25 Weeks

How Far Along? 25 Weeks

Maternity Clothes? Mostly all I wear is maternity or lose fitting spandex-filled clothing. The girls need room to move & so do I!

Stretch Marks? None yet.. hoping it stays that way!

Sleep: Not good. My hips & back hurt so badly that I spend 1/2 the night in bed with lots of pillows and 1/2 the night on our couch. Doctors advise me to use Tylenol & Benadryl every night to help me sleep a few more hours more comfortably. 

Best Moment This Week: Holding Trae's hand while walking out of L&D STILL pregnant.

Movement: All the time- constantly! Baby A is head down on my right side so I feel her kicks lower while Baby B is transverse, her head by my belly button so I feel & see her movements often as they are right on top of my lungs!

Food Cravings: Fruit & anything sweet- I even pulled the pregnancy card & stopped for Dunkin Donuts the other day! 

Genders: Both girls. :)

Symptoms: I have round ligament pain throughout the day when walking and I'm hot ALL the time (hence the chalkboard sign of the girls loving the cooler weather.) Every time I hear a cold front is coming in I crack the windows and Trae puts on another layer of clothing.

However, earlier this week I was feeling nauseous, with a painful back & sore/tight belly.. all signs pointed towards contractions. I took a Benadryl to calm Braxton Hicks, which I have been getting of and on and scheduled an appointment with my doctor. When I went to the doctor, I was hooked up to a machine which proved I was still having contractions every 2-3 minutes. I was admitted to L&D where I had another Fetal Fibronectin test done & given fluids for 5 hours while the girls and I were monitored. The fluids slowed the contractions down and my FFN test came back negative, which proved I wasn't in premature labor. MUSIC to our ears! We were discharged after 6 hours in L&D with a prescription for Procardia that I will take twice a day for the remainder of my pregnancy to calm my now medicially described "irritable uterus".  Hopefully the Procardia will keep things nice and calm for the remainder of our pregnancy with these girls.

Belly Button in or Out: 1/2 way out

In other news... Trae and I are starting to discuss names more often. We have one of the girls' names all settled on and are going back and forth about the other one. Hopefully we will have it settled by the time they come! 

December is here, Christmas decor is up and my first baby shower invitation is hung up. We are so grateful to be pregnant with our girls- it's the best gift God could have given after he gave us our sons. We are so excited for everything this pregnancy has left including maternity photos and celebrating with friends & family at our baby showers.

Week 24

This week we are celebrating successfully making it to 24 weeks in our pregnancy with these twin girls!

24 weeks has always been a big goal for us as it marks the first date that doctors consider babies viable enough to live outside the womb with medical intervention.  While 'Viability' is a word that rings so sweetly to our ears, we have hopes & plans to carry this pregnancy much, much further giving these girls the best chance at growing big & healthy with little/no need for NICU time.

Now that we are the MOST pregnant we have ever been... we look forward to sailing these unchartered waters side by side with our amazing Dr's to guide us.

Our 24 week appointment showed our little girls to be growing very well:
Baby A measured 25w0d (a full week ahead!) at 1 LB 12 oz. and 93rd percentile
Baby B measured 24w5d at 1 LB 10 oz and 86th Percentile

Both girls are BIG movers! I can feel them kicking & hiccuping all day, even throughout the night. Trae and I like to think they're going to be little dancers and they're practicing their moves now.

With all this great growth I have experienced some increasing discomfort in my abdomen & lower back.  Any short walk or errand usually results in braxton hicks and a rough nights sleep, so I've cut back on all unneccesary activity.  Due to these concerns, we did have Dr Berry check my cervix and do a Fetal Fibronectin test at our 24 week appointment to make sure all these pains were just growing pains and not the sign of pre term labor.  The test came back "Negative" meaning my body isn't going into any distress or preterm labor in the next two weeks!!  What a relief!  I keep telling Trae I can deal with any pain/discomfort that comes with pregnancy, as long as it means the girls are safe & healthy.

This week is Thanksgiving week. We have family in town staying with us, doing all our cooking & helping how they can around the house so I can continue resting.  We are enjoying the cooler weather & a few days off work to rest and relax.

We are abundantly Thankful for all God has blessed us with & continues to bless us with.

Happy Thanksgiving!