Twin Pregnancy: 31 Weeks!

Today marks 31 weeks along with the twinbies! I now have less than 50 days left in this pregnancy . . . wow!

The twin baby belly is getting bigger by the day. I hope that means the babies are growing well!

We finally put up a Christmas tree this past week. We normally put up a quite large tree that requires us to rearrange our living room to fit it. However, I just wasn't up for that this year, so we bought this smaller tree that fits in the corner of the living room and only required us to move one small piece of furniture. I look kind of funny standing next to the tree since it's barely bigger than I am, but I wanted a festive photo!

I also thought it was time for a comparison collage. There's no doubt that the twinbies' baby belly is the biggest . . . as it should be! However, I actually think I'm carrying them in the most attractive way out of my pregnancies.

Brianna on the left, Brenson in the middle, Twinbies on the right:

Brianna loves to get in on my belly photos. She was dressed all festive for church yesterday.

My weight was up 1 pound this week, for a total weight gain of 20 pounds so far this pregnancy. It's very surprising to me that I've just now hit the 20 pound mark, but I feel like these babies are just taking everything out of me! I don't feel like I've gained weight in my thighs and bottom the way I did with my other pregnancies, and I'm certainly not swelling/retaining water yet like I did with them either. This week, there have been a few evenings that I've noticed my fingers are just a bit swollen, but I can still get my rings on and off. At this point in my pregnancies with the older Bs, I had already stopped wearing my rings altogether. It must be all that water that I crave and drink constantly that is making the difference!

My appetite is about the same as it has been, and I'm still dealing with achy legs and hips a lot. I saw my chiropractor this past week - and while I do think the adjustments are making some difference - they certainly aren't taking away my pain. I think that carrying two babies is just so much strain on the body and the aches and pains are just something that I need to learn to cope with for the next 7 weeks. A small price to pay!!!

Brianna and Brenson have been asking quite a few questions about when the babies come. On Friday night, Chris was hanging decorations on the nursery walls while I was packing my diaper bag, so that definitely triggered lots of questions from my littles. I was explaining to them that either Aunt Lisa or G-Jo would be staying with them while I went to the hospital to have the babies. Brianna was perfectly okay with that, but Brenson said, "But I'll stay with Daddy." I said, "No, Daddy will be with me. You'll be with Aunt Lisa or G-Jo." He then gave me a kind of puzzled look and said, "You going to leave without me?" I said, "Yes, Brenson, but either Aunt Lisa or G-Jo will be here to take care of you." He wasn't sure about that! We're going to have to revisit that conversation a few times!

There's the diaper bag . . . all packed and ready to go (sitting in the *almost* completed nursery)!

I'm still nesting, organizing, and trying to finish up some small things that I want done before the babies arrive. However, I have to be very careful with how much I do in one day. I tire very easily these days. If I take the children somewhere in the morning (such as story time or Miss Shelly's . . . both of which we did this past week), then I require a nap that afternoon. I've also noticed that if I overdo it during the day, I have a horrible time sleeping at night. My muscles just refuse to relax, and I toss and turn for hours. I'm trying really hard to make myself rest a lot during the day (which is often easier said than done with a 2 year old and a 4 year old to care for), while still accomplishing small tasks and spending quality time with my children. I've pretty much given up going to the store, even for small shopping trips or errands. It just takes too much out of me. I'm so thankful that Chris has been willing to pick up the slack on this! 

I've also been experiencing a return in nausea recently. It hits me pretty hard (and seemingly out of the blue) at various times during the day. Generally, after about 30-45 minutes, it will go away as fast as it came. There were a few times this week that I felt I might throw up, but so far it hasn't happened. I've read that this can be common in the third trimester, but it's not something I've ever experienced before now. 

Brianna and Brenson have recently been playing like they are having babies. Brianna will stuff two dolls up her shirt, and Brenson will put on his scrubs (he has play scrubs in his dress-up drawer), get his doctor kit, listen to her belly, take her blood pressure, then cut the babies out of her tummy with a play wooden knife from their little play kitchen. It's really amusing, and I need to try and get it on video! A few times this past week, Brenson has been the one having the babies. One day, he had moose and tramp dog twins delivered by his sister, then she was wheeling him around in their shopping cart like it was a wheel chair, ha! I asked her why the wheel chair, and she said that she saw me in a wheel chair in her book of baby photos. Both children have a little photo album full of all the photos from when we were at the hospital during their birth that they love to look at. And sure enough, in both albums are photos of me in a wheel chair with them in my lap. 

This is a terrible photo of Brianna, but too funny not to share. Brenson was recovering well from birthing his tramp dog and moose twins!

Like I said above, we put up just a few Christmas decorations this week. Chris fully decorated the outside of our house like we normally would, but inside we just did a small tree, our stockings, and a handful of other items. I did take a leap of faith and order stockings for the babies. Yes, that means that names are set in stone! It was honestly a hard thing for me to decide to do. There's always this "what if . . . " voice in my head, but I finally decided something could happen to any of us at any time, and these babies are such a part of our family already that I wanted stockings with their names on them up in our house this year. I love looking at SIX stockings hanging in the living room. It's just such a dream-come-true for us!

Sorry y'all . . . I blurred the names out so as not to give anything away! I did, however, leave their first initials so you can see that we went with two more B names! :-)

The babies are moving a ton these days, and I LOVE watching my belly bump and thump. The kiddos and Chris enjoy feeling them, as well. It's truly an amazing thing to watch. I have an appointment with Dr. N this week, and he told me at my last appointment that he'll do weight checks this time. I'm anxious to see how much they weigh! Praising God for another good week!