Twin Pregnancy Update: Weeks 17-18

It’s official! The halfway point in this twin pregnancy is here! 18 to 19 weeks is considered the halfway mark for twins, instead of 20 weeks, because of the fact that they won’t let you deliver past 37 weeks.

Thankfully, we have made it! I will feel better once we hit about week 24 or so, because then if anything happens, Lord willing it doesn’t, then the babies will have a great chance of being healthy and alright outside of my belly.

Twin Pregnancy Update: Weeks 17-18

I have decided that their new nicknames are “Peanut Butter and Jelly”. Not for any particular reason, but I just hated calling them “Twin A” and “Twin B”. We can hopefully start to call them by their names soon:)

Weight Gain: I am headed into my 19th week now and I have gained about 7 lbs total, so no weight fain in the last few weeks. My doctor’s say I should be a little more than that since I am “slender” (THANKS DOC!)  but I am healthy so they aren’t too worried at this point.

Sleep: Pretty decent besides the fact that I have to sleep sitting up due to my lack of being able to breath. The dreams though… they are the worst!

Food Cravings: Not too many lately. Milk and cookies still and A LOT of fresh fruit.

Food Aversions: Still can’t handle much meat, but I don’t really miss it. If I don’t have to prepare it, It’s easier to eat. But since I cook dinner 6-7 nights a week, it usually grosses me out too much.

Symptoms: My shortness of breath is still pretty bad at night. My doctor told me to “take it easy”… I will have to look up what the definition of that phrase is. But, doing yoga does seem to help me breath easier even if the routine is a little harder. It relaxes me which I think helps a lot with the breathing and anxiety. I have also been having a lot more tightness in my tummy area, which makes me feel like these two little ones are just in there growing away:) Their movement has increased a ton as well!

Clothing: I have been wearing my tops from Pink Blush Maternity because I like the length of them (top in the main photo is from their line). I tried to put on one of my pre-pregnancy tops that I thought might be okay… while the top half was okay, the shirt ended not too far below my belly button. Crop tops and pregnancy…Not a cute look. It’s so strange because I have NEVER had to wear maternity clothes… maybe it’s just the way I’m carrying or something. Maternity outfits for the spring post coming next week:)

Exciting Moments: Peanut Butter and Jelly have been moving much more, which is always a relief for me. I am one of those people that have to hear the heartbeat daily (thank you iPhone app!) and feel the babies move or else my worry starts to creep in. We also had our big anatomy scan this past week at 18 weeks 2 days. Come back tomorrow for the big gender reveal!

Ultrasound: We had our huge anatomy scan that lasted for 3 HOURS! It was intense… Baby B is up at the top of my belly, weighing 9 ounces which is great. Both babies were moving and flipping all over the place. Baby B was completely healthy and normal, measuring and functioning wonderfully. Baby A is my low baby, really low! Everything measured great and the babes was moving all around.

The doctor came in after the technician was done to let me know that Baby A has an Echogenic Focus, which is a calcium deposit in the heart. It shows up as a bright spot on the heart in the ultrasound, but is something that does not effect the heart itself, thank goodness! While this happens in about 3%-5% of normal pregnancies, it is also a soft marker for down syndrome. However, the doctor did not seem overly worried because the baby has no other markers or signs that would indicate a chromosomal defect. I will NOT be getting an amniocentesis to determine for sure whether or not the baby does have down syndrome. Even if this was the case, nothing would change in the pregnancy or my love for this twin. We just have to keep watching it and hopefully it will disappear. Otherwise, I am just leaving it up to the Lord to keep both babies healthy and strong no matter what the outcome of this is.

Belly update: Getting bigger! It seems like it really “rounded” from 16-17 weeks.

Thoughts from these past two weeks:

• Will they be boys or girls? (We did find out! I will announce it to you all tomorrow!)
• We have so much baby stuff to buy…
• Am I ever going to be able to sleep laying down again?
• I wonder how hard it is for my husband right now as the supporter of our family… I know it is extremely difficult for him but he is taking it with amazing strength and love for me and the girls, who by the way are being pretty accepting about me not being able to do some of the things they are used to in terms of play time and such. Love those little girls!
• Is our Twin A going to be alright? Is this spot going to turn out to be nothing?

Thank you all for your continued kind words and support. It is so nice to be able to come back and re-read all of your thoughts and comments, especially on days that aren’t so wonderful.

COMMENT BELOW WITH YOUR GUESSES AS TO WHAT THE TWINS WILL BE:)

*Here’s to making it halfway*