24 weeks and still counting
I am currently 24 weeks 4 days pregnant with these twins. Needless to say, this pregnancy is vastly different than my other two. I am tired all the time. I usually nap at least once a day, those of you that know me well, know that I don't usually nap...but I have to rest. My stomach is so squished that I don't really want to eat all that much....occasionally, I get really hungry, but most of the time I eat because I know that the babies and I need all the nutrients we can get. I'm not sleeping well. I probably get up at least 5 times a night to go to the bathroom. Its really hard to get any good sleep that way. That's probably the reason that I nap during the day! I have restless leg syndrome due to pregnancy. For some women this is a symptom. Crazy, I know. I just want to move my legs all the time. If I have been sitting or laying down for too long I feel like I'm going to go crazy if I don't move them. I have found that not taking my allergy medication (which can cause pregnant women to have symptoms of RLS) and walking around the house before bed helps my legs. I am getting leg and foot cramps at night. Again, walking around helps. But between the leg cramps and peeing all the time, I feel like I'm up half the night.
BUT, while this pregnancy is completely different, I wouldn't change a darn thing. I love the fact that these babies are moving all the time. I love that I'm having two babies, even though it's going to be hard until we get some sort of routine down. And I love that I get to see these babies via ultrasound every two weeks. I feel blessed that I get to see them on the big screen, moving around and showing their stuff.
Today, we had our 24 week OB appointment and ultrasound. Once again I had to have a full bladder (I think that this is so the picture comes out clearer, I don't know for sure) and once again, I had to wait past my appointment time for my ultrasound. Do they not know that I am pregnant with twins? Do they not know that I have two babies sitting on my bladder, kicking me in the bladder and just making it painful to stand up because all the weight shifts towards my bladder? Anyway, at least this time it was only about 10 minutes instead of 30 like it was the last time.
We head back to ultrasound room (by the way, I'm sure that I've mentioned this before, but this is the same exact room where it was confirmed that Violet was no longer living....we got to see her motionless body on the big screen.....this is where we sobbed and our worlds fell completely apart....it's bittersweet to go back to this room because I know that these babies are still living, but it always makes me think of the photo of my dead baby girl and I don't know if I should be happy that I am getting to see these living beings or sad because I don't have Violet with me anymore....it's all confusing). After laying on the table and exposing my extra large tummy, the tech squirts the warm goo on my stomach, which makes both babies dance around. The first thing she does is show me each baby and their beating hearts. I don't know if she normally does this or if its just because she knows that I lost my baby at 26 1/2 weeks. I don't really care why she does it, it always makes me feel better. Even though I feel both of them moving and kicking, once I see the beating hearts, my mind is put at ease. By the way, these ultrasounds have gotten a lot easier to go to since I've started feeling the babies move. Before I would be ready to puke by this point. I was just so sure that we were going to start the ultrasound and she would not find a beating heart on one or both of the babies.
We always start off checking out Baby A's body parts. It's confirmed, ONCE AGAIN, that Baby A is a female. The tech takes all sorts of measurements and photos of Baby A. Everything is measuring right on track. Baby A measures at 24 weeks 3 days (according to my LMP (look it up if you don't know...I'm not explaining it) I am 24 weeks 4 days. So we are on track. Baby A weighs in at 1lb 9oz. What a champ! All the organs looks great. We were able to hear her heartbeat. Nice and strong, about 140 BPM. Baby A is head down still, which is where she needs to be later on in pregnancy, but if she stays that way, I'm fine with that. Baby A gets an A+ for today's check up.
On to Baby B. It was also confirmed that Baby B is a girl. Baby B is measuring at 24 weeks 2 days, again on target. Baby B also weighs in at 1lb 9oz. Most likely, as the pregnancy goes on, the babies will not weigh the same, but for now they do. All of Baby B's organs look good. Her heartbeat was also great, about 146 BMP. Baby B is in a breech position, but we'll take what we can get. She's got plenty of time to flip around. In my opinion Baby B also gets an A+, but I'm her mom so maybe I'm biased.
Also, my cervix was checked. If you don't want to hear about my cervix, please move on....there are no signs of preterm labor and it is measuring 4.9. Anything above 3 is good. Now I get an A+ for this visit. So glad that we are all doing our jobs and doing them well.
After my ultrasound, I had to wait to see the nurse practitioner. When the medical assistant took me back, we headed down the dreaded hallway. Then she said you can put your stuff in room 15. Ugh, it was the room where we couldn't find Violet's heartbeat. Don't they know not to put me in this room. No, they don't know. And that's ok. There are just some things that I have to deal with that most people don't even think about being a big deal. And, I just have to get past some of these things in my mind.
The NP came in for our visit and of course she was the same NP that I saw the day Violet died....the day that I was just coming in to hear the heartbeat to "ease my mind." Then she said to me, "I know that I've seen you before, but let me take a look at your history to refresh my memory." Well.....she looked at my history and then said, "Oh you lost a baby in October. OH, that's why I know who you are!" I didn't want say, "um yeah, you're the one who told me my baby was dead." So, we talked about that a little bit and she got caught up on everything. Then she took my belly measurement and made a comment about me measuring really big. I was thinking, "I get it, I'm huge right now." Then she looks at my chart again and says, "Oh! You're having twins." Hmmmm, didn't she look that over before she saw me? Guess not. Oh well, it was still a good visit and we got some good looks at our babies and got nothing but good news.
