Baby (uh .. babies) update
I'm going to try to put down thoughts here and there throughout this pregnancy. I'm not going to commit to a regular schedule but I'll do my best to write more than I have been writing. If you're not interested in more pregnancy speak, you can of course skip these entries; I'll cut accordingly.
Progress: 10w2d
Weight gain: 5 lbs, seemingly all in my boobs
Belly pics: not yet, maybe later. It depends on how scary it looks.
At 10 weeks, I've finally gotten a little bit more comfortable with this pregnancy. I don't mean with being pregnant, but rather, that I will stay pregnant. I had some really scary bleeding episodes starting at 5 weeks which lasted until I was 8 weeks along. If it weren't for my very patient doctors, who were willing to do ultrasounds on a weekly basis, I'd have thought I was miscarrying every week based on how much I was bleeding. Apparently, this is not at all uncommon with twin pregnancies, but jeez ... who knows that going in? Fortunately, I'm not bleeding anymore - just the occasional spotting - but I live in fear of cramping and obsessively monitor all outputs from that region, like any threatened pregnant woman.
Other symptoms: The crippling exhaustion has mostly subsided, but I am still dealing with nausea on an almost daily basis. I haven't thrown up at all, and didn't with either of my last full term pregnancies, but I feel sick almost all day long except for when I'm actually eating. However, even eating doesn't totally resolve the issue because I fill up quickly and then get even more nauseated. I am trying to eat small amounts all day long; that seems to help to some degree.
I'm also having trouble getting enough fluids, since my usual habit of drinking about a gallon of water a day makes me ... yes, you guessed it, nauseated. Even small amounts of water make me ill. I've found that drinking lightly carbonated fruit drinks like the Izze drinks helps to some extent, but I'm not a huge fan of drinking a lot of sugar and empty calories, so I haven't been exactly stocking up on those either. The end result is I am probably getting more tired and headachy than I need to be due in part to some degree of dehydration. *woe*
Aside from that, my symptoms aren't too terribly bad. I'm filling out all of my bras quite impressively (William is sooooooo happy, he asks me almost daily, "Can we keep these?"). My stomach is pooching out a little bit, not because I actually think I'm already "showing" but probably more due to general weight gain. They say you tend to show sooner with subsequent babies, but whatever. I just generally feel fat all the time.
William is being very sweet about this whole experience. He's wanted a baby for a long time. Those who know him well know that he's not one to really show what he wants (that ol' protective mechanism) but once he's actually fairly well assured of having it, he is more likely to demonstrate his joy about having it. He's really enjoying learning about what they look like at each stage of pregnancy. I bought the latest version of A Child is Born by Lennart Nilsson for him. For those who've never seen it, it's an amazing reference that shows actual in-utero photographs of fetal development from the very beginning of a pregnancy. It's incredible. It's also about the only pregnancy book I can get him to look at (I of course have already ordered myself the entire Sears catalogue. Okay, not really, but I did order the Baby Book and the Vaccine Book. I also ordered the Luke Expecting Twins, Triplets or Quads book.)
He's also very interested in the progress of the pregnancy, although he hasn't yet accompanied me to any of the appointments. My guess is that he won't - he is really uncomfortable with anything to do with doctors or hospitals, and this pregnancy is going to be high risk (due to twins, my age, and my history with preeclampsia), which means lots of monitoring and possibly higher intervention (i.e., c-section) at the end. He'll likely be the dad pacing in the waiting room rather than the cheering birth coach on all of the childbirth prep book covers.
The best times lately are when we are snuggling on the couch watching movies or television programs on DVD. He'll lay his head in my lap and whisper things to the babies. He usually starts off with something sweet but sooner or later he makes some sort of smartass comment, likely to just reinforce his street cred. Still, it's cute and it makes me go all swoony inside.
Next visit with the perinatologist (high-risk OB) isn't until January 5. That's when we'll do the nuchal translucency screen, which is an in-depth ultrasound used to measure progress and potential for several birth defects (notably, Down's syndrome). We aren't too worried about that since we've already done genetic testing, but there's always a chance the screening was erroneous. In any case, it's another opportunity to see the little guys in action and to reassure us once again that yes, we are still pregnant.
