24 Weeks pregnant with Twins

We made it to our first mini-goal…viability!  Babies born this early will likely spend at least 3 months in the NICU and a third of them survive with no long term problems.  Don’t get any bright ideas, Beans!  I’m not wishing you out of your luxury apartments at this point.  But should you have to come early, it’s comforting to know that measures will be taken to save your lives.

Next mini-goal, 28 weeks.

   

perwhattoexpect.com

Baby’s Face Is Formed
Your baby is about eight-and-a-half inches long (standard letter size!) and weighs one-and-a-half pounds, gaining steadily at a rate of about six ounces per week. Much of that weight comes from growing organs, bones, muscle and accumulating baby fat. Wondering what (and who) your baby will look like? If you had a baby cam at 24 weeks pregnant, you’d almost be able to tell by now. That beautiful face (though still tiny) is almost fully formed, complete with eyelashes, eyebrows and hair. Is your baby a brunette, a blonde or a redhead? Actually, right now her locks are white since there’s no pigment yet. The fat that will be piled on under baby’s skin is also missing from the picture right now. Until those fat deposits are made, that very tender skin is still very transparent, which means a close look would let you see clear through to all the organs, bones and blood vessels. Fortunately, that see-through look won’t last much longer.

Fetal Hearing
What’s been playing on your little rocker’s stereo system these days? All kinds of sounds can be heard by your baby in your womb: air exhaling from your lungs (deep breath now), those gastric gurgles produced by your stomach and intestines, your voice and your partner’s (which your baby will be able to recognize at birth) and even very loud sounds such as honking horns, barking dogs or a wailing fire truck.

Bump – 24w5d

Here’s what I look like from the inside.

source

And me from the outside.

Bumptastic!

Weight Gain

Not the 24 lbs by 24 weeks that they recommend.  I’m +16 from my pre-pregnancy weight (at home scale).  I’ve never been too hung up with the number on the scale.  I’ve always weighed more than my pants size would indicate.  But I’m seeing numbers that I’ve never seen before and I’ll admit, it’s a bit freaky.  Still, I’m 100% ok with however much I gain…healthy Beans are the only goal right now!

How I’m feeling

Pretty fantastic, overall.  I’m choosing to look at what I don’t have at this point…heartburn, nausea, headaches, back pain…please continue to stay away!

Joint pain is my biggest complaint.  Achy knees and hips.  Mostly knees.  Even when I sleep.  I need to brace myself to stand up and it’s not due to my increasing size.  :(.  Just my dumb knees.

I’m getting some weird pelvic pressure.  Not painful, just heavy.  I’m guessing it’s one or both of the cantaloupes that are sitting low in that region.  I’m going to invest in a support belt and see if that helps.

Food

Feed me.  Feed me RIGHT NOW!  Holy geez…this hunger is crazy.  And it’s a scary kind of hungry that makes me feel really light headed and weak…we’re talking tunnel-vision, near passing out.  I need to start eating something small when I first wake up and not wait 2-3 hours.  I have designated times during the day where I allow myself to eat…otherwise, it would be all day long.  Every 2 hours or so, I eat something small, with a bigger portion at breakfast/lunch/dinner times.

Like…peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, greek yogurt guacamole, cereal, spinach, chocolate molten lava cakes (sorry Jerry), pasta, BERRIES!

Every. single. day.

Don’t like care about…meat, veggies.  I’m fine if they’re mixed into something like stir fry or this awesome pasta I made (chicken sausage, spinach, crushed tomatoes and cheese tortellini)

But just a plain grilled chicken breast or roasted broccoli…barf.

Mood

Less emotional this week and pretty much happy as hell.  I was thinking the other day…this might be the happiest I’ve ever been in my whole life.  I need to bottle up these pregnancy hormones!  I’m fully aware this is totally WTF? territory.  I’m just unbelievably content.  It’s a very good place to be.

Movement

They are moving and shakin now! We’re definitely getting into some patterns.  6 am and 8 pm are their most active times.  You can really see it from the outside now and it’s super cool and yet, super bizarre.  Still getting lots of kicks but also some sliding movements like they’re moving their arms up and down.  Most of it is concentrated on the right side.  I have zero idea how they are positioned.  But someone loves my belly button…little turkey is already pushing my buttons, literally.

