Twin Pregnancy: 32 Weeks!

I've now completed 32 weeks of this twin pregnancy! In many ways, it feels like it's gone very quickly, but on harder days time seems to drag. I'm certainly not wishing it away, though!

Here I am at 32 weeks pregnant with the twinbies (and looking a bit tired):

I hadn't taken any front shots of the baby belly yet, so I thought I should do that. The front shot just does not do the size of the bump justice!

I gained 2 pounds this week, for a total of 22 pounds gained. As you can see in the photos above, my face has started to fill out just a bit. My nose is also morphing into my "pregnant nose" (getting wider/bigger) just like it has with past pregnancies, and my lips seem fuller to me. I take comfort in the fact that I know I'll look more like myself again just a week or so after delivery, so these changes aren't bothering me quite like they did with my pregnancy with Brianna and Brenson (where the nose thing was really bad). I'm still drinking tons of water, but this week I've experienced a little bit of swelling in my hands and feet. However, I can still wear my rings, so I call that a win!

The babies have been super active several nights this week. My belly looks symmetrical and round sometimes, and then at other times it can look really misshapen and strange. I took this photo one day when I was feeling a ton of movement and looked down to see this: 

Ha! It looks like both babies were crowding in on one side (and not all that comfortable, for the record :-).

Another day, I took this photo while riding in the car:

The babies tend to stick their little body parts out and sometimes my belly looks very pointed as a result. Other times, it can look quite square when they're both poking something out at the same time. I haven't been able to get a photo of it looking square yet, but I'll keep trying. 

Overall, I had a really good week as far as feeling well and energetic (as much as I can be at this point). I do have times where my bones and muscles just ache, especially if I didn't sleep well the night before. My back often hurts, but the pain has shifted from my low back to my mid back  over the last few weeks. As out of proportion and off balance as my body is right now, I would expect nothing less. It's certainly not something that I can't deal with for the next 6 weeks!

Our schedule is slowly clearing more and more as I just can't do as much these days, but we did have a fun playdate on Tuesday with our little twin friends. They came to our house to play, and all the kids did great. Aren't they cute?!?

And on Friday, I took the kids to Miss Shelly's Mommy-and-me preschool for the last time for a while. It was Polar Express day, so they wore their Christmas pjs and loved it! 

Miss Shelly doesn't have class for the next two weeks, and after that I know I won't be able to take Brianna and Brenson until after the babies are born. It's an interactive class, and I get up and down off the floor to help Brenson quite a bit. Obviously, the bigger I get, the more difficult it is for me to do what I need to do. I feel some Mommy guilt about this, but hopefully someone will be able to take them some in February (Chris will be off work for several weeks) and maybe it won't be too long after that when I can start taking them again. We'll see how it goes. We did skip Library Story time this week as I just wasn't feeling up to it that day. 

On Friday evening, my sister came over to help me complete a few projects. We made several casserole meals to freeze, so our stockpile of those is slowly growing. We also completed a few finishing touches for the nursery. I'm so excited about how they turned out! The only thing we are lacking in the nursery now are the babies' dressers. My dad is making those and has been dealing with an injury as well as recent cataract surgery, so his progress has been halted a bit. However, the nursery is functional and decorated, so that feels great!

Bending at the waist has become almost impossible. My belly is just SO full and hard, and there is NO give at all! Chris graciously clipped my toenails for me last night (bless his heart . . . ). I had been getting pedicures, but my skin is extremely sensitive to touch and I just didn't think I'd be able to stand it. He also takes my shoes off for me sometimes. That's called true love, folks! Ha!

On Thursday of last week, I had an appointment with Dr. N. I was 31 weeks and 3 days along at the appointment. Chris took the whole day off work, so I was able to go to the appointment alone. I certainly don't mind everyone coming with me to see Dr. N, but it's SO much easier to only worry about getting myself up, ready, and out the door as opposed to myself, Brianna, and Brenson (which is what I have to do if Chris just meets us there from work).

Anyway, my blood pressure was 124 over 78 at this appointment, which is still fine but a bit high for me. It's slowly creeping up and up. I didn't have to wait hardly any time on Dr. N (yay!), and I had an ultrasound like I do at every appointment. I've been having trouble with nausea/lightheadedness during the ultrasounds, so this time before I even laid down on the bed, Dr. N put a rolled up towel under my right side to help me be turned just enough to not experience circulation issues. It worked like a charm, and I did great during the entire ultrasound!

We found that Baby A is now head-down again (hooray!). That's exactly what I wanted to see! Now hopefully we won't decide to do any more turning! Baby B is still head up. Dr. N was able to get this good face shot of Baby B:

This baby looks just like Brianna's twin to me. They have the exact same profile. I showed Brianna the photo and told her that, and she wasn't sure what to think. I remember when I was little and people would say that my sister and I looked just alike, I felt the same way. I was never sure what to think. Anyway, when we were looking at Baby B, I said, "Wow! Looks just like Brianna!" Dr. N replied with, "Well, your kids have a similar look, so this isn't a big revelation." Ha! 

At my last appointment, Dr. N had told me that we would do weight measurements this time. However, he was in a bit of a hurry and promised that we'd do them next time. Booooo! I was really interested to know their approximate weights. 

After the ultrasound, we chatted for a minute. He told me that he was really thrilled with how things were going. He delivers lots of twins, and currently has one twin mom on strict bedrest at 24 weeks and another in the hospital at 28 weeks. He said I should keep doing what I'm doing, but be sure to listen to my body and get plenty of rest each day. We also spent some time discussing my Lovenox (blood-thinning) injections. He said some doctors would take me off the injection completely at this point and just have me take the baby aspirin. He doesn't want to do that since we know for sure that I do have issues and exactly what they are. However, we are getting into a riskier time for me to be on the injection. If I were to go into labor on my own, it could be dangerous if it has been less than 24 hours since my last injection. Also, I would not be eligible for an epidural at all. Another issue with Lovenox is that if I had to have a c-section, I would have to be put completely under. He told me that what most doctors do to combat this is switch their patients to twice daily Heparin injections. Apparently, they are more painful and obviously twice daily is more of a hassle than once daily (like Lovenox), but the benefits greatly outweigh those issues. And I agree! I'm not trying to have twins with no epidural :-). He said we will likely switch me at my next appointment (which is at 33 weeks and 1 day), but depending on how things look we may wait until 34 weeks. Either way, I'll have just a few weeks left at that point to deal with the twice daily, more painful injections. And, of course, I'm willing to do what I need to do!

We are just so thankful beyond words that things are still going smoothly and that the babies are doing well. We know this can change quickly, so we don't take a single day for granted.