Twin Pregnancy: 16 Weeks!

Yesterday marked 16 weeks along in my pregnancy with the twinbies. Now that we're past much of the "morning" sickness, time is really moving quickly!

As you can see, my belly is continuing to round out. It feels like it's growing daily now.

I am {finally} back up to my pre-pregnancy weight! Whoo-hoo! My net weight gain is 0 pounds, but I have a feeling that will be changing very soon. I had some really good days this past week and some not-so good days. I'm trying to enjoy every day of this pregnancy, but I am really ready to feel good all the time! I had about two days that I was really sick feeling most of the day and had problems with gagging episodes. However, I have had a good appetite this week, so I am thankful for that.

Lower back and hip pain has plagued me a bit this week. I see a chiropractor regularly, but I even squeezed in an extra appointment this week to get my lower back adjusted. The adjustment helped, but I'm still having pain. My lower back and hips pop nearly every time I roll over in bed, stand up after I've been sitting a while, or bend over. Chris can even hear them most of the time. I'm not good about doing stretches, but I've started being better about it again this week, and that has helped as well. I can just tell that things are expanding and shifting and it's just part of being pregnant!

On Thursday, we had an appointment with Dr. N. I was 15 weeks and 3 days along at this appointment. Chris and the older Bs were able to come with me again. I can't believe our luck that we had virtually no wait AGAIN. I was thinking about switching my appointment days to Monday, but I think I'll stick with Thursdays since I'm having such good luck with them.

My blood pressure was 112 over 70, so we were happy with that. When Dr. N came in, he immediately began the ultrasound. I LOVE having an ultrasound at every appointment, but my stomach is SO bruised due to the daily blood thinning injections I take that they are really uncomfortable for me. I thought about taking a photo of my {very} bruised belly, but it is really so gross that I decided the world did NOT need to see it.

We immediately saw this great photo of Baby B. Both babies were very active and performing for us. Dr. N really took his time with the ultrasound, let our kids enjoy watching the babies and hearing the heartbeats, and talking to us about the babies. He even kept changing the color of the ultrasound because the kids liked it!

Okay, these next photos are a little creepy. Dr. N was pretty proud to capture them, but I just kept thinking that we're ready for Halloween! Because babies at this age don't have any fat yet, they just look like skeletons with skin.

Baby B (left) and Baby A (right) with their heads together

See what I mean? Baby B is smiling, but it's totally creepy to me! Dr. N did tell us that the dark spot on Baby B's head is the soft spot. Isn't that neat?

This is Baby A. It's not the best photo, but it is neat to see ribs and fingers! Dr. N was kind of cracking up at me being less than impressed with my scary looking children, but I know that they'll look less scary once they put some fat on!

After the ultrasounds, Chris took the kids out so I could ask Dr. N a few questions. I keep reading things about weight gain and how you have to be careful about things like pedicures and intimacy when pregnant with multiples. I really just needed some reassurance that everything is okay. So, regarding the weight gain (or lack of), Dr. N is not worried about it at all. He said that in his experience, women who gain less than 8 pounds before 20 weeks actually do better with multiples than women who gain a lot more. That made me feel so relieved. He said to just keep doing what we're doing and the weight gain will come as needed. He also said not to worry about pedicures or intimacy and to STOP reading articles online, haha!

Our next appointment is in two weeks, and Dr. N said that he'll do a cervical check at that appointment. I was shocked! I didn't expect a check so soon, but he explained that if complications are going to arise, they often begin around 18 weeks. He's a very proactive doctor, so he starts checking then to make sure everything is good. And, if not, hopefully we'll catch problems soon enough to be able to combat them.

We're still working on names, but I think we're going to take a break for a while. It's exhausting!