Sleep

Jerry’s been traveling a ton for work the last few weeks so I’ve had the whole bed to myself.  I’ll admit, I’m sleeping pretty well.  I mostly sleep on my side but will flip on my back at some point during the night.  And then I start snoring and wake myself up.  I know the sound of snoring is disruptive to my sleep but my own snoring is the worst offender!  Poor Jerry.

We also had some late nights over the weekend.  We got sucked into a marathon of The Killing on Netflix (so good!) and made it past 10 Friday, Saturday AND Sunday nights.  I noticed I slept through the night and was less tired when I woke up.  Granted. I slept for 9 1/2 hours Friday night but I woke up before the alarm Monday morning @ 5:30 and felt pretty great.

Daycare

We have decided on the daycare facility for the Beans!  Cross a huge thing off our list!  I’m taking the full 12 weeks off for my maternity leave and when I go back to work, the babies will be at Bright Horizons daycare.  And lucky for me, this Bright Horizons facility is right in my building!

A big benefit of working for a very large company is we have onsite daycare.  It can be difficult to get into, but we submitted our application early and we’ll have 2 Beans going  full time.  So this puts us at an advantage, supposedly.  I can go see them every day and even take breaks to feed them, if I’m still breastfeeding.  I’m feeling very fortunate that it’s working out as well as it is!

Start Rant – Of all the comments I’ve had during this pregnancy, I think the ones that are the most offensive are regarding me going back to work. Some people are downright combative.  “You really need to rethink this” “How could you just leave your babies with someone else and miss all of their big milestone??” “Ugh, I could never…I’m sorry but I really wanted children and I don’t want someone else raising them”. Yes, I’ve heard it all! And it’s mostly people that don’t know me or Jerry well.  They don’t know our financial situation or my own personal preferences…but they insist on (aggressively) forcing their opinions on the subject on me.  I didn’t ask for their opinion, nor do I care what they think.  I don’t discuss politics or religion with anyone on purpose…I guess I need to add daycare (and breastfeeding) to that list. – End Rant

Random Thoughts/Observations/Stuff

*  Favorite comment/discussion of the week.
“So are you sticking to all of the crazy rules for pregnant women?”
I’m taking a pretty common sense approach and trying not to stress about it too much.
“Good for you!  I still ate sushi, over easy eggs and even had a few glasses of wine each week.  And my babies were fine”.
Well, I don’t drink alcohol but I do have a small cup of coffee most days.
HUGE frown.  “Oh no honey, don’t drink caffeine.  It’s really bad for your babies”.
Um, Thanks?

*  I have a little countdown app on my phone that I randomly look at from time to time.  We are in double digits people.  Double. Digits.  Yowza!

*  I picked up some full panel maternity leggings over the weekend.  Why didn’t I do this sooner!?!?  I’ve been wearing my favorite non-maternity leggings this whole pregnancy and they are just hitting me in a weird place now.  Full panel is where it’s at!  And at $15 at Old Navy, they don’t break the bank.  I also broke down and bought the dreaded granny panties too.  Ugh…it’s a little disturbing how much I hate this underwear situation right now.  I’m very particular about my undergarments…I exclusively wear thongs because I hate getting a wedgie in bikinis or boy shorts.  Yeah, I know.  I make no sense.

*  Major pregnancy brain moment this weekend.  I got my haircut and was figuring out the tip my head the way I usually do. Take 10 percent of the total and double it.  Easy peasy.  Well my brain calculated wrong and I ended up giving him closer to 30%.  Not that he’s not worth it…because he’s fantastic.  But I felt really dumb and Jerry was appalled.

Stay warm everyone!

