Twin Pregnancy: 18 Weeks!

I am now 18 weeks along with our twinbies . . . very likely could be half-way through this pregnancy! That's kind of crazy to think about!

Here is how the belly is looking these days:

I must be showing a whole lot more than before because I've gotten several comments about how I look pregnant. I don't mind them at all! I'm glad that I don't just look chubby :-). Speaking of chubby, I gained 2 pounds this week! I knew that once I started gaining it would come quickly as that's exactly how my pregnancies with Brianna and Brenson were. So, that puts me at a total weight gain of 3 pounds.

I'm still having some days where I just don't feel good. I had one gagging episode this past week, but lots of moments of my tummy feeling unsettled. However, I also have days where I feel great, so I'm certainly thankful for those! As far as my energy goes, I just take what I can get. Tonight, I felt really good so I cooked dinner and cleaned the kitchen really well (as in mopped the floors and everything). I'm hoping for a productive day tomorrow, but we'll just have to wait and see. How I feel is really unpredictable right now. Obviously, my appetite is healthy :-).

I meant to mention this a couple of weeks ago, but I forgot. I have been loving McAlister's Deli lately! Now, I generally like McAlister's okay, but I certainly don't crave it. However, in about the past month, we've eaten there at least once (sometimes twice) a week! We don't have one in the town where we live (thankfully), but there is one about 20 minutes from our house in a nearby town. And every single time we've eaten there, I have ordered the broccoli cheddar soup in a bread bowl. Again, this is something I've ordered before and like okay, but lately it has been SO yummy. Last night, it was the ONLY thing that sounded good to me, so we went! Luckily, the family all likes it, too! This is not something I've ever craved before with pregnancy.

My back and hip pain is much, much better than it was a week ago, but I did have a headache about four times last week. I took Tylenol on two days - which I hate doing - but I needed something to take the edge off enough for me to sleep. I am sleeping really well still, and very thankful for that! Also, no swelling in my hands or feet yet, but as I've mentioned before, I am careful to drink lots of water every day.

Chris felt Baby B kicking for the first time a few nights ago. That was an exciting moment for sure! I am starting to feel stronger movement, and I love it! Brianna CAN'T WAIT to feel the babies move, although she's not very patient about it. 

I've been doing my daily blood thinning injections since the day I was 4 weeks along, so as of Wednesday I will have done 100 injections. I'm not even going to calculate or think about how many that means I have left to take. As my tummy gets bigger and tighter, I've noticed that my bruises are much more sensitive than they were before. I am very grateful for modern medicine and treatments options to help our babies, but the injections do get a little overwhelming at times. I just get so tired of doing them and especially of my tummy constantly having huge bruises all over it. We are just praying it will all be worth it in the end!

We had an appointment with Dr. N this past Thursday when I was 17 weeks and 3 days along. My blood pressure was 110 over 80 this time, so still looking good. I should not have written about our great luck with appointments because it ended this time! My appointment was at 10:20am, so Chris was able to meet me there from work and I brought the kids. They love seeing the babies! We were called back to an exam room fairly quickly (after about 15 minutes), but ended up waiting in the exam room until 11:45 to see Dr. N! It's one thing for adults to wait and hour and a half, but a two year old and four year old? That's a much bigger deal! They actually did really well for the most part, but they were over the whole thing after about an hour. 

Being super silly waiting for Dr. N:

They had exhausted the few things I had in my purse for them to do, so they resorted to being ridiculous :-).

To show just how silly they were being, this is a funny video that we took! 

After waiting so long, our appointment was pretty short and sweet! Dr. N did apologize for the wait . . . he said that he had to spend about 45 minutes with a patient, then he said, "If you think the wait was bad, you should be thankful you weren't the patient I had to talk to." I'm not sure what exactly that meant - and of course he couldn't say too much - but it made me think someone didn't get very good news :-(. I truly don't mind the wait too much as I know that he's a good doctor that spends the necessary time with his patients when they need it. I want him to do that with me (and he has before), so I know that sometimes I'll be the one waiting while he does that with others. 

He did an ultrasound (which is getting much more painful due to the bruises on my tummy), and both babies looked great! We heard both heartbeats and saw lots of wiggling and squiggling. We didn't get pictures this time, but I'm sure we will when he does the anatomy scan. During the entire ultrasound, he kept calling Baby A "Brole". At first I didn't get it, but he explained that it is his first name (Cole) with a Br. Ha! Sorry Dr. N, we probably won't be naming a baby Brole! 

As frustrating as it was to wait so long for such a short appointment, I was very thankful that there were no concerns! I was expecting a cervical check, but he didn't do one this time. Maybe next time? Our next appointment is in two weeks. 

I just love that I'm feeling more legit movement now and that my belly is really starting to grow. This is my favorite time in pregnancy!