Progress: 10w2d
Weight gain: 5 lbs, seemingly all in my boobs
Belly pics: not yet, maybe later. It depends on how scary it looks.
At 10 weeks, I've finally gotten a little bit more comfortable with this pregnancy. I don't mean with being pregnant, but rather, that I will stay pregnant. I had some really scary bleeding episodes starting at 5 weeks which lasted until I was 8 weeks along. If it weren't for my very patient doctors, who were willing to do ultrasounds on a weekly basis, I'd have thought I was miscarrying every week based on how much I was bleeding. Apparently, this is not at all uncommon with twin pregnancies, but jeez ... who knows that going in? Fortunately, I'm not bleeding anymore - just the occasional spotting - but I live in fear of cramping and obsessively monitor all outputs from that region, like any threatened pregnant woman.
Other symptoms: The crippling exhaustion has mostly subsided, but I am still dealing with nausea on an almost daily basis. I haven't thrown up at all, and didn't with either of my last full term pregnancies, but I feel sick almost all day long except for when I'm actually eating. However, even eating doesn't totally resolve the issue because I fill up quickly and then get even more nauseated. I am trying to eat small amounts all day long; that seems to help to some degree.
I'm also having trouble getting enough fluids, since my usual habit of drinking about a gallon of water a day makes me ... yes, you guessed it, nauseated. Even small amounts of water make me ill. I've found that drinking lightly carbonated fruit drinks like the Izze drinks helps to some extent, but I'm not a huge fan of drinking a lot of sugar and empty calories, so I haven't been exactly stocking up on those either. The end result is I am probably getting more tired and headachy than I need to be due in part to some degree of dehydration. *woe*
Aside from that, my symptoms aren't too terribly bad. I'm filling out all of my bras quite impressively (William is sooooooo happy, he asks me almost daily, "Can we keep these?"). My stomach is pooching out a little bit, not because I actually think I'm already "showing" but probably more due to general weight gain. They say you tend to show sooner with subsequent babies, but whatever. I just generally feel fat all the time.
William is being very sweet about this whole experience. He's wanted a baby for a long time. Those who know him well know that he's not one to really show what he wants (that ol' protective mechanism) but once he's actually fairly well assured of having it, he is more likely to demonstrate his joy about having it. He's really enjoying learning about what they look like at each stage of pregnancy. I bought the latest version of A Child is Born by Lennart Nilsson for him. For those who've never seen it, it's an amazing reference that shows actual in-utero photographs of fetal development from the very beginning of a pregnancy. It's incredible. It's also about the only pregnancy book I can get him to look at (I of course have already ordered myself the entire Sears catalogue. Okay, not really, but I did order the Baby Book and the Vaccine Book. I also ordered the Luke Expecting Twins, Triplets or Quads book.)
He's also very interested in the progress of the pregnancy, although he hasn't yet accompanied me to any of the appointments. My guess is that he won't - he is really uncomfortable with anything to do with doctors or hospitals, and this pregnancy is going to be high risk (due to twins, my age, and my history with preeclampsia), which means lots of monitoring and possibly higher intervention (i.e., c-section) at the end. He'll likely be the dad pacing in the waiting room rather than the cheering birth coach on all of the childbirth prep book covers.
The best times lately are when we are snuggling on the couch watching movies or television programs on DVD. He'll lay his head in my lap and whisper things to the babies. He usually starts off with something sweet but sooner or later he makes some sort of smartass comment, likely to just reinforce his street cred. Still, it's cute and it makes me go all swoony inside.
Next visit with the perinatologist (high-risk OB) isn't until January 5. That's when we'll do the nuchal translucency screen, which is an in-depth ultrasound used to measure progress and potential for several birth defects (notably, Down's syndrome). We aren't too worried about that since we've already done genetic testing, but there's always a chance the screening was erroneous. In any case, it's another opportunity to see the little guys in action and to reassure us once again that yes, we are still pregnant.