23 Weeks pregnant with twins

 

perwhatoexpect.com

Fetal Weight Gain
At eight inches and slightly over a pound, this week marks the beginning of some serious weight gain. Your baby should double his weight over the next four weeks alone (and you may feel as though you do, too). His skin is a bit saggy since it grows a lot faster than fat — but soon he’ll start to fit his frame as fat deposits fill things out. By the time your baby is born, he or she will be pleasantly plump and filled out, from chubby cheeks to chubby toes. And although at 23 weeks pregnant your baby’s organs and bones are visible through his skin (which has a red hue due to developing veins and arteries beneath), he’ll become less transparent once those fat deposits settle in.

You Can Hear Baby’s Heartbeat Through a Stethoscope
You’ve probably heard your developing baby’s heartbeat through a Doppler a number of times already (though you never get tired of hearing it), but by now you can also hear it through a standard stethoscope. What a heart throb!

Bump – 23w6d

My belly button is slowly shrinking to a pinhole.  It’s not pushing outward, just getting smaller.  Ugh, I’m dreading the outtie belly button situation that is sure to present itself any day now.  I have an aversion to touching of my belly button and with all of the belly groping that’s going on these days, it’s bound to be grazed by someone’s hand.

I’m still carrying these two low and in the front.

How I’m feeling

Pregnant.  I’m feeling very pregnant.

My belly is feeling heavy.  My joints are achy (my poor knees).  My fingers are starting to swell.  I’m constantly congested.  My boobs are huge & (still) sore.  Gross things are starting to happen to my body.  I pee every 1/2 hour.  And I’m tired all the time.  Yay!  We’re in the thick of it now.

All of those aforementioned symptoms aren’t complaints.  I swear! I’ve had a fabulous pregnancy thus far and I continue to feel great most of the time.  It is what it is…none of it is unexpected and all of it is a lot better than I’ve read it would be.  I’ve got 14+ weeks to go.  This party is just getting started!

Bending over is becoming pretty difficult.  I just can’t breathe if I’m doubled over for too long.  And 3 seconds is too long.  Getting off the couch is comical…my center of gravity is all messed up.  Jerry hadn’t seen me in 2 weeks due to a business trip and he was amazing at how huge pregnant I looked.  I pulled my shirt up to scratch my belly and he just burst out laughing.  This bare bump is something to be seen!  And NO…you can’t see it.

Movement

We are having those wonderful movements I’ve heard all about.  And yes, I LOVE them!  Lots of kicks, lots of hiccups, and some strange feelings that can only be rolling or flipping.  I have no idea who is who but most of the movements are at the bottom of my stomach and way at the top by my ribs.  I have no idea how these Beans are positioned.  My next ultrasound is on 1/30 so we’ll find out then.

They are super active between 8-9 at night.  We were laying on the couch and Jerry finally got to feel them kicking.  It’s pretty cool.  And also creepy at the same time.

Sleep

Sleep has been pretty good.  I’m back to being exhausted by 8:30 and I’m still exhausted when I wake up at 5:30.  I’m generally up 2876183 times to pee but falling back to sleep hasn’t been a problem.

Seriously, the dreams are insane.  Lots of baby dreams…most of them not good.  I’m so elated when I wake up and realized they’re not real.  I had one dream where I went into labor early and all of the fluid drained out of my belly.  You could see 2 perfectly formed babies under my skin…heads, arms, legs…and I was sobbing and begging for them to be ok.  Then they popped out of me and they were perfect, healthy, alert…cats.  Yes, I gave birth to 2 cats.

Food

Carbs, fruit, carbs, fruit, water, fruit, carbs, cheese.  And sugar.  I feel like Elf because I want to put maple syrup on everything.

I’m still eating a salad most days.  And yogurt.  And a lot of my carbs are whole grains.  But a lot are English Muffins and pierogies.  I love you Mrs. Ts!  I know my protein intake could be better.  Most proteins are just so unappealing to me right now.  Unless it’s cheeseburgers or fajitas.

I had my first craving over the weekend.  We went to Costco on Saturday (afternoon…like a bunch of amateurs) and picked up strawberries, blueberries, blackberries and raspberries.  And I made a huge berry salad.  And then I started obsessing.  I could not stop thinking about these berries!  I ate a bunch and when I woke up the next day, I jumped out of bed and raced downstairs to stuff berries in my face.  Obsessed!   I guess there are worse things to be craving.

