Twin Pregnancy: 27 Weeks!

Today, I am 27 along in this pregnancy with the twinbies! According to some books, this means that I am now entering the third trimester. Wow!

My baby belly continues to grow, grow, grow:

I gained one pound this week, for a total of 16 pounds so far in this pregnancy. I do feel like my weight gain has slowed down a bit, but I'm sure it's because I can not eat much at a time. This will be the fourth Thanksgiving holiday in six years that I've been pregnant. Generally, I'm pretty excited about this as I can eat guilt free, but this year I'm not feeling all that excited. I just know I have the potential to be miserable, even with just eating a little bit. 

This week has been one of some big changes around here, but all good things that are making progress toward getting ready for the babies! Back at the beginning of August, Chris and I made a list of all the big things we wanted to accomplish by the end of November in preparation for the babies. At the time, the list was pretty overwhelming, but we've slowly and steadily worked on things until now there are just a few {smaller} things left. And, for the most part, the things that are left are things that we want to be done . . . not things that really need to be done. That feels so good!

First, the bunk beds for the "big kid" room finally came in on Monday. We picked them out in the middle of August, and were told at the time by the saleslady to give 4 to 6 weeks for them to come in (they had to be ordered). I wanted them by the middle of October, so we went back and actually ordered them on the first weekend in September. Well, when we placed the order that weekend, we were told that it would actually take 10 to 12 weeks for them to come in. I was so thankful that we ordered them when we did! We moved Brianna and Brenson into their room together about a month ago, so we've been patiently waiting for their beds! After we get their room decorated, I'll do a whole post on their room and our decision for them to share. 

This is a photo I snapped on my phone, but we were very happy to finally have their beds! So far, they've done well with the transition, but I'll talk all about that in the full post I plan to do. 

Another biggie for this week is that we traded in our four-door sedan for a mini-van! It's been our plan all along to get a mini-van, but we've been waiting for the right timing. Thankfully, we were able to find exactly what we wanted for a great deal, and we are thrilled with it so far! It is a slightly used, fully-loaded Chrysler Town and Country with low miles. The one thing I don't love about it is the color. I'm not a fan of red/cranberry colored vehicles, and the car we traded in was pretty much this exact same color as well. However, we couldn't pass it up based on the color, so I'll just live with it :-). We had our first wintery mix/snow of the season yesterday, so we were able to break the van in well driving it to church in the weather!

Do you see my belly button poking out in the photo above? Sometimes it's worse than others, but it's definitely making itself known!

I have a major acne breakout that developed on the back of my neck and back this week. It's gross, but I'm thankful that it's not on my face! So far, my face is still clear. 

My bath towel no longer fits completely around my belly. So, there's that. 

Another biggish change that happened this week was that Chris had to go with me to do the grocery and cosmetics shopping. I know this sounds kind of silly, but I always take care of the list making and shopping myself during the day while he's at work. I generally do the shopping every 2 to 3 weeks, so it ends up being a pretty big trip (especially if it's been 3 weeks instead of 2). And, of course, I always have both kiddos with me when I go. Well, when I did the shopping three weeks ago, I really overdid it. And yes, I know that sounds ridiculous considering I was only 24 weeks along at the time, but it was just a lot for me to take both kids, do all the shopping, unload everything from the cart to check out, reload all the bags into the cart, unload them into the trunk, carry them into the house, and put it all away. As soon as I got it all done, it was lunchtime, then time to put the kids down for nap. By the time I got them down for nap, I was having some minor cramps and just feeling SO exhausted. Chris and I decided then that from now until the end of this pregnancy, he was just going to have to help me with the big grocery/cosmetics shopping. He is actually completely willing to take the list I make and go on his own, but I'm not quite ready to relinquish that control yet :-). I (like everyone probably) like certain brands of certain things, so I still want to go with him to make sure we get what I want. We went as a family and did the shopping on Friday, and it worked out really well. I was still worn out when we got home, but it was much, much better. Just having Chris there to push the {heavy} cart and load and unload everything was HUGE. 

Along with the grocery shopping, I've had to really slow down on the housework as well. I will have great intentions when I get up in the morning regarding what I want to accomplish for the day, but I just don't have the stamina to get a ton done at a time. I've found that if I work for a while, then rest for 15 or so minutes, then work for a bit, etc, that I do okay. I'm just really trying to listen to my body and not push it too hard. Our number one goal right now is for me to carry these babies as long as possible, so despite how frustrating it is to me, I just have to take it a bit easier than I'm used to. Of course, there's a lot of guilt for me that comes along with this. I hate that Chris works all day, then comes home and has to pick up the slack around here (although he's been great about it!). I hate that my kids want to go and do things, and some days I just have to say no. I hate that I just can't always do everything I want and need to do. 

Some days are just harder than others. They are harder than I anticipated they would be, and knowing that this is going to continue to get even more difficult is a little overwhelming on days like that. I had a few days of feeling pretty discouraged this past week. Saturday was one of those days as it was just a tough day physically for me. I didn't feel great (cold-like symptoms), and my body just ached. I had slept horribly the night before, but my body wouldn't let me nap. I felt very nauseous all day. Chris was pretty much solo parenting on his day off, the kids were begging me to play with them, and all I could do was sit around trying to breathe with two babies kicking me in the lungs. I'm not normally one to get emotional and cry about things, but I did shed some tears that night. We want these babies so badly - we prayed for them so fervently - and this pregnancy is an answer to prayer! It's our dream coming true, so I feel like I have no right to complain or be unhappy in any way. I even feel bad writing about it on here because I don't want to seem ungrateful for the blessings God has poured on us for even one second. But - the truth is - just because we're grateful and happy and wouldn't trade it for anything doesn't mean that it's easy or that there's never going to be hard times. I just have to keep trying to keep it all in perspective and see the big picture. 

After some tears and some prayer and a good night's rest, I felt exponentially better on Sunday. Praising God for that!

One last thing . . . today is my 34th birthday! My dream was always to be a young mom, so I never imagined that I'd be pregnant (with twins!) at 34 years old, but I am incredibly grateful that I am! I was 28 (turned 29) when I was pregnant with Brianna, and I do think that being 5 years older makes a big difference when it comes to how well the body handles pregnancy. However, I am thankful for the perspective and {hopefully} bit of wisdom that has also come with age. And, it's not like I'm ancient. After all, 34 is looking younger and younger :-).