25 week twin pregnancy update: getting prepared for the babies

Week 25 belly shot

This week has been pretty productive. I’m trying to smooth out all of the details of where I’ll deliver and who will deliver our babies. I’ve also been taking more steps to get things ready for the babies at home. A few days ago I was convinced that we needed to move out of our third floor apartment because I could not wrap my head around how I would be able to leave the apartment with 2 babies in tow. Now I’ve come back to reality and am content to complete my nesting process in our little apartment (thankfully it has two bedrooms!)

Speaking of nesting

Last week I mentioned the maternity pillow sleeping setup that I made and I wanted to show you what I was referring to:

My pregnant lady nest

Back to nesting in preparation for the babies:

I went to a big community event called “Just Between Friends” last week. People can consign used baby and kid items to be sold at a big garage sale type event. I was able to go to the pre-sale for first time moms so I got to go check everything out before it was sold out. I found a bouncer that was barely used for $14 (originally $60) and a baby carrier that works as a front or back carrier for $15 (originally $80). I also picked up a baby sling to try out for $7 and a few baby clothes (all $4 or less per item). I felt like I made some major progress toward finding useful items and I got most of the stuff for some pretty sweet deals.

Double Snap-N-Go
Photo from Amazon.com

I also saw a Baby Trend Snap-N-Go stroller frame that carries 2 infant car seats at the garage sale for $65. I almost bought it but called my mom so she could check the prices on Amazon first. Apparently the stroller is originally $99.99 but is usually on sale for $70 on Amazon and at Target. I decided to hold off on buying the used stroller and I’m so glad I did because last night as I was looking for cloth diapers on Amazon I happened to see the same exact stroller for $40!!! I couldn’t believe it, and I thought it was a mistake- so I quickly bought it before someone noticed that they were selling a $100 stroller for less than half price! I also emailed the link to my friend who is also pregnant with twins and she immediately bought it. I just went back to check the same link on Amazon and the price is back up to $94.41. I am incredibly thankful that we were able to find such an amazing deal (and at least my late night Amazon browsing has not been in vain).

Preparing for my vaginal twin delivery

I know there is still a possibility that we may need to do a cesarean section, but I moved one step closer to a vaginal twin delivery today. I met with a new OB who is a huge advocate for vaginal delivery for multiples and she agreed to take me on as a patient- even though it is already late in my pregnancy! Thank You Lord! My husband and I both really liked her- she is completely on the same page as I am about using as few interventions as possible (unless they are necessary of course).

She is also comfortable assisting in a breech extraction if Baby B ends up being breech during the delivery. I believe that this new doctor is fully capable of assisting in either a vaginal or cesarean delivery and therefore I feel much more at peace letting her call the shots. I’m not worried about her forcing anything on us or doing any unnecessary interventions. She also suggested that I sign up for a natural birthing class as well as a cesarean section class so that we can be prepared for either scenario. All in all I feel very good about making this switch to our new OB!

A quick update on the ever growing peeps

I am so thankful that I don’t have much to report concerning the health of the twins. People keep reminding me that an uneventful pregnancy is the best kind- and I couldn’t agree more! At my appointment today we heard 2 strong heart beats (152 and 150 beats per minute). Baby B is head down and Baby A is breech (but I feel them flipping around on a daily basis so I’m sure their positions will continue to change over the next month or so- while they still have room to swim around).

Baby A and Baby B are trading places

Baby B has decided to change things up and since he is head down and his head is the closest baby part to my cervix he has claimed the first position in the womb. Meaning he is actually considered Baby A now. I’ve decided that from this point on I will call them Left Baby (previously Baby A) and Right Baby (previously Baby B). I have already been getting to know them based on their movements in my womb so it is very important to me that I keep them straight during the pregnancy and I know who is who once they come out. I did ask the doctor what the hard protrusion I was feeling on my right side was and she said it was most likely Right Baby’s little knee- so I guess I’m not squishing his head after all. That’s about it for my uneventful update on the babies!