I’m sucking down water like it’s my job, taking my prenatal every day and really trying to balance it all out.

Mood

Still very emotional…the crying hasn’t stopped.  But it’s very brief…boo hoo hoo…and then I pull it together.  I completely lost it on Pizza Hut when their call center sent my order to the Oakmont store (which is 45 minutes from me).  And I was forced to eat Mrs. Ts for the 3rd night in a row.  Grrrrr…messing with a pregnant woman’s food makes you enemy #1, Pizza Hut.  Jerry said it was a sign that I should stop ordering from Pizza Hut, as they’re not real pizza.  It’s my thing…let it go.

But happy for the most part.  And getting more and more excited to meet these little Beans!  In 3 months, of course.

Random Thoughts/Observations/Stuff

*  Hoo boy…the comments are plentiful now!  Most are kind and congratulatory, like “you look so good!” or “how exciting!”, which I can never hear enough :).  A few are “Better you than me” or “good luck with that”, which I just smile and mutter shut up, asshole under my breath.  One guy asked me if we are having twins on purpose and another said we must have “done it” a LOT to get pregnant with two (Ew, creepo).   I’m still getting lots of well meaning advice…would it be mean to just blurt out “I appreciate all of this but unless you have multiples, I’m kinda tuning you out”?  Yes, yes it would. And I do get some general advice that is helpful.

*  We had our Maternity Ward tour over the weekend. It wasn’t terribly helpful as all of the birthing suites were full and their new post partum recovery wing wasn’t open yet.  But we did get information on checking in, plus some policies and procedures.  Jerry was a bit disappointed that he wouldn’t be able to wear his Go Pro camera during delivery.  There were two other families expecting twins with us and the 3 of us took a quick trip to the NICU.  Man, I had to dig deep to keep it together.

*  There was a discussion on the FB multiples group regarding how far along everyone was at the time they delivered.  I was pleasantly surprised that the majority (80% or more) went  36+ weeks and had little to no NICU time.  As I move further along in my pregnancy, it’s easy to let my mind wander to the “what-if’s”.  I think it’s normal to try and prepare yourself for the worst case scenario.  But I try very hard to refocus on my mantra that my pregnancy is no one else’s and I’m writing my own story.  I need to continue to have confidence that I’m taking good care of myself and that the Beans will cook as long as they need.

*  We hit a big milestone in 2 days.  We’ve almost made it to mini-goal #1!

22 Weeks pregnant with twins

Apparently non-pregnant people do not like thinking in terms of weeks when they ask how far along you are.  So, if you fall into this category, this week we officially enter 6 months!

How is that possible?

 

per whattoexpect.com

Baby’s Got Eyelashes and Eyebrows
Guess what? At 22 weeks pregnant, your baby (who’s about the size of a small doll) has finally broken the one-pound mark. How heavy is that? Hold a one-pound box of sugar in your hand the next time you’re in the grocery story (and expect people to ask you why you’re grinning from ear to ear). Is the box eight inches long? That’s about the length your baby is too! Your little doll’s eyelashes and eyebrows are also well formed now — and even more hair is sprouting atop that cute little head. You’d be quite surprised, though, if you could see your little one up close and in color. Hair at this stage of fetal development has no pigment, so it’s bright white.

Baby’s Developing Grip, Vision and Hearing
This week, your sweetie is making more sense of the world as he or she develops the sense of touch. In fact, your little one’s grip is quite developed — and since there’s nothing else to grab in utero, he or she may sometimes hold on tight to that umbilical cord (don’t worry — it’s tough enough to handle it). The sense of sight is also getting more developed. Your fetus can now perceive light and dark much better than before (even with those fused eyelids). But remember — unless you’re shining a flashlight over your belly (which you can do, by the way), it’ll be mostly dark for your baby inside that cozy womb of yours. She can also hear your voice, your heartbeat, your gurgling stomach and the whoosh-whoosh of blood circulating through your body.

The Bump – 22w5d

No denying I’m pregnant now!  I’m constantly banging this belly into stuff.   I now have total strangers asking me when I’m due.  We are out loud and proud with this bump!  I can still see my feet but pretty much just my toes.

