Pregnancy Month 3: SURPRISE!

The past month of pregnancy has been the most surprising by far. I'm still in shock after my 12 week appointment on Thursday. If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook, you already know that we found out we are having TWINS! Yes, two beautiful babies are bouncing around my uterus. We have a few videos of the ultrasound, and I could watch them all day.

Because of coronavirus, Josh was not allowed to be at the appointment with me. It was a really long appointment, so he just stayed home instead of waiting for me. I went in for a regular physical exam and consultation with my midwife, and then we had the ultrasound. I was just so excited to see our baby for the first time (and my pulse showed that, being 109!), and be reassured that everything is going well. About 1 minute into the ultrasound, the doctor turned the wand 90 degrees and said "Well the interesting thing that I have to tell you, is that it looks like you're having twins."

You can only imagine the shock if you've been there yourself. I immediately began weeping and reassuring the doctor that they were happy tears.

My entire pregnancy, my biggest fear has been twins. I have one second cousin who had twins, and my husband has no twins on his side of the family. I never thought that I would actually have twins. Every time any one joked around about twins, I said pleeeease no. I honestly thought I would be full of fear and dread, but the moment those words hit my ear, my heart exploded with love and peace. My heart grew two sizes that day. God is giving us two babies to love, how blessed are we? As I've been processing the last two days, I keep waiting for the fear. This morning I had a little bit, only because twin pregnancies are high risk. I got worried that they would come too early, or that birth would be too stressful for them. I calmed quickly, realizing I can't worry over something 6 months away, and that whatever is going to happen will happen whether I worry or not.

My pregnancy is called a dichorionic diamniotic pregnancy. That means that the babies each have their own gestational sac, amniotic fluid, and placentas. This also indicates that they are fraternal, and there is a chance we will have a boy and a girl (which would be so amazing!). Because of this, I have the lowest risk case for twins, and I am so grateful! There is a good chance everything will be okay. Right now, my bigger risk is preeclampsia. My mom had preeclampsia with her first pregnancy, and it caused a placental abruption. When we thought there was only one, the midwife wasn't too worried about it. However, my risk goes up with twins, and I'm now taking a low dose aspirin to hopefully prevent it.

So yeah, I still have moments every few minutes where I think to myself "Oh yeah, there's TWO of you in there!" I can't wait to know what their genders are, to meet them, and hold them in my arms!

Symptoms Weeks 8-12

Symptoms this month haven't changed a great deal. My fatigue is still present and real. It's very difficult to navigate because it feels like I have some kind of virus all the time. I sleep hard at night and wake up just as tired as I was the day before, and end up taking a very long nap. I assumed this was normal pregnancy fatigue, but as it turns out, it was way worse because my body is growing two little humans!

My sore breasts definitely got better this month. However, the nausea got worse. I still made it through without throwing up, but I came close to it every morning if I didn't eat some crackers right away. It stuck around all day and more often than not a meal would turn my stomach midway through.

Other symptoms I had were round ligament pain. I had read that this doesn't usually start until around 14 weeks, and I was confused why it was already happening. Then I found out it was twins. Hahaha. I have also had bad headaches. My midwife wasn't concerned, so I'm not either. My blood pressure is good so I'm happy.

Laslty, PREGNANCY BRAIN. It's real, and I'm not totally sure my husband believes me. I literally forget things as soon as I think them. It is so difficult to put together one productive thought (I think this is largely due to fatigue as well). I read and heard from friends that lists are your best friend (they always have been, honestly), but I go to write something down in my phone to do and forget it mid-typing. It's been a real struggle!

That's month three, in the books. Can't wait to meet our LITTLES!