My body also needs to get prepared- to become exponentially larger in the coming weeks!

I’ve been much more aware of the earth’s gravitational pull lately. My legs feel like they are magnets being suctioned to the ground. This means that walking up three flights of stairs with groceries plus my additional 30 pounds is a slow, slow journey. My belly is also being affected by the very real law of gravity and it lets me know this by sending shooting pains from the round ligaments that are trying to keep my uterus in place. The nurse at my doctor’s appointment today suggested that I invest in a belly band that wraps around the waist underneath the belly to hold it up and take the strain off of your back and round ligaments. This will be my next serious Amazon search.

25 weeks pregnant and rounding out

The new maternity bathing suit

I couldn’t deprive you all of seeing how cute my new suit is (from A Pea In The Pod), so I caved and decided to post a picture of it as requested by my dear sister (who is celebrating her 9th wedding anniversary tonight) Happy Anniversary! Love you Sister! xoxo

Growing taller during pregnancy

The strangest thing happened today. I grew! I was talking to my husband who is three inches taller than I am, but I felt like we were looking at each other more eye to eye than usual. I looked down to see if I was standing on something, but nope, we were both bare foot on the carpet. I insisted that we stand back to back and when we looked in the mirror I seriously looked taller than normal! We decided to find out once and for all if I had in fact grown, so we got out the tape measure, I stood against the wall and lo and behold I am now 5’8! I have always been around 5’7 or maybe closer to 5’7.5 but I’ve never been 5’8.

So thinking this was crazy I went straight to google and searched “women growing taller during pregnancy” and what do you know, there are some other women who have experienced growing up to 3 inches during their pregnancies! I’ve heard of people’s feet getting bigger during pregnancy, but never actually adding inches to their stature. As for me, I guess we’ll have to wait and see what happens. At this point, I’m only 4 months along, and if I keep growing at this rate I could gain another inch!

Now that I think about it, I have been complaining of my legs hurting and feeling sore, as well as my arms, hands, back, feet and basically I just hurt everywhere. Maybe these are all just growing pains? I have also gained 11 pounds, so it’s probably more likely that my legs and feet are hurting from carrying around the extra weight, but who knows?

2nd trimester round ligament pain

Another new pain I’ve been noticing is a tightness on both sides of my lower abdomen/groin area (but mainly on the right side). I also googled this symptom and it sounds like it could be round ligament pain. I suppose because this is a twin pregnancy my uterus is growing a bit faster than it would during a singleton pregnancy, so the round ligament feels like it is definitely stretching and super tight! If I make sudden movements or turn from one side to the other while sleeping I definitely feel the sharp pain like I’m pulling a muscle. Has anyone else had similar pains during the second trimester?

My next ultrasound with Maternal Fetal Medicine

As for the second ultrasound I was supposed to have this week, that’s not going to happen. I called four different Maternal Fetal Medicine (MFM) offices and no one was able to get me in for another three weeks. I thought this was going to be a problem since my OB made it sound like it was necessary for me to get it right away, but she said I could wait till they can get me in (at 19 weeks). I was a bit frustrated that I spent so much time trying to get an appointment and the whole time I was worrying about the babies thinking there was something wrong that made the OB recommend the specialist. Anyway, I guess she was just being extra careful. Now I can relax a little and trust that the peeps are probably just fine.

The peeps’ gender reveal is happening tomorrow!

Even though we weren’t able to do a second ultrasound to confirm Baby B’s gender we are still going to go ahead with the gender reveal gathering tomorrow! We couldn’t wait another three weeks to find out, especially since they were able to determine the gender of Baby A, so at least we know for sure that one of the genders will be correct. The ultrasound technician did see Baby B but only for a few seconds and I think she just wanted to get another look to be 100% sure. We trust her guessing ability, so we’re going to go for it! However, if for some reason Baby B ends up being a different gender at our next ultrasound we will get a cupcake in the correct color so he/she doesn’t feel left out of the gender reveal party business!

Stay tuned for the gender reveal post sometime tomorrow evening!