Just for fun

 

My Mom said these pictures make me look smaller than I really am.  Hmmmm….thank you?

I also had a conversation with Jerry about how often he tells me I’m huge.  Which is pretty much every day.  He has been under the impression that calling a pregnant woman huge was a compliment.  Because that means you’re growing big healthy babies.  Not to worry, I instructed him that it’s NEVER ok to call a woman huge…especially a pregnant one.  Huge=BAD.  Always.

Doctors Appointment – 22w1d

Total Weight Gain – +12.  Yep, that’s 6 lbs in 2 weeks.  Thank you Christmas!

Blood pressure – 122/82  This is a little high but nothing to be concerned about.

We heard both heartbeats, the doctor checked for swelling and said I’m doing just fine with my weight.  Overall, a great appointment.

I really liked the doctor we saw this time.  We had seen her before and as this is a new practice, I’m keeping mental notes on who I would like to be my ongoing doctor after delivery.  She took a good deal of time discussing my birthing options and I’m feeling a little more comfortable with the possibility of a vaginal delivery.  I would like to wait to see how the babies are presenting themselves toward the end of pregnancy.  There is just so much to consider.  I’m not a huge risk taker by nature and I ultimately just want what is the safest for the babies.  Obviously.

How I’m feeling

Overall, I still feel pretty great.  I know, broken record.  The heartburn is on hiatus…not sure why but I’m just not having it as often.  I get about one headache per week, but they’re not terrible.  Feet still hurt when I stand for more than 10 minutes.  So, I sit a lot.

My digestive tract has kicked it into high gear.  I am so much more comfortable these days!  I eat at least one yogurt every day and that could be helping.  Don’t know, don’t care…just happy my plumbing is working.

Could be the single digit temps but my knees are shot.  I wake up with two throbbing joints and they don’t get any better during the day.  Whaaaaaa!  Damn advanced maternal age.  I’m also starting to walk funny.  Not quite a waddle but it’s noticeable.  These babies are sitting low…I see a support belt in my future (sooner than later).

I’m starting to break out a bit.  I knew I wouldn’t make it through this pregnancy unscathed!  I ran out of my beloved Peter Thomas Roth cleanser and decided to try an all natural, drugstore brand.  Well, apparently my face likes chemicals!  The breakouts haven’t been too terrible…but I’m getting into that vicious cycle where one pimple clears up and another one takes it’s place.  Not a fan!  Thank you Ulta and your free shipping.

Sleep

Not great, not terrible.  Pee breaks are increasing…10:30, 1:00, 4:15…and that doesn’t help.  I get one good night and then two of insomnia invaded sleep.  Seems like a pretty consistent trend.  Our new bed is arriving this weekend!! Merry Christmas to us!

Food

I could eat 15 English muffins with butter every day.  It’s definitely the highlight of my morning!  Cereal is still in high demand.  Frosted mini wheats for life!  Veggies taste pretty good these days but fruit is my favorite.

My sweet tooth is raging!  They have these amazing cream cheese brownies at my office cafeteria and I’ve had 3 this week.  Whoops!  Balanced out with a salad of course.  We also have “happy hour” @ 2:30 on Thursdays with a sundae bar.  Yep, had my first one in 4 1/2 years.  I felt like such a cliché…pregnant woman eating ice cream.

Pasta is back!  I made linguine with an obscene amount of spinach and mushrooms and ate it every day for a week.

Nursery

Baby purchases

I know, I said I was done.  But did you know ThredUp has baby clothes?!?!  Oh goodness…

In my defense, these were a steal.  Matching plaid from Janie & Jack

Little Hurley Onsies (do I need to justify? And they were $5 each)

 

And these were $5 each.  So….they fell into my cart.

Annnnnnnnd, I bought about 15 hair bows off of Etsy.  They were $2-3 a piece!  I want to dress them in coordinating outfits when they’re babies (omg, I’m that Mom!) and a little bow will help people know that one of them is a girl.

Because I also bought two of these from Kohls.

