don't feel so bad for being so big.