Twin Pregnancy: 30 Weeks!

Hello, 30s! We are so happy to have made it to 30 weeks! It feels like we're in the homestretch now . . . although I know the next 8 weeks won't feel short by any means.

Here is the big 'ole 30 week belly:

In the above photo, I'm wearing one of the maternity tops that my friend gave me that's a size larger than I would normally wear. You can see how it doesn't really fit in the shoulders or sleeves so much, but I need the bigger size for the length. I'm thankful for the longer shirts, for sure!

I didn't gain any weight this week, so I'm still at plus 19 pounds from my pre-pregnancy weight. I'm eating well and often, although my portions are small. I mentioned a few posts ago that I had started drinking protein shakes for an extra boost. I have also started eating protein bars, so I have about one shake and one bar a day. I eat the protein bar for breakfast and it helps get me going in the morning. I also have a cheese stick about once a day, a V8 about once a day, and mixed nuts as a snack about once a day. This is all in addition to my regular meals! So, I feel like I'm doing well getting my protein and nutrients. My main "craving" is still ice water and iced tea. Although, since being told I am anemic, I've done some reading about that. From what I've read, I should avoid tea and coffee as they can prevent my body from absorbing the iron that I need. Because of this, I've tried to really cut back on the iced tea (and I'm not a coffee drinker, so that's no problem). I've also added iron supplements to my daily vitamin regimen to help combat the anemia.

I had an appointment with Dr. N on Thursday of this past week. I was 29 weeks and 3 days along at this appointment. Chris has some vacation days (like almost 2 weeks worth, actually) that he needs to use before the end of the year, so he just took the whole day off on Thursday and stayed home with the kids while I went to my appointment. It was a good thing he did because I ended up waiting for well over an hour to see Dr. N! However, since I was there by myself, it was kind of relaxing :-).

I posted this to Instagram while I was waiting. It said, "At the doctor waiting patiently to see the Twinbies! #onehourandcounting #patientlyimpatient #pregnantwithtwins # twinbies"

My blood pressure was 112 over 72 at this appointment, so hanging in there right where we want to see it. When Dr. N came in, he asked me if I was having any unusual symptoms . . . things like cramping, contractions, discharge, pressure, etc. I'm not experiencing any of those things, so he said, "I love it when I have a twin patient just cruising along like this at 29 1/2 weeks!" We are SO thankful that we haven't had any type of complications so far, as we know that it could be a very different story being pregnant with twins. I know three other women pregnant with twins right now. They are all 3 to 4 weeks ahead of me, and two of them have been on bedrest for months now.

Dr. N did a {quick} ultrasound and everything looked great! During my last 3 or 4 appointments, I have gotten lightheaded/nauseous very quickly into the ultrasound and have had to roll to my side. The pressure is just too much when I lay on my back! 

My pelvis is still empty, and both babies are still very high. Both Baby A and Baby B are now breach . . . this is the first time that they've both been breach. I wasn't surprised at all by this as the night before Thanksgiving I had some CRAZY movement going on. I told Chris that I thought one or both of them were turning. Since then, I've had a ton of pressure/pain in my ribs. Brianna was breach until she was 34ish weeks, and I can remember my ribs aching from the pressure her head put on them. I even wake up in the night with my ribs just aching, although a simple roll over will generally ease the pain (although rolling over is easier said than done right now!). 

Anyway, so both babies had their heads up in my ribs and very close together. It was really cute as they looked like they were almost kissing. My fluid looks great, and we could see two distinct sacs. Dr. N said, "Wow, they are really up there . . . you can't even breathe, can you?" And the answer to that is no, I can't! I get winded very easily, and am often huffing and puffing when I'm not even doing anything. However, we are happy that the babies are high as it keeps that pressure off of my cervix and will hopefully help us get as close to our goal of 38 weeks as possible! 

We also talked about how much Bren weighed when he was born and how I was induced with both Brianna and Brenson (and close to 41 weeks with Bren). I may have mentioned this before as Dr. N and I have talked about it several times, but he is always happy to hear that Bren weighed over 9 pounds and that both of my babies had to be evicted. He says that those things make him hopeful that I'll make it to my goal or at least close. 

Before I left, I did have to give blood so that Dr. N could check on how I was doing with my blood thinning injections. I never heard anything from his office, so I assume everything is okay. We're still doing the injections every morning. I'm not going to know what to do when I don't have a daily shot any longer!

I will see Dr. N again in about 10 days. He said that he'll do a weight measurement then, so hopefully we'll get a good idea of how the babies are growing. After that, I'll start going in for weekly appointments!

As far as pregnancy symptoms go, I don't think much has changed. I have to really pace myself with how much I do during the day. This past week, we had hair appointments on Tuesday, Library Story Time on Wednesday, my appointment with Dr. N on Thursday, and Miss Shelly's on Friday. That was all during the day in addition to Bible Study on Wednesday night and a ladies Bible Study on Thursday night that I participate in. That was just too much for one week, so we ended up skipping Library Story Time. The kiddos were a bit disappointed, but it just has to be this way right now. I'm still not sleeping well some nights, but okay on others. My lower back and hips ache a lot of the time. My neck and back are broken out and kind of gross. I can't bend over. My belly is huge and feels very heavy. I get winded super easily. 

However, I love feeling two babies move inside of me. Sometimes I just can't believe we're having two more babies! Seeing their little heads together on the ultrasound made me want to hold them right then. We are still working hard to get their room ready, and that is so fun. We are beyond excited to meet them! 

We thank God daily for the blessing these babies are to us already. Just 8 more weeks to go!