 

Gah!  I’m dying.  No, it did not come in pink.

I got in touch with the girl who sold me our car seats and she has been such a huge help!  She hooked me up with some private Facebook groups geared toward twins, which have been pretty helpful.  And she has 1 yo boy/girl twins and lots of stuff to get rid of!  We seem to have the same taste so I’m thrilled I can buy gently used items from her.  And she looked over my registries and gave me a thumbs ups on most of the things I picked.  I know every baby is different but I really want to avoid getting a lot of stuff I don’t need.

Mood

95% of the time, I’m still uber happy!

I’ve been DVRing A Baby Story every day.  I know….I KNOW!!  What is wrong with me?  The tears that happen during that show are ridiculous.  But I’m a firm believer that a good cry is good for the soul.  So my soul is all good these days!

Random Thoughts/Observations/Stuff

*  We booked our newborn photographer.  Super excited!  It was very important to Jerry and I to use someone who gave us the images to print on our own.  Unfortunately, we have a terrible track record for ordering finished photos from the photographers site.  We’re using Melissa Lucci Photography and I love that we can take ownership of all of our photos to share and print at our leisure.

*  We signed up for a Newborn Basics class at West Penn.  Our maternity ward tour is on 1/17.  And I guess I should start thinking about childbirth classes as I’m no longer 100% sold on a c-section.  yikes.

*  We’re 99.9% sure we have our boy name.  The girl name is proving to be a little more difficult.  We have about 5-6 options we like and but Jerry doesn’t love my favorite (yet…). I know we have time but if we don’t come to some agreement, I’ll just keep looking at new names and confusing myself more!  Better to just get it settled.

*  We secured the location for my shower and….it’s at a pizza place!  My love of pizza is legendary and my love of Aviva pizza is even more so.  I spoke with the owner over the weekend and he’s going to put together the perfect, low key pizza party for us.   I’m really lucky to have a whole team of friends and family getting together to host my shower.  And they were kind enough to let me pick the location.  I’m super excited!

21 Weeks pregnant with twins

21 weeks pregnant.  That means we’ll be having these babies in about 16 weeks.

Um, wait a minute…what?!?! Cue panic attack.

per whattoexpect.com

Baby’s Moving and Sleeping
How big is your baby? About the size of a large banana (seven inches in length and almost 11 ounces in weight). Your developing baby still has a great deal of room in your womb — though like anyone who lives in one space for a long time, this tenant will soon begin to feel cramped. Until those uterine walls start closing in, however, there’s plenty of space for twisting, turning and even an occasional somersault (so that’s what you were feeling last night!). With all that belly dancing going on, it’s hard to believe your baby gets any sleep at all. But believe it or not, your fetus sleeps as much as a newborn, perhaps 12 to 14 hours per day! (Now if only you could get some sleep!)

Baby’s Taste Buds Develop
Speaking of bananas, if you eat one this week, there’s a good chance your baby will get a taste, too. That’s because at 21 weeks pregnant, your baby swallows a bit of amniotic fluid each day — not only for nutrition and hydration, but also to practice swallowing and digesting, skills your baby will need as soon as he or she arrives in your arms. And keep this in mind: The taste of the amniotic fluid differs from day to day depending on what you’ve eaten (spicy enchilada one day, sweet carrots another). And that smorgasbord of tastes won’t be lost on your baby. That’s because your little one has very developed taste buds already. In fact, researchers have noted that babies who were exposed to certain tastes in utero via the amniotic fluid were more eager to eat foods with that same taste after birth. Want your baby to eat his or her broccoli later? Eat yours now!

The Bump – 21w5d

I don’t really look too pregnant from the front or from behind…yet.  But a subtle turn to the side and woof!  Big ole belly!  I squeezed into my Steelers jersey for the game but unfortunately, it was all for not.  Booooooo!

  

How I’m feeling

I started off the week a little tired from all of the holiday fun.  But I decided to take off the 2nd so I had another nice long weekend to rest and chill out.