On a side note, Nolan and I were talking about the size of these babies and we were realizing that we've held a baby this small. We know what this small looks like. It will forever be burned into our minds what this size of baby is like to cuddle. Violet weighed 1lb 10oz, just 1 small oz more than her sisters. While we know how small this is for a baby, we also know how big that is to have two babies this size in my womb.
This 24 week visit made me think about my twins and what the future holds for them and our family. But it also made me think so much about Violet. Violet's 24 week appointment was the last OB appointment we had. I'm looking forward to many more OB appointments with these twins and much more good news as this pregnancy progresses.
BUT, while this pregnancy is completely different, I wouldn't change a darn thing. I love the fact that these babies are moving all the time. I love that I'm having two babies, even though it's going to be hard until we get some sort of routine down. And I love that I get to see these babies via ultrasound every two weeks. I feel blessed that I get to see them on the big screen, moving around and showing their stuff.
Today, we had our 24 week OB appointment and ultrasound. Once again I had to have a full bladder (I think that this is so the picture comes out clearer, I don't know for sure) and once again, I had to wait past my appointment time for my ultrasound. Do they not know that I am pregnant with twins? Do they not know that I have two babies sitting on my bladder, kicking me in the bladder and just making it painful to stand up because all the weight shifts towards my bladder? Anyway, at least this time it was only about 10 minutes instead of 30 like it was the last time.
We head back to ultrasound room (by the way, I'm sure that I've mentioned this before, but this is the same exact room where it was confirmed that Violet was no longer living....we got to see her motionless body on the big screen.....this is where we sobbed and our worlds fell completely apart....it's bittersweet to go back to this room because I know that these babies are still living, but it always makes me think of the photo of my dead baby girl and I don't know if I should be happy that I am getting to see these living beings or sad because I don't have Violet with me anymore....it's all confusing). After laying on the table and exposing my extra large tummy, the tech squirts the warm goo on my stomach, which makes both babies dance around. The first thing she does is show me each baby and their beating hearts. I don't know if she normally does this or if its just because she knows that I lost my baby at 26 1/2 weeks. I don't really care why she does it, it always makes me feel better. Even though I feel both of them moving and kicking, once I see the beating hearts, my mind is put at ease. By the way, these ultrasounds have gotten a lot easier to go to since I've started feeling the babies move. Before I would be ready to puke by this point. I was just so sure that we were going to start the ultrasound and she would not find a beating heart on one or both of the babies.
We always start off checking out Baby A's body parts. It's confirmed, ONCE AGAIN, that Baby A is a female. The tech takes all sorts of measurements and photos of Baby A. Everything is measuring right on track. Baby A measures at 24 weeks 3 days (according to my LMP (look it up if you don't know...I'm not explaining it) I am 24 weeks 4 days. So we are on track. Baby A weighs in at 1lb 9oz. What a champ! All the organs looks great. We were able to hear her heartbeat. Nice and strong, about 140 BPM. Baby A is head down still, which is where she needs to be later on in pregnancy, but if she stays that way, I'm fine with that. Baby A gets an A+ for today's check up.
On to Baby B. It was also confirmed that Baby B is a girl. Baby B is measuring at 24 weeks 2 days, again on target. Baby B also weighs in at 1lb 9oz. Most likely, as the pregnancy goes on, the babies will not weigh the same, but for now they do. All of Baby B's organs look good. Her heartbeat was also great, about 146 BMP. Baby B is in a breech position, but we'll take what we can get. She's got plenty of time to flip around. In my opinion Baby B also gets an A+, but I'm her mom so maybe I'm biased.
Also, my cervix was checked. If you don't want to hear about my cervix, please move on....there are no signs of preterm labor and it is measuring 4.9. Anything above 3 is good. Now I get an A+ for this visit. So glad that we are all doing our jobs and doing them well.
After my ultrasound, I had to wait to see the nurse practitioner. When the medical assistant took me back, we headed down the dreaded hallway. Then she said you can put your stuff in room 15. Ugh, it was the room where we couldn't find Violet's heartbeat. Don't they know not to put me in this room. No, they don't know. And that's ok. There are just some things that I have to deal with that most people don't even think about being a big deal. And, I just have to get past some of these things in my mind.
The NP came in for our visit and of course she was the same NP that I saw the day Violet died....the day that I was just coming in to hear the heartbeat to "ease my mind." Then she said to me, "I know that I've seen you before, but let me take a look at your history to refresh my memory." Well.....she looked at my history and then said, "Oh you lost a baby in October. OH, that's why I know who you are!" I didn't want say, "um yeah, you're the one who told me my baby was dead." So, we talked about that a little bit and she got caught up on everything. Then she took my belly measurement and made a comment about me measuring really big. I was thinking, "I get it, I'm huge right now." Then she looks at my chart again and says, "Oh! You're having twins." Hmmmm, didn't she look that over before she saw me? Guess not. Oh well, it was still a good visit and we got some good looks at our babies and got nothing but good news.
On a side note, Nolan and I were talking about the size of these babies and we were realizing that we've held a baby this small. We know what this small looks like. It will forever be burned into our minds what this size of baby is like to cuddle. Violet weighed 1lb 10oz, just 1 small oz more than her sisters. While we know how small this is for a baby, we also know how big that is to have two babies this size in my womb.
This 24 week visit made me think about my twins and what the future holds for them and our family. But it also made me think so much about Violet. Violet's 24 week appointment was the last OB appointment we had. I'm looking forward to many more OB appointments with these twins and much more good news as this pregnancy progresses.
I am so looking forward to meeting these sweet girls!
ReplyDeleteme too Katherine!
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