I’m still basking in the bliss that is the 2nd trimester.  I have a decent amount of energy and overall I feel great!  I did a lot of resting over the last two weeks and my body is very grateful.  The aches and pains are pretty non-existent at this point.  I think the universe is sending me a huge message…now is the time to slow down and be a lazy slug!  Take the next 16 weeks and rest as much as possible.  I’m 100% ok with doing just that.

Heartburn is really my only complaint.  And really, how bad can it be if I always forget my Tums and never take anything but water for it?

Movement

OK, now I love it!  We’ve graduated from annoying little twitches to light thumps and jabs.  Thankfully they’re not hitting me anywhere important so I love the little reminders that they’re movin’ and shakin’.

I was watching a Jersey Shore rerun (yes I was…stop judging) and these two went nuts over club music.  We had a little Snooki and Pauly D fist pumping in my belly!   Jerry was less than thrilled at this visual.

I had my hands resting on my belly and actually felt a thump from the outside.  Hopefully there will be more of that so Jerry can feel them.

Sleep

Ugh, not good.  It’s a pretty even split between a solid nights sleep and getting up for a couple of hours around 12:30/1:00.  I’m not fighting the bad nights…I’m giving myself 15 minutes to fall back to sleep and if not, I just get up and watch some TV.  And have a snack :).

Food

Good grief, I’m HUNGRY!  Don’t care what it is, I just want to eat.  Insomnia hit one night and I had a bowl of cereal at 4:00 am.  I know the Bean’s main job right now is to pack on the pounds so I suppose I should do my part and feed my face.

Most days at work I eat lunch at my desk.  My biggest pet peeve pre-pregnancy was when someone would stop at my cube while I was eating and start shooting the breeze.  It’s so rude.  Give me 15 minutes to eat in peace!  The pregnant-me will stab you with a pencil if you dare to interrupt my noshing.  And, if you comment on what I’m eating…you will lose a limb.  I should make this PSA into a poster.

Likes:  Cereal, Mexican food, toast, yogurt, fruit slushies, any and all fruit, red meat

Dislikes:  still indifferent about most meat.

Mood

Mostly good.  It was so nice to spend some QT with Jerry over the last few days.  We had several date nights and lots of down time just doing nothing.

I had a minor meltdown on NYE when I couldn’t find anything nice to wear.  I had a non-maternity dress that looked pretty cute on me when I tried it on over the weekend.  How I ballooned so much in 4 days is beyond me.  But I looked like a huge, bloated hot mess.  I have bought zero maternity wear that isn’t business/casual and we had dinner reservations at a more upscale restaurant.  And it was New Years Eve!  Jerry kept telling me that I looked great and of course I looked a little big in the belly…I’m 5 1/2 months pregnant with twins!

But there were tears and a few temper tantrums and me screaming “I’m not going anywhere! I’m disgusting!”  After a long hug, I threw on something comfortable and just went with it.

Random Thoughts/Observations

*  I know a lot of women complain of Braxton Hicks contractions at this point.  I’m either not having them, or I have no idea what they are.  Dr. Google says that they feel like “regular contractions but without any pain”.  Well, as a first time mom…that is not helpful!!  I don’t know what contractions feel like.

*  I expected a lot of obnoxious comments/questions regarding the twin part of my pregnancy but it hasn’t been too bad.  The most common question is “Do twins run in your family?”.  Depending on how well I know the person, the answer has been “They do now!” or “We had a little help”.  No one has pressed for more info.  By far the strangest question I’ve received was “So just HOW big are you going to get?”.  Huh?  I don’t know…massive?

*  I’ve received lots of advice from Moms and Dads and most of it has been pretty helpful.  The one thing that I’m getting a little frustrated with, however, is breastfeeding advice from singleton Moms.  I honestly appreciate the insight but I just want to throw up my hands and say “That’s great but I’ll be feeding TWO babies…it’s going to be way different than your experience”.  Usually I just smile and try to change the subject.

*  I was 100% pro C Section and didn’t want to even consider the possibility of a vaginal birth.  I’m starting to come around to the possibility of a natural delivery provided I’m an exceptional candidate for it.  Ultimately it comes down to what is best for the babies so I’m relaxing my stance a bit.

Looking forward to an amazing 2015!